In Memoriam - Prabha Kundur

Prabha Shankar Kundur was a well-known and influential figure in the electric power industry. He received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1967 from the University of Toronto and spent over 40 years in the power utility sector. He served in a variety of leadership roles including most recently as President of Kundur Power system Solutions Inc., Toronto, Canada. He formerly served as the President and CEO of Powertech Labs Inc., the research and technology subsidiary of BC Hydro, from 1994 to 2006. Prior to joining Powertech, he worked at Ontario Hydro for nearly 25 years and held senior positions involving power system planning and design. Throughout his career, he held a variety of Adjunct Professor roles including at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.

He authored the well-known book Power System Stability and Control (McGraw-Hill, 1994), which is a standard modern reference for the subject. In addition, he performed extensive international consulting related to power system planning and design, and delivered well-received advanced level technical courses for utilities, manufacturers and universities around the world.

Dr. Kundur had a long record of service and leadership in the IEEE. He chaired numerous committees and working groups of the IEEE Power & Energy Society and was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1985. He served as the Chair of the IEEE Power System Dynamic Performance Committee from 2001 to 2003. From 2004 to 2010, he served as a member of the IEEE PES Executive Committee and as the PES Vice-President for Education. He is the recipient of several IEEE awards, including the 1997 IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, 2005 IEEE PES Charles Concordia Power System Engineering Award, and the 2010 IEEE Medal in Power Engineering.

Dr. Kundur was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2003 and as a Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2011. He was awarded two honorary degrees: Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Politechnica of Bucharest, Romania in 2003, and Doctor of Engineering, Honoris Causa by the University of Waterloo, Canada in 2004. To recognize his technical leadership, the IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award was established in his honor in 2012.

Dr. Kundur was also very active in CIGRE for many years. He served as the Chairman of the CIGRE Study Committee C4 on “System Technical Performance” from 2002 to 2006, and as a member of the CIGRE Administrative Council from 2006 to 2010. He was the recipient of the CIGRE Technical Committee Award in 1999. He was awarded the CIGRE Medal in 2014.

To his family, he was a source of great positivity, inspiration and generosity. He was a loving and devoted husband to Geetha Kundur for 55 years and great fun to his grandchildren, Linus and Ptolemy, whom he took on family vacations and brought gifts for from around the world. He was especially proud of his daughter, Deepa Kundur, who in many ways followed in his footsteps.

His legacy will continue through the many students he has educated through his courses, papers and seminal book, through the colleagues he has mentored and supported over the decades and through his family whom he has inspired to live with a strong sense of purpose and service. Thoughts in the memory of Prabha Shankar Kundur and for his family may be posted at:

https://sites.google.com/view/prabha-shankar-kundur-memorial/home

 

If you are going to the 2019 General Meeting in Atlanta, please join the group to pay tribute to Prabha Kundur - Information Below:

Prabha Kundur Memorial Session

Monday, August 5, 2019 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

PES General Meeting, Hilton Atlanta, Room 301