Rik W. De Doncker

Univ. Prof. Dr. ir. Dr. h. c. Rik W. De Doncker received his Ph.D. degree (summa cum laude) in electrical engineering from the Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium in 1986. He was one of the first to implement DSP based field-oriented control for induction machines. In 1987, he went to University of Wisconsin (UW), Madison. Next to lecturing as a Visiting Associate Professor, he researched high-performance induction motor drives at WEMPEC. For the power distribution systems of the NASA space station he invented the dual active bridge dc-to-dc converter, today considered for multi-terminal medium voltage DC systems. In 1988, he joined the General Electric Company Corporate Research and Development Center, Schenectady, NY, leading research on drives and high-power soft-switching converters for aerospace, industrial, and traction applications. He also invented the Auxiliary Resonant Commutated Pole Inverter, offering full PWM modulation at highest efficiency in three-phase systems. From 1994, he has been a Vice President, Technology, at Silicon Power Corporation (formerly GE-SPCO), responsible for high-power converter systems and MOS controlled thyristor devices and the development and production of a 15-kV medium-voltage static transfer switch (MVSTS). Since 1996, he has been a professor at RWTH Aachen University of Technology (RWTH), Aachen, Germany, leading the Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives. In 2006 he was also appointed director of the E.ON Energy Research Center at RWTH and chair of the Institute for Power Generation and Storage Systems. Currently, together with Prof. Sauer, he leads a team of 115 PhD assistants, researching drives, dc-to-dc converters, PV and wind inverters and battery storage systems for electric vehicles and renewable power sources. In 2014 he was also co-founder and since then director of the Flexible Electrical Networks (FEN) Research Campus at RWTH. He supervised 42 PhDs and over 300 Master or Dipl.-Ing. theses, published over 900 technical papers and holds more than 200 patents. He is an IEEE Fellow, a member of the EPE and the Flemish Engineering Association (ie-net). He received renowned awards, e.g. the IAS Outstanding Achievements Award (2002), the IEEE Power Engineering Custom Power Award (2008) and the 2020 IEEE Medal in Power Engineering. 2010 till 2020, he was member of the German National Platform for Electromobility. He is a member of the French automotive research institute VEDECOM.