ECE News for Fall 2002

More Robots! Upperclass Students Create aMAZing Travelers

Dr. Jonathan Valvano's EE 345M class demonstrated what a little time, a positionable motor called a servo, and a lot of rubber bands can accomplish. The barrier-detecting robots were the last project in the Real Time Embedded Systems lab.

EE 464 Senior Lab Winners

ECE Graduate Student Working on Biological Agent Detection
Ariane Beck, a Research Assistant for Dr. Joe Campbell, is part of a team uncovering what cannot be seen by the human eye. Specifically, the research team is attempting to develop high-performance, ultra-violet (UV), solar-blind photodetectors. These photodectors will be able to sense the UV rays emitted by biological and chemical agents and ignore the UV rays created by sunlight. Current research focuses on the advantages and limitations of both the AlGaN/GaN and GaP material systems.

"This is exciting research and I am privileged to work with such a talented group of people," said Beck. More...

Dr. Dennis Buss Speaks about Semiconductor Innovations
Dr. Buss, Vice President of Silicon Technology Development at Texas Instruments, discussed "Innovations in Semiconductor Technology" on Nov. 13, 3:00 - 4:00 PM, in the ACES Auditorium 2.302 and broadcast live on this website. Dr. Buss is the third speaker in the ECEntury Distinguished Lecture Series.

He received his BS, MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT and served twice on the MIT Electrical Engineering faculty at MIT. He is an IEEE Fellow and the recipient of the 1985 Herschel Award and the 1987 Jack A. Morton Award for his pioneering work on HgCdTe Infra-Red monolithic focal plane technology. More..

Ken Castleman Recognized at
Visiting Committee Dinner
ECE alumn, Dr. Ken Castleman, was honored for his term of office as chair of the UT ECE Visiting Committee. The Committee is composed of industry luminaries who listen to students and faculty, then advise the ECE chairman about goals and strategy. Dr. Castleman is the president of Advanced Digital Imaging Research in Houston. Pictures...

ECE RoboFest Saturday, Nov. 9, 8:30-10:30 AM!
Find out if EE 302 freshmen can create robot golfers. Dodge flying and ground robots designed by the IEEE Robot Team. This is what engineering is all about! In front of and inside the ENS. Map...

Part of the College of Engineering's
Alumni Homecoming
Pictures and video footage of UT Aerial Robotics heli and ground vehicle
More about EE 302 Robolab Projects

ECE Researchers Working on Texas Homeland Security: Early Detection of Epidemics and Biohazards
For the last 8 years, ECE professor Dr. Suzanne Barber, an expert on artificial intelligence systems, and her team have been developing a system that can help determine if incidents of disease, symptoms, and events in different areas are related. “Sensible Software Agents” gather information from a multitude of sources; “talk” to each other; evaluate the reliability of the information sources; provide early warning of an epidemic; and make recommendations for future action. More..

Blow off some steam at the ECEntury LAN Party! Friday, Oct. 25, 6-10:00 PM, ENS 334/340 First Come, First Served

Quake 3 Arena Demo version - Welcome to the ECE Arena, where high-ranking high-schoolers are transformed into spineless mush. Abandoning every ounce of common sense and any trace of doubt, you lunge onto a stage of harrowing landscapes, veiled abysses, circuit analysis, and digital logic design. Your new environment challenges you with lava pits, atmospheric hazards, and EE 339 as legions of exams, programming assignments, and unsympathetic professors surround you, testing the vision that brought you here in the first place. Your new mantra: Study, study, study, study, play! More...

ECE Professors at the Cutting Edge of Power System Design
UT Austin researchers recently received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Navy to research electric ships. The project is a cooperative effort between different departments and research units, coordinated by Dr. Robert Hebner of the Center for Electromechanics.

ECE professors Ari Arapostathis, W. Mack Grady, and Edward Powers are responsible for designing power systems able to dynamically adapt to battle damage. Initial topics to be considered are control and stability of reconfigurable power systems, fault detection and localization, and diagnostic health monitoring of the overall system and its components. More..

Clubs Give Hands-On Engineering Experience
ECE undergraduates have many different opportunities to actually build electronic projects like radios, robots, and flying robots. For more information, contact Hands On EE, IEEE Robot Team, and UT Aerial Robotics. You can see more student projects at the end of the month when the EE 302 Robolab Competition takes place.

ECEntury Fajita Fest was Fun!

ECE staff, faculty, and students officially kicked-off the celebration of our 100 year anniversary on Friday, Sept 27, 3:30-7:30 PM on the lawn outside ENS. IEEE cooked fajitas and portabella mushrooms. The band started playing at 5:00 PM. There were also contests and prizes. This event was FREE for ECE students, staff, and faculty and $2 for everyone else.

Inventor of Laser Light Detectors Essential to Fiber Optics is Second Speaker in ECEntury Distinguished Lecture Series
Dr. Joe Campbell will discuss "Recent Advances in Photodetectors" on Sept. 25, 3:00 - 4:00 PM, ACES Auditorium 2.302. His speech will also be webcast on this site. Dr. Campbell is a chaired member of the ECE faculty and was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Inventor of the Integrated Circuit is First Speaker in ECEntury Distinguished Lecture Series
Nobel prize winner, Jack Kilby described how he revolutionized the world by developing the integrated circuit in the first presentation of the ECEntury Distinguished Lecture Series.

Dr. Joe Campbell, the second speaker in the series, will discuss "Recent Advances in Photodetectors" on Sept. 25, 3:00 - 4:00 PM, ACES Auditorium 2.302. His speech will also be webcast on this site.
Pictures from Kilby lecture

IEEE Robot Team Earns Second Place in International Competition
ECE students competed at the 2002 International Aerial Robotics Competition in Calgary from July 29th through August 1st, at the 1988 Calgary Olympic Park. Eight teams competed this year, including two from Canada. Rain, hail, snow, high winds, and radio interference hampered qualifying attempts by all the teams, but the UT team earned 2nd place in static judging, and will be competing again in 2003.

The IEEE Robot Team meets on Saturdays at noon in ENS; email robot@ieee.ece.utexas.edu for exact location. The URL for the UT IARC team is http://iarc1.ece.utexas.edu.