Omer C. Onar, a Ph.D. candidate in ECE Assistant Professor Alireza Khaligh’s Energy Harvesting and Renewable Energies Laboratory (EHREL) research group, has been selected to receive the distinguished Alvin Weinberg Fellowship of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The fellowship is awarded to outstanding early career scientists and engineers with an interest in energy and energy-related science and technology challenges.

Onar is author/coauthor of more than nine journal articles, twelve conference papers, and two books. He is the recipient of the 2008-2009 IEEE-VTS Transportation Electronics Fellowship and the 2009 Joseph J. Suozzi INTELEC Fellowship in Power Electronics.

The Alvin M. Weinberg Fellowship honors Enrico Fermi Award winner and former ORNL Director (1955-1973) Alvin Weinberg. Weinberg Fellows work at the frontiers of science and engineering fields that have the potential to transform energy technologies. Even the opportunity to interview for this distinguished fellowship is considered an honor in itself. Fellowship appointments are for up to two years, with a possible renewal for a third.