IEEE PELS - William E. Newell Award
The William E. Newell Power Electronics Award is
presented annually by the Power Electronics Society for
outstanding achievement in power electronics. It is dedicated to
the memory of Dr. William E. Newell of the
Westinghouse Research and Development Center in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. Awarded annually since 1977, this award has come to
represent recognition by one's peers as an outstanding contributor
to the field of power electronics.
Selection Criteria
Accomplishments by which an individual is judged to have
made outstanding contributions encompass a broad range of
activities and include teaching, innovative research, consulting
endeavors, professional seminars, major project or program
management, and the general communication and advocacy of power
electronics technology to the technical community as a whole. The
technical disciplines which encompass the field of power
electronics include the analysis, design, development, simulation,
and application of electronic devices, magnetics, controls, and
power circuits for inverters, converters, and motor drives,
ranging in power levels from fractions of a watt to megawatts.
Selection Process
Each year, the PELS
Awards Committee Chair chairs a Newell Award Nominating
Committee. Nominations are requested from each committee member.
In addition, nominations are solicited from individual IEEE
members. A Nomination Form along with a sheet detailing the
nomination and selection criteria and procedures are available
upon request from the Chair of the Awards Committee. Supporting
material is encouraged but is not mandatory.
On the first ballot members of the Section Committee, made up
of past recipients of the Newell Award, rank the nominees in
priority order. The three candidates who rank the highest are
selected for the second ballot. The recipient is chosen from these
three using an arithmetically-averaged process with priority
weighting. In the event of a tie, the Awards Committee Chair, in
consultation with the President and Vice-Presidents of PELS,
selects the recipient.
Each and every member of PELS has an opportunity to nominate
candidates and is encouraged to do so. All IEEE members are
encouraged to participate to ensure that all those who truly
deserve this award are not overlooked.
Nomination Form
List of Prior Recipients
William E. Newell
Dr. William E. Newell was a noted authority on power
electronics at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Research and
Development Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, until his untimely
death in 1976.
He devoted much of his life to helping practicing engineers and
students better understand the field of power electronics. He both
taught internal courses at Westinghouse and courses at Carnegie
Mellon University. The material used in these courses was edited
by J. W. Mott, Jr. after Dr. Newell's death and published as the
text "Introduction to Solid State Power Electronics"
Dr. Newell pointed out the multi-disciplinary nature of power
electronics and argued for making it a new discipline, planting
the seeds for the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
The IEEE William E. Newell Award for outstanding achievement in
power electronics was named in his honor.
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