Careers Job Description
General Description
The Renewable Energy Systems Lab located at the City University of New York—College of Staten Island, has an opening for a PhD student in the area of distributed control and signal processing with applications to electric power. The position is funded by the US Federal Government. Research will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. Vinay Vaishampayan.
Other Duties
Electrical power grids of the future will have high penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). An electrical grid must provide reliable service to its customers despite the intermittent and variable sources of power. In response to this, the electrical grid of the future will be highly instrumented and will incorporate energy storage to smooth out variations in energy supply. Traditional centralized forms of network control scale poorly with the number of resources, represent a single point of failure, and are vulnerable to external attacks. The candidate will work in a suitable area related to power grids of the future, including but not limited to distributed state estimation and control, security and resilience, energy storage, and related technologies.
Qualifications
Applicants should have a Master’s degree with a specialization in one of the following areas: electric power or signal processing/communications/control. Candidates with strong programming and system-building skills, and training in optimization/statistical methods/AI will be preferred.
Successful candidates will be expected to complete required coursework, pass a qualifying exam, conduct research for their PhD dissertation and teach courses in the engineering program.
RFCUNY Benefits
RFCUNY Employee Benefits and AccrualsAbout the Research Foundation
The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) is a nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1963 to provide post-award fiscal and administrative support for CUNY’s research and sponsored programs. RFCUNY’s services allow CUNY researchers, faculty, and staff to focus on their intellectual curiosity and scientific discoveries, on projects and programs that serve our local and global communities, proposing concrete solutions to society’s most pressing challenges.
RFCUNY serves as a fiscal agent and works closely with all the CUNY campus Grants Offices to perform the core functions of post-award financial management for CUNY research projects and sponsored programs. These functions include legal assessment and signing of agreements where RFCUNY is named as a fiscal agent; setting up award accounts; preparing sub-awards and assisting PIs in monitoring the work of the recipients of sub-awards; supporting project directors with hiring and managing research project and sponsored program staff; supporting the purchasing and paying for goods and services with grant and program funds; managing financial aspects of projects including accounts receivable, financial reporting, invoicing, budget monitoring, and cost compliance with uniform guidance; ensuring that sponsor financial requirements are met; monitoring compliance with applicable project and financial management rules and laws; supporting the management of independent and external audits and financial reviews; and providing data, information, management expertise, and other supports to CUNY’s research and sponsored programs.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
Key Features
Engineering Department
Part Time
$36,000.00 - $36,000.00
0.00-19.00
Jan 19, 2026 (Or Until Filled)