ECSE Students awarded The Founders Award of Excellence

Posted November 11, 2022
Syed Ahsan Raza Naqvi and Ming Yi
Syed Ahsan Raza Naqvi [left] and Ming Yi [right]
Congratulations to ECSE PhD Students Syed Ahsan Raza Naqvi and Ming Yi!

ECSE PhD Students Syed Ahsan Raza Naqvi and Ming Yi were both honored as recipients of the Founders Award of Excellence at the 28th Annual Honors Convocation. The Founders Award of Excellence was established in 1994 to honor students who embody the qualities of creativity, discovery, and leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer. The award consists of a special certificate, recognition by faculty, staff, and peers at the Honors Convocation ceremony, and a cash prize. Approximately 70 wonderful graduate or undergraduate students – about 1% of our student population – are honored each year as winners of Rensselaer’s Founders Award of Excellence.

Ming Yi is a 5th year Ph.D. student at the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE), working with Prof. Meng Wang. He did his research internship at Argonne national lab in the 2022 spring. His research interests are broadly on machine learning, high-dimensional energy data analytics, renewable energy, and smart grids.  In particular, Ming is now working on developing novel low-rank methods to solve the Behind-the-Meter solar disaggregation problem and PMU data recovery problem. 

Ahsan is a PhD student in the Networks Lab, working under the supervision of Prof. Koushik Kar. His research interests lie in the general areas of optimal control for cyber-physical systems and the internet-of-things. Ahsan's PhD research revolves around energy efficient personalized climate control and indoor air quality management in buildings. He is currently a part of a research project, funded by the Department of Energy, which involves the development of risk management strategies for renewable energy asset owners in the modern power grid. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees, both in electrical engineering, from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan (2015) and RPI (2019), respectively. Ahsan has been a recipient of the National Science Foundation INTERN award in 2021 and was a PhD intern at the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) during the summer of 2022.

Media Contact

Rama Hamarneh, hamarr@rpi.edu