by Kristen Parrish
Today, | am announcing the launch of a new IEEE Power Electronics Magazine website column “Plugging into the Industry.” In this new column, | will be reporting on industrial happenings. A similar column is also in the works for the print magazine. I’m excited to write for both the website and the print magazine columns. Through these columns | intend to update the power electronics community on the key news events from industry, government, and academia around the world. Most importantly, I’m interested in bringing context and clarity to this kind of information — to help you figure out how it relates to the industry and your day-to-day engineering.
I received my B.S. in electrical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN, USA)
and M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from The University of Texas (Austin, TX, USA) before
embarking on a career spanning multiple fields, ultimately working in Power Electronics at both Texas
Instruments (Dallas, TX) and Wolfspeed (Durham, NC). I’ve worked as an R&D Engineer, Systems Engineer,
and most recently as an Applications Engineer, with projects in packaging, magnetics, and silicon carbide.
During my career I’ve been involved with IEEE at the local Section level, serving as Eastern North Carolina
Vice-Chair, Women in Engineering (WIE) Chair, and Webmaster, and also at the Society level on the PELS
WIE Steering Committee. | became an IEEE Senior Member in 2020. | also created a mentoring program
that connected mentors and Young Professional mentees in IEEE Region 3 during the early days of the
COVID-19 pandemic, which was nominated for the IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) Young
Professionals Achievement Award. I’m passionate about mentoring and career development of women in
engineering.
Drop me a line and let me know what you are interested in seeing from the column, or if you have any
industry news to share — you can reach me at kristen@ieee.org, or see my website at kristenparrish.com