Electrical Machines, Drives and Related Automation Technical Achievement Award

IEEE PELS Electrical Machines, Drives and Related Automation Technical Achievement Award

About the Award

The IEEE PELS Electrical Machines, Drives, and Related Automation Technical Achievement Award honors innovators and researchers who have made outstanding and sustained technical contributions to the advancement of the areas of electrical machines, drives, or related automation.

Award Prize:

  • An engraved plaque
  • An honorarium of 1,500 USD
  • Reimbursement of up to 1,000 USD towards the recipient’s necessary conference registration, travel, and accommodation costs incurred to attend the award ceremony

Submitting a Nominee

When submitting a nominee, you will be asked to log into your existing IEEE account (or register for a new one) to identify as a nominator. Subsequently, select the IEEE PELS Electrical Machines, Drives, and Related Automation Technical Achievement Award and enter the required data and documents.

The portal to submit a nomination is now closed.

Award Details

Recognizing Outstanding Achievements

Ayman M. El Refaie
2024 Honoree:

Ayman M. El-Refaie

for development of advanced electrical machines for transportation electrification

Ayman M. El-Refaie received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison on 2002, and 2005 respectively. Between 2005 and 2016 he has been a principal engineer and a project leader at the Electrical Machines and Drives Lab at General Electric Global Research Center. His interests include electrical machines and drives. Since January 2017 he joined Marquette University as the Werner Endowed Chair for Energy Sustainability. He has over 200 journal and conference publications. He has 50 issued US patents.

At GE, he worked on several projects that involve the development of advanced electrical machines for various applications including, aerospace, traction, wind, and water desalination. He was the chair for the IEEE IAS Transportation Systems committee and an associate editor for the Electric Machines committee. He was a technical program chair for the IEEE 2011 Energy Conversion Conference and Exposition (ECCE). He was the general chair for ECCE 2014 and 2015 ECCE steering committee chair. He was the general chair of IEMDC 2019.He is an IEEE Fellow, IET Fellow, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a member of Sigma Xi He received several prestigious awards including the IEEE IAS Industrial Power Conversion Systems Department Gerald Kliman Innovator Award and the 2022 ICEM Arthur Ellison Achievement Award. He is the recipient of three paper awards.

Eligibility Requirements & Criteria

Eligibility: Nominees should be active IEEE and PELS members and demonstrate a significant track record of achievements in the areas of electrical machines, drives, or related automation. There are no other restrictions as to affiliation, age, gender, IEEE member grade, or nationality.

Criteria: Judgment of the nominees is based on the following:

  • Advancement of the technology
  • Contribution to the field 
  • Past relevant activities to the field and PELS TC 3
  • Sustained impact on PELS TC 3 and the profession
  • Quality of the nomination, including endorsement letters
  • Quality of the technical achievement

Past Recipients

YearRecipient Name
2023No award given

Questions?

Please send any questions to the PELS Awards Committee.