IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2018 - 84

FIG 1 From left: the three SFBAC PELS Chapter scholarship recipients Ajay Krishnan (University of California, Berkeley), Carlos
Hernandez (San Jose State University, California), Trung Huynh (San Jose State University, California), and SFBAC PELS Chair
Brian Zahnstecher.

and industry; consequently, I have repower electronics have grown more
ceived a clear orientation for my future
in the last week than the six years beeducation as well
fore that. In addition,
as (my) career."
many of these interAjay Krishnan is
actions ended with an
The three scholarships
already thinking of
exchange of cont a ct
were awarded to
the value of such a
information, (thereCarlos Hernandez (a
program for other
b y) growing my netsecond-year graduate
PELS Chapters
working reach on a
student at San Jose
and wrote, "I highly
global scale."
recommend conHaving a good unState University,
tinuing this opporderstanding of the difCalifornia), Trung
tunity for other stuferences and similariHuynh (a fourth-year
dents in the future
ties between industry
graduate student also
as well as having
and academia is a
at San Jose State
other PELS branchvery important skill,
University), and Ajay
es (Chapters) do
regardless of the path
the same, as it reone decides to take
Krishnan (a fourth-year
ally is eye opening
in power electronics.
undergraduate student
to what a future in
Of this, Trung Huynh
at the University of
power electronics
wrote "...by attendCalifornia, Berkeley).
would look like. I
ing events such as the
wish I could have
IEEE PELS [Mentorstayed longer!"
ing Roundtable] and
As a follow up to APEC 2018, the
the IEEE PELS/IAS YP Reception and
three students were sent a copy of
social event, I was able to connect
their original scholarship applications
with my colleagues and new friends to
to compare with their postevent sumbuild and expand my career network.
maries to show how much their opinThe events have shown me the fundaions had evolved during the conference.
mental difference between academia

IEEE PowEr ElEctronIcs MagazInE

z June 2018

Though roughly six weeks had passed
between submitting their applications
and participating in this experience, it
was clear that the students' career ambitions had grown into more meaningful objectives with improved focus
and determination.
Hopefully, the initial success of
this hybrid scholarship mentoring
program can serve as motivation and
guide other professional organizations. In this industry and within
the IEEE, the need for mentorship,
the support of student growth, and
the need to support travel to key
events are crucial, but the time has
come to maximize the value in all of
these very important growth areas
by overlapping the coverage areas
and combining our efforts to expand
beyond direct financial support. To
learn more about this initiative,
please contact Brian Zahnstecher at bz@powerrox.com or by phone
at + 1 508 847 5747.

Reference
[1] B. Zahnstecher, "SFBAC PELS Chapter overview and event summary," IEEE Power Electron.
Mag., vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 68-69, Sept. 2017.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2018