Illinois ECE Research Professor Pete Sauer recently won the 2022 IEEE Tesla Award “for contributions to dynamic modeling and simulation of synchronous generators and for leadership in power engineering education.”
Written by Joseph Park, Illinois ECE
Peter Sauer
Illinois ECE Research Professor Peter Sauer, Grainger Chair Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering, was recently awarded the 2022 IEEE Tesla Award “for contributions to dynamic modeling and simulation of synchronous generators and for leadership in power engineering education.”
Each year the IEEE Awards Board recommends a select group of recipients to receive IEEE’s most prestigious honors. These recipients' exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions have made a lasting impact on technology, society, and the engineering profession. The IEEE Tesla Award is one of the 32 awards given to recipients this year.
"I have always held Nikola Tesla in the highest regard for his practical approach to complex technology and have thought that this award would be a real prize that was worth working towards," said Sauer. "The award was possible because of the technical collaboration and help provided by Petar Kokotovic (now at UC Santa Barbara) in the '80s through the Coordinated Science Laboratory here at UIUC and collegial interaction with real scholars."
"The work on time-scale modeling grew from the work of Joe Chow (a student of Petar Kokotovic) who is now at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute and many of my students including Said Ahmed-Zaid (now at Boise State University), and Bernie Lesieutre (now at The University of Wisconsin-Madison). My colleagues M. A. Pai, Phil Krein, Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia, and Kiruba Haran recognized the value that the singular perturbation and integral manifolds explanation and proper theory for neglecting synchronous machine fast stator transients."
Sauer acknowledged both the ECE department and the Grainger Foundation for their respective help and resources.
"The ECE department has been a great place to nurture good ideas and allow faculty and students to work together. Additionally, the Grainger Foundation provided the funding and resources needed to collaborate and participate in international technical meetings where this work was presented."
Finally, Sauer also recognized his family's support.
"My wife Sylvia and understanding children tolerated my long hours at work and talking with colleagues."