Ali Abur
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Northeastern Director, CURENT
Office
- 416 Dana Research Center
- 617.373.3051
Related Links
Research Focus
Power system monitoring, estimation and optimization, fault location and identification in power grids
About
Ali Abur obtained his B.S. degree from Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi, Ankara, Turkey and both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State University. He was a Professor at Texas A&M University until November 2005 when he joined the faculty of Northeastern University as a Professor and Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His research and educational activities have been in the area of power systems. He is a Fellow of the IEEE for his work on power system state estimation and IEEE PES Distinguished Speaker. He is the 2014 recipient of the IEEE Power & Energy Society Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award. He co-authored a book and published widely in IEEE journals and conferences.
Education
- B.S, Orta Dogu Teknik Universitesi, Ankara, Turkey, 1979.
- M.S., The Ohio State University, 1981.
- PhD, The Ohio State University, 1985.
- Joined Northeastern in 2005.
Honors & Awards
- Member of the National Academy of Engineering (2023)
- IEEE Power & Energy Society Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award (2014)
- IEEE PES Boston Chapter Outstanding Engineering Award (2014)
- Elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2003)
- American Electric Power Faculty Fellow, Texas A&M University (2003)
- National Science Foundation, Research Initiation Award (1989)
Leadership Positions
- Department Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Northeastern University, Boston (2005 – 2013 )
Research Overview
Power system monitoring, estimation and optimization, fault location and identification in power grids
Selected Research Projects
- Graph-Learning-Assisted State and Event Tracking for Solar-Penetrated Power Grids with Heterogeneous Data Sources
- – Principal Investigator, Department of Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office
- Engineering Research Center for Ultra-Wide Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Network
- – Co-Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
- Robust Distributed State Estimator for Interconnected Transmission and Distribution Networks
- – Principal Investigator, Department of Energy
Research Centers and Institutes
Northeastern Director
Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT)
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Khalili, R., and Abur, A., “Transmission Line Parameter Error Identification and Estimation in Three-phase Networks,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, (Early Access), 2022.
- Donmez, B. and Abur, A., “Static state estimation without topology processor,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 4712–4722, 2021.
- Khalili, R., and Abur, A., “PMU-Based Decoupled State Estimation for Unsymmetrical Power Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 5359-5368, Nov. 2021.
- Oner, A. and Abur, A., “Computationally efficient method for placing reactive power sources against contingencies,” International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, vol. 133, p. 107253, 2021.
- Angelos, E. W. S., Abur, A., Asada, E. N. and Saavedra, O. R., “External topology tracking based on state estimation,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 2623–2631, 2021.
- Galvez C. and Abur, A., “Fault location in active distribution networks containing distributed energy resources (DERs),” IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 3128–3139, 2021.
- Langner, A. and Abur, A., “Formulation of three-phase state estimation problem using a virtual reference,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 36, no. 1, pp. 214-223, Jan. 2021.
- Lin Yuzhang, Abur, A., and Xu, H., “Identifying security vulnerabilities in electricity market operations induced by weakly detectable network parameter errors,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 627–636, 2021.
- Galvez, C. and Abur, A., “Fault Location in Meshed Distribution Systems Using a Minimum Number of Digital Fault Recorders,” 2021 North American Power Symposium (NAPS), College Station, TX, USA, 2021, pp. 01-06.
- Khalili, R. and Abur, A., “Three-phase Linear State Estimation Based on SCADA and PMU Measurements,” 2021 IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Europe (ISGT Europe), Espoo, Finland, 2021, pp. 01-05.
- M. Dorier, G. Frigo, A. Abur and M. Paolone, “Leverage Point Identification Method for LAV-Based State Estimation,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 70, pp. 1-10, 2021, Art no. 1008810.
Feb 07, 2023
Abur Elected as Member of the National Academy of Engineering
ECE Professor Ali Abur was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to power system state estimation and power engineering education. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.
Nov 02, 2022
2022 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]
Sep 20, 2022
Northeastern in Top 100 Universities with U.S. Utility Patents
For the seventh consecutive year, Northeastern University has appeared in the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) list of Top 100 Universities that were granted U.S. utility patents in 2021, cementing it as a world leader in academia and research.
Aug 18, 2022
Designing Computer Models for Multi-Area Power Grids That Isolate Divergence Anomalies
ECE Professor Ali Abur was awarded a patent for “Computer-implemented methods and systems for avoiding divergence in multi-area power grid state estimation.”
Dec 23, 2021
COE Professors Selected in Stanford University List of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]
Nov 22, 2021
Best Paper Award at IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2021
Ramtin Khalili, PhD’23, electrical engineering, and Professor Ali Abur received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE PES Innovative and Smart Grid Technologies-Europe 2021 conference for their paper titled “Three-phase Linear State Estimation Based on SCADA and PMU Measurements”.
Nov 16, 2021
Managing Power System Network Information
ECE Professor Ali Abur was awarded a patent for creating “Techniques for processing power system network information.”
Aug 10, 2021
Addressing Future Distribution Systems Challenges
ECE Professor Ali Abur was awarded a $380K NSF grant for designing “A Comprehensive Approach to Monitoring Active Distribution Systems.”
Apr 26, 2021
Abur Receives DOE Solar Energy Technology Office 2020 Award
ECE Professor Ali Abur was awarded a $750K DOE grant from the Solar Energy Technologies Office for “Graph-Learning-Assisted State and Event Tracking for Solar-Penetrated Power Grids with Heterogeneous Data Sources.”
May 01, 2018
Faculty and Staff Awards 2018
Congratulations to all the winners of the faculty and staff awards, and to everyone for their hard work and dedication during the 2017-2018 academic school year.