Peru to CU: A student’s passion for power electronics and all that Colorado has to offer

• Name: Manuel Alva
• Professional master's subplan: Power electronics 

Tell us a little about your professional and/or educational background.

I did a bachelor's in electronics engineering back in Peru some years ago, and at the end of my bachelor's degree I did a thesis on power electronics. That was the first time I had an approach of what it means to study power electronics and what it means as a subject. I was working on a power electronics converter, which at the time I didn’t know what it meant but I thought it was interesting. I ended up publishing "Single Stage Bidirectional Triple Active Bridge AC/DC converter for single phase applications'' in Kansas Power Electronics Conference 2020. This research made me realize I wanted to follow and keep studying and searching on this big subject of power electronics. This ended with the decision to come here to America to study for my master's. 

What made you decide to pursue a professional master’s in power electronics at CU Boulder?

I would like to start by saying that coming here and doing a master's in power electronics has been one of the best decisions of my life and one of the best investments I have made. There are many reasons why I decided to come here — the first one is that power electronics was my passion. I remember I sent a question to my advisor when I was finishing college asking “what can I do in electronic power engineering?” He was a professor doing a lot of research on the subject of power electronics and he told me, “Well, you can design technology that can convert to power and there is a wide range of applications with that. You can design technologies for renewable energy, design technology for electric vehicles, low power applications like smart phones, watches, and everything that needs to be powered from an electrical grid.” I remember my advisor opening an Apple charger for me, which I had never seen inside, and I saw an inductor, a capacitor, and a diode and I was like, “What does this mean? How’d you do that?” Well, you can understand deeply what is inside and then you can design a charger if you study power electronics. 

In Peru, you don’t have a postgraduate program in this subject, so I came to the United States for opportunities in power electronics. As I said, I had the chance to publish my paper in the U.S. back in 2020, and I remember I was asking some people who were participating in this conference “What good universities do you recommend if I want to do a master's in power electronics?” and they mentioned CU Boulder. Another reason to choose CU was that many people mentioned these big names like Professors Robert Erickson and Dragan Maksimovic, who are great professors in this program at CU. I think they are some of the best in the subject. 

What is the most interesting thing you learned or explored during your time in the program?

There are many many things. The thing about power electronics is that you learn a wide range of subjects, so if you do power electronics you will gain a good background in control systems, magnetics, and microelectronics, and, like I said, we have good professors on these subjects. I’m a guy who loves to learn a little bit of everything, so the knowledge and background that you can get in this program is amazing.

I’m also still surprised at the large amount of opportunities you get from completing a program in the U.S. I’m almost done with my master's and I’m about to graduate in May, and I’m discovering that you have many opportunities when you graduate from CU Boulder. You can often get into the company you’d like to work for because you are knowledgeable on a variety of subjects and people really appreciate and value the work that you have done with this program, as it’s really hard work. I’ve been applying for jobs and I see that many companies are interested in hiring a power electronics engineer with these qualifications. 

I have many favorite classes, but I would say one of the most interesting classes was Resonant and Soft-Switching Techniques in Power Electronics (ECEN 5817) with Dragan Maksimovic. This class highlighted that nowadays many companies in the industry are switching or moving to these kinds of converters for high power applications and that was really interesting. Right now I'm doing an internship with a semiconductor and energy company in Colorado and everything you learn in the classes is really valuable because you apply all of the knowledge in real applications. I also loved Analog Integrated Circuit Design (ECEN 5827) with Dragan Maksimovic. That was a really good class. I remember Professor Maksimovic had extra credit projects that we could do that were very interesting ways to improve or do your own design for applications for low power. Also, the collaborations with your fellows and classmates creates a really good learning experience.

What do you hope to do after you finish your degree?

I’m planning to work for a semiconductor power company after graduation, and I already got an offer so I will probably start working as an application engineer. It’s really exciting because it’s new and a full-time job. I keep thinking about all the stuff I will learn, all the technology I will be working on, and honestly, it's the dream because it’s like I will be deciding technology for Apple phones, smart watches, airphones, and I never imagined I would have the chance to do something like that. Like I said, you have many many opportunities as an electronics engineer.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering pursuing a professional master’s in power electronics?

I would definitely start a power electronics career at CU Boulder because it’s a really good experience for all of the knowledge and background that you gain here. We don’t just have good professors and good academic background but we have laboratory courses where you design something and go through the process of assembling, debugging, and testing, doing work with your own design, and that’s an experience that companies really value. Also, at CU the university environment is really enjoyable, with football and basketball games that you can go to with your friends. You also have the mountains that are 30 minutes from you, or you can just walk or do a short hike in Chautauqua. Boulder is a really beautiful place; I 100% recommend it. 

I would say that this is one of the best programs for power electronics — you have the best professors, the best experience you can have in and out of the program with the best opportunities. Also you can enjoy a lot outside of engineering and studying within Boulder, so what else do you need? So if you’re thinking or really taking into consideration if you want to do a postgraduate program in power electronics you should really think of CU Boulder. 

When you’re not working, what do you like to do? 

In my free time, I love hiking at Chautauqua or if I have more time I like to go to the Rocky Mountains. Also some days of the week I go to the Rec Center to play basketball or swim. I love to play basketball, and when I have free time I like to watch NBA and football games as well — I’m a big sports guy. I’m actually a Golden State Warriors fan which is another reason I wanted to move to the U.S. — to experience the sports environment.