Directory

JiangBiao He is a tenured Associate Professor and the endowed Pigman Faculty Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky (UK). He joined UK in 2019 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. Previously, he has worked in multiple large industry R&D centers, most recently as a Lead Engineer at GE Global Research in Niskayuna, New York. Prior to joining GE in 2015, Dr. He was employed with Rockwell Automation as a power engineer, focusing on the product development of regenerative servo motor drives. He was also employed with Eaton Corporate Research in 2013 working on high-efficiency SiC power converters. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University, USA.

Dr. He’s research interests include high-performance power electronics and motor-drive systems, for broad emerging applications including transportation electrifications, renewable energies, energy storage, industrial automation, and others. At GE, he led the execution of the first megawatt-scale medium-voltage high-speed propulsion drive for hybrid-electric aircraft in the global aviation area, which won the GE Whitney Technical Excellence Award (highest recognition for breakthrough technology innovation at GE-GRC). He also worked on power converter reliability improvement for the 12-MW GE Haliade-X offshore wind turbine system design, the then largest wind turbine in the world. He is the author/coauthor of around 150 peer-reviewed technical articles, one textbook, and 10 U.S. patents.

Dr. He has been a Senior Member of IEEE since 2016, and has served as an Associate Editor for multiple prestigious journals including IEEE Transactions TPEL, TIA, and TTE. He served in various positions of the organizing committees for numerous international conferences (ECCEs, IEMDCs, ITECs, etc.), and has been an active member of several IAS/PELS technical committees and IEEE Standards working groups. He also served as Vice Chair and Chair for IEEE IAS Schenectady Chapter (New York) in 2016-2018 and has been an IEEE-IAS Council member since 2017. He recently served as the Chair for IEEE Lexington Section (2020-2022).

Dr. He is the recipient of the 2019 AWS Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award from IEEE Industry Applications Society, 2021 Outstanding Teacher Award from UK ECE Department, and 2023 Faculty Excellence in Research Award from UK College of Engineering. He was also recognized on the list of World's Top 2% Scientists in 2022 and 2023 (compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier).  

Majid T. Fard is a Ph.D. candidate and Research Assistant with the AMPERE Laboratory at the University of Kentucky, focusing on power electronics and renewable energy systems. He obtained his B.S and M.S. degrees in power engineering from the University of Tabriz, Iran. His master thesis was on LVRT capability improvement in hybrid PV/wind power generation units based on grid connected current source inverters. He was a project manager and a technical engineer in the R&D section of the EKS company in Iran. He has published several journal and conference papers in power electronics area.

Majid's current research focuses on electric and hybrid-electric propulsion drives for transportation applications.

Ben Luckett is a Ph.D. candidate majoring in electrical engineering with AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky, sponsored by ECE GAANN graduate fellowship from U.S. Department of Education. He obtained his B.S. degree in electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky in 2020.

He is interested in power electronic systems and has been focusing on multi-objective design optimization of propulsion drivetrains for transportation electrifications.

Reza Ilka is a Ph.D. candidate and Research Assistant at the AMPERE Lab, focusing on the analysis, design, and optimization of electrical machines and magnetic components. He obtained his B.S and M.S. degrees in power engineering from the Mazandaran University and Babol University of Technology, respectively. He was an electromagnetic design engineer in the R&D division of the MAPNA Group, Iran. He has published several journal and conference papers in electrical machines, transformers, and drives. 

Lulu Wei is a Ph.D. student and Research Assistant in electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky. She joined the AMPERE Lab in August 2022. Previously, she worked as an R&D engineer at the BMW R&D Center and obtained her master degree in automotive engineering from Jilin University, China.

Her research focuses on the development of high-performance motor-drive and power electronic systems for transportation electrification applications.  

Farzad Y. Notash is a Ph.D. student and research assistant in AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. He started his Ph.D. studies in August 2022, and previously, he worked as a Motor Design Specialist in industry after obtaining his M.S. degree in Power Electronics and Electric Machines at the University of Tabriz, Iran.

His research focuses on the designs and controls of advanced power electronics and motor-drive systems.

Mohamed Y. Metwly is a Ph.D. student and research assistant in electrical engineering at the AMPERE Lab, University of Kentucky (UK), USA. He has received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Alexandria University, Egypt, in 2018, and the M.Sc. from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Egypt, in 2022. His research interests include machine design, battery chargers, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and multi-objective optimization, and he has published multiple papers on these topics in the IEEE journals. 

Yiju Wang is a Ph.D. student and research assistant with the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. He obtained the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2022. His research focuses on advanced power electronic converters and motor drives. 

Xin Gao is a Ph.D. student and research assistant in the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. She received the B.S. degree in smart grid engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2021, and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, USA, 2022. Her research interests include advanced power electronic converters for utility grid and transportation applications. 

Vicente Tiburcio is a visiting PhD candidate and researcher at AMPERE Lab, working on high-performance microgrid systems including solar power, electric vehicles, and energy storage. He obtained B.Sc. degree from the Federal University of Uberlândia, and M.Sc. Degree at the Federal University of Itajubá, both in Electrical Engineering and in Brazil. He also has multiple years of experience working at a power utility company in Brazil.  

Victor Logan is a USP (University Scholars Program) student in electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky who plans to pursue a PhD degree after graduating with a bachelor degree in May 2024. He is also a part-time System Control Engineer with Kinemetrix. Victor worked at  Hitachi Astemo Electric Motor Systems America as a Co-op in 2021. His research interests include automation controls, power electronics, and motor drives.

Grace Smith is a senior undergraduate in electrical engineering at the University of Kentucky. She is working at the AMPERE Laboratory as a research assistant on the development of ultra-fast DC chargers for electric vehicles. She has completed three internship rotations with Northrop Grumman both in Cincinnati, OH and Salt Lake City, UT.

Bryant Craig is an undergraduate pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky. He is the electrical lead of the University of Kentucky Solar Car Team. Bryant’s focus as a research assistant at AMPERE lab is the design of mechanical enclosures and thermal management for power electronic converters.

Pranoy Roy was a Ph.D. candidate and Research Assistant with the AMPERE Laboratory at University of Kentucky, focusing on high-performance renewable energy and power electronics systems. He obtained his M.S. degree in engineering technology from the Western Carolina University in USA and B.S. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh. His master thesis was on the development of a cost-effective hybrid energy storage system for hourly dispatching solar PV power. Pranoy's research focused on the development of dispatchable "wind+PV+energy storage" hybrid power systems, and he has published around 15 journal and conference papers on this topic.

Pranoy defended the dissertation in August 2022, and he is now working as a full-time Lead Engineer at Eaton Research Lab in Michigan. 

Trevor Arvin was a M.S. student and research assistant in electrical engineering at the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. He obtained B.S. degree in electrical engineering at UK in 2021. During his master period, Trevor focused on the development of solid-state circuit breakers for MVDC applications, and he has published multiple journal and conference papers on this topic. 

Trevor defended the thesis and graduated in Spring 2022. He is now working at GE Aerospace, Ohio. 

Cole Ivey was a M.S. student majoring in electrical engineering with the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. He obtained B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky. Cole's thesis research focused on multi-port SiC power converters for transportation electrifications.

Cole graduated in December 2021 with a M.S. degree, and he is now working as a full-time electrical engineer at Ethicon in Cincinnati, a Johnson & Johnson company. 

Josh Ruggles was a M.S. student and Research Assistant at the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky. He obtained his B.S. in electrical engineering from Western Kentucky University. Prior to pursuing a graduate education, Josh worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers at the Hydroelectric Design Center where he worked on hydroelectric power generation and powerhouse electrical distribution systems.

Josh is currently working as an electrical engineer at Kentucky Utilities, Lexington, KY.   

Jonathan Taylor was a USP (University Scholars Program) student in the AMPERE Lab at the University of Kentucky, before he graduated and joined Battelle as an electrical engineer in May 2023. He was focusing on wide bandgap power electronics specifically in applications to propulsion power inverters and motor drives. He was working on a NASA REU project on fault-tolerant power converters during his employment at the AMPERE Lab.