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RAJIV K. VARMA is an Associate Professor and Hydro One Chair in Power Systems Engineering in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Western University.

He obtained B.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India, in 1980 and 1988, respectively.  He joined Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, as Research Associate in1988 and was appointed as Assistant Professor at the same Institute in 1989. He was awarded the Government of India BOYSCAST Young Scientist Fellowship in 1992-93 to conduct research on Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), London, Canada. He continued as Visiting Assistant Professor at UWO until Dec. 1994. He returned to IIT Kanpur and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1997. However, he maintained active research collaboration with researchers at the University of Western Ontario, and was appointed Adjunct Professor at UWO from July 96 to June 99. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship of U.S. Educational Foundation in India to travel to United States in 1998 and do research at Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Dept. of Energy, at  Portland Oregon.  He became Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2001 prior to joining University of Western Ontario in Jan. 2002. Dr. Varma is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Waterloo.

He is an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery and Chair of IEEE Working Group on HVDC and FACTS Bibliography. His teaching and research interests include Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS), Grid Integration of Wind and Solar Power Generation, and Power System Stability. 

Dr. Rajiv Varma is Western's project lead in a recently awarded $6 Million research grant from Ontario Centre of Excellence for the project “Large-Scale Photovoltaic Solar Power Integration in Transmission and Distribution Networks”. This project has 16 faculty members – 10 from Western and 6 from University of Waterloo. The project is supported by four major industries/ utilities – Hydro One, Optisolar Farms Canada, London Hydro and Bluewater Power, Sarnia.

Dr. Varma has developed a new technology of utilizing PV solar farms in the nights. This will be showcased in two sites in London Hydro and one site in Bluewater Power, Sarnia.

Awards

·   Terry Base Award for Outstanding Teaching in Mechanical & Materials Engineering in 2011/12 academic year

·   Co-nominated by London Economic Development Council (LEDC, City of London, for the "Canadian Energy Innovation Award" 2010 for “Utilization of PV Solar Farms in the Night”.

·   Certificate of Appreciation by IEEE Power Engineering Society, Substations Committee, for Static Var Compensator WG I4 Special Publication: SVC Refurbishment, 2010

·   Certificate of Appreciation by IEEE Power Engineering Society, Substations Committee, for Voltage Source Converter WG I5 Special Publication: Voltage Source Converter (VSC) Applications in Power Transmission 2008

·    University of Western Ontario USC Teaching Honour Roll Award of Excellence for each of the following 9 years :

v     2009-2010

v     2008-2009

v     2007-2008

v     2006-2007

v     2005-2006

v     2004-2005

v     2003-2004

v     2002-2003

v     2001-2002

·       "Faculty of Engineering R. Mohan Mathur Award for Excellence in Teaching" 2003

·       Nomination for University of Western Ontario USC Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for the years:

v     2004-2005

v     2003-2004

·       Fulbright Scholar of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India, to conduct research at Bonneville Power Administration (B.P.A.), U.S. Dept. of Energy, Portland, Oregon, USA, during May-Aug. 1998

·        BOYSCAST (Better Opportunities for Young Scientists in Chosen Areas of Science and Technology) Fellow of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, for pursuing advanced research in electric power systems in Canada, during 1992-94.