riends of PSMA is a new feature of the PSMA Update. This space will be used to introduce readers to organizations that PSMA has cooperative relationship with to better serve our respective memberships and the international power electronics industry. If you have suggestions on other industry organizations to consider or ways that we can improve our current relationship with other industry associations, we would be delighted to hear from you.

In this article we introduce you to the Power Electronics Society (PELS).

The Power Electronics Society (PELS), one of the 39 technical societies within IEEE, is among the fastest-growing IEEE Societies for its entire existence of over 30 years.

Initially, the Power Electronics Council was formed in 1983 in addressing the emerging field and growing activities in power electronics. The Council established many of the activities that formed the foundations of the present Society, including IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and the Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), both of which started in 1986. The Power Electronics Society was inaugurated on June 20th, 1987, building on the success of the Power Electronics Council. John Kassakian was the first PELS president and many volunteers have devoted their tremendous efforts in propelling the growth and excellence of the Society. The picture below shows a rare moment when all the past presidents gathered in celebrating the 25th anniversary of PELS.

PELS past Presidents at its 25th Anniversary Celebration in 2013.

Power electronics drives the 21st-century energy revolution, as the enabler of nearly everything that processes or uses energy. PELS thrives to foster power electronics technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Today PELS has grown to a global organization with more than 10,000 members, over 200 Chapters (including Student Branch Chapters) in all ten Regions of the IEEE around the world. The Society has 12 technical committees, which provide a welcoming technical home for all power electronics professionals working in the areas from power components, control and modeling, to transportation systems, and electronic power grid systems.

Vibrant and growing, PELS is now a resource for power electronics practitioners, students, and researchers world-wide. To effectively serve its global membership and the ever-evolving power electronics field, PELS has numerous key publications, including IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics which has been the most downloaded IEEE transactions with a top-notch impact factor, IEEE Power Electronics Letters, IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, and IEEE Power Electronics Magazine etc.

Each year, PELS organizes about 25 financially sponsored conferences and supports more than 15 technically co-sponsored conferences. The conference portfolio includes: (1) large conferences such as APEC, IEEE Energy Conversion Congress & Exposition (ECCE), ECCE Europe and ECCE Asia, covering the entire PELS field of interest; (2) technically thematic conferences such as IEEE Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics, IEEE Transportation Electrification and Expo, IEEE International Symposium on Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems, and Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA); and (3) regional conferences serving our members in various geographic regions. 

In its effort to provide integrated solutions to energy poverty, PELS embarked its largest global competition called Empower a Billion Lives (EBL) during 2018 and 2019, involving over 450 teams from 70+ counties, and held 5 regional competitions in five different countries and one final global competition. PELS is planning to launch the second EBL during 2021.

Through the extensive interactions via virtual meetings led by the PELS Strategic Planning Committee, PELS has developed its new Five-Year Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 which will be the guide for actions. Five strategic goals were identified, including Membership Growth, Industry Content, Agile Technical Programs, Sustainability, and Virtual Platforms.

PELS has already established strong collaborations with PSMA through the partnerships in organizing conferences such as APEC, WiPDA, PwrSoC, IWIPP etc. PELS is looking forward to further strengthening the partnerships with PSMA in serving the dynamic needs of the power electronics industry and professionals.

Provided by Liuchen Chang, PELS President

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.