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Julien, Vikalo, Kwasinski Win CAREER Awards

The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (UT-ECE) is delighted to announce that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has given three of our new professors a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant.

This highly competitive award is given to young faculty perceived as future leaders in integrating education and research.


Evans Becomes IEEE Fellow

Professor Brian L. Evans was elevated to IEEE Fellow, the highest grade of IEEE membership, for contributions to multicarrier communications and image display.

In multicarrier communications, Prof. Evans was recognized for his algorithms to maximize user bit rates in WiMax, cellular and DSL systems. In image display, he was recognized for his algorithms to improve image quality in printers. For both contributions, the algorithms were developed to be amenable for cost-effective implementation in products. Prof. Evans joined the UT Austin faculty in fall 1996.


Edison Lecture Series 2009

Last week, the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, IBM, the Central Texas chapter of IEEE, and Whole Foods, sponsored the 5th annual Edison Lecture Series.


Artificial Tongue

The tongue can be a powerful tool, but also a highly subjective one. Dr. Dean Neikirk developed what amounts to an artificial tongue. When food companies want to create the same flavor every time, they turn to Neikirk's electronic tongue to analyze liquids and pick out their exact chemical make-up. Neikirk's tongue uses microspheres, tiny sensors that change color when exposed to a specific targets, such as certain kinds of sugars. The result is a system that can't replace the person who says, This tastes good! but can make sure the chemistry of good taste is reliably replicated.


Skeet Smith Will Be Remembered

Skeet Smith Will Be Remembered

 


Hassibi Works Towards Instantaneous Test Results

Professor Arjang Hassibi wants to revolutionize medical testing. Dr. Hassibi's research is devoted to making test results quick, convenient, and cheap via biochips. Biosensors—aka biochips—are essentially miniaturized laboratories on a single disposable integrated chip, capable of performing simultaneous biochemical reactions.

Biochips are basically hybrid systems, Hassibi says. The electronic part is solved. The challenge is how to make it into a chemical sensor.


Rappaport Wins at Globecom

Professor Ted Rappaport has been selected as one of two winners of the WTC Recognition Award. Every year, the IEEE Technical Committee on Wireless Communications (WTC) recognizes colleagues with outstanding achievements and contributions in the area of wireless and mobile communications theory, systems, and networks through this award. It was presented at Globecom 2008 in New Orleans.


Grad Students Win Grand Prize

Congratulations to Robert C. Daniels, Ketan Mandke, Steven W. Peters, Scott M. Nettles, and Robert W. Heath, Jr. for winning the Grand Prize for the WinCool demo contest at the WiNTECH 2008 Conference, The Third ACM International Workshop on Wireless Network Testbeds, Experimental evaluation and Characterization.

The team won for “Machine Learning for Physical Layer Link Adaptation in Multiple-Antenna Wireless Networks.” Work on the demo was funded in part by NSF and DARPA through the ITMANET program.


Fall 2008 Banquet - McCann

Dr. Bruce McCann was named an ECE Fellow at the Fall 2008 Fall Graduating Seniors and External Advisory Committee Banquet. Dr. McCann was recognized for his hard work and dedication to teaching at all levels. Dr. McCann has long taught freshman-level classes as well as masters courses to working professionals. He also made a large contribution to upgrading our senior design course, EE 364 and 464.


Prof. Evans Wins Lepley Award

Recently, ECE presented the prestigious Gordon T. Lepley IV Endowed Memorial Teaching Award to Prof. Brian Evans. Dr. Evans was an obvious choice for both his classroom performance and curricular reforms. Almost 1,000 students have taken his real-time digital signal processing laboratory course where they translate theoretical ideas into working prototypes. He has also guided 100+ senior design students through their projects and supervised 16 Ph.D. and 8 M.S. students to degree completion.