The research directions of WISER are driven by looking closely at the energy sector today. There are various signs that suggest rapid transformation for future developments in the energy industry. Governments around the world pass legislation in order to incorporate sustainable energy sources and technologies to enable the efficient use of energy systems. Broadly, the energy industry trends WISER will be researching fall into four Research Thrust Areas:

• Renewable Energy: includes Solar, Hydro, and Wind. The penetration level of renewable distributed energy resources (DERs) in many States is expected to reach 40%-50% by 2030.

• Outage Management: is the processes and systems used by electrical grid operators to assist in restoration of power.

• Grid resilience: is the ability to avoid or withstand grid stress events (brought on by extreme weather) without suffering operational compromise.

• Climate change: is a change in the usual weather and a change in Earth's climate which impacts power producers and power distributors.

WISER will also recruit graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to increase minority participation in science and engineering and especially interdisciplinary collaborations and exposure to industry-academia partnerships.