Mir Hadi Athari was born in Tabriz, Iran. He received the B.S. degree from the University of Tabriz in 2012 and M.S. degree from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) in 2014, both in electrical engineering. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. His research interests include electric power system operation and control, vulnerability analysis, renewable integration, and smart grids.