Dec 1, 2017 - by the IEEE Systems Council (Figure 1). The scholarship is named in mem- ory of James O. Gray and recognizes students pursuing studies in ...
FIG 1 Prof. Juan Rivas of Stanford University, California, presents at the inaugural meeting of the IEEE PELS Student Branch Chapter at UC Berkeley (8 December 2015). (Photo courtesy of UC Berkeley IEEE PELS Student Branch Chapter.)
present their work to our entire student body (Figure 1). Each lecture is recorded and uploaded to YouTube, where the videos have attracted more than 3,000 views to date. Moreover, the formation of our Chapter serendipitously coincided
with the return of the IEEE PELS San Francisco Bay Area Chapter in 2016, led by Brian Zahnstecher and his incredible team. Since the beginning, our symbiotic relationship has been foundational in helping our Chapter realize our goals and has resulted in
five cosponsored events as well as invaluable networking opportunities for our student members. In July, the 2017 IEEE Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics, organized by Prof. Juan Rivas of Stanford University, California, provided our members with a global perspective of the latest academic and industrial research in power electronics. Since the formation of our Chapter, enrollment in the introductory power electronics class at UC Berkeley has increased by more than 100% year after year. Students are recognizing the exciting opportunities of doing research and working in the field of power electronics. Looking forward to the next two years, our Chapter will continue on our mission to enable power electronics to cultivate and thrive at Berkeley.
by Mahmoud Saleh
City College of New York Student Chapter Society Members Receive Awards
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n April 2017, the chair of the IEEE Power and Energy Society/Industrial Applications Society/Power Electronics Society (PES/IAS/PELS) City College of New York Student Branch Chapter, Mahmoud Saleh, won the James O. Gray Scholarship offered by the IEEE Systems Council (Figure 1). The scholarship is named in memory of James O. Gray and recognizes students pursuing studies in process control systems engineering, plant automation, or instrumentation and measurement. The IEEE Systems Council presented Saleh with the award at the IEEE International System Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2017.2762201 Date of publication: 20 December 2017
FIG 1 Mahmoud Saleh, chair of the PES/ IAS/PELS City College of New York Student Branch Chapter, winner of the 2017 James O. Gray Scholarship for studies in process control systems engineering and plant automation. (Photo courtesy of Mahmoud Saleh.)
December 2017
FIG 2 Yusef Esa, vice chair of the PES/ IAS/PELS City College of New York Student Branch Chapter, took third place in the 2017 IAS Chapters and Membership Development Thesis Contest, non-Ph.D. category. (Photo courtesy of Yusef Esa.)
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Conference, which was held in Montréal, Canada, 24–27 April 2017. The IEEE Systems Council Award Committee stated, “The committee was impressed with Mahmoud Saleh’s academic record and his obvious dedi cation to his education, as well as his understanding of the field of control systems engineering as he has
applied it to electrical power grid control and instrumentation and monitoring.” His recent work with Yusef Esa and Ahmed Mohamed, “Centralized Control for dc Microgrid Using Finite State Machine,” was accepted and presented at the 2017 IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference, in Washington, D.C., 23–26 April 2017.
The vice chair of the PES/IAS/ PELS City College of New York Student Branch Chapter, Yusef Esa (Figure 2), won third place in the non-Ph.D. category of the 2017 IAS Chapters and Membership Development Thesis Contest. His thesis was “A Hybrid State/Event Drive Communication-Based Control for dc Microgrids.”
by Athanasios Karlis
Joint Chapters of Greece Support Workshop on Powering Light-Emitting Diodes
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he second IEEE Region 8 Mediterranean Industry Applications Society (IAS) Student Branch Chapter Workshop took place in Xanthi, Greece, 13–14 May 2017. It was organized by the IEEE IAS Student Branch Chapter of the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, with the support of the Industrial Electronics Society/ Industry Applications Society/ Power Electronics Society (IES/IAS/ PELS) Joint Chapter of the IEEE Greece Section. The participants of the workshop came from several universities throughout the Region, i.e., Italy, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Hungary, Tunisia, and, of course, Greece (Figure 1). The chair of the IEEE IES/IAS/ PELS Joint Chapter, Prof. Athanasios Karlis, gave the opening speech. Prof. Ioannis Boutalis, the head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, presented the department’s research and educational activities. Next, Prof. Ioannis Pratikakis, membership development chair of
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FIG 1 A group photo of the attendees at the IES/IAS/PELS Joint Chapter of the Greece Section workshop. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Athanasios Karlis, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.)
the IEEE Greece Section, presented the activities of the Section. Dr. Peter Magyar, IAS Chapters and membership department chair, and David B. Durocher, past president of the IAS, presented the activities of the IAS. IAS Distinguished Lecturer Suresh Channarasappa, fellow engineer at Westinghouse Electric Company, Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, gave the presentation “Update on Nuclear Power.” The next part of the workshop included the Student Branch Chapter presentations and two technical talks. The first talk was presented by Prof. J. Marcos Alonso of the University of Oviedo, Spain, who is a member of the IEEE IES Power Electronics Techni-
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cal Committee and the 2006 recipient of the IEEE IES Early Career Award. His presentation on “Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Lightings and Drivers” began with an introduction to lighting and vision and color theory. Various types of LED modeling, thermal management, and dimming were also discussed. The presentation closed with discussion about dc-supplied LED drivers and offline LED drivers. Associate Prof. Dimosthenis Peftitsis, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a member of the International Steer ing Committee of the European Power Electronics and Drives Association, gave the second technical
