Award for Achievements in Power Electronics Education

The IEEE PELS Award for Achievements in Power Electronics Education is established to recognize the work of engineers who have shown a major impact on or are groundbreaking for education in the area of power electronics.

Award Items:

• Award plaque
• A one-time honorarium of USD 3,500
• Reimbursement of up to USD 1,000 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 Award for Achievement in Power Electronics Education and enter the required data and documents.

The portal to submit applications is closed.                                                                                                                     

Please send any questions to the PELS Awards Committee. 

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2023 Honoree: Jacobus D. VanWyk 

For pioneering contributions to power electronics education of power electronics experts across the world over five decades

JACOBUS DANIEL (DAAN) VAN WYK born, South Africa, 1939. M.Sc.Eng., University of Pretoria, South Africa 1966, Doctor of Technical Science (cum laude), Technical University Eindhoven, Netherlands, 1969, D.Sc. (Eng) (honoris causa) University of Natal, South Africa, 1996, D. Eng (honoris causa), University of Pretoria, South Africa, 2008, D. Ing (honoris causa), University of Johannesburg, South Africa, 2013.

Worked in industry, University of Pretoria, technical and scientific staff of the University in Eindhoven between 1961 and 1971.  From 1971 to 2004, chaired Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Rand Afrikaans University (later the University of Johannesburg). Founded the Industrial Electronics Technology Research Group, 1977. Served as the Director of this internationally renowned Research Group from its inception in 1977 until 1999. July 1995 to 2004, Special University Research Chair in Industrial Electronics at the Rand Afrikaans University.  Extraordinary Professor, University of Pretoria 2005.Visiting Research Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science at the University of Johannesburg, 2006 to 2019.

1976-1996, Visiting Professor at the Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives of the University of Technology, Aachen, Germany. 1989-1994 member of the Graduate Faculty and Adjunct Professor at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, U.S.A. 1999, Visiting Professor at the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPISU), Blacksburg, VA, U.S.A., working in the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES).  J. Byron Maupin Professor of Engineering at VPISU, 2000 to 2005. Core faculty member in CPES and led the research into High Density Integration for Power Electronics Systems at CPES until July 2006. 2006 to 2008 Research Professor within the Center.

Worked and published with his graduate students recently in integrated electronic energy processors and before that in the fields of semiconductor devices, microelectronics, electrical materials, electromechanical energy conversion, electric drives, power electronics, industrial electronics, control, alternative energy systems, electric vehicles and many diverse applications in industry, mining, transport and electrical energy supply systems. Has worked with more than 150 research students in these fields internationally, leading to more than 650 publications with his students, receiving 24 prize paper awards –including 15 IEEE awards. Life Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of the South African   Institute of Electrical Engineers, Fellow of the S.A. Academy of Engineering, received the IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award in 1995, President’s Award of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1995. 1996/1998 Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Power Electronics Society,1997/1999 Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Industry Applications Society. 2000, IEEE Third Millennium Medal.  2006 IEEE Power Electronics Society Distinguished Service Award. 2006 IEEE Industry Applications Society’s lifetime Outstanding Achievement Award. Editorial Advisory Board of IEEE Spectrum, 1996 to 1998.  2002 to 2006, Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.  One of three Guest Editors of the 2001 Special Issue on Power Electronics Technology: Present Trends and Future Developments, of the IEEE Proceedings.