Recognition by peers is the highest recognition an individual can receive
Lennart Harnefors, a Senior Principal Scientist (SPS) at ABB Corporate Research in Västerås has been named an IEEE Fellow
Abraham Lincoln, a noteworthy president of the United States in the mid-1800’s said, “Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
I firmly believe recognition by peers is indeed the highest recognition an individual can receive. Therefore I am delighted to share the news that Lennart Harnefors, a Senior Principal Scientist (SPS) at ABB Corporate Research in Västerås has been named an IEEE Fellow by the IEEE Board of Directors.
Recognizing the achievements of its members is an important part of the mission of the IEEE. Each year, following a rigorous evaluation procedure, the IEEE Fellow Committee recommends a select group of recipients with outstanding records of accomplishments for elevation to IEEE Fellow. Less than 0.1 percent of voting members are selected annually for this elevation, which, as the highest level of membership, is given in recognition of a high level of demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment. An IEEE Fellow citation is viewed by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement.
Lennart is being recognized for his contributions to control and dynamic analysis of power electronic systems, which is his area of expertise at our CRC in Västerås. He joined ABB in 2005 initially working as a System Engineer at the HVDC Product Group in Ludvika, then became Associate R&D Project Manager in 2007 and R&D Project Manager in 2009. In these capacities he was involved in the development of HVDC Light–the first HVDC Light using Cascaded Two Level converter technology. In 2011 he was appointed as a part-time Adjunct Professor of Power Electronics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. In 2012 Lennart joined ABB Corporate Research in Västerås and was promoted to SPS in 2013.
Upon hearing the news, Lennart shared with me, “A career that allows recognition both as an industrial and academic expert is rare and something that few companies can offer. I am very grateful to ABB for giving me this opportunity. IEEE membership brings you into a community of more than 400,000 electrical and electronic engineers worldwide and shows that you care about the common goal of advancing science and technology.”
As a pioneering technology leader ABB has been at the forefront of HVDC development and Lennart continues to put vision into practice as ABB drives innovation and establishes global standards.
The IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for advancing technology for humanity. Through its 400,000-plus members in 160 countries, the association is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics.