Dr. Christopher J. Iannello

Dr. Iannello began his career at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 1989 in the ground power systems group and has over 20 years experience in power systems. Prior to joining the NESC as the NASA Technical Fellow for Electrical Power, he served as the Discipline Deputy for the Electrical Power Technical Discipline Team.

For KSC he has been fortunate to be involved in some of the manned space flights most challenging technical issues including 114 Engine Cutoff (ECO) Sensor Electronics Circuit Analysis and the Shuttle Fuel Cell Pump anomaly. For the NESC, he has served or led on assessments which include the Russian Service Module Computer Shutdown Anomaly on ISS, the ISS Express Logistics Carrier EMC Test Failure, and the Station to Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) Power Transfer Unit (PTU) Controls evaluation.

In addition to his NASA career, Dr. Iannello has worked as a senior designer for an advanced power electronics design shop focusing on power electronics R&D (Apecor). Customers include John Deere, Emerson Electronics, Engineering Acoustics, NSF, and the Department of Defense. He has also served as a senior researcher in the University of Central Florida’s Florida Power Electronics Center, focusing on R&D activities to advance the state-of-the-art in Power Electronics with specific emphasis on power stage analysis/design as well as control loop design.

His design activities with academia and/or industry have included converter modeling using PSPICE, soft-switching, active power factor correction, solar array Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms/converter interface, high-frequency inverters, fuel cell interface, wind conversion inverters, and Pulse Width Modulated DC – DC converter voltage/current mode control loop design. Specific design projects include a 2kW inverter for a US navy contractor for a sonar buoy application, a bidirectional converter for John Deere in support for an ATV Hybrid Drive, and a Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm and hardware for the US Air Force. In one project, he served as a contributing designer on a team contracted by the US Army to develop a high power (100kW scalable to 300kW), high-power-density (8kW/L), high efficiency (95%), high-conversion-ratio (700V to 200V) DC-DC converter for vehicle drive. In addition, his analytical work includes collaboration with other researchers in the development of a novel topology and control scheme for a high-voltage, high-power DC-DC converter.

As a researcher, Dr. Iannello has published over 20 papers in engineering journals, leading discipline conferences, and tutorial seminars. All of the papers have been peer reviewed and many have been presented at international forums on power electronics. He serves as an independent technical reviewer for the Editor of IEEE journals (Transactions on Power Electronics and Transactions on Aerospace) and conferences and he has also served as an invited session chair at the Power Electronic Specialists Conference (PESC) for IEEE Power Electronics Society.

Dr. Iannello has served as a teaching adjunct professor in electrical engineering undergraduate and graduate programs ranging from theoretical foundations to advanced topics in power electronics. Courses taught include Principles of Electrical Engineering, Power Electronics I and II, Advanced Electronics I and II.

Dr. Iannello received his BSEE, MSEE, and PhD EE from the University of Central Florida in 1994, 1999, and 2001 respectively all with a Power Electronics emphasis. He lives in Orlando, Florida where he enjoys spending time with his four children, enjoys tinkering with embedded electronics, home improvement projects, and off road biking.