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One of the things Rod Bayliss III ’20, MEng ’21 remembers most vividly from his childhood is his father’s 1964 Ford Mustang. “I was fascinated by this car,” says Bayliss. “Especially an engine that converts oxygen and fuel into energy.”

Bayliss grew up in Augusta, Georgia. Mathematics and physics were easy for him, and in high school he was carried away by Latin, Greek and discussions. “I especially loved the Latin grammar,” he recalls, “with declensions that allow you to move words in a sentence. It reminded me of solving engineering problems. “

Bayliss’s parents, both of whom have an engineering background, persuaded him to consider career opportunities in electrical engineering. At MIT, he signed up to work with Professor David Perrault, SM ’91, Ph.D. ’97, on his research in power electronics through the Undergraduate Research Program (UROP).

“At the time, I still thought I wanted to work on engines,” says Bayliss. “But in this UROP, I discovered power electronics. The practice of moving energy. That was the name of the game, and I liked it. “

After learning how electrical energy is generated, stored, and converted, he began work on an inductor – a device that can store large amounts of magnetic energy – that would generate high-frequency radio waves, an essential element in the etching process of ultra-thin silicon. crisps. “You put gas in a chamber and then you use those radio waves to convert the gas phase into plasma,” he explains. “Then you direct the plasma to etch. This process requires a tremendous amount of energy. “

After completing his bachelor’s degree in three and a half years, Bayliss stayed at MIT – and continued to refine his inductor – for another year, earning his master’s degree in January 2021. He is now studying for a doctorate at the University of California. Berkeley.

Accordingly, he returned to his first engineering love: engines. In particular, he is investigating new methods of storing electrical energy and converting it into a form that could reliably power an aircraft engine. Last March, in the Black Alumni / ae of MIT (BAMIT) research competition, an online competition in which alumni presented their research to a panel of judges, this work won the first Beiliss prize.

Bayliss knows the goal is difficult. “Charging an airplane with electricity is much more difficult than using fossil fuels,” he says. “The batteries are heavy. And the consequences of a system failure – from battery to inverter to engine – in flight will be catastrophic. But we’re going to make this power electronics of the aircraft work. ”