:: Keynote Speakers

​​​Mohammad Shahidehpour 
Dr. Mohammad Shahidehpour joined Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) in 1983 where he is presently a University Distinguished Professor. He also serves as the Bodine Chair Professor, Director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation, and Associate Director of the Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) at Illinois Tech. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Laureate of KIA (Khwarizmi International Award), and an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He is listed as a highly cited researcher on the Web of Science (ranked in the top 1% by citations demonstrating significant influence among his peers). 

Fei Wang
Dr. Fei Wang, assistant professor of healthcare Policy and Research, received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation for his work developing computer models used to predict disease.

The foundation, which is dedicated to advancing the progress of science by funding research proposals, awards this prize annually to support the research projects and science outreach efforts of untenured junior faculty. The award comes with a minimum of $500,000 in funding, provided over the course of five years. Dr. Wang, along with 11 investigators from Cornell’s Ithaca campus, received their awards in March.


Dr. Vahid Vahidinasab
Vahid Vahidinasab is a Full Professor and Chair of Sustainability at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK, with two decades of experience in academia and industry. He has held academic, research and leadership roles at various institutions including Nottingham Trent University, the EPSRC National Centre for Energy Systems Integration, Niroo Research Institute, and Shahid Beheshti/Abbaspour University. His research, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, focuses on developing self-sustaining communities and empowering individuals to address sustainability challenges. An experienced leader in securing funding, he recently secured a €10.5 million consortium-based grant from Horizon Europe and UKRI for advancing EV-centered local energy communities and markets. He is Vice Chair of the IEEE IAS UK and Ireland Chapter, an IEEE Senior Member, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.