ECE Colloquium Series

Wilson Lecturers are sponsored thanks to a generous gift from the estate of Eleanor Hale Wilson.
The Wilson Lecture Series helps to bring leaders in the engineering fields to share their expertise
and discoveries with University of Minnesota students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community.     

 Fall Semester 2014

Thursday, Dec. 4
Title: RF Aspects of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Presenter: Prof. Robert Caverly, Villanova University
Host: Prof. Anand Gopinath

Thursday, Nov. 20
Title: Engineering and the Higgs Boson
Presenter: Prof. Roger Rusack, University of Minnesota - Physics
Host: Prof. Anand Gopinath

Thursday, Nov. 13
Title: Computing with Reliable Algorithms and Unreliable Memories
Presenter: Prof. Rakesh Kumar, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Host: Prof. John Sartori

Thursday, Nov. 6
Title: Engineered Semiconductor Nanocrustals: From Synthesis to Application
Presenter: Jennifer Hollingworth, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Host: Prof. Paul Ruden

Thursday, Oct. 30
Title: Problems in Biologic Imaging: Opportunities for Signal Processing
Presenter: Jelena Kovacevic, Carnegie Mellon University
Host: Prof. Mos Kaveh
 
Thursday, Oct. 23
Title: Scaling the Memory Wall for Exascale HPC Systems
Presenter: Dan Ernst, Cray Hardware System Architecture and University of Minnesota
Host: Prof. David Lilja
 
Thursday, Oct. 16
Title: Polarization field engineering as a powerful technique in novel opto/electronic device development
Presenter: Fatemeh (Shadi) Shahedipour-Sandvik, SUNY- Albany
Host: Prof. Kia Bazargan

Thursday, Oct. 2
Title: Robotic Data Collection in Environmental and Agricultural Applications
Presenter: Prof. Volkan Isler, University of Minnesota, Computer Science and Engineering
Host: Prof. Georgios Giannakis

Thursday, Sept. 25
Title: It's About Time
Presenter: Prof. Edward Lee, University of California - Berkeley
Host: Prof. Keshab Parhi

Thursday, Sept. 18
Title: Back to the Future: Analog Signal Processing
Presenter: Prof. Boris Murmann, Stanford University
Host: Prof. Ramesh Harjani

Thursday, Sept. 11
Title: Networks of Reliable Distributed Storage
Presenter: Prof. Arya Mazumdar, University of Minnesota, ECE
Host: Prof. Nikos Sidiropoulos

Thursday, Sept. 4
Title: Unusual Properties of Complex Ferroics from Atomistic Simulations
Presenter: Prof. Inna Ponomareva, University of South Florida
Host: Prof. Bethanie Stadler

Spring Semester 2014
 
Thursday, May 1
See glass in a new light: novel glass materials and devices for on-chip photonic integration
Presenter: Prof. Juejun Hu
University of Delaware
Host: Prof. Mo Li

Thursday, May 1 CANCELLED
Two Tales of Directed Information
Presenter: Prof. Tsachy Weissman
Stanford University
Host: Prof. Arya Mazumdar

Thursday, Apr. 24
Ultrafast Photonics – Applications in High Speed Signal Processing, Computing and Communications
Presenter: Prof. Peter Delfyett
University of Central Florida
Host: Prof. Rhonda Franklin

Thursday, April 17
Learning and Optimization Based on Human Feedback 
Presenter: Prof. Rob Nowak, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Host: Prof. Mos Kaveh
 
Thursday, Apr. 10
Photonic Nonreciprocity
Presenter: Prof. Miguel Levy
Michigan Tech University
Host: Prof. Beth Stadler

Thursday, Apr. 3
Piezoelectric Nanomaterials Growth and Their Applications
Presenter: Prof. Rusen Yang
University of Minnesota - Mechanical Engineering
Host: Beth Stadler

Thursday, Mar. 27
Taming the Deluge of Complexity - from SoCs to DataCenters
Presenter: Kevin Gomez
SSD System Architecture & Advanced Development
Seagate
Host: Prof. David Lilja

Thursday, Mar. 13
From Global Properties to Local Rules for Multi-Agent Systems
Presenter: Prof. Magnus Egerstedt
Georgia Institute of Technology
Host: Prof. Mihailo Jovanovic

Thursday, Mar. 6
Large-signal RF Reliability Modeling for GaN Power Amplifiers
Presenter: Prof. John Albrecht
Michigan State University - East Lansing
Host: Prof. Paul Ruden

Thursday, Feb. 27
Active and passive meta-surfaces and their interaction with terahertz waves
Presenter: Abul K. Azad
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Host: Prof. Jeong-Hyun Cho

Thursday, Feb. 20
Electrolyte-Gated Transistors (EGTs) to Investigate Novel Transport Properties at High Charge Densities
Presenter: Wei Xie, Post doc
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Minnesota
Host: Prof. Paul Ruden

Thursday, Feb. 13
Smart” Medical Sensor-Based Implantable Systems for Neuromodulation
Presenter: Peng Cong
Principal IC Design Engineer
Neuromodulation Core Technology
Medtronic, Inc.
Host: Prof. Mo Li

Thursday, Feb. 6
Graphene grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on Magnetic Oxides: Towards Practical Spintronics
Presenter: Prof. Jeffry Kelber
University of North Texas
Host: Prof. Jian-Ping Wang

Thursday, Jan. 24
Microscopes for the sub-visible: scanning the near field in the microwave through infrared with micromachined probes
Presenter: Prof. Daniel van der Weide
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Host: Prof. Steve Koester

Thursday, Jan. 30
Spin-Orbitronics: Interfacial Design of Spintronic Materials via Spin-Orbit Coupling
Presenter: Prof. Geoffrey Beach
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Host: Prof. Beth Stadler 

Fall Semester 2013

Thursday, Sept. 5

Dr. Sahar Sharifzadeh*
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
"First-Principles Design of Excited-State Properties of Organic Materials"
Host: Prof. P. Paul Ruden

Thursday, Sept 12
Dr. Tony Low*
IBM
"Graphine Electronics and Photonics"
Host: Prof. Kia Bazargan 
 
Thursday, Sept 19
Jianyi (Jay) Zhang, MD, PhD
University of Minnesota
"Seamless networks of myocardial bioenergetics in the in vivo heart"
Host: Prof. Emad Ebbini

Thursday, Sept 26
Dr. Naresh Shanbhag*
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Host: Prof. Keshab Parhi

Thursday, Oct. 3
Dr. Andre Mkhoyan
University of Minnesota, CEMS
Imaging 'Invisible' Dopant Atoms
Host: Prof. Philip Cohen

Thursday, Oct 10
Dr. Vinod Menon*
Queens College, CUNY
Host: Prof. Russ Holmes

Thursday, Oct 17
Dr. Reuven Gordon*
University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
"Nanoplasmonics: Reaching Out to the Single Molecule"
Host: Prof. Sang Hyun Oh

Thursday, Oct 24
Dr. Harish Krishnaswamy*
Columbia University
“Millimeter-wave and THz Power Generation in CMOS: The Quest for a Watt-Class mmWave PA”
Host: Prof. Ramesh Harjani

Thursday Oct 31
Dr. Tom Misa
University of Minnesota - Charles Babbage Institute
"The Dynamics of High-Tech Innovation in Minnesota: Computing and Medical Devices"
Host: Prof. David Lilja

Thursday, Nov. 7   CANCELLED
Dr. Olgica Milenkovic*
University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign
"Constrained Rank Aggregation with Applications to Gene Prioritization"
Host: Prof. Arya Mazumdar

Thursday, Nov. 14  CANCELLED
Dr. Rebecca Willett*
Duke University
"Dynamical models and tracking regret in online convex programming"
Host: Prof. Jarvis Haupt

Thursday, Nov. 21
Dr. Michael Garwood
U of MN Center for Magnetic Resonance Research 
and Department of Radiology
"Far Out Experiments in MRI using FM pulses"
Host: Prof. Anand Gopinath

Thursday, Dec. 5
Dr. David Dunlap*
University of New Mexico
"The Effects of Disorder in Organic Semiconductors"

Spring Semester 2013

May 2
Presenter: Sanjay Lall, Stanford University
Stochastic control of multi-player systems

April 25
Presenter: Prof. Yannis Tsvidis
Event-Driven A/D Conversion and Continuous-Time Digital Signal Processing

April 18 Cancelled
Prof. Vladimir Vapnik, Columbia

April 11 Cancelled
Prof. Rebecca Willett, Duke University. 

Thursday, Apr 4
Presenter: Prof. Hubert Lim, University of Minnesota, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Investigating a new non-invasive brain activation approach to treat hearing disorders

Thursday, Mar. 28
Presenter: Prof. Laura Lewis, Northeastern University
Title: Permanent Magnetic Materials: Past, Present and Future

Thursday, Mar. 14
Prof. Kamil Ugurbil, University of Minnesota, CMRR
Title: Harnessing high magnetic fields towards understanding human brain function
 
Thursday, Mar. 7
Presenter: Dr. Min Ah Seo, LANL
Title: Functional Terahertz Nanodevices and Their Applications

Thursday, Feb 28
Presenter: Prof. Janet Roveda, University of Arizona
Title: Conquering Variability for Robust VLSI Circuit Design  

Thursday, Feb. 21
Presenter: Prof. Peter Seiler, AEM University of Minnesota
Title: Design and Analysis of Safety Critical Systems

Thursday, Feb. 7
Presenter: Dr. Mark KrollMark, Kroll & Associates,  Inc.
                    Corp. Dir. of Haemonetics and Taser International
Title:"The Physics of Traumatic and Therapeutic Electrical Shocks"

  

Fall Semester 2012

Thursday, Dec. 6
Presenter: Romney Katti, Honeywell
Title: MRAM: Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory

Thursday, Nov. 29
Presenter:   Prof. Christophe Lenglet, University of Minnesota, CMRR
Title: “Computational Analysis and Translational Applications of Diffusion MRI”

Thursday, Nov. 15
Presenter: Prof.  Jeyanandh Paramesh, Carnegie Mellon University
Title: From Microwave to Millimeter-wave: The Design of Reconfigurable, High-Bandwidth CMOS Radios

Thursday, Nov. 8
Presenter: Prof. Babak Ziaie*,  Purdue University
Title: Biomedical Microdevice Research at Purdue

Thursday, Nov. 1
Presenter: Xiaodong Xu, University of Washington
Title: Optical Probing Novel 2D Electronic Systems

Thursday, Oct. 25
Presenter: Dr. Nathan Neihart, Iowa State University
Title: Reconfigurable RF Circuits for Next Generation Multi-band and Cognitive Radio Applications

Thursday, Oct. 18
Presenter: Prof. George Eleftheriades*, University of Toronto
Title: Transmission-line metamaterials and related structures: Fundamentals & applications

Thursday, Oct. 11
Presenter: Prof. Dejan Markovic*,  University of California - Los Angeles
Title: Efficiency and Flexibility: Chip Design Redefined

Thursday, Oct. 4
Presenter: Prof. Len Feldman*, Vanderbilt University
Title: Electronic Materials: Past, Present and Future

Thursday, Sept. 27
Presenter: Prof. Jian Sheng, Edward Whitacre Endowed Chair of Mechanical Engineering Texas Tech University
Title: Probing Multi-Scale Biophysical Interactions of Organism, Flow and Boundary using 3-D Digital Halography and MEMS devices

Thursday, Sept. 20
Presenter: Prof. Jung-Chih Chiao*, University of Texas - Arlington
Title: Implantable Wireless Medical Devices and Systems

Thursday, Sept. 13
Presenter: Prof. David Wood, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota
Title: Engineering Better Biomarkers: Discovery, design, and detection of novel disease indicators

Thursday, Sept 6
Presenter: Prof. Grace Xing*, University of Notre Dame
Title:  Unique optoelectronic applications of graphene

Spring Semester 2012

Thursday, May 3
Presenter: Prof. Xin Li, Carnegie Mellon University
Title: Modeling and Self-Healing of Analog and Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits: A Statistical Approach

Thursday, Apr. 26
Presenter: Prof. Warren Gross*, McGill University
Title: Stochastic Decoding

Thursday, Apr. 19
Presenter: Dr. Brian Skinner, Physics Department, University of Minnesota
Title:The Physics of Supercapacitors

Thursday, Apr. 12
Presenter: Prof. Alena Takachova, U of MN Biomedical Engineering
 Title: Spatio-temporal dynamics of alternans in the heart

Thursday, Apr. 5
Presenter: Prof. Zbigniew Celinski, University of Colorado
Title: High Frequency On-Wafer Microwave Devices

Thursday, Mar. 29
Presenter: Danijela Cabric* UCLA
Title: Spatio-Temporal Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio Networks

Thursday, Feb. 23
Presenter: Prof. Vishwesh Kulkarni, Visiting Professor at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota
Title: Control Theoretic Perspectives on Analysis and Synthesis in Systems and Synthetic Biology

Thursday, Feb. 16
Presenter: Prof. Massimo Alioto*, University of Sienna
Title:Turning Dark Silicon into Green through Ultra Energy?Efficient VLSI Circuits from Nano to Macro Scale

Jan. 26, 2012
Robert Shearer, IBM
Title: IBM A2 Core: A Modular Processor for Flexible System on a Chip Applications

Fall Semester 2011

Dec. 8, 2011
Prof. Mihailo Jovanovic, University of Minnesota
Design of Optimal Sparse Feedback Gains via the Alternating
Direction Method of Multipliers

Nov. 17, 2011
Prof. Michael Carpenter, College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering SUNY- Albany
Plasmonics Based Harsh Environment Compatible Chemical Sensors
 

Nov. 10, 2011
Prof. Chris Douglas, University of Minnesota, Department of Chemistry
"Design and Synthesis of Molecules for Organic Electronics"
 

Nov. 3, 2011
Dr. Tao Zhang, Starkey Lab
Challenges, solutions and future directions in signal processing
research for modern digital hearing aids
 

Oct. 27, 2011
Prof. John Papapolymerou, Georgia Tech
Lightweight Multilayer Organic RF Front Ends for microwave and mm-wave Applications

Oct. 20, 2011
Keith Maile, Boston Scientific
MEMs for Medical Devices
 

Oct. 13, 2011
Prof. Rick Carley, Carnegie Mellon University
Implementing Successive Approximation A/D Converters in Sub-65nm CMOS Technologies

Oct. 6, 2011
Prof. Natalia Nikolova,, McMasters University
"Microwave near-field imaging of human tissue:
Hopes, challenges, outlook"
 

Sept. 29, 2011
Prof. Christos Davatzikos, University of Pennsylvania
"Medical image analysis topics, with emphasis on imaging pattern analysis
and classification for constructing diagnostic imaging biomarkers"
 

Sept. 22, 2011
Prof. Ned Mohan, University of Minnesota
"Research and Education in Power Electronics at the University of Minnesota,
with an Emphasis on Sustainability"

Sept. 15, 2011
Prof. Jie  Xiang*, University of California - San Diego
Semiconductor Nanowires: Building Blocks for Future Green Digital Computation

Sept. 8, 2011
Prof. David Malah (Ph.D.' 71)*, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Text-to-Speech Synthesis in the Era of Mobile Devices

_________________________________________________________
Spring Semester 2011

May 5, 2011
Dr. Ana Arias, University of California - Berkeley
Building Electronics from Solution: Materials, Device Integration, and Application Development 

Apr. 21, 2011
Prof. Hanho Lee, Inha University, South Korea
Forward Error Correction Architectures for 100Gb/s Optical Communications

April 14, 2011
Prof. David Messerschmitt, University of California - Berkeley
Exchanging Information with the Stars: Wide-Area Communication Writ Large

Apr. 7, 2011
Prof. Eric Fullerton, University of California - San Diego
Spin-transfer phenomena in high-anisotropy magnetic nanostructures

Mar. 31, 2011
Prof. Rashid Zia, Brown University
Seeing Magnetic Light: Quantifying and Enhancing Magnetic
Dipole Emission

Mar. 24, 2011
Prof. Marty Baylor, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Towards Miniaturizing Optical Systems Using Photo-sensitive Polymers

Mar. 10, 2011
Prof. Zheng Wang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
One-way electromagnetic chiral edge states in magneto-optical photonic crystals

Mar. 3, 2011
Prof. Kaushik Roy, Purdue University
High Density On-Chip Memories for Future Processors

Feb. 24, 2011
Prof. Bin He, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, U of MN
Imaging and Interfacing with the Human Brain

Feb. 17, 2011
Speaker: Prof. Shuzhong Zhang, Dept. of !SYSE, University of Minnesota
The Price of Anarchy and Myopia: a Study of System Inefficiencies

Feb.10, 2011
Speaker: Prof. Edward Conrad
Graphene: a Look at the Progress and Challenges of Carbon Electronics

Feb. 3, 2011
Speaker: Janet Fransen, University of Minnesota Libraries
Engineering Lit: How Changes in Technical and Scholarly Publishing are Affecting What You Read

Jan. 27, 2011
Prof. Mos Kaveh, University of Minnesota, College of Science and Engineering
Associate Dean and Professor.
Signal Processing Everywhere—A Perspective on History, Synergies and Opportunities

Jan. 20, 2011
Speaker: Prof. Emmanuel Tannenbaum, Ben Gurion University
Evolutionary Dynamics and Its Applications

_________________________________________________________

Fall Semester 2010

Dec. 8, 2010
Josep Torellas, University of Illinois
Variation-Tolerant Computer Architectures

Dec. 02, 2010
Shai Ashkenasi, University of Minnesota, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Optoacoustic µ-Machined Ultrasound Transducers (OMUTs)

Nov. 18
Jarvis Haupt, University of Minnesota - Electrical and Computer Engineering
The symbiosis of sparsity and adaptivity: Closing the loop between sensing and processing

Nov. 11, 2010
Jonathan Sun, IBM
Spin Angular Momentum Transfer in Nano-Magnets

Nov. 04, 2010
Prof. Ali Momeni, University of Minnesota, Arts Department
Wood, Metal, Gesture, and Code: Developing a practice in New Media Art   

Oct. 28, 2010
Prof. James Leger, University of Minnesota, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laser Beam Combining: Fundamentals and Current Trends

Oct. 21, 2010
Prof. Mo Li, University of Minnesota,
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Riding the light rail—harnessing optical forces on a silicon chip    

Oct. 14, 2010
Prof. Sara Majetich, Carnegie Mellon University
Can nanoparticles still be useful for magnetic recording?

Oct. 07, 2010
Prof. Gary Glover, Stanford University School of Medicine
Functional MRI and the dynamics of brain function
  
Sept. 30, 2010
Prof. Michael Oetze, University of Illinois
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Use of high-frequency quantitative ultrasound to improve medical
diagnostics and monitor therapy
    
Sept. 23, 2010
Gerald Timm (PhD '67) GT Urological, President and Founder
Department of Urology, University of Minnesota
Advances in Medical Device Development for Urological Applications  

Sept. 16, 2010
Prof. Steve Koester, University of Minnesota
Tunneling Field-Effect Transistors: Are They a Solution
to the Power Problem in Computational Systems?

Sept. 6
Leland Chang, IBM
Power Efficient Computing by Voltage Scaling 

_________________________________________________
Spring Semester 2010

May 6, 2010
Sayfe Kiaei, Arizona State University
"Low Power Medical Electronics"
Abstract

April 29, 2010
Paul R. Berger, Ohio State University
"Electrode Surface Modifications for Efficient Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices"
Abstract

April 22, 2010
Andrea Tao, University of California - San Diego
"Plasmonics: Bottom-Up Approaches to Building New Optical Materials for Biosensing Technologies"
Abstract

April 15, 2010
Pavan Kumar Hanumolo, Oregon State University
"Clock generation in nanometer CMOS technologies"
Abstract

April 8, 2010
John Pierre, University of Wyoming
"Advanced Signal Processing and System Identification Techniques with Application to Monitor Power Grid Stability"
Abstract

April 1, 2010
Shuvra Bhattacharyya, University of Maryland
"The Dataflow Interchange Format: Towards Co-Design of DSP-Oriented Dataflow Models and Transformations"
Abstract

March 25, 2010
David Rhees, The Bakken Museum
"Medical Alley: The Rise of the Minnesota Medical Device Industry"
Abstract

March 11, 2010
Terry Smith, 3M
"Reflection-Based Bio-Sensing Using Integrated Optical Micro-Resonators"
Abstract

March 4, 2010
Melanie Mitchell, Portland State University
"Using Analogy-Making to Discover the Meaning of Images"
Abstract 

Feb. 25, 2010
Farinaz Koushanfar, Rice University
"Techniques for Application Specific Circuit Customization and Adaptation"
Abstract

Feb. 18, 2010
Mihailo Jovanovic, UMN - ECE
"Design of optimal structured controllers for large-scale interconnected systems"
Abstract 

Feb. 11, 2010
Nancy Sims, J.D., Copyright Librarian
UMN - Libraries
"Copyright Issues in Higher Education"
Abstract

Feb, 4, 2010
Gregory Huff, Texas A & M 
"Antennas and Biologically Inspired Reconfiguration Mechanisms"
Abstract

Jan 28, 2010
Vladimir Cherkassky, U of M - ECE
"Predictive Data Modeling and the Nature of Scientific Discovery"
Abstract

Jan 21, 2010
Sheila Hemami, Wilson Lecturer, Cornell University
 "A Signal-Processing Approach to Modeling Vision, and Applications"
Abstract 
___________________________________________________________________________________
Fall Semester 2009

Sept 10, 2009
Willem Van Roy, Wilson Lecturer, IMEC, Belgium
"Magnetic and plasmonic  nanostructures for bio-nano-electronics"
Abstract

Sept 17, 2009
 Janet Fransen, U of M Library
"Engineering Research: A Guide to Finding and Contributing to Your Field's Literature"
Abstract

Sept. 24, 2009
Dan Frisbie, U of M CEMS
"New Materials for Printed Polymer Electronics"
Abstract 

Oct. 1, 2009
Lin Zhong, Wilson Lecturer,  Rice University
"Taming the power hog in wireless broadband access"
Abstract

Oct. 8, 2009
Massoud Amin, U of M ECE
"Toward Strong,  More Secure and Smarter Grid"
Abstract

Oct. 15, 2009
Elad Alon, Wilson Lecturer, UC Berkeley
"Energy Efficient 60GHz Wireless Transceiver Design"
Abstract

Oct. 22, 2009
Max Wong, Wilson Lecturer, McMaster University
"Optimum Space-Time Block Code Design for MIMO Communications:
A Case for Linear MMSE Receivers"
 Abstract

Oct. 29, 2009
John Burns, Wilson Lecturer, Virginia Tech
"A Distributed Parameter Approach to Design and Optimal Control of Dynamic
SensorNetworks"
 Abstract

Nov. 5, 2009
Tom Misa, University of Minnesota
"Honeywell and the 'oldest question' in computer history"
 Abstract

Nov. 12, 2009
Joachim Heberlein, University of Minnesota - ME
"Issues in Ethics Education"
Abstract

Nov. 19, 2009
Darryl Smith, Wilson Lecturer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
"Noise Spectroscopy as a Probe of Condensed Matter Systems"
Abstract 

Dec.3, 2009
Rhonda R. Franklin, University of Minnesota - ECE
"Advancing Integrated System Design with Ultra Broadband Integration Techniques"
 Abstract

Dec. 10, 2009
Tim Gessert, Wilson Lecturer, National Renewable EnergyLaboratory 
"Review of Photovoltaic Energy Production Using Thin Film Modules"
 Abstract

Thursday, Oct. 9
Title:Compact Models for Beyond CMOS Spintronic Devices and Interconnects
Presenter: Prof. Azad Naeemi, Georgia Tech
Host: Prof. Jianping Wang