Project Description

Vladimir A. Rakov received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Tomsk Polytechnical University (Tomsk Polytechnic), Russia, in 1977 and 1983, respectively. From 1977 to 1979, he worked as an Assistant Professor of electrical engineering at Tomsk Polytechnic. In 1978, he became involved in lightning research at the High Voltage Research Institute (a division of Tomsk Polytechnic), where from 1984 to 1994, he held the position of the Director of the Lightning Research Laboratory. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, and Co-Director of the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing (ICLRT). He is the lead author of one book, “Lightning: Physics and Effects”, and author or coauthor of over 500 other publications on various aspects of lightning, with over 160 papers being published in reviewed journals. Dr. Rakov is Editor or Associate Editor of four technical journals, Chairman of the Technical Committee on Lightning of the Biennial International Zurich Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Co-Chairman of URSI WG E.4 “Lightning Discharges and Related Phenomena”, and Convener of CIGRE WG C4-407 “Lightning Parameters for Engineering Applications”. He is a Fellow of three professional societies, IEEE, AMS, and IET.