Harun Or Rashid Howlader (D.Eng.) joined the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) in 2023 as a postdoc researcher. Prior to joining HNEI, he was a postdoc fellow under the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of the Ryukyus, Japan. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees from the same department and university.

He obtained a JSPS Young Scientist Scholarship for his Ph.D. and a JSPS Kakenhi research grant for three years. He was awarded the President’s Honorary Award, which is equivalent to the best student awards for both Ph.D. and Master’s degrees. He worked at Power Guard Co. Ltd. (a renewable O&M company) in Japan as a System Engineer-Solar (PV) before joining the JSPS postdoc. Dr. Harun received a couple of best paper awards from IEEE national and international conferences.

His research interests are in the areas of power systems optimization, microgrid, smart grid, distributed generation, power system design, utility-scale renewable energy integration, power flow analysis, techno-economics analysis, energy storage systems, grid automation, IoT, grid resilience, unit commitment, power system stability, demand-side and supply-side management, power market, and demand response. During his scientific career, he has been involved in various professional activities.

He has been invited as conference chair and guest editor from prestigious events and journals. He serves as an invited speaker, research article reviewer, and research proposal reviewer for prestigious journals and institutes. He holds IEEE Graduate Membership and IEEE Membership for Young Professionals. He has completed several practical research projects for renewable energy development.