Impact Report 2014-2015

www.ece.utexas.edu Austin at Texas of The University 78701 TX Austin, Guadalupe St. 1616 Department of Electrical and and Computer Electrical of Department From the Chair Total Research Expenditures Dr. Ahmed Tewfik

I am happy to report that the Depart- Master’s program, exposes them to CEOs and thought 4-2015 $19,333,736

ment of Electrical and Computer En- leaders, and trains them to design products within geograph- 201

4 +11% gineering at The University of Texas ically dispersed teams. We will admit our first cohort into the at Austin continues to be a national program this coming fall. The program builds on the experi- $18,356,178 since 2012

leader in innovation. Texas ECE estab- ence of our extraordinarily successful embedded computing 2013-201 lished a new undergraduate student MOOC, which, to my knowledge, remains the only online 3 advisory board, which met for the first time in September course with a physical laboratory. We will be announcing the $17,345,534

2015 and broadly represents our entire undergraduate stu- launch of several additional transformational initiatives in the 2012-201 dent population and the various student organizations in the next few months, so stay tuned! department. It is actively involved in several academic and Our faculty members continue to earn the highest of acco- nonacademic initiatives that continue to place the depart- lades, including most recently a National Science Foundation ment at the forefront of educational innovation. Waterman Award, an Emmy Award, and a Current Faculty Includes The department also launched a new tradition of inviting our Medal. The department is now recognized as a leader for alumni to our VIP Admitted Undergraduate Students Day change and innovation within The University of Texas at Aus- ENDOWMENTS FACULTY HONORS in early spring. The event brings together current students, tin and the Cockrell School of Engineering, and the university faculty, alumni, and prospective students to give prospec- continues to make substantial investments into expanding tive students a glimpse into project-based teaching and our faculty and enhancing our infrastructure. $28 Million in Endowed Positions the inventions that are taking shape in our highly regarded I would like to close by thanking our faculty, students, staff, and research centers and laboratories. Our alumni have been S alumni. Our accomplishments and continuing rise in rankings 24 2 2 involved in contacting admitted students, and I credit their S are due to the unrelenting efforts and creativity of our faculty, IEEE ACM NAE involvement for the almost 30 percent increase in the num- SHIP students and staff. Their work is sustained by the generous S SSORSHIP 66% FELLOWS FELLOWS MEMBERS ber of women students in the class of 2019. OW time and financial support of our friends and alumni. of full-time CHAIR FELL PROFE Our new professional Master’s program was approved this faculty hold past academic year. The program is unique in that it provides 12 15 15 an endowed students with online and synchronous access to our entire position 28 14 2 NSF DOD/ONR YOUNG NSF 020406080 CAREER INVESTIGATOR PECASE AWARDS FULL-TIME FACULTY AWARDS AWARDS Program Rankings

Undergraduate Program Graduate Program The Compass Center Top 10 MOOC Electrical # Electrical # Texas ECE formed The Compass Center, a Embedded Systems - Shape the World Engineering Engineering comprehensive educational support sys- One of the Top 10 most popular Massive 8 10 tem designed to graduate a more diverse, Open Online Courses (MOOCs) based on proficient, and well-rounded labor force. registration numbers. This course stands Computer # Computer # Initiatives include K-12 outreach, student out by taking a lab-based hands-on ap- Engineering Engineering recruitment, summer bridge activities, proach to online courses. 8 9 mentoring and tutoring, and an incentivized Master of Science in Engineering degree. Source: U.S. News and World Report - Top Engineering Schools 2016 Source: U.S. News and World Report - Top Engineering Schools 2015 Undergraduate Program Graduate Program

Student Population Applicants Student Population Applicants vs. Admissions

1926 Admissions (2014) 1484 1751 210 373 BS 1479 MS PhD 375 2696 Admitted Applicants +30% since 2012 Acceptance Rate (2012-2014) % % % % 15 88 16 64 17.22% Female Texas Resident Female International

2012- 2013- 2014- 14.14% URM Percentage of URM Percentage of Underrepresented 2013 2014 2015 Underrepresented 13.91% 18% Minorities 4% Minorities

Student Technical Core Concentration* Student Research Area Concentration

Communications, Networks & Systems 118 Software Engineering 354 Integrated Circuits & Systems 117 225 Computer Architecture Computer Architecture & Embedded Processors 82 Solid-State Electronics 81 152 Electronics and Integrated Circuits Energy Systems 52 125 Energy Systems and Renewable Energy 37 Software Engineering 35 Electromagnetics & Acoustics Communications, Signal Processing, Networks, and Systems 91 24 Computer Engineering 25 Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology 19 Plasma/Quantum Electronics and Optics 15 Biomedical Engineering Fields, Waves and Electromagnetic Systems 24 3 Manufacturing Systems Engineering

050 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 020406080 100 120 *Represents completed tech core elections (sophomore/junior) Lighter, Cheaper Radio Wave Atom-Thick Silicon Makes Device Could Transform Crazy-Fast Transistors Telecommunications Prof. Deji Akinwande and his research team Prof. Andrea Alù and his research team have Prof. Andrea Alù Wins have created the first transistors out of silicene, achieved a milestone in modern wireless the world’s thinnest silicon material. This new and cellular telecommunications, creating a $1 Million National Science “wonder material” could make computers and radically smaller, more efficient radio wave Foundation Waterman Award circulator that could be used in cellphones other electronics more efficient. And the Emmy goes to... The annual award, one of the highest given to and other wireless devices. The new circu- Prof. Al Bovik and his team of former students lator has the potential to double the useful scientists and engineers in the United States, bandwidth in wireless communications by recognizes an outstanding young researcher and collaborators were awarded television’s enabling full-duplex functionality, meaning (35 years old or younger) in any field of sci- highest honor, a Primetime Engineering devices can transmit and receive signals on ence or engineering supported by the National Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science Foundation (NSF). the same frequency band at the same time. Engineering Development, for their work on the The key innovation is the creation of a mag- development of video quality prediction models netic-free radio wave circulator. which have become standard tools throughout the television industry.

Researchers Create First The transistor is made of a one-atom-thick Flexible Silicon Photonic layer of silicon atoms, Akinwande and his team’s first-of-their-kind devices represent Crystal Cavity the thinnest of any semiconductor material, a Prof. Ray T. Chen and his research team have long-standing dream of the chip industry, and created the first silicon nanomembrane based could pave the way for future generations of flexible photonic crystal cavity. This new form faster computer chips. of silicon photonic devices could have nu- merous applications in wearable devices and biomedical instruments. Prof. Yale Patt Awarded Benjamin Franklin Medal Prof. Yale Patt was awarded the Franklin Institute’s 2016 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science “for his work on exposing and exploiting instruction-level parallelism to improve computer performance.” Finding Hidden Connections in Complex Data

The goal is to model data as multiple, interconnected relationships, such as the relationship between a patient and their medication and diagnosis, or a patient and their symptoms.

Prof. Joydeep Ghosh is developing a computational Prof. Ghosh is also creating a framework to establish effi- framework to model data in the healthcare field. The goal cient solutions for different classes of associated learning is to model data as multiple, interconnected relationships, problems. This research has widespread applications in such as the relationship between a patient and their medi- the study of diseases, where only a small number of genes cation and diagnosis, or a patient and their symptoms. His associated with certain illnesses are known. The question research team will develop scalable algorithms to analyze becomes how to prioritize, simultaneously and for each Senior Design: Collaboration with Industry Emphasizes these relationships and derive hidden concepts from the disease, a small number of additional genes associated available data. Clinical experts will refine these concepts with the illness. Finding Creative Solutions to Real-World Problems into specific phenotypes.

The Senior Design Project program is a win-win program where students, The University of Texas at Austin, and the “Participating in the education of corporation greatly benefit through collaboration, diversity, Alum Evan Grim and Toopher Authentication real-world knowledge, and successful outcomes. these students is as much a valuable Two-factor authentication is quickly be- “The AT&T U-verse Labs partnered with five Texas ECE experience for us as it is for them,” students through a senior design project which resulted in coming the industry standard for protection a 50% testing time reduction in spite of the 50% increase said Laura Kelly, Chief Product and Data against password fraud. Twitter, Google, and in tests which reduces the verification cycle and allowing a Facebook all introduced two-factor authenti- faster time to market.” ~ AT&T/The University of Texas at Solutions Officer at Dun & Bradstreet. Austin Partnership 2014-15 cation, which requires two-steps to identify a user at login, within the past two years. Senior Design Spotlight: ChemSense Toopher system compares the computer they are using to Toopher is an Austin-based startup created by Texas ECE the physical location of the user’s phone. Compared to oth- ChemSense is a portable system for detecting hazardous air- alumnus Evan Grim and Josh Alexander, an adjunct profes- er methods of two-factor authentication, Toopher promises borne chemicals. The project integrated a tunable, mid-infra- sor in the McCombs School of Business at The University a superior user experience by not requiring a user action red laser spectrometer in a portable low power package. The of Texas at Austin. Evan Grim received his MS at Texas ECE every time you log on, but rather only the first time you log device replaces hundreds of pounds of laboratory equipment in 2012. He began working on his PhD in Software Engi- on to an individual machine. normally used in absorption spectroscopy with a single, hand- neering in the Mobile and Pervasive Computing Lab before Toopher joined the Austin Technology Incubator in Janu- held unit. The team designed and integrated the laser driver taking leave to launch Toopher in 2011. and photodetector post amplifier circuits on a printed circuit ary 2013 after closing $2 Million in funding from investors board, to enable miniaturization of the system. For increased Toopher aims to create a significant reduction in password in December 2012. The Austin Technology Incubator is flexibility the device incorporates Bluetooth low energy con- fraud by using a novel approach to two-factor authentica- the startup incubator of The University of Texas at Austin. nectivity and a dedicated Android application. tion: the physical location of a user’s phone. At login, the Toopher was acquired by SalesForce in April 2015. Partners in Industry Inside the Engineering Education and Texas ECE is committed to building strong industrial and alumni partnerships with a focus on tech- nology innovation, world-class education and talent, academic excellence, and STEM and diversity Research Center initiatives. We work together for the advancement of business and economic goals, department goals, and for the advancement of the electrical and computer engineering fields. Opening 2017

3M Dun & Bradstreet Pedernales Electric Cooperative Adobe Systems Incorporated Electric Power Research Institute Inc. Pestorius Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Electronic Polymers Newco Inc. Phillips 66 Funding to develop a faculty/graduate Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Entropic Communications Inc. Plantronics student research laboratory for Alpha Natural Resources Environmental Defense Fund Qualcomm Incorporated networking and communications Apple Inc. ExxonMobil Corporation Quorum Business Solutions Applied Materials Inc. ExxonMobil Foundation Salesforce.com AT&T Inc. Fluor Enterprises Inc. Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC Funding to develop state-of-the-art Autodesk Inc. Ford Motor Company Sandia National Laboratories Funding to support individual analog and embedded systems student project space Avvasi Inc. Freescale Semiconductor Inc. Schlumberger Technology Corporation ConocoPhillips laboratories to promote hands-on learning for students Ayco Charitable Foundation Fujitsu Dallas Scisense Inc. Funding to support individual Baker Hughes Fujitsu Laboratories of America Inc. SEMATECH Inc. student project space Barclays Capital Futurewei Technologies Inc. Semiconductor Research Corporation The Boeing Company General Motors Foundation Silicon Audio Inc. BP America Inc. Google Inc. Silicon Laboratories BP Foundation Inc. Halliburton Energy Services Inc. Silicon Valley Community Foundation Funding to provide a large Broadcom Corporation Halliburton Foundation Inc. Sunpower Corporation Funding to support space for interdisciplinary space for Cameron IBM Corporation Tenaris engineering student organizations student projects to promote Caterpillar Foundation Intel Corporation Texas Instruments Foundation practice in innovation Centerpoint Energy Intel Foundation Texas Instruments Incorporated Chevron Corporation Keste LLC Texas Motor Sports CHiP Semiconductor Lockheed Martin Texas Solar Energy Society Chrysler Group LLC Maxtena Inc TLi Inc. Circuit of the Americas LLC Mentor Graphics Toppan Photomasks Cirrus Logic Inc. Microsoft Corporation TransCanada Pipeline USA Ltd. Cisco Systems Inc. Mistubishi Electric Research Laboratories Transonic Scisense Inc. Cognitive Scale Inc. Nanohmics Toyota InfoTechnology Center USA, Inc. CommScope Inc. National Instruments Corporation Union Pacific Railroad Company ConocoPhillips Company Network for Good United States Air Force Create Technologies Inc. Nissan University Co-operative Society CSIdentity Corporation Nokia Telecommunications Inc. Welch Foundation Cura Oceanus Nuvoton Technology Corporation America WF Calohan Ltd. David and Lucile Packard Foundation NVIDIA Corporation Williams Companies Foundation Inc. Dell Inc. OAS Design Group Inc. Xilinx Design Verification Trade Association Oracle Corporation Yokogawa Electric Corporation Digiclaim Inc. PayPal DTE Energy Foundation Pecan Street Project Inc. Impact Report 2014-2015

www.ece.utexas.edu Austin at Texas of The University 78701 TX Austin, Guadalupe St. 1616 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Electrical of Department