Keynote and Plenary Speakers

Prof. Prasad Enjeti
Texas A&M University, USA
(Fellow IEEE)

Prof. Prasad Enjeti is an American educator and engineer. He is a TI Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University. Enjeti was born on November 25, 1957 in Chintamani, Karnataka, India; the son of Murthy and Padmavathi (Gummaraju) Enjeti. He received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Osmania University in 1980. Two years later he earned his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Also in 1988, Prasad was given a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University.

Dr. Prasad Enjeti is a recognized authority in the power electronics industry. As a technical power electronics expert, he can quickly assess case details and prioritize the key points. As an experienced executive, he can provide industry overview and recognize the business implications at hand. Enjeti is the lead developer of the Power Electronics / Power Quality & Fuel Cell Power Conditioning Laboratories at Texas A&M University and is actively involved in many projects with industries while engaged in teaching, research and consulting in the area of power electronics. His research emphasis on industry-based issues has attracted significant funding. So far, 26 PhD and 41 MS students have graduated under his supervision and have spring-boarded into key leadership positions. Dr. Prasad Enjeti is a Fellow of IEEE (year 2000) for "Contributions to solutions of utility interface problems in power electronic systems and harmonic mitigation". He is the inaugural recipient of the R. David Middlebrook Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society, 2012. Get more here.

Prof. Bikash C. Pal
Imperial College, London, UK
(IEEE Fellow)

Prof. Bikash Pal is a Professor of Power Systems at Imperial College London (ICL). He is research active in power system stability, control, and estimation. Currently is leading a six university UK-China research consortium on Resilient Operation of Sustainable Energy Systems (ROSES) as part of EPSRC-NSFC Programme on Sustainable Energy Supply. He led UK-China research consortium project on grid scale storage: Stability and Control of Power Networks with Energy Storage, He also led an UK-India smart grid research consortium project, Reliable and Efficient System for Community Energy Solution – RESCUES. His research is conducted in strategic partnership with ABB, GE Grid Solutions, UK, and National Grid, UK. UK Power Networks. GE commissioned sequel of projects with him to analyse and solve wind farm HVDC grid interaction problems (2013-2019). Prof Pal was the chief technical consultant for a panel of experts appointed by the UNFCCC CDM (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Clean Development Mechanism). He has offered trainings in Chile, Qatar, UAE, Malaysia and India in power system protections, stability and control topics. He has developed and validated a prize winning 68-bus power system model, which now forms a part of IEEE Benchmark Systems as a standard for researchers to validate their innovations in stability analysis and control design. He was the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy (2012-2017) and Editor-in-Chief of IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution (2005-2012). He is Vice President, PES Publications (2019-). In 2016, his research team won the President’s outstanding research team award at Imperial College London (ICL). He is Fellow of IEEE for his contribution to power system stability and control. He is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer in Power distribution system estimation and control. He was). He has published about 100 papers in IEEE Transactions and IET journals and authored four books in power system modelling, dynamics, estimations and control. Two of his papers in power system stability and control topics have received annual best journal paper award. He was Otto Monsted Professor at Denmark Technical University (DTU) (2019) and Mercator Professor sponsored by German Research Foundation (DFG) at University of Duisburg-Essen in 2011. He worked as faculty at IIT Kanpur, India. He holds a Visiting Professorship at Tsinghua University, China.

Prof. Udaya Kumara Madawala
The University of Auckland, New Zealand
(Fellow IEEE)

Prof. Udaya Madawala who graduated from the University of Moratuwa in the late 1980s and is now an eminent Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, an inventor, a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), among other achievements; was in Sri Lanka to deliver a keynote address at the IEEE conference and visited the University on 19th December 2018.
After being welcomed by the Vice Chancellor and Dean- Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Madawala addressed a group of staff and students and gave a very motivational seminar on his journey from a UOM student, who considered himself an average undergraduate, not interested in academics to go on to receiving a Commonwealth Doctoral Scholarship in New Zealand – a country he knew only as famous for its particular brand of milk powder and its cricket and rugby teams; and continuing to become an innovative researcher and IEEE Fellow.

He spoke of the difficulties faced by him in leaving his homeland and starting in completely new and unfamiliar surroundings and how he overcame the difficulties. Prof. Madawala also spoke of his PhD study on motors and power electronics – a “brushless, slotless, ironless, sensorless motor”, the models of his inventions, his innovative work on fast start electric lines, energy storage, fast transfer, taming energy, green energy systems and battery management. Patents on his inventions have been sold to world famous companies such as Qualcomm and Apple.

Prof. Madawala went on to give a very interesting presentation on the future of the electric vehicles, changing to wireless, inductive power transfer technology, bi-directional power transfer, dynamic charging – with future plans including an electric recharging lane for motorists, etc.