Dr. Massoud Amin, IEEE and ASME Fellow, is a professor of electrical & computer engineering (ECE), and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is widely credited as being the father of the smart electric power grid (https://tli.umn.edu/tli-blog/inspiration-behind-smart-grid-series-defining-moments), and a cyber-physical security leader, who directed all security-related R&D for all North American utilities after the 9/11 tragedies. He was asked to take on this role after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. He was already working with federal agencies on related matters then. In fact, he was at a meeting less than a mile from the Pentagon, discussing disaster risk management with White House OSTP, U.S. DoD officials, and representative of other agencies when the terrorist attacks took place on September 11, 2001.

Dr. Amin’s professional contributions have primarily been in three areas:

Defense networks, combat & logistics systems – Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I), IVHS, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (1982-1997),

Modernization, efficiency, security & resilience of interdependent national critical infrastructures, including power, energy, communications, finance, and transportation (1997-present), and

Technology/business/policy foresight & strategy (1997-present).

His current research focuses on two areas:

Global transition dynamics to enhance resilience, agility, security and efficiency of complex dynamic systems. These systems include national critical infrastructures for interdependent energy, computer networks, communications, transportation and economic systems.

Technology scanning, mapping, and valuation to identify new science and technology-based opportunities that meet the needs and aspirations of today’s consumers, companies and the broader society. This thrust builds coherence between short- and longer-term R&D opportunities and their potential impact.