Speakers

Dr. Sasi K Kottayil is an alumnus of NIT Calicut who belongs to 1979 batch of Electrical Engineering. His Doctoral research in Jadavpur University, Kolkata was on Technical Issues in Utility Scale Wind Electricity Generation during 1994-98. His 40+ years’ teaching and research experience spans over multiple campuses including NERIST, Itanagar, Tezpur University and Amrita University, Coimbatore. Since retirement from regular academics in 2022 Dr. Sasi serves as a consultant for energy transition projects. He is presently the Vice Chair of IEEE Smart Village – South Asia Regional Committee, Fellow-Energy of World Resources Institute India, Consultant of Asar Social Impact Advisors, Senior Wind Energy Consultant of ULCCS, Wind Energy Consultant of INKEL, Consultant of Ahalia Alternate Energy, Energy Consultant of KMCT Institutions, etc. He has guided a few PhD students, executed a dozen of academic R&D projects, carried out 20+ consultancy assignments, and edited 2 books including Smart Microgrids published by CRC Press. The major field projects he is presently involved are Community BESS of Asar, Green Energy Transition of Cochin Shipyard Ltd and Behind-the-Meter PV-BESS of KMCT.

Prof. Saikat Chakrabarti completed PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada in 2006. Before completing PhD, he worked in Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) Limited, India, and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India. After completing PhD, he worked as a Special Scientist at the University of Cyprus, Cyprus, and first as a Research Associate and then as a Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Since 2009 he is working in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, where he is a Chair Professor since 2018. From July 2023 to April 2014, he worked as a Chair Professor and Director of the Emera and NB Power Research Centre for Smart Grid Technologies, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. His research interests are in the areas of monitoring, control, and protection of smart transmission and distribution systems and microgrids. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, USA), Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE, India), and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (IE, India).

Dr. Rakesh Kumar Mishra is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT (BHU) Varanasi. His research centers on Power Systems Operations and Control, with a specialized focus on applying computational intelligence to enhance grid performance. He has made significant contributions to the fields of smart grid security, distribution system planning, and microgrid management. Additionally, he holds patents in advanced protection schemes for power transformers, reflecting his commitment to improving the resilience and reliability of critical energy infrastructure.

Prof. K.S. Swarup is a faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering of IIT Madras. His areas of teaching and research are on electrical power systems and application of advanced tools and techniques for problem solving. He teaches courses on Energy Management Systems, Digital Energy, SCADA, Protection, Automation and Control. He carries out research along with his scholars in the areas of Smart Power Grids, Cyber Physical Systems and Security, Energy Management, Digital and Numerical Protection, etc. He has guided several MS, PhD, MTech and BTech students in the above areas.

Dr. Pratyasa Bhui is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical, Electronics and Communication Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad, Karnataka. He completed his M.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2013 and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India in 2017. He has worked as a post doctoral fellow in Texas A&M University, USA from 2017 to 2018. He joined IIT Dharwad as an Assistant professor in 2018 where he has been working as Associate Professor since 2024. He also worked as a visiting Professor in the West Virginia University in 2023-2024. His current research interests include power system dynamics and control, synchrophasor based wide area monitoring systems, analysis and improvement of stability of power system in presence of renewables, cyber security in smart grid. He served as Dean of Research and Development at IIT Dharwad from May 2024 to July 2025 and is currently serving as Dean, Infrastructure Planning and Services - MEP at IIT Dharwad.

Mr. George Varghese is the Founder and Director of Prudent Energy (PruNergy), a Kerala-based consultancy firm specializing in energy efficiency and project management. A Certified Energy Auditor (BEE) and Chartered Engineer, he brings over two decades of expertise in industrial utility design, cold chain logistics, and food processing infrastructure. He has successfully led numerous audits and greenfield projects for major clients, including the Amalgam Group. His work is pivotal in helping industries optimize energy consumption and achieve operational sustainability.

Mr. Aravind M N serves as a Lead Engineer in Electricity Market Management within the Smart Grid and Infrastructure Division at Siemens Technology India. Specializing in the intersection of power system dynamics and economic operations, he focuses on developing intelligent solutions for modern electricity markets. His expertise extends to Wide Area Monitoring Systems (WAMS) and grid protection, where he leverages data-driven algorithms to enhance system reliability. His work plays a crucial role in enabling efficient, stable, and market-responsive smart grid infrastructures.

Dr. Abhineet Prakash serves as an Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Sciences at IIT Bhubaneswar. His research focuses on power system dynamics, wide-area monitoring, and smart grid resilience, contributing significantly to the stability of renewable-rich power networks. A recipient of the PGCIL–IEEE India Council Young Engineer Award, he is actively involved in developing advanced control strategies for modern energy infrastructure.

Dr. Devesh Shukla is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at NIT Calicut and an active volunteer with the IEEE Kerala Section. His research specializes in smart grids, cyber-physical power systems, and the application of blockchain technology in energy networks. He earned his Ph.D. from IIT (BHU) Varanasi, where he focused on the monitoring and control of integrated transmission and distribution systems. A recipient of the prestigious SERB National Postdoctoral Fellowship, he previously advanced his work on grid resilience as a postdoctoral fellow at IIT Kanpur.

Dr. Amrutha Raju B is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at NIT Calicut. His research specializes in power system dynamics, microgrid energy management, and distributed control strategies for electric vehicle (EV) integration. With prior experience at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and NSTL (DRDO), he focuses on developing intelligent solutions for renewable energy integration and frequency regulation in modern power grids.