Dr. Mehdi Narimani received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, in 2012. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and University Scholar at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. He also holds the NSERC Canada Research Chair (CRC) position in high power converter systems. Prior joining McMaster University, he was a Power Electronics Engineer with Rockwell Automation Canada, Cambridge, ON, Canada. He has authored/coauthored more than 150 journal and conference proceeding papers, co-authored a Wiley-IEEE Press book, and holds 8 issued/pending US/European patents. He has been Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and vice chair and topic char for top tier conferences such as IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (IEEE ECCE) and IEEE Applied Power Electronics conference and Exhibition (IEEE APEC). His current research includes power conversion, control of power electronics converters, EV fast and ultra-fast chargers, and wireless EV charging systems.

Post-Doctoral Fellow (PDF)

Nasir Ali received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Pakistan, in June 2015. In September 2015, he moved to Shanghai, China for higher studies. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the School of Electronic Information and Electrical engineering (SEIEE), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), Shanghai, China, in 2018, and 2022, respectively. From May 2022 to December 2022, he was a research associate with the Power Electronics and Industrial Control Research Group, at École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS), University of Québec, Montreal, Canada. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow (PDF) with the high-power electronics lab (HiPEL) at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, where he is leading a project on multilevel converters for switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives. His current research interests include high-performance control of electric motors, fault detection and fault-tolerant control of power electronic converters including multilevel power converters.

Research Topic Multilevel Inverters for Switch Reluctance Motor (SRM) Drives .

PhD Student

Omar Zayed received his B.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering from Ain Shams University, Egypt in 2019. In 2017, During his undergrad-studies he focused on powertrain systems design for EVs as a Powertrain Team leader, instructor & member for the ASU Racing Team participating in SEM-Urban Competition. In 2020 Omar joined the McMaster Automotive Resource Center (MARC) & McMaster High Power Electronics Research Lab (HiPEL) as an Electrical Engineering M.Sc. student working on industrial research projects, Omar is under the supervision of Dr. Mehdi Narimani and Dr. Berker Bilgin. His current research area includes motor drives, ultra-fast battery chargers & EV systems.

Research Topic High power ultra-fast chargers, this research is to develop ultra-fast battery charging technologies for EVs, while also working on the development of multi-level high power industrial grade motor drive systems.

PhD Student

Ahmed Elezab received his bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Mechatronics Engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, in 2019. During his undergrad he participated in Shell eco marathon competition for EVs as an electric powertrain member. He joined HiPEL Research group in May 2020. He is currently pursuing a PhD at McMaster university. His research focuses on developing ultra-fast battery chargers for electrified vehicles and he is involved in the development of multi-level high power industrial grade motor drive systems.

Research topic: Ultra-fast battery chargers for Electric Vehicles, the research aim is to develop Ultra-Fast charger. Ultra-Fast chargers is the 3rd generation of battery electric vehicles chargers. It consists of a front-end AC-DC converter for active power factor correction (PFC) and a DC-DC converter to regulate the output voltage and current.

PhD Student

Alireza Barmaki received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from ECE Department, University of Tehran, Iran in 2016. He received M.S. degree in Power Electronic engineering from Sharif University of Technology where he worked as Research Assistant in Electric Drives and Power Electronics Laboratory (EDPEL) from 2016 to 2018. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at McMaster University and his main research interest is in Visible Light Communication (VLC) and its integration into Power Converters.

Research topic: VLC Integration into Power Converters, today’s growing demand for wireless communication has given rise to VLC (Visible Light Communication) which necessitates the existence of proper power converters (LED Drivers) to provide the system with good illumination and data transmission rate. Design and implementation of an efficient driver capable of producing modulated current to drive the luminaires is of great importance.

PhD Student

Mehdi Alimardani received his B.Tech. degree in power and energy engineering and Master of Applied Science degree in electrical engineering from McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, in 2015 and 2018, respectively. He is currently a PhD student at McMaster University and a specialist for the Power and Energy Laboratories. He is a Sessional Faculty with the WBooth School of Engineering Practice and Technology at McMaster University and also a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.

Research topic: The objective of his research is to evaluate the impact of the Fast EV Charging Stations on the Electrical Power Grid Systems with integrated Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Storage Systems.

PhD Student

Kyle Kozielsk received the B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, in 2022, where he is currently pursuing the M.A.Sc. degree. Kyle joined the McMaster Automotive Resource Centre (MARC) team in May 2022 where he is working in two industry collaborated research projects sponsored by Eaton Corporation.

Research Topic Power electronics converters and solid-state protection circuits in electrified transportation applications.

PhD Student

Yai P.Y. Deng received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 2015 from the ECE Department at the University of Juba, South Sudan, and his master's degree in EE Power Electronic motor control in 2018 from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. Since late 2018, he has worked as a Lecturer and STEM center coordinator with the ECE department at the University of Juba. While at the University of Juba, he won a prestigious Fulbright research program to undertake research at Florida State University's Centre for Advanced Power Systems, USA, from February 2022 to April 2023. He is currently an ECE Ph.D. student at McMaster University, with his main area of research interest focusing on Solid-State Transformer (SST) design and control, ultra-fast battery chargers for electrified vehicles, and high-power converter design and control, and analysis for industrial-grade motor drive systems.

Research topic: Solid-State Transformer (SST) and its applications in Motor Drives and Fast Charging Stations for EVs.

PhD Student

Eslam Younis received his B.Sc. in electrical power engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 2020. During his undergrad studies, he participated in the Shell Eco-marathon Urban-EV competition with the ASU Racing team as a powertrain team leader in 2019, and as a team captain in 2020. In 2021, Eslam joined the McMaster High Power Electronics Research Lab (HiPEL) as a MASc. student. His research is focused on solid-state transformer-based EV Ultra-fast charging stations.

Research Topic Solid-State Transformers for Ultra-Fast Chargers

PhD Student

Seelam is a former Senior Researcher in Research and Development (R&D) departments in South Korean companies for approximately three years. He graduated with his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Pusan National University in 2020. He obtained his Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering from ITM University, India, in 2018. Currently, Seelam is a PhD student at McMaster University's High Power Electronics Lab (HiPEL) since September 2023. Seelam's research focuses on 3rd-generation EV fast Chargers and Motor Drives, marking his commitment to pioneering advancements in sustainable transportation technology. His journey embodies relentless dedication to electrical engineering innovation

Research Topic Research topics – Ultrafast EV Charging Module Development, Grid Connected Distributed Charging Systems, Power Electronics, and Closed loop Control Systems, On-Grid & Off-Grid Systems.

PhD Student

Saad joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2023. He completed his MS from Oregon State University, USA, where he was a part of the WSERF group. During his MS years, Saad worked on the reliability analysis of traction inverters for e-truck applications. He completed his bachelor's degree at the College of Engineering Pune, India, in Summer 2021. Saad has completed internships at Varroc, Larsen & Toubro, and Bajaj Auto, where he gained experience in onboard chargers, medium voltage switchboards, and magnetic circuit designs. His research interests include power electronics, electric vehicles, microcontrollers, magnetic circuits, and power systems. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading, driving, and following motorsports.

Research Topic Research topics – Research topics – DC-DC Converters, Motor Drives, Gate Driver Circuits, High-frequency Magnetics Design, Liquid-cooled Converters, Energy Storage.

MASc Student

Amir Musa Shufani received his B. Eng in mechanical Engineering from Mcmaster University, Canada in 2021. During his undergrade he specialized in Thermal Fluids and energy systems where his passion grew for thermal management. He underwent two 4-month co-ops at Dana Incorporated where he worked on engine and transmission oil coolers and battery cooling. In 2021, after finishing his undergrad, he went directly into his master’s program. Amir is under the supervision of Dr. James Cotton and Dr. Mehdi Narimani. His current research includes thermal experiments, numerical modeling, and analytical modeling.

Research Topic Thermal methodology for forced convection heat exchangers. This research is to develop thermal modeling for heat exchangers in ultra-fast battery charging technologies. The methodology will improve design times and provide insight about the thermal propagation and expected temperatures.

MASc Student

Amirabbas Darvishpour received his BSc from School of Energy Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic). After four years of Energy Engineering education, he gained a comprehensive understanding of how energy is generated, distributed, and stored (with a focus on renewable sources). In addition, he learned about the economic and environmental implications of energy. During my bachelor’s degree, he got familiar not only with the technical aspect of the electricity but also its economic and environmental effects. Simulating a solar power plant for an apartment by PVsyst and Optimizing the energy demand of an apartment by linear programming (MATLAB) are two outstanding ones which made him more interested in technological aspect of energy and they encouraged me to continue his academic career in the fields which are more related to Power Electronics.

Research Topic Power Electronics, Home Fast Chargers, Ultra-Fast Chargers for EVs.

MASc Student

Ahmed is an MASc student who earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from McMaster University in May 2023. During his undergrad journey, some of the work he did includes being a key member of the Formula One Electric team, where he tackled challenging tasks in the Electronics and wiring division. Furthermore, he has also participated in numerous internships, from delving into summer research for a communications team led by Dr. Hranilovic under an NSERC scholarship to contributing as a transmission planner for the IESO (Independent Electricity Sector Operator), where he helped enhance power transmission across Ontario.

Research Topic Fast mobile chargers for electric vehicles.

Research Assistant

Kresteen Al Shehadeh Kresteen Al Shehadeh is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada. She actively participates in the McMaster Rocketry Team, focusing on avionics aspect of the team's projects. In May 2023, Kresteen joined the McMaster High Power Electronics Research Lab (HiPEL) as a research assistant, where she is currently involved in the development of a supply equipment charging controller (SECC) for an ultra-fast charging project.

Research Topic Supply equipment charging controller (SECC) designed for electric vehicles (EVs) and other high-capacity battery systems.