Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Electrical Engineering Alumnus Elected to National Academy of Engineering

 

Contact:
Dana Schmidt, communications specialist, (515) 294-3071, schmidtdiastate.edu

Ames, Iowa – Electrical engineering alumnus Paul M. Anderson (BSEE ’49; MSEE ’58; PhDEE ’61) and a former Iowa State University electrical engineering faculty member, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering this spring. This election, among the highest professional distinctions awarded to engineers, honors Anderson for his contributions that have advanced the analysis and control of electric power systems worldwide.

Anderson is most well known for the seven books he authored on topics related to electric power and energy systems engineering. Three of the books have been translated into Chinese and one into Russian. Each of Anderson’s books was published at a time when industry was in great need for texts on a particular subject. His book Series Compensation of Power Systems (1996) is a complete theoretical and practical guide for the application of series capacitors in power systems. His book Analysis of Faulted Power Systems (1973) is the most comprehensive book on the subjects of symmetrical components, changes in symmetry, and simultaneous faults. And Power System Control and Stability (1977), which he coauthored with Abdel-Aziz Fouad (PhDEE ’56), significantly advanced the knowledge base on power system stability.

“Paul Anderson’s accomplishments were tremendous,” says Arun K. Somani, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “His books are classics, and he was among the guiding forces behind Iowa State’s rise to prominence in electric power research and education.”

Anderson started his career in 1949 as an electrical engineer at Iowa Public Service and returned to his alma mater in 1955 as an instructor, eventually being promoted to a professor in 1968. During his time at Iowa State, Anderson helped establish the Power Affiliate Research Program (now called the Electric Power Research Center), created power engineering as a specialty area of graduate study, and started the Midwest Power Symposium.

In 1978, Anderson left Iowa State to serve as president, founder, and principal engineer at Power Math Associates, a power systems consulting firm. He later went on to be a professor at both Arizona State University and Washington State University in the 1980s and 1990s. He is a registered engineer in Iowa, California, and Arizona.

Anderson and his wife Virginia currently reside in San Diego, California.

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