Walmir Freitas

Professor

UNICAMP/FEEC/DSE
Av. Albert Einstein, 400
13083-852, Campinas Brazil
Phone: +55 19 35213740

walmir (you know what) unicamp . br

CV and scientific and technological productions:

Web of Science
Google Scholar
Scopus
ORCID
CV (English)
Lattes (Portuguese)

A few presentations: here

Short-Bio:

I am a Full Professor at the Department of Systems and Energy (DSE) at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC) at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil, where I have been a faculty member since 2006. UNICAMP is one of the best universities in Latin America regularly classified as the top 3 in the main international academic rankings, such as QS Quacquarelli Symonds and Times Higher Education. I earned my B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), in 1994 and 1996, respectively, and my Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in 2001.

My research interests include integration of distributed energy resources, analysis of power systems, application of data analytics to distribution systems, power system protection, control and automation, power quality, and sustainable energy systems. In collaboration with my team, I have co-authored more than 80 papers published in peer-reviewed top-class journals and more than 100 papers published in peer-reviewed top-class conferences, which have been highly cited. In 2022, I was listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University and ranked as Top 10 Electronics and Electrical Engineering Scientist in Brazil in Research.com – Top Scientists Ranking. As of January 2024, these are the main citation metrics considering the most relevant scientific databases: Scopus: number of citations: 4,065, H-index: 33; Web of Science: number of citations: 2,851, H-index: 31; Google Scholar: number of citations 6,321, H-index: 39; IEEE Xplore: number of citations 2,795, number of downloads/views: 89,818.

I am also a co-inventor of 3 patents and 2 registered and licensed software. One of them, is commercialized by a major Brazilian IT company for distribution planning and decision-making processes considering the integration of distributed energy resources. The other one is used by a major Brazilian distribution utility (CPFL Energy with more than 10,000,000 customers) for energy loss management.

I am a co-author of a technical book on short-circuit analysis, written in Portuguese, which sold more than 3,000 copies, and it has been adopted by young engineers to fill the gap between theory and practice and by senior engineers to update their knowledge. The main contribution of this book is its technical-theoretical approach based on the experience of the authors.

I manage an active research program supported by industry and government agencies. As Principal Investigator (PI), I have participated in more than 50 R&D projects for Brazilian, Canadian, Indian and Costa Rican utilities and government agencies. These projects have attracted more than R$ 200,000,000 (~US$ 40,000,000) in investments. As one of the tangible results of these projects, I can mention the implementation of one of the largest, one-of-a-kind, living laboratories in Latin America for the integration of emerging technologies into electrical energy systems. In this concept, several technologies were installed in the field (at the utility feeders and final customers) to investigate the integration of photovoltaic generators, electric vehicles, smart meters, energy storage systems, custom power devices, among others. This living lab sends in real-time billions of measurement data per year to the computer servers installed at UNICAMP, which are used to develop data analytics solutions. More information about this living laboratory can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/3fy76bst

I have served as editor, associate editor, guest associate editor, technical committee member, and reviewer for several international journals and conferences. I was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery and IEEE Power Engineering Letters for 7+ years, from 2014 to 2021, a Guest Editor for special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, and IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Since 2021, I have been an Associate Editor of the IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution. In 2018, I received the Outstanding Reviewer Award from IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, and, in 2023, I received the Outstanding Reviewer Award from IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery.

I was Chair of the IEEE/PES Working Group on Power Quality Data Analytics from 2018 to 2020. As the chair of the working group, I received the IEEE/PES T&D Committee Award for Outstanding Technical Report in 2020. I have served as an invited panelist in more than 10 IEEE/PES Conferences and Meetings and organized several Panels and Special Sessions. From 2017 to 2021, I was a member of the Board of Directors of the NSERC Energy Storage Technology Network (NEST), one of the most relevant Canadian research projects on energy storage applications.

I supervised more than 50 Ph.D. students, M.Sc. students, and post-doctoral researchers. In 2013 and 2023, as a Ph.D. supervisor, I received the Ph.D. Dissertation CAPES National Award, the most prestigious Brazilian award recognizing the best Ph.D. dissertation finished per year. In addition, three Ph.D. dissertations completed under my supervision received the Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award from FEEC/UNICAMP, in 2013, 2018, and 2023. Most of my former students have established successful careers at top universities and research centers in Brazil and abroad. In addition, some of my former students, under my guidance and supervision, have founded a consulting and development company with revenues superior to US$ 1,000,000/year, which commercialize solutions based on my ideas.

At UNICAMP, I have taught several undergraduate and graduate courses related to the energy system area. I have always earned good student evaluation scores and have consistently been ranked as the top 10% of instructors over the past 15 years. I have been nominated several times for the Excellence Academic Award and have been invited multiple times to be the class patron of the undergraduate students.

Based on the previous information, one can see that I have tried to balance my contributions among research, teaching, and technological transfer to the industry. As recognition, I have received the three main awards granted by UNICAMP. In 2015, I received the Zeferino Vaz Award, the most prestigious award granted to recognize the quality of researchers. In 2020, I received the Educator Excellence Award, the most prestigious award granted to recognize the quality of educators. In 2022, I received the Outreach (Community Service) Award, the most prestigious award granted to recognize the contribution for society by transferring knowledge and technology to the industry and other sectors. From a national perspective, since 2006, I have been awarded the Research Productivity Grant (Tier 1) by CNPq (the main Brazilian federal research agency) given to the top Brazilian researchers based strictly on scientific productivity metrics.

In the past, I collaborated intensively with the University of Alberta, Canada, where I worked as a Post-doctoral Fellow and Visiting Professor in several opportunities between 2002 and 2015, collaborating with Prof. Wilsun Xu. More recently, I have started a collaboration with the Centre for Urban Energy at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada, where I worked as a Visiting Professor from 2016 to 2017 and from 2022 to 2023, collaborating with Prof. Bala Venkatesh. Other relevant international collaborations established mainly through student exchanges are with the University of Texas at Austin, USA, collaborating with Prof. Surya Santoso, and the University of Melbourne, Australia, collaborating with Prof. Luis (Nando) Ochoa.

Last update: Jan-24