IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2020 - 72

were invited to introduce themselves
and share their interests in power
electronics. During the welcome re-
ception, Dr. Grant Pitel, MPE chief
technology officer (CTO) and PPPE-
AC chair, shared his vision for the
organization. He remarked on the
Pennsylvania-New Jersey region's
diverse group of power electronics
providers and expressed his hope to
engage the community through vari-
ous activities. The opening remarks
were followed by extended intro-
ductions from 13 speakers who de-
scribed the roles of their respective
companies/institutions in the field.
These talks helped stimulate the ex-
change of ideas and generated dis-
cussions, with the potential for later
collaborations. The presenters were
■■Grant Pitel, CTO, MPE, PPPEAC
chair
■■Minjie Chen, assistant professor,
Princeton University, PPPEAC trea-
surer
■■Ira Pitel, founder, MPE
■■Xiaonan Lu, assistant professor,
Temple University, PPPEAC secretary
■■Pete Losee, manager of device tech-
nology, United SiC, Monmouth
Junction, New Jersey
■■Wenxin Liu, associate professor,
Lehigh University, Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania

■■Thomas

FIG 2 Prof. Seth Sanders discusses
flywheel energy storage.
■■Vishram

Deshpande, director of
power-supply development, NWL
Inc., Bordentown, New Jersey
■■Fei Lu, assistant professor, Drexel
University, Philadelphia
■■Hanan Fishman, president, Alencon
Systems, Hatboro, Pennsylvania
■■Arash Khoshkbar-Sadigh, assistant
professor, Pennsylvania State Uni-
versity, State College
■■Xiaofan Wu, research scientist,
-Siemens
■■Ben Cohen, vice president of engi-
neering, Momentum Dynamics,
Malvern, Pennsylvania

Lawson, founder and presi-
dent, CogniPower, Malvern
■■Jianwu Cao, senior power electron-
ics engineer, EnerSys, Reading,
Pennsylvania.
PPPEAC will commit itself to ini-
tializing and vitalizing collaborations
between local industry and academia
in the field of power electronics. Reg-
ular and recurring Chapter meet-
ings will be organized, rotating be-
tween New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Also, in coordination with the IEEE,
PPPEAC will host various activities
including field trips, IEEE Distin-
guished Lectures, local educational
seminars, and similar events.
On 3 October 2019, PPPEAC invited
Prof. Seth Sanders from the Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley, to give a
seminar, "Flywheel Energy Storage:
A Utility-Scale Energy Solution for
the 21st Century," which was also part
of the Andlinger Center Highlighted
Seminar Series (Figure 2). The pre-
sentation reviewed the energy-storage
landscape and focused on flywheel
energy storage to meet utilities' opera-
tional challenges.
The next PPPEAC meeting is sched--
uled to be held in February or March
2020. To join the PPPEAC and learn
about future activities, please regis-
ter at http://bit.ly/2My8Ove.

by Karthik Palaniappan

IEEE PELS Lecture on
Wide-Bandgap Power Electronics

O

n 6 November 2019, Prof.
Krishna Shenai, a Distin-
guished Lecturer (DL) of the
IEEE Power Electronics Society
(PELS), delivered an insightful speech,
"Wide-Bandgap (WBG) Power Elec-
tronics: Is This the Future of Energy
Economy?" at Milwaukee Tools, Wis-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2019.2959888
Date of current version: 19 February 2020

72	

IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE	

consin. The event was sponsored by
the joint IEEE Industry Applications
Society/Industrial Electronics Society/
Power & Energy Society/PELS Mil-
waukee Chapter, IEEE Milwaukee
Section, and Milwaukee Tools. It was
attended by approximately 100 engi-
neers, faculty, and students from the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Milwaukee School of Engineering, and
Marquette University, Milwaukee (Fig-

z	March 2020

ure 1). A facilities tour preceded the
lecture, and a gala dinner and raffle
concluded the event, all of which was
sponsored by Milwaukee Tools.
Milwaukee Tools Vice President
Kevin Staszak opened the meeting
with an introduction to the company
and its products. Afterward, IEEE Mil-
waukee Section Chair-Elect Karthik
Palaniappan introduced Prof. Shenai,
who delivered the lecture. He discussed
http://www.bit.ly/2My8Ove
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - March 2020

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