Kiruba Sivasubramaniam Haran – professor of electrical & computer engineering and director, CENTER FOR POWER OPTIMIZATION OF ELECTRO-THERMAL SYSTEMS (P/O/E/T/S),

Professor Haran joined 24 other active NAE members in the Grainger Engineering faculty. These include CEME Power faculty members Professor Emeritus Phil Krein and, before him, the late Professor Emeritus Pete Sauer. NAE memberships are among the highest honors an engineer in the U.S. can receive.
Kiruba studies high specific power cryogenic and non-cryogenic machines for electrified transportation and renewable energy applications. Since 2022, he has served as director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems – a key enabler in providing an increase in power density through advanced technology and workforce development. He also is affiliated with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at Illinois.
His research has contributed to advanced high-power-density electrical machinery and high-temperature, superconducting technology applications. His group works closely with industry to insert new machine and drive technologies into actual products, and is collaborating with aerospace, renewable energy, and other companies on a range of applications.
In partnership with NASA, Haran’s group recently demonstrated a 1-megawatt electric motor that could help propel future, more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable aircraft. Under ARPA-E support, they are now working on cryogen-free superconducting machines through a university spin-off, Hinetics, LLC, with the goal of making unprecedented improvements in efficiency.
This news item was excerpted from https://ece.illinois.edu/newsroom/64246 by Lois Yoksoulian and Grainger Engineering staff.