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Reza Sabzehgar serves as an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at San Diego State University, contributing to the Engineering faculty with his expertise in advanced energy systems. He obtained his Ph.D. in Control and Power Electronics from the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering at Simon Fraser University in Canada in 2012. Prior to his current role, from 2012 to 2014, he was a faculty member at the School of Energy, British Columbia Institute of Technology, and the School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University. Since joining San Diego State University in 2014, Dr. Sabzehgar has advanced to Associate Professor and established himself as the Director of the Emerging and Advanced Green Energy Laboratory (EAGEL), where he leads research initiatives in sustainable energy technologies.
Dr. Sabzehgar's academic interests center on power electronics, smart grids, renewable energies, and electric and hybrid electric vehicles. His research encompasses the modeling and control of power electronics interfaces, integration of vehicle-to-grid systems, smart grids and microgrids, power management strategies, and optimization techniques for energy systems. He has been recognized with the Best Paper Award at the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Exposition (ITEC) 2020. Additionally, he has secured funding through grants such as the TransPower initiative for "Control and Optimization of an Inverter Utilized in Electric Heavy-Duty Vehicle for Fast Transmission Shifting" and a California Energy Commission project for software development in energy applications. Among his key publications are "A review of ocean wave energy conversion systems" presented at the 2009 IEEE Electrical Power & Energy Conference, "Modelling and sliding-mode control of a single-phase single-stage micro-inverter" published in IET Power Electronics in 2019, "Modeling and Control of a Multifunctional Three-Phase Converter for Vehicle-to-Grid Applications" in Energies in 2020, "Maximizing Regenerative Braking Energy Recovery of Electric Vehicles Through Dynamic Low-Speed Cutoff Point Detection" in 2019, "Nonlinear sliding-mode control of a bidirectional three-phase rectifier with constant power load" in 2019, and "Performance Analysis of EV Drive with Battery and Support from Super-Capacitor in Motoring and Regenerative Braking Conditions" in 2024. Dr. Sabzehgar also advises undergraduate students in electrical engineering.