Energy Conversion for a Sustainable Future - IEEE Power Electronics Society

Date: 12/11/2026

Time: 9:00 am

Presenter: Ayman El-Refaie

Abstract: (This webinar is sponsored by PELS TC 3) Energy sustainability is arguably one of the most critical challenges for a sustainable future. With predictions showing future scarcity and/or higher degree of extraction difficulty of traditional sources of energy for example coal, oil and natural gas, the shift to sustainable clean sources of energy is a must. Another key reason is the increasing detrimental impact of using fossil fuels. Over the last few decades, there has been serious effort to replace mechanical and hydraulic systems with electrical systems. This effort also includes replacing fixed-speed and old electrical drives with higher performance variable-speed drives. This is mainly due to the higher reliability, efficiency and robustness of electrical systems. This trend of “more electric” systems could be seen across a wide range of applications. These include traction, aerospace, actuation, mining, oil & gas, and industrial applications as examples. This push for electrification posed a lot of challenges to develop electrical systems that meet the demanding requirements of the various applications including harsh environments, high power density, high efficiency and fault tolerance in safety-critical applications. At the heart of the electrification effort is the development of advanced electrical machines and drives. This presentation will provide an overview of the various applications where electrification is taking place. The presentation will focus on electrical machines and drives that have been developed or are currently under development. The presentation will also cover some general trends in electrical machines and potential areas of research.

Ayman M. El-Refaie received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 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 250 journal and conference publications. He has 50 issued US patents. He is a fellow of the IEEE, IET and National Academy of Inventors. 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 was the IEEE IAS Industrial Power Conversion Systems Department. He was the IAS Publications Department Chair He is currently serving as the IAS president. He is a member of Sigma Xi. He received several prestigious awards including the IEEE IAS Industrial Power Conversion Systems Department Gerald Kliman Innovator Award, the 2022 ICEM Arthur Ellison Achievement Award, the 2024 IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Cyril Veinott Electromechanical Energy Conversion Award, and the 2024 IEEE PELS Electrical Machines, Drives and Related Automation Technical Achievement Award among several others. He is the recipient of five paper awards.