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200 Union Street SE, 4-174 Keller Hall Minneapolis, MN 55455-0170 Phone: 612-625-3300 |
Welcome from Department Head Randall Victora
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is committed
to educating the future work force and to conducting research with
collaborators from industry and government.
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The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering invites applications for multiple faculty positions in 4 areas: power and energy systems; communications and signal processing; RF/microwave/terahertz circuits and systems; embedded systems as part of the MnDRIVE Intiative.
The University of Minnesota has honored Prof. Victora with this year's Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate and Professional Education Award. The award recognizes his contributions to excellence in graduate and professional education. Recipients of the award become members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers (ADT) and are conferred with the title "Distinguished University Teaching Professor" or “Distinguished University Teacher.”
"With a focus on applications of physics to improve devices, Randall Victora had an extensive career in industry before switching to academics. As a faculty member in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and as director of the Minnesota Micromagnetics and Information Technology Center, he has revitalized the University’s program in magnetics while mentoring graduate students who now lead magnetics research programs across the nation and abroad. As director of graduate studies, Victora enhanced the visibility and competitiveness of graduates with innovations like customized graduate training, which raised the profile of the department and helped launch the careers of many micromagnetics professionals."
The University of Minnesota has honored Prof. Douglas Ernie with the Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award. Each year since 1965, the University of Minnesota has recognized a select group of teachers for their outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. As a recipient of the Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award, Prof. Ernie will become a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers (ADT) and be conferred with the title of "Distinguished University Teaching Professor."
"Douglas Ernie’s commitment to undergraduate education is evident in his teaching, advising, mentoring, curriculum enhancement, and involvement in his students’ learning experiences. A leader beyond the classroom, Ernie has redirected the college’s distance learning program to support all learners through educational technology. He is an advocate for equity and service-learning, having founded undergraduate research programs for diverse students and a learning abroad program in Kenya."
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is proud to announce that two of our doctoral students have been awarded the highly coveted Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year, by the University of Minnesota. The ECE awardees are doctoral candidates Hamza Farooq and Kai Wu. The award honors their excellence in their academic work, as well the professional promise they hold in their fields of specialty.
Kai’s research is titled “Giant Magnetoresistance-based Biosensing Device for Virus and Veterinary Disease Early Detection and Prevention.” ECE faculty Prof. Jian-Ping Wang’s group has successfully detected protein biomarkers for variety of human diseases such as lung and prostate cancers, and heart disease, besides environmental issues such as mercury pollution, using the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) based biosensing system. Kai’s work focuses on viral hemorrhagic septicemia and influenza type A virii. The goal is to bring accurate and sensitive biosensing equipment to non-lab settings such as clinics and homes. The GMR biosensor is expected to be an easy-to-use handheld device that can test for multiple diseases in a single step using a single body fluid sample. (Kai Wu is a doctoral candidate working under the guidance of Prof. Jian-Ping Wang)
Hamza’s research is titled “Brain Tissue Microstructure Imaging by Multi-compartment Models Estimation from Diffusion MRI Data.” His work focuses on estimating brain tissue microstructure from diffusion MRI data. Diffusion MRI detects patterns of water molecules diffusing inside brain tissue and can help characterize the microstructure of the tissue. A critical part of the process is to fit bio-physical models of brain tissue to the data. Additionally, current diffusion MRI data-acquisition protocols can be significantly optimized to improve the microstructure detection procedure. Hamza’s research will address these issues and will have a significant impact on clinical diagnosis related to brain tissue, and non-invasive methods of exploring tissue structural development.
Hamza is a Fulbright Fellow and is working under the guidance of Prof. Tryphon Georgiou (ECE), co-advised by Prof. Christophe Lenglet.
Doctoral student Luke Everson is the recipient of the highly competitive NSF IGERT program starting in Spring 2016 for a complete year. The NSF Neuroengineering IGERT training that Luke will begin provides interdisciplinary training opportunities in systems neuroengineering with focus areas in neural decoding, neural interfacing, and neuromodulation. Students in this program will be trained by academic experts in neuroscience and engineering, and will have several opportunities to collaborate with clinicians and the medical device industry. The traineeship provides an annual stipend, tuition waiver, and travel funds to cover travel to national or international conferences related to their IGERT research. Luke is working under the guidance of Prof. Chris Kim.
ECE faculty, Prof. Sang-Hyun Oh's collaborative work (with Prof. Stefan Maier of Imperial College, London) titled "Perfect Extinction of Terahertz Waves in Monolayer Graphene over 2-nm-wide Metallic Apertures" has been selected for Best of Advanced Optical Materials (2015 edition). Co-authors were ECE research associates Hyeong-Ryeol Park, and Seon Namgung, and ECE researcher Xiaoshu Chen.
ECE faculty Prof. Ulya Karpuzcu is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. The award is titled "Trading Communication and Storage for Computation to Enhance Energy Efficiency." The study will not only explore innovative techniques to unlock the energy efficiency premise of processors with recomputation capability, but also deliver tools and models to help the systems community in reasoning how to boost the energy efficiency of computing. Prof. Karpuzcu is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The CAREER award supports junior faculty who are committed to outstanding research and excellence in education.
ECE faculty Prof. Bethanie Stadler (on the right), and ECE department head Prof. Randall Victora were acknowledged at the 2016 IEEE MMM/Intermag Joint Meeting in San Diego in January. The acknowledgement was for hosting the IEEE Magnetic Society Summer School in June 2015. The summer school brought 80 students from all over the world to Minnesota for a week to learn about magnetics from global experts. Topics included fundamentals, measurements, dynamics, spintronic applications, data storage, materials, and biomedical applications. The school was led by Prof. Stadler and co-chaired by Prof. Victora.
Angelina Smith has won the best poster award at the 13th Joint MMM-Intermag Conference held in San Diego, Jan 11-15, 2016. The award was for her work, “Novel Spin Hall Effect Device for Perpendicular Magnetization Reversal Using a Dipole-Coupled Composite Structure.” (Angelina is a Ph.D. student advised by Prof. Jian-Ping Wang)
ECE faculty Prof. Murti Salapaka is the lead PI on a cyberphysical systems grant awarded by the NSF. In a cross-disciplinary endeavor, the proposed research seeks to understand successful and robust transportation in biological cells and leverage this knowledge to realize an effective transport mechanism at the micro scale. Successful realization of a robust transportation infrastructure that is effective even in a highly uncertain environment can have a transformative impact on several diverse areas such as medicine, drug development, electronics, and bio-materials. The research will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with the University of Minnesota as the lead institution receiving $638,000 (of the total grant award of $900,435). ECE faculty Prof. Tryphon Georgiou is a co-PI in this research undertaking.
Dr. Sung-Min Sohn, currently a research associate at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR), has been awarded the highly competitive K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award ($1 million for 5 years) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is a two-part award with the first part (K99 phase) providing 1 to 2 years of mentored support. Part 2, the R00 phase, will support 3 years of independent research contingent on starting an approved tenure-track or equivalent faculty position. His research entitled “Automatic RF signal tuning and matching system for MR imaging and spectroscopy” proposes an electrically driven automation system to tune and match RF coils rapidly and accurately. The automatic system will be implemented on a custom designed MR compatible microchip. Dr. Sohn received his doctoral degree in February 2013 under the guidance of Prof. Anand Gopinath.
Alumnus Nathan Lindquist is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. The award is titled "Digital Plasmonics-based nano-tweezing and nano-imaging for nano-particles." The CAREER award supports junior faculty who are committed to outstanding research and excellence in education. Nathan is currently working as Assistant Professor of Physics at Bethel University. He earned his doctoral degree in 2011 under the guidance of Prof. Sang-Hyun Oh.
Back Row (L to R): Ryan Weispfenning, Kyle Roberts, Jack Caughey, Prof. Andrew Lamperski. Front Row (L to R): Bandar Alghamdi, Srishti Gupta (displaying the app for the device), Peter Baldwin (holding the device)
The judges have spoken! The wearable hip angle sensor has been declared the best senior design project for fall 2015. Bandar Alghamdi, Peter Baldwin, Jack Caughey, Srishti Gupta, Kyle Roberts, and Ryan Weispfenning comprised the winning team.
The wearable hip angle sensor helps diagnose and address hip drop issues. The device, worn on the waistline when exercising, calculates the angle of the user’s hip, and produces an audible alert when the hip angle exceeds the healthy threshold angle. The accompanying Android smartphone application allows users to view their current hip angle and other statistics in real time.
The project was completed under the guidance of Prof. Andrew Lamperski.
Alumnus Jiang Hu (far left), now professor at Texas A&M University has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for contributions to gate, interconnect, and clock network optimization in VLSI circuits. He earned his doctoral degree in 2001, under Prof. Sachin Sapatnekar.
Prof. Massoud Amin (second from left) has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for leadership in smart grids and security of critical infrastructures.
Prof. Stergios Roumeliotis (second from right) has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for contributions to visual- inertial navigation and cooperative localization
Alumnus Zhong Feng Wang (far right), now at Broadcom Corporation, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow for contributions to VLSI design and implementation of forward error correction coding. He earned his doctoral degree in 2000, under the guidance of Prof. Keshab Parhi.
"Atomic and Electronic Structure of Exfoliated Black Phosphorus," a journal article co-authored by Prof. Steven Koester and Prof. Tony Low (along with other researchers from ECE and CEMS) has been featured on the cover of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A. Black phosphorus, a layered two-dimensional crystal with tunable electronic properties and high hole mobility, is quickly emerging as a promising candidate for future electronic and photonic devices.
Prof. Mehmet Akcakaya received the NIH R00 award in September. This is part two of the two-part Pathway to Independence award (K99/R00), with the second part being awarded at the start of a tenure-track or equivalent faculty position. It is one of the most competitive NIH early career awards, and is designed to support outstanding researchers transition from mentored research positions to tenure-track positions.
The inaugural Russell J. Penrose Excellence in Teaching Award has been confered on Prof. Jarvis Haupt. The award recognizes his genuine interest and excellent performance in teaching undergraduate and graduate students, and is based on strong student and peer evaluations, and quality of course materials. Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to teaching.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the formation of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) network and the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce that the Minnesota Nano Center has been selected to be one of the nodes in NNCI receiving an award of 4.5 M$ over five years. This follows an eleven year period of participation in the NSF National Nano Infrastructure Network over which the school was awarded 8 M$. The NNCI is designed to enable major discoveries, innovations, and contributions to education and commerce by providing researchers from academia, small and large companies, and government, with open access to university user facilities with leading-edge fabrication and characterization tools, instrumentation, and expertise within all disciplines of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology.
In addition to providing users access to a full range of fabrication equipment in Keller Hall and the new Physics and Nano building, as a new NNCI node the Minnesota Nano Center will support activities in two-dimensional materials, bionano, and, through participation by North Dakota State University, advanced packaging. Participation in the network will enable the University of Minnesota to further strengthen its capabilities in this vital area. The effort will be led by Prof. Stephen Campbell, who holds the Bordeau Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is the director of the Minnesota Nano Center.
Yulong has been awarded the highly competitive interdisciplinary fellowship by the University of Minnesota for his work on the creation of an ultra-small radiation dosimeter for cancer therapy using fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) technology. Because of its structure, conventional dosimeter uses the same element for radiation sensing (write) and data extraction (read), which makes it difficult to achieve both high scalability and sensitivity. FDSOI uses different elements and has the advantage of separating “read” and “write” as a dosimeter, thereby achieving high scalability and sensitivity simultaneously. The FDSOI dosimeter will be suitable for superficial dosimetry and can also be implanted directly into the patient. It will employ passive wireless sensing which could improve the application of in vivo radiation dose verification and ultimately benefit patient treatment outcomes. Yulong is working under the guidance of Prof. Steven Koester.
Using Curvature of Cellular Networks to Identify Cancer Cells
Prof. Tryphon Georgiou in a paper led and co-authored by Prof. Allen Tannenbaum and other researchers and faculty from Stony Brook University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, demonstrates that a certain geometric feature of protein networks can be used to identify cancer cells. The paper published in the Nature research journal Scientific Reports, addresses a key challenge in cancer therapy, to explain and quantify the apparent robustness of cancer cells. Advances on this front may significantly impact targeted treatment of cancer cell networks. The paper titled "Graph Curvature for Differentiating Cancer Networks" reveals the role of curvature as a cancer network characteristic, and its relationship to robustness as a functionality of the network. While the paper is focused on cancer cells, it points to the use of the analytical approach to the study of complex cellular networks to understand phenomena in molecular biology.
Cell robustness with respect to pairwise interactions (figure 1 in paper)
For access to the full paper, please click on the title of this news item.
In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus Vernon D. Albertson Passes Away
Vernon D. Albertson, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, passed away on June 6, 2015. He served as a faculty member in the department from 1963-1997.
Professor Albertson received his Bachelor of Science degree from North Dakota State University in 1950, his Master of Science degree from the University of Minnesota in 1956, and his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1962, all in electrical engineering. He worked at the General Electric Co. in Schenectady, NY from 1950-1952, and as a Communications Officer in the United States Air Force from 1952-1954.
In 1981, Professor Albertson set up the University of Minnesota Center for Electric Energy within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with the primary mission to support undergraduate education and graduate research in electric power and energy. He was also responsible for establishing a lasting connection between the University of Minnesota and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1981.
Professor Albertson did pioneering and seminal research in the area of protecting power systems from the effects of geomagnetic storms. In collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), he had magnetometers installed in northern Minnesota for measuring these currents. Professor Albertson and his students, based on their research, were instrumental in advising about the impact of stray currents in dairy farms. He was very active in IEEE, organizing annual meetings and seminars. He started MIPSYCON (Minnesota Power Systems Conference) fifty years ago, which has now turned into the premier conference in the upper Midwest, attracting attendees from all over the country and Canada.
Professor Albertson’s contributions to the field of electrical energy and power systems, his friendship, and generosity will be missed.
ECE Welcomes Professor Randall Victora as the New Department Head
We welcome Professor Randall Victora as the new head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He will be taking over from Professor David Lilja on July 1, 2015. Professor Victora has an outstanding record in teaching, research, and service, and the department looks forward to working under his leadership and guidance.
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ECE Welcomes Two New Faculty Members For 2015-2016:
Sarah Swisher
Sarah Swisher joins ECE as an Assistant Professor. She is completing her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Prior to her Ph.D. studies, Sarah worked on GPS systems for several years at Garmin International. Sarah's expertise is in materials for biocompatible and bioresorbable electronics. As an example, she and her collaborators designed and built a flexible electronic device that can provide early detection of pressure sores in patients. |
Mehmet Akcakaya
Dr. Mehmet Akcakaya joins ECE as an Assistant Professor. He received his graduate degrees from Harvard University and his undergraduate degree from McGill University (Montreal). He has worked as a postdoctoral research associate, and currently as an Instructor in Medicine, at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. |
ECE Faculty Receive Three NSF Early Career Development Awards
Congratulations to (pictured left to right) Professors Arya Mazumdar, Sairaj Dhople, and Jeong-Hyun Cho for being awarded the Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation. NSF grants this select award to junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of the University of Minnesota. |
Jarvis Haupt Receives Young Faculty Award From Darpa
Congratulations to Professor Jarvis Haupt for being awarded the highly competitive Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) providing rising research stars in junior faculty positions with funding, mentoring, and industry and DoD contacts to develope their research ideas. |
Winner announced for 2014 Fall Senior Design Show
First Place: 3dB Metamaterials Transmission Line Coupler"
ECE Project "3dB Metamaterials Transmission Line Coupler, |
Alumnus Meisam Razaviyan ('14) receives IEEE
2014 SPS Young Author Best Paper Award
Alumnus Meisam Razaviyan (‘14) was selected for the 2014 SPS Young Author Best Paper Award for his “On the Degrees of Freedom Achievable Through Interference Alignment in a MIMO Interference Channel. Co-authors were Gennady Lyubeznik and ECE Prof. Zhi-Quan Luo (who also was Meisam’s advisor. |
Prof. Nikos Sidiropoulos appointed ADC Chair
Prof. Nikos Sidiropoulos has been appointed to a five-year term as ADC Chair of Digital Technology based on his records of academic excellence and his contributions to the Digital Technology Center. |
Ph.D. student Md Al Mehedi wins DOW SISCA
Challenge Award for creating more sustainable magnets
| Ph.D. student Md Al Mehedi, advised by Prof. Jian-Ping Wang, received the top prize —a $10,000 award—in the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge held on Dec. 4 for his new process of making magnets out of iron and nitrogen eliminating the need to use rare earth elements typically used in standard magnets for applications such as motors and generators. The winning project was one of 12 submitted to the Dow SISCA challenge at the University of Minnesota, one of 17 colleges around the world participating in the competition. |
DTC and ECE Research Assoc. Prof. Kostas Slavakis
receives IEEE Signal Processing magazine Best Paper
| Research Assoc. Professor Kostas Slavakis, with The Signal Processing Magazine Best Paper Award |
Prof. Jian-Ping Wang has been elevated to IEEE Fellow
and appointed to U of MN Centennial Chair
| Prof. Jian-Ping Wang has been In addition, Prof. Wang has been The Centennial Chair was estab- |
University of Minnesota engineers make sound loud enough
to bend light on a computer chip
| “Our breakthrough is to integrate The researchers used the state- “What’s remarkable is that at this To read more, click here. |
ECE Team KPZZ finishes 6th in American
Epilepsy Society Seizure Prediction Challenge
| Prof. Keshab Parhi ( top left) and Ph.D. To review final standings, click here.
|
Prof. Beth Stadler named IEEE Magnetics
Society Distinguished Lecturer
| Prof. Beth Stadler has been named a 2015 IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Lecturer. Four international speakers, chosen annually, are awarded travel funds for up to 40 talks worldwide, with at least one tour each in Europe, Asia, and the US. Speakers are chosen on the basis of international reputation for excellence in their respective fields, speaking acumen, and the widespread interest within the greater magnetics community of their proposed lecture topics. Stadler’s talk is entitled, “Magnetic Nanowires: Revolutionizing Hard Drives, Random Access Memory (RAM), and Cancer Treatment.” For more details on the program and her talk, click here. |
Dr. Vasileios Kekatos receives honorable mention
in 2014 Post-Doctoral Series
Dr. Vasileios Kekatos received a Postdoctoral Career Development Honorable Mention in the U of MN 2014 Post-Doctoral Association Award Services Series. (Prof. Randall Victora, advisor) |
Ph.D student Lucas Taylor receives DEPS
Graduate Scholarship
ECE Ph.D. student Lucas Taylor received the 2014-2015 Directed Energy Professional Society Graduate Scholarship. He was one of eight students nationwide to receive a $10,000 award for studies in high energy lasers and high power microwaves. (Prof. Joseph Talghader, advisor) |
Ph.D. student Kartik Iyer receives Best Session
Presentation Award
ECE Ph.D. student Kartik Iyer received the IEEE IECON 2014 Best Session Presentation Award at the Conference in Dallas, Tex. His paper is titled “Multi-level Converter to Interface Low Voltage DC to 3-Phase High Voltage Grid with Medium Frequency Transformer Isolation.” (Prof. Ned Mohan, advisor) |
Prof. Wang and the Gold Gopher Magnetic Biosensing Team
Selected one of five Distinguished Award Prize winners
A team from the University of Minnesota led by Prof. Jian-Ping Wang
has been selected as one of five Distinguished Award Prize winners,
valued at $120,000, in the Nokia Sensing XCHALLENGE, a global
competition to develop breakthrough medical sensing technologies
that will ultimately enable faster diagnoses and easier personal
health monitoring.
The Golden Gopher Magnetic Biosensing Team has developed a
handheld device, named “z-Lab,” designed to detect various ailments
using disease indicators, or “biomarkers,” found in bodily fluids at
the earliest stages of the disease, often when symptoms are not
even present. A drop of fluid is placed on a small biochip
(~10 millimeters by 10 millimeters) and results of up to 10 health
indicators are displayed within 15 minutes on a smartphone,
tablet or other mobile device. The sensor can also be used for
monitoring other factors that can impact one’s health, such as
the mercury concentration in water.
“The high sensitivity of this device allows it to detect various ailments
—including infections, heart disease and even cancer—faster, easier
and earlier than ever before,” said Golden Gopher Magnetic
Biosensing Team Leader Jian-Ping Wang, an electrical and
computer engineering professor at the University of Minnesota’s
College of Science and Engineering. “We see this as a prevention
-based device that will ultimately save lives.”
The Team includes professors and students from the University
of Minnesota, doctors from the Mayo Clinic and engineers from
several corporate partners, including Zepto Life Technology a
University startup company who is commercializing this technology.
Details refer to
http://sensing.xprize.org/teams/competition-2-teams
http://www.magneticbiosensing.umn.edu/
Media Coverage Links:
WCCO - TV
KARE - 11
KSTP - TV
Bring Me the News
KAAL - TV
Ph.D. candidate Huan Li is featured in Nature Nanotechnology
Ph.D. Candidate Huan Li is |
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News Archives
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CSE SHOP: Now Offering 3-D Printing
The CSE Shop designs, fabricates, welds, and repairs prototypes
and scientific research equipment. The shop also provides 3D printing
services, Customers can visit the shop or send drawings for estimates
THE CSE SHOP has two locations: Tate Lab, Physics Room 30 and
Mechanical Engineering , Room 2-134.
More information about the CSE Shop equipment, 3D printer, hourly rates,
and exmaples of shop work cab be found at the CSE SHOP Web Site.
University of Minnesota CSE Machine Shop, Physics
116 Church Street SE, Room 30,
Minneapolis, MN 55455.
Jon Kilgore - Managing Research Engineer - kilgo001 at umn.edu - (612) 624-4328
Ron Bystrom -Shop Foreman - email bystrom002 at umn.edu, - (612) 624-7048
Fax (612) 624-4578
University of Minnesota CSE Shop, ME
111Church St SE, Room 2-134 ME
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Mike Jensen - Managing Research Engineer - mjjensen at umn.edu - (612)-625-2062
Bob Jones - Shop Foreman- jones018 at umn.edu - (612) 625-0549
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