Prof. Phillip J. Ansell earned his BS in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University in 2008, and his MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010 and 2013, respectively.  He joined the faculty of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2015 as an Assistant Professor.  His research interests include subsonic and transonic aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, applied aerodynamics, atmospheric flight sciences, aero-propulsive integration, and aircraft propulsion electrification.

His research accomplishments have earned him several honors and awards, including the AFOSR Young Investigator Award (2015), inclusion in Forbes 30 under 30 list (2016, Science category), the ARO Young Investigator Award (2017), and the College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research at Illinois (2019).  Prof. Ansell has played a key technical role, along with others, in organizing the Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium (EATS).  This collaborative symposium between AIAA and IEEE brings together the multi-disciplinary communities of electrical engineers and aerospace experts towards the advancement of aircraft propulsion electrification.

Chris Mi is a fellow of IEEE and SAE, Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Director of the US DOE funded GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation at San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA. He was previously a professor at the University of Michigan, Dearborn from 2001 to 2015. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, all in electrical engineering.  Previously he was an Electrical Engineer with General Electric Canada Inc. He was the President and the Chief Technical Officer of 1Power Solutions, Inc. from 2008 to 2011. He is the Co-Founder of SNC Technology.

His research interests are in electric and hybrid vehicles. He has taught tutorials and seminars on the subject of HEVs/PHEVs for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the IEEE, workshops sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Society of Professional Engineers. He has delivered courses to major automotive OEMs and suppliers, including GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Hyundai, Tyco Electronics, A&D Technology, Johnson Controls, Quantum Technology, Delphi, and the European Ph.D School. He has offered tutorials in many countries, including the U.S., China, Korea, Singapore, Italy, France, and Mexico. He has published more than 250 articles and delivered 100 invited talks and keynote speeches and as a panelist in major IEEE and SAE conferences.

Dr. Mi is the recipient of “Distinguished Teaching Award” and “Distinguished Research Award” of University of Michigan Dearborn. He is a recipient of the 2007 IEEE Region 4 “Outstanding Engineer Award,” “IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section Outstanding Professional Award.” and the “SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation (E2T) Award.” He was also a recipient of the National Innovation Award and the Government Special Allowance Award from the China Central Government. He received two Best Paper Awards from IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

Dr. Mi was the Chair (2008-2009) and Vice Chair (2006-2007) of the IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section. Dr. Mi was the general Chair of the 5th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference held in Dearborn, Michigan, USA in September 6-11, 2009. Dr. Mi is one of the three Area Editors of the Editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications. He served on the review panel for the NSF, the U.S. Department of Energy (2007–2010), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2010), Hong Kong Research Grants Council, French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (Belgium), and the Danish Research Council. He is the topic chair for the 2011 IEEE International Future Energy Challenge, and the General Chair for the 2013 IEEE International Future Energy Challenge. Dr. Chris Mi is a Distinguished Lecturer (DL) of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society.

He is Guest Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics - Special Issue on WPT, Guest Co-Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Special Issue on WPT, Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics - Special Issue on dynamic wireless power transfer, and steering committee member of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference (ITEC- Asian). He is Program Chair or General Chair of a number of international conferences, including Workshop on Wireless Power Transfer (WoW), IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference (IEVC), and IEEE International Transportation Electrification Conference – Asia-Pacific. He is also the chair for the IEEE Future Direction’s Transportation Electrification Initiative (TEI) e-Learning Committee and developed an e-learning module on wireless power transfer.