Dr. Michael Ross is the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Northern Energy Innovation at the YukonU Research Centre, Yukon University. His applied research program addresses the needs of the northern energy industry through academic partnerships with all three colleges in the territories and through industry-driven direction and support from all four territorial electric power utilities. The pertinent engineering research areas for the program focus on integrating a high penetration of renewable generation in remote communities, diesel efficiencies, demand-side management, and residential-utility partnership. Dr. Ross received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering at McGill University, focusing on hierarchical microgrid control and multi-objective optimization, and his Bachelor’s of Applied Science at the University of Toronto focusing on electric power systems. He was an author and active contributor to the CIGRÉ working group C6.28 “Hybrid Systems for Off-grid Power Supply” and C6.22 “Microgrids 1: Engineering, Economics, & Experience”. He is a registered Professional Engineer with Engineers Yukon, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Power and Energy Society, a member of the International Council on Large Electric Systems, the President and Director of the Yukon Science Institute, and is a Level 1 electrician apprentice. He is a reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (2010-present), IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery (2010-present), and IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy (2014-present).

Michael worked as a research engineer at the Hydro-Québec Research Institute (IREQ) from 2011-2014 to upgrade their Distribution Test Line to enable smart grid and microgrid technologies. While working at Hydro-Québec, he was engaged in the collaborative investigation of emerging technologies to reduce diesel consumption in northern Quebec communities for the “Énergie du Nord” project, and he has been involved in projects ranging from a DND project to incorporate battery storage technologies for their forward operating bases, to inrush current mitigation strategies for wind turbines that are energized by the utility after a fault. He was also a technical editor at CEATI International Inc. between 2009-2010.