Manisa Pipattanasomporn joined Virginia Tech's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an assistant professor in 2006. She serves as one of the principal investigators (PIs) of multiple research grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy, on research topics related to smart grid, microgrid, energy efficiency, load control, renewable energy and electric vehicles. Her research interests include renewable energy systems, energy efficiency, distributed energy resources, and the smart grid.