Dr. Burak Ozpineci earned his BS in electrical engineering from Orta Dogu Technical University (1994) in Turkey and his MS (1998) and PhD (2002) in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. He joined ORNL’s Power Electronics and Electrical Machinery Research Center as associate R&D staff in 2002 and became the Power and Energy Systems group leader in 2008. Before being named Vehicle and Mobility Systems section head in 2020, Dr. Ozpineci served as Power Electronics and Electric Machinery group leader (2011–2020), and he concurrently serves as Electric Drive Technologies Program Manager and Co-Lab Lead for DOE’s Electric Drive Technologies Consortium. He also is a joint faculty member at UT–Knoxville’s Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education.
Dr. Ozpineci became a Corporate Fellow in October 2021. His pioneering efforts in silicon carbide–based power electronics have paved the way for vehicle and grid infrastructure advancements, enabling transformational achievements in wireless power transfer and electric drivetrain applications. Dr. Ozpineci’s accomplishments include many first-ever applications that have set the bar across the technical community in electronics. His accomplishments will continue to have a significant impact on the global move toward the electrification and decarbonization of the mobility sector. Dr. Ozpineci has positioned ORNL as the world-leading research institution in power electronics and electric machinery, specifically wide bandgap power electronics and wireless power transfer technologies. His exemplary technical, programmatic, and leadership capabilities have enabled him to pilot the creation, growth, and maturation of three new research groups, one currently led by a direct mentee, and his current research section at ORNL.
Dr. Ozpineci is sought after as an expert by the scientific community, industry, and DOE. He led the creation of two new programs under the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) as well as the development of workshops and symposiums on topics spanning power electronics, cybersecurity, wide-bandgap materials, and energy conversion. He has also served on many influential committees and scientific journal editorial boards. Dr. Ozpineci’s work has received peer recognition, honors, and awards that include elevation to Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow (2020); the IEEE Power Electronics Society Vehicle and Transportation Systems Achievement Award (2020); two R&D 100 Awards (2016, 2014); two DOE achievement awards (2016, 2015); two UT-Battelle awards for team research (2016) and early career accomplishments (2005); two internal ORNL awards (2015, 2010); an IEEE Outstanding Paper Award (2019); and an IEEE Outstanding Young Member award (2016). His work has appeared in more than 176 publications and has resulted in 3 patents and numerous international invited presentations. He has a career h-index of 41.
Dr. Ozpineci is a passionate and intentional mentor of students and career professionals. Through these efforts, he has inspired a new generation of recognized leaders and researchers at ORNL and elsewhere and has grown an extensive network of impactful and influential leaders across ORNL, universities, and industry. Three of his direct mentees now lead ORNL research groups, and several of his mentees have gone on to develop important new programs and initiatives.
