University of Houston Student Center
4302 University Drive
Houston, TX 77004 USA
Since 2017, the PELS Mentorship Roundtables event has facilitated access to distinguished leaders in the power electronics field. Covering non-technical topics essential for professional growth, the Roundtables event is an intimate setting comprised of the mentor who leads the topical discussion and a small group of mentees. The event is open to anyone at any stage of their career.
The evening is catered with heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. Distinguished mentors will lead the discussion over a shared meal in small groups. There are two sessions, so you will have the opportunity to meet with two mentors. Selections are first come first served, and each roundtable has limited capacity. Please select one session per time slot to reserve your space that the table.
Topics and Mentors
1. Innovation and Commercialization Toward Making an Impact in the Industry
Don Tan
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Don Tan, with a PhD from Caltech, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and an IEEE fellow. He has served as Distinguished Engineer, Fellow, Chief Engineer-Power Conversion, Program Manager, Department Manager, and Center Director in a US Fortune 500 corporation. Unusually prolific as a visionary technical leader in ultra-efficient power conversion and electronic energy systems, Dr. Tan has pioneered breakthrough innovations with numerous high-impact industry firsts and record performances that received commendations from the highest level of US Government. He has developed hundreds of designs and thousands of hardware units deployed for space applications without a single on-orbit failure. His suite of world-class electronics performed flawlessly on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), located one million miles away, achieving world-record-breaking performances. Dr. Tan is the IEEE Technical Activities Vice President-Elect 2025, founding President of IEEE Transportation Electrification Council, Chair of IEEE Fellow Advisory and Oversight Subcommittee, and Vice Chair of IEEE Industry Engagement Committee. Among numerous others, Don has served as Division II Director, IEEE Board of Directors; Fellow Committee Chair, IEEE PELS/PES eGrid Steering Committee Chair, PELS Long Range Planning Committee Chair, Nomination Committee Chair, PELS President, Editor-in-Chief (Founding) for IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, APEC (the fourth largest event in IEEE) General Chair, PELS Vice President-Operations, Guest Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, Fellow Committee, PELS Vice President-Meetings, IEEE Chair for IEEE/Google Little Box Challenge (awarded $1M cash prize), and IEEE/DoD Working Group Chair, developed IEEE/ANSI standards 1515/1573. Don has delivered about 130 keynotes/invited global presentations. He has received more than $30M+ external customer funding for research and technology development. He also serves on many prestigious national and international award, review and selection committees.
2. Work-life Balance and Managing Commitments
Annette von Jouanne
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Your lives are changing faster than any generation. With demanding job requirements in addition to the plethora of life needs, opportunities and requests, it is important to develop strategies for maintaining a healthy work life balance and managing commitments. Join Prof. von Jouanne as she shares insights and life hacks for achieving your career goals while enjoying a fulfilling personal life. The discussions will offer practical strategies for prioritizing and achieving a healthy balance while managing the demands of professional and life commitments.
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Annette von Jouanne received her PhD degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1995. She has been a professor for 30 years, 22 years at Oregon State University and 8 years at Baylor University. Dr. von Jouanne’s research includes power electronics and power systems, renewables, advanced inverters using wide bandgap SiC and GaN devices, electric motor-drive systems, electric and hybrid vehicles and ship-based power systems. She was a lead in developing the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center (NNMREC), now known as the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC). Dr. von Jouanne is an IEEE Fellow and a registered professional engineer and she is serving on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on the Impacts of Offshore Renewable Energy off the West Coast.
3. How to Write an Award-winning IEEE Journal Article
Johann W. Kolar
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Johann W. Kolar (LF´25, NAE, NAI) joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich in 2001 as the Head of the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory, following 15 years as an international consultant and independent researcher. He has proposed numerous novel converter concepts, including the Vienna Rectifier. He has extensively published in IEEE conferences and IEEE Transactions, and is named an inventor in numerous granted patents. He has received several awards, including 52 Transactions and Conference Prize Paper Awards. As a Professor Emeritus (since August 2024), he continues to pursue research in ultra-compact and efficient WBG converter systems actively, AI applications in power electronics, Solid-State Transformers, and the life cycle analyses of power electronics converter systems.
4. Growing Your Career With IEEE and PELS
Mark Dehong Xu
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What resource do PELS has for members and chapters? How can you become senior member and fellow? How to set up a chapter or student branch chapter?
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Mark Dehong Xu is Vice President of Membership, IEEE Power Electronics Society. He is a Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University in China. He is IEEE Fellow in 2013, and received IEEE PELS R. D.Middlebrook Award, and IEEE PELS Harry A. Owen, Jr. Distinguished Service Award.
5. Entrepreneurship - from academic research to groundbreaking start-up
Philip Krein
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Solar energy costs have dropped about 98% over a few decades, with basic research and start-up companies playing a major role. The modern integrated ac panel (enabled by microinverter technology), and the story of its commercial pathways, are part of this discussion.
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Philip Krein holds the Grainger Endowed Chair Emeritus in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. He received the IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award in 2003 and the IEEE Transportation Technologies Award in 2021. He holds 42 U.S. patents, many from R&D at Solarbridge Technologies. He is a Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.
6. Leveraging AI to ethically enhance productivity
Prasad Enjeti
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AI is revolutionizing various fields and power electronics design is no exception. Circuit AI leverages GPT-4’s Function Calling, Code Interpreter, and fine-tuning capabilities to simplify BOM tasks, such as switching loss optimization and capacitor RMS estimation. Circuit AI makes this a reality, freeing engineers to focus on higher-level design and innovation. Dr. Enjeti will discuss how AI tools like Circuit AI can enhance learning and streamline design. How do we integrate these advancements ethically, ensuring AI augments, not replaces, the essential engineering skills we cultivate? A crucial conversion for the future of power electronics design.
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Prasad Enjeti received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Concordia University (Canada) in 1988. He has been a member of the Faculty of Texas A&M University (USA) since 1988. He currently holds the Texas Instruments Professorship in Analog Engineering. Dr. Enjeti was a recipient of many honors, including the IEEE Fellow Award in 2000, the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students University Level Teaching Award in 2001, the R. David Middlebrook Technical Achievement Award from IEEE PELS in 2012, and very recently, the IEEE PELS Award for Achievements in Power Electronics Education.
7. How to do funded research that make an impact
Johan Enslin
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Turning research innovation into meaningful industry products are one of the most challenging and rewarding efforts any researcher is challenged with. Either through developing a product and commercialize it through a start-up or inside a large manufacturing company is a key part of the research and develop eco-system. Hard-tech, especially power electronics products, may have specific approaches to get through the “Value of Opportunity”. With a balanced career as academic, industry leader and government, focusing on high power electronic products, Johan will provide some insights and advise mentees on the pitfalls.
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Dr. Johan Enslin is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University and currently serves as the President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society (2025-2026). His main research and development focus is to decarbonize electric power generation, transmission, distribution and active loads. He uses power electronics and sustainable energy resources to fulfill this quest. He was the Duke Energy Endowed Chair in Smart Grid Technology at Clemson University leading the large Energy Innovation Center in Charleston SC. Dr. Enslin combines a balanced industry and academic career with more than 44 years of leadership experience in industry, academia and government throughout the USA, Europe and South Africa. He has served as a C-suite executive for several private business operations and a full-professor in electrical engineering at several universities. Dr. Enslin received BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), South Africa, in 1981, 1983 and 1988 respectively. He has authored more than 350 technical papers, several book chapters and holds 25 patents. Johan has served in the IEEE Power Electronics (PELS), as well as Power and Energy Engineering (PES) Societies and CIGRE Working Groups for decades. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
8. Industry or academia - making a career choice
Ralph Kennel
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Should one start an academic career immediately of go to industry first ? How are the chances to change to academics after being successful in industry ?
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From 1983 to 1999 Ralph M. Kennel worked for Robert BOSCH GmbH (Germany). From 1999 to 2008 he was Professor for Electrical Machines and Drives at Wuppertal University (Germany). From 2008 to 2022 he has been Professor for Electrical Drive Systems and Power Electronics at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (Germany). Since 2022 he is retired In 2018 Dr. Kennel received the Doctoral degree honoris causa from Universitatea Stefan cel Mare in Suceava (Romania). Dr. Kennel has received in 2013 the Harry Owen Distinguished Service Award from IEEE-PELS, the EPE Association Distinguished Service Award in 2015 as well as the EPE Outstanding Achievement Award in 2019. Dr. Kennel was appointed “Extraordinary Professor” by the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) from 2016 to 2019 and as “Visiting Professor” at the Haixi Institute by the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2016 to 2021. There he was appointed as “Jiaxi Lu Overseas Guest Professor” in 2017. In 2018 Dr. Kennel was appointed Guest Professor at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, China. In 2019 Dr. Kennel was appointed„Honorary Chair Professor“ (“distinguished visiting professor”) at Shandong University in Jinan, China.