Prof. Ali Emadi

Chairholder

Fellow IEEE, Fellow SAE, Fellow U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate
NSERC/FCA Industrial Research Chair in Electrified Powertrains
Canada Research Chair in Transportation Electrification and Smart Mobility
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
McMaster University

Short Bio

Ali Emadi (IEEE S’98-M’00-SM’03-F’13) received the B.S. (1995) and M.S. (1997) degrees in electrical engineering with highest distinction from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He also received his Ph.D. degree (2000) in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA. He is currently the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) Laureate and a Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is also the holder of the NSERC/FCA Industrial Research Chair in Electrified Powertrains and Tier I Canada Research Chair in Transportation Electrification and Smart Mobility. The CERC appointment received $10 million in federal funding over 2011-2018 in addition to significant support from the university. Dr. Emadi’s appointment also includes a new electrified vehicle research facility that is part of the new 80,000 square-foot McMaster Automotive Resource Center (MARC) at McMaster Innovation Park. He served as the Director of the McMaster Institute for Automotive Research and Technology (MacAUTO) from 2011-2015. Dr. Emadi is the Founder, President, and CEO of Enedym Inc. and MenloLab Inc. – two university spin-off companies of McMaster University. Before joining McMaster University, Dr. Emadi was the Harris Perlstein Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering and Director of the Electric Power and Power Electronics Center and Grainger Laboratories at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where he established research and teaching facilities as well as courses in power electronics, motor drives, and vehicular power systems. In addition, Dr. Emadi was the Founder, Chairman, and President of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technologies, Inc. (HEVT) – a university spin-off company of Illinois Tech.

Dr. Emadi is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. He has been named a Chicago Matters Global Visionary in 2009. He was named the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer of the Year 2003 (single international award) by virtue of his outstanding contributions to hybrid electric vehicles by the Electrical Engineering Honor Society. He also received the 2005 Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society. In 2005, he was selected as the Best Professor of the Year by the students at Illinois Tech. Dr. Emadi is the recipient of the 2002 University Excellence in Teaching Award from Illinois Tech as well as the 2004 Sigma Xi/Illinois Tech Award for Excellence in University Research. He directed a team of students to design and build a novel motor drive, which won the First Place Overall Award of the 2003 IEEE International Future Energy Challenge for Motor Competition. In addition, he was the advisor of the Formula Hybrid Teams at Illinois Tech and McMaster University, which won the GM Best Engineered Hybrid System Award at the2010, 2013, and 2015 competitions. Currently, Dr. Emadi is the lead faculty advisor for the McMaster Engineering EcoCAR Mobility Challenge.

Dr. Emadi is the principal author/co-author of over 700 journal and conference papers as well as several books including Vehicular Electric Power Systems: Land, Sea, Air, and Space Vehicles (Marcel Dekker, 2003), Energy Efficient Electric Motors (Marcel Dekker, 2004), Uninterruptible Power Supplies and Active Filters (CRC Press, 2004), Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles: Fundamentals, Theory, and Design, Second Edition (CRC Press, 2009), and Integrated Power Electronic Converters and Digital Control (CRC Press, 2009). Dr. Emadi is also the editor of the Handbook of Automotive Power Electronics and Motor Drives (Marcel Dekker, 2005) and Advanced Electric Drive Vehicles (CRC Press, 2014). He is the co-editor of the Switched Reluctance Motor Drives: Fundamentals to Applications (CRC Press, 2018).

Dr. Emadi was the General Chair of the 1st IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC’05), which was co-located under his chairmanship with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Future Transportation Technology Conference. He was also the General Chair of the 2011 IEEE VPPC. He is currently the Steering Committee Chair of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC). In addition, Dr. Emadi was the inaugural General Chair of the 2012 ITEC. He has served as the Chair of the IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Steering Committee, Chair of the Technical Committee on Vehicle and Transportation Systems of the IEEE Power Electronics Society, and Chair of the Power Electronics Technical Committee of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society. He has also served as the Chair of the 2007 IEEE International Future Energy Challenge.

Dr. Emadi was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification from 2014 to 2020. He has also served as the Editor (North America) of the International Journal of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles. He was the Guest Editor-in-Chief of the Special Issue on Transportation Electrification and Vehicle Systems, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. He has also served as the Guest Editor-in-Chief of the Special Issue on Transportation Electrification and Vehicle-to-Grid Applications, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and Guest Editor-in-Chief of the Special Issue on Automotive Power Electronics and Motor Drives, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. He has also been the Guest Editor of the Special Section on Hybrid Electric and Fuel Cell Vehicles, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and Guest Editor of the Special Section on Automotive Electronics and Electrical Drives, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. He has served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, and IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

Full Profile

Professor Ali Emadi, Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) Laureate, is an award-winning expert, who has developed one of the best transportation electrification and smart mobility programs in North America at McMaster University. While exceptionally passionate about educating and empowering the next generation of engineers and leaders for the energy industry, he has established a solid research program focused on pioneering sustainable energy-efficient solutions from advanced electric motors, power electronics, energy management systems, and controls to electrified powertrains, electric vehicles, and autonomous systems.

Emadi’s research group is a leader in electrified vehicle research. According to him, “One of the biggest challenges (and opportunities) of our time is in the area of energy and sustainability. Transportation is at the heart of this challenge (and opportunity) and electrification of vehicles is the best sustainable solution to move forward. We should increase the electrification level of vehicular systems as much as possible and as fast as possible.”

Electric cars have been on the market for years and are steadily becoming a sought-after high-tech commodity in showrooms. Although consumers can help the ecosystem by shopping for electric cars, the vehicle in your driveway is not the only environmental offender that can be improved by electrification technology.

Public transit, off-road vehicles, commercial vehicles, micromobility, and private transportation providers account for a sizeable portion of the world’s fossil fuel use and pollution. By conducting research including improving commercial vehicles and trucks with electric systems and electrifying transit and school buses, Emadi’s team is transforming some less glamorous “working” vehicles that are in desperate need of change.

Emadi believes electric vehicle technology is the best practical solution to move forward. The emerging long-term sustainable solution includes (1) integrating the transportation industry with the electric power industry, (2) using electricity as the carrier, and (3) generating electricity from renewable energy sources: solar, wind, hydro, etc.

Research & Teaching Interests

  • Power electronics and electric motor drives;
  • Electric machines and energy conversion systems;
  • Electric and hybrid powertrains;
  • Electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles;
  • Transportation electrification;
  • Autonomous-capable vehicles;
  • Renewable and efficient energy systems; and
  • Energy and sustainability

Selected Honors & Awards

  • 2022 Lifetime Innovation Award (single award), McMaster University, November 2022.

  • 2022 First Place Prize Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification for the paper titled “800V electric vehicle powertrains: review and analysis of benefits, challenges, and future trends,” by I. Aghabali, J. Bauman, P. J. Kollmeyer, Y. Wang, B. Bilgin, and A. Emadi, published in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vo. 7, no. 3, pp. 927-948, Sept. 2021, Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TTE.2020.3044938.

  • 2021 First Place Prize Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification for the paper titled “Radial force density analysis of switched reluctance machines: the source of acoustic noise,” by A. D. Callegaro, J. Liang, J. W. Jiang, B. Bilgin, and A. Emadi, published in IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, vo. 5, no. 1, pp. 93-106, March 2019, Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TTE.2018.2887338.

  • 2020 Fellow, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

  • 2019 Best Paper Award of the 23rd International Conference on Mechatronics Technology for the paper titled “Torque ripple reduction for interior permanent magnet synchronous machines under load excitation by optimizing rotor skew angles,” by J. Liang, J. W. Jiang, Y. Yang, D. Al-Ani, B. Bilgin, A. Sathyan, and A. Emadi, published in 23rd International Conference on Mechatronics Technology (ICMT’2019), Salerno, Italy, October 2019.
  • 2019 Synergy Award for Innovation (single award in the category of partnership with a large company), $200,000 research grant award for the partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) for the project titled “Electrified Vehicles: The Car of the Future,” Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), September 2019.
  • 2019 Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics for the paper titled “Long short-term memory networks for accurate state-of-charge estimation of Li-ion batteries” by E. Chemali, P. J. Kollmeyer, M. Preindl, R. Ahmed, and A. Emadi, published in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 65, no. 8, pp. 6730-6739, August 2018.
  • 2019 Faculty of Engineering Research Award (single award), McMaster University, 2019.
  • 2018 Innovator of Distinction Award, McMaster Innovation Showcase, McMaster University, November 2018.
  • 2018 Second Place NSF Diversity in Engineering Award and Second Place Siemens PLM Software Excellence Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2018 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / GM EcoCAR 3 Competition.
  • 2017 Team to Watch Award, First Place Siemens PLM Software Excellence Award, Second Place NSF Innovation Award, and Third Place dSPACE Embedded Success Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2017 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / GM EcoCAR 3 Competition.
  • 2017 Second Prize Paper Award of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) Transportation Systems Committee for the paper titled “A primary full-integrated active filter auxiliary power module in electrified vehicles with single-phase onboard chargers,” by R. Hou and A. Emadi in 2016 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Expo (ECCE’16), Milwaukee, WI, Sept. 2016 and IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 8393-8405, Nov. 2017.
  • 2016 Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
  • 2016 Innovator of Distinction Award, McMaster Innovation Showcase, McMaster University, October 2016.
  • 2016 First Place MathWorks Modeling Award, First Place AVL Drive Award, Best Winter Workshop Systems Safety Presentation, Second Place NSF Innovation Award, Second Place dSPACE Embedded Success Award, and Second Place System Modeling and Simulation Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2016 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / GM EcoCAR 3 Competition.
  • 2015 First Place MathWorks Simulation and Modeling Award, First Place Mechanical Systems Presentation Award, Second Place Innovation Presentation, Third Place Systems Modeling Simulation and Demonstration Award, and Third Place dSPACE Embedded Success Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2015 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) / GM EcoCAR 3 Competition.
  • 2015 First Place GM Best Engineered Hybrid System Award, IEEE Engineering of the Future Award, and Second Place Overall Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2015 International Formula Hybrid Competition.
  • 2014 Co-recipient, Chrysler Innovation Award for the Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) project entitled “Next Generation Affordable Electrified Powertrains with Superior Energy Efficiency and Performance-Leadership in Automotive Powertrain (LEAP),” March 2014.
  • 2014 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s Best Vehicular Electronics Paper Award (single award) for the paper titled “Classification and review of control strategies for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,” published in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.
  • 2013 First Place GM Best Engineered Hybrid Systems Award and IEEE Engineering of the Future Award (McMaster University’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2013 International Formula Hybrid Competition.
  • 2013 IEEE Fellow; citation: for contributions to electric power conversion and control for electric and hybrid vehicles.
  • 2012 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s Best Vehicular Electronics Paper Award (single award) for the paper titled “Advanced integrated bi-directional AC/DC and DC/DC converter for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,” published in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 3970-3980, Oct. 2009.
  • 2010 Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Hybrid Powertrain (one of the only 18 CERCs and the only CERC related to the transportation industry and electric power engineering in Canada), 2010.
  • 2010 First Place GM Best Engineered Hybrid Systems Award (Illinois Institute of Technology’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2010 International Formula Hybrid Competition.
  • 2009 Named as a Chicago Matters Global Visionary for helping to make Chicago a center for hybrid technology research, development, and application. In its 19th year, Chicago Matters is a public-information series broadcast on WBEZ 91.5 FM Chicago Public Radio and WTTW Channel 11, 2009.
  • 2006 First Place Award for the Interprofessional Project titled “Hybrid Electric School Bus” (Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), Illinois Institute of Technology, Dec. 2006.
  • 2005 Richard M. Bass Outstanding Young Power Electronics Engineer Award (single award), IEEE Power Electronics Society, 2005.
  • 2005 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s Paper of the Year Award in Automotive Electronics (single award) for the paper titled “Comparative assessment of hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles based on comprehensive well-to-wheels efficiency analysis” published in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 54, no. 3, May 2005.
  • 2005 Best Professor of the Year Award (single award voted by students), IEEE Student Branch, Illinois Institute of Technology.
  • 2004 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s Paper of the Year Award in Automotive Electronics (single award) for the paper titled “Hybrid electric sport utility vehicles” published in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 53, no. 5, September 2004.
  • 2004 Sigma Xi/IIT Award for Excellence in University Research (single award), Illinois Institute of Technology, 2004.
  • 2003 Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer of the Year (single award) for outstanding contributions to hybrid electric vehicles, Eta Kappa Nu Association, the Electrical Engineering Honor Society, 2003.
  • 2003 First Place Overall Award (Illinois Institute of Technology’s Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), 2003 IEEE/DOE/DOD International Future Energy Challenge for Motor Competition.
  • 2002 University Excellence in Teaching Award (single award), Illinois Institute of Technology.
  • 2002 Recognition Award for Exceptional Team Performance of the Interprofessional Project titled “Hybrid Electric Vehicles” (Student Team Advised by Dr. Emadi), Illinois Institute of Technology, Dec. 2002.
  • 2002 Overall Excellence in Research Award (single award), Office of the President, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2002.
  • 1995 Ranked 1st in the entire B.Sc. Program of Sharif University of Technology, 1995.

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