The Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing welcomed Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor Xin Fang to its faculty this past August. Fang arrived in Columbia with extensive research experience from both academia and industry. He was previously a faculty member at Mississippi State University and a senior researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.
Fang’s research focuses on modeling, operation and planning of future power systems with high penetrations of inverter-based and distributed renewable energy resources. His work addresses emerging challenges in stability, system resilience and grid flexibility by integrating cyber-physical dynamic modeling, data-driven methods and optimization techniques.
“Dr. Fang’s research is at the forefront of the intelligent power grid,” says Mohammod Ali, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. “Innovation in this area is critical to satisfy our nation’s growing need for electricity supporting both existing and emerging applications such as AI and smart manufacturing.”
Fang’s passion for this work began while he was an undergraduate student at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.
“I’m fascinated by motors and the electrical conversion process, and renewable energy will solve a lot of problems for our planet with regard to carbon emissions, electricity and manufacturing,” Fang says. “We can leverage system integration with wind and solar to reduce barriers to electricity, reduce emissions, and guide the next generation of students and engineers.”
After completing his master’s degree at the China Electric Power Research Institute in Beijing and his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee, Fang joined the NREL in 2017 to continue his research in renewable energy. There, he was able to explore a variety of topics in renewable integration and develop new models to integrate wind and solar resources and maintain a stable power system.
While Fang gained experience in collaboration, writing proposals and targeting research opportunities and collaboration at the NREL, he sought more involvement in guiding young students on renewable energy integration research. He joined the faculty at Mississippi State in 2022, where he built the Intelligent Decarbonization for Energy Access and Reliability Laboratory (IDEAL Lab), with the goal of pioneering intelligent grid modernization strategies to ensure an affordable, reliable and stable renewable energy transition.
But last year, he was intrigued by an electrical engineering faculty opening at USC, which offered greater opportunities for collaboration with local industry, such as Duke Energy and Dominion Energy, as well as a more integral research program of power electronics and power systems. Since joining the USC faculty, he and his graduate research team have continued the work of the IDEAL Lab, leading multiple U.S. Department of Energy-funded projects focused on enabling reliable and efficient grid operations under increasing variability and complexity introduced by inverter-based renewable energy integration.
Electrical engineering Ph.D. student Prasant Basnet works alongside Fang in the lab.
“Working with Dr. Fang in IDEAL Lab has been invaluable to my knowledge in the power system, providing hands-on experience with power system modeling, exposure to optimization methods, and mentorship that has deepened my understanding of challenges in sustainable energy systems,” he says. “Currently, I am focusing on capacity expansion planning incorporating stability constraints to ensure reliable long-term integration of inverter-based resources.”
Fang’s passion for academia extends from research to mentoring his students. In addition to supervising graduate students in the lab, he teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels in electrical engineering courses spanning circuits to power systems, guiding students on the latest challenges in renewable energy. This spring, he is teaching an undergraduate course ELCT 221: Circuit II.
“My ultimate goal has been to mentor students and have my own research group to extend the work I have done in a national lab,” he says. “Here at the university, I am very much enjoying my role as mentor and advisor to a younger generation of students, as well as more research collaboration.”