My View
by Bimal K. Bose
Doing Research in Power Electronics
D
o you do research in power
electronics? Are you a profes-
sor or graduate student in a uni-
versity or an engineer in an industrial
research laboratory? Power electron-
ics research is not different from any
other area of engineering or scientific
research. For doing research, we dis-
cipline and dedicate our mind to make
inventions or generate new knowledge
that helps to solve our problems and
contribute to the advancement of our
civilization in a broad perspective. The
sincerity, purity, and tranquility of our
mind, possibly blended with some spir-
ituality, help us concentrate our mind
for doing research. Research accom-
plishment gives supreme satisfaction
of mind. Note that doing research and
learning always go together. Learning
is essentially a lifelong process. Albert
Einstein said that we cease to learn
only when we die.
How does our brain function for
doing research? The human brain, the
thinking machine with a biological neu-
ral network that gives us natural intelli-
gence, is the most complex machine on
earth. Neurobiologists have attempted
to understand the structure of the
brain and its functioning over a pro-
longed period of time, but these remain
extremely inadequate even today. The
neural network [1] in our brain consists
of the interconnection of billions of neu-
rons or nerve cells, where the synaptic
junction of each input dendrite is filled
with neurotransmitter fluid. The im-
pedance of this junction contributes to
the intelligence or associative-memory
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MIE.2014.2364471
Date of publication: 19 March 2015
6  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015
property of each cell. The intelligence
of the brain is thus distributed in the
cells of the whole neural network. The
supervised learning from our educa-
tion conditions the junction impedanc-
es to acquire knowledge in a specific
domain, such as power electronics. It
is interesting to note that our brain
does not have a computerlike central
memory. The neural network has the
ability to interpolate or extrapolate this
knowledge to create new knowledge.
The brain has the additional cognitive
capability to invent, which we do not
really understand.
The creative capability of the hu-
man brain is tremendous. We use hardly
more than 5% of our creative capability
for doing research, and the remaining is
mostly “wasted” in the triviality of our
daily thoughts. The research can be de-
fined as fundamental or basic type and
applied or application oriented. Thomas
Edison, the wizard of applied experimen-
tal research in electrical engineering, de-
fined genius as 1% inspiration and 99%
perspiration. Edison had 1,093 U.S. pat-
ents even though he did not complete
his high school education. However,
according to Charles Steinmetz, the wiz-
ard of basic research, genius is defined
as 99% inspiration and 1% perspiration.
These are, of course, extreme examples
in the early days of engineering re-
search. A modern research project typi-
cally requires idea formulation—system
analysis–design–simulation study—and
validation by experiment. Finally, suffice
it to say that a good researcher should
also be a good communicator in both
writing and speaking.
Now, let me fall back to power elec-
tronics. What is special about power
electronics? It is a complex and inter-
disciplinary technology that basically
deals with the conversion and control of
electrical power using switching-mode
power semiconductor devices. The ap-
plications of power electronics include
regulated dc and ac power supplies,
electrochemical processes, heating
and lighting control, electronic welding,
power line volt-ampere reactive (VAR)
and harmonic compensation, high-­
voltage dc (HVDC), flexible ac trans-
mission systems (FACTS), photovoltaic
(PV) systems, fuel cell power conver-
sions, high-frequency (HF) heating, and
motor drives. After several decades of
technology evolution, power electron-
ics applications have recently become
extremely important for energy saving,
electric/hybrid vehicles, the smart grid,
renewable energy systems, and bulk
energy storage, besides the usual ap-
plications in industrial automation and
high-efficiency energy systems.
In general, doing research in power
electronics requires expertise in power
semiconductor and peripheral devices,
converter circuits, control theories,
electrical machines, digital signal pro-
cessors (DSPs), field programmable
gate arrays, power systems, and com-
puter-aided design and simulation tech-
niques. Recently, artificial intelligence
(AI) techniques, such as fuzzy logic
and artificial neural networks (ANNs),
are advancing the frontier of power
electronics. Each of these component
disciplines is advancing rapidly, thus
presenting greater challenges to power
electronics researchers. A thorough
knowledge of the application environ-
ment is essential for doing research in a
power electronics project.
 In this column, discussions will
mainly be based on my own experi-
ence. The formulation of research ideas,
project planning, proposal preparation,
steps in doctoral research projects, and
writing papers for publication will be
covered. This column is aimed at young
researchers at universities based on ex-
amples from my own research career,
reviewing my experience in power elec-
tronics research, and illustrating my key
contributions. I have spent more than
30 years in universities and more than
11 years in a premier industrial research
laboratory, which practically spans the
whole era of the modern power elec-
tronics evolution. Hopefully, my knowl-
edge and experience will be useful to
the readers.
Research Areas
in Power Electronics
As I mentioned, power electronics is a
complex and interdisciplinary technol-
ogy, and doing research in this area
requires a comprehensive background
in electrical engineering and beyond.
Figure 1 shows some key inventions
related to power electronics [2]. The
research in power electronics can be
broadly classified into research on
devices, converter systems, motor
drives, and general energy systems,
which are summarized, respectively, in
Figures 2–5. The motor drive area is al-
ways included in power electronics be-
cause complexity in this area is mainly
due to power electronics.
The research on devices, particu-
larly power semiconductor devices, is
extremely important because evolution
in this area has essentially brought on
the modern power electronics revolu-
tion. The present trend of research and
development (R&D) on silicon and large-
bandgap power semiconductor devices
will continue until the power device
characteristics and ratings are signifi-
cantly improved, approaching an ideal
switch. However, note that the basic
research on power semiconductor and
peripheral devices (including machines)
does not strictly fall in the mainstream
of power electronics, except for the eval-
uation of their performances. Generally,
every research project in power elec-
tronics has the usual implementation
• 1837: dc Motor (Davenport)
• 1882: New York City dc Distribution System (Edison)
• 1885: Rotating Magnetic Field by Polyphase Stator Winding (Ferraris)
• 1888: Commercial Wound-Rotor Induction Motor (Tesla)
• 1889: Cage Induction Motor (Debrovolsky)
• 1891: Polyphase Alternator (Tesla)
: Ward Leonard dc Motor Speed Control (Leonard)
• 1897: Three-Phase Diode Bridge Rectifier (Graetz)
• 1929: Synchronous Machine d-q Model in Synchronous Reference Frame (Park)
• 1930: New York Subway Grid-Controlled Mercury Arc Rectifier for dc Drive
• 1934: Cycloconverter Synchronous Motor Drive for Induced-Draft (ID)
Fan (Alexanderson)
• 1938: Induction Motor d-q Model in Stationary Reference Frame (Stanley)
• 1948: Invention of Point Contact Bipolar Transistor (Bardeen and Brattain)
: Invention of Junction Bipolar Transistor (Schockley)
• 1956: Invention of Thyristor (Moll, Tanenbaum, Goldey, and Holonyak)
: Silicon High-Power Diode
• 1958: Introduction of Commercial Thyristor [General Electric (GE)]
: Invention of the Triode for Alternating Current (TRIAC) (GE)
: Invention of gate turn-off thyristor (GTO) (GE)
• 1961: Force-Commutated Thyristor Voltage-Fed Inverter (McMurray)
• 1963: Selected Harmonic Elimination Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) (Turnbull)
• 1964: Sinusoidal PWM (Schonung and Stemmler)
• 1969: Static Kramer Drive (Shepherd and Stanway)
: Indirect Vector Control (Hasse)
• 1971: Microprocessor 8-b (Intel)
• 1972: Direct Vector Control (Blaschke)
• 1973: Transistor ac Switch for Matrix Converter (Bose)
• 1977: Static Scherbius Drive (Smith)
• 1979: Hysteresis Band (HB) PWM for ac Motor Drive (Plunkett)
• 1980: Matrix Converter (Venturini)
• 1981: Diode-Clamped Three-Level Converter (Nabae, Takahashi, and Akagi)
• 1982: Space Vector PWM (Pfaff, Weschta, and Wick)
• 1983: Invention of the Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) (GE–Baliga)
• 1985: Commercial Introduction of IGBT (GE)
: Direct Torque and Flux Control (DTC) (Takahashi)
• 1990s–2000s: Fuzzy Logic and Neural Network Applications in Power
Electronics (Bose et al.)
• 1997: Introduction of the Integrated Gate-Commutated Thyristor (IGCT) (ABB)
FIGURE 1 – Some key inventions related to power electronics.
stages of design, analysis, modeling, is expanding. Figure 5 gives some ex-
computer simulation study, and experi- amples of general energy systems. The
mental evaluation. modern complex smart or intelligent
The converter systems and motor grid, where the conventional high-power
drives technologies have significantly fossil fuel, nuclear, and hydroelectric
matured in recent years, although there generators are integrated with distrib-
are ample opportunities for doing inno- uted renewable energy systems (such
vative and incremental research in these as wind and PV) along with bulk energy
areas. The motor drives area is generally storage devices [such as batteries, fly-
more complex and requires expertise in wheel, pumped storage, ultracapacitors,
more interdisciplinary areas. Recently, superconducting magnet energy storage
power electronics applications have ex- (SMES), and hydrogen], need extensive
panded into complex energy systems research efforts for system stabilities,
because of their integration with the bus voltage, frequency control, power
utility systems, and research in this area quality, optimum resource utilization
march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  7
 1) Power Semiconductor Devices:
A) Materials (Silicon, Silicon Carbide, Gallium Nitride, Diamond, Etc.)
B) Present Devices [Diode, Thyristor, GTO, Triac, Power Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect
Transistor (MOSFET), IGBT, IGCT, Intelligent Power Module (IPM), or Power Integrated Circuit (PIC)]
with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Device
[Voltage and Current Ratings, Leakage Current, Safe Operating Area (SOA), Conduction Drop, Junction
Temperature, Turn-On and Turn-Off Times, Minority Carrier Storage, Rate of Current Change (di/dt),
Rate of Voltage Change (dv/dt), Switching Frequency, Series and Parallel Operation, Power Loss,
Thermal Impedance, Cooling, Snubber or Snubberless, Gate Drive, Fault Diagnosis and Protection, and Applications]
Design, Fabrication, Packaging, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction,
and Experimental Evaluation
2) Peripheral Devices:
Present Devices (Capacitor, Inductor, Resistor, Transformer, Battery, Fuel Cell, PV Cell,
Light-Emitting Diode, SMES, DSP,
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, Field-Programmable Gate Array, Etc.) with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Device
Design, Fabrication, Packaging, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction,
and Experimental Evaluation

FIGURE 2 – Research topics on devices.

1) Converters:
Present Converters (Voltage-Fed, Current-Fed, Hybrid, HF Link, Etc.) with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Topology
[Control Strategy, Response, Loss and Efficiency, Line and Load Harmonics, Power Quality,
Filtering, Soft Switching, Dead-Time Compensation, Power (P), Reactive Power (Q), Total Harmonic Distortion (THD),
Power Factor (PF), Displacement Power Factor (DPF), Electromagnetic Interference (EMI),
Line/Converter/Load Faults, Fault Diagnostics and Fault-Tolerant Control, Hardware/Software Implementation, Etc.]
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation
2) PWM Techniques:
Present PWM Techniques [Sinusoidal Pulsewidth Modulation (SPWM), Selected Harmonic Elimination (SHE),
Static Volt Ampere Reactive (Var) Compensator Hysteresis Band (SVC.HB)]
with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Technique
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation

FIGURE 3 – Research topics on converter systems.

with supply-­demand interactive energy
management, economical electricity to
consumers, higher energy efficiency,
higher system reliability and security,
fault detection and protection, fault-tol-
erant control, etc. The system complex-
ity increases if it incorporates power
electronics-based HVDC transmissions,
FACTS, static synchronous compensa-
tors, uninterruptable power systems,
etc., to achieve the above-­ mentioned
objectives. The AI applications in power
electronics are ushering in a new tech-
nology frontier in this perspective and
require further exploration. Additional
information on research areas can be
obtained from the power electronics
literature. Power electronics is often de-
fined as a maturing enabling technology.
However, both ends of the technology
spectrum, i.e., power semiconductor de-
vices and complex energy systems with
power electronics, require extensive
R&D efforts.
Doing Research in Universities
Now, let us fall back to research in univer-
sities [3]. Have you just completed your
Ph.D. degree in a university and are look-
ing for a job to start your career? Gener-
ally, you have two choices: join the faculty
of a university or be an engineer in an in-
dustrial research laboratory. Of course,
you also have the option to be a post-
doctoral fellow in a university to work
with a senior professor or start your own
business as an independent researcher.

8  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015

 1) Machines
Present Machines [Induction Motor (IM), Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM),
Wound-Field Synchronous Motor (WFSM), Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)
with Radial, Axial, or Linear Geometry] with Incremental Change
or
Development of New Machine
(Volume, Weight, Power/Torque Density, Parameters, Losses and Efficiency, Cooling, Pulsating Torque,
Acoustic Noise, Faults, Etc.)
Design, Fabrications, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation

2) Control Strategy
Present Control Strategies [Vector Control, DTC Control, Model Referencing Adaptive Control (MRAC),
Self-Tuning Regulator (STR),
Variable Structure Control (SMC), Model Predictive Control, Fuzzy and Neural Controls,
Genetic Algorithm (GA) Control, Sensorless Control, Disturbance
Compensation, Fault-Tolerant Control and Other Scalar, Optimal, and Adaptive Controls,
Hardware/Software Implementation] with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Strategy
Analysis, Design, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation

3) Estimation and Measurements

Present Techniques [Torque, Slip, Flux, Speed, Position, Acceleration, Disturbance (Line and Load),
Response, Accuracy, Harmonic Effects, Machine Parameters (Stator and Rotor Resistances, and Stator and
Rotor Inductances), dv/dt Effect on Insulation, Bearing Current, Acoustic Noise, Machine Voltage
Boost for Long Cable, Fault Diagnosis (Online and Offline), Hardware/Software
Implementation, Etc.] with Incremental Change
or
Development of a New Strategy
Design, Analysis, Modeling, Simulation Studies, Performance Prediction, and Experimental Evaluation

FIGURE 4 – Research topics on machines and motor drives.

Whatever it is, you have essentially cho-

sen research as the main activity in your
career path. It is very likely that you will
select a university to start a faculty ca-
reer. So, welcome as a tenure-track assis-
tant professor in electrical engineering.
What are the merits and challenges
in a university career? First, among the
merits, you have a lot of freedom. Essen-
tially, you are your own boss. You won’t
have to report for work during the
8 a.m.–5 p.m. time frame. In a university,
if the department is big, you seldom
meet your department head, and he
will never ask you how your work is go-
ing. By adding “Prof.” with your name,
you maintain a prestige and ego in the
career. A university professor is an em-
blem of intellectual thinking and is high-
ly respected in society. You can travel to
conferences as you want, provided you
control the travel funds. A university
job in the United States is typically for
nine months out of the year. This means
that in the summer you can work for
Examples:
• Fuel Cell Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) with Supercapacitor
(or Battery) Storage Operating with Wind Generation System to Supply
Intermittent Loads in an Autonomous System
• Micro Grid with PV, Wind, and Distributed Energy Storage
• Magnetically Levitated Vehicle (MAGLEV) Transportation System with
Weak Utility Supplies
• Transmission System Integrated with FACTS
• PV and Off-Shore Wind Generation Systems Integrated with Utility Grid Through
Voltage-Fed (HVDC PLUS or HVDC LIGHT) HVDC Transmission
• Smart Grid System Integrated with Fossil, Nuclear, and Renewable Energy
Systems and Bulk Energy Storage
(Bus voltage and frequency, p, q, harmonics, power quality, reliability, stability,
estimation, measurement, control, efficiency, security, fault diagnosis,
fault-tolerant control, optimum load flow, etc.)
Conceptual studies, design, analysis, modeling, simulation, performance
prediction, and experimental evaluation
FIGURE 5 – Research topics on general energy systems.
extra income. In addition, you can also necessarily less than that of an engineer
do industrial consulting, typically one for 12 months in industry. A professor,
day/week, to boost your income. A pro- of course, has to be a good speaker as
fessor’s nine-month salary may not be well as a good writer. For success in

march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  9

your career, these communication skills
are extremely important.
The biggest challenge in a university
is that a professor has to bring in research
funds in a sustained way throughout his
career. Although most universities have
the status of nonprofit tax-exempt insti-
tution, they tend to operate like profit-
making corporations. For this reason,
most of the faculty, particularly in the
engineering departments, are always
under tremendous pressure to bring in
more and more research funds. Since
most of the graduate students (M.S. and
Ph.D. students) come from abroad and
are usually supported by research funds,
if you do not have research funds, you
will hardly have any graduate students,
i.e., you will not have any research proj-
ects and, therefore, no publications. As
a tenured faculty member, you are left
with a full-time teaching load of four to
five courses. Essentially, you are a dead
professor. Again, it is a one-way street.
Once you have left the research career, it
is difficult to come back to it.
When you join the university as a new
nontenured faculty member, the univer-
sity will most likely give you a seed or
start-up fund to start your research
program, buy some lab equipment, and
hire one or two graduate students as
research assistants. You will be lucky
to join as a team member of an ongoing
research program with a funding stream.
The research can also be supported
by teaching assistantships (TAs) in the
department. After a few years, a tenure
committee in the department will evalu-
ate your teaching, publications, research
funding, and other activities and then
decide your eligibility for tenure. As a
tenured faculty, you will be promoted to
associate professor. If not tenured, you
can apply to another university or switch
to an industry job. If everything moves
smoothly after getting tenure, you will be
a full professor in the course of time and
remain in that position until retirement.
Some professors switch to administra-
tive positions for more money and pow-
er, but with less intellectual attainment.
Some universities create distinguished
professors or prestigious chaired profes-
sors, with endowment funds that pro-
vide a high salary and initial tenure, to
attract distinguished professionals. The
10  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015
chairs are normally expected to have
some industrial experience and high
connections that can attract more fund-
ing and enhance the university’s reputa-
tion. There is no mandatory retirement
age for a university professor. This is
another advantage of a university career.
Awards and Honors
As a researcher in power electronics,
whether in a university or in industry,
you normally become a Member of the
IEEE. The IEEE is the largest internation-
al professional organization in the world.
Eventually, through your professional
contributions, you can become eligible
to be an IEEE Fellow [4]. The IEEE Fel-
lowship is very prestigious, particularly
in a university career. With this award,
you become eligible for promotions and
higher responsibilities in life. However,
this award is highly competitive glob-
ally, and the Fellow award is limited to
only 0.1% of the total IEEE membership.
Along with the Fellowship award, there
is also opportunities for for IEEE main
professional Society awards, technical
field awards, and medals [5], which can
be summarized as follows:
■■ IEEE Power Electronics Society
••Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young
Power Electronics Engineer Award
••R. David Middlebrook Achievement
Award
■■ IEEE Industrial Electronics Society
••Dr.-Ing. Eugene Mittelmann Achieve-
ment Award
••Dr. Bimal Bose Energy Systems
Award
••Rudolf Chope R&D Award
••J. David Irwin Early Career Award
■■ IEEE Industry Applications Society
••Outstanding Achievement Award
••Gerald Kliman Innovator Award
••A ndrew W. Smith Outstanding
Young Member Award
■■ IEEE Technical Field Awards
••William E. Newell Power Electron-
ics Award
••Richard Harold Kaufman Award
••Nikola Tesla Award
■■ IEEE Medals
••Power Engineering Medal (re-
placed the original Lamme Medal)
••Medal of Honor.
The Medal of Honor is the highest
award in the IEEE and is often defined
as the Nobel Prize in electrical engi-
neering (as there is no Nobel Prize in
engineering). In 2014, the Medal of Hon-
or was awarded to power electronics
scientist B.J. Baliga for the invention
of the insulated-gate bipolar transis-
tor (IGBT). Note that an Early Career
or Young Member Award may be given
before earning IEEE Fellowship.
Research Idea, Project Plan,
and Proposal Preparation
A research project in a university may
be nonfunded or funded. In nonfunded
research, a graduate student can get
support from a TA, a professor may have
his or her own research grant to sup-
port the student, or a visiting research
scholar from abroad may get support
from his or her own government. Visit-
ing research scholars are normally bril-
liant because they are selected by their
governments on a competitive basis to
do research under reputed professors
abroad. Experienced visiting professors
and postdoctoral research fellows nor-
mally give the best performance with lit-
tle supervision, which helps to enhance
the professor’s reputation.
In most cases, the research is funded
and a professor has to write proposals to
bring in funds. A proposal may be unso-
licited or based on a request for propos-
al (RFP), and the funding agencies may
be government [such as the National
Science Foundation (NSF) or the Depart-
ment of Energy (DOE)] or private indus-
tries. The research may be fundamental
or application oriented, as mentioned
before. The NSF, for example, promotes
fundamental research, whereas the
DOE research is generally applied. The
industrial projects are normally small
and solicited and require solving prob-
lems related to products. Unfortunately,
the success rate for government-funded
proposals is very small, which causes a
large waste of effort and a tremendous
amount of frustration.
How do you generate ideas for re-
search projects? A mature knowledge
with a broad perspective of the technol-
ogy helps with the generation of research
ideas. Often, there is cross-fertilization of
ideas, i.e., ideas gained in one technology
area can be applied to others. A profes-
sor can maintain an idea or knowledge
book for this. After attending a confer-
ence presentation or reading a paper, the
Formulate the project idea.
question should arise in his or her mind,
Have I learned anything new? The ideas
can be jotted down in the notebook. Search the literature and be sure the idea is novel and timely.
Sometimes, research ideas flash in our
thoughtful mind when we are relaxing in
Analyze the idea and plan proposal preparation.
a chair, walking alone, etc. Solitude is the
breeding ground for new ideas. The ideas
should be innovative, advanced, and Generate the proposal title.
timely in the current technology trend.
Once the idea crystalizes in the mind, it
Write an abstract or objective of the project.
should be verified by an intensive litera-
ture review to be sure that it is sound and
has not been solved before. Figure 6 gives Write a technical background or prior art.
guidelines for planning a research project
and proposal preparation. An appro-
Formulate the tasks with a brief description.
priate project title and objective of the
research should be written clearly and
convincingly. These and the technical Prepare a time schedule of tasks.
background of the proposal with appro-
priate references will demonstrate the im-
portance of the project and the author’s Identify the project investigators and write a brief curriculum vitae.
knowledge base to handle it. The other
parts of the proposal, i.e., formulation
and scheduling of the tasks, background Review the laboratory facilities.
of the project investigators (particularly
the principal investigator), lab facilities, Formulate a budget and complete the proposal.
and budget, are also important.

Submit the proposal.

Doctoral Research
A full-time doctoral student in a univer-
sity typically takes four years to com-
plete his or her courses, qualifying and
comprehensive exams, and the research
work after the M.S. degree, whereas an
M.S. degree may take two years for com-
pletion. A doctoral project should be an
original contribution in technology and
should include the steps of idea formu-
lation, a literature study, a system analy-
sis, a computer simulation, and finally an
experimental investigation to validate
the results, as indicated in Figure 7. A
university professor in a good university
normally demands one or two transac-
tions publications from the doctoral dis-
sertation. The scope of an M.S. thesis is
much narrower and may involve either a
simulation or experimental study, finally
resulting in a simple conference paper.
In the beginning, the advising profes-
sor should define the research project
for the student. It will be unfortunate if
the professor is too busy and does not
have a clear idea for the research and,
therefore, depends on the student to
FIGURE 6 – Planning a project and proposal preparation.
define his own project. The outline of
the project idea with some description
and scope of the work should be sum-
marized in a one-page write-up and dis-
cussed with the student extensively. If
the student has any novel idea, it should
be fully honored. Then, an extensive lit-
erature study should follow to be sure
that the idea is original and that no-
body has done it before. The selection
of a proper topic is the most important
step in doctoral research. Following the
start, the professor should have a week-
ly meeting with the student for an ex-
tensive discussion with back-and-forth
learning and pursuing progress. Any
gap in the student’s knowledge should
be filled up by self-study or by the pro-
fessor. Needless to say, a professor be-
comes famous by the work of his or her
graduate students. Therefore, his inti-
mate association with the project until
its successful completion is important.
In implementing the project, col-
lect pieces of relevant knowledge from
different sources; document them in a
notebook; and connect, interpolate, and
extrapolate them to generate the new
knowledge. It is a good idea to formu-
late a questionnaire related to the dif-
ferent aspects of the project. Solving a
project essentially consists of answering
a questionnaire. The problems should
be analyzed thoroughly from all angles
to assure success. Suffice it to say that
the student should be a true friend and
companion of the professor throughout
the project. The student should write a
monthly progress report to the professor,
which can be used as a periodic progress
report for the funded project. Finally, the
thesis is composed and approved by the
doctoral committee after the defense
presentation. A professor’s workload
tends to be heavy with more graduate
projects in addition his teaching load and

march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  11


What is your background?
What project experience do you have?
Do you have any topic preference?
Select a project topic.
Formulate the project topic and
write the implementation steps in one page.
Review the literature and iterate the topic.
Analyze the system and design.
Evaluate the system performance.
Develop the control strategy and analyze the system.
Simulate the system and evaluate the performance.
Integrate the system and perform laboratory tests.
Write the thesis and papers.
FIGURE 7 – Steps in a doctoral research project.
other department activities. With a large (see Figure 1) may be worth 20 high-qual-
number of students, he or she tends to ity papers. If you are a young, untenured
be more of a project manager rather than professor, transactions publications will
a research adviser, and the quality of re- help you get tenure and promotions. If
search can deteriorate, thus deteriorat- you are a tenured professor, more trans-
ing the publication standard. actions publications will promote your
fame, help you become an IEEE Fellow,
Writing a Paper for Publication and may subsequently bring other IEEE
Have you ever published any paper in and non-IEEE awards and honors. Gradu-
IEEE publications, particularly in one of ally, the door of your career may open for
the transactions [7]? The transactions new avenues of success. Needless to say,
papers with your biography and photo publications are extremely important in
at the end are prestigious and bring you the academic community for survival
status in the professional community. following the axiom publish or perish.
Published IEEE papers are included in If you are an industrial researcher, pub-
IEEE Xplore (ieeexplore.org), and their lication may not be that important, but
importance can be found in citations it brings fame to your career. However, if
and the h-index given in Google Scholar you are an engineer in industry and try-
(scholar.google.com). The quality of the ing to transition to a university career,
publication is extremely important. In- you must build up a publication base.
ferior-quality papers will give you a bad Above all, publications bring the tremen-
name. Typically, one transactions paper dous satisfaction of career accomplish-
can be considered equivalent to four or ments. A scientist without publications
five conference papers. Again, a high- is forgotten quickly.
quality paper with an original contribu- If you have done research and the
tion can be equivalent to ten mediocre results are of archival value, these are
papers, and a paper with an invention publishable as papers. The material
12  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015
may be of current interest or may have
a potential interest in the future. Of
course, state-of-the-art technology sur-
vey papers by experienced authors are
also worthy of transactions publication.
Proceedings of the IEEE often publishes
prestigious survey papers, which of-
ten get best paper awards (such as the
Donald G. Fink Award). The research
results in archival literature may be im-
portant for immediate applications or
future applications after a prolonged
period of time. For a new and emerg-
ing technology, often analytical results
with validation by a simulation study
may suffice for a transactions paper.
Otherwise, experimental results are de-
manded to substantiate analytical and
simulation results. The reason is that a
simulation is only as good as the model,
which means that if the modeling is not
accurate, the simulation cannot give
trustworthy results. Anyway, when a
contribution has been made, you need
to judge carefully if it is worthy of be-
ing a transactions or conference paper.
Once you have decided that the material
is transactions worthy, the first step is
to organize the material very carefully.
In addition to having good technical
content, writing a good paper is an art
and tests your knowledge of English and
your writing skills. It is no wonder that
a majority of submitted papers, particu-
larly those written by foreign nationals,
are rejected. A typical flowchart for writ-
ing a paper is shown in Figure 8 [7].
Writing a good paper is like telling
a story to somebody, which should be
clear, concise, and well organized with
a logical flow of expressions. It is always
a good idea to read some good papers
written by reputed authors. The title of
the paper should clearly reflect your
contribution. For every paper, the lead
student normally becomes the first au-
thor even though the advisor has made
the primary contribution. This helps
the student successfully establish his
or her career. Then, coauthors should
be added in the order of magnitude
of their contribution. It is unethical to
add a coauthor who has not made any
contribution to the paper. In the same
way, it is not ethical to add the name of
a department head, project manager,
or financial supporter as a coauthor
unless he or she has made contribu-
tions. Note that plagiarism is an offense,
and submitting multiple publications
of the same material to different jour-
nals with slight alterations is highly un-
ethical. The next step is to collect the
references in the proper format. The
references are important for writing the
introduction of the paper. The reviewer
of the manuscript will become angry
if his or her contribution is not cited
in the paper. Planning figures with the
appropriate labels and titles is a very
crucial step in the preparation of the
paper. The figures and captions should
be fully explanatory and clearly convey
their contribution to the paper. A figure
is worth a thousand words. The figures
should be finalized after the preparation
of the full draft paper. Then, plan the dif-
ferent sections and subsections with
the appropriate title and assign the fig-
ures to the sections. Organize the main
equations with the appropriate symbols
and definition of the symbols locally.
The equations are the ornaments of a
research paper, and if possible, there
should be a few equations. Use the
symbols that are commonly used in
textbooks. The derivation of the equa-
tions, if necessary, should be included
briefly in the appendix. Organize all the
points in detail and in proper sequence
in each section and subsection before
starting the draft paper preparation.
Correct English composition, grammar,
and spelling are extremely important in
paper writing. Needless to say, despite
being an excellent contribution, a ma-
jority of papers are rejected because
of poor English. If a professor depends
solely on his graduate student for writ-
ing, it is almost certain that the paper
will be rejected. Again, even if the paper
is written by an experienced professor
himself, rejection is not uncommon.
The most difficult part of the paper
is writing the introduction. Here, in the
beginning, you should clearly highlight
the importance of your contribution in
a convincing way. Then, past contribu-
tions in this area should be reviewed
with proper references, emphasizing
why your contribution is novel and su-
perior to others. The remaining parts of
the paper consist of a simple and clear
description of the content in logical
sequence. Finally, summarize your con-
tribution and its significance in the
conclusion. After writing the full draft
paper, revise it several times to improve
and polish the English. After the peer re-
view of your paper, typically by three re-
viewers, it may be rejected or accepted
with recommendations for revision.
If you are a senior and established
professor with a lot of experience, you
should possibly consider writing a
book. A good book can give you a lot of
visibility in the professional communi-
ty. However, writing a book may not be
easy. Many professors start the proj-
ect, but very few complete it. A book
project requires a lot of extra studies
and continuous progress without any
interruption. A young professor in the
midst of career building should never
undertake a book project.
Doing Research in Industry
This article would be incomplete without
some discussion of the pros and cons
of industrial jobs. Some discussion was
included in the “Doing Research in Uni-
versities” section. A discussion of gov-
ernment research labs is also included in
this section. Some students, after a long
period in the university environment,
find it tiring and monotonous and would
like to experience the outside world by
taking a job in industry. There is definite-
ly satisfaction in doing real-­world, prod-
uct-oriented practical projects “with
your own hands” and interacting with
a lot of people. As I mentioned before,
some industrial experience is an asset if
you plan to switch to a university career
later as a prestigious chaired professor.
In that case, building a publication base
is essential. The salary in an industrial
job may be higher, but not necessarily.
There is also the possibility of moving
to a higher management position (such
as vice president) later in your career
with high compensation and power that
are unheard of in a university. However,
a managerial job is generally less secure
than that of a contributor. As a manager,
you may have a reputation only within
the perimeter of your company. Besides,
unlike a renowned university professor,
you are forgotten quickly as soon as
you quit the management position. As a
contributor, you will have to report the
march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  13
progress of your project to your man-
ager, who may be less mature and less
educated than you. He or she may also
have an arrogant personality that may
be difficult for you to bear. If you meet
him/her in the corridor, he or she may
ask you, “How is the project going?” Your
travels are restricted mostly to business
travels. There is no tenure system in
industry, and you may be laid off with
short notice if the company’s financial
condition is not good or if it changes its
research direction.
A research lab in a large corpora-
tion may undertake large government-
funded projects, or problem-solving
tasks for their product departments, in
addition to its own assessed-fund tech-
nology development projects. Much of
the discussion on academic research
given in the previous section is also
applicable in industrial projects. Since
industries are profit oriented, the R&D
activity is highly organized to econo-
mize cost. The publication of patents is
of much higher priority than the pub-
lication of papers. In fact, paper publi-
cation is often denied or delayed until
Is the contribution publishable?
Generate an appropriate paper title.
List the author/coauthors.
Collect the relevant references.
Plan the figures and tables with titles.
Collect the points and organize
the sections and subsections.
Write a draft paper.
Finalize all the figures and tables.
Prepare the final paper
(revise–revise–revise).
FIGURE 8 – Steps for writing a research paper.
the application or issue of the patent.
Efficient team work (with compatibility
of temperament) for a large project un-
der a project manager is important. A
monthly progress report and periodic
design review (with action items) on
the progress of the project by an expert
review team are essential. This is dis-
cussed further in the “My Experience in
Research” section.
My Experience in Research
I started my power electronics research
in 1958 in the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, where I completed my M.S.
degree in 1960 under the support of the
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). My project was
concerned with investigating three-
phase diode-bridge rectifier harmonics
on a long transmission line. In those
days, thyristors were not available com-
mercially (they were introduced in 1958),
but silicon power diodes were available
in high power for industrial applications.
FIGURE 9 – Doing research in the GE-CRD laboratory on DSP control of EV (ETXII) project. (From
left) Paul Szczesny, Bimal Bose, and Hunt Sutherland [11].
14  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015
The field of power electronics was then
known as industrial electronics. The term
power electronics was introduced in the
beginning of the 1970s. My Wisconsin
project consisted of some theoretical
study and experimental investigation
with a model distributed parameter
(LC) transmission line in the lab. With
the help of a harmonic wave analyzer,
I could demonstrate the distribution of
harmonics along the line and the reso-
nance voltage boosting effect with a par-
ticular harmonic.
I returned to India in 1960 and joined
the Bengal Engineering College [now
the Indian Institute of Engineering Sci-
ence and Technology (IIEST)], Shibpur,
to start my career and begin my doc-
toral research in Ramey magnetic am-
plifiers (MAs). My research project was
somewhat hybrid among MAs, power
transistors, and thyristors. The proj-
ects were developmental, analytical,
and experimental studies of a magnetic
servoamplifier for a position-servo with
a two-phase induction motor and mul-
tichannel telemetry encoding systems
[8], [9]. The U.S. National Aeronau-
tics and Space Administration (NASA)
Langley Research Center, United States,
considered the encoding system for
satellite-to-earth data communication.
I received my doctorate degree in 1966.
From 1966 to 1971, I supervised several
MA-based research projects on a four-
quadrant analog multiplier, a dc-to-dc
converter, a magnetic servoamplifier,
and a digital voltmeter.
The year 1971 was historic in my ca-
reer, when I emigrated to United States
with an ambitious goal in life. I joined
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI),
Troy, New York, as a faculty member to
organize its power electronics teaching
and research program with the help of GE
Corporate R&D (GE-CRD) (now GE Global
Research Center), Schenectady (­Figure
9). Power electronics was an emerging
technology at that time with intense R&D
activities by large corporations, such as
GE, Westinghouse, and Siemens. Coming
from India with an MA background, the
work was quite challenging to me. The
only other university in the United States
with a power electronics program at
that time was the University of Missouri,
Columbia. I found that the graduate stu-
dents were extremely brilliant in RPI and
were excited to do research projects in
the emerging power electronics area. I
completed a number of projects, which
consisted of developing a transistor ac
switch and its application in a matrix con-
verter [19], Triac speed control of a three-
phase induction motor, a three-phase ac
power control with transistors, a thyris-
tor self-oscillating inverter, etc. During
this period, I came in close contact with
GE-CRD researchers in power electron-
ics. They offered me a part-time (one
day/week) consulting research project
on a thyristor HF resonant-link cyclocon-
verter for a motor drive [24], which was
quite challenging for me. The project was
successful, and I could for the first time
demonstrate that the cycloconverter
could operate at a programmable (lead-
ing-lagging) line displacement power fac-
tor (DPF) [as a static VAR compensator
(SVC) in extreme cases]. It was also the
M.S. project of a GE-CRD engineer who
helped me complete the project.
 I decided to transition to GE-CRD
[11] in 1976 after a 16-year university
career. My main motivation was to learn
power electronics with hands-on ex-
perience and work on some real-world
large industrial projects. In those days,
GE-CRD was the world’s top research
center (called the ivory tower) in power
electronics. It was like Bell Laboratory
where the transistor was invented. Pow-
er electronics scientists from all over the
world used to visit us in Schenectady. I
could see so many world-class scientists
across the hall in Building 37, where my
office was located. My first project was
an autosequential current-fed inverter
analysis and simulation with William
McMurray (see “William McMurray:
The Guru of Power Electronics”). Bill
was the founding father and guru of
power electronics, and his papers on
force-commutated thyristor inverters
were classic contributions that set the
stage for the modern power electron-
ics evolution. I used to worship him like
God. From him, I learned that “research
ideas do not necessarily come within
the 8 a.m.–5 p.m. work day in office.
The thoughts linger most of the time
beyond the office hours, and often new
ideas come when I am taking bath, walk-
ing alone in the evening, or even in the
midnight when I suddenly wake up with
the flash of a new idea. There is no dif-
ference between scientific research
and transcendental meditation” [11]. A
substantial part of my time in GE (until
1987) was involved with electric vehicle
(EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV)
projects. The EV project was the first
major initiative by the U.S. government
after the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. I
was the principal engineer for micropro-
cessor/DSP control development, which
was quite a difficult subject for a power
electronics engineer in those days. Our
first EV project (ETV1) was a splendid
success [21], and it was demonstrated
before Queen Elizabeth II of England. My
last GE project was an EV drive (ETXII)
with an interior permanent magnet
(IPM) synchronous motor drive [12]
using distributed TMS320 DSP-based
control. Gradually, the IPM synchronous
motor for EV/HEV drives was accepted
all over the world. My other important
projects in GE were control development
William McMurray: The Guru of Power Electronics
William McMurray (Figure S1) was a power electronics scientist with
GE-CRD for 35 years (1953–1986). He received the honorary doctor
of law degree from Concordia University, Canada, in 1986. He be-
came an IEEE Fellow in 1980 and a Life Fellow in 1994. He received
the IEEE Newell Award (1978), the IEEE Lamme Medal (1984), and
the IEEE Millennium Medal (2000) for his research contributions.
He authored the book The Theory and Design of Cycloconverters
(MIT Press, 1972) and was a contributing author in the historic book
Principles of Inverter Circuits by Bedford and Hoft (New York, Wiley,
FIGURE S1 –
William McMurray 1964). Bill was a chain smoker. In the later part of life, he suffered
(1926–2006) [10]. from emphysema, which was the cause of his death in 2006.
of a linear inductor machine for railroad I had to work hard on the weekends for
propulsion, a microcomputer-based hy- these books with the door shut against
brid (SPWM-SHE) PWM controller [22] my family members. The authored book
of an inverter, scalar decoupled control was translated into several languages
of induction motors, control of SRM immediately after publication.
drives, sliding mode control of induction I decided to return to a university
motors, maximum power point tracking career in 1987 after spending 11 years
(MPPT) control of residential PV sys- in industry. The university is my origi-
tems [26], etc. I noticed that my manager nal home, and I love this career. I joined
strongly discouraged simulation stud- the University of Tennessee, Knoxville,
ies, which he thought were a waste of as the Condra Chair of Excellence (En-
time. “I do not trust simulation results” dowed Chair Professor) in Power Elec-
was his comment. He would only trust tronics with initial tenure granted to
experimental waveforms on a scope or a me. Concurrently, I started working as a
multichannel recorder when the invert- chief/distinguished scientist in the new-
er is working and the machine is run- ly established Electric Power Research
ning. The company mandate was that if Institute–Power Electronics Applica-
I needed to study fundamentals related tions Center. Part of my responsibility
to a project, I must do it in my home on as a chief scientist was to promote pow-
my own time. Company time was only er electronics education and research in
for problem solving. Although I was very the United States. In addition to my reg-
publication minded, publications were ular graduate students, I was fortunate
considered a waste of time in the com- to get a large number of visiting profes-
pany environment. Instead, writing pat- sors and research scholars from abroad
ent applications was highly encouraged. to come and work in my laboratory with
Often, paper writing was not permitted financial support from their respective
at all or was permitted with a long de- governments. All of them were brilliant
lay after patent application. During my scholars. Unfortunately, I was not very
GE career of 11 years, I lost practically lucky to get mega-funded projects from
50% of potential research publications the U.S. government agencies. In fact, I
because of this company policy. In this hardly tried for it. I love the university
period, I continued as an adjunct fac- career for its freedom and prestige but
ulty member of RPI, where I advised a hate to be a super-salesman seeking re-
large number of graduate students and search funds. In my opinion, the govern-
taught a graduate course on ac drives in ment should maintain a roster of expert
the evening. I published my first edited researchers in the country and solicit
book, Adjustable Speed AC Drive Systems their contributions instead of research-
(1982) [13], and my first authored book, ers searching for government funds.
Power Electronics and AC Drives (1986) Some of my research contributions in
[14], in my GE days with great hurdles. the University of Tennessee included a
march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  15
 • Have a dream in life, and try to translate it into reality with hard work.
• Have a long-term ambition and short-term career goal—never leave obstacles without giving your best effort.
• Have a simple and unsophisticated lifestyle with some spiritual bend.
• Have a guru in your life whom you can emulate.
• Maintain a private diary describing your aspirations, problems, and progresses in life.
• Document what you learned after attending a conference or reading a paper in your “knowledge book”—
formulate ideas for research.
• To solve a research problem, let it linger in your mind all the time—while walking, while taking a bath,
and even in the midst of your sleep.
• Analyze technical and life’s problems from all angles. Never make an impulsive decision.
• Before giving any presentation, look into the broad perspective and solve possible questions in your mind.
• Finally, always keep the “fire burning” in your mind.

FIGURE 10 – My ten-point instructions to young scientists.

soft-switched inverter for motor drives,
HF nonresonant link power conversion
for EV drives using a MOS-controlled
thyristor [25], fuzzy control of dc and
induction motor drives, fuzzy control
of wind generation systems, neural net-
work-based drive feedback signal esti-
mation for vector drives, neural control
of space vector modulations (SVMs)
of two-level and multilevel converters
[28], [29], converter faults investiga-
tion, automated IM drive control design
by expert systems, sensorless vector
control of IMs, and high-temperature
superconductivity—synchronous mo-
tor (SM) ship propulsion with multilevel
converters. A number of these projects
were government funded. We did a lot
of pioneering work in the application of
AI techniques in power electronics [1],
[27]. Unfortunately, however, the area
did not pick up the desired momentum
possibly because of its general unfamil-
iarity in the power electronics communi-
ty and very few industrial applications.
During my days in the University of Ten-
nessee (1987–2014), I traveled abroad
extensively to give tutorials, IEEE Distin-
guished Lectures, invited seminars, and
keynote addresses. During this time, I
also published two authored books [1],
[15] and three edited books [16]–[18].
Some of my key contributions can
be summarized as follows [33]:
■■ I invented the transistor ac switch
[19] and demonstrated it for ac–ac
direct power conversion in 1973
(published in 1976). This has been
recognized as a “key milestone contri-
bution” in matrix converter research
[20]. The IGBT-based ac switch is now
universally used in matrix converters.
The matrix converter for ac–ac con-
version was formally introduced later
by Venturini in 1980.
■■ I pioneered microprocessor con-
trol of power electronics systems
[14], [16]. The first microproces-
sor-controlled fully functional
commercial motor drive system
paper for EV applications was
published in 1979 [21] after Intel
8080 was introduced in 1970. I also
introduced microprocessor (Intel
8086)-based SPWM ­ (hybrid with
SHE) of fully functional voltage-fed
inverter VFI for IM drives [22]. Mi-
croprocessors and DSPs are now
universally used in the control of
power electronic systems.
■■ I invented an adaptive hysteresis-
band PWM current control method
of voltage-fed inverters used for IPM
synchronous motor drives in 1989
[23]. This method is now widely used
for commercial direct torque control
(DTC) drives and other applications.
■■ I demonstrated the first thyristor cy-
cloconverter-based ac-HFac-ac reso-
nant link power conversion system
for motor drives that could operate
at a programmable (­leading-lagging)
power factor at the line side in 1975
[24]. In extreme cases, it could oper-
ate as an SVC.
■■ I proposed an HF active filter in the
dc link to eliminate electrolytic ca-
pacitors in a voltage-fed converter
system [32].
■■ I introduced the HF nonresonant
link soft-switched power conver-
sion for ac drives [25].
■■ I introduced the MPPT control al-
gorithm in PV power systems in
1984 [26] (IEEE prize paper), which
is routinely used today.
■■ I pioneered AI (expert system, fuzzy
logic, and neural network) applica-
tions in the control and estimation
of power electronic systems, which
is now an emerging technology [1],
[15], [27]. These include ANN-based
space vector PWM for two- [1] and
multilevel converters [28], [29].
■■ I published the first textbook on
modern power electronics and ac
drives in the English language in
1986 [14], [33].
■■ I built the power electronics pro-
gram in the University of Tennes-
see from zero-ground to the center
stage of the world during 1987–2002.
This provided the favorable base for
building the present national center
for the smart grid project [known as
the Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Re-
silient Electric Energy Transmission
Networks (CURENT)] by the NSF and
the DOE (http://curent.utk.edu).
■■ I promoted power electronics glob-
ally through extensive seminars,
tutorials, books, invited presenta-
tions, and keynote addresses [30].
Conclusion
The article has provided a comprehen-
sive and personalized review on doing
research in power electronics, which in-
cludes my experience and contributions
during my career that spans more than
four decades, covering the entire period
of the modern power electronics evolu-
tion. Although my experience has been

16  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  ■  march 2015

highlighted in the article, it should be em-
phasized that the technology has been
enriched by the relentless contributions
of many researchers over a long period of
time. The article is generally addressed
to young researchers who are about to
embark on a new career. Research in the
university and industry is generally a vast
topic and is covered here briefly, empha-
sizing the salient points. The advantages
and demerits of both the career paths are
outlined. Doctoral research that includes
the formulation of project ideas, proposal
preparation, execution of the project, and
writing papers for publication has been
highlighted in the discussion. Hopefully,
my research experience, including my
own contributions, will be of interest and
benefit to the readers. Finally, I would like
to conclude the article with some advice
[31] for young researchers (Figure 10). I
have tried to follow these instructions in
my own career.
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to my graduate
students and visiting scholars who
contributed so much for the develop-
ment of my career. Most of the names
are cited with the references at the end
of this article. I am also grateful to Prof.
T.H. Liu of the National Taiwan Univer-
sity of Science and Technology for re-
viewing the whole article and making
some suggestions. The presentation of
a similar topic was given in his univer-
sity with his invitation [3].
Biography
Bimal K. Bose (bbose@utk.edu) was a
faculty member at the Bengal Engineer-
ing College, India, [currently the Indian
Institute of Engineering Science and
Technology (IIEST)] from 1960 to 1971.
From 1971 to 1976, he was an associate
professor of electrical engineering at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
New York. From 1976 to 1987, he was a re-
search engineer in General Electric Cor-
porate Research and Development (GE-
CRD) (now GE Global Research Center),
Schenectady, New York. He has been
the Condra Chaired Professor (Chair of
Excellence) at the University of Tennes-
see, Knoxville, since 1987. He special-
izes in power electronics, motor drives,
and artificial intelligence applications.
He has authored more than 250 papers,
holds 21 U.S. patents, and authored/
edited seven books in power electron-
ics. He is a recipient of a number of
awards, including the IEEE Power Elec-
tronics Society Newell Award (2005),
the IEEE Millennium Medal (2000), the
IEEE Meritorious Achievement Award
in Continuing Education (1997), the
IEEE Lamme Medal (1996), the IEEE In-
dustrial Electronics Society (IES) Mittel-
mann Award (for lifetime achievement
in power electronics and motor drives)
(1994), the IEEE Region 3 Outstanding
Engineer Award (1994), the IEEE Indus-
try Applications Society Outstanding
Achievement Award (1993), the Calcutta
University Mouat Gold Medal (1970),
the IIEST Distinguished Alumnus Award
(2006), the D.Sc. degree (honoris causa)
from IIEST (2013), and a number of prize
paper awards. IEEE Industrial Electron-
ics Magazine published a special issue
(June 2009) “Honoring Dr. Bimal Bose
and Celebrating His Contributions in
Power Electronics” with a cover photo.
The IES Dr. Bimal Bose Energy Systems
Award was established in 2014, which is
funded by the IEEE Foundation and the
IES. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
References
[1] B. K. Bose, Modern Power Electronics and AC
Drives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
[2] B. K. Bose, “Power electronics and mo-
tor drives—Recent progress and perspec-
tive,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 56, no. 7,
pp. 581–588, Feb. 2009.
[3] B. K. Bose, “How to do research in power elec-
tronics and motor drives,” presented at the
Seminar in National Taiwan University of Sci-
ence and Technology, Apr. 16, 2008.
[4] B. K. Bose, “How to be an IEEE Fellow,” IEEE IE
Society Newslett., vol. 52, pp. 6–7, Dec. 2005.
[5] B. K. Bose, “IEEE medals—The most covetable
awards,” IEEE PELS Newslett., vol. 20, 1st. Qr.,
pp. 11–13, 2008.
[6] M. Liserre, L. G. Franquelo, I. Nagy, and C. Wen,
“Honoring Dr. Bimal Bose and celebrating his
contributions in power electronics,” IEEE Ind.
Electron. Mag. (IEEE IES Special Issue), vol. 3,
no. 1, pp. 2–5, 12–14, June 2009.
[7] B. K. Bose, “How to get a paper accepted in
transactions,” IEEE IE Soc. Newslett., vol. 53,
pp. 6–7, Mar. 2006. (Also in IEEE PELS Newslett.,
Second Qr., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 4–6, 2006).
[8] B. K. Bose, “A magnetic amplifier telemetry en-
coder circuit,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 52, no. 9, p. 1076,
1964.
[9] B. K. Bose, “An improved telemetry encoding
circuit by square-loop cores and SCRs,” Proc.
IEEE, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 440–442, 1966.
[10] B. K. Bose, “Power electronics—Historical
perspective and my experience,” IEEE Ind. Ap-
plicat. Mag., vol. 20, pp. 2–9, Mar./Apr. 2014.
[11] B. K. Bose, “Eleven years in corporate environ-
ment—My experience,” IEEE IE Soc. Newslett.,
vol. 54, pp. 6–8, June 2006.
march 2015  ■  IEEE industrial electronics magazine  17
[12] B. K. Bose, “A high performance inverter-fed
drive system of an interior permanent magnet
synchronous machine,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appli-
cat., vol. 24, pp. 989–997, Nov./Dec. 1988.
[13] B. K. Bose, Ed., Adjustable Speed AC Drive Sys-
tems. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1982.
[14] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and AC Drives.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986.
[15] B. K. Bose, Power Electronics and Motor
Drives—Advances and Trends. Burlington, MA:
Academic, 2006.
[16] B. K. Bose, Ed., Microcomputer Control of Power
Electronics and Drives. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE
Press, 1987.
[17] B. K. Bose, Ed., Modern Power Electronics. Pis-
cataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 1992.
[18] B. K. Bose, Ed., Power Electronics and Variable
Frequency Drives. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press,
1997.
[19] V. Jones and B. K. Bose, “A frequency step-
up cycloconverter using power transistors I
inverse-series mode,” Int. J. Electron., vol. 41,
no. 6, pp. 573–587, 1976.
[20] T. Friedli and J. W. Kolar, “Milestones in matrix
converter research,” IEEE J. Ind. Applicat., vol.
1, no. 1, pp. 2–14, 2012.
[21] B. K. Bose, “A microprocessor based control
system for a near-term electric vehicle,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 626–631,
Nov./Dec. 1981 (Also in IEEE IAS Annu. Meeting
Conf. Rec., 1979, pp. 743–748).
[22] B. K. Bose and H. A. Sutherland, “A high perfor-
mance pulse-width modulator for an inverter-
fed drive system using a microcomputer,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 19, pp. 235–243. Mar./
Apr. 1983.
[23] B. K. Bose, “An adaptive hysteresis band cur-
rent control technique of a voltage-fed PWM
inverter for machine drive system,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 37, pp. 402–408, Oct.
1990.
[24] B. K. Bose and P. Espalage, “High frequency
link power conversion,” in IEEE Trans. Ind. Ap-
plicat., vol. 13, pp. 387–393, Sept./Oct. 1977.
[25] L. Hui, B. Ozpineci, and B. K. Bose, “A soft-
switched high frequency non-resonant link
integral pulse modulated dc-ac converter for
ac motor drive,” in IEEE IECON Conf. Rec., 1998,
pp. 726–732.
[26] B. K. Bose and P. Szczesny, “A microcomputer
based control of residential photovoltaic pow-
er conditioning system,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Appli-
cat., vol. 21, pp. 1182–1191, Sept./Oct. 1985 (also
presented at the IAS Conf., 1984).
[27] B. K. Bose, “Neural network applications in
power electronics and motor drives—An
introduction and perspective,” IEEE Trans.
­
Ind. Electron., vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 14–33, Feb.
2007.
[28] S. K. Mondal, B. K. Bose, V. Oleschuk, and
J. O. P. Pinto, “A neural network based space
vector PWM controller for a three-level volt-
age-fed inverter induction motor drive,” IEEE
Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 38, pp. 660–669,
May/June 2002.
[29] N. P. Filho, J. O. P. Pinto, B. K. Bose, and L. E. B.
da Silva, “A neural network based space vec-
tor PWM of a five-level voltage-fed inverter,” in
IEEE Industry Applications Society Conf. Rec., pp.
2181–2187, 2004.
[30] M. Liserre, “Dr. Bimal K. Bose: A reference for
generations,” IEEE Ind. Electron. Mag., vol. 3,
no. 2, pp. 2–5, 2009.
[31] B. K. Bose, “Fulfilling my lifelong dream,” IEEE
Ind. Applicat. Mag., vol. 19, p. 88, Sept./Oct.
2013.
[32] B. K. Bose and D. Kastha, “Electrolytic ­capacitor
elimination in power electronic system by high
frequency active filters,” in IEEE IAS Annu. Meet-
ing Conf. Rec., 1991, pp. 869–878.
[33] Wikipedia. (2015.). Wikipedia online encyclo-
pedia. [Online]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bimal_ ­Kumar_Bose