Newcastle University in Singapore

Staff Profile

Dr Naayagi Ramasamy

Assistant Professor, Senior Tutor

Background

Biography

Dr. Naayagi obtained her Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronics Engineering securing University I rank with gold medal from Bharathidasan University, India, and her Master’s in Power Electronics and Drives securing University II rank with gold medal from Anna University, India. She has received several merit scholarships, certificates and awards for her outstanding performance in academics. She completed her PhD from the University of Manchester, UK, and her PhD was fully funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK and Rolls-Royce through the Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award (DHPA). She is the first recipient of the DHPA from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester. She is an alumni member of the University of Manchester and serves as a Mentor for the Manchester Gold Mentoring Programme.

After completing her doctoral studies, she worked as Lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Greenwich, UK. She has more than 10 years of full-time teaching experience. During her time at the University of Greenwich, she organized the first-ever Kent heat of the IET Present Around the World Competition in 2011. During her time in India, she organized a staff development programme on Electrical Systems for Wind Energy Technologies as Chair in collaboration with the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Government of India.

She is an Associate Editor for IET Power Electronics  journal. Her main research interest is on applications of power electronic circuits and systems for aerospace, electric vehicles, smart grids, microgrids and sustainability.

She is a Senior Member of the IEEE and Life Member of ISTE. 

Educational Qualifications

PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK

M.E in Power Electronics and Drives, Anna University, India

M.Sc in Information Technology (part-time), Alagappa University, India

B.E in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bharathidasan University, India                                   

Awards, Grant, Medals, and Honours

2016            Fellow of Higher Education Academy

2016            Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Studies in Academic Practice

2016             Newcastle Teaching Award

2016             Global Excellence Fund in partnership with National University of Singapore

2016 – 2017    Biography included in the 12th Edition of Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering,  USA

2015                Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK

2015                Elevated to Senior Member grade of the IEEE, USA 

2014                2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century, (8th Edition), International 

                          Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK

2014                Biography included in 31st Edition of Marquis Who's Who in the World, USA

2012                IET Woman Engineer Award, IET Young Professions Section Chennai, India

2011                University of Greenwich, UK Travel Grant (for papers presentation in IEEE Conference)

2009                Biography included in 26th Edition of Marquis Who's Who in the World, USA

2006                EPSRC–Rolls Royce badged Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award

2005                Institutional Sponsorship for paper presentation in IEEE PEDS Conference

2005                Outstanding M.E. Student Award

2005                Anna University Gold Medal (for securing University II Rank in Master's degree)

2005                Awarded Medallion for securing College I Rank in Master's Degree

2001                V.K.N. Thanthai Periyar Gold Medal

2001                Awarded NSC and Merit Certificates (for securing University I Rank in B.E Degree)

2001                T.R. Rajagopalan Award for Best Academic Excellence

2001                T.R. Rajagopalan Award for Best Outgoing Female Graduate

1996                Obtained School First in HSC (12th Standard) Examination

1994                Eagalaivan Award

1994                Obtained School First in SSLC (10th Standard) Examination

Research Scholarships for Polytechnic Staff (Singapore)

M.Phil and PhD research scholarships are available for polytechnic staff members (Nanyang, Ngee Ann, Singapore, Temasek, and Republic Polytechnics) who are enthusiastic to pursue research in the exciting area of power electronics. This is an excellent opportunity for Singapore polytechnic staff to obtain a world class UK university research degree!!! Please contact for further information and discussion.

Research Scholarships at Newcastle University International Singapore (NUIS)

NUIS currently offers a variety of research scholarships for working professionals in SMEs, larger industries and research institutes - more information can be found here. To apply for a scholarship and for further discussion, please contact Dr. Naayagi


Research

Dr. Naayagi is a member of the Electrical Power Research Group and her profile can be viewed on Google Scholar.

Research Interests:

Power electronic circuits and systems for aerospace applications

Modelling and design of power electronic converters for electric vehicle applications

Low carbon electrical energy systems

Advanced power electronic converters using state-of-the-art and emerging devices and materials

Dual active bridge DC-DC converters, Interleaved boost converters, Switched capacitor converters

Power electronic solutions for green energy (solar, wind)

Research Grants:

Secured a Research Project grant through the Global Excellence Fund in partnership with National University of Singapore on the title “Fault-Tolerant High Voltage High Power Converter for DC Collection Point of Future Offshore Windfarm HVDC Networks”.

Three Doctoral Training Award (DTA) research proposals submitted to Newcastle University, UK under the Energy theme have been successful. Each DTA grant, worth GBP 74000 for 4 years, sponsors a full-time PhD student in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Following are my three research proposals which have been selected in the SAgE DTA 2016 scheme of Newcastle University, UK.

  • Renewable Energy Resources Integration using Advanced Power Electronics Converters
  • Solar Energy Harvesting using Switched Capacitor Converters and Self-timed Electronics
  • Efficient Energy Conversion in Smart Grids

Two Newcastle – Singapore PhD Studentship Project proposals submitted to Newcastle University, UK jointly with National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore academics have been successful. Each PhD scholarship, worth GBP 80000 for 4 years, sponsors a full-time PhD student in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Following are my two research proposals which have been selected by the University.

  • High Performance Converter for Future Offshore Windfarm Electricity Networks
  • Advanced Direct AC/AC Converter for Low Frequency AC Transmission Systems

Current Work:

Fault-tolerant converter for future offshore windfarms

Health monitoring of power devices

Modelling and analysis of dual active bridge DC-DC converter for aerospace applications

Interleaved boost converter for renewable energy applications

Power dense converter design using emerging devices

Reviewership:

IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications
IET Power Electronics
Journal of Power Electronics (Korean Institute of Power Electronics)
International Journal of Electronics (Taylor & Francis, UK)
Electric Power Systems Research (Elsevier Journal)
The 39th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, November 2013, Vienna, Austria
IEEE Business, Engineering and Industrial Applications Colloquium, April 2013, Langkawi, Malaysia
IEEE 5th India International Conference on Power Electronics, December 2012, Delhi, India
IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy, December 2012, Malaysia
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Colloquium, April 2012, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
9th IEEE International Conference on Power Electronics and Drive Systems, December 2011, Singapore
IEEE Applied Power Electronics Colloquium, April 2011, Johor Bharu, Malaysia

Supervision:

Richard Mabasa, “Health Monitoring of 3.3kV Power Modules,” PhD in EEE, Since 2013, Newcastle University, UK.

He Liu, “High Voltage High Power Modular Multilevel Converter for Offshore Windfarm DC Collection Point,” PhD in EEE, Since 2014, Newcastle University, UK.

Nicola Chiodetto, “High Power Density Propulsion Motor for Hybrid Electric Aircraft”, PhD in EEE, Faculty of SAgE, Since September 2016, Newcastle University, UK.

Muhammad Bin Mohamad Saifuddin, “Applications of Multi-Agent System for Active Network Management,” PhD in EEE, Since September 2015, Newcastle University International Singapore.

Fwa Hua Leong Keith, “Automatic Detection of Frustration of Novice Programmers from Contextual and Keystroke Logs,” PhD, Faculty of SAgE, Since September 2014, Newcastle University, UK.

Weixian Li, “Intelligent Multi-Agent System (MAS) for Smart Home Energy Management,” PhD in EEE, Since September 2015, Newcastle University International Singapore – PGR Progression Panel Member for this candidate.

Tiong Teck Teo, “Application of Computational Intelligence in Energy Management System,” PhD in EEE, Since September 2015, Newcastle University International Singapore – PGR Progression Panel Member for this candidate.

Yang Thee Quek, “Computational Intelligence in the DC Micro-grid Applications in Tropical Urban Landscape,” PhD in EEE, Since July 2014, Newcastle University International Singapore – PGR Progression Panel Member for this candidate.

Mohamed Isa Mohamed Nasser, “Omni-Directional Camera EKF-SLAM using Monocular Cues,” PhD in EEE (part-time), Since September 2015, Newcastle University International Singapore – PGR Progression Panel Member for this candidate.

Mammen Varughese, "Nonlinear Control System Analysis in Power Electronics for Low Carbon Vehicle", MPhil in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Newcastle University, UK, 2016.

10 BEng (Hons) final year project students (2016 - 2017) in Singapore. One of my final year project students under my supervision secured the Best Dissertation Award for her project work in the School of EEE at NUIS in 2016 - the detail is given below:

Tan Hui Ying Felicia, “Advanced Power Converter for Grid-tied Photovoltaic Systems,” BEng (Hons) Electrical Power Engineering, Newcastle University International Singapore, 2016. 

Supervision Successes

Following students received the IEEE PES Singapore Chapter travel grant/Conference support grant for their papers as a result of my PhD/project supervision:

B.M.S. Muhammad Ramadan, R.T. Naayagi, W.L. Yee, “Modelling, Simulation and Experimentation of Grid Tied Inverter for Wind Energy Conversion Systems,” Accepted in the IEEE International Conference on Green Energy and Applications, March 25-27, 2017, Singapore. (Best Presentation Award)

B.M.S. Muhammad Ramadan, T. Logenthiran, R.T. Naayagi, C. Su, “Accelerated Lambda Iteration Method for Solving Economic Dispatch with Transmission Line Losses Management,” Proceedings of IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies – Asia Conference, pp. 138-143, 2016, Melbourne, Australia.

            (B.M.S. Muhammad Ramadan received the IEEE PES Student Travel Grant for attending ISGT 2016)

N.J.L. Lim, T. Logenthiran, R.T. Naayagi, V.T. Phan, “Strategical Studies on Frequency and Voltage Control of an Islanded Microgrid,” Proceedings of IEEE TENCON Conference, pp. 1439-1442, 2016, Singapore.

             (N.J.L. Lim received the IEEE PES Singapore Chapter Conference support grant)

B.M.S. Muhammad Ramadan, T. Logenthiran, R.T. Naayagi, C. Su, “Hybridization of Genetic Algorithm and Priority List to solve Economic Dispatch Problems,” Proceedings of IEEE TENCON Conference, pp. 1471-1474, 2016, Singapore.

            (B.M.S. Muhammad Ramadan received the IEEE PES Singapore Chapter Conference support grant)

11 BEng (Hons) final year project students (2016-2017) in Singapore

7 BEng (Hons) final year project students (2015 - 2016) in Singapore

6 BEng (Hons) final year project students (2014 - 2015) in Singapore

12 MSc project students (2010 - 2011) in the UK

8 BSc (Hons) project students (2010 - 2011) in the UK

2 M.E project students (2005 - 2006) in India; Also supervised a number of Bachelors student projects.

Teaching

Teaching Experience and Interests: 

Dr. Naayagi is passionate about teaching and has more than 12 years of full-time teaching experience. She has received excellent feedback from students in the UK, Singapore and India for the modules she has taught so far.

Current Teaching:

From July 2014: Lecturer in Electrical Power Engineering

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Newcastle University, Singapore Campus (NUIS)

Modules:

EPE2200 Automatic Control

EEE3201 Electrical Machines and Generators

EEE2200 Automatic Control

EEE2205 Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

EEE2207 Project and Professional Issues

EEE3207 Individual Project

Past Teaching:

In the UK:

As Lecturer in Electrical Engineering (2010 – 2011) at the University of Greenwich (Medway), UK

ELEC1009 Introduction to Power (Level 5) – Module Leader                                                

ELEC0017 Power Electronics (Level 6 and MSc) – Module Leader

Final Year Project (BEng)

MSc Individual Project

In India:

Courses taught during 2000 – 2006 and 2011 – 2014 at Universities and engineering colleges:

Analysis of Power Converters (PG)

Flexible AC Transmission Systems (PG)

Solid State DC Drives (PG)

Power Electronics (UG)

Power Electronics Laboratory (UG)

Solid State Drives (UG)

Protection and Switch Gear (UG)

HVDC Transmission Systems (UG)

Electrical Machines I & II (UG)

Electrical Machines Laboratory (UG)

Electric Circuits (UG)

Microprocessor and its Applications (UG)

Digital Electronics (UG)

Electronic Circuits (UG)

Electron Devices (UG)

Basic Electrical Engineering (UG)

Other Roles and Responsibilites:

Senior Tutor (NUIS), August 2017 onwards

Athena SWAN Academic Lead since August 2017

Personal Tutor for Stage 2 and Stage 3 students

Senior Tutor (EPE), January 2016 onwards

IET Accreditation Coordinator

Member of Board of Studies, NUIS

Member of Board of Examiners, NUIS

Member of Diversity Working Group, NU

Publications