About
Md Fazley Rafy is a power and cyber-physical systems engineer with strong expertise at the intersection of electric power systems, software, and data-driven intelligence. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Dhaka in 2017 and completed his PhD in Computer Science at West Virginia University in 2027. His work focuses on smart grid resilience, distributed energy resource (DER) integration, real-time monitoring and control, and cyber-physical security for modern power distribution systems. He has extensive experience developing and validating hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and cyber-physical testbeds using platforms such as Typhoon HIL, RTDS, OpenDSS, PSCAD, and Raspberry Pi–based edge controllers, enabling realistic evaluation of distributed control, communication delays, and cyber-attack scenarios. His research includes applied machine learning and optimization for voltage control, loss estimation, behind-the-meter disaggregation, battery energy storage management, and anomaly detection, with a strong emphasis on deployment-relevant solutions for utilities and grid operators. Md. Rafy has contributed to multi-institutional projects funded by DOE and NSF, collaborating with national laboratories, utilities, and industry partners, and has published extensively in IEEE journals and conferences. He is an IEEE and IEEE Power & Energy Society member, serves as a reviewer for leading journals, and has been actively involved in professional service and mentoring. Through West Virginia University’s Research Apprenticeship Program (RAP), he has mentored undergraduate researchers in power systems, industrial control systems, and cyber-physical security, helping bridge academic research with practical engineering workflows. His professional interests center on translating advanced research into scalable, reliable, and secure energy infrastructure, with a long-term focus on intelligent, autonomous, and resilient power distribution systems.
Research Interests
- Cyber-physical resilience and security for DER-rich distribution systems
- HIL/co-simulation testbeds (Typhoon HIL, OpenDSS) and IoT controller integration
- Distributed control, situational awareness, and cyber-resilient operations
- ML/optimization for stability assessment, estimation, and resilient control
Current Highlights
- Research Assistant, SG-REAL Lab (WVU): cyber-physical testbeds and resiliency methods for distribution systems
- Recent publication: “Cyber resilience in solar-rich networked microgrids…” (IEEE TIA, 2025)
- Mentoring undergraduates (RAP) on ICS security and DER testbed experiments
Recent News/ Activities
- March: Joining as Distributed Energy System researcher at National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) (former NREL), Golden, Colorado for summer 2026.
- March: New published IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications (TIA) paper on "Edge-Driven Distributed Control for Power Distribution: A Real-Time Hardware-in-the-Loop Testbed for Industrial Automation and Applications" with Digital Object Identifier or DOI: 10.1109/TIA.2026.3678576.
- March: Reviewed eight papers for Springer Nature Journals.
- March: Attended IEEE Congressional Visits Day (CVD), Washington DC capitol, USA and presented policy recommendations.
- February: Attended and presented in the 2026 Texas Power and Energy Conference (TPEC), College Stataion, TX, USA.
- January 2026: Nominated as a finalist for the 2026 Travis Stimeling Awards for Mentoring of Undergraduates in Research
- More at News
Quick Links
View my Publications and Projects.