Rate My Professor Chris Mi

Dr. Chris Mi is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego State University, where he serves as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded GATE Center for Electric Drive Transportation. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 2001. Mi was a faculty member at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 2001 to 2015, advancing to Professor and receiving the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005 and Distinguished Research Award in 2009. He has held executive roles including President and CTO of 1Power Solutions, Inc. (2008–2011) and CTO of EV Safe CHarge, Inc. (2000–2022), and served as Chair of the SDSU Electrical and Computer Engineering Department since 2015.

Mi specializes in power electronics and electric drives, battery management systems, wireless power transfer, and electric/hybrid vehicles. A Fellow of IEEE (2011) and SAE (2017), his honors include the 2023 IEEE Vehicle and Transportation Systems Technology Achievement Award, 2022 Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship, CSU Wang Family Excellence Award for Outstanding Faculty, and 2019 IEEE Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award, along with multiple IEEE Transactions best paper and prize letter awards, SAE Environmental Excellence in Transportation Award, and IEEE Region 4 Outstanding Engineer Award. He has authored over 300 refereed journal articles and co-authored influential books such as Modern Hybrid Electric Vehicles (John Wiley, 2011; second edition, 2017), Vehicle Power Management: Modeling, Control, and Optimization (Springer, 2010), and Short Timescale Transient Phenomena of Power Electronic Systems (John Wiley, 2011). Mi has delivered more than 100 invited talks and keynotes at IEEE and SAE conferences, conducted tutorials for OEMs including GM, Ford, Hyundai, and Chrysler, and held editorial positions as Area Editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and Industry Applications. He has chaired conferences like IEEE VPPC 2009, served on NSF and DOE review panels, and led grants with Argonne National Lab, California Energy Commission, and industry partners.