About

The GRid-Interactive Frameworks For Intelligent iNfrastructure (GRIFFIN) lab is led by Professor Kyri Baker of the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). Our research topics include:

- Power systems operation, control, and planning
- Renewable energy integration
- Building-to-grid interactions
- Machine learning for energy systems
- Water-energy nexus studies
- Stochastic and distributed optimization techniques with energy applications
- Energy sustainability and resiliency

News and Events

2/2024 Dr. Baker gave a seminar at the UT Austin Energy Symposium [video].

1/2024 New paper, "Optimizing Multi-Timestep Security-Constrained Optimal Power Flow for Large Power Grids," accepted into the IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference.

1/2024 New paper, "Supply, demand, and polarization challenges facing U.S. climate policies," accepted into Nature Climate Change .

11/2023 New paper "Balancing cost, water, emissions, and reliability in power systems operations," accepted into Environmental Research Letters.

10/2023 Dr. Baker is honored to receive the Dean's Performance Award for Professional Progress.

10/2023 New paper "A Framework for Optimizing Lighting in Animal Shelters for Domestic Cats," accepted into the 9th Light Symposium.

9/2023 New paper "Trends in Equitable Electric Vehicle Adoption and Impacts on Pavement Condition and Electric Power Infrastructure," accepted into Construction Research Congress.

9/2023 Dr. Baker is honored to receive the Provost's Faculty Achievement Award (4 awards given to pre-tenure faculty campus-wide).

9/2023 New paper "Weather-Induced Power Outage Prediction: A Comparison of Machine Learning Models" accepted into IEEE SmartGridComm.

8/2023 New paper "An Analysis of the Reliability of AC Optimal Power Flow Deep Learning Proxies" accepted into ISGT-LA.

8/2023 New paper "EDGIE: A simulation test-bed for investigating the impacts of building and vehicle electrification on distribution grids" accepted into The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).

8/2023 New journal article "Optimizing Solar Panel Placement through Passive Architectural Design" accepted into ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering.

8/2023 Dr. Baker gave a virtual seminar at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

7/2023 New journal article "Price Perturbations for Privacy Preserving Demand Response with Distribution Network Awareness" accepted into IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

7/2023 Electric Stampede placed third overall in the ARPA-E Grid Optimization Competition Challenge 3 (Event 3)!

6/2023 Our paper, "Modeling of a Clean Hybrid Energy System Considering Practical Limitations for Techno-Economic Energy Analysis", was accepted into the IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting.

6/2023 Congratulations to Jacob Kravits for a successful PhD defense!

6/2023 Dr. Baker spoke at Amazon, the International Energy Workshop, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).

6/2023 New journal article "Gradient-Enhanced Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Power Systems Operational Support," in Electric Power Systems Research.

5/2023 New collaborative NSF EPCN grant with Ferdinando Fioretto on Physics Informed Real-time Optimal Power Flow!

5/2023 The GNOMES Competition has ended. Congratulations to all winners!

5/2023 Congratulations to undergraduate researchers Kendall and Simone for winning the College of Engineering and CEAE Department Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher awards!

4/2023 "Do You Even Decarbonize, Bro?" New York Times article [link].

4/2023 Dr. Baker spoke at the 75th Conference on World Affairs at CU Boulder.

4/2023 Our paper, "Techno-Economic Analysis of Electrified Ethylene Plant Operation under Receding Horizon Control," was accepted into the IEEE Kansas Power and Energy Conference!

3/2023 Dr. Baker traveled to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD to present our research at CISS.

2/2023 Dr. Baker was elevated to the grade of Senior Member of the IEEE.

2/2023 Our paper, "Carbon Emissions Resulting from Different Power Flow Models for Dispatch," was accepted into IEEE PESGM!

2/2023 Dr. Baker traveled to Copenhangen, Denmark to attend a PhD defense and give a seminar.

1/2023 New journal article ``Decarbonization of the chemical industry through electrification: Barriers and opportunities,'' published in Joule.

1/2023 Congratulations to PhD students Ash Pigott and Jim Hurtt for passing their Comprehensive Exams!

12/2022 Dr. Baker attended the White House Electrification Summit in Washington DC. [photo]

12/2022 Congratulations to Anna for graduating with her MS degree!

11/2022 Led by UT Austin, we received a $400k grant from ARPA-E.

11/2022 Congratulations to Nick for passing his MS thesis defense!

11/2022 Dr. Baker presented at the 2022 IEEE 8th World Forum on Internet of Things (WFIoT).

11/2022 Dr. Baker gave a keynote speech at the National Federation of Municipal Analysts: Fall Advanced Seminar on Public Power.

10/2022 Anna, Kendall, and Dr. Baker traveled to Salt Lake City for NAPS, where the students presented their research.

9/2022 Dr. Baker traveled to Golden, CO and gave a talk at the Colorado School of Mines.

9/2022 Our paper, "Solar and Battery Sizing for Continuous Operation of Electrified Ethylene Plants," was accepted into NAPS!

9/2022 Dr. Baker traveled to Columbus, OH and gave a talk at The Ohio State University.

8/2022 Dr. Baker spoke at the 2022 Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) Conference.

7/2022 Our papers, "The Effect of Renewable Electricity Generation on the Value of Cross-border Interconnection," was accepted into Applied Energy, and "Emulating AC OPF solvers with Neural Networks," was accepted into IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (Letters).

7/2022 Seven Griffin Lab members were able to attend the IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting in Denver.

7/2022 Dr. Baker received the 2022 John and Mercedes Peebles Innovation in Education Award.

6/2022 Dr. Baker and PhD student Ash Pigott traveled to Porto, Portugal to attend PSCC and Ash presented our GridLearn paper.

6/2022 Our paper, "An optimization framework for the network design of advanced district thermal energy systems," was accepted into Energy Conversion and Management.

6/2022 Congratulations to PhD student Jacob Kravits for passing his Comprehensive Exam!

5/2022 Dr. Baker received the runner up award for the Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, Energy Systems Division.

5/2022 Dr. Baker recieved the CEAE Teaching Award and AREN Faculty Apprciation Award.

4/2022 We presented our research at IEEE T&D and IEEE ISGT in New Orleans.

3/2022 Dr. Baker travelled to Houston, TX and gave an invited talk at Rice University.

3/2022 Two papers were accepted into the 2022 PMAPS conference!

2/2022 Dr. Baker gave virtual seminars at West Virginia University, University of North Texas, and the Q4Climate workshop.

2/2022 Our group got 3 papers accepted into IEEE PESGM and one paper accepted into PSCC!

1/2022 Our paper, "Feasible Region-Based Heuristics for Optimal Transmission Switching," was accepted into Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks.

1/2022 Our paper, "Incorporating thermoelectric power plant water use into multi-objective optimal power flow," was accepted into the journal Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability.

12/2021 Dr. Baker received an Outstanding Associate Editor Award of 2021 from IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

11/2021 Two papers were accepted to the 2022 IEEE PES ISGT North America conference!

10/2021 Dr. Baker travelled to College Station, TX and gave a seminar at Texas A&M University.

10/2021 The CU Boulder-led team Electric Stampede, in collaboration with UT Austin, placed 5th overall (and 1st in terms of university-led teams) in the ARPA-E Grid Optimization (GO) Competition Challenge 2 and will receive $140,000 in prize money. [Press Release]

9/2021 CU Boulder and CCNY received a $1.5M grant from the National Science Foundation ($3M with industry matching funds) to start the Building Energy Smart Technologies (BEST) Center. Read more here!

9/2021 Dr. Baker travelled to Pittsburgh, PA and gave an invited seminar at Carnegie Mellon University.

9/2021 Congratulations to postdoc Constance Crozier for winning one of two university wide Outstanding Postdoc awards!

8/2021 The 'Research' page of this website has been updated to include links to open-sourced code corresponding to papers where available.

8/2021 We received a $25k grant from the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute to study equitable demand response.

7/2021 Congrats to PhD student Amy Allen and MS student Nick Shenberger for their successful defenses!

6/2021 Led by UT Austin, our paper on the 2021 winter blackout in Texas was published in Energy Research & Social Science.

5/2021 Two papers are accepted into ACM e-Energy, one of which received runner-up for best paper.

5/2021 Dr. Baker received the CEAE Department Early Career Researcher award. Thank you!

4/2021 Dr. Baker gave an invited seminar for the MIT enOPTIMAL series on learning for power systems problems.

4/2021 MS students Jes Stershic and Sarah Dafoe successfully defended their Masters theses!

4/2021 Congratulations to PhD student Sung Min Kim for receiving the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

3/2021 Our paper, "Screening Tool for Dam Hazard Potential Classification Using Machine Learning and Multi-Objective Hyperparameter Tuning," was accepted into the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.

2/2021 Jacob, Constance, and Aisling got papers accepted into the 2021 IEEE PES General Meeting. Jim got his paper accepted into the 2021 IEEE PowerTech conference, and Sung Min got her paper accepted into the 2021 NAPS conference. Congrats everyone!

2/2021 Dr. Baker gave a presentation to the Energy Systems Catapult on "Using Data to Improve the Reliability and Speed of Power Grid Operations."

2/2021 Dr. Baker received the NSF CAREER Award!

1/2021 Dr. Baker presented our work on "Emulating AC OPF solvers for Obtaining Sub-second Feasible, Near-Optimal Solutions" at the 2021 Grid Science Winter School and Conference.

12/2020 We received a seed grant to study electric vehicle impacts on infrastructure through the RISE: Resilient Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity interdisciplinary research theme at CU Boulder.

12/2020 Dr. Baker moderated a panel on COVID-19 and the power grid, co-hosted by Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) and Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory.

12/2020 Our paper, "Sensitivity Analysis of Photovoltaic System Design Parameters to Passively Mitigate Ramp Rates," was accepted into the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.

12/2020 In collaboration with NREL, our paper, "Learning-Accelerated ADMM for Distributed DC Optimal Power Flow," was accepted into IEEE Control Systems Letters.

11/2020 Dr. Baker was a panelist and presented for the Climate Change AI and the Energy Innovation Network on "Optimizing Large- Scale Grids in Real-Time with ML."

11/2020 Dr. Baker gave a virtual seminar at Newcastle University entitled "From Transmission to Thermostat: Integrated Building/Grid Operations."

10/2020 PhD student Kaitlyn Garifi successfully passed her PhD defense. Congrats, Dr. Garifi!

10/2020 In collaboration with ETH Zurich, our journal paper, "Consumer privacy protection using flexible thermal loads: Theoretical limits and practical considerations", was accepted was accepted for publication in in Applied Energy.

10/2020 Dr. Baker was a guest on and presented for The Institute of Science and Policy and Denver Museum of Nature and Science's webinar on "The Future of Energy: Grid Innovations."

9/2020 Our patent, "Network-cognizant voltage droop control," was issued on Sept. 22 with the U.S. Patent Office, receiving U.S. Patent No. 10,784,682 B2.

9/2020 Dr. Baker is a Guest Editor for the Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy, special issue on "Power Systems with Increasing Renewable Penetration: Market, Operations, Planning and Regulation." Consider submitting!

8/2020 Dr. Baker gave a talk on "Learning-Boosted Optimal Power Flow" at the Workshop on Autonomous Energy Systems at NREL (virtually).

7/2020 Our journal paper, "Assessments of Data Centers for Provision of Frequency Regulation," was accepted for publication in in Applied Energy.

7/2020 Dr. Baker gave a keynote speech titled "The Future of ML for Smart Energy Systems" at the International Virtual Conference on AI and ML Applications in Smart Buildings.

7/2020 In collaboration with the University of Texas at Dallas, our two-part journal paper, "Data-based distributionally robust stochastic optimal power flow," was awarded the best paper award for IEEE Transactions on Power Systems for papers published between 2017-2019, one of only seven papers to receive the honor. [Announcement]

6/2020 Dr. Baker is now a Fellow of the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI).

6/2020 Our journal paper, "Evaluation of Low-Exergy Heating and Cooling Systems and Topology Optimization for Deep Energy Savings at the Urban District Level" was accepted for publication in Energy Conversion and Management.

5/2020 Dr. Baker gave a seminar on how COVID-19 is affecting the electric power grid. [Video]

5/2020 Dr. Baker is now an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and IEEE Power Engineering Letters.

[News Archive]

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