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Curriculum Vitae

Career summary
  • University lecturer with five years of experience in lecturing engineering undergraduates. An active speaker in disseminating research findings to the public and peers. An outreach ambassador to promote engineering to the next generation to study STEM with a special focus on the previously disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.

Education

PhD in Electrical Engineering

  • University: University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Research Topic: Optimization of Magnetic Couplers for Inductive Power Transfer Applications
  • Advisor: Prof. Azeem Khan 
  • Scholarships: 1. National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) Innovation Doctoral Non-SA scholarship 
  •                       2. University of Cape Town Scholarship for International Students for Doctoral Studies

MSc in Electrical Engineering 

  • University: University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Research Topic: Design of LCL-filters for Grid-Connected Voltage Source Inverters
  • Advisor: Dr. Moin Hanif 
  • Scholarships: 1. National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) Innovation Master's Non-SA scholarship
  •                       2. University of Cape Town Scholarship for International Students for Masters Studies

BEng in Electronics Engineering

  • University: Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), Sheffield, UK
  • Research Topic: Pedometer Algorithm
  • Advisor: Dr. Nimsiri Abhayasinghe  
Work Experiance

Lecturer- University of Cape Town - Mar. 2019 - Present 

Teaching Responsibilities:  

  • 1. Introduction to Electrical Engineering & Power Utilization [EEE2041F] - 2020 - present
  • 2. Electrical Machines and Power Electronics [EEE4117F]- 2019 - present
  • 3. Final Year Project Supervision [EEE4022F/S] - 2019 - present
  • 4. Power Systems Engineering [EEE3100S] - 2019
  • 5. Power Distribution & Transmission Networks [EEE4117F]- 2019

Administrative Responsibilities:  

  • 1. Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment future dreamers 2050 strategic group - 2023-present
  • 2. Departmental Authority for Ethics - 2023- present
  • 3. Course convenor for EEE2041F/EEE2049W and EEE4117F - 2020 - present
  • 4. Electrical Engineering (EE) student advisor for 3rd year- 2022 - present
  • 5. Member of EE department's admission, outreach, and promotion committee - 2022 - present
  • 6. Member of Engineering and Build Environment Faculty Time Table Committee - 2022
  • 7. UCT Open day facilitator for EE - 2019-present

Part Time Lecturer- University of Cape Town - 2017 - 2019 

Teaching Responsibility: Electrical Machines and Power Electronics [EEE4117F]

Tutor- University of Cape Town - 2014 - 2017 

Tutoring Responsibilities: Electrical Engineering I (EEE2030F), Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering (EEE2038), Power Engineering (EEE3057S-A), Energy conversion and Utilization (EEE3044S)

Teaching Assistant- Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology- 2013 - 2014 

Tutoring Responsibilities: Electrical Engineering I (EEE101), Control Systems (297), Digital Signal Processing (293), Electronic Engineering 3.

Publications
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Research Collaborations

Industry

Agrilogiq

  • 2023
  • Agrivoltaics greenhouses to tackle the food and energy challenges in Rural Africa. 

Energy system planning (ESP) group

  • 2023
  • Develop fundamental models for grid-forming inverters to understand the dynamics of the power system.

Government Motor Transport (GMT) Department of Western Cape

  • 2021
  • A feasibility study on electric vehicle deployment in South Africa.

Academia

Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer Solutions

  • (2024-present)
  • Joint supervision with Dr. Ananth Bharadwaj, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Plan

Wireless Power Transfer Systems to enable long-distance power transfer

  • (2024-present)
  • Joint supervision with Dr. Cheng Zhang, University of Manchester, UK.

Wireless Power Transfer Systems for agricultural applications

  • (2024-present)
  • Joint supervision with Dr. Xing Zhao, York University, UK.

Induction Heating Technology for geysers

  • (2023-present)
  • Joint supervision with Prof. David Stone, University of Sheffield, UK.

Autoethnography

  • (2023-present)
  • Research involving early career academics from several institutes writing about their academic experience. 

Grid Forming Inverters

  • (2022-present)
  • Collaboration with the power systems research group at the university of cape town to develop a hardware prototype to realize 

  • grid-forming inverters based on the general power theory proposed by Emeritus Professor CT Gaunt.

Educational Tool Development

  • (2021-present)
  • Collaboration with the MATLAB Academia Team to develop interactive graphical user interface-based teaching and learning tools.

Modelling the Human Gait

  • (2013-present)
  • Collaboration with Dr. Nimsiri Abeysinghe and Prof. Iain Murray from Curtin university, and Dr. Abdul Yunus from the University of Cape Town
Research Grants (Lecturer at UCT)

uYilo Kick Start Fund -2024                                                                                  USD 26,000

  • Project: Develop a Non-planar wireless e-scooter charger.

Innovation Builder Fund -2023                                                                           USD 16,000

  • Project: Develop a Non-planar wireless e-scooter charger.

DST/NRF Wind Energy Research Spoke -2021-2023                                       USD 85,000 p.a.

  • Project: Develop robust passive filters for grid-connected inverters.

EBE URC Block Grant -2022                                                                                   USD 2000

  • Project: Develop a wireless power charger for e-bikes  

URC Research Development Grant -2022                                                         USD 3000

  • Project: Develop a photovoltaic to electric vehicle charger

Building Research Active Academic Staff Grant (BRASS) -2021                 USD 20,000

  • Project: Develop a wireless power charger for drones  

Eskom Tertiary Education Support Programme -2020                                 USD 4250

  • Project: Develop a micro-grid 

New Academic Practitioner Programme (NAPP) -2019                                USD 280

  • Project: Perform research in the field of engineering education  

URC University Start-up Grant -2019                                                                 USD 1400

  • Project: Facilitate initial research activities  
Postgraduate Supervision

Academic

Akshay Jankee

  • (completed)
  • Degree: Doctoral 
  • Thesis Title: Testing the general power theory for power quality improvement
  • Co-supervised with Associate Professor David Oyedokun

Nikhil Bejrajh

  • (2023-present)
  • Degree: Doctoral 
  • Thesis Title: Wireless Power Transfer for e-scooter charging

Girish Awadhwal

  • (2024-present)
  • Degree: Doctoral 
  • Thesis Title: Pending (In the area of wireless power transfer for electric vehicles)

Academic

Musa Thokwe

  • (2021-present) Part-time
  • Degree: MSc by research (Part time)
  • Thesis Title: LCL filter design for a grid-connected three-phase inverter under grid disturbances

Uvir Gordhan

  • (completed)
  • Degree: MSc by research (Part time)
  • Thesis Title: Wireless Power Transfer for UAVs

Gianluca Patrizi

  • (2022-present)
  • Degree: MSc by research
  • Thesis Title: LCL filter design for a grid-connected three-phase inverter under grid disturbances

Phemelo Maile

  • (2023-present)
  • Degree: MSc by research
  • Thesis Title: Fast wireless charging of e-scooters

Sanaa Petkar

  • (2023-present)
  • Degree: MSc by research
  • Thesis Title: Physiotherapy Assistor

Sigrid Aadnesgaard

  • (2024-present)
  • Degree: MSc by research
  • Thesis Title: Electromagnetic Energy Robotics
Public Presentations/Workshops

Invited Speaker at Engineering Simulation Conference 2024

Info

Invited Speaker at 32nd Southern African Universities Power Engineering Conference (SAUPEC 2024)

Info

Invited Speaker at E-mobility Congress South Africa-2023

Info

Workshop at the first international Microwave & Antenna Symposium in Africa (IMAS)-Feb 2023

Info

Invited speaker at New Academics' Regional Colloquium (NATRC)- Sept-2022

Info

Invited speaker at Africa and International use of energy conference

Info
Professional Activities

IEEE IAS/IES/PELS Combined SA Chapter Chair

Reviewer for IEEE Transactions

  • (2016-present)
  • 1. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
  • 2. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics 
  • 3. IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification
  • 4. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics
  • 5. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics
  • 6. IEEE Access
  • 7. IEEE Industrial Applications
  • 8. IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics
  • 9. IEEE Open Journal of the Industrial Electronics Society
  • 10. IEEE Transaction on Magnetics

International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN)

  • (2015-2022)

IEEE Member/ IEEE Industrial Electronics society 

  • (2021-present)

IEEE Student Member

  • (2016-2020)
Awards and Honors

Engineering and Build Environment Research Student Award (MSc) - 2016

University of Cape Town Research Associateship (MSc) - 2014

Zone 24x7 Excellence Award for Best Overall Performance in BEng (Hons) in Electronics Engineering - 2012

Best Performance in the Final Year in BEng(Hons) Electronics Engineering  - 2012

Scholarships & Travel Grants

National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) Innovation Doctoral Non-SA Scholarship    -  USD 30,000

University of Cape Town Scholarship for International Students for Doctoral Studies                    -  USD 7,500

National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) Innovation Masters Non-SA Scholarship     -  USD 7,800

University of Cape Town Scholarship for International Students for Masters Studies                    -   USD 3,000

NRF South Africa Travel Grant to attend IEEE WPTC-Montreal-2018                                                   -   USD 3,000

IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) Travel Grant to attend COBEP-Brazil-2015                            -   USD 500

NRF South Africa Travel Grant to attend IEEE COBEP-2015                                                                  -   USD 1,250

University of Cape Town Travel Grant to attend IEEE IFEEC-2015                                                        -   USD 850

References
  • Professor Azeem Khan
  • Department of Electrical Engineering
  • Room 5.22.5, 5th Floor,
  • Menzies Building,
  • Library Road, Upper Campus,
  • University of Cape Town,   
  • Tel. no: +27 21 650 5956
  • Email: azeem.khan@uct.ac.za

  • Professor Iain Murray
  • John Curtin Distinguished Professor
  • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • Curtin University,
  • GPO Box U1987
  • Perth WA 6845
  • Tel. no: +61 8 9266 4540
  • Email: I.Murray@curtin.edu.au
  •   
  • Professor Paul Barendse
  • Department of Electrical Engineering
  • Room 5.22.4, 5th Floor,
  • Menzies Building,
  • Library Road, Upper Campus,
  • University of Cape Town,   
  • Tel. no: +27 21 650 4489
  • Email: paul.barendse@uct.ac.za
  •  
  • Dr Nimsiri Abhayasinghe
  • Senior Lecturer,
  • Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • Curtin University,
  • GPO Box U1987
  • Perth WA 6845
  • Email: k.abhayasinghe@curtin.edu.au