Samuel Talkington

Incoming Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

In Fall 2027, I will join the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where I will lead the Eigenergy Group. Before starting at Michigan, I am spending the 2026-2027 academic year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, mentored by Le Xie and Na Li. I recently completed my Ph.D. at Georgia Tech, advised by Daniel K. Molzahn.

My research develops efficient algorithms for societal-scale problems in electric power systems. At the interface of statistics and optimization, I exploit domain structure—such as power flow physics, spectral graph properties, and communication protocols—to improve scalability and reliability. A guiding theme of my work is treating randomness as a resource to transform the way we operate the grid.

I gratefully acknowledge support from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program.