Faculty Directory

Dr. Xin Zan joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland as an Assistant Professor in late July 2023. During the deferral time before joining, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at RLE at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Zan received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 2022.  His dissertation was titled “Scalable Architectures for High Frequency and Very High Frequency Wireless Power Transfer”.  He also received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2016.

His research interests include 3-300 MHz Power Conversion and Wireless Transmission, and Pulse Power Electronics. 

A fun-fact of me: "I have been growing up on the highest plateau in the world, i.e. the third pole, for 18 years, but I am always grounded to the earth for most of my life."

He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including

• IEEE Industry Applications Society Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conversion Systems (IAS RES) Conference First Prize Paper Award in 2022
• IEEE PELS ECCE Best Paper on Emerging Technology Award Oral Presentation in 2019
• UMich Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement from the University of Michigan in 2019
• IEEE Power Electronics Society Energy Conversion Congress and Expo (PELS ECCE) Best Student Project Demonstration on Emerging Technology Second Place Award in 2018

I admire Nikola Tesla and I enjoy research like Egg of Columbus. 

I am striving to provide the proper electricity/energy/power for any applications that require electricity/energy/power, considering factors such as proper waveforms, time, amount, amplitude, polarity, frequency, size, position, and cost. These efforts may involve materials, electronics, power, control, and electromagnetics.

Currently, I am focusing on

1. 3 - 300 MHz Power Conversion and Wireless Transmission, especially for switched-mode power amplifiers and passive networks for wireless power transfer and plasma generation
2. Pulse Power Electronics, including high electric field, high magnetic field, high current, and high voltage generation and distribution.

A fun-fact about me: "I have been growing up on the highest plateau in the world, i.e., the third pole, for 18 years, but I am always grounded to the earth for most of my life."

ENEE719G       Advanced Topics in Microelectronics: High Frequency Power Electronics                   Fall 2023

A full list of publications can be found on google scholar.

Here are some selected publications 

3 - 300 MHz Power Conversion and Wireless Transmission

1. Xin Zan, Khandoker Nuzhat Rafa Islam, and David Perreault, “Wide-range switched-mode power amplifer arcihtecture,” 2023 IEEE 24th Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), Ann Arbor, MI, USA, 2023, pp. 1-9.
2. Xin Zan and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “100 MHz Symmetric Current-Mode Class D Wireless Power Transfer”, Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 4508-4525, Aug. 2023.
3. Xin Zan and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “Field Cancellation for Circuits Encircled by VHF Wireless Power Transfer Coils”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 46-52, Jan. 2023.
4. Xin Zan and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “Isolated Ultrafast Gate Driver with Variable Duty Cycle for Pulse and VHF Power Electronics”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 35, no. 12, pp. 12678-12685, Dec. 2020.

Pulse Power Electronics

1. Xin Zan, Daniel Roman, Reza Kheirollahi, Xiaonan Lu, Sheng Zheng, Fei Lu, and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “Medium Voltage Pulse Power Generator for Accurate Current Interruption”, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 3604-3615, April 2023.
2. Reza Kheirollahi, Xin Zan, Shuyan Zhao, Hua Zhang, Sheng Zheng, Xiaonan Lu, Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, and Fei Lu, “Capacitive Couple-Based Transient Current Commutation in Solid-State Circuit Breakers”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 4973-4978, May 2022.

Sensing and Measurement

1. Sung Yul Chu, Xin Zan, and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “Electromagnetic Model-Based Foreign Object Detection for Wireless Power Transfer”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 100-113, Jan. 2022.
2. Sung Yul Chu, Xiaofan Cui, Xin Zan, and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, “Transfer-Power Measurement Using a Non-Contact Method For Fair and Accurate Metering of Wireless Power Transfer in Electric Vehicles”, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 1244-1271, Feb. 2022