In an editorial, Power Electronics -
Keeping Pace With Society, in the first issue of the IEEE
Transactions on Power Electronics, Dr. William W. Burns, III, the
first president of the IEEE Power Electronics Council, which later
became the IEEE Power Electronics Society, gives the background
leading to the Power Electronics Council. [1]
The Council got its start in early 1980 through the efforts of
Paul Pittman, Bob Corbett, and Dave Borst who wrote the Power
Electronics Council Constitution and By Laws. These were approved
by the IEEE Technical Activities Board establishing the Council in
1983.
The Council took over the sponsorship of the IEEE Power
Electronics Specialists Conference and by the spring of 1984, ten
IEEE societes had joined the council.
In June 1984 the Council ADCOM voted to pursue publishing an
archival journal, and the transactions were approved by IEEE in
early 1985, and the first issue of the Transactions on Power
Electronics were published January 1986.
Professor John G. Kassakian, the second president of the
Council, in another editorial in the
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, continues the history.
[2]
The IEEE Technical Activiites Board approved the formation of
an IEEE Power Electronics Society at the Board's meeting on June
20, 1987 and the new Power Electronics Society formally come into
being January 1, 1988.
Professor Kassakian discusses what it means to members to be
their own society. First, having your needs represented to IEEE by
power electronics professionals, second, influencing the selection
of these representatives, third, having a society dedicated to
your field that you can join, and finally, forming local chapters
to address specific regional needs in power electronics.
[1] Burns, W. W., Power
Electronics-Keeping Pace With Society, IEEE Transactions on
Power Electronics, January 1986, Volume PE-1, No.1 pp. 1-2.
[2] Kassakian, John G.,
Editorial [on Formation of an IEEE Power Electronics
Society], IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 3,
No. 1, January 1988. pp. 2.