ECE Department Highlights

Electrical and Computer Engineering COMMUNICATOR Summer 2009 In This Issue Message from the Chair 1 Message from the Chair With the economic downturn, the nior research projects. I truly en- 2 Distinguished Lecture Series situation has been difficult for all of joyed witnessing their talent and us. Fortunately, our department has enthusiasm at our Technical Open 3 Welcome New Faculty been able to weather the storm and House last April. gain strength despite budget cuts. 4 Wireless Communication In this newsletter, I am pleased to Over the past year, various gradu- Security communicate the activities, achieve- ate students and professors have ments, and awards of ECE students been recognized for excellence 5 PhD Candidate Wins Research and faculty. Our department con- in research – a few of their stories Demo Competition tinues to thrive – in academics, in are included in this newsletter. We research, and in spirit. also hosted a score of outstanding 6-7 guests in our graduate seminar Power Systems Engineering Our faculty members continue to lecture series. These guests bring push the cutting edge of modern unique ideas to campus and help 8 Wire Fault Location engineering research. Our seniors us light the fire of intellectual curi- completed outstanding projects in osity in the minds of our students. 9 Technical Open House both our industry-sponsored Clinic Program and in their individual se- 10 Department Events 11 Donors and Friends 12 Keep in touch with ECE Page 2 Message from the Chair continued This year, I am particularly proud to report on our success in a project of great personal interest: we succeeded in starting a new program to train the future generation of power systems engineers. Our first course under the new program, “Introduction to Electric Power Engineering,” was a resounding success with our students. We also raised funds from in- Thomas and Mary Lu Judd dustry and obtained the approval for a new perma- nent faculty position. Next year, the faculty member Distinguished Lecture Series will join our department and introduce fundamental courses in the power systems and in the power electronics area. The ECE Department will soon host the fifth annual Thom- as and Mary Lu Judd Distinguished Lecture Series. The We also welcomed three new members to our fac- series brings outstanding leaders in engineering fields to ulty in 08-09, two of which joined through the USTAR campus to share their groundbreaking ideas with our stu- (Utah Science, Technology and Research) Initiative. dents, alumni, and faculty members. The lecture series is These faculty members are leaders in the microelec- open to all alumni and friends of the ECE Department. tronics and micro/nano systems fields, and will con- tribute to making the area a powerful pole of attrac- tion for the best and brightest graduate candidates. The 2008 Lecture Series Speakers Of course, alumni and friends of the ECE Department Philip T. Krein, the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair continue to play a vital role in our growth. If a few professor at the University of Illinois. Prof. Krein spoke stories in this newsletter strike a chord of personal in- about power systems engineering and the next revolu- terest, please consider supporting the efforts of our tion in power generation and distribution. His research talented students and faculty using the enclosed en- interests include the design of high-performance electric velope. Your commitment to our department dem- machines and control of power electronic systems. onstrates your enthusiasm for higher education, and we couldn’t excel as we do without you. Gerald Loeb, professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Medical Device Development Facility at I hope you enjoy this annual update on activities the University of Southern California and the Deputy Di- within our department, and thank you for your sup- rector of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Biomi- port. metic MicroElectronic Systems. Prof. Loeb discussed the future of implantable medical devices. Marc Bodson Professor and Chair Krishna Shenoy, director of the Neural Prosthetic Sys- Electrical and Computer Engineering tems Lab at Stanford University. His group conducts neuroscience and neuroengineering research to better understand how the brain controls movement, and to design medical systems to assist those with movement disabilities. Prof. Shenoy shared his insight on the future development of integrating prostheses into the human body. 2009 Brings New Distinguished Speakers Upcoming seminars will be held during the Fall 2009 se- mester on Fridays at 3:05 p.m. Guests are also invited to have refreshments beginning at 2:45 p.m. Please watch the ECE Departmental calendar at www.ece.utah.edu for updates to the seminar schedule. Page 3 Welcome New ECE Faculty Members Massood Tabib-Azar USTAR Professor Massood received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Rensse- laer Polytechnic Institute in 1984 and 1986, respectively. In 1987 he joined the faculty of the EECS Department at Case Western Reserve University. He was a fellow at NASA during 1992-1993, and was on sabbatical at Harvard University during 93-94 and at Yale University during 2000-2001. Massood’s current research interests include nanometrology (microwave-atomic force microscopy), molecular electronics, novel devices based on solid electrolytes, sensors and actuators (microfluidics), and quantum computing. His teaching interests include development of courses in the area of electronic device physics and electromagnet- ics with an emphasis on solving problems and the use of computer-aided instruction tools. He has authored three books, two book chapters, more than 110 journal publi- cations, and numerous conference proceedings articles. Carlos Mastrangelo USTAR Professor Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Carlos comes to Utah following an associate profes- sorship at Case Western Reserve University. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. At other times in his career, he was at the Scientific Research Laboratory, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn MI, developing microsensors for automotive applica- tions, and an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Center for Integrated Microsystems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Carlos’s research interests include micro- and nano-systems for biomedical applica- tions, microsystems for high throughput DNA sequencing, instrumentation of single cells, and microfluidic systems for biological monitoring and drug delivery. Michael Scarpulla Assistant Professor Mike received his Ph.D. in 2006 in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley after successfully defending his dissertation in III-Mn-V Ferro- magnetic Semiconductors Synthesized by Ion Implantation and Pulsed-Laser Melt- ing. Mike’s research interests are in compound semicondcutors, dilute semiconductor al- loys, transparent conductors, and novel materials for thin film photovoltaics. He uses a variety of epitaxial growth methods such as ion implantation and pulsed laser melt- ing (II-PLM), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE / MOCVD) to synthesize thin semiconductor films. His research at the Uni- versity of Utah focuses on novel semiconductor materials that are environmentally benign and abundant for use in thin film photovoltaics. Page 4 Improving Future Computer Security Through New Encryption Technologies $350,000 NSF grant seeks to improve security of wireless computer networks “Traditional cryptography, which is how we make our wireless links private today, uses public key methods for secure secret key exchange. But now, concerns about the security of public keys in the future have spawned research into methods that don’t use public keys,” says Neal Patwari, assistant professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. In September of 2008, an NSF grant to the Univer- sity of Utah boosted Patwari’s research aiming to improve wireless communication security over the next three years. Demonstration hardware for shared secret key generation prepared The principal investigators are both assistant pro- by graduate student Jessica Croft. Secret keys generated by the fessors at the University: Sneha Kasera in Com- TelosB wireless mote from received signal strength measurements will be displayed on an LED matrix in real time. puter Science and Neal Patwari in Electrical and Computer Engineering. The NSF grant to the ECE Department will boost research aiming to improve wireless communication computer security over the next three years. The $350,000 grant is funded through an NSF program called Cyber Trust, which seeks to improve the security of computer networks. Opportunistic secret key exchange using wireless link characteristics and device mobility Together, Neal Patwari and Sneha Kasera are taking a This new encryption method will provide shared very novel route to solve the problem of sharing se- secrecy on wireless links in a manner that cannot cret keys. Their research seeks to identify and measure be defeated by any potential eavesdropper. If suc- unique physical characteristics of wireless channels cessful, the research group will provide methods between two devices at different random locations – and algorithms that can be applied to make Wi-Fi characteristics that cannot be measured by an attacker links. node from another location. A function of these unique

Load more