2006-2007
News Release
REF NO.: 251
SUBJECT: Memorial University engineering professor receives accolades for technological advancements
DATE: August 28, 2007
The accolades and awards recognizing the work of Dr. Aziz Rahman continue to accumulate. Recently, he was named the first Canadian winner of the Dr.- Ing Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Industrial Electronics Society (IES). Dr. Rahman will receive the award for “for his lifelong outstanding contributions to interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor drive systems and associated delta, pulsewidth and wavelet modulated inverters.”
With this award, Dr. Rahman also becomes the first Canadian to receive the highest achievement awards from four major IEEE societies. His past accomplishments include receiving the William E. Newell Award from the Power Electronics Society in 2004, the Cyril Veniott Electromechanical Energy Conversion Award from the Power Engineering Society in 2003, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Industry Applications Society in 1992. In addition, he has received the Richard H. Kaufmann Award, an overall technical field award in industrial systems engineering, from the entire IEEE body in 2007.
The bulk of his awards recognize his pioneering contributions in developing modern permanent magnet synchronous motors. Dr. Rahman successfully built the first 45 kilowatt IPM motor in the early 1980s at Memorial University and is widely known as “Mr. IPM”.
The IPM motor is now the workhorse of modern hybrid electric vehicles in which reluctance and permanent magnet torques are utilized for maximum torque and highest efficiency.
In recent years, the public demand for highly efficient electric vehicles has led car manufacturers like Toyota to seek improved technologies to meet the challenges of an energy hungry world dealing with limited fossil fuel sources. Since launching the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in 1997, the Toyota Prius, the corporation has sold more than 1,000,000 hybrid vehicles – all of which use Dr. Rahman’s IPM motor drive.
IEEE is the world's largest professional organization for the advancement of technology. Since 1975, this award, which is the highest honour given by the IES for outstanding contributions in the field of industrial electronics, may be given for a single major accomplishment or a career of recognized achievements and is not necessarily given yearly – only when a suitable candidate is identified.
Dr. Rahman will receive the award, which consists of a framed certificate and a $5,000 (U.S.) cheque, at the 33rd annual conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2007. The event is taking place Nov. 5-8 in Taipei, Taiwan.
A professor and university research professor at Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science for 31 years, Dr. Rahman is a consultant to many companies including General Electric Company, the Iron Ore Company of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. He has published almost 600 papers and is a registered professional engineer in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Rahman is a life fellow of IEEE, a fellow of IET, U.K., a member of IEE Japan; a life fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, and a fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada.
REF NO.: 251
SUBJECT: Memorial University engineering professor receives accolades for technological advancements
DATE: August 28, 2007
The accolades and awards recognizing the work of Dr. Aziz Rahman continue to accumulate. Recently, he was named the first Canadian winner of the Dr.- Ing Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Industrial Electronics Society (IES). Dr. Rahman will receive the award for “for his lifelong outstanding contributions to interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor drive systems and associated delta, pulsewidth and wavelet modulated inverters.”
With this award, Dr. Rahman also becomes the first Canadian to receive the highest achievement awards from four major IEEE societies. His past accomplishments include receiving the William E. Newell Award from the Power Electronics Society in 2004, the Cyril Veniott Electromechanical Energy Conversion Award from the Power Engineering Society in 2003, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Industry Applications Society in 1992. In addition, he has received the Richard H. Kaufmann Award, an overall technical field award in industrial systems engineering, from the entire IEEE body in 2007.
The bulk of his awards recognize his pioneering contributions in developing modern permanent magnet synchronous motors. Dr. Rahman successfully built the first 45 kilowatt IPM motor in the early 1980s at Memorial University and is widely known as “Mr. IPM”.
The IPM motor is now the workhorse of modern hybrid electric vehicles in which reluctance and permanent magnet torques are utilized for maximum torque and highest efficiency.
In recent years, the public demand for highly efficient electric vehicles has led car manufacturers like Toyota to seek improved technologies to meet the challenges of an energy hungry world dealing with limited fossil fuel sources. Since launching the world’s first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in 1997, the Toyota Prius, the corporation has sold more than 1,000,000 hybrid vehicles – all of which use Dr. Rahman’s IPM motor drive.
IEEE is the world's largest professional organization for the advancement of technology. Since 1975, this award, which is the highest honour given by the IES for outstanding contributions in the field of industrial electronics, may be given for a single major accomplishment or a career of recognized achievements and is not necessarily given yearly – only when a suitable candidate is identified.
Dr. Rahman will receive the award, which consists of a framed certificate and a $5,000 (U.S.) cheque, at the 33rd annual conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IECON 2007. The event is taking place Nov. 5-8 in Taipei, Taiwan.
A professor and university research professor at Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science for 31 years, Dr. Rahman is a consultant to many companies including General Electric Company, the Iron Ore Company of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. He has published almost 600 papers and is a registered professional engineer in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Rahman is a life fellow of IEEE, a fellow of IET, U.K., a member of IEE Japan; a life fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, and a fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada.
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