Fei

This talk provides an in-depth exploration of the peer-reviewing process in IEEE journals, starting from the manuscript submission to the final decision communication, with each crucial step being outlined and explained. Beginning with the essentials for preparing a paper for submission to an IEEE journal, the common causes of immediate rejection by the Journal administrator are revealed through a detailed examination of the checklist. Further, the roles of the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and the Associate Editor (AE) are dissected. Particular attention is given to the tools used for selecting and assigning reviewers, including insights into the major reviewer databases employed by IEEE journals. The talk then covers how an Associate Editor formulates recommendations and the way the Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision. Lastly, the talk discusses the next steps following the decision, detailing what authors should do based on the decision communicated. The talk will conclude with a Q&A segment addressing common questions and providing answers to further clarify the IEEE peer-review process.

Biography:

Prof. Fei Gao (S’08 – M’10 – SM’15 - F'23) serves as the Executive Director of Research, Doctoral Studies, and Innovation at the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM) and is also a Full Professor at UTBM, France. He earned his PhD in Renewable Energy from UTBM in 2010, receiving the Distinguished Youth Doctor Award. Prof. Gao specializes in hydrogen fuel cells for transportation and digital twin technology in modern power electronics and energy systems. He is a Fellow of both IEEE and IET. He is the recipient of 2020 "IEEE J. David Irwin Early Career Award" from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, 2022 "Leon-Nicolas Brillouin Award" from SEE France, and 2022 industrial "Sustainable Future Visionary Award" from Typhoon HIL. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Industrial Electronics Technology News, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, and holds leadership roles in various IEEE societies, including Chair of the Award Committee and of the Constitution & Bylaws Committee of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Council, Vice-Chair of the Technical Committee on Electrified Transportation Systems of the IEEE Power Electronics Society and Vice-Chair of the Industrial Automation and Control Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.

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Mohamed

Power and energy systems are becoming increasingly complex due to the rapid integration of  renewable energy, power electronics, digital technologies, and advanced automation. Ensuring their reliability and resilience now requires more than incremental improvements in traditional condition monitoring and predictive maintenance techniques. While data-driven and deep learning methods have delivered notable progress, their real-world impact remains limited by data scarcity, weak generalization, lack of physical interpretability, and difficulties in integrating heterogeneous sources of engineering knowledge.

This keynote emphasizes that the next major advance will come from a shift toward cognitive, system-level intelligence, enabled by recent developments in large language models (LLMs) and other foundation models. Rather than viewing these models as replacements for physics-based or data-driven approaches, the talk presents a layered architectural vision. In this framework, physics-guided hybrid models and digital twins remain responsible for physically consistent state estimation and prognosis, while foundation models operate at a higher level to interpret, integrate, and contextualize their outputs. Positioned as a cognitive layer, foundation models enable cross-system reasoning, fusion of numerical results with operational and maintenance knowledge, and human-interpretable decision support. This capability is essential for movingbeyond today’s disconnected, system-specific monitoring solutions toward coherent system-wide situationalawareness.

 The keynote will show how digital twin-centric architectures provide the structure needed tosafely integrate foundation models into power and energy systems, preserving engineering rigor whileenabling higher-level reasoning. Looking ahead, the talk briefly outlines how emerging model classes, such asefficient language models, multimodal models, and predictive world models, may further enhance this vision.The presentation concludes with key challenges related to validation, uncertainty, and safe deployment, andoffers a roadmap toward trustworthy, foundation model-enabled monitoring and prognosis for future powerand energy infrastructures.

Biography:

Mohamed Benbouzid (Fellow, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer
engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France, in 1994, and the
Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches degree in electrical engineering from the University of
Amiens, France, in 2000.
After receiving his Ph.D. degree, he joined the University of Amiens as an Associate Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since September 2004, he has been with the University of
Brest, France, where he is currently a Full Professor of Electrical Engineering. He also serves as a
Distinguished Professor at the Shanghai Maritime University, China. His research interests include
the analysis, design, and control of electric machines; variable-speed drives for traction, propulsion,
and renewable energy applications; as well as the failure diagnosis and prognosis of
electromechanical systems.
Dr. Benbouzid is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is the
Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal on Energy Conversion and the Applied Sciences (MDPI)
Section on Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. He is a Subject Editor of the
IET Renewable Power Generation.

Email:

Maya

Biography:

Dr. Maya Sleiman is CTO of Kalysta Actuation and an associate researcher at the IBISC Laboratory, Université d’Évry – Université Paris-Saclay. She obtained her PhD in Robotics from Université Paris-Saclay, where her research focused on new actuation technologies for humanoid robotics and assistive devices. Her expertise includes mechatronic design, electro-hydraulic actuation, and materials. She has contributed to several international publications and patents related to robotic actuation technologies and actively collaborates with academic and industrial partners in robotics and mechatronics.

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