# Robert Pilawa-Podgurski

### Research Areas

- Power and Energy (ENE)
- Integrated Circuits (INC)
- Physical Electronics (PHY)

### Research Centers

- Berkeley Power and Energy Center (BPEC)

### Teaching Schedule

#### Spring 2024

- EE 108. Introduction to Electric Power and Renewable Energy, TuTh 14:00-15:29, Cory 241

## Biography

Robert Pilawa-Podgurski is currently a Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he was an Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He received his BS, MEng, and PhD degrees from MIT. He performs research in the area of power electronics. His research interests include renewable energy applications, electric vehicles, energy harvesting, CMOS power management, high density and high efficiency power converters, and advanced control of power converters. Dr. Pilawa-Podgurski received the Chorafas Award for outstanding MIT EECS Masterâs thesis, the Google Faculty Research Award in 2013, and the 2014 Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, given annually to one individual for outstanding contributions to the field of power electronics before the age of 35. In 2015, he received the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, the UIUC Deanâs Award for Excellence in Research in 2016, the UIUC Campus Distinguished Promotion Award in 2017, and the UIUC ECE Ronald W. Pratt Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award in 2017. He was the 2018 recipient of the IEEE Education Society Mac E. Van Valkenburg Award given for outstanding contributions to teaching unusually early in ones career. In 2023, he received the UC Berkeley EECS department Electrical Engineering Outstanding Teaching Award. He is co-author of fifteen IEEE prize papers, and is a fellow of IEEE.

## Education

- 2012, PhD, EECS, MIT
- 2007, MEng, EECS, MIT
- 2005, BS, Physics, MIT
- 2005, BS, EECS, MIT

## Selected Publications

- Y. Zhu, T. Ge, N. M. Ellis, L. Horowitz, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "The Switching Bus Converter: A High-Performance 48-V-to-1-V Architecture with Increased Switched-Capacitor Conversion Ratio," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, pp. 1-20, 2024.
- Y. Zhu, Z. Ye, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Modeling and Analysis of Switched-Capacitor Converters With Finite Terminal Capacitances," IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 2023.
- Y. Zhu, N. M. Ellis, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Comparative Performance Analysis of Regulated Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Topologies for Direct 48 V to Point-of-Load Conversion," in 2023 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2023, pp. 3313-3320.
- Y. Zhu, T. Ge, N. Ellis, J. Zou, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A 48-V-to-1-V Switching Bus Converter for Ultra-High-Current Applications," in 2023 IEEE 24th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2023, pp. 1-8.
- Y. Zhu, T. Ge, N. Ellis, L. Horowitz, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A 500-A/48-to-1-V Switching Bus Converter: A Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Voltage Regulator with 94.7% Peak Efficiency and 464-W/in3 Power Density," in 2023 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2023, pp. 1989-1996.
- R. Bayliss, N. Brooks, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "On the Role of Switch Output Capacitance on Passive Balancing within the Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter," in 2022 IEEE 23rd Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), IEEE, 2022, pp. 1--6.
- J. Zou, N. C. Brooks, S. Coday, N. M. Ellis, and R. C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski, "On the Size and Weight of Passive Components: Scaling Trends for High-Density Power Converter Designs," in 2022 IEEE 23rd Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2022, pp. 1-7.
- N. C. Brooks, S. Coday, M. E. Blackwell, R. A. Abramson, N. M. Ellis, and R. C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Operation of Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converters At and Above Resonance," in 2022 IEEE 23rd Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2022, pp. 1-7.
- N. C. Brooks, R. K. Iyer, R. S. Bayliss, and R. C. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Fundamental State-Space Modeling Methodology for the Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter," in 2022 IEEE 23rd Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2022, pp. 1-7.
- I. Z. Petric, R. K. Iyer, N. C. Brooks, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A Real-Time Estimator for Capacitor Voltages in the Flying Capacitor Multilevel Converter," in 2022 IEEE 23rd Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2022, pp. 1-8.
- Z. Liao, R. Pilawa-Podgurski, S. R. Sanders, D. Callaway, and M. Chen, "Circuits and Control for High-Performance Grid-tied Ac-Dc Conversion Systems," EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley, Tech. Rep. UCB/EECS-2022-22, May 2022.
- Y. Zhu, T. Ge, Z. Ye, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A Dickson-Squared Hybrid Switched-Capacitor Converter for Direct 48 V to Point-of-Load Conversion," in 2022 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2022, pp. 1272-1278.
- N. M. Ellis, R. Iyer, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A Synchronous Boot-strapping Technique with Increased On-time and Improved Efficiency for High-side Gate-drive Power Delivery," in 2021 IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications in Asia (WiPDA Asia), 2021, pp. 462-466.
- R. K. Iyer, N. M. Ellis, Z. Ye, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A High-Efficiency Charge-Pump Gate Drive Power Delivery Technique for Flying Capacitor Multi-Level Converters with Wide Operating Range," in 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2021, pp. 5360-5365.
- Y. Zhu, Z. Ye, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Modeling and Analysis of Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converters with Finite Terminal Capacitances," in 2021 IEEE 22nd Workshop on Control and Modelling of Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2021.
- Y. Zhu, Z. Ye, T. Ge, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Multi-Resonant Compensation Control for Terminal Capacitance Reduction in Resonant Switched-Capacitor Converters," in 2021 IEEE 22nd Workshop on Control and Modelling of Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2021.
- Y. Zhu, Z. Ye, T. Ge, R. Abramson, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A Multi-Phase Cascaded Series-Parallel (CaSP) Hybrid Converter for Direct 48 V to Point-of-Load Applications," in 2021 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2021, pp. 1973-1980.
- N. Pallo, R. Bayliss, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "A Multi-Phase Segmented Drive Comprising Arrayed Flying Capacitor Multi-Level Modules," in 2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), IEEE, 2021, pp. 192--199.
- Y. Zhu, Z. Ye, and R. Pilawa-Podgurski, "Modeling and Analysis of Switched-Capacitor Converters with Finite Terminal Capacitances," in 2021 IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2021, pp. 178-185.

## Awards, Memberships and Fellowships

- Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow, 2024
- Electrical Engineering Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2023
- IEEE Power Electronics Society Transactions Prize Paper Award, 2020
- ES Mac Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award, 2018
- Air Force Young Investigator, 2015
- PELS Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award, 2014