“I am honored to have been chosen for inclusion in the National Academy of Engineering,” said Tomsovic, a faculty member in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “The fact that it comes through a selection by your peers is particularly rewarding and helps motivate the drive to continue the important work that we do here.”
Tomsovic is the third active UT faculty member to be so honored by NAE, joining UT–ORNL Governor’s Chair for Power Electronics Yilu Liu and UT–ORNL Governor’s Chair for Nuclear Materials Steve Zinkle.
“We’re elated for Dr. Tomsovic to have earned this tremendous honor, which reflects his career of scholarly achievement that puts him at the absolute top of the engineering profession,” said Matthew Mench, Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair and dean of the Tickle College of Engineering. “It is a reflection of his groundbreaking work in intelligent system design and a continuous stream of innovation that has led his field forward for decades.”
Tomsovic’s research focuses on power system computational methods and power engineering education. Specifically, that work includes developing technology for the operation and planning of a modern power grid that can achieve low-cost reliable power with reduced environmental impact.
I am honored to have been chosen for inclusion in the National Academy of Engineering. The fact that it comes through a selection by your peers is particularly rewarding and helps motivate the drive to continue the important work that we do here.”
Tomsovic also directs the Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT) at UT, a graduated National Science Foundation and Department of Energy Engineering Research Center. Many of his efforts have come through his work with CURENT, where he and Liu serve as director and deputy director, respectively. He is quick to praise others in the department for his latest honor.
“I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I feel our group of power and energy researchers in EECS is one of the best at any university,”
Tomsovic said. “Kevin Bai, Chien-fei Chen, Daniel Costinett, Han (Helen) Cui, Fangxing (Fran) Li, Yilu Liu, Hector Pulgar, Kai Sun, Leon Tolbert, and Fred Wang are an incredible group of faculty to work with, and they all had roles in the work—along with others at UT—that has led to this accomplishment.”
Before the launch of CURENT in 2011, Tomsovic served as department head of EECS. He served on the faculty of Washington State University from 1992 until 2008.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan Technological University in 1982 and his master’s and doctorate from the University of Washington in 1984 and 1987, respectively, with all three degrees in electrical engineering.
Tomsovic has also served as the Kyushu Electric Endowed Chair for Advanced Technology for Electrical Energy with Kumamoto University in Japan and was the National Science Foundation program director in the Electrical and Communications Systems Division of the Engineering Directorate. He has held faculty positions at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.
He was elected a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2007 and was a member of R&D100 Award–winning teams in 2014 and 2020.
NAE describes its members as reflecting extraordinary contributions and efforts made to “engineering research, practice, or education… [and] the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”
Tomsovic and the rest of the 2023 class will be formally inducted at NAE’s annual meeting in October.