Connections The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Newsletter for Alumni and Friends l Spring 2009 Robot Cuts Ribbon at Building Dedication Ceremony Prof. Wins NSF CAREER Award Researchers Secure $2 Million NSF Grant for Energy Infrastructure Project

MORE NEWS: • Alumni, Faculty Member Named IEEE Fellows • Students Win Cyber Security Contest • Department Hosts Centennial Gala Celebration April 24

www.ece.iastate.edu ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 1 departmentNEWS

In this issue Letter from the Chair departmentNEWS Professor, Students Build Robot to Cut Dear alumni and friends, Ribbon at Building Dedication ...... page 4 Aliprantis Wins NSF CAREER Award s our department nears the end of our yearlong centennial to Optimize Electric Machine Performance ...... page 5 Acelebration, we look back at the past in awe of the achievements ECpE Enrollment Increases in 2008 ...... page 5 our students, faculty, and alumni have made, and look to the future Calendar of Events ...... page 6 with confidence that our current and next generations will continue to innovate and accomplish great things. ECpE Offers New Coursework-only Master’s Degrees ...... page 6 In our last 100 years, our innovators have created the world’s first electronic digital com- puter, invented the first hand-held scientific calculator, led the team that created the world’s Distinguished Faculty, Alumni Participate in Department’s Seminar Series ...... page 6 first portable phone, helped develop 3-D graphics machines that launched the “world of vir- tual reality,” received the National Medal of Technology, and more. Faculty Receive Patents, Best Paper Awards, and Other Honors ...... page 7 In our next 100 years, we expect this tradition of excellence to continue to thrive. To do this, we have initiated several new energy projects. An interdisciplinary team led by Professor Iowa State Hosts IT-Olympics Student James McCalley recently received $2 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to Contest for 2nd Year ...... page 7 study national energy and transportation infrastructure solutions (page 8). Assistant Professor Dionysios Aliprantis received an NSF CAREER award for his research to revolutionize elec- researchNEWS tric machine technology (page 5). In addition, Professor Vikram Dalal received $1.69 million ECpE Researchers Receive $2 Million from the Iowa Power Fund to improve solar cell technology (see more on this in our Fall 2009 Grant to Develop National Energy, issue). Our VLSI research program is stronger than ever, too, with the addition of two recent Transportation Model and Plan ...... page 8 hires—Nathan Neihart and Ayman Fayed—and the expertise of our established faculty in that Kumar Develops Wireless area, including Morris Chang, Degang Chen, Chris Chu, Randall Geiger, and Robert Weber. Soil Sensors to Improve Farming ...... page 10 We also have added a new coursework-only Master of Engineering degree in both electri- New Lab Facility Offers Innovative cal and computer engineering to our curriculum. This program was added due to demand Research Opportunities ...... page 11 from industry and should attract new students to our distance education programs (page 6). Additionally, our faculty and alumni continue to receive top recognition in their fields. One professor and two alumni were named fellows of the Institute of Electrical and studentNEWS Students Receive New Awards ...... page 12 Electronics Engineers and an alumnus was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (page 15). Our student groups also won top honors at a national cyber security competition Two Undergrad Students Earn National CRA Honorable Mentions ...... page 12 and placed in the top tier at a regional programming contest (page 12). And despite tough economic times, our alumni still continue to support us. One alumnus Software Engineering Students Place recently established a professorship, chair, and scholarships for our students and faculty (page in Top 10 at Regional Contest ...... page 12 3). Students soon will call alumni for the annual giving campaign. We hope you will take a min- Students Win Hardware Hacking ute to talk with them and learn about how you can help the department. We are extremely grate- Cyber Security Competition ...... page 13 ful for the support our alumni have provided to us in the past and during the current campaign. We are excited to see what the next 100 years bring. alumniNEWS Catching Up With an Iowa State Innovator ...... page 14 History Book Feedback from Alumni ...... page 14 Class Notes ...... page 15

Arun K. Somani Alumni Named IEEE Fellows, Elected to NAE, and More ...... page 15 Department Chair Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Join Us for the ECpE Centennial Gala & Awards Ceremony April 24 ...... page 16 Jerry R. Junkins Endowed Chair Photography. Photo courtesy of Craig Carroll

Spring 2009 | Vol. 25 Issue 2 Cover photo: Robot designed and built by Alexander Stoytchev.

If you’re planning a gift to the ECpE department, please visit Department Chair: Arun K. Somani www.foundation.iastate.edu/gift or contact Keith Fortmann, Newsletter Editor: Dana Schmidt (515) 294-4280 or [email protected].

Published twice a year by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, 2215 Coover Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3060; www.ece.iastate.edu; national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, [email protected], (515) 294-2664. © 2009 or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 3680 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612.

2 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 departmentNEWS Alumnus Establishes Endowed Professorship, Chair, and Scholarships

recent $1.8 million estate gift from Kirby n John Ryder Professorship in Gray’s career AGray (BSEE ’45), established an endowed Engineering: This professorship honors John was varied, reflecting chair, professorship, and scholarships in the D. “Jack” Ryder (PhDEE ’44), a former elec- his extensive educa- College of Engineering (CoE). trical engineering faculty member who was tional experiences. “This is an incredibly generous gift from influential in Gray’s life. The professorship He held positions in Kirby Gray,” says Keith Fortmann, assistant will be awarded to a faculty member in elec- industrial engineer- vice president of development for the CoE. trical, computer, or industrial engineering. ing, cost accounting, “We didn’t know about this gift in advance, n Kirby Gray Scholarships: This gift is financial reporting, but through his estate, Gray will help key au- an endowment to support merit scholarships and quality control; diences who make up the base of the univer- for engineering students of any discipline. worked with admin- John D. Ryder (left), for sity: students and faculty. It’s very exciting.” The first scholarship likely will be selected istrative, manual, and machine busi- whom the John Ryder The gift will establish the following en- this spring and awarded in fall 2009. Professorship in Engineering dowments: Gray entered Iowa State in 1942 and ness systems; and is named, was instrumental n Kirby Gray Chair in Engineering: joined the wartime Navy V-12 program the audited financial and in creating the department’s The chair will be awarded to a leading faculty following year. After completing midship- computer informa- AC network analyzer in 1949 and designing Coover member in electrical, computer, or industrial man training at Columbia University and tion systems. He retired in 1986 and Hall. Above, Ryder shows engineering. The recipient will be recruited graduating from Iowa State, he served in the students a cathode ray tube traveled for 10 years to Iowa State because of his or her success at Navy. Gray later continued pursuing educa- for use in an oscilloscope. creating knowledge or discoveries that will tion, earning his business administration before joining the lead to new businesses and jobs in Iowa. degree at Morningside College, attending Green Hills retirement community in Ames, The Iowa legislature shares these goals and the Iowa State graduate college in general Iowa. He passed away in August 2008. n has matched Gray’s funds with an additional engineering, and studying accounting at $500,000. Northwestern University. Ryder photo courtesy of University Ryder State University Library. Iowa Archives,

Dalal Named an IEEE Fellow Centennial Year: Did You Know?

ikram Dalal, the Thomas M. Whitney fuels. Dalal was one of the first researchers Of the ECpE department’s more than 11,000 VProfessor of Electrical and Computer to suggest using multiple junction solar cells alumni, only a select few have the honor of being the first to graduate in one of the Engineering, recently was in both amorphous and polycrystal- department’s majors. The following are named a fellow of the line silicon-based materials to produce the alumni who were “firsts” to receive Institute of Electrical and solar cells with higher conversion effi- bachelor’s degrees in electrical, computer, Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ciency. These concepts have been and software engineering from Iowa State. for his contributions to adopted widely by the solar cell indus- For information on first master’s and PhD thin-film solar photovoltaic try and Dalal is recognized worldwide degree awardees, visit www.ece.iastate.edu/ energy conversion materials as a technical leader in the area of thin- centennial/department-timeline. and devices. This honor film photovoltaic devices. Rueben B. Benjamin, Charles C. Deering, recognizes outstanding IEEE Dalal has authored or coauthored more Vikram Dalal Fred S. Phelps—awarded university’s first members for their significant than 140 refereed publications in scholarly Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical accomplishments in the advancement or journals and conference proceedings. He engineering in 1892 (17 years before the application of engineering, science, or also holds 11 U.S. patents. department formed) technology and for their contributions to the Dalal joins eight other professors in mission of IEEE. the department—including Venkataramana Stephen C. Beilby, Stanley D. Smith, Glenn M. Stark, and Michael A. Warner— Dalal, who holds degrees in both Ajjarapu, Randall L. Geiger, Ratnesh awarded first Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering and public policy (major in Kumar, Mark J. Kushner, Chen-Ching Liu, computer engineering in 1978 economics) from Princeton University, has James McCalley, Arun K. Somani, and focused his research on developing practical Robert Weber—to receive this prestigious Jared Eakins and Matt Herbst—will be photovoltaic devices that can capture solar distinction. n awarded first Bachelor of Science degrees energy and help reduce dependence on fossil in software engineering in May 2009 n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 3 departmentNEWS

Department Chair Arun K. Somani (left), and (from far right to left) President Gregory

Geoffroy, Interim Dean Jim Bernard, Board of Regents President David Miles, and Assistant Professor Alexander Stoytchev watch as the robot cuts the ribbon.

Professor-, Student-Built Robot Cuts Ribbon at Building Dedication Ceremony hen a team of ISU Foundation staff covers for the robot’s body, and the software In the end, the ribbon cutting and robot Wwas brainstorming ideas for the just in time for the ceremony. Signing up to were a success. Department of Electrical and Computer do the ribbon-cutting ceremony greatly ac- “If you closely watch the video from the Engineering’s (ECpE) Building Addition: celerated the production schedule.” ceremony (at www.ece.iastate.edu/who-we-are/ Phase I dedication ceremony in October, one ecpe-building-dedication-video), you can see staffer said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could Down to the wire that I was a bit nervous,” Stoytchev says. “It have a robot cut the ribbon?” Stoytchev and his team worked right up to took me two seconds after the robot cut the Little did she know that Assistant the day of the ceremony to perfect the robot. ribbon to realize everything that went well Professor Alexander Stoytchev is an expert “Everything was finished just in time for and I could relax.” in robotics. the ceremony. I got the last two plastic pieces The robot will now be used as a “On August 1, I received a call and was from the 3-D printer three hours before the research platform in Stoytchev’s Develop­ told the department wanted to do something ceremony. The robot’s head was finished two mental Robotics Laboratory. n Photo by Bob Elbert. Bob Photo by ‘spectacularly electric’ for the dedication hours before. There was no room for error,” ceremony on October 2,” Stoytchev says. he says. “They wanted the robot to cut the red ribbon Designing and building the robot wasn’t Robots of the Future during the ceremony. It was an offer I could exactly easy. A month before the ceremony Assistant Professor Alexander Stoytchev has not refuse.” an arm broke and one of its embedded mo- tor controllers had to be fixed. Then, two a lofty goal for robots of the future and for his Stoytchev drafted a design and then Developmental Robotics Laboratory. He wants days before the dress rehearsal the robot gathered 10 undergraduate and graduate to make robots more intelligent and adaptive students from the electrical and computer broke three fingers. than today’s robots. engineering, aerospace engineering, me- “From the very beginning, the big- chanical engineering, and computer science gest challenge we faced was how to make “We believe that in the near future robots will departments, as well as the Virtual Reality the proportions of the robot look right. work side-by-side with humans in environments such as homes, hospitals, and universities. Applications Center and Human Computer Engineers are good at drawing designs with When, not if, this vision of the future is achieved, Interaction program, to help him create an straight lines and corners, but they don’t it has the potential to revolutionize the global upper-torso humanoid robot from scratch in look visually appealing,” Stoytchev says. economy similar to the way the personal just a couple of months. “Luckily, we found Izaak Moody, an under- computer did over the last 25 years,” he says. “I had plans to build an upper-torso hu- graduate artist in the College of Design who manoid robot even before I joined the ECpE had a passion for drawing robots. The robot Stoytchev approaches this challenge by looking department in January 2008. I had ordered would not have looked as nice without his for insights and inspiration in the developmental two arms in February, which arrived in April help. His design didn’t have a single straight learning patterns of humans and animals. and June, respectively,” Stoytchev says. “My line, which made it very difficult to model “Infants explore and learn about the external students and I designed the body of the using traditional CAD programs, but it was world using their intense curiosity drive,” he robot, the steel fixture, the head, the plastic definitely worth it.” says. “Robots should learn in the same way!” n

4 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 departmentNEWS Aliprantis Wins NSF CAREER Award to Optimize Electric Machine Performance

lectric machines as they currently exist are angled slightly so that as the fan rotates develop—can lead to billions of dollars in Emay never be the same again if Assistant around in the same direction, the air is overall economic operational savings and Professor Dionysios Aliprantis has his say pushed down where you want it. In electric millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions about it. machines, Aliprantis seeks to alter the shape reductions worldwide. Aliprantis recently won a National of the teeth in the stator and And what’s especially unique about Science Foundation CAREER Award to re- rotor to one that creates the Aliprantis’ work is that he is develop- search methods to decrease the weight and best performance possible ing a framework to find optimal designs size of motors and generators, as well as im- as the machine rotates in the that can be applied to nearly any rotat- prove their efficiency and cost-effectiveness. same direction throughout ing electric machine type. “The vast majority of electric machines its entire life. “I’m trying to revitalize education rotate in a single direction over their life- Aliprantis’ method­ and research in electric machines, which time,” Aliprantis says. “This fact is not ology would allow wind have seen a decline in interest in recent currently taken into account during the turbine engineers to modify years,” Aliprantis says. “This is timely design process, which is essentially based on their generator designs to Dionysios Aliprantis and important because electric vehicles century­-old concepts. Improved designs will handle the most power pos- use electric motors and wind turbines lead to enhanced performance for the pre- sible using the least amount use electric generators, and the industry ferred direction of rotation. My research will of materials. Similar design techniques also is desperately trying to recruit engineers initiate the systematic study of unidirection- could be applied to machines in hybrid- with the appropriate skill set to design those ally rotating electric machines.” electric vehicles, hybrid trains, aircraft, and machines.” Aliprantis hopes to achieve improved ships. As part of his research project, performance of these machines by precisely “In particular, electric vehicles will ben- Aliprantis also will reach out to local high sculpting the stator and rotor surfaces, thus efit tremendously from this since they will school students and become a mentor for affecting the electromagnetic field in the be able to carry more lightweight motors kids interested in becoming engineers. machine’s air gap. This will increase the pro- on board, improving their fuel efficiency,” Additionally, he plans to create a college duction of electromechanical torque without Aliprantis says. course on electric machine operation and compromising the machine’s electrical opera- Previous studies by European and U.S. optimization, as well as establish virtual tional characteristics. researchers estimate that the use of high- communities about power engineering For comparison, think about how a efficiency motors in motor-driven systems— careers on social networking sites such as ceiling fan operates. A ceiling fan’s blades like the electric machines Aliprantis aims to Facebook and MySpace. n

ECpE Enrollment Increases in Fall 2008 he student population in Iowa State for enrollment in electrical, computer, and TUniversity’s ECpE department increased software engineering programs and we are by about 3 percent last fall. The department happy to see renewed interest in our pro- PhD: 200 enrolls 826 undergraduate students and 319 grams due to the College of Engineering’s master’s degree and PhD students. In the and department’s recruitment efforts.” MS: 119 past few years, enrollment in electrical and Vicky Thorland-Oster, manager of ECpE computer engineering programs nationwide Student Services, says students are choosing BS: 826 and at Iowa State was in a decline. This is the electrical, computer, and software engineering first increase in Iowa State’s undergraduate because they see how critical electrical, com- ECpE student population since 2001 and puter, and software engineers are to society the second consecutive year in which Iowa and maintaining our infrastructure, such as State’s ECpE graduate programs have seen an the nation’s power grid and computer security. Total Fall 2008 student enrollment increase. They also see the high-demand for our gradu- by degree sought “We are pleased to see our enrollment ates every year at the College of Engineering’s “Students see that they can make a numbers on the upswing,” says Arun K. fall Engineering Career Fair, which routinely difference in peoples’ lives as an electrical, Somani, ECpE department chair. “The past brings more than 300 employers to campus to computer, or software engineer,” Thorland- few years have been challenging nationwide recruit engineers. Oster says. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 5 departmentNEWS Calendar of Events ECpE Offers New Coursework-only Master’s Degrees Upcoming events sponsored by the university, college, and ECpE department: he ECpE department is introducing two Engineering degree, a Master of Science with Tnew master’s degree programs: a Master a thesis, or a Master of Science with a cre- April 17-19 of Engineering in electrical engineering ative component,” Tyagi says. “Seventy-one VEISEHA and a Master of Engineering in computer percent preferred coursework only.” ISU Campus, event times and locations vary engineering. These two programs require The department routinely enrolls up to coursework only and do not require 50 students who are employed full-time in April 20-21 an oral examination, thesis, or creative industry in its Master of Science programs. IT-Olympics component. The new programs answer a Those students currently take their courses Hilton Coliseum; See www.it-adventures.org need from industry because they will allow through EDE and travel to campus for their for event details. professionals more flexibility to earn master’s final exam and oral presentation. The new April 21 degrees through Engineering Distance programs would eliminate the need to travel Iowa State University Education (EDE; www.ede.iastate.edu) and to campus. The department expects enroll- Undergraduate Research Symposium the ECpE department at Iowa State. ment in its EDE programs to increase and Pioneer Room, Memorial Union, “A Master of Engineering degree degrees awarded per year to jump from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. allows students to do more in-depth study in about nine to more than 20. electrical or computer engineering without The new Master of Engineering program April 24 having a research component that would is directed toward students who do not wish ECpE Spring External Advisory Board Meeting require on-campus time. This program is a to pursue a research-based career. It requires 3041 ECpE Bldg. Addition, times vary good alternative for distance education stu- students to earn at least 30 credit hours of dents because it is course-based and requires coursework. A minimum 24 of the required April 24 breadth and depth, as does the Master of credit hours must be in electrical or comput- ECpE Centennial Gala Science program the department already er engineering (with 12 of those credits in a & Awards Ceremony offers,” says Vicky Thorland-Oster, manager single academic area of concentration within Scheman Building, 5 to 8:30p.m. of ECpE Student Services. “If students take electrical or computer engineering) and an just one course each semester, they can additional six credits must be from courses May 8 graduate within five years.” outside the area of concentration. Graduate Commencement C.Y. Stephen’s Auditorium, 8 p.m. Professor and ECpE Director of Admissions standards for the Master Graduate Education Akhilesh Tyagi says of Engineering programs are similar to the May 9 the department created this degree because Master of Science program, except that Undergraduate Commencement of industry’s demand for a professional, relevant work experience is considered. Hilton Coliseum, 1:30 p.m. coursework-only degree program. Applicants with at least two years of experi- “We conducted a survey with our ence or an undergraduate grade point aver- May 14-16 distance education students asking if they age of 3.0 are not required to submit GRE Alumni Days 2009 would prefer a coursework-only Master of test scores. n Various locations and event times: See www. Engineering of courtesy photo Tracey Communications and Marketing. isualum.org (click on Events) for details.

September 22 Fall Engineering Career Fair Distinguished Faculty and Alumni Participate in Hilton Coliseum, 12 to 6 p.m. he ECpE department hosted two seminar Applied Sciences, Princeton University Visit www.ece.iastate.edu for additional Tseries this year: the iCUBE Distinguished n “Lessons Learned from the Internet details and up-to-the minute information Lecture Series and Centennial Distinguished Project,” by Douglas Comer, Vice President on departmental events and seminars. Alumni Seminar Series. The centennial series of Research Collaboration at Cisco Systems was initiated to celebrate the department’s and Distinguished Professor of Computer For additional information on ECpE 100th year. The following lectures were given Science, Purdue University Centennial Gala and Awards Ceremony as part of both series: n “Problems in Biological Imaging: events, see page 16 or go to Opportunities for Signal Processing,” by www.ece.iastate.edu/centennial/gala. Distinguished Lecture Series Jelena Kovacevic, Professor of Biomedical n “Competition and Collaboration Engineering and Electrical Engineering, in Wireless Networks,” by Vincent Poor, and Director of the Center for Bioimage University Professor of Electrical Engineering Informatics, Carnegie Mellon University and Dean of the School of Engineering and n “Software Engineering Research

6 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 departmentNEWS Faculty Receive Patents, Best Paper Awards, Iowa State Hosts IT-Olympics Student Contest for 2nd Year

and Other Prestigious Honors For the second year, Iowa State University is hosting the IT-Olympics competition April 20- n he ECpE department congratulates Professor James McCalley received 21. At the event, nearly 400 students from 40 Tthe following faculty for their recent the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. Iowa high schools will battle in cyber defense, achievements: The award, presented by the Board of robotics, and video game design activities n Associate Professor Nicola Bowler Regents, State of Iowa, recognizes faculty to showcase the information technology (IT) received a U.S. patent. The patent is number who are outstanding university citizens and knowledge they have gained throughout the 7,443,177 and is titled “Characterization of who have rendered significant service to past year as part of the IT-Adventures (www. Conductor by Alternating Current Potential- their institution and/or the state of Iowa. it-adventures.org) program. Winners of this Drop Method with a Four-Point Probe.” n Assistant Professor Tien Nguyen was year’s contest will be featured in an Iowa n Courtesy Assistant Professor Soon- awarded the Litton Industries Professorship. Communications Network program filmed by Jo Chung received an Air Force Young The professorship supports young faculty Iowa Public Television. Investigator Award to develop a new kind of who exhibit a potential for leadership in micro aerial vehicle. He was one of 39 scien- electrical engineering research, have a recog- IT-Adventures is an innovative program that tists and engineers across the country to re- nized commitment to excellence in teaching, engages high school students in exploration ceive this award, which is sponsored by the and share his or her talents by collaborating and experimentation with IT through content Air Force Office of Scientific Research. with industry. delivery, competitive events, and service n Professor Ahmed Kamal and his PhD n Department Chair Arun K. Somani learning projects. It is a partnership among student Osameh Al-Kofahi won the Best and Professor Ahmed Kamal both were Iowa State’s Information Assurance Center, the Paper Award at the Institute of Electrical and named the Computer Networks Editor of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 2008 Global Year for 2008 for their exemplary, diligent, Technology Association of Iowa, Iowa Math Communications Conference in December. timely, and dedicated work on the organi- and Science Education Partnership,­ and other Their paper was titled “Scalable Redundancy zation’s journal. Computer Networks is an n for Sensors-to-sink Communications.” international journal of computer and tele- local Iowa businesses. communications networking. n Assistant Professor Alexander Experts: An Unsupervised Algorithm for Stoytchev and computer science gradu- Hierarchical Sequence Segmentation.” ate student Matt Miller received the Best n Assistant professors Namrata Paper Award at the 7th IEEE International Vaswani and Daji Qiao received the Conference on Development and Learning in Harpole-Pentair Developing Faculty Award. August for their paper, “Hierarchical Voting The award provides funds for supplemental Assistant Professor Tien Nguyen (right) assists support and enrichment opportunities for students in his computer engineering class. He assistant professors and graduate students holds the Litton Industries Professorship. working under assistant professors. n ECpE Department’s Seminar Series

and the Influence of Group Think,” by of Computer Science and Engineering, n “The Saga of Electronic Memories,” David Notkin, Bradley Chair and Professor University of Washington by Arthur V. Pohm (MS Physics ’53; PhD Physics ’54), Emeritus Anson Marston After Jim Tracey’s Centennial Distinguished Alumni Seminar Series Centennial Distinguished Professor of Engineering, Distinguished n “Building New Programs in Science Iowa State University Alumni Seminar, and Engineering,” Jim Tracey (BSEE ’60; n “U.S. Patent 3,777,066: How to Earn the College of MSEE ’61; PhDEE ’64), Retired Engineering $36 Million in Royalties for ISU and Get Engineering School Dean to Be a Cardboard Cutout at the Iowa State presented him with n “Managing Energy Better with Smart its Professional Fair,” by David C. Nicholas (BSEE ’67; Achievement Grids,” by David Slump (BSEE ’91), Senior MSEE ’68; PhDEE ’71), Principal Engineer, Citation in Vice President of Business Development, Rockwell Collins n Engineering award. Landis+Gyr Holdings

ECpEECpE CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS Spring Spring 2009 2009 7 7 researchNEWS

ECpE Researchers Receive $2 Million NSF Grant to Develop National Energy and Transportation Model and Plan

By Mike Krapfl, ISU News Service

rofessor James McCalley likens by a four-year, $2 million National Science transportation infrastructures from a sys- Pthe task ahead to a major machinery Foundation grant. tematic view?’” McCalley explains. “There rebuild. The project’s research team will con- are not many models out there.” You’re starting with working equipment sider all of America’s energy options, includ- The model created by the Iowa State full of expensive parts. So you don’t want to ing biofuels, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, researchers will highlight the growing inter- throw away everything and start over. You nuclear, coal, hydrogen, solar, biomass, nat- dependencies of the country’s energy and want to put together just the right combi- ural gas, and petroleum, together with new transportation systems. nation of existing parts and new pieces to and old freight and passenger transportation “The country’s most heavy users of make the most cost-effective, sustainable, technologies. energy are the electric and transportation and resilient machine possible. “Our intent is to say, ‘We don’t think systems,” McCalley says. “Now with hybrid- In this case, the machine is the country’s there’s a single silver bullet here,’” McCalley electric vehicles and hybrid-electric trains, energy and transportation infrastructure. says. “We need all of these. What we need to these two historically independent energy McCalley, the Murray J. and Ruth decide is how much of each and when.” systems are gradually coming together.” Harpole Professor in Electrical and The Iowa State research team work- The NETSCORE-21 project is designed Computer Engineering, is leading a research ing to advance those decisions includes to help leaders understand the implications team that will develop new and better in- Department Chair Arun K. Somani; of the new technologies and new interde- frastructure designs for the country’s energy Assistant Professor Dionysios Aliprantis; pendencies. and transportation systems. They will do Lizhi Wang, an assistant professor of indus- McCalley says the research could that by developing computer models of the trial and manufacturing systems engineer- provide Congress, the U.S. Department country’s and the state’s energy and transpor- ing, and courtesy professor in electrical and of Energy, the Environmental Protection tation systems. They will use the models to computer engineering; Konstantina Gkritza, Agency, industries, and other decision help develop a 40-year national plan to opti- an assistant professor of civil, construction makers with a national blueprint for better mize those systems in terms of future power and environmental engineering; and Robert energy and transportation infrastructures. technologies, energy transport and storage, C. Brown, the Gary and Donna Hoover And that could help drive federal policy, and hybrid power systems while balancing Chair in Mechanical Engineering and Anson research, and investment over the next cost, sustainability, and resiliency. Marston Distinguished Professor. The proj- 40 years. n The project—nicknamed NETSCORE- ect also will include more than 50 Iowa State

21 (short for “The 21st Century National students and 22 project advisers from across National Energy & Transportation Sustainability, Cost, & Resiliency Energy and Transportation Infrastructures the country. Balancing Sustainability, Costs, and “We looked around and said, NETSCORE21 Research Project Resiliency Research Project”)—is supported ‘Who’s looking at national energy and

8 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 Fill out this form online! Visit www.ece.iastate.edu/ alumni (click Alumni News Form).* would like to hear from you!

We want to hear about your career moves and personal news for future issues of ECpE Connections. You’re welcome to enclose photos; however, we can’t return them. We need your help, too, with gifts to the department’s scholarship funds, lab facilities, building improvements, student organizations, and other departmental activities. If you’re making a contribution to Iowa State, please consider designating it for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering using the form below. Please enclose your pledge or gift with your news, and mail it to: Iowa State University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Attn: Communications Specialist, 2215 Coover Hall, Ames, IA 50011-3060. Also, feel free to give us a call at (515) 294-2664 or e-mail us at [email protected] (subject line: Newsletter).

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ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 9 researchNEWS ECpE’s Kumar Develops Wireless Soil Sensors to Improve Farming By Mike Krapfl, ISU News Service rofessor Ratnesh Kumar keeps his so farmers could work right over the top of producers have been looking for. Pprototype soil sensors buried in a box them. The sensors also would be able to report “A challenge of precision agriculture is under his desk. He hopes that one day farmers their locations. That would make it easy to collecting data at a high enough resolution will be burying the devices under their crops. find sensors if a plow were to move them or that you can make good decisions,” Birrell Kumar is leading an Iowa State when batteries need to be replaced. says. “These sensors would provide very University research team that is developing Kumar says the sensors are designed to high resolution data for producers and re- transceivers and sensors designed to collect be buried about a foot deep in a grid pattern searchers. They would give us another data and send data about soil moisture within a 80 to 160 feet apart. The sensors would relay layer to explain differences in yield and help field. Eventually the researchers are hoping data along the grid to a central computer us make management decisions.” the sensors also will collect data about soil that would record information for research- Kumar says the sensors have worked temperature and nutrient content. ers and farmers. underground in preliminary, point-to-point A major goal is to build small sensors (the The sensors could help researchers un- tests. A network of multiple sensors were prototypes are about 2 inches wide, 4 inches derstand precisely how water moves through buried in a research field late last fall for long, and less than an inch thick) that can do a field. They could help them develop better more testing and development. their work entirely underground. The sensors models to predict crop growth and yield. Also working on the project are Ahmed won’t need wires or above-ground antennas, And they could help them understand the Kamal and Robert Weber, professors of carbon and nitrogen cycles within soils. electrical and computer engineering; Amy Researchers display equipment for And those sensors could help farmers Kaleita, an assistant professor of agricultural wireless soil sensor project. manage their nutrient and water resources, and biosystems engineering; and graduate maximizing yields and profits. It also could students Candace Batts, Giorgi Chighladze, minimize environmental impacts. Jing Huang, and Herman Sahota. “If nutrients are in excess of what’s The project is supported by a three-year, needed, it doesn’t help the yield,” Kumar says. $239,999 National Science Foundation grant. “Those resources drain into the environment.” “The goal is to hopefully have these Stuart Birrell, an associate professor of sensors in production agriculture,” Kumar agricultural and biosystems engineering and says. “But first we need to develop them a part of the sensor research team, says the and answer more questions about how cost- project will provide the kind of real-time, effective they could be.” n high-resolution data that researchers and Photo by Bob Elbert. Bob Photo by

10 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 researchNEWS New Lab Facilities Offer Innovative Research Opportunities

ince the ECpE Building Addition: Phase I artificial intelligence. Sopened last year, researchers in the ECpE “Our new microscopic department have witnessed firsthand the posi- tools allow us to take real- tive effect a new facility can have on research. time images and capture Researchers in the emerging field of events at a very high resolu- bioengineering, as well as professors in more tion,” Pandey says. traditional fields like VLSI, are experiencing the impact. Draw for graduate students Dong, who arrived at Iowa New is good State in 2007, says he had al- “Before the new building opened, we didn’t most no research space when have a dedicated lab space for bioengineering,” he started. He and his gradu- says Assistant Professor Santosh Pandey. “We ate students are enjoying the only had a shared space in the Carver High- new lab. Speed Communications Laboratory in the old “Now we’ve brought in Assistant Professors Santosh Pandey and Liang Dong with the lab’s Coover Hall, which primarily had electronic almost all the equipment we atomic force microscope measurement equipment.” want,” Dong says. “Our graduate Now Pandey and his bioengineering col- students especially enjoy using the equipment.” Before the new addition was built, the leagues, including assistant professors Liang The new equipment allows Dong and RF, microwave, and VLSI labs were spread Dong, Sumit Chaudhary, and Jaeyoun Kim, his students to dig into two main research throughout the Durham Center and Coover have the lab of their dreams. It’s equipped projects: Building an implantable electronic Hall and many laboratories were operated with three high-powered microscopes device—similar to a pacemaker for the ear— separately, depending on the funding source (including a new atomic force microscope to replace the inner ear vestibular organ that or principal investigator. Now, all of the labs, that can study nanoengineered materials and helps people keep their balance; and min- including the Carver High-Speed Comm­ single molecules), furnace, high-precision iaturizing a lab setting and putting it on a unications Laboratory, have been combined to electrical instruments, heater, chemical and single chip, so researchers can use it as a tool better support research efforts of VLSI faculty. biological safety hoods, distilled water tank, to detect biological agents. carbon dioxide incubator for growing bio- Because all of Dong’s research is con- New directions for research logical specimens, and a centrifuge. ducted on the micro- or nanoscale, the Faculty agree the new facilities will allow Pandey finds the new equipment inte- micro­scopes and other equipment provided them to recruit better graduate students gral to successfully completing his current in the new lab space are essential. It also and faculty candidates, as well as provide a research project, understanding the behaviors could make his research more economical in great space for collaboration and innovative, of parasitic nematodes that destroy soybean the long run, saving him $1,000 to $2,000 interdisciplinary research. The College of crops. Pandey’s team fabricates microscale per experiment to get the cell cultures he Engineering’s new bioengineering minor will fluidic devices for experiments to understand needs for his research. bring students who never would have con- nematode behavior and the relationship sidered electrical engineering careers into the between its behavior and its genetic composi- Efficiency in combining labs ECpE department’s new bioengineering lab. tion. He says the U.S. Army and Department Researchers in the department’s bioengineer- The new facility also opens the door for of Defense are interested in this research area ing area aren’t the only ones benefiting from Iowa State to compete with top universities because the ability to understand biological the new facilities. Professors in the Very that already have bioengineering programs. intelligence could be mimicked in devices Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits, micro- Perhaps the strongest evidence of the such as search and navigation tools that use wave and radio frequency (RF) areas also are building’s impact is when it motivates faculty seeing positive changes. to explore new, cutting-edge research avenues, Professor Robert Weber says the new as seen in Pandey’s work. lab space for RF, microwave, and VLSI will “Having the new facility and equipment enhance the research of such faculty, includ- has made me think of research avenues ing John Bowler, Degang Chen, Ayman beyond conventional electrical engineering. Fayed, Randall L. Geiger, Mani Mina, I have found a new research direction that Nathan Neihart, and Jiming Song. addresses key questions in the field of plant “The new space is larger and brings the pathology. It’s difficult, but it’s interesting equipment together in one place,” Weber says. and futuristic,” he says. n Photos by Bob Elbert. Bob Photos by

A biological safety hood in the new lab ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 11 studentsNEWS Undergraduate and Graduate Students Receive Awards

he ECpE department congratulates is presented to three engineering junior or Conference on VLSI Design. His entry was Tthe following students who recently senior students who demonstrate outstanding named “Novel Polymorphic Reconfigurable received recognition for their work: leadership in major college-wide, university, Hardware Support for Discrete Wavelet n Seniors Cory Kleinheksel and Aaron community, or professional organizations. Transform.” Pande received a plaque and Logan received the William L. Everitt Award, n Graduate students Jiang Lin, Harold cash prize. which honors outstanding seniors in electri- Salazar, and Linfeng Zhang each won a n Julie Rursch, a computer engineer- cal and computer engineering with an inter- university Research Excellence Award. The ing PhD student, received the Technology est in communications and computers. award recognizes graduate students at the Association of Iowa’s Collegian Innovation n Alex Lee, junior in electrical eng­ time of their graduation for outstanding re- and Leadership Award at the association’s ineering, received the College of Engineering’s search accomplishments as documented in first annual Iowa Women of Innovation Dean’s Student Leadership Award. The award their theses and dissertations. Awards Ceremony. Rursch was recognized n Amit Pande, a com- for her work as the assistant director of IT- puter engineering PhD student, Adventures (see more about IT-Adventures won third place at the 22nd on page 7). Annual International Design n Vinod Shukla, a former master's degree student, received the Iowa Left: Graduate student Amit Pande (right) State Midwestern Association of receives his award at the International Graduate Schools’ Distinguished Design Conference on VLSI Design. Master’s Thesis Award. n Right: PhD student Julie Rursch displays her Women of Innovation award trophy. Pande photo courtesy Joseph Zambreno. photo courtesy Joseph Pande photo courtesy of Doug Jacobson. Rursch

Software Engineering Students Two Undergraduate Students Earn Place in Top 10 at Regional Contest National CRA Honorable Mentions A team of Iowa State software engineering students placed 7th out of 202 teams at the wo computer engineering Simon conducted his research Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM) Tseniors—Tycho Andersen and during a co-op at NASA’s Johnson North Central America Regional Programming Cory Simon—received honorable Space Center in Texas, a research Contest in November. The team, named Oracle, mentions in the 2009 Computing internship at Alaska’s Arctic Region comprised software engineering junior Connor Research Association’s (CRA) Supercomputing Center, and an Schenck, software engineering sophomore Outstanding Undergraduate Award undergraduate research project at Adrian Jagdeo, and computer science senior Michael Fulker. competition. The award recognizes Cory Simon Iowa State. students at North American “At NASA, I joined a small The competition challenges students to solve universities who show outstanding group of engineers developing a real-world problems using open technology research potential in a computing prototype device for astronauts to and advanced computing methods. During the research area. monitor and control multiple ro- contest, students on three-person teams had Andersen was part of a team bots while in a space suit,” Simon five hours to solve six programming problems. that built a prototype evacuation says. “At the supercomputing Five other teams with students from the ECpE system for emergencies such as fires. center, I assisted a researcher who department participated in the contest and placed 17th, 62th, 68th, 96th, and 123rd. “We designed the system to Tycho Andersen was developing a tool to investi- inform evacuees about which escape gate the accuracy of various solar Students from universities in Iowa, Kansas, routes were the best based on real-time tem- wind prediction models. And at Iowa State, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, perature data collected from wireless sensors I helped Dr. Manimaran investigate potential South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Western Ontario placed throughout the building,” Andersen opportunities for pervasive computing and and Manitoba in Canada participated in the says. “The goal of the project was to increase eventually developed a bus tracking system contest, which was sponsored by IBM. The the overall safety of the evacuation system that incorporated wireless sensor networks top teams from the regional competition will advance to the 33rd annual ACM International by collecting more information used to and other technologies.” n Collegiate Programming Contest world finals indicate exits.” April 22, 2009, in Stockholm, Sweden.

12 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 studentsNEWS ECpE Students Win Hardware Hacking Cyber Security Contest

group called the Orange Army is creating started, Zambreno set out to find what he “Under normal operations, a user wouldn’t A an electronic decoding (aka cryptographic) calls a group of “mad scientist types” who detect anything abnormal.” device that you believe is part of their long-term were willing to creatively attack the problem. The group’s Trojan was successful, plan to destroy the human race. You work at the The five students Zambreno found included allowing the device to function as expected plant they’ve hired to fabricate their device and three on-campus—Alex Baumgarten, until an AM radio tuned to a specific fre- can stop their malicious plans, but only if you Michael Steffen, and Matt Clausman—and quency was brought into the room. When can place a Trojan—an undetectable piece of two distance education graduate students. tuned to the right frequency, a set of beeps code—in their hardware. “We started meeting once a week, throw- similar to Morse code leaked the secret en- That scenario may seem far-fetched, ing crazy ideas against the wall,” Zambreno cryption key. but it’s exactly the situation five Iowa State says. “A couple weeks before the competition, For the LED light Trojan, the student University ECpE students faced when they we took the top ideas and implemented them. team fashioned an LED light that flickered competed in and won a national cyber secu- The team had a breadth of attacks, and a great faster than the eye could see on the FPGA. rity competition at the Polytechnic Institute write-up and presentation.” “This meant that the LED appeared of New York University (an affiliate of NYU, formerly called Brooklyn Polytechnic) in mid October. Gathering the hackers The group’s faculty adviser, Assistant Professor Joseph Zambreno, who is re- searching secure hardware and software plat- forms, says the contest’s scenario of directly embedding a Trojan in hardware is sort of “James Bond-like,” but securing hardware is becoming a hot topic for researchers and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Because the electronic chips in devices the DoD uses are no longer all made on American soil, the DoD increasingly is becoming interested in learning about Trojans in hardware, not just in traditional software-based Trojans. In fact, according to an article in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Alex Baumgarten, Michael Steffen, and Matt Clausman show off the FPGA board they used when creating trade publication, IEEE Spectrum, the DoD their hardware hacking attacks for the national cyber security competition. even began implementing a certification pro- cess at commercial chip plants in the United Testing and implementing attacks to be on or lit up, but was actually turning States in 2004 to create a network of trusted Steffen says although the team considered on and off thousands of times a second,” foundries for producing electronics that go several ways to leak private information from Baumgarten says. “By varying the speed be- into the military’s equipment, helping reduce a hardware design, the team designed eight tween two different rates that are faster than the risk of having a Trojan embedded into the eye can perceive, we could convey bits Trojans to implement at the competition. their devices. of the secret key using a special circuit we Clausman says the team had to be very “The goal of the competition’s project created.” covert with its attacks, since the Trojans was somewhat ‘spy-related.’ The Trojan cir- In the end, the team’s weeks of work couldn’t be detected by a typical end user, cuit is intended to look innocuous, but can preparing for the competition paid off. The be designed to secretly leak information, which is why two of their attacks relied on Iowa State team beat teams from Carnegie function incorrectly, or stop the device from AM radio frequency and LED lights. Mellon University, Hoftstra University, the working altogether,” Zambreno says. “It says “We modulated a pin located on the Rochester Institute of Technology, University a lot about the strength of our program here FPGA board [the target device contest orga- of Arkansas, University of Illinois at at Iowa State that our team was able to come nizers provided] in such a way that it would Urbana-Champaign, Virginia Tech, and Yale out on top.” create audible beeps when listened to on a University, among others, to secure a win at Several weeks before the competition specific AM frequency,” says Baumgarten. the competition. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 13 alumniNEWS

David R. Ditzel CENTENNIAL ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Catching Up With an Iowa State Innovator

ince 1914 when alumnus Paul Spencer project in the Cyclone Computer Laboratory. coauthor “The Case for RISC” SClapp served as an engineer on the SYMBOL fascinated me, as it implemented with Professor David Patterson first transcontinental telephone line, ECpE a full multiuser computer, its operating at the University of California, alumni across the world have spent their system, compiler, and even a text editor, all Berkeley. The idea caught on careers developing and implementing in hardwired logic gates using 20,000 indi- and nearly every major computer company technological innovations that greatly vidual chip packages. I worked on the proj- ended up using microprocessors with the impact industry and society. One of those ect throughout my undergraduate education, RISC techniques. many innovators is David R. Ditzel (BSEE spending every spare hour in the lab. ’78; BSComS ’78), who is best known for Q: What other achievements in your career coauthoring “The Case for the Reduced Q: How did your 1980 paper “The Case for are you proud of? Instruction Set Computer (RISC)” and RISC” come about and what effect did it A: I am most proud of founding Transmeta founding Transmeta Corporation. In the have on industry? in 1995. I was the CEO through its success- following Q&A, Ditzel reflects on his time at A: The SYMBOL computer project was ful initial public offering in 2000. Transmeta Iowa State, career achievements, and impact an example of a Complex Instruction Set used software as part of the microprocessor on industry. Computer with individual computer instruc- as a way to lower the power requirements of tions that could each carry out complex the microprocessor and extend battery life Question: Who was your favorite professor tasks with thousands of steps. SYMBOL was for notebook PCs. Helping build the team at Iowa State? intended to reduce the cost of software, but of engineers to take on this joint hardware Answer: My favorite professor was Roy had the unintended consequence of being and software co-design was one of the most Zingg (BSEE ’58; MSEE ’61; PhDEE ’68) so complicated it took years to debug, and exciting aspects of my career. because he introduced me to the world of instead made it clear that it was possible to computer architecture research and took make the hardware too complicated. I wrote Q: What is your current job title and company? a chance on me early in my career. I had several papers on SYMBOL for technical A: I am currently a vice president in the always wanted to build computers, and conferences, but ended up joining forces Digital Enterprise Group and chief archi- Professor Zingg hired me to work as a pro- with colleagues looking at simplifying com- tect for Hybrid Parallel Computing at Intel grammer on the SYMBOL computer research puters as a better path. I was fortunate to Corporation. What that means is that I’m

You Said It —We Listened The department has received your feedback—good and bad—about during the war years, but unfortunately they didn’t exist or didn’t make our centennial history book that was mailed to all alumni last July. the cut. In any event, thank you for what must have been a huge task Here is a glimpse of the comments we heard: in assembling all that material and sending a copy of your publication.”

“I thought the book was very nicely done.” “The book was a very well-prepared and documented history of the school, as well as was extremely interesting. I recall my husband’s “Thank you very much for sending me the copy of your department’s tales of his years at Iowa State and how valuable he felt his education pictorial history book. The photographs are fantastic.” was in preparing him for his field of patent law. Our children went on Image inspired by an ECpE alum. Image inspired by to become engineers and some even went into patent law as well.” “The book did a nice job except for one major and glaring exception— the omission of any mention of the EE students from the Navy V-12 unit Editor’s note: We did include some information on the Navy students which kept the department alive during the World War II years. I can’t who attended Iowa State during World War II on page 7 of the book. believe photos from that period are nonexistent or department records If you have photos of this time period—or any other period from the didn’t show the major presence of the Navy unit during this time.” department’s history—that you want to share, please mail a copy of the photograph to ECpE History Book, Department of Electrical and “I enjoyed reading the book since I spent two and a half years at Iowa Computer Engineering, 2215 Coover Hall, Ames, IA 50011, or e-mail a State during World War II. I enlisted in the Navy in 1944, after which high-resolution scan of the photo to [email protected]. I received orders to report to Iowa State College for V-12 officer’s training. We were given one of four choices: electrical, mechanical, If you did not receive your book yet, or would like to order aeronautical, or civil engineering. I chose electrical engineering ... additional copies, go to www.ece.iastate.edu/centennial/ When I read the book, I had hoped to see a few photos of the EE labs ecpe-centennial-history-book to download an order form. n

14 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 alumniNEWS

David R. Ditzel sits in the Cyclone Computer Lab in 1977 next to an 8-bit Alumni Named IEEE Fellows, personal computer he Elected to NAE, and More designed and built from scavenged computer he ECpE department congratulates parts. It read programs Tthe following alumni (and honorary from paper tape. All alumna) on their recent achievements: the chips were wired n Paul M. Anderson (BSEE ’49; MSEE together by hand, and the software largely was ’58; PhDEE ’61) was elected to the National written from scratch. Academy of Engineering (NAE) for his con- tributions that have advanced the analysis helping Intel look at the kind of micropro- dean sign a note declaring that “this note, for and control of electric power systems world- cessors that might be used in the future. purposes of the scavenger hunt, is the biggest wide. Election to the NAE is among the and best thing on the Iowa State campus.” highest professional distinctions awarded to Q: What was it like to be a student at Iowa No one could argue with that. an engineer. State in the 1970s? n Fredric Ham (BSEE ’76; MSEE ’79; A: Students who I knew were very serious Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share PhDEE ’80) and James L. Knighten (PhDEE about their classes, and because of my job about yourself or your career with other ’76) both were named fellows of the Institute in the Cyclone Computer Lab, I knew more alumni? of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Ham graduate students than undergraduates. The A: Iowa State is a particularly great place to was named a fellow for his leadership in honors program was one of the few activities be an undergraduate because the opportuni- neural network education, research, and I participated in at Iowa State. In one par- ties are limited only by your own initiative. I applications. He currently is a professor ticular event, the students were organized in learned that lesson at Iowa State, and it came at the Florida Institute of Tech­nology in teams in a scavenger hunt to find “the biggest in useful during the rest of my career. n Melbourne, Florida. Knighten was named a and best thing on the Iowa State campus.” fellow for his contributions to understand- One team brought back a canoe. I recall that More Alumni Innovators Online ing electromagnetic noise coupling paths I led our team into the dean of engineering’s Read about more ECpE alumni innovators for product compliance with regulatory office, and without an appointment, we got a on our centennial Web site at standards. He is employed by the Teradata Photos courtesy of David R. Ditzel. Photos courtesy of David three minute audience, sufficient to have the www.ece.iastate.edu/centennial. division of NCP Corp­oration in San Diego, California. n Donald Linder (BSEE ’65) has been Class Notes awarded the ISU Alumni Association’s Find out what your classmates are doing Electronics. She has been working on (ISUAA) 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award. today! positive train control systems for the last This award is the highest honor given to 10 years. alumni by Iowa State University through the 1980s ISUAA. It honors Iowa State alumni who Daniel Essig (BSEE ’80) of Cardiff by the Ryan O’Hara (BSCpE ’98) of Hugo, Sea, California, has joined the Christie, Minnesota, received a Master of Science are nationally and/or internationally recog- Parker, and Hale intellectual property degree in computer science from the nized for preeminent contributions to their law firm. He specializes in patents in the University of Minnesota in December 2008. professions or life’s work. Linder is a retired electrical, electronic, and software fields. He currently is employed at Red Hat, where corporate vice president of technical staff at During his career, he has received seven he works as a senior software engineer in Motorola. patents for his work in data processing. After the company’s Linux Clustering and Storage n Donna Whitney, wife of the late Iowa State, he did graduate work at the Group. He has been with the company for Thomas M. Whitney (BSEE ’61; MSEE ’62; University of Houston and Boston University, three years. and earned a law degree from California PhDEE ’64), received the ISUAA’s Honorary Western School of Law. Michael Olson (BSEE ’98) of Ankeny, Iowa, Alumni Award. The award is the highest worked at Affiliated Engineers in Madison, honor given by Iowa State through the 1990s Wisconsin, starting in 1999, and recently ISUAA to individuals who are not Iowa State David Kilzer (BSCpE ’96) moved to accepted a new job at KJWW Engineering graduates and who have made significant Cupertino, California, in March 2007 to work Consultants in Des Moines, Iowa. He contributions to Iowa State’s welfare, repu- for Apple on the MobileSafari/WebKit team. became a licensed professional engineer tation, prestige, and pursuit of excellence. He is an iPhone software engineer. in 2006. Donna established the Thomas M. Whitney Ann Grimm (BSEE ’96) of Cedar Rapids, See page 9 to learn how you can submit Professorship in Electrical and Computer Iowa, recently was promoted to principal your Class Notes. n Engineering in memory of her late husband systems engineer at Wabtec Railway in 1999. n

ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009 15 nonprofit org. u.s. postage paid Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering ames, IA 2215 Coover Hall permit no. 200 Ames, IA 50011-3060

Join Us for the ECpE Centennial Gala & Awards Ceremony April 24!

The ECpE Centennial Gala & Awards Ceremony is the capstone event of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s 100th year celebration.

n Welcome Reception: Devour some delectable hors d’oeuvres n Gala Special Entertainment: and mingle with students, faculty, and fellow alumni. Be prepared to laugh as n Gala Dinner: Enjoy fine dining while catching up with nationally known comedian current students, faculty, and alumni. Don McMillan, a former electrical n Scholarship & Awards Ceremony: Recognize students, engineer and 1993 “Star Search” faculty, and alumni as they receive honors for their great Grand Champion, performs his accomplishments. hilarious routine.

Don McMillan—the only stand-up comic to use PowerPoint! Experience a once-in-a-lifetime event at your alma mater! RSVP now to attend! Visit www.ece.iastate.edu/centennial/gala or call (515) 294-2664 to RSVP by April 10.

Tickets are $40 per person.* Festivities begin at 5 p.m. at the Scheman Building on Iowa State University’s campus.

*Scholarship award winners receive one complimentary ticket. All tickets are nonrefundable.

Share Your Story for ECpE’s Centennial! Tell us about your memories from your time in the ECpE department! Go to www.tinyurl.com/ECpEmemories. 16 ECpE CONNECTIONS Spring 2009