Author Bios

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Dr. Alex Huang, Progress Energy Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, has an extensive background in power semiconductors and power electronics and is the director of the FREEDM Systems Center. The Progress Energy Distinguished Professorship is sponsored by Progress Energy and awarded to a faculty member from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering that exhibits a leading role in the areas of energy and power. Dr. Huang also acts as the director of the Advanced Transportation Energy Center (ATEC), and became an IEEE fellow in 2005.

In addition to his work at the FREEDM Systems Center and ATEC, Dr. Huang is also director of NCSU’s Semiconductor Power Electronics Center, which focuses research attention on power semiconductors, power management integrated circuits, and power electronics. Dr. Huang’s main research interests include power electronics, power systems, electric vehicle systems, power management ICs, power semiconductor devices, electronic circuits and systems, nanoelectronics and photonics. He joined NCSU in 2004 and was the Alcoa Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering until 2007. Before joining NCSU, he was a professor at Virginia Tech’s Center for Power Electronics Systems from 1994 to 2004.

Dr. Huang’s focus for his undergraduate and graduate degrees was electrical engineering; he received his bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University and his master’s from the University of Electronic Science and Technology in China. He received his Ph.D. in 1992 from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Huang has also received numerous awards and honors including being named the Zhejiang University Qiushi Chair in 2011, he is the winner of a prestigouse R&D 100 award, he received the Best Paper Award at the IEEE Industry Application Society 2003 Annual Meeting, and he was honored with the NSF Presidential Early Career Award in 1998.

The FREEDM Systems Center is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center and receives funding both from NSF and the Center’s industry members. Researchers at the FREEDM Systems Center are focused on developing Smart Grid technology that will allow for the deployment and inclusion of distributed renewable energy resources and energy storage devices in the electric grid. Three hundred researchers at five domestic and two international partner universities are working toward the vision of the FREEDM Systems Center.

ATEC research focuses on developing fundamental and enabling technologies to advance the progress of widespread use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). The Center is also concerned about ensuring these vehicles will be easily adapted to use with the electric grid. Researchers at ATEC focus their attention on developing advanced battery packs that increase the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of the vehicles. The research areas are advanced storage, infrastructure, vehicle systems and advanced power electronics.

Author: Kelsey Kusterer, Communications and Outreach Specialist at FREEDM Systems Center