ECE Alumnus Novosel Recognized with Leadership Award
June 28, 2023
Dr. Damir Novosel
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering alumnus Damir Novosel has been named the recipient of The IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES)’s 2023 IEEE PES Leadership in Power Award.
The award, which recognizes exceptional power engineers for outstanding career-long contributions to the art and science of electric power engineering, will be presented to Novosel in July at the IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting Awards Gala Dinner and Ceremony.
This award specifically recognizes leadership within IEEE and in the industry, noting that it is for promoting and mentoring electric power and energy engineers while creating bridges between the electric power industry and different stakeholders, including government, regulatory bodies, companies, universities, and industry groups.
The IEEE Power & Energy Society sponsors twenty-four society-level awards, and the awards are selected through a competitive nomination process, indicating Novosel’s commitment. He was also recently awarded IEEE PES’s Patrick P. Ryan Meritorious Service Award.
Novosel has been a lifelong volunteer of IEEE with a range of leadership and service activities, including standards. As president of IEEE PES, he formed the IEEE PES Industry Technical Support Leadership Committee, which expanded outreach to industry executives, government, and regulatory bodies (e.g., US DOE, US FERC, and US NERC). While he was the PES President, the membership exceeded 40,000 members.
Novosel is president of Quanta Technology (now a subsidiary of Quanta Services), a company he co-founded in 2006 to provide practical and advanced solutions for modernizing electric grid infrastructure. Quanta Technology has emerged as a major technology, consulting, and testing company providing industry-leading services to the energy industry. He was also president of Quanta Energized Services, which achieved a perfect safety record during his tenure. Before that, in 2003, he established KEMA’s North American T&D Consulting arm to provide engineering and strategic consulting services. Previously as VP of Technology and Product Management at ABB, Novosel led a team of approximately 1,200 people in developing a portfolio of new products and systems for the global market.
He is regularly invited to be a keynote speaker and a plenary panelist at global industry conferences. Throughout his career, he has also held 18 national and international patents, authored over 200 articles and reports, and contributed to seven books.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina and his master’s degree at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, he earned his Ph.D. in 1991 at Mississippi State University.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Mississippi State University consists of 27 faculty members (including seven endowed professors), seven professional staff, and over 700 undergraduate and graduate students, with approximately 100 being at the Ph.D. level. With a research expenditure of over $14.24 million, the department houses the largest High Voltage Laboratory among North American universities.