Hua "Kevin" Bai received the BS and PhD degrees from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2002 and 2007, respectively. Bai was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2007~2010. He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kettering University (former General Motor Institute) as an assistant professor in 2010 and earned his early tenure as associate professor in 2015. He became the associate professor in CECS, UM-Dearborn in 2017. In August 2018, he joined Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville as an Associate Professor. He was promoted to Professor in 2024, and elected as National Academy of Inventor Fellow, Class of 2025.

 

His research focuses on power electronics with transportation electrification, particularly on wide-bandgap semiconductor-enabled power modules (for ambient and cryogenic applications), electric vehicle battery chargers, HV-to LV dc-dc converters, power propulsion inverters, battery management systems, and second-life battery. Over the past two decades, his research group has been sponsored by various automotive companies and U.S. Department of Energy to renovate and innovate onboard power electronics. He published 2 books, authored/co-authored more than >170 IEEE papers, filed 18 U.S. patent/PCT applications with 9 of them granted and licensed to the automotive industry. 

 

He is the associate editor of SAE International Journal of Electrified Vehicles, associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, and chaired two International Future Energy Competition.

 

Bai in teaches ECE-325 (electric energy system components), ECE-481 (power electronics), ECE-585 (electric vehicles) and ECE-684 (power electronics packaging).

 

His hobbies include running, volleyball and tennis.