Babak Taheri

901 Main Campus Dr

Raleigh, NC 27606, USA

Hello! I am a Research Scientist at Hitachi Energy Research, where I focus on power system optimization.

I received my Ph.D. and an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where I was fortunate to be advised by Prof. Daniel Molzahn. Prior to that, I received an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology.

My research goal is to use mathematical optimization and machine learning techniques to help build a more reliable, resilient, affordable, and sustainable energy future. My doctoral research, for instance, focused on using ML-inspired optimization methods to improve the accuracy of foundational power system approximations.

Outside of my work in research, I enjoy traveling, hiking, watching movies, and playing soccer and volleyball.

news

Nov 07, 2025	Paper accepted to the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.
Jun 03, 2025	Paper accepted to the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.
Dec 01, 2024	Defended my Ph.D. dissertation: Improving Power System Approximations Through Machine Learning-Inspired Optimization Methods.
Aug 01, 2024	Awarded the Dominion Energy Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity Scholarship for the second time.
May 01, 2024	Received my second MSc degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
May 01, 2024	Defended my Ph.D. proposal and became a PhD candidate.
May 01, 2024	Began my summer internship at Dominion Energy in the Electric Transmission Strategic Initiatives group.
Apr 01, 2024	Paper accepted to the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.
Mar 01, 2024	Two papers accepted to the 23rd Power Systems Computational Conference (PSCC), to appear in Electric Power Systems Research.
Jan 07, 2024	Began my internship at North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) in the Advanced System Analytics & Modeling (ASAM) department.

selected publications

IEEE TSG

Optimizing Parameters of the LinDistFlow Power Flow Approximation for Distribution Systems

Babak Taheri, Rahul K. Gupta, and Daniel K. Molzahn

IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Nov 2025

DOI Bib HTML

@article{taheri2025optimizing,
  title = {Optimizing Parameters of the LinDistFlow Power Flow Approximation for Distribution Systems},
  author = {Taheri, Babak and Gupta, Rahul K. and Molzahn, Daniel K.},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid},
  year = {2025},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1109/TSG.2025.3630047},
}

IEEE TPWRS

AC-Informed DC Optimal Transmission Switching Problems via Parameter Optimization

Babak Taheri and Daniel K. Molzahn

IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Nov 2025

Bib HTML

@article{taheri2025ac-informed,
  title = {AC-Informed DC Optimal Transmission Switching Problems via Parameter Optimization},
  author = {Taheri, Babak and Molzahn, Daniel K.},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Power Systems},
  volume = {40},
  number = {6},
  pages = {5422--5433},
  year = {2025},
  month = nov,
}

IEEE TPWRS

Co-Optimization of Damage Assessment and Restoration: A Resilience-Driven Dynamic Crew Allocation for Power Distribution Systems

Ali Jalilian, Babak Taheri, and Daniel K. Molzahn

IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Jan 2025

Bib HTML

@article{jalilian2025co-optimization,
  title = {Co-Optimization of Damage Assessment and Restoration: A Resilience-Driven Dynamic Crew Allocation for Power Distribution Systems},
  author = {Jalilian, Ali and Taheri, Babak and Molzahn, Daniel K.},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Power Systems},
  volume = {40},
  number = {1},
  pages = {676--688},
  year = {2025},
  month = jan,
}

IEEE TPD

Distribution System Resilience Enhancement via Mobile Emergency Generators

Babak Taheri, Amir Safdarian, Moein M. Aghtaie, and 1 more author

IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Aug 2021

Bib HTML

@article{taheri2021distribution,
  title = {Distribution System Resilience Enhancement via Mobile Emergency Generators},
  author = {Taheri, Babak and Safdarian, Amir and Aghtaie, Moein M. and Lehtonen, Matti},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery},
  volume = {36},
  number = {4},
  pages = {2308--2319},
  year = {2021},
  month = aug,
}