Third-year graduate student Tahmid Mahbub was recently recognized in the student demo competition at APEC 2026 in San Antonio, Texas, winning 2nd place overall. His work, titled “A Novel Multi-Kilowatt Thermal Test Vehicle Utilizing Off-the-Shelf Power Transistors,” demonstrates the generation of localized hot spot patterns for the testing of cooling systems, particularly those destined for […]
Rod Bayliss III, Emmi Wyttenbach, and Tahmid Mahbub Win Best Presentation Award at APEC 2026
Graduate students Rod Bayliss III, Emmi Wyttenbach, and Tahmid Mahbub were recently recognized with best presentation awards for their work at APEC 2026 at San Antonio, Texas! Their work spans three compelling application spaces of switched capacitor converters. Rod was awarded for his work titled “Design and Implementation of a Three-Phase Eight-Level Flying Capacitor Multilevel […]
Nagesh Patle and Syed Tahmid Mahbub awarded Hearts to Humanity Eternal Graduate Research Grants for 2025!
BPEC researchers Syed Tahmid Mahbub and Nagesh Patle are recipients of the 2025 Graduate Research Grants from the nonprofit organization Hearts to Humanity Eternal (H2H8). This broadly defined award is granted to thirty graduate researchers each year to fund research that improves world-affecting problems like climate change or furthers advancements in medicine, space exploration, artificial […]
Dr. Rahul Iyer and Dr. Yicheng Zhu receive the 2025 PELS Ph.D. Thesis Talk Award!
Recent Pilawa Group graduates Dr. Rahul Iyer and current postdoctoral scholar Dr. Yicheng Zhu have each been awarded the 2025 PELS Ph.D. Thesis Talk Award! This award is granted yearly to outstanding graduates who have defended their thesis and submit an additional video submission to the IEEE Power Electronics Society. Participants are judged based on […]
Welcoming BPEC’s 2025 cohort: Xi Zhao, Harry Choi, Hubert Lin, and Khalid Durani!
The Berkeley Power and Energy Center is very pleased to introduce the 2025 cohort of Ph.D. students! Xi Zhao and Hubert Lin will be joining Professor Jessica Boles’ research group, and Harry Choi and Khalid Durani will be joining Professor Robert Pilawa’s research group. Each of these students comes from a strong research background in […]
Sahana Krishnan wins Best Poster Award at ITEC 2025!
Graduate student Sahana Krishnan has won a Best Poster Award at the 2025 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo & Electric Aircrat Technologies Symposium (ITEC) for her work “Design and Implementation of a GaN-Based, Cascaded Isolated DC-DC Converter for Satellite Applications.” Sahana’s innovative research, completed with coauthors Francesca Giardine and Rose Abramson, validates a 150 […]
Nagesh Patle Receives Timothy B. Campbell Innovation Award!
Graduate student Nagesh Patle received the 2025 Timothy B. Campbell Innovation Award, which is granted once per year to a computer science or electrical engineering graduate student who demonstrates a spirit of innovation, collaboration, and creativity in their work and method. The award honors the memory of Timothy B. Campbell, a former Ph.D. student working […]
Leheng Wang wins 2025 IEEE PELS Graduate Studies Fellowship!
Visiting Ph.D student Leheng Wang was recognized for his technical achievements and research in the areas of resonant converters in EV chargers and data center power conversion by the IEEE Power Electronics Society. The IEEE PELS Graduate Studies Fellowships are awarded yearly to visiting scholars whose work aligns closely with the mission of PELS. Leheng […]
Rahul Iyer Receives Ph.D. Degree!
Graduate student Rahul Iyer received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences on May 24th, 2025. His dissertation was titled “Dynamical Modeling and Control of the Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter.” Post-graduation, Rahul will begin working at Tesla, Inc. on the Power Electronics Controls for Energy Products team. Congratulations!
Dr. Yicheng Zhu Receives Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award
Post-doctoral scholar Dr. Yicheng Zhu has received a Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award for 2024. The Tucker Award is given to recognize superior work and scholarship in the characterization, development and/or use of semiconductor, magnetic, optical or electronic materials by a graduate student or students pursuing such areas of inquiry. This award memorializes Dr. Ross […]