ECCE faculty member earns French PhD
12 Oct 2022 | King Harold A. Recto, PhD, PECE
![Robert Alfie S. Peña, Ph.D.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/image1.jpeg)
The Department of Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering (ECCE) added a feather on its faculty’s cap after Robert Alfie S. Peña earned his docteur en génie électrique (PhD in Electrical Engineering) degree from the Université de Lyon in Villeurbanne, France last 22 September 2022. Dr. Peña is a full-time member of the department faculty and an alumnus of the Ateneo de Manila University.
His research focused on optimizing the health of electrical energy storage systems, which he undertook in the Ampère Laboratory of Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, Université de Lyon. His thesis entitled, “Improvement of the lifetime of electric energy storage systems by optimizing the connected modular power converters,” was supervised by Prof. Pascal Venet and Dr. Alaa Hijazi, experts in energy storage systems. As part of his studies, Dr. Peña conducted experiments at SuperGrid Institute (also in Villeurbanne, France) as a visiting PhD student. He used the institute’s modular multilevel converter (MMC) submodule with integrated energy storage mock-up in collaboration with its research engineers.
![Dr. Peña defending his thesis in French](/sites/default/files/inline-images/image2_1.jpg)
Dr. Peña’s doctorate was made possible by the support of the CHED-PhilFrance Scholarships and Bourse du gouvernement français of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as well as of the Embassy of France to the Philippines. Before he left for France in 2017, he was a researcher who also taught part-time in the ECCE department of the School of Science and Engineering.
The ECCE department supports Dr. Peña’s endeavor to impart his learnings in France to his students, continue in engineering research, and serve as lux in domino (light in the Lord).
![The president and members of the jury (left) applauding Dr. Peña (right) after a successful thesis defense](/sites/default/files/inline-images/image3_2.jpg)