• Office Address: Min H. Kao Building, Room 520
• Phone: 865-974-8147
• Fax: 865-974-5483
• E-mail: tolbert@utk.edu

Education

• PhD in Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 1999
• MS in Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 1991
• Bachelor’s of Electrical Engineering (with highest honors), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 1989

Leon M. Tolbert is a Chancellor’s Professor and the Min H. Kao Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT). He received his bachelor’s in electrical engineering with highest honors in 1989, his M.S. in electrical engineering in 1991, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1999 from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He joined the engineering division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 1991 and worked on several electrical distribution and power quality projects at the three U.S. Department of Energy plants in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 1997, he became a research engineer in the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center (PEEMRC) at ORNL.

In 1999, he was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville where he is presently a Chancellor’s Professor and the Min H. Kao Professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He served as the Department Head from 2013 through 2018. He is a founding member and thrust leader for CURENT, the NSF/DOE Engineering Research Center established at UT in 2011 to develop technologies for the future electric grid. He is also a faculty member in the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research at UT. He does research in the areas of power electronics and power systems, microgrids, application of wide bandgap power electronic devices, multilevel converters, electric vehicles, interface with renewable and distributed energy resources, and reactive power compensation and active filters.

Tolbert is an adjunct participant at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of Tennessee.

Awards and Recognitions

Tolbert is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the 2001 IEEE Industry Applications Society Outstanding Young Member Award. He has had eight prize papers from the IEEE. He has received the following awards at The University of Tennessee: the Charles Ferris Faculty Award in 2019, Moses A. and Mayme Brooks Distinguished Professor Award in 2010, Engineering Teaching Fellow Award in 2022, Engineering Research Fellow Award in 2003, 2007, 2012, 2013, and 2017; Chancellor's Citation for Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement in 2003, Chancellor's Citation for Research and Creative Achievement in 2013, and Chancellor's Multidisciplinary Research Award in 2012.

Professional Service

Tolbert is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the IEEE Industry Applications Society, IEEE Power Electronics Society, and IEEE Power Engineering Society. He is presently the deputy editor-in-chief for the IEEE Power Electronics Magazine (2021 – 2023).  He was the Editor for the Industry Power Converter Committee of the IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications from 2014-2017. He was an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics from 2007 - 2012 and was elected to be an At-Large Member of the IEEE Power Electronics Society Advisory Committee for 2010 - 2012. He was the Membership Chair for the IEEE Power Electronics Society from 2011-2012. He was the chairman of the Education Activities Committee of the IEEE Power Electronics Society from 2003-2007.

• Power Electronics
• Application of Wide Bandgap Devices
• Microgrids and Power Distribution
• Multilevel Converters and Utility Interface with Renewable Energy Systems
• Electric Vehicles