IEEE Memorial Fund Honors Magnet Pioneer Swarn Kalsi

The IEEE Foundation this year established the EPICS in IEEE Dr. Swarn S. Kalsi Community of Projects fund to support projects “designed to inspire multidisciplinary teams of engineering students to collaborate and engineer solutions to address local community needs.”

The EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) in IEEE initiative provides opportunities for students to engage in service learning and collaborate proactively with engineering professionals and community organizations to develop solutions that address local challenges.

The new fund was created by the family of IEEE Life Fellow Swarn S. Kalsi to honor his legacy as a pioneer of temperature-superconducting magnet technology. Kalsi died on 2 March at the age of 85.

Related: Honor a Loved One With an IEEE Foundation Memorial Fund

He was a devoted IEEE volunteer, passionate about the importance of hands-on education and supporting up-and-coming engineers.

“Dad believed that education, especially an engineering degree, had the power to change lives,” Kalsi’s son, Sonny, says. “He was a lifelong teacher who cared deeply about all around him and wanted to share his knowledge.”

To further extend his legacy, Kalsi’s family worked with the IEEE Foundation to establish the new memorial fund.

“Dad’s desire was for each individual to reach their full potential, and he often said that ‘engineers build the future,’” says Kalsi’s daughter, Kiran. “In that way, the EPICS in IEEE program seemed like a natural way to honor him while supporting the next generation of engineers.”

An expert on superconducting magnet technology

Kalsi grew up in Kanpur, India, and earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1962 from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. He continued his education by earning a master’s degree in EE in 1963 from Benaras Hindu University, in Varanasi, India. He then moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a doctoral degree in EE at Imperial College London. After earning his Ph.D. in 1970, he moved to the United States with his wife, Kuldeep.

Throughout his 50-year career, Kalsi worked at industry-leading companies including AMSC (American Superconductor), General Electric, and Northrop Grumman. His work focused on designing and building superconducting magnets for motors and generators, power cables, and fault current limiters.

At AMSC, he worked to enhance the company’s development process for power equipment using high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technology.

“One of his major contributions was HTS rotating machines including motors, generators, and synchronous condensers,” says IEEE Life Fellow Alex J. Malozemoff, who worked with Kalsi at AMSC. “He contributed to the design of the industry-leading 36.5-megawatt ship propulsion motor for the U.S. Navy and the development and successful test of an HTS dynamic synchronous condenser.

“The creation of the new EPICS in IEEE Dr. Swarn S. Kalsi Community of Projects fund is a beautiful example of how an IEEE member’s impact can extend well beyond their lifetime.” — Karen Galuchie

“I consider him one of the most insightful and broadly experienced engineers in the HTS power engineering field.”

Kalsi was granted more than 30 U.S. patents.

After retiring in 2007, he founded Kalsi Green Power Systems, a consulting company in Princeton, N.J. As a consultant, he helped government and private clients design large superconducting generators and motors for wind turbines, ship propulsion, transformers, fault current limiters, and magnet systems.

Kalsi authored the book Applications of High Temperature Superconductors to Electric Power Equipment, released in 2011.

He was active with the IEEE Princeton Central Jersey Section for many years and was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2013 for “the development and application of high-temperature superconductor electric power equipment.”

Keeping the legacy alive

Since IEEE Educational Activities launched EPICS in IEEE in 2009, more than 12,000 students from 39 countries have participated in service-learning projects. EPICS provides student teams with up to US $10,000 in funding, along with resources and mentorship, for projects focused on four key areas of community improvement: education and outreach; the environment; access and abilities; and human services.

The Kalsi family made the single largest pledge in the EPICS program’s history, according to Karen Galuchie, the IEEE Foundation’s executive director.

The IEEE Foundation “couldn’t be prouder or more excited to establish the new EPICS in IEEE Dr. Swarn S. Kalsi Community of Projects fund,” says Marko Delimar, 2025 president of the Foundation. “It will recognize both Kalsi’s outstanding and indelible contributions to our industry throughout his renowned career, as well as inspire and support ongoing innovation by future generations.”

Jamie Moesch, managing director of IEEE Educational Activities, is grateful as well, saying, “Thanks to the Kalsi family’s incredible generosity, we can provide long-term support for service-learning projects for years to come, further empowering the next generation of engineers to advance technology for humanity.”

Former Kalsi colleagues and mentees have contributed to the fund. James Storey, a senior scientist at the Robinson Research Institute in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, supports the fund, for example. He worked with Kalsi on a superconducting project.

“Swarn was the team’s most valuable collaborator, informing our superconducting motor research programs for more than a decade,” Storey says. “I knew him as—besides being incredibly knowledgeable—a very kind, generous, and hospitable person. It was a true privilege to be able to learn from him.”

Establish a memorial fund

The IEEE Foundation partners with IEEE groups and the families of IEEE members to create memorial funds, which pay tribute to family members, friends, colleagues, teachers, professors, students, and others. This type of tribute honors someone while supporting future generations of engineers and celebrating innovation.

“The creation of the new EPICS in IEEE Dr. Swarn S. Kalsi Community of Projects fund is a beautiful example of how an IEEE member’s impact can extend well beyond their lifetime,” Galuchie says. “In this case, Kalsi’s family memorialized and supported his deep connection to IEEE and to the value of education by continuing his legacy through his professional home.

“Through the global, hands-on, educational opportunities this program offers to help advance technology for the benefit of humanity, EPICS in IEEE was a perfect match for Kalsi’s passion, and we’re so grateful to the Kalsi family for their generous and enduring gift.”

For more information on the fund or to donate to the initiative, visit its page on the IEEE Foundation website. To learn more about memorial and tribute funds, visit this page.