Attention NAE Members
Starting June 30, 2023, login credentials have changed for improved security. For technical assistance, please contact us at 866-291-3932 or helpdesk@nas.edu. For all other inquiries, please contact our Membership Office at 202-334-2198 or NAEMember@nae.edu.
Click here to login if you're an NAE Member
Recover Your Account Information
This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy...
This is the 28th volume of Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and international members. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and international members, the Academy carries out the responsibilities for which it was established in 1964.
Under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering was formed as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. Members are elected on the basis of significant contributions to engineering theory and practice and to the literature of engineering or on the basis of demonstrated unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. The National Academies share a responsibility to advise the federal government on matters of science and technology. The expertise and credibility that the National Academy of Engineering brings to that task stem directly from the abilities, interests, and achievements of our members and international members, our colleagues and friends, whose special gifts we remember in this book.
Results Found
BY GERALD THOMAS HEYDT
THOMAS ANTHONY LIPO, elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1965, “for contributions to the design and development of variable-speed drives and motor controls,” died May 8, 2020, at the age of 82.
Tom was born in Milwaukee on February 20, 1938, to Emil and Winifred Lipoglavsek. When he was 11, the family legally shortened their last name to Lipo. He spent his early life in Milwaukee, where he faced mobility challenges due to childhood polio. Nonetheless, he pursued walking, camping, and hiking, hobbies he maintained throughout his life. He enjoyed outdoor activities, particularly fishing, and later in life traveled extensively worldwide.
Tom received his early engineering education at Marquette University, where he earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electrical engineering. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968, defending his doctoral thesis, “Lyapunov Stability Analysis of a Class of Inverter Drives.” His research exemplified the depth of his mathematical and engineering expertise, which defined his 50-year professional career.
He began his career at the General Electric Research Laboratory (later restructured into GE Corporate Research and Development Center) in Schenectady, New York, where he worked with a pioneering group of engineers in solid-state power electronics and adjustable-speed motor drives. Many of his contributions to the practical implementation of high-power rotating machine controls and designs are reflected in his 50 U.S. patents.
In 1979, he joined the faculty at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1981, he moved to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he and Donald Novotny co-founded the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC), an industry-supported research and development collaboration with more than 80 members.
Tom was perhaps best known for his work on energy and power control using pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques, which optimize the performance of electric machines and other power devices by varying the waveshape of applied voltages. While the basic concept of PWM is simple, its mathematical modeling, analysis, and control are highly complex. Tom authored or coauthored more than 700 technical papers and five books, primarily focused on how to use electronic controls at high power levels to achieve high performance in electromechanical devices. His research often leveraged waveshape design, particularly PWM methods, to improve efficiency and reduce energy losses.
His research and teaching centered on applications of electric machines, and his work was characterized by creativity in electric machine design. He was instrumental in developing several new classes of machines, such as permanent magnet- and reluctance-based machines, which are widely used in commercial products today.
A hallmark of Tom’s career was his dedication to sharing his expertise in high-performance energy conversion with students, colleagues, and employers on an international scale. He mentored more than 200 graduate students, many of whom went on to distinguished careers. To honor the knowledge he imparted, a group of U.S. and international students established a scholarship initiative in his name after his passing.
He was recognized by several professional organizations for his contributions, earning numerous honors throughout his career in addition to being elected a member of the NAE. He was named Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he received the IEEE Medal in Power Engineering, and he was also honored with the Hilldale Award in Physical Sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Tom passed away at his home in Middleton, Wisconsin, after a two-year battle with cancer. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Christine, who died in 2004 after a tragic accidental fall. They were married for 40 years. His brother James, a medical doctor in Mukilteo, Washington, died in 2015, and his sister, MaryAnn Arnold of Janesville, Wisconsin, died in 2022. Tom is survived by his second wife, Sandra Eimen of Tallahassee, Florida; his children, Carl, Emily, Patrick, and Anna; and nine grandchildren.