People

Rod Bayliss III is a Ph.D. student in the Pilawa Power Electronics Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley. He previously received his B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2020 and 2021. His research interests include multi-level power converter design and control and high performance power magnetics design. Rod is a recipient of the Hertz Fellowship and the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fellowship.

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Nathan received his B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and applied mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2022. His research is focused on dynamic modeling and high-performance control techniques for resonant and multilevel power converters.

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Francesca Giardine received a B.S. in Engineering Science and B.A. in Mathematics and Statistics from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in May of 2020. Francesca is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, funded by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (awarded 2022). Francesca has a particular interest in single phase ac-dc converters with an emphasis on active buffering and control techniques. Outside of the lab Francesca enjoys running slowly, hiking, and trying local bakeries.

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Logan received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 2018. Outside of power electronics, he enjoys bad jokes and bouldering.

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Rahul Iyer received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2020. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. His research interests include power converter design, modeling, and control in high-voltage applications, with specific interests in hybrid switched-capacitor and flying-capacitor multilevel converters.

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Elisa received her B.S. in electrical engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests involve designing power dense solutions for space applications. In 2022, Elisa received the Chancellor’s fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2024, she was also awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

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Sahana Krishnan

Ph.D. Student

Sahana Krishnan received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in May of 2018. After graduating, she spent three years working at Texas Instruments architecting power converter reference designs. She is currently pursuing graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley with a research emphasis on 48 V to point-of-load DC-DC hybrid switched-capacitor converters in automotive applications. This research has been motivated by her desire to utilize her industry experience to inform academic research direction and reduce the timeline from research investigation to industry adoption.

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Tahmid Mahbub received his B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) from Cornell University in 2017. He spent the next 6 years working at Apple, focused on EE/hardware system integration and MCU hardware design. He is now a Ph.D. student in the Pilawa Power Electronics Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Nagesh Patle received his B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, India, in 2021. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He has work experiences at Qualcomm and NVIDIA. His research interests include reconfigurable switched-capacitor converters, high-efficiency hybrid switched-capacitor converters, multi-level converters, and power management integrated circuits. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Keshab K Parhi Endowment Prize for the best demonstrable Master’s thesis and also, the Institute Order of Merit Award for outstanding all-round performance with distinction in technology activities at IIT Kharagpur. In 2022, he is the recipient of the Berkeley Fellowship.

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Haifah Sambo earned her B.S. degree from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA, in 2021. She is currently working towards her PhD degree in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include the design, control, and optimization of hybrid switched-capacitor converters. In 2021, Haifah received the GEM fellowship and the Chancellor’s fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2023, she was also awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

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Dennis Woo received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2023 and 2024, respectively, where he focused on the design of high-power resonant converters. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley in the Pilawa Power Electronics Research Group.

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Emmi Wyttenbach received both her B.S. and M.Eng. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University in 2023, with her research focusing on active energy buffer control. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Shuyu received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2023. Before joining the Pilawa group, she was a master’s student at Stanford University. Her research interests include the topology, modeling, and control for high-performance data center power delivery.

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Jiarui Zou is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021 with the Bronze Tablet and the Highest Honors. His research focuses on designing high-performance Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Converters for point-of-load power delivery, large-scale passive component surveys and characterizations, and high-performance converter cooling. He was the recipient of the M. Stanley Helm Award, Edward C. Jordan Award, and EECS Gold Fellowship. He was also awarded the Ackmann Family Scholarship, Brian and Sophie Leung Scholarship, Joseph W. Lyding Endowed Scholarship, and Tan Family Education Foundation Scholarship.

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Yicheng Zhu

Post-doctoral Researcher

Suhrith Bellamkonda is currently working towards his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Aside from being a part of the Pilawa Research Group, he’s also an active member of the avionics team of Space Enterprise at Berkeley, a club that aims to launch a rocket to the edge of space.

Marrin is currently working towards her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Her work focuses on supporting multi-level inverter projects for electric aircraft applications. She is involved with Formula Electric at Berkeley (FSAE) where she works with the motor inverter for Berkeley’s first electric race car. Marrin is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers where she has mentored high school students through introductory circuitry projects.

Evan Sandoval is currently working towards his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Bioengineering. He is currently working on developing a custom electronic load to stress-test power converters. Outside of class, he works with the high voltage battery and motor systems as a part of Formula Electric at Berkeley. Evan also volunteers with UC Berkeley’s Hispanic Engineers and Scientists club to provide outreach to K-12 schools near campus. In his free time, he enjoys surfing and soaking up the sun on memorial glade.