ECE News for Spring 2005
|
EDGE Research Center Launched
EDGE is a new cross-disciplinary research group at The University of Texas at Austin established to address industry and government challenges associated with distributed engineering teams and computation. EDGE fosters collaboration between University researchers, government, and industry leaders in order to bring EDGE understanding and impactful solutions to real-world issues.
Professor Yale Patt is the recipient of the 2005 IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award “for fundamental contributions to high performance processor design." The previous recipients include Turing Award winners and Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web. The award was presented to Dr. Patt at the IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium in April where he was also the keynote speaker. Dr. Patt, holder of the Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Centennial Chair in Engineering, receives multiple lecture invitations every year. This past year he gave four keynote addresses, a plenary address, and five distinguished lectures. Congratulations, Dr. Patt! Congratulations to:
The University of Texas Solar Vehicle Team is scrambling to finish their entry in a 2,500 mile-long solar vehicle race against 32 other college teams. The 43 members are mostly undergraduates. They are engineering majors with about half from the Electrical & Computer Engineering department. They have finals coming up and only 11 weeks before the beginning of the North American Solar Challenge on July 17th. The “rayce” leaves Austin and ends in Calgary, Alberta 10 days later. The progress so far:
At the last ECE staff meeting, service awards were presented to staff for their contributions to UT-Austin. Darla Rowan, the fulcrum of the Center for Advanced Research in Software Engineering, was recognized for 10 years of service. Trudie Redding, who administers senior lab and graduate fellowships; Angelo Baylon from the Center for Materials Science and Engineering; Shirley Watson, who currently supports 12 professors; and Diana Vega, who supports everyone, received plaques for 15 years of service. Lupe Perez, who processes travel expenses and produces department-wide reports; Terry Mattord from the Microelectronics Research Center; and Mona Venegas, who mothers undergrad lab students and entertains the rest of us, were recognized for 20 years of service. And lastly departmental EA—a job which is a unique blend of human resource director, operational manager, and budget czar—Diana Perez received a plaque for her 25 years of service to the students, staff, and faculty of ECE. EE 464 Senior Lab Winners
Former ECE chairman, Professor Francis X. Bostick was honored at the annual Spring Banquet for his long service to the Department. Dr. Bostick is revered for his teaching and has received numerous awards for it including, the Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award, the Engineering Foundation Faculty Award, and the Lockheed Martin Award for Excellence in Engineering Teaching. His is also a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Prof. Bostick may be an emeritus professor now, but he will still be teaching EE 438, Electronic Circuits I, and EE 338K, Electronic Circuits II, in the fall. Annual Spring Banquet Awards  Dr. John Cogdell was honored at the Spring 2005 Graduating Seniors and External Advising Committee Banquet for his many years of service to the department and to undergraduate electrical engineering education in general. He has taught in ECE for 40 years, won numerous awards as the Department's Undergraduate Advisor, and written four textbooks.
Dr. Charles Roth won Most Useful Class for the second year in a row for EE 316. Karthik Raghavan won $500 and the title Outstanding ECE TA. The Student Body Teaching Award went to Dr. W. Mack Grady. (This is the third teaching award Professor Grady has won this academic year.) The Student Body Staff Award went to Dr. Renee Babcock for her work in the Undergraduate Student Affairs Office. Mike Filippo, manager of ECE-IT, was recognized for the vast improvement to the wireless coverage in ENS. And, finally, congratulations to our graduating seniors. Faculty Promotions Approved
Dr. Jacome received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor on Sept. 1, 2000. Dr. Jacome conducts research in hardware-software codesign and embedded systems. She is also an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computer Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD) and a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award.
Pam Campbell Passes Away
Pam was funny and really smart. She didn't have to leave her office for companionship, people stopped by. We will miss her efficiency, compassion, courage, and hilariously dry sense of humor.
How's the Job Market? According to recent studies, this fall has seen the best job prospects and most active recruiting since the 1990's. The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported a 13% recruitment increase over last year. According to Nancy Evans, director of the Engineering Career Assistance Center, "Last semester we had 180+ companies here. We're up about 20% over last fall, in terms of the number of recruiters.... Many students will have a job upon graduation or within six months."
Engineering-Week 2005
In January 2005, Sabrina Smith, a computer engineering student at UT-ECE, began a semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. She discusses her experience. The deadline to apply for study abroad for Summer and Fall 2005 is March 1. * Why did you choose to study abroad? There are two main reasons why I chose to study abroad. The first was that I wanted to see new places.... The second reason I chose to study abroad was to learn more about other cultures. More... * What has been your experience to date? Overall my experience in Denmark has been indescribably wonderful. I've had a few set backs, but they seem very minor when I look at the big picture. The three worst things that have happened were homesickness my first weekend here, a really bad experience at a Danish restaurant, and a minor disaster at the house where I live. More... * Why would you recommend a student choosing to study abroad? I would recommend that a student study abroad because I believe it will be one of the best experiences of his/her life. Not only does studying abroad provide valuable lessons in dealing with people from other cultures, but it also provides the opportunity to see new places and make friends from all over the world. More...
On February 15, the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering hosted the first annual Edison Lecture. Over 2,000 middle and high school students attended one of four hour-long shows exploring the history of and future technologies used to facilitate communications. The purpose of the series is to show high school and middle school students how exciting technology can be and to encourage them to consider engineering as a career choice. Wireless communications Professor Jeffrey Andrews and software engineering Professor Christine Julien from ECE discussed the history of communication. Michael Watson, a manager for one of SBC's Network Surveillance and Analysis Centers, gave a virtual tour of the Dallas Network Operations Center and explained how the company coordinates voice and Internet communications for customers in five states. Then, Dr. Nick Skytland, a mechanical engineer at the Neutral Bouyancy Lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, explained how astronauts use space-suit technology to communicate under water during practice sessions. The show's finale was a 3-D animated model of Earth's gravity field and 3-D images of Mars' surface taken by NASA rovers. The presentations are sponsored by the Austin chapter of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) CTS Chapter Communications/Signal Processing Society, by SBC Communications Inc., and by the national IEEE association. The lecture's website is www.edisonlectureseries.org.
Dr. Sriram Vishwanath was named a recipient of one of this year's National Science Foundation CAREER award. Prof. Vishwanath's CAREER award will allow him to develop the theories needed to enable cooperative communication in wireless networks over a 5 year period. Based on concepts in node-clustering, multi-hopping and distributed compression, Prof. Vishwanath hopes to create new analysis techniques and approaches for devices and networks to cooperate in an ad-hoc or semi-coordinated manner. The NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) recognizes promising new faculty members by supporting their early career-development activities. CAREER awardees are selected on the basis of creative career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their institution.
ECE has established a new laboratory dedicated to the study of electric power and renewable energy systems. An international technology contribution to the laboratory was made recently by the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre in the form of the Power Systems Computer-Aided Design (PSCAD) software toolset. On hand to present the PSCAD software to Dr. Surya Santoso, head of the new lab, was Gary Doer, Premier of the Province of Manitoba, Canada, and Paul Buchanan, Business Development Manager for the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre. Professor Santoso and his students will study electric power quality in the Texas power grid and conduct innovative research studies related to the integration of renewable energy systems (such as wind energy) into the electrical grid. The PSCAD power system simulation software is used to design and model electric power systems in a laboratory environment. The software, developed at the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre, is used for research and curriculum studies in forty-one electrical engineering departments in the United States as well as electric power utilities, research labs and equipment manufacturers in sixty-one countries around the world.
For the 4th year in a row, an ECE professor has won the coveted Texas Exes Faculty Teaching Award. Only one of these awards is given to each College, meaning that Dr. Grady beat out ~240 other professors for the honor (except, of course, for the ECE professors who have already won it: Dr. Holmes, Dr. Patt, and Dr. John). Last semester Professor Grady won the department's highest teaching honor, the Lepley Award, but he said that this award is special: "there is no finer award than one that comes from the student body." Dr. Grady has taught for 21 years and his teaching philosphy is "to give the most interesting lectures I can so that students are sufficiently motivated to learn more on their own." He is teaching is EE 362L Power Electronics and EE 394-7 Power Electronic Devices and Systems this semester. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Solar Car Update 
Why Study Abroad? 
