Recently, the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) announced the 2025 scholarship winners on its official website, selecting four recipients in total. Among them, two doctoral students from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA) at Tsinghua University, Sun Ya and Wang Leheng, have been awarded the IEEE PELS Graduate Studies Fellowship. Each of them will receive a USD 5,000 scholarship to support their research visits at overseas universities.

Congratulations to our 2025 PELS Award Winners! - IEEE Power Electronics Society

The IEEE PELS Graduate Studies Fellowship was established by the IEEE Power Electronics Society to support graduate students worldwide engaged in research related to power electronics technology. Research topics can cover a wide range of areas, including power electronic devices, power electronics module packaging and reliability, power electronics systems, renewable energy systems, and power electronics for electric vehicles. The fellowship’s evaluation criteria include the innovativeness of the graduate student’s research topic, the impact of the chosen subject, and the ability to accomplish the objectives during the award period. Additionally, candidates are required to conduct a 6 to 9-month research exchange at a renowned academic institution outside their home country to broaden their international perspective and enhance their research skills. The fellowship is reviewed by the PELS Education Committee and aims to promote innovation and development in power electronics technology, providing resources and platforms to help outstanding graduate students achieve excellence in both academic and industrial fields. In 2023, Tsinghua University’s doctoral student Liu Hanyu became the first recipient of this fellowship.

Sun Ya’s award-winning project is titled “High Voltage Power Electronics Device Square Wave Pulse Partial Discharge Suppression Based on Electric Field Adaptive Structure,” supervised by Professor Hu Jun from the Department of Electrical Engineering. This project explores the application of electric field adaptive equalization structures in high voltage power electronic devices, effectively suppressing partial discharge phenomena by optimizing the electric field distribution. The research is of great significance for the performance optimization of power electronic devices in high-voltage, high-frequency environments. This is the second significant award for Sun Ya, following the Zurich Instruments Student Travel Grant 2024. Currently, Sun Ya is conducting visiting research at the University of Texas at Dallas with support from the PELS Graduate Studies Fellowship.

Wang Leheng’s award-winning project is titled “400V-4V Direct Conversion Design for Next-Generation Data Centers,” supervised by Professors Sun Kai from Tsinghua University and Robert Pilawa-Podgurski from the University of California, Berkeley. This project combines multi-level flying capacitor technology with isolated resonant converters, achieving a high step-down ratio while performing multi-objective optimization to maximize power density and efficiency. The research provides an innovative technological approach for the efficient operation and power enhancement of data centers. Wang Leheng is currently conducting visiting research at the University of California, Berkeley, with support from the PELS Graduate Studies Fellowship.