Dr. Le Xie, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Xie received his CAREER award for his proposal, "CAREER: Systematic Multi-scale Integration of Physics-based and Data-driven Models of Distributed Resources for Enabling Ubiquitous Energy Storage Services in Power Systems." Xie's award is the second in the department this year.

In his proposal Xie explained how the electric energy industry is undergoing profound architectural changes as society increasingly emphasizes more sustainable utilization of energy.

The objective of his project is to investigate a novel modeling paradigm, which seamlessly integrates physics-based and data-driven models of distributed resources for provision of ubiquitous energy storage services in power systems. Xie said once successfully pursued, his project will have transformative impact on engineering sustainable electricity services of the future. A multidisciplinary course on engineering and economics of complex electric energy systems will be offered to students at Texas A&M and Prairie View A&M University. As the founding advisor of the Texas A&M Energy Club, Xie also will actively participate in outreach activities organized by the club.

Xie is affiliated with the Electric Power and Power Electronics Group in the department. He received his B.E. in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University (China) in 2004. He received S.M. in engineering sciences from Harvard University in June 2005. He obtained his Ph.D. from the electric energy systems group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. His industry experience includes an internship in 2006 at ISO-New England and an internship at Edison Mission Energy Marketing and Trading in 2007. His research interest includes modeling and control of large-scale complex systems, smart grid applications in support of renewable energy integration and electricity markets.

In addition to his recent honor Xie received another NSF grant for his project, "Look-Ahead Coordination of Variable Resources for Providing Electric Energy and Regulation Services." He was an invited participant to 2011 Japan-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. His first Ph.D. student Yingzhong Gu received third prize in the competitive Poster Contest at the 2010 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society General Meeting, the premier conference in his professional community.

The NSF established the CAREER program to support junior faculty within the context of their overall career development, combining in a single program the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense. Through this program, the NSF emphasizes the importance on the early development of academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning.