Panelists

Victor Atlasman is the VP of Manufacturing and Product Development at WattSystems, Charge America and WattEV. With over a decade of experience, he brings valuable insights from his involvement in the country’s first EV charging station deployment, the EV Project. Previously, Victor served as the Director of Engineering, where he played a key role in growing Nxu’s EV Charging division. Led teams responsible for designing and prototyping hardware and software for Megawatt Charging.

His focus is on driving Solid State Transformers, Datacenter, the Electric Vehicle Charging and Energy Storage efforts to deliver sustainable energy products and services that helps provide our communities with resilient, sustainable and cost-effective energy solutions. Working hard in introducing innovative and intuitive products to accelerate our transition to an all-electric future. He brings his enthusiasm and high energy to help advance the various technologies in the energy sector and related ecosystems. He has spoken at the SAE World Congress, guest speaker and lecturer at Arizona State University, is a member of SAE J3271, CharIN MCS, AriSEIA, and more.

Hua “Kevin” Bai is Professor in CURENT (Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks) and Program Director of Electrical and Computer Engineering in University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research interests include power electronics with electric vehicle propulsion systems, battery chargers, auxiliary power modules, battery energy storage systems and power module packaging. He is the author of 2 books and >180 IEEE papers, associate editor of SAE International Journal of Electrified Vehicles, associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, and Fellow of National Academy of Inventors.

Mr. Bohn is with the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne National Laboratory. He is a principal electrical engineer in the EV-Smart Grid Interoperability Center, identifying and validating interoperability issues related to PEV charging systems. He actively serves on SAE, IEEE, and EV charging standards committees, including safety standards.

He currently chairs the SAE J3271 Megawatt Charging System (MCS) standard for all large battery vehicles that ‘Roll, Fly or Float’ as well as AIR7357 megawatt charging of electric aircraft.

Mr. Bohn received his BS and MS degree in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He holds an adjunct faculty position at University of Wisconsin-Madison where he has developed and delivered EV charging safety related education and training materials. He has taught EV short courses on energy storage systems including electrical safety.

As a high-voltage scientist and engineer with over 7 years of experience, I am passionately invested in propelling the field of electrical power engineering into the future. My expertise lies in designing innovative experiments, conducting multiphysics simulations, and mastering data analysis to create products that outperform current industry standards and find solutions to the novel high-voltage challenges.

I wear many hats, not only as a detail-oriented engineer and researcher but also as an active author, editor, and technical reviewer in the scientific community. Having published over 30 peer-reviewed articles, I continue to navigate the multifaceted realms of power transmission networks, resilient power grids, and insulation design in electric transportation systems. Join me in this exhilarating journey where we craft solutions that pave the way for a new era of efficiency and excellence in our electrified world.

At the end of the day, I find joy in playing tennis, baking sourdough, and exploring the world of philosophy.

Dr. Zhicheng Guo is an assistant professor at Arizona State University, director of Power Electronics and Energy Conversion (PEEC) Lab. Zhicheng Guo received his Ph.D. degree in power electronics and power systems from the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. His research interests include high-frequency magnetic, WBG intelligent power modules, solid-state transformers, 60 Hz/HF partial discharge, and insulation design of modern power electronics systems. Dr. Zhicheng Guo is the recipient of DOE’s Office of Electricity Feeder of the Future Prize Winner, DOE Electricity / Large Power Transformers Bonus Prize Winner, the 2022 Transformer Association (TTA) Award. He serves as chair of IEEE Power Electronics Society Phoenix chapter and member of the IEEE standard committee P3105 working group for solid-state transformers.

Tong Huang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of ECE at San Diego State University. Before joining SDSU, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received his Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University in 2021. His industry experience includes an internship with ISO-New England in 2018 and an internship with Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in 2019. As the first author, he received two Best Paper Awards at the 2020 IEEE PES General Meeting and the 54-th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. His research focuses on cyber-physical resilience enhancement of power electronics-dominated electricity infrastructure via both data-driven and model-based approaches.

Dr. Kong received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology in 2016. Before joining SDSU, she was a Postdoc at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2018-2023. Her research focuses on understanding the fundamental sciences of material’s structure-properties relationship using advanced characterization techniques, manufacturing electrochemical energy storage devices as well as developing sustainable recycling technologies for battery materials.

Dr. Ching-Ming Lai, an IEEE Senior Member, earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from National Tsing Hua University in 2010. He is the founder of UPE-Power Technology, specializing in ODM/OEM/EMS services for power supplies and electronics circuits. Currently a Professor at National Chung Hsing University, he oversees the Intelligent Electric Vehicle and Green Energy Center. In 2021, he assumed the role of Director at the Intelligent Transportation Development Center.

Dr. Lai’s expertise encompasses electric vehicles, power electronics, green energy technologies, and intelligent transportation. He is recognized as a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (U.K.) and the Australian Institute of Energy. Additionally, he founded and serves as the Secretary General of the Taiwan EV and Green Energy Association.

His achievements include numerous paper awards, acknowledgment as a top 2% scientist in Energy, and various distinguished researcher and engineer accolades. Dr. Lai has actively contributed to IEEE conferences, serving as an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and an Associate Editor for IEEE Access.

Woongkul Lee received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2013, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA, in 2016 and 2019, respectively. From 2019 to 2020, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, where he joined in 2024. Prior to joining Purdue, he served as an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. His research interests include high-performance electric drives, power electronics, electric machines, and distributed energy resources.

Chen Li has taken roles at Gotion, a battery technology company, including Director of Silicon Valley R&D Center, Director of International R&D Centers, VP of Engineering R&D Institute, and now President of Gotion Global.

Before Gotion, he worked with think tanks Bridging Nations Foundation and Worldwatch Institute in Washington, DC. He holds BS in management from Purdue University and MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Mr. Timothy Lin, with a PhD in material science from University of California, Irvine (2000), is an IEEE senior member and the founder/CEO of Solid Energies, Inc. (Anaheim, CA). SEI has operated its business since 2017, focusing on the research, manufacturing and commercialization of new-generation solid-state battery.

Dr. Lin is a veteran scientist and entrepreneur in developing and commercializing new generation renewable/clean energy technologies for over 20 years, having founded 3 companies including SEI and Bioenno Tech. Since 2009, his team has received more than 20 grants from federal agencies including DoE/DoD/NASA, and has cooperated with a number of companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin on multiple projects related with all-solid-state lithium-ion battery (ASSB).

Recently, his team received a 3-year project granted from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish an initial commercial manufacturing of ASSB directed toward the mass-production for potential applications in renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Fernando Palma is a Program Manager at Department of Energy (DOE). He works in the Advance grid R&D at Office of Electricity (OE), supporting different programs for grid advancement .

Akshay Kumar Rathore is a Professor and the Director of the Power and Energy Systems Research Area in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on power electronics and control of electric motor drives. He is an IEEE Fellow and a recipient of several prestigious awards, such as the IEEE IAS Andrew W Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, the Isao Takahashi Power Electronics Award, the IEEE David Irwin Early Career Award, the IEEE Bimal Bose Award for Industrial Electronics Applications in Energy Systems, the Nagamori Award, and the distinguished alumnus award (young achiever) from IIT (BHU) Varanasi, India. During his tenure at Concordia University in Canada, he was listed in the Provost Circle of Distinction in 2021.

Prof. Rathore has contributed significantly to the design of novel power electronic converter topologies and modulation strategies, publishing over 300 research articles including about 110 IEEE Transactions. He edited a book on advanced concepts and technologies for electric transportation, published by CRC Press in 2022. He has delivered above 300 invited talks, keynotes, and tutorials in several events across the globe. He is currently a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, Chair of the IEEE IAS Andrew W Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award Committee and serves on the committees for the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering, the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, and the IEEE Fellow Committee.

George has 48 years’ professional experience related to high-power electrical systems, with a focus on power electronics and utility switchgear. Prior to joining RockeTruck in mid-2023, George worked as an engineer and engineering manager at General Atomics (GA) for 34 years, up until his retirement in July 2022. During his last 15 years at GA, George was an Engineering Manager and Technical Advisor at GA’s rapidly-growing Electromagnetic Systems Division, in which capacity he designed multi-megawatt power converters for a variety of specialized applications. Prior to this, he was a Principal Engineer in GA’s Power Inverters group, in which capacity he designed and built megawatt-class inverters for use in large electrically-powered mining vehicles. Before joining GA in 1988, George was a Technical Group Leader for nine years at Maxwell Laboratories, where he developed advanced devices such as electron beam power supplies for isotope separation and pulse energization systems for electrostatic precipitators. George began his professional career at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1976, where he spent three years after earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin.

Di Shi is the Paul W. and Valerie Klipsch Distinguished Professor and Associate Professor with the Klipsch School of ECE at New Mexico State University. Before academia, he founded a tech startup focusing on energy systems AI, commercialized two technologies, and founded and led the AI & System Analytics group at GEIRINA. He has also held research positions at NEC Labs, EPRI, and Arizona State University. Currently, he leads two IEEE task forces/working groups on IoT and machine learning for power systems, holds 28 patents, and serves as an associate editor for five IEEE and IET transactions. He led a team to the championship of the 2019 L2RPN power system AI competition. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Arizona State University and a B.S. from Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Greg Smedley received his Ph.D. from Caltech. He is a renowned researcher, educator, and industry leader with a diverse career that spans power electronics, medical devices, Research and education at Caltech, and Space exploration at JPL. Dr. Smedley is the CEO of One-Cycle Control, Inc. and is focused on tackling global-scale problems in transportation, energy, electric grids, and low-cost access to space.

Keyue Ma Smedley (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in 1982 and the M.S. degree 1985 in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 1985, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Caltech, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, 1991.,She was the Chief Designer of magnet power converters for all accelerator rings, DOE Superconducting Super Collider Lab in early 1990s. She has been a Professor with the EECS, University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the Founder/Director of the UCI Power Electronics Lab since 1992. In addition, she is a co-founder of one-cycle control, Inc., that commercializes one-cycle control (OCC) technology. She is the inventor of the OCC method. Initially groundbreaking in high-fidelity audio applications during 1990s, OCC later unified four-quadrant control of single and three-phase power converters in the early 2000s. Today, OCC technology is widely applied across various market sectors, including professional audio, renewables, storage, power quality, grid stabilization, and defense. Her team also invented the Hexagram multilevel converter in late 2000s, put the first fault current limiter on the US grid for demonstration in 2010s, and demonstrated OCC-DVC for fast and precise control of the power grid during the same period. Recently, her team has made breakthroughs in full-range gain control of resonant switched-capacitor converters, opening the doors for magnetic-less power conversion for wide applications. and made breakthroughs in full-range gain control of resonant switched-capacitor converters in early 2020s. She is dedicated to innovation and impact in her field. Her research has yielded >200 publications, >15 US and international patents, two startup companies, and wide industry acceptance. Her research interest includes power electronics.,Dr. Smedley was the recipient of numerous recognitions, including UCI Innovation Award in 2005, IEEE Fellow in 2008, and a DOD Achievement Award from Pentagon in 2010 with OCC, Inc. She has been an IEEE PEL Distinguished Lecturer since 2021. She is also the recipient of 2024 IEEE Power Electronics Society RD Middlebrook Achievement Award.

Cheng Wang is the founder and CEO of Xenerpower, a Houston-based manufacturer of transformers and switchgear. She is also the CEO of BrightBuild Electric, Texas licensed electrical contractor specializing in electrical installation and power distribution projects. In addition to her industry work, Cheng is a Professor of Practice at the University of Houston, where she teaches Programming for Analytics. Prior to joining UH, she was a lecturer at Tulane University. Cheng comes from a family in the transformer industry, with her family’s transformer business was established since 1992.

Dr. Chao Yan is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Princeton NuEnergy, and Co-Inventor of the direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries technology based on low-temperature plasma-assisted separation (LPAS™). He is also a research scientist at Princeton University in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering departments, where his research is mainly focused on energy conversion, fuels, and batteries.

He has published over 30+ high-impact publications and 40+ conference presentations in the energy field. He is a leading expert in physical chemistry and battery materials. Dr. Chao earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

In business, he has administered and operated a serial enterprise since 2014. Dr. Yan has combined his two passions of science and business by founding and leading Princeton NuEnergy.

Wotao Yin is a Scientist and Principal Engineer @ Alibaba Group US, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Optimization. Before that, he was a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at UCLA. His research interests include computational optimization and its applications in image processing, machine learning, and other data science problems. Dr. Wotao Yin obtained his PhD in Operations Research from Columbia U. He invented fast algorithms for sparse optimization and large-scale distributed optimization. He has been among the top 1% highly cited mathematicians since 2018. He received an NSF CAREER Award 2006, Sloan Research Award 2007, Morningside Gold Medal 2016, DAMO Award 2021, and Egon Balas Award 2021. He discovered the first method that can be used to decompose three monotonic operators without increasing the dimensionality of the variable, known by academics as Davis-Yin Splitting.