YP Events

2023

March: APEC 2023

 

The PELS S&YP committee was well represented throughout the conference and several events hosted by the PELS S&YP leadership committee saw an increased participation by the attendees. The "PELS-IAS-PSMA Sponsored Young Professionals Reception" took place on March 21st, 2023. The two-hour event hosted over 150 attendees and presented a great opportunity for young professionals and students alike to network and engage with fellow students, young professionals, and leaders of the societies in a casual atmosphere over food and drinks. 

 

The second YP sponsored event, the "WIE, YP and You, How to become involved with IEEE, PELS and PSMA, too" took place on March 22nd, 2023. The event - an hour-long breakfast discussion effectively showcased all the different ways one can potentially engage with PELS and PSMA as well as network and engage with volunteers and officers and unravel all the exciting opportunities behind these acronyms. An added perk to attend the event was drawing off a raffle that gave two vouchers for a complimentary IEEE and PELS membership making it a win-win situation. Wrapping up the conference, the PELS S&YP committee saw an engaging involvement of students and young professions at the APEC 2023 thereby successfully achieving its core objective of providing students and young professional members with networking opportunities within the power electronics community and enabling mentorship and other unique growth opportunities for PELS students and young professionals. The S&YP committee is poised for an exciting future as it plans to organize and chalk out a number of these events at SYPS and other upcoming conferences.

2021

March: ECCE Asia (Virtual)

Meet: The Students and YP program organized the IEEE ECCE-Asia conference on 26 March 2021 at NUS, Singapore.  Both PELS and IAS sponsored the conference.  The event started with a short presentation with the topic "PELS YP - Activities and Practices" by Dr. Rajesh M. Pindoriya (see picture).  After the talk, the room opened for a professional networking discussion where Ms. Indhumathi Gunasekaran conducted technical and non-technical games to engage the audience.  The organizing chair of ECCE-Asia and director of PELS Membership, Dr. Sanjib Kumar Panda, attended the session.  The young professionals enjoyed the session and gave positive feedback.  The event had over 25 participants.

March: PELS SYPS Conference (Virtual)

Symposium: The Students and YP program organized the first edition of the IEEE PELS Students and Young Professionals Symposium (SYPS) in March 2021.  The event was conducted by PELS Student Activities Committee members along with over 50 passionate volunteers who promoted a student-focused event.  SYPS'21 was an international virtual symposium where student members, tech enthusiasts, and young professionals who are passionate about exploring more on power electronics met on one platform.  Delegates networked with like-minded people from almost everywhere in the world while staying at home.  SYPS opened doors for members and participants to meet industry leaders from around the world and hear about their concerns throughout the pandemic.  Also, SYPS provided an excellent venue to have a fresh start and feel motivated again by meeting new people and hearing about new ideas.  The YP Committee received great feedback from attendees and is willing to promote SYPS again next year.

Job Fair: The first PELS Job Fair helped students and young power electronics professionals connect with industry representatives.  The event was sponsored by platinum sponsors Huawei and Typhoon HIL, gold sponsor Plexim, and job fair sponsors Cummins, Omni Powertrain Technologies, and GE Appliances.  During the three days of SYPS'21, attendees used the virtual platform to visit the companies' booths, share their CVs, and request one-on-one meetings.  On 29 March, attendees talked with industry representatives about career opportunities (see picture).  This job fair helped some PELS members to receive offers for full-time positions and internships.  The platinum sponsors also contributed speakers Xingzhon Zhang (Huawei) and Chirstoph Schaub (Typhoon HIL) for SYPS'21, who gave enlightening presentations.

---

2020

January: PESGRE (Cochin, India)

The Students and Young Professionals program sponsored by PELS and IAS organized an event for during IEEE PESGRE 2020 on 2 January at Le Meridien in India.  There were four talks by Dr. Sanjib Kumar Panda, Dr. Harish Krishnamoorth, Dr. Akshay Rathore, and Dr. Anurag Srivastava.  It was a successful event with over 60 participants (see picture).

---

2019

March: APEC (Anaheim, USA)

The 2019 edition of APEC was held in March in Anaheim, USA.  Students and Young Professionals receptions have become staple events at APEC.  This year's event was held at Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney (see picture), where the casual setting and jazz music provided the perfect background for students and young professionals to enjoy the evening while interacting with society leaders, such as PELS President Prof. Frede Blaabjerg and IAS Past President Dr. Tomy Sebaastian.  The New Orleans-themed venue provided the 120attendees an excellent preview of what APEC has in store for 2020, when the conference visits the festive city of New Orleans.

---

2018

March: APEC (San Antonio, USA)

Reception: PELS and IAS both sponsored this opportunity to learn from the life journies of the biggest leaders at APEC and speak to people from across the globe.  The Students and YP reception at APEC 2018 was held on 6 March at the Rio Rio Cantina (see picture).  It was a fun event full of interaction over delicious food.  The event was attended by over 100 members of the power electronics world along the side of the beautiful RiverWalk in San Antonio.

May: IPEC (ECCE-Asia) (Niigata, Japan)

Reception: IPEC is one of the conferences during the ECCE-Asia series and is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical Engineers in Japan (IEEJ) and co-sponsored by PELS and IAS.  The eighth IPEC was held from 20 to 24 May 2018 in Niigata, which is also the hometown of one of the biggest memorable names in power electronics, Prof. Isao Takahashi.  The PELS YP Committee promoted the YP event, which was called the Students and Young Engineers Meeting.  The IPEC Steering Committee, IAS, and Ph.D. candidates of the Power Electronics in Japan (PPEJ) all supported the event (see picture).  It was a very successful gathering that had two parts: one in the daytime and one in the evening.

During the daytime event, representatives from PPEJ and PELS YP gave opening remarks.  They revealed a survey that showed how Ph.D. students spent over 12 hours per day in labs.  A poster session was then organized to show labs across global universities.  The session closed with speeches from distinguished professors.  During the evening event, there was a social networking activity held at a cozy and pleasant traditional Japanese pub, IZAKAYA.

December: SPEC (NTU, Singapore)

Reception: The 4th annual SPEC was held at Nanyang Tech. Univ. (NTU) in Singapore on December 2018.  In collaboration with the Conference Committee, the PELS Students and YP Committee sponsored the social dinner held on 11 December at ORTO, Singapore's first multi-recreational park that caters to all-day and night activities such as prawning and fishing.  Over 130 participants attended the dinner and enjoyed the opportunity to network over delicious food in the cool, scenic, and relaxing countryside ambiance (see picture).  SPEC'18 General Chair Prof. Jason Lai gave a presentation and showed a short video to introduce participants to Singapore while SPEC'19 General Chair Prof. Jose Antenor Pomilio gave a brief presentation about SPEC'19, which is to be held in Brazil.

---

2017

March: APEC (Tampa, USA)

Reception: Both PELS and IAS sponsored the Students and YP Reception at APEC 2017, which was held at the Lykes Atrium in the Tampa Bay History Center.  Over 100 attendees participated in panel discussions and networking opportunities with distinguished guests while enjoying complimentary drinks and appetizers.  This event also extended the young participants' experience of APEC into a relaxing environment by inviting the APEC organizers.

June: ECCE-Asia (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

Reception: Both PELS and Women in Engineering (WiE) co-sponsored a YP Reception at ECCE-Asia'17, which was held in Taiwan on 3 June 2017.  Similar YP receptions are held at many major PELS conferences and have become an annual event in the ECCE-Asia conference series.  This year's reception brought together and showcased both PELS YP and WiE members from various parts of the world.  The event kicked off with YP members from power electronics labs around the globe sharing their experiences in their research labs.  Presentations were given by Prof Cheng-Yu Tang (Feng-Chia Univ.), Tsung-Hsi Wu (Natl. Sun Yat-Sen Univ.), Mina Kim (Ulsan Natl. Inst. of Sci. and Tech.), Tatsuki Osato (Chiba Univ.), and Wenbo Wang (Univ. of Bristol).  In their presentations, they showed the everyday life of the lab in their country, their passion for their research, and why they chose power electronics as their major.

September: ECCE-Europe (Warsaw, Poland)

Reception: The 19th edition of the European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE'17 - ECCE Europe) went to the beautiful and historical Polish capital of Warsaw, which attracted many professionals, students, and industry workers.  It was held at the Palace of Culture and Science from 11 to 14 September 2017.  At this event, the PELS YP Committee organized a special event for students and young professionals, which was a big success thanks to the great collaboration with the IEEE Young Professionals Affinity Group from the Poland Section.  It was an energetic, inspiring, and social YP meetup.  After the speeches by representatives, attendees met many new people during the energetic networking event.  They successfully exchanged information, busily networked, and got to know each other over complimentary Polish food and drink (see picture).  The two-hour networking enabled participants to make international connections and friendships that will help them as they pursue their careers.  Over 180 attended the meetup.

October: ECCE-North America (Cincinnati, USA)

Reception: IAS and PELS provided an opportunity to learn from the life journies of the biggest leaders at ECCE along with an evening well spent talking to people from across the globe during the Students and Young Professionals reception.  Over 220 power electronics professionals, including students, enjoyed networking over delicious snacks and drinks at the Bauer Farm Kitchen near the Duke Convention Center.  Both current IAS and PELS Presidents gave brief talks (see picture).  Since it was also IEEE Day, there was a cake-cutting celebration.

---

2016

March: APEC (Long Beach, USA)

Reception: Both PELS and IAS co-sponsored a Students and Young Professionals Reception at APEC'16, which was held at Cafe Sevilla in Long Beach on 22 March 2016.  Over complimentary drinks and appetizers, over 110 attendees enjoyed the networking opportunity with distinguished guests and the panel discussion on the topic "Research for a cause - Thinking Why before What".  This event also extended the young participants' experience of APEC into a relaxing environment by inviting the APEC organizers and plenary speakers (see picture).

May: IPEMC (ECCE-Asia) (Hefei, China)

Reception: PELS organized a Students and Young Professionals reception at IPEMC'16, which was held at the Platinum Hanjue Hotel on 23 May 2016.  There were about 145 attendees who enjoyed networking with peers and distinguished guests, such as Dr. Liuchen Chang, Dr. Braham Ferreira, Dr. Mark Dehong Xu, and Dr. Katehrine Kim.  There were complimentary cakes and drinks.  A cherishing talk about women in engineering was also presented.  The event enhanced the experience of young participants at IPEMC with a relaxing environment (see picture).

December: SPEC (Auckland, New Zealand)

Reception: As a prestigious conference for PELS, the 2nd annual SPEC was held in Auckland, New Zealand.  In collaboration with the Conference Committee, the PELS Students and Young Professionals Committee invited students and young peers in power electronics to a reception on 5 December 2016 at the Univ. of Auckland.  a "PELS Members' Stories" session was held at the beginning, where 3 distinguished guests (Prof. Udaya K. Madawala, Prof. Braham Ferreira, and Prof. Frede Blaabjerg) were invited to share their stories as PELS Members.  After this, a reception with complimentary food and drinks was held for participants to network, which was enjoyed by over 80 attendees (see picture).

---

2015

APEC (Charlotte, USA)

Reception: Both PELS and IAS conducted a Students and Young Professionals Reception at Epicenter during APEC'15.  The event provided opportunities to network and chat with fellow students and young professionals in a casual atmosphere over appetizers and drinks.  There was also a panel discussion and question and answer section with four distinguished guests from industry and academia (see picture): Dr. Maryam Saeedifard (Georgia Tech), Dr. Shibashis Bhowmik (Sinewatts), Mr. David Doctor (E4 Carolinas), and Dr. Akshay Rathore (NUS).  These activities were then followed by a cake-cutting event to celebrate 50 years of IAS.

June: ICPE (ECCE-Asia) (Seoul, South Korea)

Dinner: At ECCE-Asia'15's ICPE in South Korea, students and young professionals from all parts of the world came together to share their experiences in power electronics.  On 2 June, PELS and the Korean Inst. of Power Electronics (KIPE) co-sponsored a Young Researcher Activity and Networking Dinner.  The events were organized by Prof. Rae-Young Kim (Hanyang Univ.), Prof. Sang-Shin Kwak (Chungang Univ.), Prof. Honnyong Cha (Kyungpook Univ.), and Prof. Katherine Kim (Ulsan Natl. Inst. of Sci. and Tech.).

The event started with a greeting from Prof. Braham Ferreira (Delft Univ. of Tech.) and Prof. Seung-Ki Sul (Seoul Natl. Univ.), who emphasized the importance of active young members to the future of the power electronics field and community.  During the Young Researcher Activity, students from various countries presented posters about their school, research lab, lab culture, research projects, and general experiences.  Students represented schools from China, Denmark, Japan, Korea, USA, and Taiwan.  Over 70 attendees participated in the activity and talked with students from the represented schools while networking and enjoying a reception (see picture).

September: EPE (ECCE-Europe) (Switzerland)

Reception: The EPE Students and Young Professionals reception was held at La Romana on 8 September after the EPE Welcome reception.  About 90 students and young professionals joined in the opportunities to network with others.  Students and young professionals from different affiliations met for the first time and had nice discussions.  Towards the middle of the event, Dr. Braham Ferreira, Dr. Leo Lorenz, and Dr. Dushan Boryevich each gave a short but sweet speech to the attendees (see pictures).  Dr. Fred Lee, Dr. Rik De Doncker, and Mike Kelly also attended.