NEWS FOR ECE ILLINOIS ALUMNI AND FRIENDS WINTER 2011

Also in this issue:

New Assured Cloud Computing Center to be established at Illinois Groundbreaking Solar Decathlon: Helping students and the world ceremony held Alumnus Michael McCorquodale is the first ECE Engineer for new ECE building in Residence

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Breaking ground on the future

Dear alumni and friends, I have good news! The dream of a new building for our department, after many years of planning and anticipation, is now becoming a reality. Last month’s groundbreaking of the new ECE building marks the beginning of a new era for our department, a department of global influence and impact, thanks to the excellence of its faculty and alumni. And it is this global impact that makes this groundbreaking special not only for our department, our college, our campus, and our university, but also for the state of Illinois, our nation, and the world. Our faculty and our alumni have been among the pioneers of the major technological innovations that are the bedrock of today’s computing and communication technologies. The marvel of the computing technology and the communications infrastructure we enjoy today, and its catalytic role in improving living standards around the globe, would not have been possible without John Bardeen’s invention of the transistor or Jack Kilby’s brilliant idea of the integrated circuit. These Nobel Prize-winning innovations by two giants of the ECE ILLINOIS community have been followed by many more groundbreaking advances by ECE faculty and alumni, advances that inspire and drive our quest for a sustainable future for all. Thanks to our faculty, our alumni, and our students, it is now within our reach to achieve smart agriculture, greater food safety, clean and reliable energy, preventive medicine, personalized and affordable health care, and efficient and safe transportation. ECE faculty and students have been and continue to be among the key contributors to the brilliance of these internationally renowned research facilities. Thus, it is fitting to complete this fabric of groundbreaking research and innovation at the northernmost end of our campus with the addition of our new ECE building. A facility dedicated to attracting the best young talent, immersing them in the thrill of research at the frontiers of knowledge, empowering them to think big and innovate, and inspiring them to dream things that never were and make them happen. I can think of nothing more important or more precious than the inquiring young mind. The only way to galvanize it and turn it into a fountain of creativity and driver of innovation is to challenge it to be daring yet ethical; diverse in its pursuits, yet focused on its objectives; respectful of humankind’s anxiety about change, yet comfortable in the knowledge that true progress happens only through revolutions. This is what ECE ILLINOIS is all about: the nourishment and empowerment of our talented students. Their revolutions will define our future; their successes will dictate our fortunes. Thank you for being our steadfast partners in this important commitment.

Andreas C. Cangellaris Department Head M.E. Van Valkenburg Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 56 Everitt Laboratory 1406 W. Green Street Urbana, IL 61801

2 Winter 2011 WINTER 2011

Groundbreaking ceremony held 16 for new ECE building

Documentary on Tsunami airglow ECE 109 accelerates Class helps 5 Nick Holonyak and 9 signature could 14 the education of 15 students create the LED premiered lead to early transfer students smartphone apps on BTN in July detection system

2 ECE news briefs 22 Alumni share leadership expertise on campus 3 Umberto Ravaioli awarded Campus Advising Excellence Award 23 Alumni news 4 ECE ILLINOIS welcomes two new faculty members 24 ECE Alumni Board welcomes three new members 6 Boppart leads team receiving NIH grant to develop imaging 25 Brian Renwick: Ensuring opportunities for future ECE generations technology for primary care physicians 26 ECE alumni honored by College of Engineering Li receives Young Investigator Award from Navy 7 27 Lachman honors friend through scholarship New Assured Cloud Computing Center to be established at Illinois 8 28 Alumni class notes Hwu to elevate computing performance with $2.6 million 10 McCorquodale is first ECE Engineer in Residence Department of Energy exascale project 30 Bragiel nurtures young tech companies 11 Goddard and Mitra receive NSF CAREER Awards 31 Bill and Frank Fry: Innovators and pioneers 12 Faculty news 32 Campus roundup 19 Solar Decathlon: Helping students and the world 33 20 Donor honor roll

RESONANCE is published twice a year by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Contact Tom Moone, editor, at [email protected] or mail to the address at left. Editorial Board: Jeannette Beck, Assistant to the Head; Andreas Cangellaris, Department Head; Jennifer Carlson, Academic Programs Coordinator; Jamie Hutchinson, Publications Office Editor; Sarah Heier, Coordinator of Alumni and Student Relations; Beth Katsinas, Director of Advancement; Tom Moone, Communications Coordinator; Brad Petersen, Associate Director of External Relations Contributing Writers: Shawn Adderly, ECE ILLINOIS; Reema Amin, ECE ILLINOIS; Jenny Applequist, Information Trust Institute; April Dahlquist, Coordinated Science Lab; Kim Gudeman, Coordinated Science Lab; Rick Kubetz, College of Engineering Communications; Nathaniel Lash, ECE ILLINOIS; Jennifer LaMontagne, Computer Science; Tom Moone, Communications Coordinator; Heather Punke, ECE ILLINOIS www.ece.illinois.edu 1 ECE NEWS BRIEFS

Illinois professor John A. Rogers receives $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Chair in Engineering at Illinois, has won the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Prize. The annual award recognizes outstanding innovation and creativity. Rogers is a faculty affiliate in ECE.

Loui explores connection between ethics Leburton named associate member of Royal and work skills Academy of Belgium ECE Professor Michael Loui is examining the connection ECE Professor Jean-Pierre Leburton has been elected between ethics training and technical skills through a to the Academy of Sciences, Letters, and Fine Arts of two-year grant from the National Science Foundation. To Belgium. Leburton, who is the Gregory Stillman Professor conduct the study, Loui and his researchers are creating of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois, is a an experimental online course in computer science. Half renowned expert in nanostructure and device physics. of the students will be given ethics instruction early in the course. The other half will study ethics near the end. Self-cooling observed in graphene electronics About two-thirds of the way through the course—before With the first observation of thermoelectric effects at the second group of students receives ethics instruc- graphene contacts, ECE Assistant Professor Eric Pop and tion—the researchers will administer a technical test his colleagues have found that graphene transistors have and evaluate whether there is a statistically significant a nanoscale cooling effect that reduces their temperature. difference between the two groups. This research could lead the way to using graphene as a replacement for silicon in transistors. Cangellaris receives Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Brunet receives award Director’s Coin for support of women in ECE Department Head engineering Andreas C. Cangellaris ECE Lecturer and Chief recently received the Army Undergraduate Adviser Marie- Research Laboratory (ARL) Christine Brunet was named Director’s Coin. It was the fall 2010 recipient of the presented by Dr. Dev Palmer, Amy L. Devine Award. The the program manager for award was presented by electromagnetics, microwaves, the University’s chapter of and power at the ARL’s Army Marie-Christine Brunet Alpha Omega Epsilon, a Research Office (ARO). This professional and social award is used by command- engineering sorority, in recognition of Brunet’s contri- ing officers and directors of butions to the advancement of women in engineering and military programs to honor, for being an outstanding faculty member at ECE. encourage, and reward individuals for personal and professional accomplishments. It is rarely given to civilians.

2 Winter 2011 Umberto Ravaioli awarded Campus Advising Excellence Award

By Shawn adderly

fter many years of advising and mentor- try to show them how to turn a weakness into strength ing students, Senior Assistant Dean for or how to use a failure as the starting point for future AUndergraduate Programs and ECE Professor success.” Often students are unaware of the additional Umberto Ravaioli was recognized for his efforts by resources available to them, from the extra tutoring being named a recipient of the 2011 Campus Award for provided by the College of Engineering to campus Excellence in Undergraduate Advising. The award was resources such as the Counseling Center. presented at the Celebration of Teaching Excellence event sponsored by the Provost’s office on April 26. Twenty-one “I try to find out why the student is struggling,” he said. other awards were given to faculty, instructors, and teach- “Some students might have problems with taking timed ing assistants in recognition of excellence in teaching, exams or simply need more help to learn the material and advising, and mentoring students. improve their studying skills.”

“It was a great personal honor for me to receive the campus “Some come to me thinking it’s the advising award,” said Ravaioli, who is also a researcher in end of the world because they failed the Beckman Institute and a class or because they are having a affiliated with the Micro and hard time in school. I always try to Nanotechnology Lab and the Coordinated Science Lab. “But show them how to turn a weakness as senior assistant dean in into strength or how to use a failure as the college, it was infinitely the starting point for future success.” more gratifying to be also in Umberto Ravaioli the company of so many other –ECE Professor Umberto Ravaioli engineering colleagues recog- nized for their dedication to our students. The evening clearly demonstrated that the College of Engineering is extraordinarily committed to the teaching While many students go see Ravaioli because they need and mentoring mission to a degree that is comparable to help and guidance in improving their academic standing, our commitment to excellence in research.” these are not the only students on his radar. “Whenever I can, I try to engage also any of the students in good Ravaioli went on to say, “My advising philosophy is standing to make sure that they take full advantage of the very simple: The most important thing is to listen to the astounding range of opportunities available at Illinois,” students and take as much time as necessary to under- Ravaioli said. “One of my personal goals is to increase stand their issues.” even more the number of undergraduate students involved with research so that they are best prepared for graduate Over the years, many students have recognized Ravaioli studies or for a professional career.” for his assistance in helping them succeed. He has been named to the Outstanding Advisors List in the College of Engineering seven times.

“I used to spend a lot of time with my ECE advisees to discuss career options,” he said. “I keep doing the same when I have a chance in the college office, and maybe I spend some time dispelling myths, too,” he joked.

Over the six years he has spent in the Engineering Undergraduate Programs office, Ravaioli has seen literally thousands of students. “Some come to me thinking it’s the end of the world because they failed a class or because they are having a hard time in school,” he said. “I always

www.ece.illinois.edu 3 ECE ILLINOIS welcomes two new faculty members

By heather Punke

his summer, ECE ILLINOIS welcomed two Yuliy Baryshnikov new faculty members: Assistant Professor Dan Yuliy Baryshnikov is joining Illinois with a joint appoint- TWasserman and Professor Yuliy Baryshnikov. ment in ECE and Mathematics. His area of expertise is in mathematics and its applications. Dan Wasserman Baryshnikov is coming to the university from Bell Dan Wasserman comes to Illinois from the University of Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the research arm of Massachusetts, Lowell. His area of research is in optics Alcatel-Lucent. He made the switch to academia to “try and photonics. He works with light and focuses on the something new,” but he chose Illinois for a more specific mid-infrared wavelength range. reason. “I’ve known [the University of Illinois] for quite He was attracted to ECE because, as he puts it, “The a while,” he said. “For the past eight years, at any given department is world-renowned. The faculty, facilities, point, I’ve had two or more collaborators here.” and the research infrastructure Baryshnikov is looking forward in the department, and of to having students available to course the students, are all just help him with his research. He unmatchable. It’s a wonderful lets the students choose what opportunity,” Wasserman said. they want to focus on, instead The students at Illinois will play of directly assigning them a a major part in his research. task. “They are adults, and they “The students that work with understand what they like,” me get to do real, hands-on he said. research,” Wasserman said. Baryshnikov’s current “They do all the hard work. Dan Wasserman Yuliy Baryshnikov research includes developing They make the stuff, they test mathematical models of social the stuff, and I’m just there to networks. He says that right now, no good models exist steer the boat, basically.” for how people interact in groups, but the industry needs Wasserman’s research has many applications in areas one. “[Social networks] will be driving the next round of ranging from national security and defense to the environ- telecommunication expansion,” he said. mental and medical fields. “[This research can help make] People are buying phones for a reason, to interact, and devices that can improve thermal-imaging systems, or they are often buying data plans to connect to their social that can lock into the thermal signal of something that’s networks. “So this social behavior—if it will be driving coming toward you or maybe something you’re trying to this business, we need to understand how it works.” find,” he said of the security applications. His research could also have implications for social “And it also turns out that there are a lot of sensing applica- network platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. Once tions. A lot of the molecules that people are very interested such group interactions are understood, social network in sensing, whether it’s for environmental or medical platforms could create improved business models. purposes, have very strong resonances in mid-infrared,” Wasserman said. Since he will teach in both the College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Baryshnikov Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Wasserman is also says he will do his best to connect the Mathematics excited to return to a college town. “I’m really looking department with ECE. “I want to work with people on forward to coming back to the environment of the both sides—create projects that people from both schools Midwest,” he said. can participate in.”

4 Winter 2011 Documentary on Nick Holonyak and the LED premiered on BTN in July

By rick kuBetz, c ollege of engineering

ome refer to ECE His research led to the Professor Nick practical development of the SHolonyak, Jr. as quantum well laser. That, the “Godfather” of light- in turn, led to the creation emitting diodes (LEDs), of lasers for fiber-optic but that was only one of communications and the his many contributions to Internet, CDs, DVDs, modern electronics. A new medical diagnosis, surgery, documentary, A Brilliant ophthalmology, and many Idea: Nick Holonyak and the other applications—along LED, premiered on the Big with improvements in Ten Network on July 28. vertical cavity surface- emitting lasers, and most Nick Holonyak, Jr. in his office at the Micro and “Nick’s scientific career recently, the transistor laser. of almost six decades Nanotechnology Laboratory. The chart to the right illustrates the LED’s developmental timeline. He continues to conduct has changed the world,” research in the Micro and explained Ilesanmi Nanotechnology Lab. Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering. As the John Bardeen “Everywhere you look, we Endowed Chair in Electrical all interact with Holonyak’s and Computer Engineering inventions daily.” and Physics, Holonyak is one of only 13 Americans to Technological advances that have won both the National can be traced back to his Medal of Science (1990) laboratory at Illinois include and the National Medal of lasers that run CD and Technology (2002). In 2004, DVD players, and fiber-optic communication networks, he won the Lemelson-MIT Prize—the world’s largest as well as groundbreaking transistor research. single cash prize for invention. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008. His other Born the son of an immigrant coal miner in southern awards include the John Scott Medal (1975), Charles Illinois in 1928, Holonyak’s story reflects the American Hard Townes Award (1992), National Academy of Dream. He left the promise of back-breaking work on the Sciences’ Award for the Industrial Application of Science Illinois Central Railroad to become the first in his family (1993), Japan Prize (1995), Frederic Ives Medal (2001), to attend college. He earned his bachelor’s (1950), master’s Global Energy Prize from Russia (2003), IEEE Medal of (1951), and PhD (1954) degrees in electrical engineering Honor (2003), and Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of from Illinois, and he was the first graduate student of Illinois (2005). In 2010, Holonyak and his mentor John John Bardeen, two-time recipient of the Nobel Prize in Bardeen were among the inaugural class inducted into Physics and co-inventor of the transistor. the Engineering at Illinois Hall of Fame. This year he was After completing his studies at Illinois, Holonyak joined inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame. the GE Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory in Syracuse, Holonyak is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts New York, where he was credited with the invention of and Sciences, the American Physical Society, the IEEE, the dimmer switch, the first visible semiconductor laser and the Optical Society of America. He is a member (GaAs phosphide), and the first (red) LED. He returned of both the National Academy of Engineering and the to the University as a faculty member in 1963. National Academy of Science, and he is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

www.ece.illinois.edu 5 Boppart leads team receiving NIH grant to develop imaging technology for primary care physicians

By greta weiderman, d ePartment of Bioengineering

he National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded ECE and Bioengineering Professor TStephen Boppart a $5 million grant for a research partnership that will develop new handheld optical imaging technology for primary care providers.

“The result of this, if successful, could really reduce our health care costs and streamline our delivery of health care,” said Boppart, a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and an Stephen Boppart affiliate of the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab. Boppart’s research team will partner with Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, the Eye Center in Champaign, Welch Allyn (the global leader in office- based diagnostic instruments), Texas Instruments, AdvancedMEMS, and Kyungpook National University in Korea. An early prototype of the handheld scanner has both OCT and video- imaging capabilities and interchangeable tips for the eyes, ears, skin, The goal of the partnership is to create and test handheld and oral tissue. As one example, the device images the retina and the devices capable of 3-D optical coherence tomography anterior eye structures (bottom right). (OCT) that will allow primary care physicians to image the ear, eye, skin, cervix, and oral tissue. “We think that it’s going to completely change the way we The partnership will develop a new imaging system that treat ear infections,” Boppart said. integrates OCT imaging with the otoscope and ophthal- It will also allow for earlier detection of diabetic moscope, which can currently only magnify and light the retinopathy and quantify changes during treatment for surface of tissue. that disease. “We are trying to build a small, handheld unit that has Boppart said the project will fund the research partner- multiple tips,” Boppart said. “What’s collected is 3-D ship for five years and could potentially be renewed for an digital data that can image several millimeters into additional five years. The goal for the next five years of the tissue at micron-scale resolution.” These images could partnership is to demonstrate the technology and create replace biopsies in some cases, providing a noninvasive a standardized prototype. Then larger clinical trials can diagnostic tool. begin, he said. “The primary care physician is the best person to screen The project has already been under way for three years, the general population for disease,” Boppart said. and imaging of patients has been occurring for the past Better imaging and diagnostic tools will empower primary year and a half. care physicians and will allow for earlier detection of diseases, quantitative measurements, ongoing monitoring of diseases, and better referrals.

Tests using the new technology will focus on two common patient problems—middle-ear infections and diabetic retinopathy.

The system will allow physicians to detect and quantify bacterial biofilms in the middle ear that are associated with chronic ear infections.

6 Winter 2011 Li receives Young Investigator Award from Navy

By nathaniel l a Sh

CE Assistant Professor Xiuling Li recently received Her method for growing nanowires goes against the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young conventional bottom-up nanowire processes. Rather EInvestigator Award. The ONR Young Investigator than producing nanowires perpendicular to the plane Program (YIP) seeks to identify and support junior from which they are grown, Li’s method produces nano- faculty members who show exceptional promise in wires along the plane through the use of a metal catalyst. creative research. Li’s proposal, “Massively Parallel Planar Growing wires parallel to the plane is an innovation that III-V Nanowires and Rolled-Up Tubes: Novel Platforms could enhance the potential for use in manufacturing for High-Linearity Electronics and Integrated Photonic nanowire devices. Circuits,” was selected as one of 21 proposals from more than 270 applications, according to a Navy press release. “In production, you consider things that university Li received a three-year, $560,000 research grant. research does not normally care about: uniformity and Xiuling Li repeatability,” Li said. Li’s proposal focuses on potential applications of discoveries she and her research group have made in Manufacturability became one of Li’s guiding principles nanotechnology. Her proposal zeros in on the Navy’s when, prior to joining the Illinois faculty, she worked need for high-dynamic-range, low-noise, power-efficient for six years at Champaign start-up EpiWorks, which communication systems, which can be facilitated through manufactures semiconductor device structures. high linearity III-V compound semiconductor nanowire- The nature of her breakthrough in nanowire production based electronics and photonics. Linearity means that provides for this sort of manufacturability. the output signal is related to input signal by a simple scaling factor. “If you look at our nanowires, you can see these are all planar,” Li said. “When we process these wires for devices, Li, who is a researcher in the Micro and Nanotechnology we use the same processing technology used at Intel for Lab (http://mntl.illinois.edu/) and an affiliate of both microelectronics. Our planar wire is exactly compatible the Beckman Institute (http://www.beckman.illinois.edu/ with planar processing.” index.aspx) and the Materials Research Laboratory (http://mrl.illinois.edu/), has been working on III-V The planar geometry also improved the defect density in compound semiconductors that could enable the the nanowires, which has led to better device performance. production of high-linearity electronics since joining ECE. Because of this ONR grant, this innovation will be applied to more technologically important materials and Traditionally, radio frequency (RF) amplifiers trade devices. Another minor effort the ONR grant will support off improved linearity against higher power dissipa- is III-V tube-based nanophotonics. tion. Nanowire-based field effect transistors have been predicted to have much higher linearity characteristics Li said the ONR YIP is “absolutely critical” for her with decreased power delay product. In theory, nanowires continued progress in this research area. that are small enough can reach the quantum capacitance limit, where the wire behaves as if it were perfectly one “I am fortunate to be in a place that has strong infra- dimensional (1-D), thereby providing the desired 1-D structure and a supportive environment, but the type transport properties. of research I do is very costly. Just the consumption of materials and supplies is quite big,” said Li, whose However, not all materials reach this limit at the same graduate students cover all steps of the processing loop scales. Silicon, for example, must be six nanometers to of a semiconductor device—from crystal growth to behave this way. Li believes using III-V semiconductors device characterization. “Even though it consumes more will give successful results at greater sizes. Indium resources this way, the feedback loop goes a lot faster. This arsenide, for example, only needs to be in the range of Navy grant is going to be very helpful in sustaining the 20 nanometers, which despite being 5,000 times thinner research, which in turn will help us explore more chal- than a sheet of paper, is a size that Li calls “a technologi- lenges and lead to more discoveries and innovations.” cally feasible dimension.”

www.ece.illinois.edu 7 New Assured Cloud Computing Center to be established at Illinois

By Jenny aPPlequiSt, i nformation truSt inStitute

he U.S. Air Force Research to reach mission goals, it will sometimes Laboratory Technology Directorate be necessary to coordinate computation T(AFRL) has announced plans across a mixture of these blue and gray to create a new $6 million “University resources. Thus, cloud computing in a Center of Excellence in Assured Cloud military context presents special security Computing,” which will be a combined challenges. Specifically, assured mission- effort of AFRL, the Air Force Office of critical cloud computing across blue and/ Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the or gray networks requires the realization of University of Illinois. “end-to-end” and “cross-layered” security, dependability, and timeliness. The Assured Cloud Computing (ACC) Center, which will be Ilesanmi Adesida, the dean housed in the University’s of the College of Engineering Information Trust Institute at Illinois, observed that the (ITI), will perform research, planned research has broad provide technical exchange, implications. “Although the and educate professionals new project will primarily and students in the secure benefit the Air Force over the cloud computing sciences short term, assured use of and technologies that are the cloud will be a tremendous needed to allow the Air Force benefit to humanity. Today, to succeed in air, space, and Roy Campbell Ravi Iyer you can’t really trust cloud cyberspace missions. The ACC’s computing because of the research activities will focus security issues that remain to on developing technology for be addressed,” he explained. assured, mission-critical cloud “No one has been able to computing across “blue” and/or use cloud computing in a “gray” networks that ensures the task-oriented way before. The confidentiality and integrity of work of the Assured Cloud data and communications, job Computing Center will make completion in the presence of it possible to deploy cloud cyber attacks and failures, and computing in task-based, timely completion of jobs to mission-oriented human activ- meet mission requirements. David M. Nichol William H. Sanders ity. For that reason, this work will be groundbreaking.” The principal investigator for the ACC Center will be Roy Campbell, who is the In addition to Roy Campbell, the Center’s Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professor in research team includes faculty members the Department of Computer Science. Gul Agha, Masooda Bashir, Rakesh Bobba, Indranil Gupta, Ravi Iyer, Zbigniew “Cloud computing” is computing in which Kalbarczyk, José Meseguer, David Nicol, a user accesses a shared, heterogeneous set and William H. Sanders, whose home of computing resources without necessarily departments include the Information having information on the configuration, Trust Institute, the Coordinated Science location, or identity of those resources. A Laboratory, the Department of Computer computational cloud used in military Ilesanmi Adesida Science, and the Department of Electrical applications may include both blue and gray and Computer Engineering in the College networks, where “blue” networks are U.S. of Engineering. military networks, which are considered secure, and “gray” networks are those in private hands or, perhaps, belonging The Center’s website is to other nations, which are considered unsecure. In order assured-cloud-computing.illinois.edu.

8 Winter 2011 Tsunami airglow signature could lead to early detection system

By kim gudeman, c oordinated Science l aB

esearchers at Illinois, led by ECE Associate Professor Nacional de Pesquisais Espaciais (INPE) in Brazil, Cornell Jonathan Makela, were the first to record an airglow University in Ithaca, New York, and NOVELTIS in France, Rsignature produced by a tsunami in the upper the researchers found that the wave properties matched atmosphere. The activity was observed using a camera those in the ocean-level tsunami measurements, confirming system based in Maui, Hawaii. that the pattern originated from the tsunami. The team also cross-checked their data against theoretical models and The signature, caused by the March 11 earthquake measurements made using GPS receivers. that devastated Japan, was observed in an airglow layer 250 kilometers above the earth’s surface. It preceded the Makela believes that camera systems could be a significant tsunami by one hour, suggesting that the technology could aid in creating an early warning system for tsunamis. be used as an early-warning Currently, scientists rely on Jonathan Makela system in the future. ocean-based buoys and models to track and predict the path of The observation confirms a a tsunami. theory developed in the 1970s that the signature of tsunamis Previous upper atmospheric could be observed in the measurements of a tsunami upper atmosphere, specifically signature relied on GPS measure- the ionosphere. Until now, it ments, which are limited by the had only been demonstrated number of data points that can using radio signals broadcast be obtained, making it difficult by satellites. to create an image. It would take more than 1,000 GPS receivers to “Imaging the response using capture data comparable to that the airglow is much more of one camera system. In addi- difficult because the window tion, some areas, such as Hawaii, Tsunami signature in the airglow. of opportunity for making do not have enough landmass to the observations is so narrow, accumulate the number of GPS and had never been achieved units it would take to image horizon to horizon. before,” said Makela, a researcher in the Coordinated Science Laboratory. “Our camera happened to be in the In contrast, one camera can image the entire sky. However, right place at the right time.” the sun, moon, and clouds can limit the utility of camera measurements from the ground. By flying a camera system Tsunamis can generate appreciable wave amplitudes in on a geo-stationary satellite in space, scientists would the upper atmosphere—in this case, the airglow layer. be able to avoid these limitations while simultaneously As a tsunami moves across the ocean, it produces atmo- imaging a much larger region of the earth. spheric gravity waves forced by centimeter-level surface undulations. The amplitude of the waves can reach several To create a reliable system, Makela says that scientists kilometers where the neutral atmosphere coexists with the would have to develop algorithms capable of analyzing plasma in the ionosphere, causing perturbations that can and filtering data in real-time. The best solution would be imaged. also include a network of ground-based cameras and GPS receivers working with the satellite-based system to On the night of the tsunami, conditions above Hawaii combine the individual strengths of each measurement were optimal for viewing the airglow signature. It was technique. approaching dawn (nearly 2 a.m. local time), with no sun, moon, or clouds obstructing the view. Along with “This is a reminder of how interconnected our environment ECE graduate student Thomas Gehrels, Makela analyzed is,” Makela said. “This technique provides a powerful new the images and was able to isolate specific wave periods tool to study the coupling of the ocean and atmosphere, and orientations. and how tsunamis propagate across the open ocean.”

In collaboration with researchers at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CEA-DAMDIF in France, Instituto

www.ece.illinois.edu 9 Hwu to elevate computing performance with $2.6 million Department of Energy exascale project

By aPril dahlquiSt, c oordinated Science l aB

CE Professor Wen-mei Hwu will took the number three spot on the November participate in a three-year project Green500 List. EcoG is one of the three Eto design a next-generation most energy-efficient supercomputers in software infrastructure for productive the world today. heterogeneous exascale computing. The project is funded by a $2.6 However, programming GPUs million grant from the Department is currently difficult and time of Energy and includes team consuming, which has been a major members from Oak Ridge National stumbling block. Hwu and Illinois Laboratory, the University of Oregon, faculty have been working to address and Georgia Tech. the human side of the problem through courses and summer programs, which have drawn programmers from around the world. Hwu’s participation in Vancouver will focus “If we are really successful, on new programming tools that will greatly reduce the difficulty in programming GPUs and other types of it will be a lot easier for parallel processors. scientists and engineers “If we are really successful, it will be a lot easier for to port their applications scientists and engineers to port their applications to GPU-based systems, to GPU-based systems, which can raise application which can raise application performance by 20 times or more,” Hwu said. “Using these tools, scientists and engineers can performance by 20 times Wen-mei Hwu instantly increase processing speed and reduce power or more.” consumption using the GPU hardware, without long programming delays.” –ECE Professor Wen-mei Hwu

Dubbed Vancouver, the project will address multiple challenges on the road to a high-performance exascale computing architecture. The challenges include the persistent issues of realized performance, scalability, and programming productivity.

Exascale computing will be faster and more energy efficient than petascale computing and may give the U.S. scientific community a global competitive advantage. Vancouver will involve porting applications such as simulations of new energy sources and more efficient engines for aircraft and vehicles from petascale to exascale platforms. The goal is to reduce the computation time from as much as six months to a year down to a few days.

A significant portion of the improvement will come from new computing devices, such as graphics-processing units (GPUs). Hwu, the AMD Jerry Sanders Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a researcher in the Coordinated Science Lab, is a leading expert in designing and programming these devices. He recently led a joint Illinois-NVIDIA project for constructing and programming the EcoG GPU cluster computer that

10 Winter 2011 Goddard and Mitra receive NSF CAREER Awards

By Jenny aPPlequiSt, i nformation truSt inStitute, and reema amin

CE Assistant Professors Lynford Goddard and Sayan Sayan Mitra Mitra were recipients of National Science Foundation Mitra’s project is titled “Algorithms and Verification for E(NSF) CAREER Awards. These awards are among Reliable Distributed Cyber-Physical Systems.” He has a the most prestigious awards given to young faculty. strong research interest in the reliability of cyber-physical systems (CPS), which are systems Lynford Goddard that involve close coordination Goddard’s project is titled among computers that interact “Theory and Application of with the outside world by means Reflective Microring Resonators.” of sensors and actuators. The The project was first conceived CAREER award will allow him in 2008 when Goddard and to address the reliability of a his graduate students studied special class of CPS, namely, ways to create photonic devices distributed cyber-physical with smaller footprints. “Our systems (DCPS). DCPS involve main motivation was to develop multiple system components that simple closed-form solutions to Lynford Goddard Sayan Mitra are not all sitting in one place. be able to design the functional- As a result, on top of the general ity of reflective microring-based devices,” he said. problems of CPS, DCPS present additional challenges, such as unreliable communication and undetected failures. Goddard’s project deals with this new kind of photonic device and may help communications systems—like the “Designing reliable CPSs is challenging, because writing Internet—function better. Conventional communications correct computer programs itself is hard, and now you are lasers have linear grating mirrors for the light to reflect. But making these programs manipulate the physical world,” Goddard said his proposed device would be shaped into explained Mitra. “So how do you design and analyze a ring, allowing the grating to create a better reflection these systems?” spectrum profile. As an example of a cyber-physical system that most people “Light enters the ring. It builds up in strength and, while use on a daily basis, Mitra points to various driver- circling, is reflected bit by bit by the grating. The ring assistance systems in the current generation of automobiles, shrinks the [linear] device by a factor of about 100,” such as anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control. Goddard said. Today, such cyber-physical systems are created ad hoc because the current development process is not scalable, Over the next two years, Goddard and his team will and adequate general principles and tools are not yet develop and characterize the basic device. During the final available. Thus, everyone who needs to make such a system three years of the grant, they will apply the device to make is forced to build it, to a great extent, from the ground lasers and on-chip absorption sensors. up. Mitra’s research will address this problem by working to identify appropriate “algorithmic building blocks” that Goddard has been with ECE since 2007. Much of his can be assembled to build such systems more easily, while research interests are in the field of photonics, such as meeting certain reliability guarantees. photonics-based sensors and photonic integrated circuits.

Goddard has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and, most recently, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science and Technology.

www.ece.illinois.edu 11 ECE FACULTY NEWS

NARENDRA AHUJA has THOMAS HUANG received received a grant from a three-year collaborative the National Science research grant from the Foundation (NSF) to National Science Foundation improve high-performance to use information technol- category modeling. ogy to monitor the activity of wildlife. TAMER BA AR and VENUGOPAL VEERAVALLI are JIANMING JIN’s new book, part of a research team that Theory and Computation of has received a National Science Tamer Ba ar Jianming Jin Electromagnetic Fields, was Foundation grant to study recently published by Wiley- controlled sensing, distributed IEEE Press. signal processing, and decision making in networks. KEVIN KIM has received a grant from Science JENNIFER BERNHARD is the Applications International 2011 recipient of the Ronald Corporation (SAI) to study W. Pratt Faculty Outstanding applied materials optical fibers. Teaching Award. RAKESH KUMAR received The 2011 class of IEEE Fellows the Best Paper Award includes three ECE ILLINOIS at the International professors: STEPHEN BOPPART, Symposium on Compilers, Jennifer Bernhard Kevin Kim JOSEPH LYDING, and ELYSE Architecture, and Synthesis ROSENBAUM. for Embedded Systems.

JAMES COLEMAN recently ZHI-PEI LIANG has received received the 2011 Technology a grant from the National Achievement Award from Institutes of Health to study SPIE—International Society faster dynamic MRI with for Optics and Photonics. He sparse sampling. was recognized for “seminal contributions to the methods, JEAN-PIERRE LEBURTON designs, and demonstrations has received a grant from the of selectively grown discrete U.S. Army Research Office to and monolithically integrated study self-consistent ambipolar James Coleman Zhi-Pei Liang compound semiconductor lasers transport and high-frequency and photonic devices.” oscillatory transients in graphene electronics BRIAN CUNNINGHAM has received National Science JOSEPH LYDING published Foundation grants to perform an invited News and Views research on external cavity laser article analyzing a potential biosensors and photonic crystal breakthrough in Nature enhanced microscopy. Chemistry, one of the field’s highest-impact journals. ALEJANDRO DOMINGUEZ- GARCIA and SEAN MEYN JONATHAN MAKELA is the have received a grant from the 2011 recipient of the IEEE Mark Hasegawa-Johnson Jean-Pierre Leburton National Science Foundation for Education Society’s Mac Van research on smart power systems Valkenburg Award. The award of the future. goes to teachers within their first 10 years following the receipt of their PhD who have “made outstanding MARK HASEGAWA-JOHNSON has been named Fellow of contributions to teaching unusually early in their profes- the Acoustical Society of America. sional careers.”

12 Winter 2011 M. A. Pai Naresh Shanbhag Paris Smaragdis Shobha Vasudevan

Professor Emeritus M. A. PAI has co-edited a new book SHOBHA VASUDEVAN recently received the YWCA recently published by Oxford University Press (India) Leadership Award in Science. She was one of six female examining the impact of Dr. Homi Bhabha on the leaders who were honored by the YWCA chapter of computer revolution in India. Champaign-Urbana in their first annual leadership award ceremony. Computing Science Department Head Rob Rutenbar and ECE faculty members NARESH SHANBHAG and PARIS SMARAGDIS will be investigating machine learning and perception through stochastic computation as part of a new Intel-funded center on embedded computing.

Two ECE faculty retire

Stepen Bishop P.R. Kumar Stephen Bishop came to Illinois to P. R. Kumar retired after 26 years of serve as director of MNTL (then called service. Kumar, the Franklin W. Woeltge the Microelectronics Lab) from 1989 Professor of Electrical and Computer to 2000. From 2000 to 2004, he was Engineering and a researcher in the a faculty fellow and associate vice Coordinated Science Lab, joined the ECE president in the Office of the Vice faculty in 1984. Since then, Kumar has President for Technology and Economic distinguished himself in both research Development. He returned to teaching and education in the field of systems, and research at ECE in 2004, and in which includes control, communications, 2006 he became the department’s Stephen Bishop P.R. Kumar and computing. associate head for Administrative and Instructional Affairs. In this position Bishop has guided ECE through Kumar’s research focused on the fields of wireless networks, sensor successful accreditation and consulting reviews while overseeing a networks, and network-embedded control systems. “I’ve been variety of departmental functions, including teaching assignments. interested in the convergence of several areas within electrical and computer engineering,” he said. “It means more to me than I can express to see these generations of faculty and staff,” said Bishop as he looked out on the audience of After retiring from Illinois, Kumar will take a faculty position at Texas young and old colleagues who had gathered on May 4 to thank him A&M University. He is looking forward to the warmer climate farther and wish him well in his retirement. south in Texas but will miss the warm atmosphere of the University of Illinois, as well as its students and faculty.

www.ece.illinois.edu 13 ECE 109 accelerates the education of transfer students

By nathaniel l a Sh

ow into its second year, an online course for junior who transferred in fall 2010. “I have many friends transfer students designed by ECE Lecturer and who now regret not taking it.” NChief Adviser Marie-Christine Brunet has proved a success. ECE 109: Introduction to Electrical and Digital Brunet’s class integrates video lectures produced on her Circuits helps transfer students catch up with their electri- tablet PC with Camtasia, which allows audio to be added cal and computer engineering studies. to video of her computer’s screen. Using the program Elluminate, sessions are recorded and uploaded for students Currently offered only in the summer, the online class unable to make the online meetings. serves as an introduction to ECE and takes the place of the lecture portion of ECE 110, providing the foundation for “This is by far the most popular aspect of the class,” Brunet many of the classes taken for an ECE degree. The lecture said. “It’s very interactive, and they just love it.” portion of ECE 110 is a prerequisite for many higher-level classes, which can set back incoming transfer students who previously would take the class alongside freshmen during their first semester before being able to take more advanced coursework.

Transfer students can now have that lecture requirement filled before they arrive on campus—although they would still have to fulfill the lab portion of ECE 110. Nevertheless, they will have a leg up and will be able to take higher-level courses, such as ECE 210: Analog Signal Processing or ECE 290: Computer Engineering I, both of which are required in an ECE student’s first two years of study.

“ECE 109 is definitely a great online course and an excellent choice for transfer students,” said Zhongdong Zhu, an ECE

ECE 109 is an online course that allows incoming transfer students to fulfill the lecture portion of the ECE 110 course requirement. The students regularly interact with course director Marie-Christine Brunet online.

College of Engineering consolidates information technology

By reema amin

Information technology (IT) services for faculty, staff, and students in The college began the consolidation process in February 2010. In July, the the College of Engineering now comes from one unified organization: college officially established Engineering IT, which has been divided into four Engineering IT. parts: user services, infrastructure, Web application information services, and the multimedia technologies group. The four divisions allow the new The College of Engineering administration has taken all of the separate organization to efficiently support the research and instruction enterprise. IT operations—previously dedicated to each department of engineering— and consolidated them into a single unit in the college. Potts said that most of the employees who worked for individual departments continue to work at Engineering IT. Although organizational changes have been Joshua Potts (MSEE ‘99), manager for the Web, Application and Information made, Potts emphasized that engineering affiliates should not fear having to Services (WAIS) division of Engineering IT, said the consolidation of all deal with a completely new staff. the IT departments was an initiative to provide better support service and save money. “People are unaware of the changes that have been made. We’re all here, and [faculty and students] can still all talk to the same familiar people,” The consolidation has saved the ECE Department more than Potts said. $160,000 annually.

14 Winter 2011 Class helps students create smartphone apps

By nathaniel l a Sh, ece illinoiS

CE students capped off their undergraduate careers authentication system for reserving and opening in computer engineering by developing smartphone rooms in the center. It combines a smartphone’s GPS Eapplications that utilized cloud computing. ECE system and QR-code reader with the center’s lock and 498HP: Extending Mobile Computing Through Cloud room reservation system. Computing was a new class spearheaded by ECE Professor Constantine Polychronopoulos and ECE Assistant Pradhan said the current system does not allow for ad Professor Yih-Chun Hu. Students learned how to extend hoc meetings. Undergraduates have to reserve a room cloud computing resources to mobile smartphone users. in advance, and when they fail to do so, they have to turn to graduate students to open room doors for them. Microsoft provided access to its Windows Phone 7 devices and Windows Azure cloud services for the course. “From “This puts everyone in quite an awkward situation, Microsoft’s standpoint, the phone is the next big computing since everyone’s been told not to let people into these platform,” Hu said. As people become more reliant on their rooms,” Pradhan said. smartphones for energy-draining tasks, cloud computing Illinois Phone solves this problem by creating a system becomes an important option. that grants access to classrooms when students need ECE 498 provided students with experience in developing them, while keeping a dependable log of who is using applications using the growing remote computing technol- which room and when. ogy. Of the five apps developed during the course, three During the spring 2011 received special recognition and cash prizes sponsored TaskPop: Best Overall Application semester, students in ECE by Microsoft. ECE senior Stan Idesis worked with longtime friend 498HP: Extending Mobile Stoyan Gaydarov on TaskPop, a task-managing Computing Through Cloud Computing were able to develop Mapster: Cloudiest Application application that streamlines collaboration between their own smartphone apps. The ECE juniors Adarsh Hasija, Pratch Piyawongwisal, and people with a shared to-do list. image above shows a screenshot Sahil Handa used the cloud to integrate social media aof the TaskPop app. “We made the app a lot more social than personal,” outlets to make the world a safer place. They integrated Idesis said. “Now, I can create a task, share it with a Twitter and Bing Maps to create Mapster, a mobile app friend, and when he completes it, I’ll know.” that enables rapid communication during emergencies by identifying the time, location, and type of emergency event. The app was voted “Student Choice” by those in the class.

Geotagged tweets are combined with weather data in “It’s an app that a lot of us could see ourselves using,” the cloud to enable another user to view the emergency Hu said. as it unfolds via a spatiotemporal animation that shows the data change over time in Bing Maps. According The Future to Piyawongwisal, this has a number of applications in Though the class (and, for most, college) has ended, addition to emergency reporting. students are still hard at work putting their apps on “We can make it social network, or we can use it solely for the market. research purposes,” Piyawongwisal said. Hu believes the course was a success. He did say that the The group worked with researchers from the National class was intended for like-minded individuals interested in Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) on the creating their own products. “This is a course that’s geared app, which they’re calling a “citizen event reporting system.” toward people who want to build a lot of stuff and are not afraid to put in the hours to do it.” Illinois Phone: Most Innovative Application A group of seniors used cloud computing to tackle issues in the Thomas M. Siebel Center for Computer Science. Illinois Phone, developed by ECE senior Amey Chaugule and computer science students Joe Fernandez and Abhishek Pradhan, is meant to streamline the University’s

www.ece.illinois.edu 15 Some of the leading dignitaries who broke ground on October 7 were ECE Department Head Andreas Cangellaris, and ECE Professor Philip Krein, (from left) College of Engineering Ilesanmi Adesida, University of Illinois President chair of the ECE Building Committee. All photos by Thompson-McClellan. Michael Hogan, Chancellor Phyllis Wise, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Groundbreaking ceremony held for new ECE building BY TOM MOONE

n October 7, a ceremony was held to break ground for a new building that will be headquarters Oto the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn joined University of Illinois President Michael Hogan, Vice President of the University of Illinois and Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Phyllis Wise, College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida, and ECE Department Head Andreas Cangellaris to launch the construction of the building. “Today is a very special day in the history of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as we celebrate a dream that, after many years of planning and anticipation, is now becoming a reality,” said Cangellaris in his opening remarks at the ceremony.

16 Winter 2011 “The University of Illinois is home to some of the best and brightest minds in our state, and we want to make sure they have the most cutting-edge technology available to them,” said Governor Quinn. “Updated and energy-efficient higher education resources are vital to the success of our state’s innovation and economic development.”

Donations provide half of funding State funds for the building had been part of a capital bill signed by Governor Quinn in 2009. The state funds will provide $47.5 million toward the project. That is half of the $95 million total cost to build and furnish what will be a major addition to the Urbana campus.

In addition to the state funding, the University to date has successfully secured $37.5 million in private support for this important project. Private support for this building has come from many generous friends and donors of the College of Engineering. The College of Engineering and the ECE Department are working to raise the remaining funds to reach the final target of $47.5 million in private support prior to the project’s completion.

President Hogan emphasized at the ceremony that the partnership Illinois Governor Pat Quinn joined dignitaries from Champaign-Urbana and the between the state and University in raising funds for the University at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Clockwise from upper left: ECE Professor Pete Sauer (center) joined current and former ECE department heads Andreas Cangellaris (left), Richard Blahut, George Swenson, and Tim Trick for a turn at the shovel. Students from the Integrated Circuit Fabrication Lab course showed off their bunny suits during the ceremony. University of Illinois President Michael Hogan spoke at the ceremony. A lunch reception followed the event. College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida spoke at the ceremony. Chancellor Phyllis Wise (left), Dean Adesida, and President Hogan await the arrival of the governor. Student members of the ECE Student Advancement Committee take a turn at the shovels.

www.ece.illinois.edu 17 From left: Illinois Animal project has “ensured that this great University will remain Vazzano, the leader of SmithGroup’s Science and Sciences Professor Robert a world leader in high-tech innovation and education for Technology Practice, said, “It’s exciting to be working Easter (center), who served as interim chancellor generations to come.” alongside our client to create a new building where of the University from future innovations and sustainable research practices are 2009 to 2011, poses with Building to be a showcase imagined and refined. The ECE building will not only ECE Department Head support the University’s unique mix of traditional and Andreas Cangellaris and The new ECE building will comprise 230,000 square Dean Ilesanmi Adeisda. feet of instructional, research, and office space, with an modern teaching and research methods, but will create Cangellaris provided emphasis on student learning spaces. The building has a vibrant and energetic environment where students and welcoming remarks at faculty can share ideas that truly shape our world.” the ceremony. Chancellor the goal of achieving LEED platinum certification, which indicates the highest level of building efficiency. The 21 Phyllis Wise spoke at the The facility is targeted for completion in spring 2014. ceremony, one her first instructional labs will make up 28% of the total space. activities as chancellor. Spaces for students include an undergraduate lounge, a More information can be found at the website graduate student lounge, student organization offices, and for the Building Campaign for ECE ILLINOIS: 11 teaching assistant meeting rooms and study rooms. www.ece.illinois.edu/buildingcampaign. Twenty research labs for faculty and graduate students will support seven research groups.

The auditorium will have 400 seats, making it one of the largest gathering spots on campus. It will also enable ECE to hold gatherings for an entire class of students at one time.

The building was designed by the architectural firm SmithGroup, the same firm that designed the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Andy

Net-zero energy This bird’s-eye view of the new ECE building shows the solar panels that will be placed on its roof. By heather Punke The new ECE building is on track to be the largest building in the building itself, and are also in the works for the parking garage that United States with net-zero energy characteristics. That means its is east of the Beckman Institute. energy bill will even out to be $0 for the entire year. Not only will the energy-efficient aspect of the building benefit the “[Net-zero energy] doesn’t mean it’s not connected to the grid, it’s just ECE Department, it will also bring value to the campus as a whole. that the bill over a year is basically zero,” explained ECE Professor Krein said, “One of the things people have talked about is having a Philip Krein, chair of the ECE New Building Committee. living laboratory for various kinds of studies, and one of those indeed was energy in facilities.” The net-zero energy goal will be achieved in a number of ways. First, the building will have better insulation than older campus buildings. All the technology benefits aside, Professor Krein has one hope for It will also utilize passive solar concepts, which means the building the building. “Students are going to love it,” he said. “It’s going to will make use of daylight when possible. be a tremendously fun place to work and learn. It’s really designed for students.” Arguably the most exciting way this building will achieve net-zero energy is through solar energy. Solar panels will be installed on the

18 Winter 2011 Solar Decathlon: Helping students and the world

By heather Punke

his fall, a team of Illinois students made a cross- Cady explained. country trip. Along with the essentials, they “In addition to being wire- Tbrought something a little different with them— less, they don’t require an a house. energy source.”

They were the University of Illinois Solar Decathlon team, The energy needed to send the and they traveled to Washington, D.C., with their contest wireless signal to the corre- entry, the Re_home. sponding light is taken from someone actually depressing ECE students joined forces with peers from many the switch. “It’s a really cool different disciplines and majors to take part in this system; you don’t need any biannual competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department batteries and you don’t need of Energy. The team’s objective was to design, build, and to run any wires to the switch,” operate a solar-powered, energy-efficient home. Cady said.

“Basically, they want the students to design homes to The competition is called a showcase technology that people can actually use, decathlon because there are 10 to minimize energy usage,” ECE graduate student separate competitions. Each Stanton Cady explained. “And also showcase things like house is judged on architecture, solar energy—things that people might not normally market appeal, engineering, have.” Cady was the electrical engineering team leader Re_home was the University of Illinois entry in communications, and afford- the 2011 Solar Decathlon. The Illinois team finished for the Illinois team. ability. The physical competi- seventh overall. Photo by Stefano Paltera/U.S. tions include comfort zone, Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. This was the third time that Illinois entered the contest. hot water, appliances, home Cady was a part of the 2009 competition, where Illinois entertainment, and energy balance contests, according placed second out of 20 national and international teams. to the Solar Decathlon website. The electrical engineering students on the Solar Decathlon The physical competitions try to simulate someone team played a major role in the functionality of the home. actually living in the home. “[We] handled everything that has to do with anything electrical or electronic in the house,” Cady explained. “[The competition] is a really fun time, it makes all the hard work worth it,” Cady said. This included the solar panel arrays on the home. This year’s entry had two arrays, one on the roof and one But he got more out of being on the Solar Decathlon team shading the porch. than just a good time.

One of Cady’s favorite things the ECE team did this “I think one of the biggest things [I got out of it] is year was the controls and monitoring system, which was working with other disciplines,” he said. He explained completely student designed and produced. that engineers usually just work with other engineers, but the competition allowed him to work with architecture “We have an iPad that can be used to interface with students and other disciplines. “I guess it’s a good the system. From there you can monitor energy usage, opportunity to see how other people think.” temperature and humidity, water usage, and how much energy we’re producing,” Cady said. “You can also control The overall experience of the Solar Decathlon helped Cady things like the lights.” gain experience, and will one day influence the future of solar energy in our homes. Even minor components, such as small as a light switch, can help make a house more energy efficient, and Illinois’ This year, Illinois did not fare as well as it had in 2009. home has a very unique light switch system. “Normally The final standings put the Illinois team in seventh place. you have a light switch in the wall and have AC wiring For more information on this year’s competition, visit going to the switch, and then from the switch to the light www.solardecathlon.gov. itself. We found switches that are completely wireless,”

www.ece.illinois.edu 19 ECE DEVELOPMENT

Donor Honor Roll January through December 2010

Corporate and foundation Hegarty, Aran Scarpelli, Nate F. Moore, David Scott donors Henderson, Joan K. Schindler, William C. Moreira, Jose E. ECE ILLINOIS is grateful Abbott Fund Higgerson, Clifford H. Sognefest, Peter W. Napier, Mary E. Accenture Foundation, Inc. Hollenbeck, Kurt S. and Anne M. Stahl, Alan L. Neuhalfen, Andrew J. and Catherine M. to the alumni, friends, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Horsley, Sherel D. Starr, Thomas J. J. Nichols, Jeanann and partners who have Ameren CIPS Jain, Kanti Switzer, Scott D. Niehaus, Jeffrey A. Ameren UE Jeschke, Arline D. Tashima, Mark M. O’Brien, James D. made contributions to AmerenCILCO Johnson, Carl J. and Margot A. Then, Han W. and Mei Ping Tan O’Brien, Vincent E. the department. This AmerenIP Kreer, John B. and Vivienne M. Thomas, Sunil O’Neill, John G. American Electric Power Company Kurkowski, Hal Tomasic, Michael G. and Christina M. Owdom, Ronald S. and Sheryl S. list includes financial APNA Consultancy LLC Lachman, Phillip M. Wang, Yi-Min and Pi-Yu Chung Parson, Kim and Nicolette Low, Irene M. Trust donations, but we are City of Springfield, Illinois City Water, Wang, Zhonghui A. and Liping J. Zhu Pham, Anh-Vu and Vi Light and Power Marcyk, Gerald and Michelle Weedon, William H. Phillips-MacAdam, Sara J. just as grateful for ConocoPhillips Company Meyer, Derrick R. White, Thomas R. Poggio, Andrew J. and Margaret E. Renwick, Brian L. and Barbara H. Yang, Allen Y. Polacek, Michael S. the ongoing support Cooper Industries Foundation Crowe Horwath LLP Rienzi, Thomas Yau, Leopoldo D. and Bella Predick, Paul R. and Christine T. you lend in other Eden Park Illumination, Inc. Sample, Steven B. and Kathryn Brunkow Zhang, Tianli Yu and Yan Radant, Milton E. and Shirley Scifres, Donald R. Rahmeh, Joseph T. and Carol V. Gura Engineering Employment Expo Gifts of $250 to $999 ways. ECE could not Exelon Srivastava, Sanjay K. Read, R. A. maintain its position Exxon Mobil Corporation Sterling, Jennifer T. Alvarez, Francisco Robertson, Sandra G & W Electric Company Tolli, Dominic M. and Natalie J. Arnold, Daniel J. Schmitt, Ross A. as a great educational GE Foundation Tsai, Bin-Ming Ben and Jamie Baits, Paul G. and Teri K. Seinfeld, Robert David and research institution General Dynamics C4 Systems, Inc. Yeh, David C. Barth, Richard M. Sekimura, Gerald T. and Joy H. Hashiba General Electric Company Yeh, Margaret Bates, Cyril P. Senese, Thomas J. without you. Bates, David L. Shah, Ketu K. Google, Inc. Gifts of $1,000 to $5,000 H.C. Materials Corporations Boatright, David J. Jr. Sherman, Glenn H. and Inamaria Allemong, John J. Breeding, Juliann B. The following list Hegarty Research, LLC Shevlyagin, Sergei S. IBM Matching Grants Program Altenbaumer, Larry F. and Dheena E. Chang, Wei-Heng Shewchuk, Thomas J. includes charitable Intel Foundation Anderson, Richard E. and Carolyn B. Chu, Michael J. Sipinski, Gene Banerjee, Prith and Swati Chuang, Yu-Ju Starr, Stuart H. gifts designated for ECE Intermec Foundation Lockheed Martin Corporation Bernatowicz, Frank A. and Kathleen A. Chu-Kung, Benjamin F. Stubenrauch, Carl F. and received between Lockheed Martin Foundation Bluestone, David H. Cimino, Kurt J. Stunkel, Craig B. Mentor Graphics Foundation Brown, Gary S. and Kathleen Cochran, Paul L. Swim, Alan D. January 1, 2010, and Micro Methods, Inc. Bruning, John H. Dickmann, James William Tanaka, Jerry A. December 31, 2010. Microsoft Campbell, Edna M. Dobraca, Fadil Tremain, Tim A. MidAmerican Energy Company Estate, Maurice K. Carr Edwards, John F. Jr. Trick, Michael T. and Xiaowei Tian Gifts to other campus Motorola Solutions Foundation Chan, Doris A. Emert, Win H. Trick, Timothy N. units may be recognized MPSC Inc. Chenoweth, Amos J. and Linda L. Erickson, Paul M. VanBlaricum, Michael L. and Mustang Technology Group Chin, Raymond and Linda Chang Erickson, Timothy K. and Shelby J. Pamela Calvetti in other campus Neuhalfen Engineering Corp. Chow, Amy C. Faber, John P. Varney, Daryl Farley publications. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Chow, Joe H. and Doris W. Fawcett, Clinton D. Vaughn, Matthew W. and Kiva S. Northrop Grumman Corporation Connors, Daniel P. Feng, Jeffrey T. Waldrop, Park D. Northrop Grumman Corporation Ernst, Barbara A. Ferrara, Jeffrey F. Wang, Jianshi We strive to make Information Systems Everitt, Andrew H. and Julia Marie Fox, Stephen A. Weissman, Steven Jay and Suzanne Heisler Finnigan, Robert E. and Bette E. Fox-Penner, Peter S. this list as accurate as Northrop Grumman Foundation West, Leslie Joe and LeAnn W. Philips Electronics North American Corp. Foudriat, Edwin C. Fresina, Michael T. Wolson, Raymond D. III and possible. If your name Polliwog Company Ltd. Fujitani, James Y. Fuoss, Dennis E. Alexis Beshara-Wolson Qualcomm Incorporated Gilmore, Merle and Lisa Galbraith, Amy M. Womeldorff, Porter J. has been listed incor- Quonset Aviation, LLC Hieken, Milton H. and George, Christopher and Christina Wright, James W. rectly or omitted, please Raytheon Company Barbara Barenholtz Ghuman, Jeewan S. Yin, Felix K. Research in Motion Limited Holonyak, Nick Jr. and Katherine Green, Samuel I. Zillman, Daniel C. accept our apologies. Rockwell Automation Charitable Hong, Se June and Karen McCully Groch, Timothy J. and Nancy A. To report an error or Corporation Huang, JianJang Hanshaw, David A. Gifts up to $249 Rockwell Collins Charitable Corporation Hula, David W. Hartman, Quesnell J. Ahmari, David A. omission, or for S&C Foundation Hurst, Roger Hausman, George M. Aksamit, Randy J. information about SC Johnson Fund, Inc. Jablonski, Martin C. and Dana M. Ho, Nancy Tseng Amaya, Luis E. and Alexandra Ortiz Schad Family Trust Jend, Eugene J. Holm, John R. Anderson, Arne D. and Donna C. making a gift, please Sempra Energy Foundation Julifs, David H. and Huang, Thomas S. Arbetman, Robert Bennett contact Beth Katsinas, Synopsys Foundation Roxann M. Marumoto Huemiller, Timothy G. and Laura Damon Arifin, Christopher E. The Boeing Company Kiesling, Robert W. Johnson, Roger L. Assar, Mahmud and Joyce E. director of development, The Capital Group Companies, Inc. Kohlrus, Karl E. and Christine C. Kennedy, Robert G. and Cynthia M. Balasaygun, Mehmet C. at (217) 265-6567 or The Medtronic Foundation Kommrusch, Steven J. Khemani, Kishan G. Balazs, Ronald Michael The Procter & Gamble Fund Konicek, Jeffrey C. Kirkpatrick, George M. Bales, James E. [email protected]. United Technologies Corporation Krein, Philip T. and Sheila Fitzgerald Kish, Frederick A. Jr. and Jacqueline Rose Balzarini, Dennis L. Landon, Susan Klump, Ray and Karen Barnes, Harold B. Major gifts Lisa, Steven G. and Laurie Odell Korb, Harold and Anne Barnes, Ronald Dale Jr. Ackmann, Lowell E. and Dorothy C. Magnuski, Henry S. and Cynthia Jose Kruzinski, Philip J. Barnett, Allen M. and Marsha S. Bahl, Lalit R. Mikulski, James J. and Cecile K. Labiak, William G. and Mabel Bass, Kim Beanblossom, Todd M. and Gale Mitra, Samir G. and Sundari S. Lee, Marco Yu-Chai Baumgartner, Richard A. and Beatty, Joseph A. and Constance M. Mueller, Thomas O. Lennox, Edwin C. III Elizabeth M. Salzer Bitzer, Donald L. and Maryann D. Newman, Leon A. Lomelino, Dale L. Beck, Robert W. Blahut, Richard E. and Barbara A. Nguyen, Giang Dong Loui, Cynthia M. and Michael C. Becker, Sheldon T. Chan, Richard T. Nixon, Larry S. Lowrie, Matthew B. Belcher, Deborah Chang, Herbert Y. and Stella S. O’Brien, William D. and Wilma L. Maranowski, Steven A. Beldon, Mark C. Cioffi, John M. and Assia Pai, M. Anantha Mark, Edward A. Bell, Edward F. Dobberpuhl, Daniel W. and Carol A. Pasteris, Robert F. Marlett, Mark J. Benhabib, Jose Eberhard, Martin F. and Carolyn Howk Pesavento, David R. Martin, Gerald E. and Louise C. Bernard, Phillip T. Evans, Charles C. and June B. Phua, Chew Chin and Weng Cho Chew Marzinzik, Caroline M. Berry, Gregory A. Everitt, William L. Radnik, Robert C. McClure, Robert E. Bertetti, David D. Gibbs, Kenneth Paul and Richards, Anthony L. and Rosario J. McGrath, R. Vincent Besich, Joanne M. Claire VanderMeulen Sander, Benjamin Thomas Meeker, Donald J. and Gabrielle B. Beyers, Joseph W.

20 Winter 2011 Donor Honor Roll January through December 2010

Bicknell, William E. Etzel, Mark H. Jones, Edwin C. Jr. Nandagopal, Thyagarajan and Radha Sheehan, John P. Bielat, Mark Eustice, Robert W. Jones, Robert Lee Napier, Robert H. and Donna K. Shemroske, Peter M. Birnbaum, Josh R. and Jessie Evett, Ronald C. Julian, Stefanie Nearing, Fredric G. Simonson, Cheryl D. Blasa, Reynard C. Evoy, Linda Kaczmarek, Kurt A. and Nancy A. Nelson, Gary W. Slutsky, Gary S. Blazeck, Thomas S. Farmer, Daniel E. Kadah, Zagloul and Muntaha Nelson, Mark W. Slutter, Andrew B. Bloechle, Brian W. and Wendy K. Feng, Weishi Kafka, Robert W. Ng, Spencer W. Smale, William B. Jr. Boarman, Lawrence and Joan Fenner, Marquia S. Kamikawa, Neil T. Niemi, David C. Snyder, Timothy M. Bridge, William A. Fenoglio, Pete Karwan, Henry P. Niu, Edward L. Sommers, Peter B. Britton, Michael R. Flucke, James M. Katsinas, Lizbeth A. Noonan, John R. and Patricia K. Sorenson, Gregory E. Brookhart, Maurice and Mary Hughes Foecking, Donald A. and Lucille A. Katz, Richard H. and Victoria L. Nuspl, Stephen J. Sorenson, Jeffrey L. Brown, Douglas A. Fong, Peter H. Kaufman, Bruce R. Ohlson, Sharon L. Sparacino, Michael J. Buenger, George L. Forney, G. David Jr. Kenyon, Richard Jay and Lois Belle Olaniran, Qudus B. and Heather A. Lee Spinelli-Dixon, Felicia A. Bullock, Earl R. Fronmuller, Mark J. Kerr, J. Stephenson Orr, John A. Spohn, Gregory L. Burge, Donald R. Gab, LuAnn E. and Dwayne Kessler, Lawrence W. and Francesca Owens, Joseph N. and Nancy J. Srinath, Mandyam D. Bushell, Keith M. Gartner, Todd H. and Leonora J. Khajana, Ashwin Owens, William R. Stahlheber, Benjamin L. Butte, Edward G. Gelbart, Allen M. Khalil, Hassan Kamal Padgitt, David G. Stapleton, Jim Cadigan, Susan A. George, Thycodam V. Kielar, Kenneth L. Pagones, Michael John Steinmetz, James D. Campbell, Henry G. Jr. Gerber, Howard L. Kilty, Roger S. Parikh, Mitesh M. Stephens, David E. and Kathy A. Carolan, Shawn T. Gerstenberger, Jeffrey S. King, John M. Park, Keundo Stephenson, David T. Carpenter, James A. Geschwind, David P. Klaus, Douglas E. Parkhouse, David G. Stigall, James R. and Brenda K. Ceferin, Jack V. Gibbons, Scott G. Klein, Charles A. and Irene T. Parks, Rodney T. Strack, Jan Jeffry and Gael B. Centanni, James D. Gilchrist, Brian E. Knapowski, John T. Pasurka, John A. Stuart, Christine M. Chan, Chi K. Gilgan, Curtis A. Kochan, David A. Patha, Robert R. Suh, Hyuk-Jeen Chang, Allen Timothy Gilmore, Douglas J. Kotowsky, Mathew P. Patkus, Pat and Susan L. Sukhaphadhana, Christopher T. Chapman, Bruce E. Glazer, Marvin A. Kovarik, Michael F. and Percival, Nell Culp Swanson, Daniel G. Jr. Chelmecki, Christopher A. Gleichman, Kurt W. Michelle Buerkett Perry, John S. Tan, Ian Nathaniel L. Cheng, Keh-Yung Gold, Barry H. Kran, William C. Petersen, W. Brad Tate, James E. and Deloris Chevlin, Leonard Gordon, Lanae Krieger, William A. Peterson, David W. Tatman, Patricia J. and Steve Chiu, Benjamin Gouveia, Christopher M. and Krogmeier, James V. Peterson, Kathryn A. Taylor, Javin M. Chiu, Yun Leslie Lauren Krueger, Dirk Peterson, Luther S. Terdina, James M. and Cheryl A. Chu, Andrew Granzow, Kenneth D. Kruger, Deborah J. Petrucci, Francis D. Thatte, Satish M. Chu, Dahwey Grebner, Frank W. Jr. Kuckertz, Thomas H. Phillips, Kathlina M. Thompson, Robert Chu, Raymond R. Greer, Leonard D. and Sonnie G. Kulas, Charles J. Pienkos, Richard J. and Julia A. Tirva, Victor A. Chuang, Shun-Lien Gregorich, Joseph E. Kuntz, Robert W. Poeschel, Robert L. Tobin, Michael S. Polesky, Richard W. Ciesla, Richard W. and Maria I. Grochowski, Wayne M. Kuo, Franklin F. Tolish, Theodore Pollak, Michael J. Clark, Thomas T. Grodzinsky, Stephen E. and Frances S. Kwan, Diana Toomey, Patrick J. Kyu, Gregory Y. Polson, Duane R. Cleveland, George M. Groll, Robert G. Torkildsen, Robert A. Lackowski, Donald H. Porter, Jeffrey S. Covington, Teresa Pytosh and Gromm, Bradley J. Trahan, Jerry L. and Suzanne G. Ladyman, Dan and Paula Antonacci Potter, Lee C. Richard K. Gross, Louis H. Trainor, Drew R. Guccione, Samuel A. and Lai, Liyang Pottle, Christopher Cowling, David H. Trimble, Philip K. Linda Gay Tooley-Guccione Landauer, Michael C. Potts, Joshua J. Cox, Edward W. Tucker, Douglas J. Criner, Douglas E. Gudat, Adam J. and Bonnie R. Larson, Richard W. Printz, Daniel M. Turczyn, Paul J. and Charlene J. Cropper, Leigh C. Hajic, Earl James Laskar, Devadutta Sen Raczkowski, Brian C. Tyne, Jay R. Daly, Katherine A. Halm, Martin J. Layman, Roger S. Radke, William A. Tzeng, Kenneth K. Darsch, Arnold P. Handler, Michael L. Layman, Terry J. Rajagopalan, Chithra Umeki, Russell Davis, Harry A. and Ruth E. Hanes, Larry L. Layno, John H. Ramachandran, Aravind Usevitch, Bryan Edward Davis, Paul R. and Janice R. Hanley, Joseph R. and Kristy L. Mardis Lepic, Robert E. Ray, Howard K. and Ruth Varshney, Pramod K. Davis, Richard C. Hansen, Timothy R. Lerner, Jeffrey D. and Ella Repke, Joseph P. Vedder, Dietrich Davis, Richard D. Hargis, Robert N. Levinson, Joseph Resman, John B. Vittore, Kristine Kay Degroat, Joanne E. Harness, Kathleen A. Li, Junjun and Hongmei Richardson, Michael A. Voelz, David G. DelCampo, Jaime L. Jr. Hart, Gerald W. Lim, Hock-Beng Riches, Kenneth W. Vogel, Frederick M. Denny, William F. Haruch, John and Constance Y. Linder, Kathleen L. Richter, John P. Waineo, Douglas K. Desai, Samir A. Hendricks, Duane S. and Sandra J. Liu, Paul and Jean Shiau Ring, Charles M. Walker, Michael E. Devine, Amy L. Herbener, Stephen R. Lobdell, Bryce E. Ritt, Jack A. Walker, Winston K. DeVore, Douglas M. and Aleen B. Higgins, William E. and Margaret R. Lodwig, Stephen G. and Ligia M. Ritter, Frank E. Diekman, W. Michael Holm, John G. Lomelino, Lawrence W. Robertson, Glenn B. H. Wang, Desmond Y. Dietrich, John G. and Patricia A. Honickman, Harris Lyons, Barry W. Rogers, Gregory P. Wang, Jonathan I. Donoghue, Terry B. Hoover, Keith E. and Judith M. Maher, Robert C. Rollenhagen, David C. Wanka, John R. Dorrenbacher, Carl J. Houpis, Constantine H. Mallon, Stephen A. Romanelli, John Warren, George H. and Doris M. Dougherty, Justin E. Howard, John F. Manning, Patrick F. Ross, Monte Weaver, David B. Dougherty, Mack X. Howland, Dennis R. and Mariano, Gonzalo A. and Liliana D. Rosset, Sherwin Weaver, Harry R. Dowding, Fielder G. Mary Kaltenbach Marinello, Gerald J. Rotolo, Michael and Rita F. Webb, James A. and Becky Ann Doyle, Mick and Barb Hruska, Jean M. Marsaglia, James A. and Anita R. Rust, Charles L. Jr. Weissing, Fred and Carol Driscoll, Wendy Fung Hsieh, Kuang-Chien Maslov, Robert A. Ruwe, Ryan L. Welbourne, G. Bruce Dunbar, Mark E. Hsu, William H. Mata, Donnell P. Sacco, Gilbert F. Werner, Tony L. Dunn, Edgar J. Hu, Huan McCarthy, Elizabeth L. and Thomas G. Sainati, Robert A. Westendorf, Brian M. Dunn, Pamela M. Hughes, Brian D. McMurry, Michael B. and Gayle M. Sand, Douglas S. Westendorf, Mark W. and Sharon R. Dunwoody, William K. III Hurwich, Robert I. Meehan, Kathleen Savin, Howard V. Whitson, Roger M. and June D. Dupuis, Russell D. Jablonski, Robert C. Merkin, Joel R. Scallon, Matthew C. Wilhelm, Andrew L. Dyson, Austin A. R. James, John T. Merten, Matthew C. Schad, Virgal L. Jr. Williams, Henry G. Dzurisin, Michael J. Jamicich, James A. Messer, Stephen C. Schaeffer, Thomas G. Willits, David S. and Judith A. Eakman, Stephen L. Jenkins, Christopher D. Miles, Betty L. Schafman, Brett T. and Jolene M. Wirth, Robert D. Edson, Donald T. Jha, Niraj K. and Shubha Govind Misthos, George E. Schlosser, Don and Mary Kay Wojnowiak, Paul Eichelkraut, Craig A. Jimison, Walter L. Mitzel, Kevin R. and Angela S. Schmars, William T. Wooden, Steve S. and Ashley A. Eilers, Joan A. Jin, Jianming Montague, Tim G. Schmitt, Laura M. and John Yang, Kevin J. Eilts, Larry E. Joe, Daniel J. Moser, Brian G. Schrock, Anthony W. Yu, Gilbert S. Elkow, Justin M. and Jessica A. Johnson, Christopher L. Moss, Randy H. Schwartz, Alan M. Yuan, Li-Pen Emery, Edith R. Johnson, Douglas K. Mueller, Vernon C. Scontras, Stanley A. and Mary A. Zhu, John Engels, Charles W. Johnson, Gary W. Muncie, James W. Scott, Michael J. and Melanie M. Zhu, Yu Erlebacher, Seth A. and Melissa A. Johnson, Newton E. Myer, Jeffrey W. Serrato, Tamara S. Zinschlag, Howard P. Etter, Phillip J. and Susan M. Jones, Christopher S. Nagel, Jeffrey M. Shea, James E. Zysk, Adam M. and Carrie A. Beyer

www.ece.illinois.edu 21 Alumni share leadership expertise on campus

By reema amin and tom moone

university the size of Illinois needs the involve- head for test equipment design at Rolls Royce Aerospace ment of its alumni and friends to remain a strong, in Indianapolis. “Many of [the participants] had taken A vibrant institution. Typically that involvement communications classes, where they had already prepared takes the shape of financial contributions. These are, their elevator speech. I was pleasantly surprised at that.” of course, essential for the continued success of the University. But alumni can also get involved in ways that Geier used the example of his move from Illinois to enhance the educational experience and maintain the California to illustrate how students could remain success- excellence of graduates from the University of Illinois. ful while transitioning. He also gave personal examples of working at an expert level at one job and transitioning to ECE alumni David a job he knew virtually nothing about. Geier (BSEE ’77) and Gene Jend Both Geier and Jend agreed that learning how to commu- (BSEE ’86) both nicate effectively is extremely important for success after visited Illinois college. This can be especially true for engineers. during the spring “If you want to be a leader in an engineering program, 2011 semester you have to be able to communicate your ideas,” said to participate Geier. “I talk to different types of workers, from field in Imprint, a workers to construction workers to the mayor of one-day program San Diego.” sponsored by the Illinois Leadership “I would say [communication] is essential, because Center. Imprint was engineers especially tend to be introverts,” said Jend. designed to provide “They are very good at problem solving and mathematics, students with but when it comes to the soft skills, that is often not important leadership their strong suit.” skills for life after ECE alumni David Geier and Gene Jend visited Illinois in the college and other Jend said that participating in Imprint or a similar spring to participate in Imprint, a one-day program sponsored by similarly momentous program from the Illinois Leadership Center would be the Illinois Leadership Center. transitions. Imprint beneficial to any ECE student. “The Illinois Leadership is one of several Center provides the skills to help round out engineers programs sponsored by the Illinois Leadership Center over and make them better communicators and make them the course of the academic year. The Illinois Leadership self-aware. And that is all good,” he said. Center strives to provide opportunities for Illinois students to develop their leadership skills. Geier agreed: “If you get a degree from the University of Illinois, you can do anything you want to. But these “[Imprint] is really set up to talk about transitions, leadership skills will really help you along the way.” coaching, and mentoring,” said Geier, who traveled from San Diego, where he is vice president of operations at San More information on the Illinois Leadership Center, Diego Gas & Electric. “As a person goes through their as well as Imprint and its other programs can be found at career or life, these are all skills that will help them be www.illinoisleadership.uiuc.edu. successful.”

“[Imprint] is very exciting because the energy level of the students is very high,” said Jend, who is department

22 Winter 2011 ALUMNI NEWS

What goes into educating today’s young people? What makes a high-caliber engineer? What tools can a university provide to help its students succeed? Can a building impact the learning environment?

Research has shown that the physical environment in which students learn has a significant impact on their learning. More students and faculty can be invigorated by a modern, flexible learning environment than by an old, outdated, dark building (with all due respect to Professor Everitt and his 1947 classes by candlelight). State-of-the-art facilities at MIT and other institutions have helped to keep their students and faculty energized and their rankings high.

Recently, we held a groundbreaking ceremony for our own new building. It was an exciting and inspirational event attended by Governor Pat Quinn, University of Illinois President Michael Hogan, Chancellor Phyllis Wise, and many faculty, students, and alumni. Our new ECE building will provide an environment for concentration and listening in the classroom, experimentation in the labs, and collaboration in study and meeting spaces while serving as a technological showcase to the world. Our new building is designed to be on the cutting edge, featuring technologies developed at Illinois by its alumni and by other leading innovators in architecture, design, and education.

This is our new building—a gift made to enrich the present and the future. We, as alumni, can take pride it in and utilize it. I encourage you also to support it. While the state has released its portion of the building funds, private donations are still needed to reach the total fundraising goal for the project.

As fellow alumni of the ECE Department, your ECE Alumni Advisory Board encourages you to join us in doing our part to complete this fundraising effort. Information, updates, and donation information for the ECE Building Campaign can be found at www.ece.illinois.edu/buildingcampaign.

Sincerely,

Christopher N. George (BSCompE ’97, MSEE ’99, JD ’02) ECE Alumni Association Board of Directors President

ECE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT TREASURER MEMBERS Chris George (BSCompE ’97, MSEE ’99) Christy Westendorf (BSEE ’00) Johnathan Ashbrook (BSEE ’98, MSEE ’00), Finisar Hanley, Flight & Zimmerman, LLC Patrick Engineering Richard Chan (PhD ‘05), BAE Systems MIDWEST VICE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT-ELECT Michael Hattendorf (BSEE ’97, MSEE ’00, PhD ’02), Intel Ben Sander (BSEE ’93, MSEE ’95) Phillip Lachman (BSEE ’04) Srinivas Kuchipudi (BSEE ’90), Trilos Ventures Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Lockheed Martin Space Systems Vamshidhar Kommineni (BSCompE ‘01), Microsoft WESTERN VICE PRESIDENT PAST PRESIDENT Karen Coperich Branch (MSEE ’96, PhD ’01) Denise M. Turic (BSEE ’88) Mark Laufenberg (BSEE ’92, MSEE ’93, PhD ’97), Sandia National Laboratories Microchip Technology PowerWorld Corporation Thanh Tran (BSEE ’84), Texas Instruments EASTERN VICE PRESIDENT David Yeh (BSCompE ’83, MSEE ’85, PhD ’90) Alek Tziortzis (BSEE ‘91, MSEE ‘93), Research in Motion Texas Instruments Michael L. VanBlaricum (BSEE ’72, MSEE ’74, PhD ’76), Toyon Research Corporation www.ece.illinois.edu 23 ECE Alumni Board welcomes three new members

By heather Punke and tom moone

his year, “Whatever I am the ECE in my profes- TAlumni sional career Board welcomed and whatever I three new will be, I owe members: to Illinois. I Richard Chan, definitely feel Vamshidhar a deep sense of Kommineni, and gratitude for Alek Tziortzis. the education Richard Chan Vamshidhar Kommineni Alek Tziortzis I got there and RICHARD CHAN the experience I (BSEE ’01, MSEE ’02, PhD ’05) is a recent alumnus had,” said Kommineni. “When I was asked to be on the working for BAE Systems, a defense contractor in New board, I felt that was one way I could contribute back to Hampshire, designing defense electronics. the department.”

He said one of the most rewarding aspects of the job is ALEK TZIORTZIS (BSEE ’91, MSEE ’93) is an intellectual solving problems. “It’s like in graduate school, but with property manager at Research in Motion, a position he’s a lot of flexibility,” he said. had for nearly three years.

While he got his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from In his current position, Tziortzis oversees several patent ECE ILLINOIS, graduate school is one of Chan’s favorite committees for the company and is in charge of portfolio memories from being at ECE. management for those patents. Since joining Research in Motion, he has also become a patent agent, which is “Undergraduate is a good experience to give you all the useful in his position. “I make sure that we patent the key theories, but the best thing about graduate school was technologies within our programs as they’re developed,” learning how to do the problem solving on your own, he said. rather than relying on somebody else,” Chan explained. “I would say that was the best experience and the best And now Tziortzis is able to bring the wisdom and experi- memory I got out of my years in the ECE department.” ence he has gained in industry back to ECE through the alumni board. “I am very fond of U of I,” he said. “I think In his first year on the board, Chan hopes to help ECE it’s a stellar engineering program. For me to be able to interact with alumni and looks forward to getting to help the program or give insight into directions it might know other board members and alumni. “I’m excited to go appealed to me.” see all of the board members,” Chan said. Tziortzis hopes that his tenure on the board will help When Chan is not busy working, he enjoys kayaking encourage entrepreneurship. “Getting students up to during the New England summer. speed to apply their knowledge to real-world problems VAMSHIDHAR KOMMINENI (BSCompE ’01) is a senior and to go on to entrepreneurial ventures would be of program manager at Microsoft, where he has been interest to me,” he said. employed since graduating from Illinois.

He works on the Windows Azure platform. As the program manager, he defines the direction for the product, providing the vision and strategy, and coordinates the release of the parts of the product he works on.

Kommineni credits his Illinois education for the success he has had in his professional career, and it was a desire to give back to the department that led Kommineni to become a member of the Alumni Board.

24 Winter 2011 Brian Renwick: Ensuring opportunities for future ECE generations

By tom moone

hen Brian Renwick Having had that success, which (BSEE ’73, MSEE started with the opportunities he W’75) talks about his had at Illinois, Renwick decided experience at the University of that he wanted to “make sure those Illinois, a word that keeps popping opportunities continued for other up is “opportunity.” He describes Americans who come from humble his time at the University of origins,” he said. Illinois as “a great opportunity, a great education.” One way that Renwick and his wife have assisted others in It was this educational opportunity achieving these opportunities is that led to his career with Sargent through the Barbara H. and Brian & Lundy, a Chicago-based L. Renwick Electrical Engineering engineering consulting firm Scholarship, which they have specializing in power plant and endowed. This scholarship transmission design. Renwick went provides funding to undergraduate to work for Sargent & Lundy right ECE students in their studies. after obtaining his master’s degree from Illinois, and has remained Another way that he helps provide there ever since. Renwick is opportunities for future genera- currently an executive vice Brian Renwick tions is through his support of president and chief nuclear officer. the building campaign for ECE In his position, he oversees all work at Sargent & Lundy ILLINOIS. “Illinois has one of the best ECE programs related to nuclear power. in the United States. And we’re working out of an ECE building that’s very old. It’s no longer the high-caliber In addition to educational opportunities, Renwick looks facility that can appropriately support our top-quality upon his University experience as one that gave him program into the future,” said Renwick. opportunities for personal growth. During his time at Illinois, he became a member of a fraternity, and in his In fact, Renwick recalls his days in Everitt Lab in the senior year, he was a dorm advisor at one of the residence 1970s. Even then he thought that the building was very halls. The latter experience was a great “opportunity to old. “I just felt that it was important for the University to learn and grow, because there were other seniors who were have the right facilities to sustain their high standing.” wondering, ‘How could this senior guy be their dorm For Renwick, it has come full circle from an opportunity advisor?’” said Renwick. “So I had to prove myself in to receive a top education to an opportunity to provide that role.” the means for others to receive a similar education. Renwick’s father started as an overhead line electrician When the new ECE building is completed, future and eventually became an electrical distribution super- generations of ECE students will be able to achieve visor for ComEd. Consequently, his older brother, Bruce, success through the generosity of those alumni, like attended and graduated from ECE ILLINOIS. This Brian Renwick, who contributed to this campaign. helps to explain Renwick’s interest in the power area of electrical engineering. But he was raised in a fairly modest household. He believes that the education he received at Illinois was a major factor in enabling him to achieve the career success he has had. “I felt that I came from a humble background and through great opportunities from a great engineering school, I subsequently landed a job with a great company,” said Renwick.

www.ece.illinois.edu 25 ALUMNI NEWS ECE alumni honored by College of Engineering

By Jennifer l a montaigne, c omPuter Science, and heather Punke

n April 16, ECE alumni Prithviraj Banerjee (MSEE ’83, PhD ’85) and Richard T. Cheng O(MSEE ’69) were among those honored at the College of Engineering Student and Alumni Awards Ceremony. They each received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.

Prithviraj Banerjee Banerjee, who is senior vice president of research at Hewlett Packard and director of HP Labs, was recognized for his contribu- tions in parallel algorithms for VLSI CAD and compilers Richard Cheng was recognized by the College of Engineering for for parallel and heterogeneous pioneering and outstanding leadership in education and business. Photo by Thompson-McClellan. computing, and for visionary leadership in engineering research and education. After completing his master’s degree in ECE, Cheng continued his education in the Department of Computer Before he went to work for HP, Science, earning a PhD in 1971. He received one of the Prith Banerjee (left) was recognized by the College Banerjee was an ECE ILLINOIS first graduate degrees from that department. He went on of Engineering for contributions in parallel algorithms faculty member, chairman of to found computer science programs at the University of for VLSI CAD and compilers for parallel and electrical and computer engineer- Wisconsin–Whitewater, Hunter College, the Rochester heterogeneous computing. He was presented with ing at Northwestern University, his award by College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Institute of Technology, and Old Dominion University. Adesida. Photo by Thompson-McClellan. and dean of the College of Engineering at the University of He retired from his career in academia in 1985 to concen- Illinois at Chicago. He spent nearly 22 years in academia. trate on running ECI, a highly successful, award-winning company he founded in 1980 with a former graduate Banerjee made the switch from academia to HP because student as his first employee. The company focused on he felt he could have more of an influence in the computer research and development in computing in native foreign engineering world. “Working for one of the largest languages, including Chinese. Because of this expertise, computer companies in the world, I could have a real ECI successfully competed for a multimillion-dollar impact on transferring research ideas into real profits,” contract for the United States Information Agency’s he said. worldwide computer network in 1983. ECI grew into a leading integrated-systems provider for the U.S. military In addition to this award, Banerjee has received the IEEE and government. In 2002, Cheng retired, and ECI went Taylor L. Booth Education Award, The American Society through several mergers. for Engineering Education Terman Award, and the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award. He is a Fellow of Cheng has made several endowments to support computer the American Association for the Advancement of Science, science, including the Richard T. Cheng Endowed the Association for Computing Machinery, and IEEE. In Fellowship in the Department of Computer Science at 2007, he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Illinois. He has also been active in the Chinese-American ECE ILLINOIS. community, having founded the Organization of Chinese Americans, Eastern Virginia Chapter, and becoming Richard T. Cheng a member of the Committee of 100, an organization Cheng was recognized for “pioneering and outstanding that seeks stronger relations between the United States leadership” in education and in business. Cheng is the and China. founder and president of ECI Systems.

26 Winter 2011 Lachman honors friend through scholarship

By tom moone

“ ’m still a bit numb and just overwhelmed,” said questions,” said Lachman. “He Brad Griffis (BSEE ’01, MSEE ’03). “No words, was a great sounding board.” Ireally. Just stunned. Certainly honored. I’m still just totally shocked.” Even though Griffis was a great help to Lachman in his Many people have great friends from their college days. academic career, they chose Birthdays are remembered with cards or small gifts. different paths within ECE. Phone calls and emails are exchanged. In these and Lachman concentrated on other ways, people remember those friends who had an electromagnetics and now important influence and impact on their lives as they works for Lockheed Martin in went through college. California. Griffis focused on signal processing and works Few people would do what Phillip Lachman (BSEE ’04) for Texas Instruments in the did for his friend Brad Griffis: Lachman endowed an Chicago area. ECE scholarship in his name. Over the years, the two stayed “I was having this urge to give back to the University,” in touch, with regular phone said Lachman, “and all of the sudden, the scholarship calls and occasional visits. It is idea just kind of came to me.” a testament to their friendship and trust that when Lachman Although he wanted to give back to the department, Phillip Lachman (left) presents Brad Griffis with a invited (nay, insisted) Griffis Lachman was not concerned with naming the scholarship certificate commemorating the new Bradley J. Griffis to come to Champaign on Endowed Scholarship in Electrical and Computer after himself. “The one person who probably had the April 28 (coincidentally the day Engineering. Lachman endowed the scholarship in honor most profound influence on me during my undergraduate of Griffis, his friend and a mentor during Lachman’s of the ECE Student Awards years was Brad,” explained Lachman, “We’d seen each undergraduate career. Banquet), Griffis showed up other as an RA, as a TA, as a roommate. So Brad kind of not really knowing why. encompassed all aspects of my college experience. So it It was that afternoon that Lachman became very logical for me.” revealed to Griffis that he had endowed Lachman and Griffis met when Lachman was a freshman the scholarship. and Griffis was one of the dorm resident advisers (RAs). “I had no idea, right up to when he sprang it on me,” Lachman had not received a spot in the engineering said Griffis. program and was looking for some advice and guidance on how he could meet the requirements to get in. Griffis “The secret was kept safe until it had to be revealed,” welcomed the opportunity to help. said Lachman.

“When Phillip came strolling into my room, I thought, With the scholarship, Lachman wants to provide assis- ‘Okay, here’s a key opportunity to give back some of tance to students who have demonstrated the guidance what had already been given to me,’” said Griffis. and leadership that he saw in Griffis. “Very much how “So I tried to help him in terms of getting started in Brad was the one who guided me and was my mentor, electrical engineering.” the scholarship is focused on people who embody those principles toward their undergraduate counterparts,” The two quickly became friends. Griffis was Lachman’s said Lachman. teaching assistant (TA) for ECE 210: Analog Signal Processing, and they later shared an apartment for a The first recipient of the Bradley J. Griffis Endowed year while Griffis was finishing up his graduate student Scholarship in Electrical and Computer Engineering was career at ECE and Lachman was nearing the end of his Tong Cheng, a senior in ECE. He was recognized at the undergraduate career. Student Awards Banquet that evening. “Even while we were rooming together, Brad provided me guidance on what classes to take, and help with technical

www.ece.illinois.edu 27 ALUMNI CLASS NOTES

1940s JIM WEST (MSEE ’77) was named SHERRE LOVICK (BSEE ’48) published executive vice president of engineering a book titled Radar Man. The book and operations for Precision Airconvey recounts experiences Lovick had while Corp. He is a past director of the working on top-secret aircraft for Society of Manufacturing Engineers, stealth reconnaissance. president of the Machine Vision Association, a former chief technology SORAB K. GHANDHI (MSEE ’48, officer for Faro Technologies, and PhD ’51) was the 2010 Education chief operating officer for Asyst Award Recipient from the Electron Automation, Inc. Devices Society. The award recognizes distinguished contribu- JOHN CIOFFI (BSEE ’78) published a tions to education in the blog entry on Forbes.com titled fields of interest of the “Engineers: Ignore Critics, Follow Your Do you have a photo IEEE Electron Devices Dreams, Change The World.” Cioffi is of yourself at work Society. Ghandhi is a the CEO and chairman of Assia. professor emeritus ED SAWAN (PhD EE ’79) gave or at play that you’d at the Rensselaer a $300,000 gift to Wichita State Polytechnic Institute. Sherre Lovick (BSEE ’48) published University to fund the largest single like to share? Radar Man. general graduate fellowship at WSU. If so, please send these photos 1950s Sawan is a professor emeritus in along to Tom Moone, editor, at HITEN GHOSH (MSEE electrical engineering and computer [email protected]. Though we’ll ’59, PhD ’62) received science at WSU. only be able to print a few in each the Pravasi Achievers issue, you can see these and other Gold Medal in 2010. 1980s submissions from our alumni at He is the vice president DIANA SANGALLI (BSEE ’83), a patent www.ece.illinois.edu/news/ and chief quality attorney, joined Duane Morris LLP resonance. officer of Hughes as special counsel in Houston. Network Systems. You can also mail your photos to: SELIM UNLU (MSEE ’88, PhD ’92) developed a scientific method that Tom Moone 1960s makes it possible to detect numerous 56 Everitt Laboratory JOHN ORR (BSEE viruses in a single blood test. He is a 1406 W. Green St. ’69, PhD ’77) received recognized expert on photo detectors Urbana, IL 61801 the Electrical and and nanophotonics and a professor at Computer Engineering Boston University. Distinguished Educator Award from the American Society for Kyung Suk (Dan) Oh (BSEE ’90, 1990s Engineering Education. It recognizes MSEE ’92) published High-Speed KYUNG SUK (DAN) OH (BSEE ’91, significant contributions to engineer- Signaling: Jitter Modeling, Analysis, MSEE ’92, PhD ’95) co-authored ing education. Orr is a professor at and Budgeting. High-Speed Signaling: Jitter Modeling, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Analysis, and Budgeting. It is a volume in the Prentice Hall Modern Semiconductor Design Series. 1970s Dan is a senior principal engineer at Rambus Inc., where JIM QUIRIN (BSEE ’70, MSEE ’71) retired from his he leads signal integrity analysis for various products senior staff electrical engineer position with Lockheed including serial, parallel, and memory interfaces. Martin Space Systems after 29 years in the space shuttle BHARAT RAO program at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New (MSEE ’89, PhD ’93) received ACM Orleans. He continues with his research and publications SKIKDD’s service award for “service to society” through on popular music with Chartmasters, a company he and “pioneering applications of data mining to develop health Barry Cohen (Mathematics ’75) founded in 1975. care products that reduce costs and improve the quality of patient care.” Rao is the senior director and head of the YAHYA RAHMAT-SAMII (MSEE ’72, PhD ’75) received knowledge solutions group for the health services business the IEEE Electromagnetics Award for fundamental unit at Siemens. contributions to reflector antennas, near-field measure- HEMANT CHASKAR ments and diagnostics, antenna and human interactions, (PhD ’99) was promoted to the and optimization algorithms in electromagnetics. vice president of technology at AirTight Networks. He Rahmat-Samii is a professor at UCLA. has been responsible for technology innovation, product strategy, and intellectual property management there for the past seven years.

28 Winter 2011 2000s MURRAY HAROLD BOLT (MSEE ’62) died October 19. ERIK HOWELL (BSCompE ’02) was named a principal to He spent 20 years at IBM and, in that time, gained seven the Cumberland Consulting Group. He has been with patents and received multiple awards. After leaving IBM, Cumberland since 2004. he became vice president of network control products at the Codex Corporation. He then became president and ROBERT BALOG JR (MSEE ’02, PhD ’06) received the CEO of ZTEL Corporation. He retired in 2005. 2011 Rutgers School of Engineering Award for “develop- ing efficient and effective electrical energy conversion MELVIN DALE HASSEBROCK (BSEE ’63) died January 26 methods for use in the emerging field of solar energy.” He in Pasco, WA. is an assistant professor at Texas A&M. RICHARD RAGO (BSEE ’67) died March 28, 2010. He was SUHAIL BAROT (BSEE ’06, MSEE ’09) was featured in a retired engineer with Vapor Corp and taught electronics the “Campus Leaders” special issue of the Daily Illini. He and computer science at the high school and college levels. is the chair for the Student Sustainability Committee and DAN DANCEY (BSEE ’72) died March 9. He served in the treasurer for the YMCA Student Board. the U.S. Army in Korea before getting a degree. After, he worked in the power construction industry in Illinois and In Memoriam: on the construction of nuclear plants in Alabama. He later THOMAS C. SHEDD (BSEE ’40). He was an editor at joined the Abbott Power Plant at the University of Illinois, Telephony Magazine and Modern Railroads in Chicago. and was with Illinois until he retired in 2008. He also held memberships in the American Railway JOHN NICKOLLS (BSEE ’72) died August 13. He worked Engineering Association and the American Institute of for NVIDIA, where he was instrumental in the develop- Electrical Engineers. ment of the GPU chip and CUDA. FRED LUX (BSEE ’46) died January 15. Lux owned and NANCY WULF (BSEE ’86) died July 1. She was a longtime operated his family farm and became a pilot as a hobby. executive at Emerson/InSinkErator. JOE HENDRICK CAVEGLIA (BSEE ’47) died November 27, 2010. He was a U.S. Army veteran, serving in World War II in the China/Burma theatre. NORMAN FARRELL (MSEE ’50) died December 6, 2010. Farrell had a degree from the United States Military Academy and served in Korea at the end of World War II where he was in charge of the American forces. He was also stationed in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Iran throughout his career. VERNON DALE PECKHAM (BSEE ’52, MSEE ’53) died January 17. He worked as an electrical engineer in the aerospace/defense industry for almost 40 years. GEORGE WEBB (BSEE ’57) died February 10. Webb was employed at General Electric for 44 years, working on computer systems components and drives. He retired as manager of engineering standards. CARL WANG (BSEE ’58, MSEE ’59, PhD ’64) died January 1. He had worked as the president of Medical Instruments Development Laboratory in San Leandro, California, and was a recipient of the ECE Distinguished Alumni award in 2004. WILLIAM GUFFEY (BSEE ’59) died November 2, 2010. He was a Navy veteran and served in the Korean War. DONALD K. KOTECKI (BSEE ’60) died January 27. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran, serving from 1952 to 1955 in Germany and France. After receiving his degree, he spent 38 years doing government service as the director of engineering for the U.S. Army Armament Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).

www.ece.illinois.edu 29 McCorquodale is first ECE Engineer in Residence

By Shawn adderly

n March 9, ECE ILLINOIS alumnus Michael Looking to change their business model, McCorquodale McCorquodale (BSEE ’97) inaugurated ECE’s moved his company to Silicon Valley, where things seem- OEngineer in Residence program when he spoke ingly got worse. A so-called experienced management to a packed room of engineering students, staff, and team was brought in to bring direction to the company, faculty about his experiences of founding his then but it seemed to create new problems rather than solving start-up company, Mobius Microsystems. The following old ones. day, McCorquodale held office hours to allow students to speak with him one on one about anything related to his The board of directors remained supportive of business endeavors or career as an engineer. McCorquodale, though, a decision that paid off as the CMOS oscillator McCorquodale and his team designed became the most accurate silicon oscillator ever built. “A lot of people look at entrepreneurship and think it is an easy thing to go out In 2010, Mobius was acquired by Integrated Device Technology, a and start your own business, but in major publicly traded tech company, reality, it is quite a challenge, and at in a very “clean” acquisition.

times can be very stressful.” “Many acquisitions go poorly, – Alumnus and Engineer in Residence but in this case the entire Michael McCorquodale company was almost seamlessly Michael McCorquodale integrated into a much larger company,” McCorquodale said.

The Engineer in Residence program enables students McCorquodale now serves as the general manager of the to interact with and gain insight from individuals who Silicon Frequency Control (SFC) business unit, and is still have had substantial success using an ECE degree or in continuing to build more accurate CMOS oscillator and an ECE-related field. The department plans to invite at other IC-based frequency control products that ship in least one Engineer in Residence to campus each semester the millions of units per month. to spend one or two days in the ECE Department. Each Engineer in Residence will give a talk and hold office Near the end of his talk, McCorquodale said that he hours during his or her stay. hoped students could learn from his experiences and avoid some amateur mistakes. In his talk, McCorquodale outlined a litany of challenges his company faced, including building a good core team, “A new technology business is often a push, not a pull,” he procuring venture capital funding, and standing out said. “You need to think very carefully about a product in the market by attempting to develop a silicon-based and its value.” replacement for quartz crystal resonators and oscillators. He also added that his outlook on life has changed. “A lot of people look at entrepreneurship and think it is an easy thing to go out and start your own business, “I consider myself an optimist, but now I’m also realistic,” but in reality, it is quite a challenge, and at times can he said. “This business is not glamorous. Sometimes it’s be very stressful,” McCorquodale said. Even after just awful. But if you know how to manage risk and be McCorquodale’s company succeeded in selling more confident, you can succeed in this arena.” than 10 million CMOS (complementary metal–oxide– McCorquodale ended by quoting Orison Swett Marden: semiconductor) oscillators, the company needed to find “Genius, that power which dazzles mortal eyes, is oft but a way to continue to innovate in order to turn a profit. perseverance in disguise.” “Revenue was coming in, but we found ourselves having to redesign based on specific requirements for each customer,” he said. “It just wasn’t a sustainable business model.”

30 Winter 2011 Bragiel nurtures young tech companies

By tom moone

t doesn’t take long to realize that ECE ILLINOIS alumnus Paul Bragiel (BSCompE ’99) likes a bit Iof excitement in his life. His hobbies include rock climbing and snowboarding—not activities for the faint of heart. Clearly, this is someone who enjoys some risk.

Most of his career has been spent taking risks. He became an entrepreneur just five months after graduating from Illinois, founding a gaming studio called Paragon 5. His company made games for clients such as Sega, Atari, and Nintendo before being sold to a larger company.

Bragiel went on to found two Internet-focused companies: Meetro and Lefora. Then, Bragiel got together with Jim Young, Ashwin Navin, and Aber Whitcomb—all prominent veterans of tech companies in the Bay Area. Together they created I/O Ventures, a program designed to provide assistance to people, like themselves, who have entrepreneurial ambitions and enjoy taking risks.

According to its website, “I/O Ventures is an early-stage startup program that focuses heavily on mentorship.” ECE alumnus Paul Bragiel is one of the founders of I/O Ventures, an early stage start-up program for young tech companies. Bragiel explained, “When we sat down, we asked ourselves, ‘what would we have liked when we were for their investment of time and money, I/O Ventures starting up our first company 10–15 years ago?’ We were acquires an eight percent stake in each company it helps. looking for two things. One, we want to avoid making a lot of mistakes that we did. So one thing we want to Bragiel and his partners began mapping out their vision make these companies do is learn from our idiocy—I for I/O Ventures in 2008. Office space was acquired and guess—but also from the things we did really well. And refurbished, and the first group of fledgling companies two, having really great mentors around.” entered the program during the summer of 2010. With two mentorship cycles completed, the program is proving I/O Ventures provides each company in its program with successful. “Of the six companies in the first group, four $25,000 in startup funds. Throughout the three-month of them went on to get financing, and the other two got program, fledgling companies take part in a series of acquired,” said Bragiel. “So a pretty good ratio there.” events and gatherings designed to help them become better established. In addition, representatives from One thing Bragiel feels is missing from the mix is more venture capital groups, as well as executives and founders Illinois involvement. “It’s kind of a crying shame that I of leading tech companies, come to the facility to meet get applications from companies with graduates from with the participants and to provide advice and feedback. Stanford, Berkeley, or Carnegie-Mellon, and we’ve never The list of mentors includes founders of companies such had one U of I graduate apply,” he said. “I want to see a as BitTorrent, MySpace, YouTube, TechCrunch, and Mint. whole bunch of students just graduating, or even a couple years out of college, applying to I/O. And actually, a lot On Thursdays and Fridays, they have their own version of of our mentors are U of I guys. Some of the big names— office hours. Bragiel explained, “Kind of like you would YouTube and PayPal—those are friends of mine from meet your professor at U of I to ask them any question, when we were in college together. So [Illinois students] only here, instead of a professor, you’re hanging out with should come out here and leverage us.” the founder of MySpace, or hanging out with the founder of PayPal.” More information on the I/O Ventures program and how to apply can be found at its website: Of course, I/O Ventures cannot do this all for free. http://www.ventures.io. “We’re still capitalists,” Bragiel said with a laugh. In return

www.ece.illinois.edu 31 Bill and Frank Fry: Innovators and pioneers

By tom moone

s World War II came to a close, many in the repeated exposure to ultrasound that was below the College of Engineering had the foresight to start threshold level of permanent damage would not adversely Ahiring top scientists and move the University affect the tissues. toward a research-oriented institution. William Everitt in the Electrical Engineering Department was one of these Because the lab was so unique in its research, many of the visionaries. instruments needed for the research had to be invented and produced by the lab. In an interview in 2003, ECE Among the researchers Everitt brought to Illinois was Professor Emeritus Floyd Dunn (BSEE ’49, MSEE ’51, William Fry. During World War II, Fry was at the Naval PhD ’56) recalled, “We designed and fabricated ultrasonic Research Laboratory working on sonar systems. He came instruments in the lab. We had to make everything to Illinois in 1946 ready to carry on similar research ourselves.” All the equipment to create, detect, and topics dealing with ultrasound. analyze ultrasound was built from scratch. Although, as Dunn noted, “Many of the materials used now were not His younger available in those days,” this did not adversely affect the brother, Frank, research. “We had an exceptional and superb laboratory,” followed him he said. to Illinois. Bill Fry had studied Frank Fry proved to be a talented craftsman, and many theoretical physics, of the successful designs and executions of these new and Frank had devices could be attributed to his efforts. It was not studied electrical unusual to find Frank carrying around his yellow pad engineering. Their of paper on which he would regularly be sketching out backgrounds prior a needed design. to Illinois were similarly comple- One of the key research areas of the lab was the use of mentary. While ultrasound for disease therapies. This type of research By the late 1950s, ultrasound had advanced to the point where it Bill was at the came to fruition in the case of using ultrasound for could be used in surgery. Naval Research surgery. Bill Fry had been interested early on in develop- Laboratory during ing ultrasound so that it could be used as an alternative World War II, Frank was working for the Westinghouse method for neurosurgery. By the mid-1950s, research Electric Corporation. His division was a contractor for the had advanced to the point where surgical methods using Manhattan Project, so he spent considerable time during ultrasound were ready to be tested. In 1958, an operation the war at the Radiation Laboratory at Berkeley and at using ultrasound was performed in Iowa on a patient who Oak Ridge, Tenn. had Parkinson’s disease. Over the next four years, said Dunn, “Our lab sent people for two weeks of every month These experiences made for a productive working to oversee and conduct the procedures.” This surgical relationship. Throughout their careers at Illinois, Bill research eventually ended, and the lab’s main focus would envision a new approach, and Frank would design returned to mapping brain structures and studying the the means to make it happen. As ECE Professor William biological effects of ultrasound. O’Brien (BSEE ’66, MSEE ’68, PhD ’70) said, “Bill was the idea person, but you couldn’t dismiss the creativity In 1968, Bill Fry died, and Frank soon left Illinois and and innovation of the builder.” moved to Indianapolis to work at the Indiana University Medical Center. Frank Fry continued innovative In 1948, Bill Fry organized what was then known research on ultrasound. In the 1970s, he began research formally as the Bioacoustics Laboratory. This lab on the effects of ultrasound on the fetus. The results continues to this day as the Bioacoustics Research Lab of this research had a great impact on the use of diagnos- (BRL). The work the brothers began in ultrasound quickly tic ultrasound. showed important results. The Fry brothers began their research by studying the biological effects of ultrasound Together, Bill and Frank Fry developed a new avenue and on animal tissue. Through this research, they learned use for electrical engineering and provided Illinois with that ultrasound had an effect on all types of tissues, that one of the early examples of biomedical applications of the effects could be permanent or temporary, and that the research done at ECE and the University of Illinois.

32 Winter 2011 CAMPUS ROUNDUP

Phyllis M. Wise to Illinois entomology lead Urbana campus professor May Phyllis M. Wise has been selected Berenbaum receives as chancellor of the Urbana campus and will serve as a UI vice 2011 Tyler Prize president. Wise, who was provost UI entomology professor and and executive vice president at department head May Berenbaum the University of Washington, received the 2011 Tyler Prize for assumed her duties Oct. 1. Environmental Achievement, an international award that recognizes “those individuals who have contrib- Trustees vote to close uted in an outstanding manner to Institute of Aviation scientific knowledge and public At the July 21 meeting of the UI Board of Trustees, leadership to preserve and enhance university trustees voted 6-2 to close the Institute of the environment of the world.” Aviation and end the undergraduate degree program. The Institute, which opened in 1945, will likely close Rare insect fossil its doors at the end of the 2013–14 school year, after all reveals 100 million current students have completed the program. years of evolutionary Corpse plant blooms stasis Illinois’s titan arum—also Researchers have discovered the called the corpse flower—finally 100-million-year-old ancestor bloomed on July 15 following of a group of large, carnivorous, a 10-year wait. The plant is cricket-like insects that still live difficult to cultivate and blooms today in southern Asia, northern unpredictably. When it does Indochina and Africa. The new bloom, it exudes a rotting-meat find, from a limestone fossil bed in odor that attracts insect pollina- northeastern Brazil, corrects the mistaken classification tors. Needless to say, its blooming of another fossil of this type and reveals that the genus attracted hundreds of visitors eager has undergone very little evolutionary change since the to smell it. Early Cretaceous Period, a time of dinosaurs just before the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. CT scan of Egyptian mummy NCSA, Cray partner on On March 29, the Spurlock Blue Waters project Museum’s 2,000-year-old mummy The National Center for Supercomputing Applications of a child was taken to Carle (NCSA) at the University of Illinois has finalized a Foundation Hospital where it contract with Cray Inc., to provide the supercomputer received a CT scan. Among other for the National Science Foundation’s Blue Waters information, researchers hope the project. This new Cray supercomputer will support CT scan will enable them significant research advances in a broad range of to determine the cause of the science and engineering domains, meeting the needs child’s death. of the most compute-intensive, memory-intensive, and data-intensive applications.

To read campus news as it happens, visit UI Now at www.illinois.edu/uiNow.

www.ece.illinois.edu 33 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering PRESORT STD University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S. POSTAGE 56 Everitt Laboratory PAID 1406 W. Green Street PERMIT #75 Urbana, IL 61801 CHAMPAIGN, IL

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ECE Alumni Awards Call for nominations! Do you know a fellow ECE ILLINOIS alumnus deserving of recognition for his or her accomplishments? Then we want to hear from you!

• ECE Distinguished Alumni Award honors ECE graduates who have made professional and technical contributions that bring distinction to the department and University. • ECE Young Alumni Achievement Award recognizes young alumni who have made outstanding professional contributions to their fields.

For more information and to submit a nomination online for either award, please go to www.ece.illinois.edu/alumni. Please submit nominations no later than Thursday, January 26, 2012!