Prof. Xiaohong Guan
Tongji University, China
Bio:
Professor Xiaohong Guan received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Control Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Systems Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1993. He was a senior consulting engineer with Pacific Gas and Electric, San Francisco, United States from 1993 to 1995. He visited the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University 1999-2000. Since 1995 he has been with Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China, and the Cheung Kong Professor of Systems Engineering since 1999, and served the Dean of Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering 2008-2025. From 2001 he has also been with the Center for Intelligent and Networked Systems, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and severed the Head of Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, 2003-2008.
Professor Guan is a member of Chinese Academy of Science and IEEE Fellow. His research interests include economics and security of networked systems, optimization based planning and scheduling of electrical power and energy systems, manufacturing systems, etc., and cyber-physical systems, etc.
Cyber-physical systems in the age of intelligence and networking
Networking, intelligence and integration of cyber and physical systems are the trend of information science and technology development. Cyber-physical system is the foundation of the industrial revolution, energy revolution and technology revolution with tremendous challenges on cyber-physical modeling, intelligence design, system optimization and control. Hydrogen-enabled zero-carbon energy system provides an ideal infrastructure and offers a cost-efficient solution for energy supply and consumption without carbon emission and pollution. In this system, it is crucial to synergize the design and operation of renewable, hydrogen, electrical and thermal energy production, storage and utilization systems in order to minimize energy supply costs. The production results show that the hydrogen-enabled zero-carbon energy system outperforms current power grid, city heating utility and HVAC cooling significantly in terms of the total energy costs. Cyber-physical integration, hydrogen enabled zero-carbon energy storage and conversion, and system optimization would lead to the energy revolution towards resolving the global warming crisis.
Prof. Sudip K. Mazumder
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Bio:
Dr. Sudip K. Mazumder received his Ph.D. from Viriginia Tech. He is a Distinguished Professor, Robert Uyetani Professor of Engineering, and the Director of Laboratory for Energy and Switching-Electronic Systems (LESES) at the University of Illinois Chicago. He also holds a Joint Appointment with the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory and serves as the President of NextWatt LLC since 2008. He has over 30 years of professional experience. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is the recipient of the 2023 IEEE Power & Energy Society’s Ramakumar Family Renewable Energy Excellence Award. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power Electronics Society and as the Editor-at-Large for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. Starting 2025, he serves as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics (JESTPE).
Actuation by Light: A new Era in Power Electronics
Photonically controlled power semiconductor device and electronics is a game changing technology in power electronics. With the advent of new wide and ultra-wide bandgap materials, semiconductor devices for power electronics are beginning to switch at progressively higher speeds and higher voltages. The impact of such near impulse actuation and the resulting impact on reliability can be potentially better handled by photonics. Yet another emerging threat for power electronics is intentional adversarial intrusion where photonics can provide tangible benefit. Overall, optical power semiconductor devices and power electronics with wide industrial applications for ultrafast, high-voltage, high dv/dt and di/dt resilient, EMI-immune, and cyber-secure power electronics encompassing aerospace, HPC for data centers (e.g. AI hyperscalers), pulsed power, HVDC, EVs and AVs, radar based systems, 5G/6G systems, multilevel converters, drives, electric ships and submarines, solid state circuit breakers, applications to name a few. This keynote talk will provide an engaging overview of photonically controlled device and electronics technologies with historical, current, emerging perspectives to the IECON’26 target audience.