2019

• Nov 14 – Dr. Ned Mohan, Oscar A. Schott Professor of Power Electronics and Systems at the University of Minnesota, IEEE Fellow, member of National Academy of Engineering, a Regents Professor, visits our group.
• Oct 31 – More than 130 researchers in the area of energy, power and control attend the NSF Workshop on Power Electronics-enabled Operation of Power Systems.
• Aug 20 – Prof. Zhong (PI) receives an ERC planning grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Engineering Research Center for Communication-network-free, Autonomous, Renewable Electric Power Systems (CARE).
• Aug 15 – Prof. Zhong (PI) receives a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Workshop on Power Electronics-enabled Operation of Power Systems.
• Aug 14 – McGraw Foundation visits our group.
• Apr 24 – Dr. Pramod P. Khargonekar, Vice Chancellor for Research, University of California, Irvine, and former Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation in charge of the Engineering Directorate, visits our group.

2018

• Oct 17 – SYNDEM partnered with MathWorks providing re-configurable SYNDEM smart grid research and educational kit.
• Oct 14 – Dr. Mohammad Amin received the IEEE S&Y Paper Assistance Competition Award at IECON 2018, for the work of Inverter for Renewable Energy in Weak Grids.
• Oct 1 – Prof. Zhong (PI) receives an MRI grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for “Acquisition of Large-Scale Real-Time Simulators for Next-Generation Smart Grids”.
• Jul 1 – Prof. Zhong (PI) receives a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to work on “Stability and Stabilization of Large-scale Modern Power Systems via the Passivity Theory of Port-Hamiltonian Systems”.
• May 18 – Prof. Zhong was interviewed by IEEE Control Systems Magazine as People in Control.
• Mar 20 – Prof. Zhong was invited by IEEE Power Electronics Society to deliver the webinar on “Power Electronics-Enabled Autonomous Power Systems – Synchronized and Democratized (SYNDEM) Smart Grids”.
• Feb 15 – Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) now requires newly interconnecting generating facilities to provide primary frequency response, for which we have been working on for over 15 years.
• Spring – Illinois Tech Magazine reports our work as “Tao of Power”.

2017

• Dec 17 – Prof. Zhong delivers a semi-plenary talk “Autonomous Distributed Control of Next-Generation Smart Grids” at the 2017 Asian Control Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
• Oct 19 – IEEE SPECTRUM reports Prof. Zhong with the article “Smart Power Electronic Converters May Help Stabilize the Grid”.
• Oct 1 – IEEE Power & Energy Society Task Force on primary frequency response control includes our work as Path to the Future.
• Sep 1 – Science Impact reports our work with the article “Pioneering Next-Generation Smart Grids”.
• Sep 1 – IEEE Transportation Electrification newsletter reports our work on “EV Integration and the SYNDEM Smart Grid Architecture.”
• Jul 16 – Prof. Zhong joins the Panel Discussion on Synchronous Control of Power Converters for Renewable Applications and Beyond at the 2017 IEEE PES General Meeting, Chicago, IL.
• Jul 10 – Prof. Zhong delivers a semi-plenary talk on “SYNDEM – Synchronized and Democratized Smart Grids” at the 2017 20th IFAC World Congress, France.
• Sep 13 – Energy News Network features our work as Expected to be Game Changer for the Grid.
• May 27 – Prof. Zhong founded a Chicago-based start-up SYNDEM, LLC, leading the global development of next-generation smart grids with the synchronization mechanism of synchronous machines to unify and harmonize the integration of renewable energy sources, such as wind energy and solar power, electric vehicles, energy storage systems and flexible loads.
• May 22 – Prof. Zhong delivers the opening keynote at The 2017 Digital Energy Summit at NIWeek 2017.
• May 7, Prof. Zhong was appointed as IEEE Smart Grid Steering Committee Member, representing IEEE Power Electronics Society.

2016

• Dec 20 – IEEE Power Electronics Magazine features our work “Virtual Synchronous Machines: A Unified Interface for Smart Grid Integration” as a cover story.
• Nov 22 – Prof. Zhong is elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow for contributions to power electronic systems control.
• Prof. Zhong is appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Power & Energy Society.
• Follow us through LinkedIn group Virtual Synchronous Machines & Power Electronics-Enabled Autonomous Power Systems.

2015

• Prof. Zhong is appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Control Systems Society.

2014

• Prof. Zhong is appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Power Electronics Society.
• Aug 15 – Prof. Zhong joins IIT as the Max McGraw Endowed Chair Professor in ECE department.

Previous

• Please check Prof. Zhong’s personal website for previous years’ information.