Keynote Speakers

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Prof. Claudio Cañizares (IEEE Fellow)

University of Waterloo, Canada

Dr. Claudio Cañizares is a University Professor and the Hydro One Endowed Chair at the Electrical and Computer Engineering (E&CE) Department, and the Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE) at the University of Waterloo, where he has held various academic and administrative positions since 1993 and has received multiple recognitions, in particular the 2021-2022 Awards of Excellence in Graduate Supervision from both the University and the Faculty of Engineering. He obtained the Electrical Engineer degree from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN) in Quito-Ecuador in 1984, where he held different academic and administrative positions between 1983 and 1993, and his MSc (1988) and PhD (1991) degrees in Electrical Engineering are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research activities focus on the study of stability, control, optimization, modeling, simulation, and computational issues in bulk power systems, microgrids, and energy systems in the context of net-zero, competitive energy markets, smart grids, and energy access. In these areas, he has led or been an integral part of multiple grants and contracts from government agencies and private companies worth over $92 million dollars, and has collaborated with various industry and university researchers in Canada and abroad, supervising/co-supervising close to 190 research fellows and graduate students. He has authored/co-authored over 380 publications with in excess of 33,300 citations at an 81 H-index, including journal and conference papers, technical reports, book chapters, disclosures, and patents, and has been invited to deliver keynote speeches, seminars, tutorials, and presentations at many prestigious venues worldwide. He is the Editor-In-Chief of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (IEEE) Transactions on Smart Grid since 2020; the 2022-2023 IEEE Division VII Director of the IEEE and Power & Energy Society (PES) Boards; and a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, where he was the Director of the Applied Science and Engineering Division of the Academy of Science from 2017 to 2020, and a Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering. He is also the recipient of the 2017 IEEE PES Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and of multiple IEEE PES awards and recognitions, holding leadership positions in several IEEE and PES Committees, Working Groups, and Task Forces.

 

Prof. Nikolaos Hatziargyriou (Life Fellow, IEEE)

National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Nikos D. Hatziargyriou (Life Fellow, IEEE) is with the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), since 1984, Professor in Power Systems, since 1995, and Professor Emeritus, since 2022. He is Part-time Professor at the University of Vaasa, Finland. He has over 10 years of industrial experience as the Chairman and the CEO of the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) and as the Executive Vice-Chair and Deputy CEO of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), responsible for the Transmission and Distribution Divisions. He has participated in more than 60 R&D projects funded by the EU Commission, electric utilities and industry for fundamental research and practical applications. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 journal publications and 600 conference proceedings papers. He was the Chair and Vice-Chair of ETIP-SNET. He is past EiC of the ΙΕΕΕ Transactions on Power Systems and currently EiC-at-Large for IEEE PES Transactions. He is included in the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Thomson Reuters lists of top 1% most cited researchers. Ηe is the 2020 Globe Energy Prize laureate, recipient of the 2017 IEEE/PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award and recipient of the 2023 IEEE Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and Distribution Award.

 

Prof. Xinghuo Yu (IEEE Fellow)

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia

Xinghuo Yu is an Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor and a Distinguished Professor at RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Melbourne, Australia. He was the President of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society in 2018 and 2019. He is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science, an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, and a Fellow of the IEEE, Australian Computer Society and Australian Institute of Company Directors. His main research areas include control systems, intelligent and complex systems, and power and energy systems. He received many awards and honours for his contributions, including 2018 MA Sargent Medal from Engineers Australia and 2013 Dr.-Ing. Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award from IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. He has been a Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researcher in Engineering since 2015.

 

Prof. Akshay Kumar Rathore (IEEE Fellow)

Singapore Institue of Technology, Singapore

Akshay Kumar Rathore (IEEE Fellow) is an expert in power electronics and control of electrical motor drives. He received the Gold Medal for securing the highest academic standing in his Master’s degree among all electrical engineering specializations at Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi, India. He had two subsequent postdoctoral research appointments with the University of Wuppertal, Germany (2008-2009), and the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA (2009-2010). From November 2010 to February 2016, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore. From March 2016-Dec 2021, he served as an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada where he was listed in the Provost Circle of Distinction in 2021. He served as Graduate Program Director and Chair of Graduate Awards during 2020-21.

His research is mainly focused on the analysis and design of novel current-fed converters (topologies and modulation), soft-switching design and modulation schemes for the dc/dc converters, pulsating DC link (electrolytic capacitorless) inverters, and control of multilevel inverters. He supervised 11 PhD theses and 14 MASc (research) theses.

Dr. Rathore is a recipient of the 2013 IEEE IAS Andrew W. Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, 2014 Isao Takahashi Power Electronics Award, 2017 IEEE IES David Irwin Early Career Award, 2019 IEEE IES Publications Service Recognition Award, 2020 IEEE IAS Outstanding Area Chair Award, 2020 IEEE Bimal Bose Award for Industrial Electronics Applications in Energy Systems and 2021 Nagamori Award. He published about 285 research papers in international journals and conferences, including 96 IEEE TRANSACTIONS.

He is currently serving as a co-Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, the Awards Department Chair of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, AdCom Member-at-Large and Fellow Evaluation Committee member of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. He is serving as the Chair of IEEE IAS Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conversion Systems Committee. He led and chaired the IEEE IAS Industrial Automation and Control Committee (2018-19) and IEEE IAS Technical Committee on Transportation Electrification (2016-17). He served as a member of IEEE IES Publications Committee (2016-2021) and IEEE IAS Andrew W Smith Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award Committee (2014-2019). He served as the Chair of IEEE IAS Montreal Chapter from 2017-2021 and received the best Chapter award in 2017 from IEEE Montreal Section for its activities.

He served as the Paper Review Chair (eq. to co-EIC) of IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications (2016-17 and 2020-21), Editor-in-Chief of IEEE IES Technology News (ITeN) (2016-18), Associate Editor of various journals, i.e., IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (2014-19), IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications (2013-present), IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification (2014-19), IEEE Journal of Emerging Selected Topic in Power Electronics (2013-19), IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (2016-19), IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy (2014-2021) and IET Power Electronics (2015-19). He edited 5 special issues on the topics of electric transportation, EV charging, marine systems, more electric aircraft, machine learning in power electronics, and renewable energy conversion in different IEEE Transactions as a guest associate editor and as guest-EIC of 2 special issues. He served as the distinguished lecturer (2017-18) and prominent lecturer (2019-21) of the IEEE IAS society.