News: I will be joining the University of Calgary as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in January 2026, with a joint appointment in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Earth, Energy and Environment. I am currently seeking Ph.D. students for the Fall 2026 semester through the Ph.D. in Mathematics and Statistics or Ph.D. in Geoscience programs. If you are passionate about mathematical modeling and optimization for power and energy systems, and interested in working with me, please send your CV, transcript, and a brief statement of research interests to zhiruiliang95@gmail.com with a subject line “Prospective PhD: [Your Name]”.

Additionally, I can host postdoctoral researchers through the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) fellowship. Please see the job posting for details, and feel free to contact me via email if you’re interested.

I am a Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS), University of Michigan. Under the mentorship of Prof. Vladimir Dvorkin and Prof. Jiasi Chen, I will investigate the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI and data centers with modern power grids, addressing their substantial electricity consumption while leveraging their inherent spatial-temporal load-shifting flexibility.

My research lies at the intersection of power system engineering, operations research, machine learning, and energy economics. My work focuses on addressing the challenges of increasing uncertainty, data complexity, and information asymmetry in modern power systems. I develop optimization and machine learning-based decision-support tools that re-imagine the process from raw data to power system operational decisions. This research supports the integration of high levels of variable renewable energy while improving the reliability, efficiency, robustness, and transparency of power and energy systems.

I received my Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU). I worked with Prof. Yury Dvorkin in the Smart Energy Research (SEARCH) group, affiliated with the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) at JHU.