Michael F. Ahern regularly teaches undergraduate courses on Data Analysis for Decision Making and develops and delivers customized training courses for corporations and government organizations. An accomplished presenter, Mike has developed and delivered IEEE Power and Energy Society Webinars, regularly presented at industry conferences, and moderated and served on numerous conference panels. He has delivered guest lectures on energy topics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Yale, and to alumni of both MIT and RPI.

Mike was WPI’s Principal Investigator for a 5-year series of federally funded research initiatives to improve the cybersecurity of the U.S. Power Grid. He first led WPI’s team in support of the U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) Gradians initiative to assess current status. He then led another WPI team in support of DARPA’s RADICS initiative.

Mike has 45 years of professional experience. In 1978, he started as a structural design engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft. He joined Northeast Utilities (now part of Eversource Energy) in 1981 and rose through a series of increasingly responsible positions at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station. He then moved from power generation into energy delivery, leading Distribution Engineering and then Transmission Operations and Planning before becoming the Vice President, Utility Services in 2005. In this capacity, he led Safety, Training, Distribution Engineering, Vegetation Management, Corporate Transportation, and other functions. He served on Executive Committees on: Corporate Ethics and Controls; Safety and Health; and Cybersecurity. He also served on the Boards of Directors for 3 Yankee Atomic Power Companies. Following his retirement in 2012, he joined WPI as the Director, Power Systems and was promoted to Director of WPI’s Academic and Corporate Engagement Department in 2020. Mike retired from full time work at WPI in 2023. Since then, he has continued to teach for WPI and for the Connecticut Community College. He also works as a Staff Assistant for the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly).

In 2019, Mike was appointed to serve on the Steering Committee to advise on the development of the Massachusetts 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap. Mike also regularly volunteers and helps individual students with their career planning, resumes, and their interviewing skills.

Ahern earned a Bachelor of Science degree from WPI where he was selected as a member of the National Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi. He later earned both Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a registered professional engineer in Connecticut (inactive) and held a Transmission System Operator certification from the North American Electric Reliability Council.