EECS PhD student and entrepreneur named to

Nelson X. Wang, EECS PhD student

EECS Staff

It’s been memorable couple of months for EECS graduate student Nelson Xuntuo Wang.

First, Forbes named Wang to its fourth annual “30 Under 30 in Asia” list of young entrepreneurs and innovators. Wang, who co-founded a high-tech clean-energy startup, was recognized in the Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy category.

Then, a few weeks later, Wang’s company, CZAR-POWER (“CZAR” stands for “carbon zero advanced research”) received $250,000 in a business competition run by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC’s) InnovateMass program. The Cambridge-based company will use the funds “to implement a high-efficiency smart, solar canopy-powered EV [electric-vehicle] charger with the ability to seamlessly integrate solar generation and grid power,” the agency announced at the time.

Wang co-founded CZAR-POWER with researchers from MIT, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and Kettering University (formerly the General Motors Institute). Co-founders included EECS Professor James L. Kirtley Jr., who is now chairman of the company’s advisory board. CZAR-POWER is working closely with Eversource, a major New England utility, to build a solar-power fast-EV-charging station, an effort Wang describes as “a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity.”

Wang received bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and Kettering University, then earned a master’s degree in EECS from MIT. He received an Irwin Mark Jacobs (1957) and Joan Klein Jacobs Presidential Fellowship from MIT.

Before launching CZAR-POWER, he worked on energy-related research projects with the U.S. Department of Energy, Magna International, Chrysler, and the former Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates. He has co-authored several international journal and conference papers, judged or reviewed 35 papers for major journals, and filed for patents on five inventions.