Eduardo Cattani Silva received a bachelor’s degree in control and automation engineering and a master’s in electrical engineering from Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil, in 2021 and 2024, respectively. His graduate research focused on the research and development of silicon carbide (SiC) inverters for automotive powertrains. In 2024, he joined the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC) at McMaster University, where he is currently working toward a Ph.D. in electrical engineering under the supervision of Dr. Ali Emadi. His doctoral work is focused on hybrid switch inverters for efficient, cost-effective propulsion of electrified vehicles. Throughout his career, Eduardo has actively contributed to electrified vehicle powertrain development in academic and industrial domains through journal and conference publications and research projects with industrial partners.
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Eduardo’s engineering journey began in control and automation at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), where he applied computer vision and mapping techniques to autonomous vehicle competitions with the Taura Bots team and to georeferencing projects for industrial clients. Solving real-time control challenges sparked a deeper interest in the power hardware behind dynamic systems, leading him to explore power electronics and motor drive control as a member of UFSM’s Grupo de Eletrônica de Potência e Controle (GEPOC).
During his M.Sc. at GEPOC (2021–2024), Eduardo played a key role in the technical development of a multiphase silicon carbide inverter as part of an industrial project to electrify an internal combustion vehicle. He was responsible for semiconductor selection, PCB layout, gate drive design, CAN-based communication, and system-level testing. Through this work, he gained deep expertise in wide-bandgap inverter design and validation. His studies also covered advanced control of non-sinusoidal permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs), strengthening his foundation in motor control.
In 2024, Eduardo joined Dr. Ali Emadi’s research team at the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC) to pursue a Ph.D. His current research focuses on hybrid switch inverter architectures that combine silicon and wide-bandgap devices to improve efficiency while controlling cost—making them attractive for industry adoption. Immersed in MARC’s multidisciplinary environment, Eduardo is expanding his expertise across the electric powertrain stack, including batteries, inverters, machine design, and drivetrain validation using MARC’s dynamometer test cells.