Brian J. Pierre

Manager, Electric Power Systems Research Department

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Manager, Electric Power Systems Research Department

bjpierr@sandia.gov

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(505) 284-7955

Biography

Dr. Brian J. Pierre is the Manager of the Electric Power Systems Research Department at Sandia National Laboratories. Brian also manages Sandia’s Advanced Grid Modeling Program, Wildfire Electric Grid Resilience Program , and the Consortium for Education and Research in Power and Energy System (CREPES). He holds a M.S.  and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University focused on electric power systems. He has prior experience at the NASA Glenn Research Center and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. He is a Senior Member of IEEE. He received an R&D 100 award in 2017, and was awarded the 2020 IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Young Engineer award “for the development of algorithms and software tools to co-optimize grid resilience and reliability.” The department focuses on:

  • Power system modeling,
  • Power system protection,
  • Power system dynamics,
  • Electric grid stability,
  • Power systems controls,
  • Power system planning and operations,
  • Renewable energy integration,
  • Grid reliability and resilience,
  • Climate change resilience,
  • Threat modeling,
  • Wildfire, smoke, and lightning modeling
  • Grid optimization and electricity markets,
  • Grid applied artificial intelligence and machine learning,
  • Data analytics applied to the electric grid.

Education

  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Emphasis in Power Systems, Arizona State University
  • Masters of Science, Electrical Engineering, Emphasis in Power Systems, Arizona State University
  • Bachelors of Science, Electrical Engineering, Minor in Applied Mathematics, Boise State University

Publications

Brian Pierre, Robert Broderick, Mercy DeMenno, Joseph Paladino, Jennifer Yoshimura, (2022). MOD-Plan: Multi-Objective Decision Planning Framework for Electric Grid Resilience, Equity, and Decarbonization [Slides] https://doi.org/10.2172/1885093 Publication ID: 80121

Manuel Garcia, Brent Austgen, Brian Pierre, John Hasenbein, Erhan Kutanoglu, (2022). Risk-Averse Investment Optimization for Power System Resilience to Winter Storms Proceedings of the IEEE Power Engineering Society Transmission and Distribution Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/TD43745.2022.9816875 Publication ID: 76315

Brent Austgen, Manuel Garcia, Brian Pierre, John Hasenbein, Erhan Kutanoglu, (2022). Winter Storm Scenario Generation for Power Grids Based on Historical Generator Outages Proceedings of the IEEE Power Engineering Society Transmission and Distribution Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/TD43745.2022.9816863 Publication ID: 76317

Kaitlyn Garifi, Emma Johnson, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, (2022). Transmission Grid Resiliency Investment Optimization Model with SOCP Recovery Planning IEEE Transactions on Power Systems https://doi.org/10.1109/TPWRS.2021.3091538 Publication ID: 76728

Joshua Yip, Manuel Garcia, Brian Pierre, (2021). Black-Start Restoration Assisted by Mobile Energy Storage Systems https://doi.org/10.2172/1893283 Publication ID: 76316

David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Karina Munoz-Ramos, (2021). Potential of Solid-State Transformers to Improve Grid Resilience https://doi.org/10.2172/1877790 Publication ID: 79151

Brian Pierre, (2021). Co-optimizing Electric Grid Resilience and Reliability https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1888674 Publication ID: 79084

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, (2021). Control of High Voltage DC Links between Interconnections for Small Signal Stability 2020 52nd North American Power Symposium, NAPS 2020 https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1819251 Publication ID: 74757

Brian Pierre, (2021). Electric Grid Resilience and Reliability Co-optimization https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1863870 Publication ID: 78137

Brian Pierre, (2021). A Framework to Co-optimize Grid Resilience and Reliability Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1862772 Publication ID: 77988

Brian Pierre, (2021). Control of High Voltage DC Links Between Interconnections for Small Signal Stability https://doi.org/10.2172/1863515 Publication ID: 78061

Brent Austgen, Joshua Yip, Brian Pierre, Erhan Kutanoglu, Surya Santoso, (2021). Critical Node Identification Vulnerability Modeling and Topology Optimization for the Electric Grid https://doi.org/10.2172/1861019 Publication ID: 77858

Brian Pierre, (2021). Grid Resilience Optimization while Considering Initial Transient Response and Long-term Restoration https://doi.org/10.2172/1844056 Publication ID: 75432

S. Raja, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, (2021). Dynamic Programming Method to Optimally Select Power Distribution System Reliability Upgrades IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy https://doi.org/10.1109/OAJPE.2021.3062330 Publication ID: 77833

David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Karina Munoz-Ramos, (2021). Potential of Solid-State Transformers to Improve Grid Resilience IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1884407 Publication ID: 79150

Matthew Hoffman, April Nelson, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, Ross Guttromson, (2021). Optimizing Power System Stability Margins after Wide-Area Emergencies IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM46819.2021.9637948 Publication ID: 77463

Brian Pierre, Daniel Krofcheck, Matthew Hoffman, Ross Guttromson, Richard Schiek, Jimmy Quiroz, (2021). Modeling Framework for Bulk Electric Grid Impacts from HEMP E1 and E3 Effects (Tasks 3.1 Final Report) https://doi.org/10.2172/1764794 Publication ID: 75189

Brian Pierre, (2020). A Framework to Co-optimize Grid Resilience and Reliability Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1837420 Publication ID: 72347

Karina Munoz-Ramos, David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Matthew Hoffman, (2020). ISGT North America 2021 ? Panel Session Submission https://doi.org/10.2172/1835218 Publication ID: 72112

Ross Guttromson, Craig Lawton, Matthew Halligan, Dale Huber, Jack Flicker, Matthew Hoffman, Tyler Bowman, Salvatore Campione, Paul Clem, Andrew Fiero, Clifford Hansen, Rodrigo Llanes, Robert Pfeiffer, Brian Pierre, Luis San Martin, David Sanabria, Richard Schiek, Oleksiy Slobodyan, Larry Warne, (2020). Electromagnetic Pulse – Resilient Electric Grid for National Security: Research Program Executive Summary https://doi.org/10.2172/1879618 Publication ID: 71301

Brian Pierre, (2020). Co-optimizing Electric Grid Reliability and Resilience Investments https://doi.org/10.2172/1826995 Publication ID: 71342

Brian Pierre, (2020). Optimizing for Grid Resilience while Considering Initial Transient Impacts and Long-term Restoration https://doi.org/10.2172/1826996 Publication ID: 71343

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, Manuel Garcia, (2020). Optimal Investments to Improve Grid Resilience Considering Initial Transient Response and Long-Term Restoration 2020 International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems, PMAPS 2020 – Proceedings https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1812996 Publication ID: 74453

Brian Pierre, Ross Guttromson, John Eddy, Richard Schiek, Jimmy Quiroz, Matthew Hoffman, (2020). A Framework to Evaluate Grid Consequences from High Altitude EMP Events https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1810043 Publication ID: 74171

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Raymond Byrne, (2020). A Frequency-shaped Controller for Damping Inter-area Oscillations in Power Systems https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1807415 Publication ID: 73767

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Raymond Byrne, (2020). A Frequency-shaped Controller for Damping Inter-area Oscillations in Power Systems https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1807337 Publication ID: 73683

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, Manuel Garcia, (2020). Optimal Investments to Improve Grid Resilience Considering Initial Transient Response and Long-term Restoration https://doi.org/10.1109/PMAPS47429.2020.9183506 Publication ID: 73585

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Daniel Trudnowski, (2020). Forced oscillations in the western interconnection with the pacific dc intertie wide area damping controller 2020 IEEE Power and Energy Society Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, ISGT 2020 https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1765303 Publication ID: 72468

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, Kaitlyn Garifi, (2020). Co-optimization to Integrate Power System Reliability Decisions with Resiliency Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1783609 Publication ID: 72878

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Daniel Trudnowski, (2020). Forced Oscillations in the Western Interconnection with the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller https://doi.org/10.1109/ISGT45199.2020.9087750 Publication ID: 71076

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Daniel Trudnowski, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, (2019). Design of the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller IEEE Transactions on Power Systems https://doi.org/10.1109/TPWRS.2019.2903782 Publication ID: 67638

Emma Johnson, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, Shabbir Ahmed, (2019). Comparing Generalized Disjunctive Programming (GDP) and Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) in Energy Resilience Modeling https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1641161 Publication ID: 69729

Brian Pierre, Mohamed Elkhatib, Andy Hoke, (2019). Photovoltaic Inverter Momentary Cessation: Recovery Process is Key Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8981154 Publication ID: 68950

Brian Pierre, Hugo Villegas Pico, Ryan Elliott, Jack Flicker, Yashen Lin, Brian Johnson, Joseph Eto, Robert Lasseter, Abraham Ellis, (2019). Bulk Power System Dynamics with Varying Levels of Synchronous Generators and Grid-Forming Power Inverters Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8980733 Publication ID: 68953

Brian Pierre, Brian Johnson, (2019). Bulk Power System Dynamics with Varying Levels of Synchronous Generators and Grid-forming Power Inverters https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8980733 Publication ID: 69294

Brian Pierre, (2019). Photovoltaic Inverter Momentary Cessation: Recovery Process is Key https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC40753.2019.8981154 Publication ID: 69309

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Christoph Lackner, David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, (2019). Real Time Tool to Characterize Power System Communication Delays https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1648741 Publication ID: 67969

David Schoenwald, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, Dan Trudnowski, (2019). Data Considerations in Real-Time PMU Feedback Control Systems https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1639808 Publication ID: 68053

Brian Pierre, (2019). Co-optimization to Integrate Power System Reliability Decisions with Resiliency Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1648778 Publication ID: 68312

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, (2018). Investment Optimization to Improve Power Distribution System Reliability Metrics IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2018.8586489 Publication ID: 61396

Christoph Lackner, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, (2018). A Tool to Characterize Delays and Packet Losses in Power Systems With Synchrophasor Data IEEE Power and Energy Technology Systems Journal https://doi.org/10.1109/JPETS.2018.2876523 Publication ID: 59744

Brian Pierre, (2018). Co-optimization to Integrate Power System Reliability Decisions with Resiliency Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1761168 Publication ID: 60529

Brian Pierre, Mohamed Elkhatib, Andy Hoke, (2018). PV Inverter Fault Response Including Momentary Cessation, Frequency-Watt, and Virtual Inertia 2018 IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC 2018 – A Joint Conference of 45th IEEE PVSC, 28th PVSEC and 34th EU PVSEC https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548176 Publication ID: 62246

Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, (2018). Co-optimization to Integrate Power System Reliability Decisions with Resiliency Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1573578 Publication ID: 59999

Brian Pierre, (2018). Co-optimization to Integrate Power System Reliability Decisions with Resiliency Decisions https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1592307 Publication ID: 59032

David Schoenwald, Charles Rawlins, David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ryan Elliott, (2018). Executive Summary to PDCI Oscillation Damping Controller Software Documentation https://doi.org/10.2172/1471170 Publication ID: 58838

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Daniel Trudnowski, (2018). Time synchronization in wide area damping control of power systems 2018 International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems, PMAPS 2018 – Proceedings https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1575333 Publication ID: 61202

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, Andrea Staid, Ross Guttromson, (2018). Investment optimization to improve power system resilience 2018 International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems, PMAPS 2018 – Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1109/PMAPS.2018.8440467 Publication ID: 61515

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, (2018). Investment Optimization to Improve Power Distribution System Reliability Metrics https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2018.8586489 Publication ID: 63642

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, (2018). Investment Optimization to Improve Power Distribution System Reliability Metrics https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2018.8586489 Publication ID: 63654

Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Daniel Trudnowski, (2018). Time Synchronization in Wide Area Damping Control of Power Systems -Presentation https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570930 Publication ID: 63156

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Christoph Lackner, Brian Pierre, David Schoenwald, (2018). Real Time Tool to Characterize Power System Communication Delays https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1573763 Publication ID: 63455

Brian Pierre, Bryan Arguello, Andrea Staid, Ross Guttromson, (2018). Investment Optimization to Improve Power System Resilience https://doi.org/10.1109/PMAPS.2018.8440467 Publication ID: 62845

Brian Pierre, Mohamed Elkhatib, Andy Hoke, (2018). PV Inverter Fault Response Including Momentary Cessation Frequency-Watt and Virtual Inertia https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2018.8548176 Publication ID: 62705

David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, (2018). Damping Control Using PMU Feedback https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1515125 Publication ID: 62102

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Daniel Trudnowski, (2018). The Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller https://doi.org/10.1109/TPWRS.2019.2903782 Publication ID: 62104

Daniel Trudnowski, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Dmitry Kosterev, (2018). Initial Closed-Loop Testing Results for the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (Online) https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274724 Publication ID: 61514

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Daniel Trudnowski, (2018). Simulation results for the pacific DC intertie wide area damping controller IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274140 Publication ID: 57624

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ricky Concepcion, Jason Neely, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, (2018). Effect of time delay asymmetries in power system damping control IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8273756 Publication ID: 56916

Daniel Trudnowski, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Dmitry Kosterev, (2018). Initial closed-loop testing results for the pacific DC intertie wide area damping controller IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1640182 Publication ID: 68795

Emma Johnson, Shabbir Ahmed, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, Jean-Paul Watson, (2018). Co-optimizing Power Grid Reliability and Resiliency https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1806478 Publication ID: 58739

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Ryan Elliott, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Daniel Trudnowski, (2017). Open-loop testing results for the pacific DC intertie wide area damping controller 2017 IEEE Manchester PowerTech, Powertech 2017 https://doi.org/10.1109/PTC.2017.7980834 Publication ID: 61397

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ricky Concepcion, Jason Neely, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, (2017). Effect of Time Delay Asymmetries in Power System Damping Control https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8273756 Publication ID: 57361

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Trudnowski Daniel, (2017). Time Delay Definitions and Characterization in the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274082 Publication ID: 57362

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, (2017). Open-Loop Testing Results for the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller https://doi.org/10.1109/PTC.2017.7980834 Publication ID: 57623

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Trudnowski Daniel, (2017). Time Delay Definitions and Characterization in the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274082 Publication ID: 57378

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ricky Concepcion, Jason Neely, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, (2017). Effect of Time Delay Asymmetries in Power System Damping Control https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8273756 Publication ID: 57385

David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Daniel Trudnowski, (2017). Design and Implementation of a Wide-Area Damping Controller Using High Voltage DC Modulation and Synchrophasor Feedback IFAC-PapersOnLine https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1415717 Publication ID: 47763

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Trudnowski Daniel, (2017). Time Delay Definitions and Characterization in the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (Online) https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274082 Publication ID: 56915

Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Daniel Trudnowski, (2017). Simulation Results for the Pacific DC Intertie Wide Area Damping Controller IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (Online) https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2017.8274140 Publication ID: 56783

Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Daniel Trudnowski, Matthew Donnelly, (2017). PDCI Wide-Area Damping Control: PSLF Simulations of the 2016 Open and Closed Loop Test Plan https://doi.org/10.2172/1347499 Publication ID: 55367

Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Dan Trudnowski, James Colwell, (2016). Supervisory system for a wide area damping controller using PDCI modulation and real-time PMU feedback IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2016.7741594 Publication ID: 51155

Jean-Paul Watson, Bryan Arguello, Brian Pierre, Andrea Staid, Carl Laird, (2016). A Stochastic Optimization Approach for Improving Power Systems Resilience through Operations and Planning https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410148 Publication ID: 47843

David Schoenwald, Brian Pierre, Felipe Wilches-Bernal, Ryan Elliott, Raymond Byrne, Jason Neely, Daniel Trudnowski, (2016). Damping of Power Grid Oscillations Using Energy Storage and PMU Feedback https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1395810 Publication ID: 52507

Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Daniel Trudnowski, James Colwell, (2016). Supervisory System for a Wide Area Damping Controller Using PDCI Modulation and Real-Time PMU Feedback https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2016.7741594 Publication ID: 51156

Brian Pierre, Ryan Elliott, David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Daniel Trudnowski, James Colwell, (2016). Supervisory System for a Wide Area Damping Controller Using PDCI Modulation and Real-Time PMU Feedback https://doi.org/10.1109/PESGM.2016.7741594 Publication ID: 51157

David Schoenwald, Jason Neely, Raymond Byrne, Ryan Elliott, Brian Pierre, Daniel Trudnowski, Matthew Donnelly, (2015). Optimal Control of Distributed Networked Energy Storage for Improved Small-Signal Stability https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1325702 Publication ID: 45531

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