What's new at CPES? (2006 archive)

December 2006:: Researchers at CPES-Virginia Tech have been awarded a new project sponsored by Aker Kvaerner E&C US Inc.
The project, "Study of Electrical Transmission and Distribution System for Subsea Applications," is led by Profs. Fred Wang, Rolando Burgos, Dushan Boroyevich, and Khai Ngo. The CPES team will study the system architecture and converter technologies suitable for subsea electric power delivery network.With support from NSF (National Science Foundation) and ONR (Office of Naval Research), CPES IPCS (Integrated Power Conversion Systems) thrust has been promoting electronic power distribution network concept for future power systems. This project will mark the first time that some of the concepts and approaches developed under NSF core research are being applied to a specific application, with support from industry.
October 2006:: 40 power electronics experts representing 12 countries gathered in Tampa, Florida on October 6-7, 2006 for the 2nd CPES Outreach Workshop on Technology Roadmap Development!
Twenty-eight invited experts, including 12 industry representatives and 16 academicians from around the world joined 13 CPES faculty to jointly discuss long-term power electronics technology roadmap! All participants considered the workshop productive and worthwhile. They also expressed interest to stay actively engaged as we move forward. We thank all our participants for their support and insightful contributions!For more information, please click here.

International Rectifier commits support to CPES for long-term technology roadmap development!
As CPES has demonstrated a successful long-term system approach to power electronics development over the past eight years, IR has committed to support CPES in developing a long-term (7-15 year) roadmap for architectural, control, component and package requirements.
To demonstrate IR’s commitment, Michael Briere, Executive Vice President for Research and Development at International Rectifier, seized the opportunity to present a $100K check to CPES Director Fred Lee at the Outreach Workshop in Tampa, Florida, on October 6, 2006, to kick off this initiative.
As noted in IR’s press release on this subject, the roadmap initiative will “help advance the course of technology inside the industry as well as establish research requirements for CPES by defining a 10-year development path.” CPES is excited about the promise for long-term involvement with industry! For more, please click here.

IEEE honors Prof. Daan van Wyk with two major awards in 2006!
-- IEEE PELS 2006 Distinguished Service Award, presented at PESC in Jeju, Korea, June 2006
In recognition of his exceptional dedication and outstanding service to the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
-- IEEE IAS 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award, presented at IAS in Tampa, Florida, October 2006
In recognition of his outstanding contributions in the application of electricity to industry. For more information, please click here.

CPES featured in Virginia Tech Deans’ Forum on Energy Security and Sustainability
-- CPES display received People’s Choice Award! For more, please click here to read a summary prepared by SLC President Arthur Ball, on behalf of Student Leadership Council.
September 2006:: Fred C. Lee, Director of the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) and University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, is featured on VT's website as one of the university's spotlights on achievement! Dr. Lee is the lead faculty of the Center's Power Management Consortium (PMC), with 10 participating industry members. PMC focuses on developing pre-competitive technologies in the areas of power management for distributed power system architectures in such applications as microprocessors, laptop, desktop, server, and telecom equipment. For more info on the PMC work scope, please contact Teresa Shaw.
August 2006:: Fred C. Lee served as General Chair of the International Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference, Shanghai,China.
July 2006:: Prof. Khai Ngo has joined Virginia Tech's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as Full Professor, and will serve as CPES research thrust leader of Power Electronics Integration Technology (PEIT), a newly consolidated thrust that incorporates research in the areas of integratable materials, high-density packaging, thermal management integration, as well as standard-cell IPEM (Integrated Power Electronics Modules) development.; Prof. Ming Xu has joined Virginia Tech's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as Associate Professor. Prof. Xu joined CPES in 2001 and has served as chief research scientist and team leader in the area of power management. His research interests include high frequency power conversion, distributed power system, power factor correction techniques, low voltage high current conversion techniques, high-frequency magnetic integration, and modeling & control of converters. He holds 6 U.S patents, 7 Chinese patents and 8 U.S. patent pending. He is an IEEE senior member and has co-authored one book and published approximately 100 technical papers in journals and conferences. He will continue to serve as the research team leader of the CPES Power Management Consortium (PMC).; Fred C. Lee was invited to be a member of a National Science Foundation team which traveled to various engineering research centers throughout the Asia, Europe and Great Britain. Dr. Lee was a member of the Asian team which visited China and South Korea in July. The purpose of the visit was to assist NSF in defining goals for the third generation of engineering research centers, particularly those centers interested in globalization and global collaboration with other established centers around the world. Other teams visited Europe and Great Britain. These visits will generate recommendations for the third generation of NSF engineering research centers.
June 2006:: Prof. Dushan Boroyevich, CPES co-director and professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, was named the American Electric Power Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in June 2006. The American Electric Power professorship was established to recognize excellence in the field of electrical power systems.
May 2006:
: Fred C. Lee delivered an invited keynote address at the Bi-Annual International Conference on Power Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Poiana Brasov, Romania; Fred C. Lee delivered an invited presentation at graduation ceremony at University of Karlshrue, Bruchsal, Germany, May 12 2006. The presentation entitled, "Challenges and Opportunities for the Engineering Profession in a Global Environment."; Fred C. Lee delivered an invited keynote address at 10th International Conference on Optimization of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (OPTIM '06), Brasov, Romania, May 18-19, 2006. Presentation entitled, "IPEM-Based Power Electronics System Integration."; G.Q. Lu served as Materials Track Chair for ITHERM'06, held in San Diego, CA, May 30 - June 2, 2006.
January 2006:: Scott Huxtable received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. The title of Dr. Huxtable's proposal is "Measurements, understanding and control of interfacial thermal transport and recruiting young minorities to science and engineering." With this five-year award comes $404,000 to support his research on experimentally measuring nanoscale thermal transport across solid-solid and solid-liquid interfaces. In addition, each summer he will be bringing two minority from low-income schools in Utica, NY to his laboratory for research experiences. He will be supported by CAREER to develop a new course in nanoengineering.