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Nominations Solicited for Society Awards
by Thomas G. Wilson, Sr., PELS Awards Chair
The Chair of the PELS Awards Committee, Thomas G. Wilson. Sr., has announced that nominations for all three of the Society's major awards for 1998 are required at a date earlier than usual this year because PESC '98, which will host the Annual Awards Banquet, will be held the week of May 17, 1998, about a month earlier than usual. All award nominations must be received by the Awards Committee Chair by January 20, 1998.
This will be only the second year for PELS's two most recently approved awardsthe PELS Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award. It will be the twenty-second year for presentation of the eminent William E. Newell Power Electronics Award.
The nomination and selection procedure for all three awards is similar. For each, there is a Nominating Committee responsible for identifying worthy candidates plus a general solicitation of nominations from all Society members by means of this Newsletter article. On the first ballot, members of a separate Selection Committee 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.
The William E. Newell Power Electronics Award is presented for outstanding career 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. The awardee is judged to be outstanding in the multidisciplinary field of power electronics that crosses the technical boundaries of a number of Societies of the IEEE. The award consists of a suitably inscribed plaque and a cash award of $1,750. Over the last two decades this award has come to represent one's crowning achievement as a contributor to the field of power electronics. The Nominating Committee for this award consists of the PELS Awards Committee. The Selection Committee is made up of past recipients of the Newell Award.
The Power Electronics Society Distinguished Service Award is presented to a member of the Society in recognition of exceptional dedication and service to the Power Electronics Society over a substantial period of time. The award consists of a suitably inscribed plaque and a cash award of $1,200. The Nominating Committee for this award consists of all elected and ad hoc members of the PELS AdCom. The PELS Awards Committee serves as the Selection Committee.
The Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award (OYPEE) is presented for outstanding achievement in the field of power electronics by an IEEE member of any grade who is less than 35 years of age as of January 1, 1998. The awardee is judged to have made an outstanding contribution to the field of power electronics. The award consists of a suitably inscribed certificate, a cash award of $500, and reasonable reimbursement for transportation expenses up to $500 to attend the Annual PELS Awards Banquet. The Nominating Committee consists of the Chair of the OYPEE Award Subcommittee Chair, Harry A. Owen, Jr., plus six individuals appointed by the Awards Committee Chair. The Selection Committee for the Award consists of six past recipients of the Newell Award appointed by the Chair of the Awards Committee
Every member of PELS has the opportunity to nominate candidates for the above awards and is encouraged to do so. You may request from the Awards Committee Chair nomination forms along with a sheet detailing the selection criteria and the nomination and selection procedures, or you may use the nomination-form headers that follow this story and attach to each a separate sheet summarizing the nominee's qualifications and achievements in the field of power electronics. All society members are encouraged to participate in this process to ensure that all who deserve these awards are considered.
In addition to the three awards requiring nomination, the Society also will present at the Awards Banquet PELS Transactions Prize Paper Awards to the authors of the three papers judged by the Associate Editors to be the best papers published in the PELS Transactions in 1997.