University of Southampton Malaysia Academic wins KFAS Fellowship
Dr Sze Sing Lee, an assistant professor of the University of Southampton Malaysia (UoSM), has been awarded the KFAS International Scholar Exchange Fellowship (ISEF). The fellowship will support Dr Lee’s research into new power electronic inverters for improving efficiency and performance of electrical power conversion systems.
‘’I am honoured to be awarded this fellowship,’’ says Dr Lee who teaches Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UoSM. ‘’Faculty exchanges like the KFAS ISEF programme promote collaboration and innovation in our engineering programmes which in turn encourages academics and students to become thought leaders and problem solvers.’’
‘’Engaging in research, education and entrepreneurial activities that are industry-relevant has been at the forefront of the University’s approach to engineering over many years. That is also supported with the University’s academics who are highly qualified and genuinely passionate about research,’’ said Prof. Rebecca Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor (ASEAN) and CEO of UoSM.
Dr Lee brings extensive technical expertise in power electronics. His current research interests include alternative power converter/inverter topologies and their control strategies. For this fellowship, Dr Lee has chosen Ajou University for their well-established power electronics lab and highly reputable professors and researchers in the field of electrical engineering.
‘’This new study is a continuation of my previous studies in topology design,’’ explains Dr Lee. ‘’My previous study focuses on the design of new inverter topologies with high compactness and high efficiency for low voltage applications. This time around, it is establishing new topologies for MLI for medium voltage applications.’’
Multilevel inverters (MLIs) have been emerged as an enabling technologies for power conversion systems. They have been widely used for industrial applications due to their reduced output harmonics, and switching loss. MLIs however have some disadvantages such as increased number of components and voltage-balancing problem. In Dr Lee’s research, he addresses these disadvantages by introducing a new topology that will enhance the voltage gain of MLIs.
The ISEF programme is a six-month to one-year research award that aims to support and enhance academic exchange and cooperation among scholars in Asia by providing them with an opportunity to conduct research in leading universities and research institutions in Korea. To date, ISEF has 868 scholar from Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Russia and many more.
