Hello!
I am a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My research focuses on power and energy systems in electrical engineering. I try to make power electronics convert energy more efficiently, reliably, and with better performance. When I have time, I like to work on a variety of projects as well.
Recent News
Monthly Updates
March 2012: The end is in sight. I have been trying hard to get my experiments working fully and to write my dissertation. I also submitted a digest to COMPEL (Workshop on Control and Modeling of Power Electronics) and found out that a paper of mine was accepted at PVSC (Photovolatics Specialists Conference). June could full of traveling.
February 2012: This past month I published some of my research at the Applied Power Electronics Conference and the Power and Energy Conference at Illinois. I accepted a job offer with Texas Instruments so I will be working at Kilby Labs in Dallas when I finish my Ph.D. this summer. I'm also a finalist for the Lemelson-MIT $30,000 Illinois Student Prize for innovation.
January 2012: I've made some progress on my experimental prototypes but still have more work to do. A couple of journal articles I was a coauthor on got accepted. I still need to write a few papers on my work. We kicked off the ARPA-E project as well this past month. I presented some of my research at the Illinois power group seminar.
December 2011: I finally finished all my scheduled job interviews. There are several great opportunities so it will be tough to decide what to do next. I designed my next hardware prototype and look forward to testing it in January. I enjoyed spending time with family in Seattle and NYC over the holidays too.
November 2011: Three job interviews and an international conference meant there was lots of traveling this past month. I won the best poster award at ICEAC in Istanbul! December is going to be another month of traveling with three more interviews scheduled. When will I have time to do real work??
October 2011: Both my papers for the International Conference on Energy Aware Computing were accepted so I wrote the final version and submitted those. My Applied Power Electronics Conference paper was accepted. Disney World here I come! (in February) I also found out that we got our ARPA-E Solar ADEPT grant (for $1.75 million).
September 2011: I'm making progress with my research projects, enjoying teaching the power electronics lab, and exploring work options for after I graduate. I attended the Energy Conversion Congress & Expo in Phoenix and enjoyed it much more than last year's ECCE. It was great to see old friends and meet new ones.
August 2011: I finished my internship at TI this month. I had a chance to visit some of the people on my TI project in Rhode Island before leaving. I'm looking forward to getting back to school to finish my Ph.D. research there.
July 2011: Texas is hot! I'm having a good time though. A colleague and I submitted an invention disclosure this month for a phase management idea I had. I also submitted a paper to the Applied Power Electronics Conference and wrote a paper for the International Conference on Energy Aware Computing. The deadline for ICEAC was extended a month (!) so I might end up submitting two papers now.
June 2011: After a brief week in Urbana, Gloria and I left for Dallas. I'm interning in the Texas Instruments Systems and Applications R&D Lab for the summer. I'm working with a great team of people on designing a new controller IC for microprocessor voltage regulators.
May 2011: I drafted and helped submit a funding proposal which is based on something I invented. I hope our proposal does well. I also got married in May! Gloria and I went to Honduras for our honeymoon. We learned how to scuba dive. It was awesome.
April 2011: This month I worked on designing and building some hardware prototypes for a couple of my research projects. I'm looking forward to getting some results. I also completed the Teacher Scholar Certificate from the Center for Teaching Excellence.
March 2011: I attended the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) and presented some research there. I won the best presentation award for my session and received an Ipod Nano (very small and slick). At the end of the month I wrote my PhD dissertation proposal and presented it to my PhD committee. The professors seemed to like it so they passed me. I think this means I'm officially a "PhD candidate"!
February 2011: The Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI) was great! We had some amazing speakers, and it went smooth overall. Thanks to everyone who made it a success. This month I also accepted an internship at Texas Instruments so it looks like I'll be spending the summer in Dallas. I was featured in a couple of articles in the ECE department and the college of engineering since I won the Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award.
January 2011: I had a relaxed time at home in Seattle during the break. After getting back to school I submitted an exciting paper to the Energy Conversion Congress and Expo (ECCE). It introduces a key part of my disseration! I was also invited to facilitate a couple of sessions at the Graduate Academy for College Teaching. This program is used to teach new TAs how to teach. It was a lot of fun working with the new TAs. At the end of January, I presented some of my research at the power group's seminar.
December 2010: This month I gave two presentations at the Energy Aware Computing conference in Cairo, Egypt. I met some great people there and gained more understanding of the context and need for my research. While in Cairo, I was informed that I was awarded the Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award. I'm humbled and appreciate the recognition. A big thank you to Gloria Jea for nominating me. We also found out that U of Illinois' proposal to participate in the International Future Energy Challenge was accepted!
November 2010: As expected, November was intense. I finished the conference papers in time. I also worked with some of my research assistants to submit a couple of digests to the Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI). The Link Energy Fellowship application is due on Dec. 1st so I worked on developing a research project for my PhD dissertation. In the process, I invented something! Prof. Krein and I submitted an invention disclosure. Now it's up to the university to decide if we go ahead with the patent process.
October 2010: The two papers I submitted to the conference in Cairo got accepted so it looks like I'll be going there this December! My APEC digest was also accepted so November is going to be a busy month of paper writing. I also helped organize a team of students from Illinois to participate in the International Future Energy Challenge. We submitted a proposal to participate and will hear back in December if we got accepted.
September 2010: I went to ECCE in Atlanta but could not stay the whole time since I needed to come back to school to teach. Prof. Krein wanted to submit some research to the International Conference on Energy Aware Computing in Cairo so I worked on a couple of digests for that. I also had the chance to present some of my research at a power seminar here at Illinois. I think it went quite well and people seemed interested in what I talked about.
August 2010: In August, the IEEE PELS/PES Joint Student Chapter at University of Illinois won the IEEE PELS society best chapter award! This is a tremendous accomplishment since it is the first time a student chapter has ever won this award. I'm glad I had the opportunity to serve as vice president of the chapter. There were many people that helped contribute to the chapter's success but I think that much of it is due to the tremendous leadership provided by Ali Bazzi who served as the president this past year.
July 2010: This past month I submitted a digest to APEC and hope it gets accepted. I think the digest was pretty solid but we'll see what other people think. My grandfather passed away so I made a trip out to California for his funeral. The weather was delightfully cool, and I enjoyed spending time with the extended family.
June 2010: June has been busy! Finished my COMPEL paper and continued to work on several other research projects. I really enjoy hardware design and testing so it's been fun. I also have some great undergraduate research assistants that help. Things are coming along for the Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI). I'm a co-director for the conference this year. It's been challenging at times, but I think we have a good team of people working on it. I'm in Seattle right now visiting family for a week or so before I head to Boulder for COMPEL. It's been fun to hang out and watch the World Cup!
May 2010: My paper to COMPEL (a power electronics workshop held every two years) got accepted! Now I have to write the paper if I want to go to Boulder at the end of June. I wonder why COMPEL is called a workshop instead of a conference. I've seen conferences that have less going on than this "workshop". Hmm.
Power & Energy Group
Everitt Lab Room 335
1406 W. Green St
Urbana, IL 61801
