Rabab Haider
Assistant Professor,
University of Michigan
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Hello! I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
My research explores the design and operation of energy systems under deep decarbonization. I develop tools in the domains of physics-informed machine learning, distributed intelligence for grid-edge devices, and the design of future electricity markets.
I was previously a MIT Energy Fellow (2022), MathWorks-MIT Mechanical Engineering Fellow (2021), and Hansen Fellow (2018). In recognition of my research and community contributions to sustainability, I have been awarded the Raj V Tahil Fellowship Fund Award (2021), Aarav Amar Bajpayee Memorial Prize (2023), and AIIMS Empowering Research with AI Award (2026). From 2023-2024 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NSF AI Institute for Advances in Optimization and GeorgiaTech's ISYE department, where I continue to hold an Affiliate Faculty position.
Latest news and announcements!
06/2026 Publication Alert! Congrats Jiajun on our new paper in the inaugural PowerUp 2026 conference! We've modeled transmission reconfiguration actions, including line switching and bus splitting, and found a limitation of existing models: highly detailed models are computationally intractable, while reduced models may limit feasible switching actions. We propose a bus-breaker model as an intermediate modeling resolution and formulate reconfiguration as a tractable MILP. Simulations on IEEE 14-, 30-, and 118-bus systems show that bus splitting can improve feasibility and reduce costs, particularly under high loading and tight switching budgets. Jiajun will present his work in Boulder, CO in September.
06/2026 Publication Alert! Congrats Kevin on our new paper in the inaugural PowerUp 2026 conference! We've continued to develop computationally tractable algorithms for high-resolution power system planning. We extend our previous work to develop a multi-year investment planning algorithm that can solve out to 2045 with an <0.1% optimality gap within 30 hours for a 2000-bus Texas grid. Kevin will present his work in Boulder, CO in September.
05/2026 The IES Energy Symposium was back for a second year! Thank you to Laura Frye-Levine (MIT), Sarah Baird (Let There Be Light International), and our own Tony Reames and Amanda Ullman for joining me on our panel "Systems Integration in the Energy Transition: Grid, Community, and Health". Thank you to the audience for your engagement, insightful questions and discussion. At the symposium, Garrett showcased his project on water and energy system modeling for data center integration at the Student Poster Session.
05/2026 Welcome Yuyang Tian! Yuyang is masters student in ECE. He joins our group as a graduate researcher and will be working on accelerating OPF and price prediction.
04/2026 I joined HerWILL for a workshop series and datathon on AI for Digital Safety. Our panel on Responsible AI was attended by 700+ participants from over 50 countries to discuss the safe and ethical design and use of AI systems.
03/2026 A 2026 recipient of the AI Institutes at Michigan (AIIM) Empowering Research with AI Award. I was invited to give a spotlight talk on my "AI Journey" at the 2026 MIDAS AI in Research Symposium, where I shared our group's work on AI-Driven Optimization for Decision-Relevant Power Grid Operations. You can catch the recording here.
03/2026 A pleasure hosting Benoît Jeanson from RTE for a special IES Seminar event on his PhD work on network reconfiguration under de-energization.
03/2026 Joined Michigan State University's Institute of Public Utilities (MSU IPU) for their Power Grid School I lecture series, where I gave a crash course on interconnected power systems and reliability.
03/2026 Returned to GeorgiaTech and AI4OPT, where I am an Affiliate Faculty, to give a seminar on accelerating optimization for power systems.
02/2026 Thank you Water@Michigan and the Graham Sustainability Institute for inviting me to the Coffee Talk Series. I shared our ongoing Graham-funded project on "Data Centers, Energy, and Water Systems: Modeling the Impacts on Infrastructure, Environment, and Affordability". Our stakeholder interviews have provided our team with an in-depth understanding of the data center industry, and system modeling and reporting gaps at the intersection of water and energy systems. We will be continuing this work over the next year and look forward to engaging with the community again!
02/2026 Thank you to the U-M Institute for Energy Solutions for hosting me to give a seminar! Constructive conversations on accelerating large-scale optimization for power systems.
01/2026 Publication Alert! Congarts Kevin on our new paper in PSCC 2026! In this work we propose a PTDF-based multicut Benders algorithm to solve high-resolution power systems planning. Challenges of scale are addressed using a warm-start technique and a trust-region stabilization that reduces oscillations during optimization. This paper will be presented at PSCC in Cyprus this summer!
01/2026 Had a great visit to Wayne State University as part of the ECE Seminar Series. A pleasure to share our group's work on scaling algorithms for power systems planning and operations using optimization and machine learning techniques.
10/2025 Welcome Magdalene Callender! Magdalene is an undergraduate student in the LSA honors college with a major in Program in the Environment (PitE). She joins our group as an undergraduate researcher.
09/2025 Welcome Jiarui Gao! Jiarui is an undergraduate student in IOE, with interests in optimization and ML for power systems. She joins our group as an undergraduate researcher.
08/2025 Welcome Jiajun Han! Jiajun is joining our group as a PhD student in CEE.
08/2025 Welcome Harris Sofios! Harris is joining our group as a graduate researcher in CEE.
07/2025 Pre-print Alert! Check out our recent work where we develop machine learning based proxies for solving the transmission network reconfiguration (TNR) problem, with bus splitting events. This particular kind of TNR is achieved by selectively opening breakers within a substation, and allows fine-grained adjustments of network topology by changing bus connectivity. We propose a two-stage neural architecture to (1) predict flow-maximizing topologies; and (2) reconcile hard constraints of power physics and breaker connectivity. Great collaboration with Dekang Meng and Pascal Van Hentenryck at GeorgiaTech at AI4OPT.
07/2025 Presenting at SIAM Annual Meeting for the Mini Symposium on Digital Twin and its Applications; and the PES General Meeting for a panel session on community resilience
05/2025 Welcome Garrett Alston! A graduate from our CEE undergraduate program, Garrett will be starting his masters in Fall 2025 and joins our group as a masters researcher.
03/2025 Selected by the NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) to join a visioning workshop on engineering research to catalyze resilient rural communities. Thanks University of Iowa for hosting us, and looking forward to the report and future research collaborations to come!
02/2025 Had a great visit to University of Wisconsin Madison as a part of the NEEP Seminar Series, where I shared our work on fast algorithms (aka physics-informed machine learning) and equitable frameworks (our new work on Locational Marginal Burden) for renewable-rich power systems.
02/2025 Great to give a talk at UM's Electric-Water Utility Resilience Summit and interact with utility operators, government officials, and fellow academic researchers on critical topics of resilience. Great conversations and many directions for impactful future work!
10/2024 Join HerWILL and AI4OPT for a workshop series and datathon on AI for Equality! I'll be giving the first workshop of the series "Python Essentials Unleashed". The program is open to all -- wherever in the world you are, you can participate in the series and datathon. Looking forward to meeting our participants on October 11th!
Read more about the workshop here, with the registration link in the post.
Looking forward to U-M CEE:
I sat down with U-M CEE for the Connections & Directions podcast series to discuss my research, teaching, and diversity work. Looking forward to joining in January 2025!
You can also read more in my interview with Mason Hinawi, from U-M CEE, an excerpt of which is below:
"
Haider’s research centers around energy and power systems and their design and operation in a decarbonized future; her work has involved developing tools in physics-informed machine learning, distributing intelligence for grid-edge devices, and designing future electricity markets. When dealing with energy and power systems, Professor Haider emphasizes the human-centric nature of her work and research — an emphasis that closely aligns with Michigan Engineering’s “People First” strategic vision.
“Energy is an infrastructure system,” Haider explained. “It shares a lot of the properties that we think about when we think of other built infrastructure, like roads, water networks, or city buildings. And when you’re thinking about civil infrastructure, you’re also thinking about the users of that system.”
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