I was named a Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois in the Energy Systems and Infrastructure Analysis Division. My research focuses on developing control and optimization algorithms for power and energy systems. I am a 2022 Rising Star in EECS. I received my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2019, where my thesis was on developing control systems for energy harvesting devices. My graduate work was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program and a Rackham Merit Fellowship.

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Publications

  1. Piansky, R., Pollack, M., Kody, A., Gupta, S., and Molzahn, D.K. (2024). “Equitably Allocating Wildfire Resilience Investments for Power Grids – The Curse of Aggregation and Vulnerability Indices,” Forthcoming.

  2. Kody, A., and Molzahn, D.K. (2024). “Feasible Island Formation for Security-Constrained Transmission Topology Control Using Sensitivity Factors,” Forthcoming.

  3. Piansky, R., Stinchfield, G., Kody, A., Molzahn, D.K. and Watson. J.P. (2023). “Long Duration Battery Sizing, Siting, and Operation Under Wildfire Risk Using Progressive Hedging,” Submitted.

  4. Kody, A., Chevalier, S., Chatzivasileiadis, S., and Molzahn, D.K. (2022). “Modeling the AC Power Flow Equations with Optimally Compressed Neural Networks: Application to Unit Commitment,” Electric Power Systems Research, 213, 108282. Presented at the Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC) in Porto, Portugal. [link]

  5. Zeng, S., Kody, A., Kim, Y., Kim, K., and Molzahn, D.K. (2022). “A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Parameter Selection for Distributed Optimal Power Flow,” Electric Power Systems Research, 212, 108546. Presented at the Power Systems Computation Conference (PSCC) in Porto, Portugal. [link]

  6. Kody, A., Piansky, R., and Molzahn, D.K. (2022). “Optimizing Transmission Infrastructure Investments to Support Line De-Energization for Mitigating Wildfire Ignition Risk,” Presented at the 11th Bulk Power Systems Dynamics and Control Symposium in Banff, Canada. [link]

  7. Kody, A., West, A., and Molzahn, D.K. (2022). “Sharing the Load: Considering Fairness in De-Energization Scheduling to Mitigate Wildfire Ignition Risk Using Rolling Optimization,” Presented at the 61st Conference on Decision and Control in Cancun, Mexico. [link]

  8. Owen Aquino, A.D., R. Harris, Kody, A., and Molzahn, D.K. (2022). “Comparing Machine Learning and Optimization Approaches for the N-k Interdiction Problem Considering Load Variability,” Presented at the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) in Maui, HI. [link]

  9. Kody, A. and Scruggs, J.T. (2021). “MPC Trajectory Feasibility Constraints for Self-Powered Control Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. [link]

  10. Kody, A. and Scruggs, J.T. (2019). “Control of Impulsively-Excited Vibration Energy Harvesters: Design and Viability Assessment,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 28(6), 2336-2351. [link]

  11. Kody, A., Tom, N.M. and Scruggs, J.T. (2019). “Model Predictive Control of a Wave Energy Converter using Duality Techniques,” Paper presented at the American Controls Conference in Philadelphia, PA. [link]

  12. Kody, A. and Scruggs, J.T. (2018). “Optimal Self-Powered Control of Dynamic Systems: Duality Techniques,” Paper presented at the American Controls Conference in Milwaukee, WI. [link]

  13. Kody, A. and Scruggs, J.T. (2017). “Optimal Packet Scheduling for a Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Node,” Paper presented at the 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in Melbourne, Australia. [link]

  14. Kody, A. and Scruggs, J.T. (2014). “Optimal Energy Harvesting from Impulse Trains using Piezoelectric Transduction,” Paper presented at Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems Conference in Newport, RI. [link]

Presentations

  1. “Machine Learning-Enhanced Optimization and Wildfire Risk Mitigation for Power Systems.” Center for Energy Research at the University of California, San Diego. Virtual. February 2023.

  2. “Sharing the Load: Considering Fairness in De-energization Scheduling to Mitigate Wildfire Ignition Risk.” 5th Grid Science Winter School and Conference. Los Alamos National Laboratory. January 2023.

  3. “Sharing the Load: Considering Fairness in De-Energization Scheduling to Mitigate Wildfire Ignition Risk Using Rolling Optimization.” 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. Cancun, Mexico. December 2022.

  4. “Computational Methods for Optimizing the Mitigation of Wildfire Ignition Risk for Electric Power Networks.” INFORMS Annual Meeting. Indianapolis, IN. October 2022.

  5. “Optimizing Transmission Infrastructure Investments to Support Line De-Energization for Mitigating Wildfire Ignition Risk.” 11th Bulk Power Systems Dynamics and Control Symposium. Banff, Cananda. July 2022.

  6. “Applications of Machine Learning to Improve Distributed Optimization Algorithms for Power Systems.” IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting. Denver, CO. July 2022.

  7. “A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Parameter Selection for Distributed Optimal Power Flow.” Power Systems Computation Conference. Porto, Portugal. June 2022.

  8. “Applications of Machine Learning to Improve Distributed Optimization Algorithms for Power Systems.” IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Tutorial on Distributed Optimization. Virtual. March 2022.

  9. “Parameter Learning in Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers.” INFORMS Annual Meeting. Virtual. October 2021.

  10. “Parameter Learning in Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers.” SIAM Conference on Optimization. Virtual. July 2021.

  11. “Model Predictive Control of a Wave Energy Converter Using Duality Techniques.” American Controls Conference. Philadelphia, PA. July 2019.

  12. “Optimal Control of Energy Harvesting Systems Using Duality Techniques.” National Renewable Energy Lab, Complex Systems Simulation and Optimization Group. Golden, CO. August 2018.

  13. “Optimal Control of Energy Harvesting Systems Using Duality Techniques.” National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Lab, Marine and Hydrokinetic Research Group. Boulder, CO. June 2018.

  14. “Optimal Self-Powered Control of Dynamic Systems: Duality techniques.” American Controls Conference. Milwaukee, WI. June 2018.

  15. “Optimal Packet Scheduling for a Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Node.” 56th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. Melbourne, Australia. December 2017.

  16. “Optimal Energy Harvesting from Impulse Trains using Piezoelectric Transduction.” Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems Conference. Newport, RI. September 2014.

Other Interests

In my spare time, I enjoy hiking and other outdoor activities, like cross-country skiing and biking. Here are photos from some of my favorite places I’ve visited over the last few years:

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Maybe you can guess these locations. Hints: Two are outside of the US. Two were taken in US National Parks.