July 26, 2018
It is a great pleasure to announce that Dr. Marija Ilic has been appointed a Senior Research Scientist in LIDS, effective August 1, 2018.
The Senior Research Scientist position is a senior position in the campus research staff structure. An appointment to this rank reflects wide external and internal recognition of independent contribution to research in her field.
Marija has had a long and distinguished career. She received her doctorate in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University, in 1980. After teaching at Drexel University and Cornell, she moved to the University of Illinois (UIUC, 1984-89), where she rose to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. From 1989 to 2003, she was with MIT as a Senior Research Engineer. Furthermore, from 2002 to 2017, she was a tenured Professor at CMU, during which time she also held an honorary chair at TU Delft, Netherlands. More recently, she has been a Senior Staff member at Lincoln Laboratory in Energy Systems Group 73, while also holding Visiting Professor and Research Scientist appointments with IDSS and LIDS.
Marija is a world leader in the area of electric power systems. Her work involves the toolbox of systems, optimization, and control, but is also combined with a deep knowledge of the real-world aspects of power systems and a strong engagement with the power industry. She is a prolific author with hundreds of journal and conference publications, has supervised about 50 doctoral theses, and is the coauthor, with J. Zaborszky, of a major text on "Dynamics and Control of Large Electric Power Systems.” Among several other awards, she is an IEEE Life Fellow. She has also been playing a prominent role in the power systems community, which she has served in many different roles, including as NSF Program Director (1999-2001).
Marija's contributions span the whole gamut, from detailed dynamical models of the physical aspects of power systems, all the way to high-level issues involving coordination and economics. She has been a strong advocate of an integrated hierarchical approach that faithfully takes into account the multiple time and spatial scales that are present in the power network. In the recent past, she has been working on defining the next generation of SCADA systems for power networks, that can take advantage of new capabilities in sensing and communications, accompanied by powerful and realistic simulation tools.
Marija will reside in LIDS, where she is already a Principal Investigator, and will participate in IDSS more broadly, but will also mantain an appointment at Lincoln Laboratory. The combination of her expertise with her well-known energy and enthusiasm, will add greatly to our activities in the electric power systems area.