Francisco Javier Valdez-Cruz

Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with a multidisciplinary engineering background combining advanced expertise in modeling and simulation, operations research, systems analysis, engineering statistics, optimization. Holds a strong technical foundation in Electronics Engineering and Power Electronics, with experience in electrical power systems, renewable energy, photovoltaic systems, power conversion, and high-voltage transmission and distribution infrastructure. Doctoral research focused on smart grids, cyber-physical systems, IoT cybersecurity, and critical infrastructure resilience, developing hybrid System Dynamics and Agent-Based simulation models in AnyLogic to analyze complex energy systems and coordinated cyberattack scenarios. Experienced in applied engineering research, university teaching, graduate research coordination, and supervision of engineering projects. Professional experience also includes project management and coordination of construction operations, including workforce coordination, scheduling, procurement, resource allocation, quality assurance, and process improvement.

Graduate Deans Dissertation Completion Fellowship, UCF Spring 2025 $10,000 stipend, full tuition, health insurance., Amazon SCOT INFORMS Fellowship 2021 Mentorship and networking with Amazon SCOT scientists; participation in INFORMS Minority Issues Forum., Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Scholarship, UCF 2019, 2020, 2021 Award providing in-state tuition classification for eligible graduate students from Latin America and the Caribbean., CONACYT National Scholarship Mexican government fellowship covering tuition, stipend, and health insurance for Ph.D. studies.

• Valdez-Cruz, F.J., Rabelo, L., Ballestas, A. (2022). System Dynamics to analyze malware for IoT-based Smart Grids. International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion.
• Rabelo, L., Ballestas, A., Valdez, J., Ibrahim, B. (2022). Using Delphi and System Dynamics to study the cybersecurity of the IoT-based smart grids. ParadigmPlus, 3(1), 1936.
• Rabelo, L., Ballestas, A., Ibrahim, B., Valdez, J. (2021). Preliminary studies of the security of the cyber-physical smart grids. International Conference on Applied Informatics.
• Nnez-Loredo, N., Valdez-Cruz, F.J., Mar-Espinoza, L.G. (2017). Generating electromagnetic fields through pulsed energy supply by PPM control. IEEE International Conference on Application of Information and Communication Technologies.
• Valdez-Cruz, F.J., Armendia-Rocha, A.M., Nnez-Loredo, N. (2015). Single-phase inverter for an autonomous small photovoltaic system with SPWM voltage regulation. Proceedings of PCIM Europe 2015; International Exhibition and Conference for Power Electronics, Intelligent Motion, Renewable Energy and Energy Management.
• Ortiz-Moctezuma, M.B., Valdez-Cruz, F.J., Echavarrs-Solis, R.A., et al. (2012). A nonlinear control microcontroller implementation for a MPPT algorithm for a small photovoltaic facility. IEEE International Symposium on Power Electronics.

• Hybrid Simulation of Cyberattacks in Smart Grids University of Central Florida
• Developed an advanced hybrid simulation framework integrating System Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling in AnyLogic to emulate Manipulation of Demand via IoT (MaDloT) attacks with high fidelity.
• Designed and implemented realistic stochastic residential load profiles using PARX-based demand forecasting, harmonic perturbations, and proportional load normalization.
• Created attack scenarios manipulating high-demand IoT devices to generate synchronized and coordinated demand surges.
• Evaluated generation dispatch performance, system stability, and resilience metrics under varying IoT penetration levels, coordination strategies, and grid configurations.
• Research on Delay Compensation in CPS University of Central Florida , Implemented alpha-beta filters and kinematic estimation models to reconstruct delayed/missing sensor data in wireless V2V communications.