Jih-Sheng 'Jason' Lai inducted as National Academy of Inventors fellow
Jih-Sheng "Jason" Lai, a globally recognized researcher in power electronics, has been inducted as a 2025 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
As the James S. Tucker Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Future Energy Electronics Center, Lai joins an elite group of fellows, including colleagues Jeff Reed, Eric Burger, and Alan Michaels. The class of 2025 fellows also included Mohamed Seleem Ph.D. '06, the Tyler and Frances Young Endowed Chair in Bacteriology at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
"Jason Lai’s work has had a deep impact through innovations in power electronics,” said Rose Qingyang Hu, department head. “He is an internationally recognized researcher and inventor, with a legacy of inspiring and educating the next generation of engineers. I’m honored to celebrate Jason’s induction into the National Academy of Inventors as a fellow."
Lai has spent more than three decades advancing technologies that improve the efficiency of high-performance energy conversion systems used in electric vehicles, renewable energy, energy storage, and power infrastructure. In his field, he's established an international reputation for achieving exceptionally high efficiency levels.
Over his career, Lai has published more than 500 refereed technical papers, earned more than 30 U.S. patents, and helped develop foundational technologies in multilevel power converters and advanced inverter systems. His scholarly work has been cited tens of thousands of times, and he was elevated to IEEE fellow for contributions to high-performance, high-power inverters. He also served as a Fulbright specialist and maintains active international collaborations, including partnerships with National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.
He joined Virginia Tech in 1996 after serving as a senior engineer and manager at the Electric Power Research Institute and as lead scientist for power electronics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
About the academy's 2025 class
According to the National Academy of Inventors, the 2025 fellow class hails from 127 research universities, government agencies, and research institutions across the United States. Collectively, the 2025 fellows hold more than 5,300 issued U.S. patents.
