ECE professor, Dean Neikirk, just received funding for a 5-year program to use wireless sensors to identify failing bridges, lower the cost of monitoring those bridges, and improve the safety of new bridges. The $6.8M project addresses a chronic problem for the aging American highway infrastructure. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, deferred maintenance has left one-quarter of the nation’s bridges deficient. Congress mandated 2-year inspections in 1971, but at least 17,000 bridges did not meet the requirement in 2008, including 3 out of every 100 freeway bridges.

Professor Christine Julien is using a grant from the National Science Foundation to solve persistent problems posed by delay-tolerant networks (DTNs)—heteterogeneous networks with spotty connectivity. DTNs are the norm in remote areas with inadequate energy resources and mobile nodes, complicating search and rescue operations and third world communications.

Dr. Seth Bank's research into III-V compound semiconductors could cool down your laptop, increase the capacity and speed of fiber-optics, and make solar cells more efficient. Bank hopes to improve III-V compound semiconductors—used for everything from cell phone transistors to LED's in traffic lights—by embedding semi-metal nanoparticles in them.

Dr. Seth Bank's research into III-V compound semiconductors could cool down your laptop, increase the capacity and speed of fiber-optics, and make solar cells more efficient. Bank hopes to improve III-V compound semiconductors—used for everything from cell phone transistors to LED's in traffic lights—by embedding semi-metal nanoparticles in them.

Professor David Pan and UT graduate students, Ashutosh Chakraborty and Anurag Kumar, took home the $25,000 Grand Prize in the eASIC Placement Design Challenge. The worldwide competition was to create a tool that determines the most efficient placement of components on a structured application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) platform. Placement with shorter wirelength translates to better performance and less power consumption. Their placement tool, RegPlace, outperformed the second place team from the University of Michigan by 15% in total wirelength.

ECE researcher Dr. Mark Flynn is greening ports world-wide by adding flywheels to cargo handling machinery. Flynn's high-speed motor controller design has been incorporated into flywheel energy storage systems sold by Vycon, Inc.

ECE professors, Mack Grady and Surya Santoso, are collecting the data needed to truly integrate wind power into the existing power grid—and creating the first university-lead phasor measurement network in the country.

University of Texas professors, Mack Grady and Surya Santoso, are another step closer to truly integrating wind power into the existing power grid. They are heading a consortium of private and public entities to create the first university-lead phasor measurement network in the country.

Dr. Robert Flake has discovered the first non-sinusoid signal that doesn’t undergo dispersion on transmission lines that would normally distort a signal. The waveform, “Speedy Delivery” (SD), helps to pinpoint the exact location of a crack in a foundation when sent through a metal cable encased in the foundation.

Professor Jake Aggarwal's research is in computer vision, specifically in smart surveillance systems that identify suspicious activity and alert humans to follow-up. His approach has evolved from the basic problems of determining movement of a 3-dimensional object from 2-dimensional images to a sophisticated system that can recognize aggressive activity even with multiple players and a cluttered background.

ECE professors, Mack Grady and Surya Santoso, are collecting the data needed to truly integrate wind power into the existing power grid—and creating the first university-lead phasor measurement network in the country. A collaboration between UT, the State of Texas, Austin Energy, and Schweitzer Engineering Inc. will make it possible for power operators in the future to maximize the use of this inexpensive, renewable, and non-polluting energy source.