Rabab Haider
Assistant Professor,
University of Michigan
Hello! I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
My research explores the design and operation of energy systems under deep decarbonization. I develop tools in the domains of physics-informed machine learning, distributed intelligence for grid-edge devices, and the design of future electricity markets.
I was previously a MIT Energy Fellow (2022), MathWorks-MIT Mechanical Engineering Fellow (2021), and received the Hansen Fellowship (2018). In recognition of my research and community contributions to sustainability, I have been awarded the Raj V Tahil Fellowship Fund Award (2021) and Aarav Amar Bajpayee Memorial Prize (2023).
Latest news and announcements!
02/2025 Had a great visit to University of Wisconsin Madison as a part of the NEEP Seminar Series, where I shared our work on fast algorithms (aka physics-informed machine learning) and equitable frameworks (our new work on Locational Marginal Burden) for renewable-rich power systems.
02/2025 Great to give a talk at UM's Electric-Water Utility Resilience Summit and interact with utility operators, government officials, and fellow academic researchers on critical topics of resilience. Great conversations and many directions for impactful future work!
https://news.engin.umich.edu/2025/02/utilities-face-common-challenges-need-collaboration-as-challenges-grow/
02/2025 Join me at UM's inaugural Sustainable Lab Summit, where I will be presenting our work on optimization and AI algorithms that center questions of energy justice, as leaders of a just energy transition.
01/2025 Welcome Lauren May! Lauren is an undergraduate student in LSA studying data science and a minor in the Environment. She joins our group as an undergraduate researcher.
12/2024 Join me and UM's Sustainable LSA for a workshop on "Greening the Cloud: Sustainability in AI and Technology". During my presentation, I'll discuss sustainability and how AI+tech can both help and hurt sustainability goals. After, engage with us during our interactive workshops with critical conversations in a cross-disciplinary group
12/2024 Pre-print Alert! Keeping up with the energy transition where new loads and generators are being rapidly connected to the grid, we need to consider Transmission Expansion Planning and flexibility offered from resources like storage. Check out our recent work in this space, where we study planning of transmission lines and storage on a high spatial resolution of the Texas grid. More to come in this space from Kevin Wu, PhD student co-advised with Pascal Van Hentenryck at GeorgiaTech.
10/2024 Amanda and I attended INFORMS 2024 in Seattle to share our work exploring the energy equity implications of the power grid
10/2024 Join HerWILL and AI4OPT for a workshop series and datathon on AI for Equality! I'll be giving the first workshop of the series "Python Essentials Unleashed". The program is open to all -- wherever in the world you are, you can participate in the series and datathon. Looking forward to meeting our participants on October 11th!
Read more about the workshop here, with the registration link in the post.
Looking forward to U-M CEE:
I sat down with U-M CEE for the Connections & Directions podcast series to discuss my research, teaching, and diversity work. Looking forward to joining in January 2025!
You can also read more in my interview with Mason Hinawi, from U-M CEE, an excerpt of which is below:
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Haider’s research centers around energy and power systems and their design and operation in a decarbonized future; her work has involved developing tools in physics-informed machine learning, distributing intelligence for grid-edge devices, and designing future electricity markets. When dealing with energy and power systems, Professor Haider emphasizes the human-centric nature of her work and research — an emphasis that closely aligns with Michigan Engineering’s “People First” strategic vision.
“Energy is an infrastructure system,” Haider explained. “It shares a lot of the properties that we think about when we think of other built infrastructure, like roads, water networks, or city buildings. And when you’re thinking about civil infrastructure, you’re also thinking about the users of that system.”
"
09/2024 Publication Alert! Our paper on physics-informed machine learning for power systems reconfiguration is now available on Transactions on Smart Grids!
08/2024 Publication Alert! Congarts Richard on our new paper at NAPS 2024! In this work we investigate the impact of data on voltage predictions using a simple ML model. We find that different data generation methods will impact prediction performance, and as should be expected, a richer dataset generated from multiple methods outperforms more homogenous datasets.
07/2024 Thanks Epistimi and the Henry Luce Foundation for inviting me to teach at the Epistimi Leadership Workshop for Women in Energy, at the American College of Greece!
06/2024 It was a busy month with presentations from our group at two key conferences: Sam and Amanda presented at the ACM e-Energy conference in Singapore (paper), while Jules and I presented at the Power Systems Computation Conference in Paris (paper). Wonderful to see many colleagues and meet new collaborators!
04/2024 Thanks Women's Energy Network for the invitation to speak on an Education Panel: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in the Energy Industry