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Emmi Wyttenbach, Ben Karish, Wentao Xu, and Sourav Naval Win EECS Departmental Awards

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by Dennis Woo
Several students from the Berkeley Power and Energy Center (BPEC) have recently received department and campus awards for their academic achievements, research, and community contributions. The recipients and their respective honors are highlighted below: Graduate student Emmi Wyttenbach received the 2026 Tong Leong Lim Pre-Doctoral Prize, awarded annually to EECS graduate students who achieve the […]

Rod Bayliss III, Emmi Wyttenbach, and Tahmid Mahbub Win Best Presentation Award at APEC 2026

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by Dennis Woo
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 […]

Tahmid Mahbub Wins Second Place in the Student Demo Competition at APEC 2026

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by Dennis Woo
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 […]

Nagesh Patle and Syed Tahmid Mahbub awarded Hearts to Humanity Eternal Graduate Research Grants for 2025!

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by Dennis Woo
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!

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by Dennis Woo
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 […]

Sahana Krishnan wins Best Poster Award at ITEC 2025!

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by Dennis Woo
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!

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by Dennis Woo
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!

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by Dennis Woo
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!

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by Dennis Woo
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

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by Dennis Woo
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 […]

Syed Tahmid Mahbub Receives Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans!

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by Dennis Woo
Syed Tahmid Mahbub has been named one of the 2025 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellows, a national, merit-based award granted to new Americans pursuing research at the graduate level. He is recognized both for his award-winning research in the Pilawa Group and for his educational contributions to multiple universities in the United States. Tahmid’s research […]

BPEC Wins Four Best Presentation Awards at IEEE APEC 2025

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by Sarah Douglas
Four researchers from the Berkeley Power and Energy Center (BPEC) received awards for outstanding oral and poster presentations at the 40th IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2025), the flagship conference in power electronics. Syed Tahmid Mahbub, a second-year EE PhD student advised by Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, received a Best Presentation Award for his oral […]

Rod Bayliss III Wins Outstanding Grad Student Instructor Award!

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by Sarah Douglas
Rod Bayliss III, a fifth-year PhD student advised by Dr. Robert Pilawa-Podgusrki, won a 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award for his role as a GSI in the inaugural offering of EE 213B, Power Electronics Design, taught by Dr. Jessica Boles. This award honors UC Berkeley GSIs each year for their outstanding work in teaching […]

Welcome to BPEC – Skycore Semiconductors

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by Sarah Douglas
Skycore Semiconductors brings cutting-edge expertise in switched-capacitor power conversion integrated circuits (ICs). Their innovative technology enables advanced power converter topologies that redefine efficiency, size, and cost-effectiveness. From AI servers and power modules to industrial and consumer applications, Skycore’s solutions are driving improvements across a wide range of sectors. We look forward to working together!

BPEC Director Robert Pilawa-Podgurski Elevated to IEEE Fellow

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by Sarah Douglas
BPEC Director Robert Pilawa-Podgurski was elevated to IEEE fellow in the 2024 class, “For contributions to hybrid switched capacitor power converters”. IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The total number of fellows selected […]

Dr. Yicheng Zhu receives Teaching Effectiveness Award

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by Dennis Woo
EECS grad Dr. Yicheng Zhu has received a Teaching Effectiveness Award for 2024. The Graduate Division’s Teaching Effectiveness Award for GSIs honors those who devise solutions to teaching or learning problems they have identified in their classes and write them up in a one-page essay. These essays are published on the GSI Center website for […]

Francesca Giardine and Kelly Fernandez win Best Paper Award at ECCE – Europe

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by Sarah Douglas
Graduate students Francesca Giardine, Kelly Fernandez (PhD, Fall 2023), along with Dr. Robert Pilawa-Podgurski have won Best Paper Award at IEEE Energy Conversion Conference and Expo – Europe. They presented A Two-Stage Non-Isolated Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Microinverter Utilizing a Fixed-Ratio Resonant DC-DC Stage with Startup Functionality and Flying Capacitor Multilevel DC-AC Stage. Their work demonstrated a […]

Rahul Iyer and Tahmid Mahbub awarded IEEE INTELEC-2024 Best Paper Award

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by Sarah Douglas
The IEEE International Communications Energy Conference (INTELEC) 2024 is a leading forum dedicated to the technical and informational exchange on energy systems for communications, covering areas such as power conversion, distribution, energy storage, renewable generation, and transportation electrification. EECS graduate students Rahul K. Iyer and S. Tahmid Mahbub have received the prestigious IEEE INTELEC-2024 Best […]

Dr. Nathan Ellis to Join Faculty at UC Santa Cruz

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by Dennis Woo
Having spent the past four years with UC Berkeley, Dr. Ellis is moving to the University of California Santa Cruz — Baskin School of Engineering. Here his research group will be hosted at UCSC’s Westside Research Park, a stone’s throw from Natural Bridges State Beach. During his time at UC Berkeley, Dr. Ellis collaborated extensively […]

Prof. Robert Pilawa-Podgurski Receives 2024 Spark Award from Bakar Fellows Program

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by Dennis Woo
Prof. Robert Pilawa-Podgurski has received the 2024 Spark Award from Bakar Fellows Program, with Dr. Yicheng Zhu as his Innovation Fellow. Their awarded research proposal, titled “Powering the AI Revolution: A New Voltage Regulator Enabling Direct 48-V-to-1-V Vertical Power Delivery for Next-Generation Ultra-High-Power Processors,” aims to make use of innovative tools and techniques designed in Prof. Pilawa’s lab to […]

Rose Abramson receives Ph.D. Degree!

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by Dennis Woo
Graduate student Rose Abramson received her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences on May 18th, 2024. Her dissertation was titled “Split-Phase and Multi-Resonant Operation of Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Converters.” Congratulations!

Sahana Krishnan Receives M.S. Degree!

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by Dennis Woo
Graduate student Sahana Krishnan received her Master of Science degree on May 14th, 2024. Her master’s thesis is titled “An EMI-Compliant and Automotive-Rated 48 V to Point-of-Load Dickson-Based Hybrid Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter.” Congratulations!