2026 Outstanding Faculty Scholarship
San Diego State University
Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director, Cai Li & Daniel Chang Center for Electric Drive Transportation
My work is driven by a simple goal: make knowledge usable. I develop models and methods—and forge partnerships—that translate theory into deployable technologies, training the next generation of engineers and helping communities use evidence, creativity and innovation to solve real problems."
As a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at San Diego State University, Chunting Chris Mi is mentoring and inspiring the next generation of engineers with a focus on transportation.
Well-respected in the field of wireless power transfer and battery management systems for electric vehicles (EV), Dr. Mi also serves as director of the Cai Li & Daniel Chang Center for Electric Drive Transportation at San Diego State, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. His research has significantly advanced EV technology—making charging faster, more efficient and more affordable.
He created a circuit design that allows EVs to charge wirelessly with high efficiency. This technology is now recommended by the Society of Automotive Engineers as the international standard for wireless EV chargers.
Dr. Mi also pioneered the use of high-power capacitive wireless charging—once thought to only work at low power and for extremely short distances. With his team, he developed new designs that dramatically increase charging power and range.
New control methods developed by Dr. Mi make it possible for power converters to transfer energy more efficiently with higher power capability. These methods are now widely used in EV chargers, power conversion systems and next-generation grid equipment.
Dr. Mi’s work has also led to improvements in battery management systems, making them safer and more accurate at predicting a vehicle’s driving range.
Through efforts to make electric vehicles more reliable, Dr. Mi is helping to increase their adoption and thus reduce carbon emissions and curb climate change.
Before joining San Diego State in 2015, Dr. Mi was a professor at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. He is the recipient of the 2022 Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship from San Diego State. He has also worked in private industry, including at General Electric Canada and in leadership roles at several technology companies.
Dr. Mi holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto.