Gokaraju appointed Associate Dean Graduate Studies and Special Projects

Dr. Rama Gokaraju (PhD) has been appointed Interim Associate Dean Graduate Studies and Special Projects at the University of Saskatchewan College of Engineering (USask Engineering).

He is stepping in for Dr. Carey Simonson (PhD), who began serving as the college’s interim dean on July 1.

“Rama’s leadership will have a positive impact on our college community and continue to build momentum around our graduate programs,” Simonson said in announcing Gokaraju’s appointment.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity to serve the college to streamline our graduate-related processes and rejuvenate some of our graduate programs,” said Gokaraju.

He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree (with Distinction) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Regional Engineering College (National Institute of Technology) in Trichy, India in 1992. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary in 1996 and 2000, respectively.

In July 2003, Gokaraju joined USask Engineering’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering as an Assistant Professor. He received tenure/Associate Professorship in July 2009 and became a professor in July 2015.

Gokaraju, who has successfully mentored more than 35 graduate students (including 8 PhDs) to completion, has served as graduate chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and as a member of the College Review Committee.

His research is in the area of power system protection and smart grids, and he is a member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants Evaluation Group in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is widely recognized for his contributions to online transient stability prediction methods to prevent power system blackouts, high-speed relaying and developing computer models for the new small modular reactors (SMRs) to analyze their operation for power generation.

In June, Gokaraju received $360,000 from NSERC and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to analyze operational and safety aspects of SMR-based power plants.