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ECpEConnections The Department of Electrical and Engineering Newsletter for Alumni and Friends l Spring 2010 Atanasoff-Berry Computer Replica Moves to

MORE NEWS: • Three Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards • Scholarships Impact Students’ Lives

• Alumni Raise Funds to Honor Emeritus Professor

www.ece.iastate.edu departmentNEWS

Letter from the Chair In this issue Dear alumni and friends, departmentNEWS Aluru, Biswas Named IEEE, APS Fellow ...... page 4 s you may have heard, I will be stepping down as chair of Iowa State Hosts Third Annual Community AState’s Department of Electrical and (ECpE) College Cyber Defense Contest ...... page 4 on June 30. It has been a great honor to serve as the department’s chair Iowa State Hosts IT-Olympics Student for the past seven years, and expand upon the foundation that previous chairs, including my Contest for Third Year ...... page 4 predecessor, Mani Venkata, established. ISU Replica of First Electronic Digital Computer to During my tenure as chair, I have aimed to lead the department in a direction that al- be Displayed at Computing History Museum ...... page 5 lows it to grow in multiple directions. We created a new strategic plan for the department in Calendar of Events ...... page 6 2003-04 and identified five strategic research areas—bioengineering, cyber infrastructure, Three ECpE Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards .. page 6 distributed sensing and decision making, energy infrastructure, and small-scale technology. We have used these areas to strategically grow the department and its infrastructure, and researchNEWS recruit 18 new faculty. Our research expenditures increased from about $5.7 million per year ECpE Professors Use ARRA Funding to to more than $10 million per year during this time. Improve Electronics Reliability, Lifetime ...... page 7 We also have improved the department’s research and teaching facilities. A new addi- Two New VLSI Faculty Advance Circuits, tion to the building, which opened in 2008, has provided space for three new bioengineering Switching Power Regulator Research ...... page 8 labs, a VLSI and RF circuits lab complex, a developmental robotics lab, a controls lab, a high- ISU Researchers Assist European Space performance computing lab, and a sensors lab, as well as provided four new classrooms and Agency with Remote Sensing Satellite Project ...... page 10 new teaching lab rooms to support our undergraduate programs. studentNEWS In the past few years, we have greatly expanded our educational offerings to our students, Students Share How Scholarships Impact too. For example, in 2006 we established a engineering degree program in partner- Their Lives, Education ...... page 11 ship with Iowa State’s Department of , and this year we are in the process Engineering Students Build Robot to of creating a new Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree. By taking the lead to establish Fight in National BattleBots Competition ...... page 12 this new degree, we are allowing Iowa State to fill a gap in technology education in the state of Department Engages Students with Iowa. Additionally, I am fortunate that during my time as chair, I have been able to continue to Wii-mote and Rock Band Projects ...... page 12 find the time to work with students by teaching one graduate student seminar every semester Students Receive Research, Academic Honors ...... page 13 and six undergraduate sections in the past seven years. CprE Senior Recognized by Alliant Energy ...... page 13 Last year our department celebrated its 100th anniversary. And if one history lesson is most important as I step down as chair, it is that the department always will continue to ISU Solar Decathlon Places 12th at National Competition ...... page 13 find a way to thrive and serve our mission. The department will undergo a transition period this year, like it has several times before me, when the new chair arrives in July; however, I alumniNEWS believe we have provided a solid foundation to build on. As the transition occurs, I look for- Alumni Get Involved with ward to resuming my previous role as a faculty member in the department. Senior Design Program ...... page 14 Best wishes for continued success! ECpE Alumni Honored for Their Career Success ...... page 14 Alumni to Establish Scholarship to Honor Prof. Emeritus Edwin C. Jones ...... page 15 Class Notes ...... page 15 EE Alumnus Honored for Calling Attention Arun K. Somani to ISU’s Place in Computing History ...... page 16 Department Chair Anson Marston Distinguished Professor

Jerry R. Junkins Endowed Chair Photography. Photo courtesy of Craig Carroll

Spring 2010 | Vol. 26 Issue 2 If you’re planning a gift to the ECpE department, please visit

Department Chair: Arun K. Somani www.foundation.iastate.edu/gift or contact Ben Barnhart at (515) 294-0934 Newsletter Editor: Dana McCullough or [email protected].

Cover photo: Replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. Photo by Bob Elbert. does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, Published twice a year by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal 2215 Coover Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3060; www.ece.iastate.edu; Opportunity and Diversity, 3280 , (515) 294-7612. [email protected], (515) 294-2664. © 2010

2 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 departmentNEWS New Scholarship Program Helps Iowa State Train Cyber Warriors By Mike Krapfl, ISU News Service n an increasingly high tech society, it is , and computer science. Jacobson reports that there is job se- Iimperative to have individuals highly “Our program is open to a more diverse curity in the field of information assurance. skilled in information assurance to keep group of students,” says Doug Jacobson, He says graduates of the Iowa State program up with the growing number of attacks on university professor and director of the will work for the federal government, where computer security. And Iowa State University Information Assurance Center. they’re also immune to outsourcing. And is helping to train those professionals Scholarship recipients will take informa- there are plenty of jobs with the number of through the Scholarships for Service tion assurance courses, along with their reg- attacks on computer security increasing with (SFS) program from the National Science ular degree requirements. Participants must advancing technology. Foundation (NSF) that provides 24 full-ride complete a service commitment consisting of “Unfortunately for the public, the need scholarships for students to receive a master’s two years of employment at a federal agency for computer security is only going to in- degree in information assurance. and a paid summer internship. They also crease,” Jacobson says. The NSF Scholarships for Service pro- will participate in academic and social activi- Ten students will be admitted into gram distributes funds through scholarships ties as part of the SFS program. the program in each of the next two falls. in educating information assurance and com- “We have a very robust program, with Graduate applicants should possess an under­ puter security professionals. The funding to a good mixture of theory and practice,” graduate degree in a relevant field, with a ISU includes all tuition, room, board, books, Jacobson says. grade point average of at least 3.2 (on a 4.0 and fees, as well as a $12,000 annual stipend. According to Jacobson, graduates of the scale). Jacobson also explains that applicants Five students were admitted into Iowa program can end up in exciting jobs with the must have a strong desire to work for the State’s Cyber Corps Scholarship program last federal government. “A lot of our graduates government and be able to accept the confi- fall. The scholarship recipients have vary- can’t even tell me what they are working on dential nature that comes with it. Find more ing backgrounds in computer engineering, because of secret or top-secret clearances.” information at www.iac.iastate.edu/cybercorp. n

Faculty and Staff Receive Department Manages Through Budget Cuts University, National Recognition uring the past several months, the Additionally, the department has been in- The ECpE department congratulates the university received a $24.5 million novative in finding ways to save, including following faculty and staff for the recent D reduction in state funding due to statewide participating in the university-wide partial recognitions they have received: across-the-board budget cuts, which shutdown during the semester break to save n Associate Professor Degang Chen and impacted business across campus, including utility costs. Professor Randall L. Geiger received a the ECpE department. “This has been a challenging time for all U.S. patent entitled, “Method for Testing The department has felt staff cuts, and departments across the university,” says Arun Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits Using faculty and staff are taking furloughs/leave K. Somani, ECpE department chair. “But our Dynamic Element Matching for Source without pay (between four and six days, faculty, staff, and students have demonstrat- Linearization” (no. 7,587, 647). depending on compensation level) in order ed resiliency through this tough time, and to operate within the confines of the new we are continuing to deliver an outstanding n Assistant professors Liang Dong, budget. Retirement benefits for faculty and academic experience to our students in spite Jaeyoun Kim, and Lei Ying all received n 2010 National Science Foundation staff also have temporarily been reduced. of the cuts.” CAREER awards. (See page 6 for details.) n Professor Suresh Kothari was Department Chair Search Update recognized at an annual banquet in March for his 25 years of service to Iowa State. After a national search for a new ECpE department chair, the search committee has reviewed the applications and brought in four candidates to interview, deliver seminars, and meet with n Academic Adviser Deb Martin received faculty and staff in March and April. It is expected that the new department chair will begin the university’s P&S CYtation, an award his appointment on July 1. given semiannually by the Professional and Scientific (P&S) Council to recognize Check the ECpE department website at www.ece.iastate.edu for the latest news on the P&S staff who have demonstrated a department chair search. n commitment to excellence. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 3 departmentNEWS

Aluru, Biswas Named Iowa State Hosts Third Annual Community College IEEE, APS Fellow Cyber Defense Contest Two ECpE faculty were recently named fellows of their fields’ major professional early 90 students participated in the organizations: Nthird annual Community College Cyber Defense Competition (CCCDC) Srinivas Aluru, the Ross December 4-5 at Iowa State’s - Martin Mehl and Marylyne Scale Event and Attack Generation Munas Mehl Professor of Environment research facility. Des Moines Computer­ Engineering, Photo courtesy of the Information Assurance Center. Assurance Photo courtesy of the Information was named a fellow of Area Community College Team #1 from the Institute of Electrical Ankeny took first place, the Kirkwood Eagles Participants from the Community College Cyber and Electronics Engineers from Kirkwood Community College in Defense Competition in December 2009 (IEEE) for his extraordinary Cedar Rapids placed second, and the IWCC intruders (played by Iowa State graduate contributions to the field Defenders from Iowa Western Community students and pro- Srinivas Aluru of computational biology. College in Council Bluffs took third place. fessionals), as well as respond to end user Aluru’s work to sequence Nineteen teams representing 10 of the 15 requests for services. the maize genome recently was featured community colleges in Iowa registered for In addition to being a fun learning event in Science magazine, and he was named a 2007 finalist for the Computerworld Honors the competition. for the community college students, the event Program’s 21st Century Achievement Award. The cyber defense competition gives also helps community colleges prepare to He conducts research in high-performance students the opportunity to take what they mentor local high school teams in their area computing, algorithms and systems for large- have learned in their courses and apply to participate in the year-long IT-Adventures scale applications, bioinformatics and systems those concepts to create a fully functional program and the two-day IT-Olympics com- biology, combinatorial scientific computing, computer network to imitate a real-world petition (see more in box below). and applied algorithms. In addition, he has experience. Students are given a short narra- The top two community college teams published two books and more than 100 technical papers in journals and peer-reviewed tive story detailing the network services they earned a spot to compete at the fifth annual conference publications, and led 29 externally have to implement, as well as their network national cyber defense competition of four- funded research projects. address space. The community college team’s year colleges held at Iowa State in March. job is to implement services such as e-mail, The CCCDC is part of the Iowa State’s Rana Biswas, an adjunct a programming environment, web hosting, Information Assurance Center under the associate professor of and remote desktop capabilities ahead of direction of University Professor Doug electrical and computer the competition. They also are encouraged Jacobson. The Internet-Scale Event and engineering and physicist to implement a firewall to help protect their Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s , networks. research test bed is the backbone on which was named a fellow of the During the competition, the students all Iowa State-hosted cyber defense competi- American Physical Society for defend their networks from attacks from tions are run. n his theoretical contributions Rana Biswas to the dynamics of semiconductors, solar materials, and photonic crystals. Before Iowa State Hosts IT-Olympics High School Contest for Third Year coming to Ames Laboratory in 1986, For the third year, Iowa State University is hosting the IT-Olympics competition April 23-24 Biswas was a consultant to the Xerox at . At the two-day event, nearly 500 students from more than 45 Iowa high Palo Alto Research Center and the Exxon schools will battle in cyber defense, robotics, and video game design activities to showcase Research and Engineering Company, and the information technology (IT) knowledge they have gained throughout the past year as was a postdoctoral associate at AT&T part of the IT-Adventures (www.it-adventures.org) program. Bell Laboratories. His research interests include calculations of the properties of bulk materials and surfaces, thin-film IT-Adventures is an innovative program that engages high school students in exploration and semiconductors and electronic materials, experimentation with IT through content delivery, competitive events, and service learning photonic crystals, subwavelength arrays, projects. IT professionals in the students’ local communities mentor the students and their electromagnetic simulations, sensors, teachers throughout the year. The goal of the program is to interest high school students and atomistic modeling of microelectronic to pursue IT-related careers. In 2009-10, nearly 80 students who had participated in the IT- processes. He has co-organized three Materials Research Society symposia. n Adventures program (or related previous programs) were enrolled at Iowa State University in IT-related areas, including 31 students who enrolled in electrical, computer, or software engineering. n 4 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 departmentNEWS Iowa State Replica of First Electronic Digital Computer to be Displayed at Computer History Museum

By Mike Krapfl, ISU News Service owa State University’s full-scale, working graduate student and ISU Ireplica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, under- a groundbreaking machine built on the graduate. It took a team of Iowa State campus from 1939 to 1942, will researchers, engineers, fac- be part of a major new exhibition at the ulty members, retired faculty, Computer History Museum in Mountain and students from Iowa State View, California. and the U.S. Department of The replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Energy’s Ames Laboratory Computer (ABC), the first electronic digi- four years and $350,000 to tal computer, will be part of the museum’s build the replica ABC. The multimillion-dollar, 25,000-square-foot original was dismantled dur- exhibition opening in the fall of 2010. The ing the late and almost exhibition will present more than 1,000 ar- entirely discarded. tifacts to tell the story of computing history The ABC looks nothing and provide insights into how computing in- like today’s : It’s Iowa State University’s working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry novations have influenced everyday lives and the size of a big desk, weighs Computer is moving to the Computer History Museum. will continue to make a significant impact on 750 pounds, and features the global community. rotating drums for memory, Berry moved on to other jobs and projects. J. The ABC replica, which was on display glowing vacuum tubes, and a read/write Presper Eckert and , develop- in the lobby of Iowa State’s Durham Center, system that recorded numbers by scorching ers of the ENIAC machine at the University was recently moved to the museum. It will marks on cards. of Pennsylvania, were the first to patent an be on display for 10 years with the pos- But, the machine was also the first to electronic digital computer. In 1973, how- sibility of an additional five years. A display use several innovations that are still a part ever, U.S. District Judge Earl R. Larson over- about the development and history of the of today’s computers: a binary system of turned the ENIAC patents, writing, “Eckert ABC—including replicas of several vacuum arithmetic, separate memory and comput- and Mauchly did not themselves first invent tubes and one of the machine’s rotating ing functions, regenerative memory, parallel the automatic electronic digital computer, drums—will remain in the Durham Center. processing, electronic amplifiers as on-off but instead derived that subject matter from switches, circuits for logical addition and one Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff.” About the Atanasoff-Berry Computer Replica subtraction, clocked control of electronic “Exhibiting the replica will greatly The replica was completed and demonstrat- operations, and a modular design. enhance the discussion of the ABC’s signifi- ed in 1997 as a tribute to the late inventors “John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford cance,” says Leonard J. Shustek, the chair- of the ABC, John Vincent Atanasoff, a former Berry were true pioneers in electronic digi- man of the board for the Computer History Iowa State professor of and mathe- tal computing,” says Iowa State President Museum. “This is a controversial part of matics, and Clifford Berry, a former physics Gregory Geoffroy. “As part of the new exhibi- computing history, however, the museum is

Photo by Bob Elbert. Bob Photo by tion, the Computer History Museum can tell committed to telling the Atanasoff story in a the story of their innovations to hundreds of way that fairly reflects its technical, histori- thousands of museum visitors and millions cal, and legal significance.” About the Computer History Museum of online visitors every year. And so we’re The museum’s new exhibition is de- pleased Iowa State’s working replica of the signed to celebrate the significant milestones The Computer History Museum in Mountain ABC will be part of the museum’s ambitious of computing over 2,000 years. It will feature View, California, is a nonprofit organization with exhibit. The ABC deserves a prominent place 1,000 artifacts, explanatory films, pioneering a four-decade history. The museum is dedicated story videos, interactive exhibits, dioramas, to the preservation and celebration of computer in the history of computing.” audio tours, and more. history, and is home to the largest international collection of computing artifacts in the world, ABC’s Controversial History “Who invented the computer is one of encompassing computer hardware, software, The ABC’s place in computer history has the most important and basic questions the documentation, ephemera, photographs, and been the subject of debate and even a fed- exhibition discusses,” Shustek says, “and one moving images. For more information, visit www. eral court case. When World War II inter- in which the ABC plays an important part of computerhistory.org or call (650) 810-1010. rupted work on the ABC, Atanasoff and that discussion.” n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 5 departmentNEWS Calendar of Events Three ECpE Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards Upcoming events sponsored by the university, college, and ECpE department: hree electrical and computer Tengineering professors at Iowa State April 12-18 University have received prestigious National VEISHEA Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards ECpE demonstrations, April 17, Coover Hall/ this year. Assistant professors Liang Dong, ECpE Building Addition, 12 to 3 p.m.; for other VEISHEA activities, see details at Jaeyoun Kim, and Lei Ying each will www..iastate.edu receive $400,000 over a five-year period to fund their research and educational efforts April 15-16 in photonic circuits, optical micro-electro- Spring External Advisory Board (EAB) mechanical systems (MEMS), and wireless Coover Hall/ECpE Building Addition, event network technologies, respectively. Liang Dong Jaeyoun Kim Lei Ying times vary Photonic Circuits for Smart Sensor Technology April 16 polymer techniques. Dong’s research focuses on developing a EAB Special Lecture – Robert Brayton “My research aims to achieve a dynami- state-of-the-art, universal photonic circuit Howe Hall, Alliant Energy-Lee Liu cally tunable, truly hemispherical vision us- platform that will advance smart sensor ap- Auditorium, 1:10 p.m. ing inspirations from the eye structure of plications in fields such as photonic comput- deep-sea amphipods,” Kim says. “I propose April 20 ing, optical communication, environmental to eliminate the curvature problem, rather ISU Undergraduate Research Symposium monitoring, biochemical defense, and lab- than bypassing it, to enhance field-of-view. Memorial Union, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on-a-chip technology. “The main objective of my research is In a sense, my research is bio-inspired, not April 22 to create a platform that will allow engineers just biomimetic, since my artificial eyes will ECpE Scholarship and Awards Banquet eventually be able to do more things than Scheman Building, 5:30 p.m. and scientists to dynamically configure/ reconfigure, tune/detune, and erase/rewrite their natural counterparts.” Kim’s research could advance technol- April 23-24 various high-speed photonic circuits on a IT-Olympics single photonic chip upon demand and then ogy that doctors use for endoscopic imaging Hilton Coliseum, see details at use the new platform to improve smart sen- and the military and other organizations use www.it-adventures.org/itolympics.html sor technology,” Dong says. for safety monitoring, as well as technolo- High-speed photonic circuits are likely gies in the areas of robotics and automation. May 7 candidates to replace standard electrical inte- Eventually, the technology could create a Graduate Commencement grated circuits used in many electronic devic- foundation for developing an artificial eye C.Y. Stephen’s Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. es today, Dong adds. The new circuits could for humans or be used for assistive devices May 8 help reduce production costs, as well as the such as sensors to help guide individuals Undergraduate Commencement size, weight, and power consumption, en- who are visually impaired. Hilton Coliseum, 1:30 p.m. abling lower-cost, smaller, and more energy- Improvements to Wireless Networks ­efficient electronic devices to be designed. May 13-15 for Mission-Critical Applications ISU Alumni Days MEMS Technologies to Improve Artificial Eyes Ying is establishing a new approach for Event locations and times vary; see www. Kim plans to create an ultra-wide field-of- building wireless networks for mission- isualum.org/en/events for details view imaging system inspired by biological critical applications, including wireless September 21 systems. He explains that researchers have mesh networks that are used for emergency Fall Engineering Career Fair been trying for years to mimic the com- response and public safety, wireless sensor Hilton Coliseum, 12 to 6 p.m. pound eye structure of insects and crusta- networks used for medical technologies and ceans because of their naturally wide field- unmanned surveillance of U.S. borders, ve- October 30 of-view, which is enabled by large curvatures hicular networks that use accident warning 2010 Homecoming in their eye. The biggest challenge to mim- technology, and in cellular networks for us- See www.isualum.org/en/events for details icking the natural eye and its wide field-of- ers who use many forms of real-time stream- Visit www.ece.iastate.edu for additional view is developing curvatures in optical ele- ing media. His research will help address details and up-to-the minute information ments to replicate ones in natural eyes. Kim and provide solutions for three long-stand- on departmental events and seminars. plans to address this challenge by developing ing weaknesses of wireless communication: a new optical MEMS interface structure and bandwidth, channel fading, and interference. >

6 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 researchNEWS

> Continued from previous page For example, in the power of both optimization and stochas- to improve networks used in public safety, cellular networks, the tic network theories for network design and homeland security, health care, and multi- new technology Ying focus on optimizing long-term throughput of media communications,” Ying says. develops could improve networks. But this focus on throughput could The NSF CAREER award is the most the delivery and viewer cause unacceptably large delays that signifi- prestigious award offered by the National experience for people cantly degrade performance, explains Ying. Science Foundation in support of early who watch TV on their “My research will break away from the career development activities of teacher- cell phones. throughput-first mentality to design net- ­scholars who most effectively integrate Past wireless net- works to meet delay constraints, leading to research and education within the context work research harnesses new network algorithms that can be used of their organization’s mission. n Liang Dong Jaeyoun Kim Lei Ying ECpE Profs Use ARRA Funding to Improve Electronics Reliability, Lifetime

ow old is your PC (or Mac)? According computers, cell phones, and iPods,” Chen use that information and put more of the tasks Hto Associate Professor Degang Chen, says. “We will provide the enabling technol- on other CPUs to balance the temperature and a decade ago, researchers and consumers ogy for either extending the reliable use life make sure no area gets overheated. expected the life of a computer to be about 10 or getting more performance out of the de- This would help extend the multi-core years, and because of this, a computer rarely vice for a given targeted life.” computers’ reliable life or increase its perfor- would fail. Today, most computers have a life Chen and Geiger want to put hundreds mance over a specified period of time, mean- of about three years, and the expected life is of tiny temperature sensors in computers so ing that instead of replacing computers every becoming shorter and shorter. the computer can monitor its own tempera- two or three years, companies and data cen- The reason new computers are failing ture. Some temperature sensors are used in ters could use the computers for five years. faster than their predecessors is due to the computers today, but Chen says they are too And when companies use comput- temperature inside the computers. Because big and bulky to be easily embedded into ers for a longer period of time, it not only of the density of electronic circuits in the computer chips and because one degree dra- helps their bottom line, but it also helps the computer, the power density in the comput- matically can impact a computer’s life, they environment because it will decrease the er’s microprocessor becomes extremely high, are not accurate enough since they only can non-biodegradable computer waste that goes increasing the computer’s internal tempera- measure a temperature within a range of 7 to into landfills. Because the computers would ture and decreasing the quality of its circuits, 8 degrees. operate at lower temperatures, the energy ef- ultimately leading to its failure to perform. “We believe we have come across some ficiency of the chip would be improved, too. Chen and Professor Randall L. Geiger are new ideas and new techniques that we can For consumers, Chen and Geiger’s using American Recovery and Reinvestment design to make temperature sensors be research could mean that the 2.5 GHz com- Act of 2009 funding through the National orders of magnitude smaller, but then also puter you bought could run at its highest Science Foundation, along with funds from achieve temperature measurement accura- speed most of the time, rather than only Semiconductor Research Corporation, to solve cies in the ½ degree of error range,” Chen some of the time. the temperature problem in computers and says. “Once we make the sensors orders of “The power density in computers is too improve their lifetime reliability. magnitude smaller, we can then afford to high, so when you clock it fast, the tempera- “The ultimate goal is to help extend the embed not only one or two, but hundreds of ture goes up really fast. So nowadays, when reliable use life of electronic circuits used in temperature sensors in the chip.” you buy a 2.5 GHz computer, it’s not run- Chen and Geiger’s research could have ning at that speed most of the time because a huge impact on the electronics industry, as it heats up, it slows the clock down,” particularly for multi-core computers used in Chen says. “You may have paid money for a large data centers across the country. These 2.5 GHz CPU, but you are maybe only run- multi-core computers, which can have 64 ning it at 1.5 GHz to prevent heating.” CPUs running on one computer chip, could In the end, Chen and Geiger’s main have a temperature sensor placed on each purpose is to improve reliability of large CPU and in its memory. The computer could electronic circuits and implement accurate then monitor the local temperature and identi- temperature monitoring to extend the life of fy hot spots. Next, a management circuit could electronics you use every day. n Degang Chen Randall L. Geiger ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 7 researchNEWS Two New VLSI Faculty Advance Circuits, Switching Power Regulator Research

lthough they come from two different of achieving wide band operation, as well apply them to switching regulator design.” Abackgrounds—one just received his as good performance in terms of linearity, Fayed hopes his research can have a PhD from the University of Washington in power consumption, and noise.” great impact on the power efficiency and 2008 and the other came to Iowa State after The impact of Neihart’s research on in- implementation cost of power-restricted working for eight years at Texas Instruments dustry and society could be significant. For electronic devices such as battery-operated in Dallas—both Nathan Neihart and Ayman example, by allowing radios to self-govern devices, implantable biomedical devices, and Fayed are achieving early success as assistant themselves, overall network congestion remotely deployed sensor grids. He also is professors in the ECpE department’s VLSI could be reduced and overall data rates and research group. network reliability could be increased. The research also has applications in emergency Cognitive radio research response when normal channels of com- Neihart is focusing his research efforts on munication are disrupted by large disasters designing circuits for cognitive radios, a new such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, type of reconfigurable radio, and recently as well as in military communication to im- received a National Science Foundation prove communication security, coordination, Broadening Participation Research Initiation and safety of military personnel. Grant in Engineering to support his research. Nathan Neihart Ayman Fayed “A cognitive radio is one that is not con- Improving VLSI power management design fined to operate in a small fixed band of fre- Fayed’s research focuses on the design of trying to tie in his research with his teach- quencies as is the case for traditional wireless switching power regulators for mixed-signal ing by developing a new graduate course in systems,” Neihart says. “A cognitive radio System-on-Chip (SoC) and is motivated by power management and conversion for VLSI can, instead, choose its operating frequency his past experience as an analog and mixed- systems to better prepare students who want and bandwidth as long as those frequencies signal designer at Texas Instruments. to work in industry. are not being used by another system.” “Switching noise at the output of switch- “I focus on basic circuit- and system- The problem of an apparent spectrum ing regulators and coupling between different level concepts of linear/switching power con- shortage and today’s increasing reliance on loads sharing the same regulator were always verters in this course,” Fayed says. “This area and development of new wireless commu- major reasons for performance degradation is rarely addressed in universities, despite nication devices that can operate in the 1 to of analog/RF circuits in SoCs,” Fayed says. its crucial importance to the semiconductor 10 GHz frequency bands sparked Neihart’s “The typical solution had been to use power- industry, which is causing a serious shortage interest in this area. ­inefficient post regulation and expensive fil- of engineers graduating with any knowledge “Recent measurements have shown that tering to mitigate this issue. I always thought of this subject.” even though nearly 100 percent of the 1 to that there must be a way to resolve this prob- 10 GHz band is licensed, approximately only lem within the regulator itself.” A bright future 18 percent is being used at any given time,” Fayed’s research has two main goals: With the early successes of these two VLSI Neihart explains. “If we could build radios to power noise-sensitive analog and RF cir- assistant professors, it is clear they have po- that could find unused frequencies and bor- cuits directly from energy-efficient switching sitioned themselves for long-term career suc- row them on a temporary basis, such as the regulators without the need for filtering or cess and already have learned a lot from their length of data transmission, then the appar- linear regulation, and to enable diverse types early research and teaching experiences. For ent spectrum shortage would disappear.” of load circuits to share the same switching example, Neihart says he’s learned that the The biggest challenge Neihart is trying regulator by manipulating the coupling and key to solving big problems can come from to overcome in his research is to design cir- interference mechanisms between different anywhere, and Fayed says he’s learned that cuits and radio sub-blocks capable of operat- loads to mitigate their impact on each other. delegation is a key to success in academia ing over ultra-wide bandwidths. Stringent “The most challenging part of the and that students are often good at helping performance requirements for today’s radios research has been importing many spread- experienced researchers think outside the also are a challenge. spectrum concepts into the design of switch- box to make innovations. “We are trying to address these issues by ing regulators,” Fayed says. “Those concepts “I also have learned that perseverance looking outside the field of radio frequency have proven very successful in communica- is important,” Neihart says. “You can’t give circuit design for inspiration,” Neihart says. tion systems, but have not been explored for up the first time something doesn’t work. “We have found that by using nonstandard noise control in power converters. I have been As Thomas Edison said, ‘When I have elimi- circuits and new configurations of tradi- deeply studying these concepts from commu- nated the ways that will not work, I will find tional circuits, we are potentially capable nications and signal processing and trying to the way that will work.’” n

8 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 Fill out this form online! Visit www.ece.iastate.edu/ alumni (click Alumni News Form).* would like to hear from you!

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I want to help the ECpE department remain the best! Please contact me about supporting: Notice to Alumni Living Abroad: o endowed chairs and professorships Due to budget constraints and increasing o scholarships and fellowships postage costs, the ECpE department temporarily will not be sending the ECpE o laboratories and classroom space Connections newsletter to alumni with o Coover Building Project Fund international mailing addresses. The latest editions of the newsletter always are online at www.ece.iastate.edu/news/ecpe-connections. I’d like to support the: ECpE Excellence Fund Other Fundt ______New issues are posted in October and April each year. n o $1,000 o $1,000 o $500 o $500 o $250 o $250 o Other $ ______o Other $ ______

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*Only the Alumni Information Form is online. Contributions can be sent via standard mail. tFor more information on the funds, contact Ben Barnhart, Director of Development, College of Engineering (515-294-0934 or [email protected]).

Thank You! 07 EC0:03

Mailing Instructions: Fill out this form with your updated information, and then detach the form along the perforated edge. Fold the form in thirds so that the ECpE address shows on the outside of the form. Tape the form closed and place your stamp in the labeled box. If you’re mailing a check, remember to completely seal the edges of the form or send the form along with the check using a standard envelope.

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 9 researchNEWS ISU Researchers Assist European Space Agency with Remote Sensing Satellite Project esearchers at Iowa State University stand Earth’s weather and climate,” says State research farmland south of campus. Rwatched a November 1 launch of the Brian Hornbuckle, ECpE courtesy associ- On-site equipment measures soil moisture, European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and ate professor and associate professor of precipitation, radiation, and evapotranspira- Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite with great agronomy. tion. Remote sensing equipment is taken to interest. Why? Because the information the Hornbuckle and his research group are the field once a year, to see if data from the satellite will gather is an important part of official members of the SMOS Validation and on-site monitoring matches data from the their research efforts. Retrieval Team. Team members will develop remote monitoring. SMOS is the world’s first soil moisture models that translate the raw remote sensing Hornbuckle is principal investigator for remote sensing satellite. It will generate signal measured by SMOS in space to soil the project, which also involves researchers global maps of soil moisture every two to moisture and ocean salinity. They also will from the University of Iowa and the USDA three days for at least the next three years. perform ground experiments to verify that National Laboratory for Agriculture and the The satellite also will map the salinity of the the measurements from the satellite match Environment at Iowa State. It is funded by a world’s oceans. what is happening on the ground. $1.3 million, five-year grant from NASA. “These data will help us better under­ “Our group will be active in both ac- Hornbuckle has made three trips to tivities,” Hornbuckle says. “We will Europe to report on the work at Iowa State. assess the effect of dew and pre- “Our participation in the SMOS mis- cipitation intercepted by crops on sion will help us prepare for a more active the satellite’s ability to measure soil role in a similar soil moisture mission be- moisture. We also will compare our ing planned by NASA that is scheduled for ground measurements of soil mois- launch in 2014,” he says. ture with the SMOS measurements.” “The ultimate goal is to someday use Hornbuckle’s group is respon- this type of information in conjunction with sible for the U.S. Midwest region. models to forecast soil moisture conditions, The ground measurements they are the weather, and to detect climate change,” collecting are on 200 acres of Iowa he says. An illustration of the Soil Moisture To learn more about SMOS, visit and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) www.esa.int/SPECIALS/smos. n

satellite in orbit Medialab. Agency/AOES Image courtesy of European Space

10 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 studentNEWS Students Share How Scholarships Impact Their Lives and Education

or students, especially in these difficult want to fulfill their wishes.” helping reduce the stress of financial bur- Feconomic times, a scholarship can Nguyen adds that the Caldwell scholar- den,” Schares says. “As a young engineer mean the difference between attending ship, as well as Iowa State’s MVP scholarship, entering the workforce during an economic college or having to drop out, or having to have helped her focus more on her school recession, it is relieving to have some of my choose between spending time studying work rather than worrying about meeting student loan debt mitigated by scholarships and preparing for exams or working to earn college financial demands. such as the Buechler scholarship.” tuition money. “Life in general feels a little less stressful Each year, corporate and individual do- with the added help of this scholarship.” Harsh Goel nors help alleviate this stress on students— Harsh Goel, a junior and their parents—by providing an average Nathan Schares in computer engineer- of more than $250,000 to Iowa State’s ECpE Like Nguyen’s ing and computer department to award to deserving students. parents, Nathan science from Meerut, As tuition rises every year, the scholarships Schares’ parents also India, echoes the become even more important to students have had to make sentiments of Nguyen and their families. many sacrifices to and Schares in being The following are the stories of three send him to college. Harsh Goel grateful for the schol- students and how the scholarships they Schares, a senior in arship he has received: earned impacted their lives. Nathan Schares electrical engineer- the Garmin ECE Scholarship. ing from Jesup, Iowa, “Receiving the Garmin scholarship has Betty Nguyen comes from a middle class family and his helped me immensely to enhance my college Betty Nguyen, a parents are currently trying to help both him experience,” Goel says. “It is because of this junior in computer and his sister with their college tuition. scholarship that I can worry less about pay- engineering from “My mother teaches first grade at my ing tuition bills and concentrate on academic Council Bluffs, hometown public school, and my father and learning experiences. I can now work Iowa, is an outreach is an engine mechanic for John Deere. My shorter hours in part-time jobs and pursue leader for Minds of father is eligible for retirement, but is con- leadership and research activities.” Tomorrow (an en- tinuing to work to help support our family,” Some of the activities Goel has pur- Betty Nguyen gineering outreach Schares says. sued since receiving the scholarship in- program for K-12 To pay for college, Schares also con- clude participating on Freshman Council, students) and is also a member of the Society tributes money he has saved from three the International Student Council, Indian of Women Engineers and Eta Kappa Nu engineering summer internships he’s held at Student Association, Cyclone Aides, and (HKN). She has done internships as a soft- PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago, John HKN, as well as serving as a community ware engineer at Kingland Systems and as an Deere Power Systems in Waterloo, Iowa, and adviser in the residence halls. Goel also electrical engineer at Rockwell Collins. These C2 Development in Ames. He also works completed a summer internship for Cerner experiences she’s had during college are ones whenever he can during breaks from school. Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri, and is she is thankful to have, and have been made Last spring, Schares, who is currently currently doing a software development co- possible because of the Wallace C. Caldwell the IEEE student chapter president and a op with IBM in Durham, North Carolina. Scholarship she received this past year. member of the Tau Beta Pi honor society The experiences of Nguyen, Schares, Nguyen says she is grateful for the and Critical Tinkers student group, received and Goel are just a snapshot of the impact Caldwell scholarship because it has eased the Lester and Delilah Buechler Scholarship scholarships have on students and their fam- stress on her and her family, especially her from the ECpE department. ilies. All scholarships—whether they cover parents who have already made many sacri- “Receiving the Buechler scholarship has $100 to full tuition—can make a difference fices to send Nguyen to college. improved my life and college experience by in a student’s life. n “My parents have made a lot of sacri- fices for my college degree. When I was five or six years old, they left their home country, Vietnam, and their way of life in hope of How You Can Help Students providing me a better education in America,” To learn about how you can contribute to ECpE scholarship funds, or to establish a Nguyen says. “They both have worked very new scholarship in the department, contact the ISU Foundation at (515) 294-2416 or hard doing laborious jobs as custodians to [email protected], or fill out the reply form on page 9. get me where I am today. I am thankful and Goel photo courtesy of Harsh Goel. Brennan. Mackenzie photo taken by Schares

10 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 11 studentNEWS Engineering Students Build Robot to Fight in National BattleBots Competition

bout once every two years robotics must be durable enough to take pounding Aenthusiasts from around the country hits from another robot in a three-minute gather together to show off their own match. The power and controls team must creations—complete with wireless remote make important decisions to ensure all the control capabilities, hydraulic and pneumatic mechanical parts move together efficiently. systems, and weapons—and to destroy their In addition to a power and controls nemesis’ newest creations. This year, a team group, the BattleBots team has three other of more than 30 Iowa State students are groups of students working on the project in joining in the fun by designing and building the areas of drive—anything dealing with mo- their own robot to compete in the national tors, gearboxes, timing belts, pulleys, axles, BattleBots Collegiate Championship April wheels, and bearings; weapons—designing 6-11 in San Francisco. Student Derek Joseph designed this BattleBot the pneumatic systems, air storage tank, and Derek Joseph, sophomore in mechani- as a high school student. This year’s ISU pneumatic piston; and frame and armor—the cal engineering and project manager of the BattleBots team is building a robot with a outside casing of the robot. Computer engi- pneumatic launching arm designed to throw its BattleBots team, organized the ISU team this neering student Michael Potter is part of the competitors across the contest arena. year with the goal of giving students an op- frame and armor group. The other groups portunity to explore their interests and pro- power and controls group, which designs largely consist of mechanical, aerospace, and vide them with a way to learn outside of the batteries, chargers, wires, speed controllers industrial engineering students. classroom. The BattleBots team is part of the for motors, relays, a radio receiver and trans- The team currently is finishing the de- ISU Robotics Club. mitter, and lighting. sign for their 120-pound robot. The robot “BattleBots is a robot combat competi- “The power and controls team is what has a “flipper” design, which involves a tion,” Joseph says. “In a BattleBots event, will give the robot life,” Skadal says. “My pneumatic launching arm weapon system. It competitors build and design remote- group has to decide how the system is wired, is designed to get underneath the opponent ­controlled, armored, and weaponed ma- what battery and battery charger system to and then throw it across the arena. chines that they put in an arena to fight in a use, and incorporate the remote controls The ISU Robotics Club, which meets tournament. The purpose of the fight is for with the motors and speed controllers.” weekly to discuss current robotic projects one robot to dominate, overpower, or disable Also on the team’s power and controls and new technologies and listen to speakers the other. If your opponent is not disabled in group are electrical engineering students talk about different robotics topics, allows a three-minute match, the winner is deter- Jennifer Grubb, Darin Cleveland, Justin students to get more experience with robot- mined by a judge’s decision based on aggres- Landsgard, Adriana Ceylan, and Jonathan ics and new technology. sion, control, damage, and strategy.” Driggs, as well as computer engineering stu- “I love this club because I get to have fun Electrical engineering senior Jimmy dent Andy Nelson and mechanical engineer- with the background that my electrical engi- Skadal is also a member of the BattleBots ing student Aren Hill. neering classes have given me, and there is

team. Last semester, he joined the team’s Skadal says the robot’s intricate system nothing better than that,” Skadal says. n photo courtesy of Derek Joseph. BattleBots Department Engages Students with Wii-mote and Rock Band Projects CprE 185 and CprE 186, the department’s two introductory from the staircase where air resistance is important, it computer engineering and problem solving courses, aren’t doesn’t work. It forces them into a problem-solving mode what they used to be. Assistant Professor Tom Daniels has where they have to work out issues they didn’t think about revamped the courses to engage first-year students and show before to solve this real-world problem.” them how what they learn in many of their general education classes such as physics and mathematics can be applied in Daniels says that many students create contraptions where practical computer engineering applications. they “slap a little of this, and a little of that together.” By the end of the project, the students realize that if they had spent In 2007, Daniels developed a set of exercises based on Nin- more time writing down a coherent plan or simplifying their tendo Wii-motes for freshmen to do. Last fall, he added a design it could have saved them a lot of time and improved Students participate Wii-mote Football Drop exercise. The students packed their their final product. in the Wii-mote Wii-motes in a foam football to protect them, and dropped Football Drop . them from the top of the grand staircase in the ECpE Build- “The goal is for students to do real-world problems and get ing Addition’s atrium to measure how far and fast they drop. them to understand why they need to understand physics in the future. Then, when they get into their physics or ad- “When students do their work in the lab, it’ll work fine, but vanced mathematics classes, they can see the reason why when they get out in the real-world and drop the Wii-motes they need to be there in order to be a computer engineer.” n

12 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 studentNEWS

Students Receive Research, Academic Honors ISU Solar Decathlon Team Places 12th in National Competition ongratulations to the following Cundergraduate and graduate student Iowa State’s Solar Decathlon team finished award winners: in 12th place overall in the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon n Graduate students Osameh Al-Kofahi in October. and Bojian Xu both received the university’s Fall 2009 Research Excellence Award. The Iowa State was one of 20 select student awards are given each semester to recognize teams from four countries that competed to graduate students at the time of their gradu- design, construct, and operate highly energy- ation for outstanding research accomplish- efficient, completely solar-powered houses. ments as documented in their theses or dis- Madeline Oglesby (left) and Kang Kang (right) After the houses were built on their respective campuses, they were dismantled, transported sertations. received their awards during an ECpE faculty and staff meeting last fall. to Washington, D.C., and reassembled for the n Last fall, and Kang Kang Madeline competition and public tours. Oglesby, both seniors in electrical engi- neering, received the annual International The award honors outstanding seniors who The teams were judged in 10 competitions. Engineering Consortium’s William L. Everitt have demonstrated an interest in the com- Iowa State placed 3rd in marketability/ Student Award of Excellence for 2008-2009. munications field.n livability/buildability, 4th in communications, 5th in engineering, and 6th in net metering (the house was 6th best in producing more energy than it consumed). Iowa State’s house was the only one in the competition CprE Senior Recognized by Alliant Energy that was entirely ADA accessible, employing universal design concepts. n May, Emmanuel Owusu, a senior in have lab and project components,” he says. Icomputer engineering from Ames, will be But succeeding in computer engineering The Iowa Department of Natural Resources awarded the Errol B. Davis Alliant Energy hasn’t always been easy for Owusu. purchased the 800-square-foot, energy- Award. The award recognizes achievement, “I had a tough time adjusting to the efficient, solar-powered Interlock House in leadership, and service by a graduating time management and organization demands October for use as an interpretive center senior in business or engineering from one of during my first year,” Owusu says. “I was at Honey Creek State Park. Iowa State also will have access to the building for energy the three Iowa Board of Regents’ able to improve those skills with performance monitoring. The DNR plans institutions. guidance of mentors.” to host an open house during Earth Week, Owusu says he was thrilled Owusu overcame the early April 18-24. n when he heard the news that he challenges of his college career, had won the award. and has now had two intern- “You never know how you ships. His first internship was at involved with all phases of design for the compare to the rest of the ap- Monsanto in Ankeny, Iowa, in mobile application, including user experi- plicant pool when you apply for 2007. ence design, software development, and scholarships, so this was a nice “I worked on an applica- software testing. This was a great learning surprise,” he says. tion that allows crop breeding experience for me because I was exposed to Emmanuel Owusu Owusu decided to study researchers to monitor and control the aggressive scheduling and task manage- computer engineering because he the various stages of a crop DNA ment demands of collaborating on large soft- wanted to join a challenging field and always fingerprinting process,” he says. “In addi- ware projects.” had an interest in computers and technology. tion to software development, I spent time Owusu hopes to one day have in a job “I was particularly interested in comput- becoming familiar with the lab information where he can work on technical problems er engineering because it has a strong focus management systems and the crop breeding that have a great impact on society. on both hardware and software concepts and processes.” “I aspire to advance research on tech- is applicable to variety of industries,” Owusu More recently, Owusu interned in a qual- nologies that can be easily adopted by devel- says. ity assurance engineering role at Adobe with oping countries,” Owusu says. What he likes most about the computer its InDesign group in Seattle, Washington, in Currently, Owusu doesn’t know what he engineering program at Iowa State is the the summer of 2009. will do after he graduates, but he is keeping hands-on experiences he gets. “My main task for the summer was to his options open by applying to graduate “I learn the most from hands-on experi- develop a mobile application for the hosted schools and looking for a full-time engineer-

Owusu photo courtesy of Emmanuel Owusu. Owusu ences so I really like that many of the courses service my group developed,” he says. “I was ing position. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 13 alumniNEWS Alumni Get Involved in Senior Design Program

ach year ECpE seniors work with he has worked on at , and has Eindustry professionals to create the served on the Industry Review Panel. He says capstone project of their engineering his experience as a member of the Industry education. And each semester ECpE alumni Review Panel, and his career experience at return to campus to give lectures during the Honeywell, have helped him realize what an senior design course, work with students excellent education he received at Iowa State. on projects, and participate on the Industry “For me it has not always been what Review Panel that evaluates the students’ I learned, but that I can learn, continue to final projects. learn, and adapt,” Dearth says. “ISU also en- Each semester students present their senior Recently, alumnus Bob Dearth (BSEE couraged me to work with others. It is very design projects to an Industry Review Panel, ’81), who has worked at Honeywell for nearly seldom that you work alone on anything, which includes some ECpE alumni. 29 years and is currently a principal engineer, and that is one of the great experiences I’ve “When I watched my first set of presen- has become involved with the department’s noticed in the senior design projects I have tations, I was very impressed by the students’ senior design program. witnessed to date. I saw great problems to abilities to present and really be knowledge- “I had done other projects with the solve, tough deadlines, tight budgets, and able about their projects,” Dearth says. “I University of Missouri, Rolla, and Kansas three to four individuals working it out. It is am amazed at the experience and exposure State, but newer ISU alumni engineers at very practical.” the students in engineering are getting these our company got me more excited than ever Dearth says some of his favorite senior days. They are witnessing and experiencing about giving back to ISU,” Dearth says. design projects have dealt with robotics and real-life problems and issues in the projects Dearth has made presentations to the automation, and each semester the students they have to manage and complete.” senior design class about engineering projects impress him with their projects. Alumni other than Dearth also are in- volved with the ECpE department’s senior How You Can Get Involved with ECpE Senior Design design program. And by being involved with the program, those alumni can impact their To get involved with the senior design program in any of the following ways, please contact companies and work projects, as well as the Associate Professor Manimaran Govindarasu at [email protected] or (515) 294-9175. department’s curriculum. Propose a Project: The ECpE department is always looking for new, real-world electrical, For example, Dearth says his involve- computer, and software engineering projects to give to students. To see details on current ment with the senior design program helps and past projects, visit http://seniord.ece.iastate.edu. him recruit future employees to work at Honeywell, gives him and his company a Give a talk: Each semester industry professionals come into the class and tell students chance to bring problems to the students to about the engineering projects they have worked on. The department and senior design work on for future senior design projects, program coordinators always want to hear more about what our alumni are doing and and lets him assist the department in updat- expose the students to new, innovative engineering projects happening in industry. ing and reviewing the senior design course Volunteer for the Industry Review Panel: Industry representatives come to campus once curriculum to ensure it remains a valuable per semester to evaluate student senior design projects and watch their final presentations. experience for students. n

ECpE Alumni Honored for their Career Success Professional Progress in Engineering ongratulations to the following alumni their professions or life’s work. Award in April. The award recognizes Con their recent awards: Brayton currently is the Cadence outstanding professional progress and Robert K. Brayton (BSEE ’56) and Distinguished Professor at the University of personal development in an engineering Sehat Sutardja (BSEE ’83) are receiv- California, Berkeley’s Department of Electrical field. Doorenbos is a Distinguished Member ing the ISU Alumni Association’s (ISUAA) Engineering and Computer Science. Sutardja of the Technical Staff at Texas Instruments Distinguished Alumni Award on April 16. is the co-founder of Marvell Technology in Tucson, Arizona, a design enter for analog The award is the highest honor given to Group, a leading worldwide provider of and mixed-signal integrated circuits. alumni by Iowa State University through the semiconductor chips, and currently serves as Edward Perkins (BSEE ’81) won the ISUAA. This award honors Iowa State alum- the company’s president and CEO. 2009 Honeywell Outstanding Engineer of ni who are nationally and/or internationally Jerry Doorenbos (BSEE ’88) is the Year Award. He is a principal engineer at recognized for preeminent contributions to receiving the College of Engineering’s Honeywell. n

14 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 alumniNEWS Alumni to Establish Scholarship to Honor Prof. Emeritus Edwin C. Jones

id you ever have a professor who chal- things—and there are a bunch of them. Since he retired in 2001, Dlenged you, guided you, and pushed There are some who are tenured faculty Jones hasn’t slowed down. you to succeed? For many ECpE alumni, members at major universities, and one even He and his wife, Ruth, moved Edwin C. Jones, Jr., a university professor invented a microphone that’s in cell phones to Minnesota to be closer emeritus, was that professor. He has mentored and also used in hearing aids.” to family, and Jones began many students at Iowa State since 1966, and Jones says some students had abilities, working as an adjunct faculty now the students he mentored want to honor but weren’t sure what they wanted to do, member at the University of the person who helped shape them into the and so he tried to help them figure that out. St. Thomas to develop new Edwin C. Jones, Jr. professionals they are today by establishing an In addition to his advising activities engineering programs and, of endowed scholarship in his name. at Iowa State, Jones also developed several course, mentor students. He also has worked “Ed was always more than your typical courses, participated on an advisory board with universities in Oman, the United Arab adviser helping you choose classes,” says one to establish an engineering program at Qatar Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to give seminars of Jones’ former students. “He really got to University in the Middle East, and served and help develop their programs to meet in- know you as a person. He then provided real (and continues to serve) in various roles for ternational standards. guidance and advice about all sorts of career the Accreditation Board for Engineering and When Jones learned ECpE alumni decisions, much beyond simply what classes Technology. He says a conversation with a wanted to establish a scholarship in his you needed to take to graduate. He put a hu- student was instrumental in providing the name, he says his first thought was, “What man face and concern on an institution that impetus to develop the computer engineer- is going on here?” He also adds that it was a could easily become overwhelming.” ing program in the 1970s. Jones also ex- pleasant surprise. In talking with Jones, it’s clear he truly tended his reach beyond Iowa State’s campus “What’s really interesting is there is a enjoyed mentoring students. through the off-campus graduate program. scholarship at West Virginia University in my “Advising, I think, was the best part of “I started teaching in the off-campus father’s name, and one at Northern Virginia my job,” Jones says. “Some of my favorite program in the late 1960s. At that time, we Community College in my sister’s name. So memories are seeing the students who have drove to Cedar Rapids and taught class and it’s family tradition I guess,” Jones jokes.

Photo courtesy of Edwin C. Jones, Jr. Photo courtesy of Edwin C. Jones, gone off in the world who are doing great drove back,” Jones says. Jones also wants to extend his gratitude to the alumni establishing the scholarship. “I want to thank all of those who are in- Class Notes volved. The university is very proud of your ac- Find out what your classmates are doing today! complishments and contributions to the world. I wish you continued success,” Jones says. “I am 1940s also grateful to you for giving back to ISU, and Arnold M. Bucksbaum (BSEE ’48) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, says when he was at Iowa for helping future students. Scholarships will be State, he especially liked the courses in ultra-high frequency engineering and principles ever more important in years to come.” of radio. In his career, Bucksbaum was project manager on several pieces of Apollo ECpE alumni want thank Jones through Communication equipment at Collins Radio (now Rockwell Collins). When he worked for creating the scholarship in his honor. Amana Appliances, he invented the microwave oven door seal (the oven was called a “We hope that students who receive the Radarange), which he says are now used in every microwave oven manufactured today. The door seal keeps the energy from leaking out without generating heat or burning up. It scholarship will wonder who this guy Ed also, of course, protects the microwave oven user from the energy generated in the oven. was and why people would be motivated to recognize him in this way. We’d like people 1980s to remember what an important part of Mark Law (BSCpE ’81) was recently promoted to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at ISU’s ECpE department he has been over the the ’s College of Engineering. years, and how many students he advised in his career would not be where they are now David Mueller (BSCpE ’83) of Colleyville, Texas, is a Fellow of Technical Staff at Motorola. if he had not been a part of their lives,” says 1990s a former student. n Paul Speicher (BSEE ’95) of Chicago, has left the engineering field to become an actuary. How to Contribute He says he misses the field from time to time. While in industry, he worked in automotive If you would like to donate or help raise electronics, and then in RF design for high-speed Internet infrastructure. “I am impressed funds to establish this scholarship in honor with the modern state of the department. I am proud to say I came from ISU EE/CprE,” of University Professor Emeritus Edwin C. he says. Jones, Jr., contact the ISU Foundation at (515) 294-2416 or [email protected]. See page 9 or visit www.ece.iastate.edu/alumni to submit your Class Notes. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010 15 nonprofit org. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering u.s. postage 2215 Coover Hall paid Ames, IA 50011-3060 ames, IA permit no. 200

EE Alumnus Honored for Calling Attention to Iowa State’s Place in Computing History Electrical engineering alumnus Richard “R. K.” Richards (BSEE ’43) returned to campus October 16 to receive Iowa State University’s Professional Achievement Citation in Engineering award for helping secure Iowa State’s place in computing history and impacting the computing field.

Richards, who worked in industry for only seven years and earned 28 U.S. patents before switching careers to become a farmer, says Richard “R. K.” Richards stands next to the Atanasoff-Berry he was flabbergasted at winning the award. “I didn’t think what I had Computer replica in Durham Center. The replica is going to be on done was that fancy,” Richards says. exhibit at the Computer History Museum in California (see page 5).

Richards was a pioneer in computer arithmetic, the electronic engineering student, invented the first digital computer. The court processing of numbers. He wrote the first textbook on computer decision brought important recognition to Iowa State. arithmetic, a subject that scholars considered “chaotic” at the time. The book was reprinted 10 times, educating a generation of engineers “At the time, I was aware of an argument about who invented radio. on an innovative subject. I wanted to settle the argument before it started on who invented the computer,” Richards says. “The main reason for the book was to call Richards also wrote four other books, including one called Electronic attention to the Atanasoff computer. ISU is appreciative that I called Digital Systems, which played a pivotal role in a 1972 court case attention to it.” involving Honeywell and Sperry-Rand that determined who invented the world’s first electronic digital computer. Richard’s statement in After Richards graduated from Iowa State, he served three years Electronic Digital Systems that “the ancestry of all electronic digital in the U.S. Army, and then attended the Massachusetts Institute systems appears to be traceable to … the Atanasoff-Berry Computer” of Technology to obtain a PhD. He worked for IBM for seven years helped to validate the claim that Iowa State University’s John Vincent before doing some consulting work and authoring books about Atanasoff, a professor of physics, and Clifford Berry, an electrical computers. He returned to Iowa in 1962 and later began farming. n

16 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2010