Joe Chow, power grid control expert and professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Chow was elected for his technical contributions to modeling, analysis, and control of large-scale power grids.

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology,” according to the organization.

Over the past three decades, Chow has been at the cutting edge of electric power systems engineering. His work in modeling and control of large-scale power systems has growing applications in development and maintenance of smart grids. For example, his work on synchrophasors, devices that make real-time measurements of electrical quantities, allows new mechanisms to monitor the power grid for boosting the amount of energy that can be reliably transmitted on high-power, high-voltage electric grids.

Chow serves as the campus director of the Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. CURENT is dedicated to developing the next generation of electric grids, or “smart grids,” that promise higher efficiency, greater reliability, and the smooth integration of renewable energy sources into large power transmission systems.