BIOGRAPHY

Mario Porru got the BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering in 2009 and 2011 respectively at the University of Cagliari, Italy. Then he got his PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering in April 2015 at the same university with a dissertation entitled "Management and Control of Energy Storage System for Stationary and Automotive Applications". Mario Porru was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cagliari from April 2015 to April 2018, and then an Assistant Professor from April 2018 to September 2024. He was a Visiting Researcher at the FEMTO-ST Lab / University of Technology of Belfort and Montbéliard, Belfort (France, March 2019 – July 2019) and at the Nebrija University, Madrid (Spain, September 2023 – November 2023), and a Visiting Professor at the Nebrija University (Spain, April 2024).

Mario Porru has been an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari since October 2024. He currently teaches Electric Vehicles within master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Energy Engineering, Industrial Informatics for Energy Storage Systems within the master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity And Artificial Intelligence, and Laboratory of Electrical and Electronic Technologies for Industrial Applications within the first level degree in Industrial Technologies for Energy and Digital Transition, 50 hours.

His research is mainly focused on hybrid energy storage systems for vehicular and stationary applications, management and control strategies for energy storage systems, and the development of novel electric propulsion systems.

Mario Porru is a co-author of about 50 papers published in international journals and conference proceedings and of one book chapter, and has been a speaker at several IEEE conferences. Mario Porru was a recipient of four IEEE awards.

 

RESEARCH ACTIVITY AND INTERESTS

• Energy management
  • Management and control of energy storage systems for the integration of renewable energy sources
  • Management and control of hybrid energy storage systems for microgrids
  • Optimal charging/discharging strategies for electric vehicles operating in V2G systems
  • Planning and design of charging infrastructures for electric vehicles
• Electric Propulsion
  • Development of a novel and highly integrated electric propulsion system
  • Design and control of high-speed permanent magnet synchronous machines
  • Design of magnetic gear transmission systems
• Power Electronics
  • Novel PWM techniques for DC/AC Neutral-Point-Clamped multilevel converters
• Real-time simulations, Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and Rapid-Control-Prototyping (RPC) for electric propulsion systems, energy storage systems, electrical drives, microgrids

 

PUBLICATIONS

• Scopus
• Google Scholar

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS ACTIVITY

Mario Porru has been Principal Investigator of the following projects:

• EBOASP: Algorithms and Methodologies for Planning and Managing Electric Boats in Smart Port Areas (Fondazione di Sardegna, € 57,200, Apr. 2026 – Apr. 2028)
• OPTeBUS: Development of an OPtimal design Tool for Electrification of urban public transportation BUS services (MUR, PRIN 2022, € 236,025, Sept. 2023 – Sept. 2025) - link
• AI-based Energy Management Systems for electric mobility (University of Cagliari – Young researcher mobility program, Sept. 2023 – Nov. 2023)
• A fuel-cell, battery and supercapacitor hybrid energy storage system (University of Cagliari – Young researcher mobility program, Mar. 2019 – July 2019)

and has been involved in the several projects, such as:

• Design and prototyping of a Dual-Active Bridge (DAB) power electronic converter for telecom applications (partnership between the Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Cagliari (client) and NEPSY (contractor), € 20,000, Aug. 2020 – June 2021) – Role: Project manager
• AIREC: Artificial Intelligence for Renewable Energy Communities (University of Cagliari, € 100,000, Oct. 2023 – Sept. 2025) – Role: team member
• POSEIDON, microgrids in port areas: efficient energy management through the integration of renewable energy sources and sustainable electric mobility (Sardinian Research Centre, € 197.100,00, Oct. 2018-Sept. 2020) – Role: team member
• NETfficient, energy and economic efficiency for today’s smart communities through integrated multi storage technologies (EU, H2020-LCE-2014-3, € 11.440.648,00, Jan. 2015-Dec. 2018) – Role: team member

 

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER ACTIVITY

Co-founder of NEPSY srl (Novel Electric Propulsion System), an academic spin-off company of the University of Cagliari, whose main activity is the development, production and marketing of innovative components and systems of high technological value for electric propulsion through the development of new highly integrated topological configurations from hardware and software points of view and/or advanced management and control systems.

 

TEACHING ACTIVITY

• Co-supervisor of Bachelor and Master Thesis in Electrical Engineering and Master Thesis in Energy Engineering
• Holder ofElectric Vehicles within the master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Energy Engineering, 50 hours (AYs 18/19-to present)
• Holder of Industrial Informatics for Energy Storage Systems, within the master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity And Artificial Intelligence, 20 hours, in english (AYs 24/25-to present)
• Holder of Energy Management Systems within the master's degrees in Energy Engineering, 20 hours (AYs 25/26-to present)
• Holder of Laboratory of Electrical and Electronic Technologies for Industrial Applications, on master’s degree in Industrial Technologies for Energy and Digital Transition, 50 hours (AYs 24/25-to present)
• Professor of Energy Management within the master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Energy Engineering, 30 hours (AYs 22/23-23/24)
• Teaching assistant of "Energy Management and Electric Vehicles" within the master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Energy Engineering (AY 17/18)
• Teaching assistant of "Energy Management" within the master’s degree in Electrical Engineering (AYs 12/13-16/17)
• Teaching assistant of "Electrical Machines" within the bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (AYs 12/13-15/16)

 

Last update: May 2026