People

Director and Power Converters/Drives

PeopleN Athula Kulatunga, PhD, CEM, is the George W. McNelly Professor at the Purdue Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.  He is the founder of two industry sponsored applied research labs at Purdue – 1) Power Electronics Development and Applications Lab (PEDAL) sponsored by International Rectifier and 2) Grid Efficiency Lab (GEL) sponsored by Landis+Gyr Company.

  • Awards:
    • George W. McNelly professor, 2014
    • 2010 and 2009 Purdue College of Technology Outstanding Tenured Faculty Member
    • 2010 and 2009 Purdue College of Technology Outstanding Faculty in Engagement
    • 2007 Legends in Energy award by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE)
  • Applied Research Areas
    • Energy and electrical power management
    • Power electronics applications in motor drives, super-capacitors, and power converters
    • GaN hardware development for high frequency applications such as wireless power transfer.

Audio

PeopleJ. Michael Jacob is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology at Purdue University. He has worked on the calibration of nuclear weapons test equipment, and on the Skylab Space Station. He has consulted with UTEC (watt-hour meter calibration), Radian Research (frequency synthesis), Delco (automated data acquisition), Ash Medical Systems (automated manufacturing testing, and blood flow sensor design), Thermal Properties Research Lab (data acquisition of shuttle tile thermal performance), Wolverine Industrial Products (automated bolt assembly), and Ross Gear (computer-based instrumentation).

  • Awards:
    • CTS Microelectronics Undergraduate Teaching Award: 8 times
    • Dwyer Undergraduate Teaching Award School of Technology: 3 times
    • Purdue University's undergraduate teaching award (the Amoco award)
    • School of Technology’s Outstanding Tenured Faculty Award
    • Joint Services Commendation Medal Secretary of Defense
  • Texts Written
    • Advanced AC Electronics: Principles and Applications, Delmar Thomson Learning
    • Power Electronics: Principles and Applications, Delmar Thomson Learning
    • Analog Integrated Circuits Applications, Prentice Hall
    • Industrial Control Electronics: Applications and Design, Prentice Hall
  • Applied Research Areas
    • Consumer power electronics (< 1000W), audio power amplifiers (class D), robust undergraduate education, electronic texts, student owned computer integrated instrumentation