The Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management (FREEDM) Systems Center, headquartered on NC State University's Centennial Campus, is one of the latest Gen-III Engineering Research Centers (ERC) established by the National Science Foundation in 2008. The FREEDM Systems Center will partner with universities, industry, and national laboratories in 28 states and nine countries to develop technology to revolutionize the nation's power grid and speed renewable electric-energy technologies into every home and business. The center is supported by an initial five-year, $18.5 million grant from NSF with an additional $10 million in institutional support and industry membership fees. More than 65 utility companies, electrical equipment manufacturers, alternative energy start-ups, and other established and emerging firms are part of this global partnership. This talk by Dr. Huang will briefly introduce the system vision of the FREEDM Systems Center and its research and education plan.
Dr. Alex Huang received his B.Sc. degree from Zheijiang University, China in 1983 and his M.Sc. degree from Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering, China in 1986, both in electrical engineering. He received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University, UK in 1992. From 1994 to 2004, he was a professor at Center for Power Electronics System at Virginia Tech. Since 2004, he has been a professor of electrical engineering at North Carolina State University and director of NCSU’s Semiconductor Power Electronics Center (SPEC). He is now the Progress Energy Distinguished Professor and the director of the new NSF FREEDM Systems Center. Dr. Huang’s research areas are power management, emerging applications of power electronics and power semiconductor devices.
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