The Queen’s community is remembering Paresh Chandra (“PC”) Sen, professor emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who died in Kingston on Nov. 22 at the age of 85.

Dr. Sen was born in Bangladesh in 1938 and grew up there as an orphan, eventually moving to India to attend the University of Calcutta. He moved to Canada to pursue graduate study at the University of Toronto, where he earned his PhD in 1967. He joined Queen’s as a faculty member that year and made Kingston his home from then on. Dr. Sen retired in 2002 but remained active at the university and continued to mentor students.

Dr. Sen is known as “the father of power electronics at Queen’s,” and he was one of the first few in the world to introduce teaching and research programs in power electronics and electric drives at universities. At Queen’s, he built a reputation as a leader, visionary, educator, and mentor over the 56 years he was affiliated with the university. A significant figure in his field, he authored two internationally acclaimed textbooks, Principles of Electric Machines and Power Electronics and Thyristor DC Drives. His eminence in his field, combined with his characteristic humility and modesty, made him a highly respected role model for students, academics, researchers, and engineers.

Dr. Sen was a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He was the recipient of several major awards, such as the 2022 IEEE Richard Harold Kaufmann Award, 2022 IEEE-IAS Outstanding Educator/Mentor Award, 2008 IEEE-IAS Outstanding Achievement Award, 2006 IEEE-Canada Outstanding Engineering Educator Award, and 2019 Queen's University Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award.

A visitation will be held on Friday, Dec. 1 at 4:00 p.m. at the James Reid Funeral Home in Kingston, with a memorial service following at 5:30 p.m.

The flag outside Douglas Library will be lowered that day in honour of Dr. Sen.