Remembering George Karady

George Karady, a professor of electrical engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and an expert in power electronics, high-voltage engineering and power systems, has passed away.

Throughout the course of his career, Karady has helped lead research on microgrids, specifically re-engineering infrastructure to effectively generate, transmit and distribute power from renewable energy sources to cities, towns and neighborhoods. In addition to exploring technical solutions for efficient microgrid systems, he sought out ways to make them economically feasible and to ensure their reliability and security.

Among his many contributions to the field, Karady invented a specialized type of instrumentation device — known to colleagues as a “Karady Cage” — used to measure minuscule electrical discharges even in the presence of up to a million volts.

After around 30 years of working in industry, Karady joined the Arizona State University faculty in 1986 as the Power Systems Chair. In this role, he changed the way engineering students were being educated and prepared for the workforce. With experience in industry and academia, Karady helped shape engineering education at ASU to reflect industry needs so graduates would be better able to find jobs. Karady included his students as co-authors on his published research to provide them with opportunities to present papers at international conferences and gain recognition in their field before graduating.

Read more about George Karady’s life and career.

Reprinted from In the Loop and Full Circle, publications of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU.