UT Power Engineering Laboratory - "Powering the Future "

Hui Zhang
Hui Zhang received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in December 2007 (Advisor: L. M. Tolbert). She received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Zheijiang University, China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively. She is presently working as a post-doc at UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her area of research interest is modeling of silicon carbide based power electronics circuits.
E-mail: hzhang18@utk.edu

Wenjuan Zhang
Wenjuan (Wendy) Zhang received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in September 2007 (Co-Advisors: Drs. Fran Li, Leon M. Tolbert). She received a Bachelors in Electrical Machines and Electrical Apparatus from Hebei University of Technology, China, in 1999 and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2003. She is presently employed at the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in Folsom, California.
E-mail: wzhang5@utk.edu

Lakshmi Reddy Gopi Reddy
Lakshmi Reddy Gopi Reddy received an M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2007 (Advisor: Dr. Leon M. Tolbert). Her M.S. thesis is titled, "Evaluation of Losses in HID Electronic Ballast Using Silicon Carbide MOSFETs." She completed her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from G.R.I.E.T., India in May 2005.
E-mail: lgopired@utk.edu

Faisal Khan
Faisal Khan received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2007 (Advisor: Dr. Leon M. Tolbert). His dissertation was titled, "Modular DC-DC Converters". He received a first prize paper award from the Industrial Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society in 2007. He is presently working as a Senior Power Electronics engineer at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Knoxville, Tennessee. He received an M.S. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University in August 2003. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1999. His research interest includes multilevel modular dc-dc converter for hybrid electric and fuel cell automobiles, dc-dc converter topologies and power supply efficiency issues.
E-mail: fkhan@epri.com

Surin Khomfoi
Surin Khomfoi received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2007 (Advisor: Dr. Leon M. Tolbert). He is presently a lecturer at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand. He received both B.S. and M.S. degree from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand in 1996 and 2000, respectively. His research interests include power converters, AC drives, and neural network applications in power electronics and drives.
E-mail: kkhsurin@kmitl.ac.th

Steve Golik
Steve Golik was an M.S. student in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 1984. He worked as a power supply design engineer at Philips Consumer Electronics from 1984 to 2005. He has worked at Adtrans in Huntsville, Alabama since 2006.
E-mail: Steve.Golik@adtran.com

Tim Burress
Tim Burress received his M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2006 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is working as a research staff member in the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 2004.
E-mail: burressta@ornl.gov

Pierre Boheme
Pierre Boheme received his M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2006 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is presently working as an electrical engineer at Mesa Engineering in Knoxville. He started his Bachelor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Costa Rica, then moved to the University of Memphis and completed his degree in December 2002. He has worked as an intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from June 2004 to July 2006, and has current research interests in power system distribution and power electronics.
E-mail: pboheme@utk.edu

Chris Patton
Chris Patton received an M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2006 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is presently working in the at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2004.
E-mail: pattoncd@ornl.gov

Yan Xu
Yan Xu received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2006 (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). She is working as a post doctoral research member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the distributed energy test center. She received the B.S. degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, in 1995 and the M.S. degree from North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China, in 2000. Her research interests include power quality and reactive power compensation.
E-mail: xuy3@ornl.gov

Gerry Callison
Gerry Callison received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2006 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in May 2004. He was an intern at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2004 - 2006. He is presently working as a project engineer at P&H Mining Equipment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
E-mail: gerrycallison@yahoo.com

Eric Caldwell
Eric Caldwell received an M.S. student in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2006 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is working at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, DC. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 2004.
E-mail: ecardwel@utk.edu

Kaiyu Wang
Kaiyu Wang received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in December 2005 (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). His disseration was titled, "A Methodology for Solving the Equations Arising in Nonlinear Parameter Identification Problems: Application to Induction Machines." He is presently working at Osram Sylvania in Boston doing research and design on power electronics for lighting applications. He received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, China. He has been a research assistant in the Power Electronics Laboratory at UT since August 2001. His research interests include motor drives and inverters.
E-mail: kwang@caps.fsu.edu

Mengwei Li Campbell
Mengwei Li Campbell received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in December 2005 (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). Her disseration was titled, "Differential-Algebraic Approach to Speed and Parameter Estimation of the Induction Motor." She is working at General Motors Advanced Vehicle Technologies on hybrid electric vehicles. She received the B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China. Her research interests include the control of switched reluctance motors and static var compensators.
E-mail: mengwei.campbell@gm.com

Ben Sooter
Ben Sooter received an M.S. in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee in December 2005 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). His thesis was titled, "A Dynamic Ampacity Model for the Testing of Advanced Conductors." He is presently an engineer at EPRI in Knoxville, Tennessee. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003. He worked as an intern at oak Ridge National Laboratory from June 2004 to December 2005 testing advanced composite conductors.
E-mail: bsooter@eprisolutions.com

Weston Johnson
Weston Johnson received an M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 2005 (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). He is presently a Ph.D. student at the University of Kentucky. His research area is in the design of a novel switched reluctance motor. He worked as an intern at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from August 2004 to August 2005. He also participated in the FutureTruck competition in June 2004. He received the B.S. in electrical engineering from Mercer University, Macon, Georgia, in 1998. He previously worked as an industrial controls engineer with consulting firm in Georgia.
E-mail: westonjohnson@uky.edu

Zhong Du
Zhong Du received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2005 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is presently working on hybrid electric vehicle drivetrain design at Parker-Hanefin in Memphis, Tennessee. His Ph.D. thesis was "Active Harmonic Elimination in Multilevel Inverters." He received his Bachelor of Science in 1996 and the Master of Science in 1999 both from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He worked as a post-doc at Florida State University, North Carolina State University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
E-mail: mailto:zhong.du@parker.com

Pankaj Pandit
Pankaj Prabhakar Pandit received an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2005 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from the Government Engineering College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India in 1999. He worked at Siemens India Ltd. for two years as a project engineer in the transportation systems division and for two years at Bernecker and Rainer Industrial Automation on servo drives and permanent magnet synchronous motors. His research interests are in active front end rectifiers for motor drives. He is presently working at Siemens in Alpharetta, Georgia.
E-mail: pandit.pankaj@siemens.com

Marcus Young
Marcus Young graduated with an M.S. student in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2005 (Advisor: Dr. Marshall Pace). He is presently an engineer at EPRI in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has worked as an intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in their superconducting program. He graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 2002.
E-mail: myoung@epri.com

Jeremy Campbell
Jeremy Campbell graduated with an M.S. student in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in December 2004 (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He is an engineer at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research is on advanced thermal management of power electronic devices. He graduated from West Virginia Tech with a BSEE in 1999. He performed engineering test support for the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) program as well as computer security/intrusion detection at Naval Surface Sarfare Center (NSWC), Dahlgren Virginia from Jan 2000 to Jan 2002. He also analyzed electrical power infrustructure at the Joint Warfare Analysis Center, Dahlgren Virginia from Jan 2002 to May 2003.
E-mail: jeremy.campbell@gm.com

Sherica Matthews
Sherica was an M.S. student in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee. She is presently an engineer at Dow Chemical in Houston, Texas. She received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UT in August 2002. She worked as an intern at the Tennessee Valley Authority during the summer of 2003.

Keith McKenzie
Keith McKenzie received his M.S. degree in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2004. (Advisors: Drs. Leon Tolbert and John Chiasson.) He graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UT in December 2001. He is presently a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech.
E-mail: kjmcken@vt.edu

Madhu Sudhan Chinthavali
Madhu Sudhan Chinthavali received his M.S. degree in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in December 2003. (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert) He received a B.E. degree in electrical engineering in 2000 from Bharathidasan University, India. He is presently a research engineer at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
E-mail: chinthavalim@ornl.gov

Jianqing Chen
Jianqing Chen received a M.S. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in August 2003. (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert) He received the B.Eng degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, China in 1994 and a M.S degree from Zhejiang University, China in 1997.

Tom Cox III
Tom Cox III received an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2003 (Advisor: Dr. Jack Lawler). His thesis title is "A simulation model for the four phase switched-reluctance motor." He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from UT in 1997. He is an instrumentation engineer at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
E-mail: coxjtiii@y12.doe.gov

Scott Pigg
Scott Pigg completed his B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2003. He was a research assistant in the Power Electronics Laboratory from January - July 2003. Beginning in the fall of 2003, he began graduate studies in controls in the department of electrical engineering at the University of Utah.

Baskar Vairamohan
Baskar Vairamohan received his M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2002. (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). He is presently employed at EPRI in Knoxville, Tennessee.
E-mail: BVairamohan@epri.com

Burak Ozpineci
Burak Ozpineci received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in August 2002. (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Middle East Technical University, Turkey and a M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 1998. His M.S. thesis is titled "Studies on a Performance Enhanced DC-HFAC-AC Converter System for AC Motor Drive." He is employed as a research engineer at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
E-mail: ozpinecib@ornl.gov

Yinghui Lu
Yinghui Lu graduated with a M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 2002. (Advisor: Dr. John Chiasson). He received the B.S. in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China in 1996. He received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2007. He is presently living in Boston, Massachusetts.
E-mail: ylu@ece.gatech.edu

Jessica Coon
Jessica Coon is working as an electrical engineer at the Y-12 National Security Complex. She received her B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2002. She worked as an intern at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from November 2000 to May 2002.
E-mail: coonjc1@y12.doe.gov

Jim Snively
Jim Snively graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 2001. He was a lab assistant in the Power Electronics Laboratory at UT from January 2001 - December 2001.
E-mail: jim.snively@us.army.mil

Joao Onofre Pereira Pinto
Joao Pinto received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in August 2001.(Advisor: Dr. Jack Lawler). His dissertation is titled "Analysis of Extended Constant Power Speed Range of the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Driven by Dual Mode Inverter Control." He is presently a professor at the Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul in Campo Grande, Brazil.

Jovan Ilic
Jovan Ilic received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering at The University of Tennessee in May 2001. (Advisor: Dr. Jack Lawler). His dissertation is titled "Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the Operations of Deregulated Power Systems." He is working as a researcher at Carnegie Mellon.

Tim Cunnyngham
Tim Cunnyngham received the M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2001. (Advisor: Dr. Leon Tolbert). His M.S. thesis is titled "Cascade Multilevel Inverters for Large Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Applications with Variant DC Sources. He worked at Electric Transit Vehicle Institute in Chattanooga, Tennessee upon graduation and now is a consulting engineer.
M.S. Thesis: "Cascade Multilevel Inverters for Large Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Applications with Variant DC Sources"
Defense Presentation

D. Steve Daniel
Steve Daniel received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2001. (Advisor: Dr. Milton Bailey). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Design and Analysis of a Novel Electric Machine and Drive."

Robbie Ardis
Robbie Ardis received the B.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in May 2001. He worked with the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from May 2000 - April 2001. He is presently employed at Pee Dee Electric Cooperative in Darlington, South Carolina.

Hui Li
Hui Li received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 2000. (Advisor: Dr. Jack Lawler). Her Ph.D. dissertation is titled "A High Power Soft-Switched Bi-Directional DC/DC Converter for Fuel Cell Applications." She received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. She is presently a professor in the electrical and computer engineering department of Florida State University.
E-mail: hli@caps.fsu.edu

David Marshall
David Marshall received the M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 1999. (Advisor: Dr. Jack Lawler). His M.S. project is titled "A Newton-Raphson Load Flow Solution with Voltage Sensitive Loads." He is presently employed by Southern Company in Birmingham, Alabama.

Nitinkumar R. Patel
Nitinkumar R. Patel received the M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 1996. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His M.S. thesis is titled "Sensorless Efficiency Optimized Induction Motor Drive with Neuro-Fuzzy Control." He is a technical staff member at General Motors Advanced Technonolgy Vehicle Center in Torrance, California.

Marcelo Godoy Simoes
Marcelo Simoes received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 1995. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Fuzzy Logic and Neural Network Based Advanced Control and Estimation Techniques in Power Electronics and AC Drives." He is presently a professor in the Engineering Division of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.
E-mail: msimoes@mines.edu

Ajith Wijenayake
Ajith Wijenayake received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 1995. (Advisor: Dr. Milt Bailey). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Design and Efficiency Optimization of an Axial Gap Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Adjustable Speed Drive System." He is presently a research engineer at Danfoss Drives in New Berlin, Wisconsin.
E-mail:

Sunil M. Chhaya
Sunil Chhaya received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 1995. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose) His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Expert System Aided Automated Design of AC Drive System." He presently is a research engineer at General Motors - Advanced Technology Vehicles, in Torrance, California.

David R. Crecelius
David Crecelius received the M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 1994 (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His M.S. thesis is titled "Implementation of a Speed Sensorless Vector Controlled Induction Motor Drive with Zero Speed Start-Up."

Gilberto Costa D. Sousa
Gilberto Sousa received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 1993. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Application of Fuzzy Logic for Performance Enhancement of Drives." He is presently a professor at the Universidade Federal Do Espirito Santo in Brazil.

Debaprasad Kastha
Debaprasad Kastha received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in December 1993. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "Fault Mode Investigation and Fault Tolerant Control of Voltage-Fed Inverter Induction Motor Drive."

Laura Marlino
Laura Marlino graduated with a M.S. in 1992 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. Milton Bailey). Her thesis was titled "Power conversion circuitry and system aspects of utilizing a superconducting coil in a low earth orbit satellite." She is currently a program manager at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
E-mail: marlinold@ornl.gov

Adeoti Taiwo Adediran
Adeoti Adediran received the M.S. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in August 1991. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). Her M.S. thesis is titled "Some Studies on Three-Phase Diode Rectifier-Boost Converter for Active Filtering." She received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Texas A&M University in 2003.

Seyed Sotoudeh
Seyed Sotoudeh graduated in December 1991 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His thesis title was "Switching Characteristics of Modern Power Semiconductors."

Ravindra Joshi
Ravindra Joshi graduated in December 1990 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His M.S thesis title was "Base/Gate Suppression of Inactive Power Devices of a Voltage Fed Inverter and Precision Synthesis of AC Voltage and DC Link Current Waves."

Greg J. Ball
Greg Ball graduated in August 1990 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His thesis title was "An Adaptive Hysteresis Band Pulse Width Modulated Inverter Induction Motor Drive." He works at Powerlight Corp. in Berkeley, California.

Gregory V. Murphy
Gregory Murphy graduated with a Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. Milton Bailey). His dissertation is titled "Robust LQG/LTR control system design for a low-pressure feedwater heater train with time delay." He is currently a professor in electrical engineering at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
E-mail: gvmurphy@ieee.org

Jih-Sheng Lai
Jih-Sheng Lai received the M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Tennessee in 1985 and 1989, respectively. (Advisor: Dr. B.K. Bose). His Ph.D. dissertation is titled "High Frequency Resonant Link Inverter Induction Motor Drives Using Microcomputer Control." He is presently a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
E-mail: laijs@vt.edu

Robert Young
Robert Young graduated in August 1989 from the University of Tennessee. (Advisor: Dr. B. K. Bose). His thesis title was "Universal Power Line Conditioner with Digital Signal Processor Based Control." He worked at the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory before retiring in 1999.