University of Utah electrical and computer engineering associate professor Masood Parvania is one of four faculty members to receive this year’s Presidential Scholar Award from the U’s Academic Affairs office.
The award honors up to four associate professors each year to “support the work of exceptionally promising mid-career faculty in academic units across the main campus.”
“I am honored to receive this award, which represents an acknowledgement that good work is appreciated at the University of Utah,” Parvania said. “I would like to dedicate this recognition to my family for the continued support of my career, as well as my former and current students, and researchers and collaborators who have contributed to the cutting-edge research and technologies we develop at Utah Smart Energy Laboratory (U-Smart). I would like to thank the ECE department and the College of Engineering for providing the environment of success for me and my group at the University of Utah.”
In addition to Parvania, this year’s award was also given to political science associate professor Jim Curry, physics and astronomy associate professor Pearl Sandick, and pharmacology and toxicology associate professor Marco Bortolato.
Parvania is associate chair for Research and Advancement for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the U-Smart: Utah Smart Energy Laboratory, which conducts research on the next generation of resilient and sustainable power and energy systems. His research is focused on applications of mathematical optimization methods, calculus of variations, and scientific computing to the operation and planning of interdependent critical infrastructure, cyber-physical power and energy systems, and modeling and integration of distributed renewable energy resources.
He received his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology and a master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology. He joined the University of Utah as an assistant professor in 2015.
Last year, Parvania received the U’s Faculty Recognition Award from the Career and Professional Development Center. He was honored with the Engineering Educator of the Year Award from the Utah Engineers Council in 2018, and both the Outstanding Educator Award and Distinguished Service Award from the Utah Section of IEEE Utah Section.
The Presidential Scholar Awards provide $10,000 in funding each year for three years.