Georgia Pierrou

Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Toronto
Email: georgia (dot) pierrou [at] utoronto (dot) ca
Google Scholar / LinkedIn

Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor at the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Canada. Before joining the University of Toronto, I worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Power Systems Laboratory, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, where I was advised by Prof. Gabriela Hug. I received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering with the Electric Energy Systems Laboratory, McGill University, Canada in 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Xiaozhe Wang. I also received the Diploma degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2017.

My research focuses on the stability analysis, control, and optimization of electric power systems, aiming to provide innovative solutions to support the energy transition. In particular, I use ideas such as stochastic dynamic modeling and data-driven control towards shaping secure and sustainable electric power grids and e-mobility hubs.

Publications

Journal Publications

Y. Cai, G. Pierrou, X. Wang and G. Joos, "A Data-Driven Forced Oscillation Locating Method for Power Systems with Inverter-Based Resources", to appear in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. [link]
F. Escobar, G. Pierrou, G. Valverde and G. Hug, "Data-driven Participation of Active Distribution Networks in Transmission Voltage Control", in Sustainable Energy, Grids and Networks, vol. 43, 2025. [link]
G. Pierrou, C. Valero-De la Flor and G. Hug, "Optimal EV Charging Scheduling at Electric Railway Stations Under Peak Load Constraints", in Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 235, 2024. [link]
G. Pierrou, H. Lai, G. Hug and X. Wang, "A Decentralized Wide-Area Voltage Control Scheme for Coordinated Secondary Voltage Regulation Using PMUs", in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 7153-7165, 2024. [link]
M. Du, G. Pierrou, X. Wang and M. Kassouf, "Targeted False Data Injection Attacks Against AC State Estimation Without Network Parameters", in IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 5349--5361, 2021. [link]
G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "A Network Model-Free Wide-Area Voltage Control Method Using PMUs", in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 4672--4682, 2021. [link]
G. Pierrou, X. Wang, "Analytical Study of the Impacts of Stochastic Load Fluctuation on the Dynamic Voltage Stability Margin Using Bifurcation Theory", in IEEE Transactions on Circuits & Systems I, vol. 67, no.4, pp. 1286--1295, 2020. [link]

Conference Proceedings

C. Nerowski, F. Escobar, M. Neff, G. Pierrou, C. Rehtanz, and G. Hug, "Control of Distribution Voltages Considering Voltage-Dependent Flexibility Regions", in IEEE PowerTech, Kiel, Germany. 2025. [link]
A. Scherrer, G. Pierrou, M. Jia, M. Hohmann and G. Hug, "Physics-Data-Driven AC Power Flow Linearization Considering Topological Remedial Actions", in IEEE PES General Meeting, Seattle, WA, USA, 2024. [link]
G. Pierrou and G. Hug, "Integrating Optimal EV Charging in the Energy Management of Electric Railway Stations", in IEEE PowerTech, Belgrade, Serbia, 2023. [link]
G. Pierrou, Y. Zwirner and G. Hug, "An Optimal Energy Management Algorithm Considering Regenerative Braking and Renewable Energy for EV Charging in Railway Stations", in IEEE PES General Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA, 2023. [link]
M. Du, G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "Targeted False Data Injection Attack Against DC State Estimation Without Line Parameters", in IEEE PES General Meeting, Washington, DC, USA, 2021. [link]
I. Zenelis, G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "A Data-Driven Energy Storage System-Based Algorithm for Monitoring the Small-Signal Stability of Power Grids with Volatile Wind Power", in IEEE PES General Meeting, Washington, DC, USA, 2021. [link]
G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "Online PMU-Based Method for Estimating Dynamic Load Parameters in Ambient Conditions", in IEEE PES General Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 2020. [link]
G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "The Effect of the Uncertainty of Load and Renewable Generation on the Dynamic Voltage Stability Margin", in IEEE PES ISGT-Europe, Bucharest, Romania, 2019. [link]
G. Pierrou and X. Wang, "Investigating the Impacts of Stochastic Load Fluctuation on Dynamic Voltage Stability Margin Using Bifurcation Theory", in IEEE ISCAS, Sapporo, Japan, 2019. [link]

Poster Presentations

G. Pierrou and G. Hug, "Optimizing EV charging scheduling in electric rail mobility hubs", in IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference (EPEC), University of Waterloo, 2025.
G. Pierrou, A. Macher, Y. Corrodi, D. Lehnen, and G. Hug, "The evolution of reactive power demand in Swiss distribution networks", in IEEE Canada Electrical Power and Energy Conference (EPEC), University of Waterloo, 2025.
G. Pierrou and G. Hug, "Integrating EV charging in electric railways: Uncertainty and flexibility", in CSFM Symposium, ETH Zurich, 2024.
G. Pierrou, H. Lai, G. Hug and X. Wang, "Data-driven Decentralized Wide-Area Voltage Control", in Champéry Power Conference, Champéry, Switzerland, 2024.
G. Pierrou, G. Hug, R. Strietzel, "Integrating EV charging in electric railways: The case of Switzerland", in Center for Sustainable Future Mobility Symposium, Zurich, Switzerland, 2023. [Best Poster Award]
M. Nold, G. Pierrou, R. Strietzel, R. Schäfer, P. Bühlmann, M. Zimmermann, F. Corman and G. Hug, "RailPower: Power and energy for the future railways", in Center for Sustainable Future Mobility: Kick-off Symposium, Zurich, Switzerland, 2022.

Book Chapters

J. Guo, G. Pierrou, X. Wang, M. Du, X. Wang, "Data-Driven Methods in Modern Power System Stability and Security", Smart Cyber-Physical Power Systems, Volume 2: Solutions from Emerging Technologies 2 (2025).

Teaching

@ University of Toronto

Signals and systems, Winter 2026

@ ETH Zurich

Projects and Seminars: Let's make ITET green!, Fall 2025, Fall 2024
Created and led a new project-based undergraduate course to identify effective sustainable measures for reducing the emissions and energy consumption of the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich.
Power System Dynamics, Control and Operation, Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Led tutorial sessions on Synchronous Machines, Transient Stability, Voltage Stability, and Renewable Generation.
Power System Analysis, Fall 2024, Fall 2023
Designed and led tutorial sessions on Power Flow in Transmission and Distribution networks.
Optimization in Energy Systems, Spring 2022
Designed and led tutorial sessions on Stochastic Optimization and Bender's Decomposition.

@ McGill University

Fundamentals of Power Engineering, Winter 2021, Fall 2020
Designed online lab experiments through LVSIM-EMS software and Matlab Simulink and delivered weekly lab tutorial sessions.
Electric Machinery, Fall 2019
Graded weekly exercise assignments and exams.

Awards

2023: Future Digileaders, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
2023: Best Poster Award, CSFM Symposium, ETH Zurich
2022: Rising Stars in EECS
Invited to attend Rising Stars - a workshop for graduate students and postdocs with historically marginalized or underrepresented genders who are interested in pursuing academic careers in electrical engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence and decision-making.
2022: D. W. Ambridge Prize - McGill Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Awarded to an outstanding McGill graduate receiving a Doctoral degree in 2021-2022 in any discipline of the Physical Sciences or Engineering.
2021: Green Talents Award - German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Awarded to 25 talented junior researchers worldwide in the field of sustainability science (5% success rate).
2017-2021: McGill Graduate Excellence Fellowship - Engineering
Awarded to exceptional graduate students from the Faculty of Engineering.
2020: Association Québécoise de la Production d'Énergie Renouvelable (AQPER)
Selected among the 12 finalists of the Student Contest "3 minutes to change the world" (14% success rate).
2019: McGill Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel (GREAT) Award
Award to assist graduate students in their research efforts by partially funding travel to scholarly meetings or conferences where the student is presenting a paper related to their research.
2019: Constantina N. Frangouli Family Scholarship-Hellenic Scholarships Foundation
Awards to excellent students with Hellenic origin attending institutions of higher learning in Québec, Canada.
2018: George Kontaxis Award - National Technical University of Athens
Distinction to the student graduating with the highest GPA and a Major in Power Systems.
2017-2019: Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation Fellowship
The Fellowship is awarded annually to an exceptional Greek Master's and PhD applicant across a wide array of graduate programs at McGill University.
2016: European Campus of Excellence - Stiftung Mercator Schweiz
Scholarship among European universities’ top students for attending the European Campus of Excellence Summer School organized by the Swiss Study Foundation at ETH Zurich and the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.