Tirthak Saha

Tirthak Saha is an Indian engineer and scientist living and working in the United States. Saha’s research and work primarily focuses on modernizing the electrical grid and related energy infrastructure. Saha is a 2018 recipient of the Forbes 30 Under 30 title and award in the Energy category and currently works as a Grid Modernization Engineer at American Electric Power, the first in the company's history.
Early Life & Education
Tirthak Saha was born in New Delhi, India on February 4th 1992. He attended St. Columba's School, Delhi and graduated high school in 2010. He then joined Manipal University in Karnataka, India for a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering. During his time there he was awarded a silver medal for Electrical Engineering (2011, 2012) and was elected to be the Editor-in-Chief of the International Center for Applied Sciences’ magazine
He transferred to Drexel University in 2013 and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 2016.
NASA Project
In 2014, Saha was involved in a team from Drexel University that developed Origami-based solar panel designs for CubeSats for NASA’s Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. Later that year, Saha developed a plan for in-situ energy generation and storage for a Martian habitat. This was a part of Drexel University’s 2015 entry to the NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The project was selected as one of the 16 national finalists and Saha’s team presented their research, including a technical paper and poster, to a panel of NASA and industry experts in Cocoa Beach, Florida
American Electric Power
After graduation in 2016, at the age of 24, Saha started working as a Grid Modernization engineer at the headquarters of American Electric Power (AEP). In his first year at the company, he developed long term plans for the company’s Grid Modernization roadmap for the states of Indiana and Michigan. One of his ideas placed top three (out of 600 projects submitted across 15000 AEP employees) in AEP’s ‘Spark Tank’ innovation competition. The project is being implemented with a total $1 billion investment will improve energy delivery and modernize the grid across 9 states.
Forbes 30 Under 30
In 2017, at the age of 25, Saha was awarded a spot on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 List for his contributions to the Energy field. The magazine attributes his place on the list to his work in grid modernization, energy storage and renewable energy and citing the $1 billion project from the American Electric Power Spark Tank Innovation Competition.

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