Curriculum Vitae
Johann W. Kolar received his M.Sc. degree in Industrial Electronics and Control Engineering and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude / promotio sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae) from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Since 1984, he has worked as an independent researcher and international consultant in close collaboration with the Vienna University of Technology, focusing on power electronics, industrial electronics, and high-performance drive systems.
In 2001, he was appointed Associate Professor and Head of the Power Electronic Systems Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2004. Over the course of his career, he has proposed numerous novel PWM converter topologies as well as modulation and control concepts — such as the VIENNA Rectifier, the Sparse Matrix Converter, and the SWISS Rectifier—spearheaded the development of ultra-high-speed (x-million-rpm) motors, and pioneered fully automated, multi-objective power electronics design procedures.
Prof. Kolar has personally supervised 94 Ph.D. students to completion. He has authored more than 1,000 scientific papers in international journals and conference proceedings, contributed 4 book chapters, and is named as an inventor on over 200 granted patents arising from international industry research collaborations. He has delivered more than 50 educational seminars at leading international conferences and served as an IEEE PELS Distinguished Lecturer from 2012 to 2016.
His work has been recognized with 52 Transactions and Conference Prize Paper Awards, 6 Top Article Awards, the 2014 IEEE Power Electronics Society R. David Middlebrook Achievement Award, the 2016 IEEE PEMC Council Award, the 2016 IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award, the 2021 EPE Outstanding Achievement Award, the 2025 IEEE Medal in Power Engineering, and two ETH Zurich Golden Owl Awards for excellence in teaching. He has also initiated or founded four ETH spin-off companies.
Prof. Kolar serves on International Steering Committees and Technical Program Committees of numerous international conferences in his field and is a member of the board of directors of the International Conference on Power Conversion and Intelligent Motion. He is the founder of the IEEE PELS Switzerland Chapter (2001) and has served as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (1997–2000) and the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics (2001–2013). Since 2002, he has also been Associate Editor of the Journal of Power Electronics of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the IEEJ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
He is an International Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), an IEEE Life Fellow (since January 2025), and a member of the IEEJ. As a Professor Emeritus (since August 2024), he actively continues to pursue research in ultra-compact and highly efficient WBG converter systems, AI and machine learning applications in power electronics, Solid-State Transformers, and the life-cycle analyses of power electronic converter systems.