Dennis Woo

Three researchers from the Pilawa Research Group received prestigious awards for outstanding oral and poster presentations at the 40th IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2025), held in Atlanta, GA. APEC is the premier conference in power electronics, attracting leading experts worldwide.

Syed Tahmid Mahbub, a second-year EE Ph.D student advised by EECS Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, received the Best Oral Presentation Award for his talk titled “Analysis and Implementation of Minimum-Sensor Capacitor Voltage Estimators for Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters.”

Nagesh Patle, a third-year EE Ph.D student advised by EECS Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, earned the Best Poster Presentation Award for his work on “Achieving Soft-Charging and Over 20% Input Current Ripple Reduction in a 48-to-6 V Dickson Converter Using 3-Phase Split-Phase Control.”

Yicheng Zhu, a postdoctoral scholar and EECS alumnus, advised by EECS Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, was recognized with the Best Oral Presentation Award for his talk titled “Design-Oriented Modeling and Multi-Objective Optimization of Two-Phase Coupled Inductors in Multiphase PWM Converters.”

The APEC Best Presentation Awards recognize outstanding contributions based on several criteria: the quality and design of presentation slides, the clarity and effectiveness of delivery, and the presenter’s ability to engage with and respond to audience questions.

EECS grad Yicheng Zhu has received a Teaching Effectiveness Award for 2024.

The Graduate Division’s Teaching Effectiveness Award for GSIs honors those who devise solutions to teaching or learning problems they have identified in their classes and write them up in a one-page essay. These essays are published on the GSI Center website for use by instructors.

Zhu’s essay, “Fostering Student Engagement: The Power of Live Class Demonstrations,” emphasizes his approach to enhancing student engagement in large lecture formats. Through the implementation of interactive group activities and targeted feedback mechanisms during the 2023 semester, he successfully created a more inclusive environment that encouraged student participation and fostered a deeper understanding of the material.

Yicheng Zhu is a postdoctoral scholar and Bakar Innovation Fellow advised by Robert Pilawa-Podgurski.

Submitted by nluechin on October 17, 2024

https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/vivek-bharadwaj-and-yicheng-zhu-receive-teaching-effectiveness-award/

Prof. Robert Pilawa-Podgurski has received the 2024 Spark Award from Bakar Fellows Program, with Dr. Yicheng Zhu as his Innovation Fellow. Their awarded research proposal, titled “Powering the AI Revolution: A New Voltage Regulator Enabling Direct 48-V-to-1-V Vertical Power Delivery for Next-Generation Ultra-High-Power Processors,” aims to make use of innovative tools and techniques designed in Prof. Pilawa’s lab to develop a hybrid switched-capacitor voltage regulation module for ultra-high-power processors that can achieve a 2x reduction in power conversion losses and a 4x reduction in physical size compared to state-of-the-art commercial products. This could reduce overall data center power usage by almost ten percent, benefiting both the environment and businesses.

The Bakar Fellows Program has been committed to expanding access to entrepreneurship since its inception in 2012, providing funding, resources, and mentorship to faculty, graduate students, and, most recently, undergraduates. This year marks the beginning of a new partnership with the Academic Innovation Catalyst (AIC), a new deep tech funding platform founded by Matt and Lisa Sonsini. Initially, AIC will join forces with the Bakar Fellows program to allocate grants to Berkeley faculty immersed in deep technology exploration, particularly in climate technology. Grant recipients will receive $300,000 over three years for market research, prototype development and other commercialization activities, in line with the standard Bakar Fellows award amount and duration. AIC envisions expanding this pilot initiative across UC Berkeley and beyond, fostering innovation on a broader scale within the academic community. The inaugural recipients of the AIC grants are Robert Pilawa-Podgurski, a UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences professor, and Zakaria Al Balushi, a UC Berkeley Materials Science and Engineering assistant professor.

EECS grad Yicheng Zhu has received a Ross N. Tucker Memorial Award for 2024.

The Tucker Award is given to recognize superior work and scholarship in the characterization, development and/or use of semiconductor, magnetic, optical or electronic materials by a graduate student or students pursuing such areas of inquiry. This award memorializes Dr. Ross N. Tucker, who contributed significantly to the advancement of the technology of materials used in semiconductor electronics. More details about this award can be found on the EECS Department website. Yicheng’s thank you video can be viewed here. (edited)