The Evolution of the IEEE Power Electronics Society [A Look Back]
Philip T. Krein · IEEE Power Electronics Magazine · 2014
the Evolution of the IEEE Power Electronics society L ast year, the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) celebrated its 25th anniversary.PELS grew from the long-term efforts of those who founded our predecessor conferences, the IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference (PESC), which is now the Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), and the International Telecommunications Energy Conference (INTELEC).As these conferences grew and nucleated a strong technical community, a core group worked to secure a home in the IEEE where power electronics could thrive.The IEEE Power Electronics Council was formed in 1983 to organize these activities across the IEEE.W.W. "Trey" Burns was the first Council president.The Council established many of the activities that formed the foundations of the present Society, including IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and the Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), both of which started in 1986.With these in place and the rapid growth in activities, it quickly became appropriate to form a Society.These efforts followed