Dr. Massoud Amin is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, directs the Center for the Development of Technological Leadership (CDTL),and holds the HW Sweatt Chair in Technological Leadership at the University of Minnesota. Before joining the University of Minnesota in March 2003, he was with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), where he coined the term "self-healing grid," and led the development of more than 19 technologies being transferred to industry. After 9/11 he directed all security-related research and development, and twice received Chauncey Awards at EPRI, the institute's highest honor.

Dr. Amin has worked with military, government, universities, companies and private agencies, focusing on theoretical and practical aspects of reconfigurable and self-repairing controls, infrastructure security, risk-based decision making, system optimization, and differential game theory for aerospace, energy, and transportation applications. He is a member of several boards, including the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE) at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, a member of the IEEE Computer Society¹s Task Force on Security and Privacy, chairs ASME's Energy security team of the ASME Critical Asset Protection Initiative and serves on its 6-member steering committee.

He is the author or co-author of more than 100 research papers and editor of six collections of manuscripts, became an unprecedented three-times Professor of the Year at Washington University (1992-95). Dr. Amin received his B.S. (cum laude) and M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in systems science and mathematics from Washington University. For additional publications see <http://umn.edu/~amin>

About the Topic:

Virtually every crucial economic and social function depends on the secure, reliable operation of energy, telecommunications, transportation, financial, and other infrastructures. In the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th, our critical infrastructures are facing new scrutiny. From a strategic R & D viewpoint, the agility and robustness/survivability of large-scale dynamic networks that face new and unanticipated operating conditions will be discussed.
 
As a recent example, the massive power outages of a year ago underscored the vulnerability of our nation’s power grid and the fact that this vital yet complex infrastructure underpins our society and quality of life.
 
We absolutely can meet the needs of a pervasively digital society that relies on microprocessor-based devices in vehicles, homes, offices, and industrial facilities.  We can reduce grid congestion and atypical power flows and meet customer reliability expectations. And it is not just a matter of “we can.”  We must, if the United States is to continue to be an economic power in the new Century.   

It will not be easy, however, and it will not be cheap.  It will take an extensive, prolonged commitment by the federal government and the industry, to provide research funding and to reduce permitting red-tape.  It will take a renewed commitment on the part of industry to modernize and invest in new technology.  And it will take continuing collaboration among economists, scientists, and engineers to slowly, but surely transform the power grid into what we know it can be – and what it must become.
 
From a national perspective, a key grand challenge before us is how to redesign, retrofit, and upgrade the nearly 200,000 miles of electro-mechanically controlled transmission capacity into a smart self-healing grid that is driven by a well-designed market approach.
 
To meet the challenge, collaboration among engineers, policy makers and economists are critical to providing and supporting the design and management of complex technological, societal, and economic systems in the long-term. The electric power industry offers an immediate opportunity for launching such collaboration, as new ways are being sought to improve the efficiency of electricity markets while maintaining the reliability of the network. Creating a “better” grid with self-healing capabilities is no longer a distant dream as considerable progress is being made.
 
But considerable technical challenges as well as several economic and policy issues remain to be addressed, including industry and government responsibilities, the role of the market in a modern, strategically secure power system, and funding issues, e.g., economic incentives for infrastructure investment and research.
 
Technology development, management and its impact on societies around the globe are Immense-- "The empires of the future," said Winston Churchill, "are the empires of the mind". Echoing this in his 1981 book, Investing in people: The Economics of Population Quality, Economist and Nobel Laureate, Theodore Schultz, argued that the wealth of nations is not limited by land or minerals, it comes predominantly from "the acquired abilities of people, their education, experience, skills and health." What are we doing about this?
 
As an example, in the U.S. scientist and engineers working in R&D make up about 75 out of every 10,000 people employed. US spending in R&D accounts for 2.5% of the GDP, yet the results rippling outward from the investments in technology -and its related educational base- accounts for "perhaps 50% of the past growth of the American economy. I don't mean to overstate the roles of science and technology. But nations that invest in those fields of human capital do better economically than those nations that do not."
 
Fortunately, there is increased consciousness on the need for core technologies and capabilities to strategically enhance our security and quality of life. This presentation will focus on a strategic vision extending to a decade, or longer, that would enable more secure and robust systems operation, security monitoring and efficient energy markets.