"I truly appreciated the personalized nature of the program. Having a mentor like <name deleted for privacy>, who has deep experience in the industry, helped me navigate the massive scale of APEC with much more confidence. The insights into the "engineering world" and career advice were just as valuable as the technical discussions. The program effectively bridged the gap between being a student presenter and becoming a professional in the field." – Quote from student mentee that illustrates of the value of mentorship.

SMA created a mentorship program for APEC 2023 where every student mentee would have their own mentor. For APEC 2024 & 2025, we recruited student mentees from the student recipients of the Student Attendance Support (SAS) Program. For APEC 2026, we opened the program to all students attending APEC. Consequently, 37 students from 11 countries representing 31 different universities signed up for the mentorship program, and 36 unique mentors were matched to the mentees (with special thanks to those mentors who were willing to mentor two student mentees). Unfortunately, at the last minute, several mentors and mentees were unable to attend APEC, that brought the final participating count to 33 mentees and 34 mentors, which still broke all previous records!

This program is a great way for the power electronics community to support one another and build collaborative relationships especially between industry and academia. Several students requested an academic mentor so PSMA had to specifically recruit mentors from the academic community as many were unaware that they could participate as a mentor. Roughly 42% of mentors were from research which is another popular area of exploration for graduate students.

The mentorship program has six major objectives:

1. Take advantage of APEC
2. Explore career options & directions
3. Promote self & network (socially)
4. Meet subject matter experts
5. Introduce activities & events for PSMA, IAS & PELS
6. Have fun along the way

A key element of the program is to give mentees the opportunity to understand the true diversity of hardware, software, and system integration career options open related to power electronics in areas such as renewable energy, medical technology, environmental monitoring, industrial automation, smart mobility, data centers, Electric Vehicles, and Internet of Things. It gives them the opportunity to talk firsthand with people who have worked in a wide variety of roles and map out a suite of possible career paths in both industry and academia.

"Talking to my mentor was a very positive experience. Most of the times when working on a research topic we might not see if we're in the right direction for our careers and having my mentor share his experience made me understand how to better position myself in this scenario." – Quote from another student mentee.

Each mentee receives a mentor and a mentorship workbook with three separate phases: Pre-APEC, APEC, and Post-APEC, each containing multiple suggested activities.

To encourage mentees to try activities and attend events that they normally may have been reluctant to try, they would receive points. The students had to take the initiative to accumulate the most points.

Participant Recognition

Congratulations to the winner for APEC 2026:

• 1st Place ($500): Hongming Zhao, KU Leuven, Germany

Although PSMA has a $300 prize for second place and a $200 prize for third place, no other student mentee submitted their workbook to win despite extending the deadline. This is a classic example to share with future participants and a reminder that submitting their workbook is key to winner regardless of points. However, PSMA received positive feedback on the program, and several PSMA members noted active participation in the program. Consequently, all the mentees were "winners" in that they benefited from their mentorship and participation in APEC.

In addition, a mentee nominated their mentor for recognition:

• Jaume Roig – ON Semiconductor

Special thanks to the China Power Supply Society (CPSS) and Tyndall National Institute for providing the most mentors. Additionally, Apple deserves recognition for contributing the second-highest number of mentors. Hopefully, these affiliations and companies will inspire other companies to encourage mentorship at APEC. In fact, one mentor shared the following input. "More scheduled points of contact with Mentors."

Thanks to all other mentors who volunteered to guide our next generation of engineers!

Results

PSMA actively worked to improve the program for APEC 2026:

1. Worked with the APEC organizing committee to bring closer alignment with APEC (Special thanks to Alireza Safae for championing mentorship on the APEC organizing committee!) As a result, this student mentorship program was posted on the APEC website, the APEC website and app featured the kickoff meeting on how to get the most out of APEC, the APEC photographer captured the "class" photo for APEC 2026 above, etc.
2. Created a basic mentorship option vs. an immersive mentorship.
3. Added a prize raffle to those who gave feedback via a short survey.
4. Added a Special Request field to mentees and mentors' applications for language preferences, focus areas, etc.
5. Expanded the Mentorship room as a dedicated and quiet location for mentors and mentees to meet within an unfamiliar destination. In addition to posting several career options in the room to spark more discussion, we added several articles of interest and actual job postings from PSMA members who renewed their memberships before APEC.

This is just a summary of our mentorship efforts. Consider joining the PSMA Industry-Education Committee to help shape the mentorship program going forward. Contact power@psma.com to get on the invite list for the next committee meeting.

Here is what one student mentee had to say about the APEC mentorship program:
"Compared to traditional academic mentorship, the PSMA program feels much more practical and industry-aligned. The direct access to industry veterans in a professional setting is a unique advantage that I haven't seen in other university-led programs." As a result, 92% of both mentees and mentors would recommend this mentorship program to their colleagues and friends. The success of this program over the years encouraged PSMA to extend a slimmer version to the Workshop on Wide Bandgap Devices and Applications (WiPDA) in celebration of PSMA's 40th anniversary in 2025.

Success Story

A previous first place winner and APEC Rising Star from the Class of APEC 2024, Yijie Qian from Southeast University, of this mentorship program received a job offer at APEC 2026 by networking! Moreover, as a previous mentee, he mentored a student at APEC 2026 despite still being a student himself. Furthermore, his mentor from APEC 2024 encouraged others at his affiliation to be mentors, and his affiliation ultimately contributed the most mentors to the Class of APEC 2026! What started as a positive mentorship experience at APEC 2024 has really blossomed for both.

Student Mentorship Program Maintains APEC's Premier Status

This one-on-one mentorship program is unique to APEC (and WiPDA). While other conferences have one-to-many mentorship programs, such as coaching or roundtables, this mentorship program offers mentors an opportunity to give back to the community that has empowered their careers by focusing on the needs of a single student. The mentorship workbook guides students with advice and supports APEC activities and events to augment the mentorship experience. Although PSMA funds and runs the program, mentors and mentees do not have to be members of PSMA; provided that they attend APEC. This mentorship program is another way that PSMA supports APEC as the premier power electronics conference globally.

Interested in becoming a mentor for WiPDA 2026 or APEC 2027? Contact mentors@psma.com.

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.