Power Electronic Leader Receives IEEE Career Award

Dr. Babak Fahimi, a professor of electrical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, recently received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Enginees (IEEE) Pes Cyril Veinott Electromechanical Energy Conversion Award for outstanding career contributions to the field of electromechanical energy conversion.


Dr. Babak Fahimi

Fahimi has been teaching and conducting research in the power electronics area for almost 20 years. His research involves inventing solutions for sustainable and affordable access to energy, water and health care.

The IEEE PES Award is one of the most prestigious in the area of design and analysis of electrical machines. Dr. Fahimi received the award and $5,000 honorarium at the IEEE PES general meeting in late July.

“I am very honored and privileged to receive this recognition from my peers,” Fahimi said. “Electromechanical energy conversion is perhaps the only form of energy processing which has been mastered by mankind and has matured over the past two centuries. My passion for contributing to this vital area of research has been a driving force over my entire career and I hope to be able to convey this to my students.”

At UT Dallas, Fahimi is the founding director of the Renewable Energy and Vehicular Technology Lab and the power and energy thrust area within the department of electrical engineering at UT Dallas.

Fahimi, who has written extensively, is the author of two books about motor drives and electric machines. He has advised nearly 20 master’s and 30 doctoral students, including four who were recruited to academic positions at top-ranked engineering schools.

Fahimi holds 14 patents and has 11 more pending. Some of his inventions have been put to use in industry. His noise and vibration control method was used in an electrically assisted power steering system by the automotive industry. His high torque switched reluctance machine has been used in a hybrid compressor system by the oil and gas industry.

Fahimi earned his bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees from the University of Tehran, and his doctorate from Texas A&M University. He worked as a research scientist in Rhode Island before teaching at the University of Missouri-Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology) and the University of Texas at Arlington. He joined UT Dallas in 2010.