PECI 2026: Generating current for future generations

This year marked the 17^th annual Power and Energy Conference of Illinois, PECI, held at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. The event took place on April 16 and 17, welcoming prominent academic speakers and industry experts. Nearly 140 students and faculty from around the country were in attendance this year.

Student-run for 17 years and counting

Beginning in 2010, by then-graduate students Ali Bazzi and Pradeep Shenoy, PECI’s purpose was to create a student run and organized conference of genuine academic merit, to be attended by power and energy scientists from across the IEEE’s section 4 group of Power and Energy Society members. A  video introduction by former department head Bruce Hajek provides an introduction to the event at its inception.

Said co-director Nicole Stokowski in a May 2026 post on the Center for Electric Machinery and Electromagnetics: “PECI was founded for three key reasons: 1) to provide students in the Midwest an opportunity to participate in a research conference, 2) to provide a forum for students in the Midwest to present their research progress and outcomes, for feedback, to a technical audience of peers and industry professionals, and 3) to inspire both undergraduate and graduate students to pursue careers in power and energy.”

PECI 2026

PECI 2026 featured four co-directors: Dennis C’ Butts (’26 M.S.), Nicole Stokwoski (’28 Ph.D), Yaokun Shi (’27 Ph.D), and Mudith Withmaralage (’29 Ph.D). Numerous graduate students from the Power and Energy area also contributed to the success of the event, as this year, the event was expanded to feature two full days of talks.

The opening remarks and introduction were given by Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head Jennifer T. Bernhard and were followed by the morning’s keynote address by Professor Minjie Chen of Princeton University. Three technical paper presentations, eight faculty speakers, invited academia and industry speakers, four keynote presenters, and a panel discussion on wireless power transfer were featured across the two days.

This year, a tour was also given of the Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems facility, POETs, located a short distance from the ECE building. POETS is an industry-government-academic collaboration that provides testing facilities for academic projects as well as space for start-ups to test out ideas before bringing them to market.

Said co-director Yaokun Shi, “PECI was a great success this year. We had good turnout from students, professors, and industry types, along with really interesting technical sessions and valuable networking opportunities. We also had lab tours and an industry expo — both of which were extremely well received!”

One-of-a-kind conference

One of the notable things about PECI is that the event is the only one of its kind in the Midwest region. It is the oldest, annual conference on power and energy technology entirely run by graduate (and some undergraduate) students. At the same time, the student’s main goal is to demonstrate their expertise and to help young researchers gain their first conference-going experiences. Conferences like these are a mainstay in the academic community, both as a career booster and networking exercise, but also as a way to take in new ideas and see others’ cutting-edge research without having to wade through a scree of academic papers or array of journals.

“Getting conference experience and subsequently publishing and speaking with big names in the field often comes with a steep price tag. We try to lower the barrier of entry for new undergraduate and graduate researchers by offering travel scholarships and a more condensed, cheaper conference format.” Stokowski explains.

So, 17 years in…how is it going?

One of this year’s speaker’s, Professor Bulent Sarlioglu, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had the opportunity to return to PECI after having attended one of the first conferences in the 2010s. “It was especially rewarding to return and see how the event has continued to grow and excel. The student team organizing PECI did a fantastic job—they were exceptionally well organized, attentive to every detail, and incredibly welcoming.”

Another speaker, and a former professor advisor of co-director Stokowski’s, Nathan Miles Ellis at UC Santa Cruz, said “I had a blast! The degree of student engagement at such a professional level made this a delightful and completely unique event for me. It is clear that UIUC has a world-class power and energy program where students are actively engaged in cutting edge research.”

With another successful year behind them, PECI students will wrap up their event with an extensive post-conference report, written for the next generation of students and for the benefit of its funders. This reporting step is critical, both as a measure of good business etiquette, and an acknowledgment of various project management skills used by industries around the world. The end-of-the-year PECI report is an instructive and habit-shaping, thought exercise that is, in its way, as important as the running the conference. Such analyses facilitate improvement, increase efficiency, and provide the next generation with a plan for the future…a future about energy efficiency and sustainability.

Said Sarglioglu, “Events like PECI are important because they bring attention to the challenge of improving energy efficiency while simultaneously reducing cost — both of which are essential for widespread adoption of new technologies.”

Ellis voiced his agreement, adding that “events like PECI are extremely important in bridging the gap between student initiatives and flagship professional venues. It offers students experience in key leadership roles while facilitating real dialogue on current research efforts.”

The PECI team hopes to see more attendees and industry expertise in 2027! Follow the conference website for updates. Special thanks go to the IEEE nationally and locally for their aide and participation.