KEYNOTES

Prof. Frede Blaabjerg
President, IEEE PELS

Topic:
Power Electronics - the key technology for grid integration

Frede Blaabjerg (S’86–M’88–SM’97–F’03) was with ABB-Scandia, Randers, Denmark, from 1987 to 1988. From 1988 to 1992, he got the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at Aalborg University in 1995. He became an Assistant Professor in 1992, an Associate Professor in 1996, and a Full Professor of power electronics and drives in 1998. From 2017 he became a Villum Investigator. He is honoris causa at University Politehnica Timisoara (UPT), Romania and Tallinn Technical University (TTU) in Estonia.

His current research interests include power electronics and its applications such as in wind turbines, PV systems, reliability, harmonics and adjustable speed drives. He has published more than 600 journal papers in the fields of power electronics and its applications. He is the co-author of four monographs and editor of ten books in power electronics and its applications.

He has received 32 IEEE Prize Paper Awards, the IEEE PELS Distinguished Service Award in 2009, the EPE-PEMC Council Award in 2010, the IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award 2014, the Villum Kann Rasmussen Research Award 2014, the Global Energy Prize in 2019 and the 2020 IEEE Edison Medal. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS from 2006 to 2012. He has been Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power Electronics Society from 2005 to 2007 and for the IEEE Industry Applications Society from 2010 to 2011 as well as 2017 to 2018. In 2019-2020 he serves a President of IEEE Power Electronics Society. He is Vice-President of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences too. He is nominated in 2014-2019 by Thomson Reuters to be between the most 250 cited researchers in Engineering in the world.


Prof. M. Rezwan Khan
Professor, United International University, Bangladesh

Topic:
Future of solar PV applications: Bangladesh perspective

Prof. M. Rezwan Khan completed his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the leading technical university in Bangladesh, in 1980. He then obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from University College London in 1982 and 1986 respectively. He is presently serving as a professor at the United International University, Bangladesh.

Prof. Khan has research interest in diverse fields like thin film nano-devices, power electronics, DSP, renewable energy and energy systems. He has been serving as the Chairman of the Technical Standard Committee of Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), the largest financial organization in Bangladesh in Renewable energy sector. Under his technical guidance IDCOL has so far financed more than 5 million solar home systems in Bangladesh, the largest solar home system program in the world. He received the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in 2005 for his outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology in Bangladesh. Prof. Khan is a proponent of DC Power system and has been selected as the Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE IAS for the year 2017-18.


Dr. Tomy Sebastian
Halla Mechatronics, USA
Immediate Past President IAS

Topic:
Developments in Vehicle Electrification

Tomy Sebastian received the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree from Regional Engineering College Calicut, Kozhikode, India, in 1979, the M.S. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamilnadu, in 1982, and the MA.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1984 and 1986, respectively.,From 1979 to 1980, he was with the Research & Development Center of KELTRON, Trivandrum, India. From 1987 to 1992, he was with the Research and Applied Technology Division of Black and Decker Corporation, Towson, MD, USA. From 1992 to 2013, he was with Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems and Nexteer Automotive, Saginaw, MI, USA, where he was the Chief Scientist at the Innovation Center. He is currently the Director of motor drive systems at Halla Mechatronics, Bay City, MI, USA. He has authored over 50 technical publications and holds 31 U.S. patents. His current research interests include electrical machines and variable speed drives.,Dr. Sebastian was a co-recipient of an IEEE Industry Application Society Transactions first-prize paper award. He was the recipient of the 2010 IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding Achievement award. He has held several positions, in the Industrial Drives Committee and in the Industrial Power Conversion Systems Department and currently the President of the IEEE Industry Application Society. He was the General Chair for the first IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and exposition held in San Jose, CA, USA, in 2009 and the Co-General Chair of the IEEE Power Electronics, Drives and Energy Systems (PEDES 2012) in Bengaluru, India. He is a fellow of IEEE and immediate past president of IEEE IAS society.


Special Session

Dr. Peter Magyar
MPP Consult, Germany
IAS Director of Chapter Development

Topic:
The Potential of Electricity Based Fuels of Low-Emission Transport

Dr. Peter Magyar (M´92, SM´04, F´07, LF´18) received the Dipl. eng. and the Dr. tech. degrees from the Budapest University of Technology, Hungary, in 1967 and 1975, respectively. From 1967 to 1991, he was with the Department of Automation of the same university as an assistant professor and a research associate. He led the Laboratory of Microprocessor Controlled Drives 1981-1991 of the same department. He was research fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation 1980-81, Bonn, Germany. His technical field of interest has been power electronics and control of electrical drives. From 1991 to 2009, he worked for industrial companies in Germany in the field of development power electronic equipment, electrical drives, automotive electronics and control systems. He retired in 2009. He has been expert evaluator of the European Commission since 2001 and works as a consultant.

Dr. Magyar has been IEEE volunteer in various positions. He was secretary, vice chair and chair of the IAS/PELS/IES German Chapter (1998-2004). He was the chapter coordinator of the Germany Section 2005-09 and member 2007-09 as well as chair of the R8 Chapter Coordination Subcommittee 2009-11. He served the IA Society as Chapter Area Chair R8 2004-08, as member-at-large 2005, as chairman of the Inter-Society Cooperation Committee 2006-07, chair of the Chapters and Membership Department 2009-2018 and has been IAS Director of Chapter Development since January 2019 . Dr. Magyar is recipient of the IAS Distinguished Service Award 2006 and has been elevated to IEEE Fellow 2007 and Life Fellow 2018.


Humanitarian Track

Mr. Kartik Kulkarni
Chairman, IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee

Topic:
Transforming Challenges into Innovation through IEEE HAC

Kartik is the Chairman of the IEEE Humanitarian Activities Committee, the strategic, global arm of the IEEE Board of Directors that manages IEEE’s portfolio of programs and multi-million dollar project investments that leverage 400k+ engineers in 160+ countries in applying and advancing technology solutions for sustainable development. Kartik is the Co-founder of www.ImpactX.co - Social Network for Social Impact with focus on impact measurement using an innovative approach called the HyperCatalog. In 2019, Kartik has spearheaded social impact measurement of IEEE’s sustainable development projects around the world, using the technique of SocialROI. Kartik also heads Oracle's team architecting the Blockchain Transaction Engine; he is a co-inventor on 10+ US Patents, both granted and pending. The DiscoverE Foundation recognized Kartik as a 2015 USA’s New Face of Engineering.

Ms. Mehak Azeem
World's SDG's Regional Advocate
Microsoft Office Specialist(Certified Engineer)

Topic:
Sustainable Development Goals and Objectives

Mehak Azeem is an undergraduate researcher, STEM motivator, speaker, a persistent and passionate young woman, dedicating life after medical college in pursuing a 4-year Undergraduate Program in Biomedical Engineering in Pakistan. She is member of global dialogue delegate program, SDG’s 2030 Advocate, Microsoft Office Specialist with uplifting courage to be the youngest woman serving as a junior engineer at a top private hospital of the city. She is serving as a trainer, delivering technical talks and training for the understanding of biomedical equipment machines. Her love for the field is due to prominent breakthroughs in the biomedical engineering field include life-saving and life-changing technology such as artificial organs, prosthetics, and surgical devices.

Continuing her inspiring journey as a dedicated volunteer of IEEE Region-10, judging and winning different competitions, contributing to societies, delivering technical, professional, and motivational sessions in many countries especially with the main aim of uplifting and inspiring the young generation of women engineers. As an IEEE student member, she has promising contributions to Student Branches, Section’s chapters, Affinity groups and recognized as one of the finest volunteers across the country. Currently, she is representing as IEEE Collabratec Coordinator | IEEE Region-10 SAC and also working as Media and Publicity Sub-committee Member of IEEE Region-10 SAC 2020. She is also a young researcher with main interests includes Robotics, AI with Health, Biomechanics, and Rehabilitation.