IEEE Power Eletronics Society 2011 Election Results Announcement

Dear IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) members and friends:

I hope you all had great holidays and I wish you very successful and happy New 2012 Year! At the end of 2011 we held our annual elections and one of the finer pleasures of being the PELS President is to announce and welcome the newly elected officers and volunteers at the beginning of each year.

The voting members of our Administrative Committee (AdCom) elected Dr. F. Dong Tan from Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, USA, as the IEEE Power Electronics Society President for 2013-14. Most of you know Dong from his numerous volunteer activities in PELS continuously over the last two decades, and especially by his extremely committed work as the PELS Vice President for Operations in the last five years. Dong’s election is a well-deserved one and purports our great expectations from his leadership in the coming years.

Every year, PELS membership votes for six new Members-at-Large of the AdCom for a term of three years. José Cobos, Annette Muetze, Ira Pitel, Toshihisa Shimizu, Peter Steimer, and Jian Sun were elected to serve in 2012-14. The 18 Members-at-Large constitute more than half of the AdCom voting members and represent the society membership as a whole.  During their term, they are assigned many administrative functions and form the pool of candidates for the future vice presidents and presidents. Annette, Ira, Jian, José, Peter, and Toshihisa are already well known for their technical contributions to our profession and they have been very active as PELS volunteers; their selection is recognition of their achievements and their commitment to the prosperity of PELS.

Let me also thank the outgoing class of the AdCom Members-at-Large: Patrick Chapman, Andreas Lindemann, Marta Molinas, Fang Zheng Peng, and Ira Pitel for their outstanding contributions in the past three years (I was the sixth). As you realize, they are continuing to be active in many volunteer functions that will benefit immensely from their experience and dedication.

At the end of 2011, IEEE members of Division II (encompassing the following societies: PELS; Industry Applications (IAS); Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology; Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation; Instrumentation and Measurement; Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control) elected Jerry Hudgins as 2012 IEEE Division II Director-Elect, who will serve on the IEEE Board of Directors in 2013-14.   Jerry was President of PELS in 1997-98 and the President of IAS in 2003. Most recently, he has been chairing our Fellows Evaluation Committee in the last three years.  We are very proud that Jerry will be supporting the Institute in such a prominent function.

Congratulations to all selected candidates!  I also would like to thank all the candidates that were not selected this time for their continuing support of all PELS activities and needs, including their willingness to stand for these elections.  We will continue to depend on their outstanding work and enthusiasm in the coming years.

Finally, I encourage you to read the candidates’ statements below and to talk and write to our new volunteer officers so that we all can make our Society and the Institute even greater than it is today.

Dushan Boroyevich
PELS President

 

PELS President Elect for 2013 - 2014

 

 

The IEEE PELS President Elect for 2013-14 is our current VP Operations:

Dr. F. Dong Tan; Staff Manager and Distinguished Engineer, Mixed-signal & Power Center, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, California, USA

"Thank you for the privilege to serve IEEE PELS. I will continue to promote power electronics and the community it serves to the society at large, to revitalize and grow our technical activities, to improve services and values to PELS members, to enhance industry participation, and to collaborate effectively with our sister societies. With sustainability, our community is gaining wider recognition as a top-tier technology discriminator. A prominent example is the recent recognition of one of the Newell awardees with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation for the invention of the IGBT.  We will do our part by expanding our awards program to better recognize our talents and contributions to the Institute and to the society.  Our technical activities are unprecedentedly agile. We will continue our revitalization effort by bringing more resources and responsibility to the TCs.  We will continue to provide more web-based contents to our members including the seminar materials that are presented at conferences, but not available afterwards.  We will focus more on increasing industry participation by revising conference models to make it more attractive for industry to present.  We will continue to work closely with our sister societies by making the sister society meeting at IEEE board meeting a regular event and by appointing representatives to each sister society to be our voice in their board meetings and being their voice in our AdCom.  I am looking forward to your support and to working together to achieve the objectives essential for PELS future success."

 

Members at Large 2012 - 2013 - 2014

 

Dr. José A. Cobos from Technical University of Madrid in Spain

"Sharing knowledge benefits the whole power electronics community. PELS has been very active on this, but requires continuing effort and support from its members.  Joint international education programs and sharing structured learning materials are values that PELS is in optimum conditions to deploy.

I would like to use my background in research and education to help, in general, deploying power electronics in different areas, but specifically in two directions:  strengthen the links between PELS, industry and university, and fostering education and teaching materials in power electronics."

 

 

Dr. Annette Muetze from Graz University of Technology in Austria

"I hope to contribute with my rich international experience both in terms of education systems and approaches to research, including university-industry interaction and funding systems, to the PELS community and as future strategies are being developed within PELS.  I also aim to serve as a good role-model to increase participation of under-represented minorities in the power electronics field, where again my experience with different contexts and cultures is a strengthening factor.  In research, teaching and administration I am striving for academic excellence and efficient working procedures."

 

 

Dr. Ira J. Pitel from Magna-Power Electronics, Inc. in New Jersey, USA

"The Power Electronic Society (PELS) is predominately an academic society and has been broadening its scope with the introduction of the Energy Conversion Conference and Exposition (ECCE). As an industrialist and having gone through the chairs of the Industry Applications Society (IAS), I believe I have the proper background to help PELS attract the interests of the industrial community.  My goal, as a possible Member-at-Large, would be to work with the PELS Board to help: bring awareness to the needs of industrial members, transition the Newsletter to a Magazine, and redirect tutorials making them more interesting to the practicing Power Electronics engineer."

Dr. Toshihisa Shimizu from Tokyo Metropolitan University in Japan

"I have been working in the field of Power Electronics for more than 35 years in both the company and university.  Based on my professional carrier, I will dedicate my experience and knowledge to development of PELS activities.  I will strive to increase the student members and regular numbers especially in Region 10 by developing their benefits as PELS member.  Share the valuable ideas and experiences with PELS members of the world, and maximize their carrier development through effective management of PELS international conferences and ECCE series, many regional technical seminars, and technical committee meetings."

 

 

 

Dr. Peter K. Steimer from ABB in Switzerland

"My key interest would be to network industry and university activities within the global power electronics society. My main focus would be to lead the change in key areas of power electronics, which impact our society.  The main topics to be influenced by our power electronics society would be energy efficiency, cleaner transportation, and renewable integration.  Integrity at all levels in research, engineering and education are boundary condition for our global power electronics community."

 

 

 

Dr. Jian Sun from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, USA

"PELS is the best and most important professional society in power electronics.  I started my graduate study by reading the papers published in the Transactions and the proceedings of APEC and PESC.  I started to attend APEC in 1996 and have never missed it once since then.  I also attended almost all PESC from 1992, and have been closely involved in the organization of its successor, the ECCE, from the very beginning. Participating in these activities and interacting with colleagues and friends in the society have benefited my career greatly.  It is my pleasure to return my service to the society in the new capacity as a Member-at-Large.

PELS has seen tremendous growth over the past two decade.  The number of papers published annually in the Transactions is 10 times more than it was when I started my career, and so is the number of technical conferences sponsored by PELS.  New applications such as renewable energy and transportation have brought many opportunities for power electronics professionals as well as our society as a whole. As Member-at-Large, I will help PELS AdCom to manage the rapid growth of our society while maintaining its reputation for the highest quality."

 

IEEE Division II Director for 2013 - 2014

 

“Providing value to technical society members is of prime importance. Bundled membership is one effort for enhancement. However, providing increased value to young professionals, new graduates, and small businesses continues to be challenging. We should regard these challenges as opportunities for new programs and business models. Closer ties and involvement with geographic units through membership, conferences, and publications is important to support as well. I have, and encourage, new and innovative ideas regarding these value propositions. Having served for more than seven years as a Society Treasurer, three years as President of two of our Division’s member societies, finance and general chairs of large and small conferences, and several years working on the TAB/PSPB Products and Services Committee (and its predecessor and an associated subcommittee), I have a long-standing and intimate knowledge of the financial structure and operational expenses at many levels within the IEEE. I also have years of experience managing and dealing with people during my career. Based on these accumulated experiences, I look forward to working effectively with you and for you.”