For 26-year-old Indian immigrant Tirthak Saha, living and working in northeast Indiana may seem like a simple goal.
However, the nationally-recognized energy innovator recently enlisted the help of his professional network to support him in his desire to remain in northeast Indiana and continue his pioneering work in the field of energy. 
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Saha came to the U.S. in 2013 to study at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Working in the United States on a temporary visa, Saha is the Grid Modernization Engineer at Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), where he designs and applies modern smart grid technology and innovations to make the electric grid more reliable and secure for over half a million I&M customers.
His innovative work at I&M landed him on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Energy list.
Input Fort Wayne’s partners at the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (RP) sat down with Saha to discuss his passion about technology and innovation, his thoughts about living in northeast Indiana, and his plans for the future.
RP: What got you interested in electricity and innovation?
TS: I was born in New Dehli. I wanted to come to the States since grade 10.
In my junior year of school, there was a nationwide rolling blackout. The blackout affected half of the country.
When I say half the country, in India, that’s a large area. I believe it is the largest rolling blackout in modern history. There were also personal losses that I suffered because of the blackout.
That’s when I decided there has to be a better way to supply electricity. I started thinking about it, researching it, and I did an internship with the government of India. I wanted to see the technology from the inside. I knew I needed to learn more. I knew I needed to learn about how it works in other countries and cities.
RP: How did you make your way to Northeast Indiana?
TS: After the blackout, I made the decision to transfer to Drexel University in Philadelphia in September 2013. I did two internships: One was a research project with NASA and also with PJM, an organization operating the electrical grid in the eastern United States.
When I graduated, I was applying for jobs like a maniac. I applied to anything and everything I could get my hands on. I didn’t get a lot of job offers. I got one. I took the interview over the phone. We talked for an hour and a half.
The job was with I&M, and they said they were looking to start a movement around grid modernization. They said there’s no traditional job description for this position. They said they were looking for a person with a spirit of discovery.
They asked, “How can we modernize the grid? What technologies are good? What technologies are bad?”
After hearing those questions, I said, “Yeah, I’m game. That’s what my passion is.”
RP: How has I&M and the northeast Indiana community supported you?
TS: I&M has been fantastic in helping me transition from Philadelphia to Fort Wayne. The HR department was realty supportive. I cannot express that enough.
I remember feeling like I was safe. I knew that because of them, I could land in the city and be taken care of.
Through my job, I was given a lot of latitude to figure out what my job would entail. I believe you must be given a lot of freedom to create and innovate. I got that in large amounts from I&M. I don’t think I will ever find senior leadership anywhere else like I do here. They’re approachable. They always listen with intent. I felt a lot of respect, too.
It makes it a lot easier. A lot of people don’t understand the uncertainty that goes with moving to a new country and learning everything from scratch, like the language, the clothes, the way you walk, the way you take a bus, the currency.
If someone comes to your house and says, “Don’t worry about dinner, I’ll bring soup over tonight. Then tomorrow I can take you to Kroger or Walmart and show you around and where to get your stuff,” that sounds like nothing, but it’s so much.
We take a lot of things for granted until we go to a different culture. Having a support system and network of friends takes care of a lot so I can focus on what I came here to do in the first place.
RP: What was it like when Forbes included you on the list of 30 Under 30 for Energy?
TS: Forbes picked up on what I was doing at my job at I&M and what I had done before.
I was networking a lot with the energy industry. I got two nominations, and Forbes reached out to me a week before the results were announced.
Honestly, it wasn’t even on my radar.
You know how you never know you want something, but then once you find out, you want it so bad? That was what that week was like.
It honestly felt good, obviously. It also just felt, like, “Now it starts. Now I can actually work.”
I called my parents in India, and they were really happy. I started getting messages from all over the globe when the Forbes announcement came out.
Talent in the energy industry is quite old in terms of median age. I was 25 years-old at the time of the Forbes announcement. It gave me a sense of legitimacy of what I was doing.
I was like, “OK, I am on the right path.” Now I can speak with that added validation.
RP: What advice do you have for innovators in Northeast Indiana?
TS: I do a lot of community work to speak with students about STEM.
I went to Canterbury Schools and Purdue Fort Wayne to talk with students. I feel it’s my responsibility. I feel like I need to be used as an example to show the younger generation.
There’s a lot of people that will tell you, “this can’t be done,” “you’re too young,” “you don’t know anything,” or “this is the way we’ve always done things.” Those things kill the innovative spirit.
I generally think everyone is born innovative. To the young innovators, I’d say keep doing what you do. Don’t give it up.
Also, we need more women in STEM fields. Equal pay. Equal respect. Equal opportunities. That is something that’s very close to me.
I grew up with a bunch of really strong women. I’ve seen the inequalities up close. It doesn’t make sense to me. Not in a mathematical way; not in a social way. It’s absurd to me.
So what’s next for Saha?
For the next few months, he will be working with local community and business leaders to qualify for an O-1 visa.
This visa stipulates that “the beneficiary must demonstrate extraordinary ability by sustained national or international acclaim and must be coming temporarily to the United States to continue work in the area of extraordinary ability.”
When asked about his five-year plan, Saha humbly admits, “I make long-term plans for my work, not my life. Life has a way of kicking me in the shins every time I try to make a plan.”
If it were up to Saha, he would stay in Fort Wayne to continue his work for several years, but that all depends on his ability to state his case for his O-1 visa.
In the meantime, he remains focused on his goal to make an impact on his community.
“I would be happy if I created a program that physically, that, in a calculable way, benefits the society around me. That would be my goal. I want to make projects that benefit everyone,” he says.