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In the News

ECE Researchers Develop RFID Testbed to Rapidly Assess Multiple Tags
An ECE researcher team led by Assistant Professor Gregory Durgin has developed a testbed to rapidly test new radio frequency identification (RFID) tag prototypes. The system is capable of simultaneously measuring hundreds of RFID tags and rapidly testing new RFID tag prototypes. RFID tags are used for many applications, including inventory management, package tracking, toll collection, passport identification, and airport luggage security. Dr. Durgin’s research team included former graduate student Anil Rohatgi and current graduate student Joshua Griffin. Their research was presented in April at the IEEE International Conference on RFID. (May 8, 2008)

Ian Ferguson Named Faculty Fellow in Sam Nunn Security Program
ECE Professor Ian Ferguson has been named a 2008-09 Faculty Fellow in the Sam Nunn Security Program, which is based in the Center for International Strategy, Technology, and Policy at Georgia Tech. The Sam Nunn Security Program seeks to advance the role of scientific and technical advice on issues of international security through education, research, outreach activities, and participation in the policy advisement process.

Dr. Ferguson was named as a Faculty Fellow because of his work in the Georgia Tech Focused Research Program in Pioneer Research in Nuclear Detection (PRIND). In this multidisciplinary program, Dr. Ferguson and his Tech colleagues perform cutting-edge research, development, and prototyping of technologies and systems used for detecting radiation. Dr. Ferguson’s area of expertise involves developing new optical and electrical scintillator materials and system miniaturization through robust semiconductor-based detection systems. (May 6, 2008)

Tech Launches Dual Master’s Program with Top Italian Universities
Georgia Tech is partnering with two leading Italian universities to offer dual master’s degrees in electrical and computer engineering and computer science. The new degrees, which will begin in fall 2008, are the first dual graduate programs in these disciplines between American and Italian universities. Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is partnering with the School of Information Technologies at the Politecnico di Torino in Torino, Italy, and Tech’s School of Computer Science is partnering with the School of Informatics at the University of Trento in Trento, Italy. (May 6, 2008)

Tech Urges Women to Try Engineering (pdf; 181 kb)
It used to be that a group of engineers was always a bunch of guys with a slide rules.

But slide rules have been replace by calculators and computers, and more women are joining the fraternity, thanks to programs like Women in Engineering at Georgia Tech. (Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(May 5, 2008)

Ayanna Howard Featured in New Scientist Magazine
ECE Associate Professor Ayanna Howard is featured in the New Scientist Magazine article “NASA Must Look Beyond the Moon.” Dr. Howard is part of a National Research Council committee chosen by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to review NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program. This program focuses on developing technologies for future human space exploration missions, and it has been criticized for concentrating its efforts primarily on the moon rather than Mars and beyond.

The article was published April 17, 2008, and can be found at http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13727-nasa-must-look-beyond. (May 1, 2008)

Bernard Kippelen Named Fellow of SPIE
ECE Professor Bernard Kippelen has been named one of 72 new Fellows of SPIE, an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. SPIE Fellows are chosen for their contributions to optics, photonics, and imaging, as well as for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular.

Dr. Kippelen is being recognized for his achievements in organic optoelectronic applications. His research areas include the development of organic materials for organic light-emitting devices; the development of high-efficiency solar cells based on organic polycrystalline materials; the use of liquid crystals for switchable electro-active diffractive lenses; optically pumped organic lasers; and organic field-effect transistors. He has also served in various leadership roles for many SPIE conferences. (May 1, 2008)

Joe Hughes Named IEEE Member of the EAC of ABET
ECE Senior Associate Chair Joe Hughes has been named an IEEE member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, a federation of 28 professional and technical societies. Dr. Hughes is currently IEEE’s alternate member of EAC and a program evaluator since 1995. His term as an EAC commissioner begins this July and is renewable annually for the next five years. He will continue serving as a member of the IEEE Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities and, for up to three years, as the IEEE liaison between EAC and the IEEE Accreditation Policy Council.

EAC members serve as team chairs on evaluation visits to institutions with engineering programs and vote on the accreditation of these programs. Dr. Hughes joins Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Chair Bill Wepfer, who represents ASME, as the second Georgia Tech faculty member currently serving on this commission. (May 1, 2008)

Innovolt Makes Headlines
Innovolt, a Georgia Tech VentureLab company founded in 2005 by ECE Professor Deepak Divan, was featured recently in both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Atlanta Business Chronicle. The newspapers highlighted Innovolt’s new current and voltage surge suppressor device. This device differs from other products on the market in that it protects electronics not only against lightning strikes, but also against voltage surges, current surges, and under/over-voltage.

Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 22
“Innovolt Powers Up Sales with New Surge Protector”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 24
“An Innovolt From Out of the Blue”
(May 1, 2008)

U.S. News & World Report Releases Graduate Program Rankings
The 2009 graduate program rankings from U.S. News & World Report have been published, and the results are very good for both Georgia Tech and ECE. The College of Engineering at Georgia Tech retained its 4^th place ranking from last year, while the electrical engineering graduate program moved up a notch to 6th place and computer engineering came in at 7th place. A news release on the Georgia Tech Web site detailing the rankings of other engineering disciplines can be found at www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?id=1786&ga=1. (March 31, 2008)

Maysam Ghovanloo Selected for Teaching Fellows Program
ECE Assistant Professor Maysam Ghovanloo has been selected to participate in the 2008 Class of 1969 Teaching Fellows Program. This program, which is run by the Georgia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, assists faculty members who want to develop their teaching potential to the fullest. Dr. Ghovanloo is one of only 10 assistant professors chosen for this year’s program. (March 25, 2008)

Harvard Appoints Former Tech EE Student Dean of College
Harvard University has appointed Evelynn Hammonds dean of Harvard College. Beginning June 1, Dr. Hammonds will be responsible for overseeing academic affairs, admissions, student life, housing, finance, and administration for the college. She is the first black woman to hold this position.

Dr. Hammonds earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1976. She also received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Spelman College, a master’s degree in physics from MIT, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from Harvard. Dr. Hammonds joined Harvard in 2002, and she has been Harvard’s senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity as well as a professor of the history of science and of African and African-American studies. (March 13, 2008)

Sensor Necklace Aims to Increase Drug Compliance
ECE Assistant Professor Maysam Ghovanloo and graduate student Xueliang Huo have designed a sensor necklace, called MagneTrace, to help people remember to take their prescribed medicines. The necklace records the date and time when specially-designed pills are swallowed, and it can notify the patient and the doctor if the prescribed dosage is not taken at the proper time. This technology could also help researchers and pharmaceutical companies conduct more accurate clinical trials on new drugs. (March 13, 2008)

Ian Akyildiz Named IEEE Distinguished Lecturer
Ian Akyildiz, ECE Byers Professor, has been named an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2008-09. During his two-year tenure in this role, Dr. Akyildiz will present lectures on cognitive radio networks, sensor networks, and nano-communication networks at various IEEE meetings.

The IEEE Communications Society is devoted to advancing all areas of communications technologies, including applications development, theory and systems usage, and meeting new market demands in systems, products, and technologies. (March 5, 2008)

Gregory Duperon Selected for WISE Program
Gregory Duperon, an electrical engineering major who graduated from Georgia Tech last year, has been selected for the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) Program. Gregory is one of 12 students selected for this program from across the nation and one of two from Tech. Viktoriya L. Buchko, a chemical and biomolecular engineering major, was also chosen for this honor.

Founded in 1980 through the collaborative efforts of several professional engineering societies, WISE is one of Washington’s premier internship programs. Twelve to 15 students entering their final year of undergraduate study are selected annually to spend 10 weeks of the summer in the nation’s capital. The internship focuses on how government officials make decisions on complex technological issues and how engineers can contribute to legislative and regulatory public policy decisions.

Gregory came to the Georgia Tech Savannah campus from Georgia Southern University, where he earned a 4.0 GPA. Upon graduating from Tech, Greg was congratulated by President Clough for achieving the highest GPA in ECE. (February 27, 2008)

Andy Peterson Named to First Class of ACES Fellows
Andy Peterson has been named to the first class of Fellows for the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES). He is one of six people named to this inaugural class, which will be recognized at the ACES 2008 Annual Conference to be held in Niagara Falls, Canada, March 30-April 4.

Election to the rank of ACES Fellow recognizes outstanding technical accomplishments, peer evaluation, and significant contributions to the computational electromagnetics community. Dr. Peterson has been involved with ACES since 1988 and has served as a member of its Board of Directors and as its treasurer. He has also chaired number of committees for the organization, including the Publications Committee, Bylaws Committee, Nominations Committee, Software Performance Standards Committee, and Finance Committee.

Organized in 1986, ACES focuses on developing computational techniques for electromagnetic field problems, software for implementing those techniques, and the various applications requiring them. ACES sponsors an annual conference and publishes a refereed journal (the ACES Journal) and a newsletter. (February 13, 2008)

Tech Offers First Interdisciplinary Robotics Ph.D.
The Colleges of Computing and Engineering at Georgia Tech today announced the nation’s first interdisciplinary doctoral degree in robotics to be offered at Georgia Tech. The program, which starts fall semester of 2008, was developed through Georgia Tech’s Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM@Georgia Tech), a collaborative research center that combines the educational strength and expertise of both units, which includes faculty from ECE. (February 13, 2008)

In Loving Memory of Bill Sayle
Our beloved friend and colleague Bill Sayle passed away on February 2 after a courageous, four-and-a-half year battle with pancreatic cancer. For those wishing to honor Bill and his memory, the family has requested that donations be made in Bill's name to either the Pancreatic Cancer Society (www.pancan.org) or to the Bill Sayle Fellowship Fund:

Throughout his 37 years at Georgia Tech, Bill touched the lives of many different people, both inside and outside of ECE and throughout the worldwide academic community. We extend our deepest sympathies and much love to his wife, Joyce, and his family. (February 6, 2008; updated February 12, 2008)

Mary Ann Ingram and Former Grad Student Win Best Paper Award
Mary Ann Ingram, ECE ADVANCE Professor of Engineering, and her recently graduated Ph.D. student Guillermo Acosta-Marum have received one of five best paper awards given by the IEEE Wireless Vehicular Communication Executive Committee. Their paper will be published in a special issue of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine in 2008. It was originally published at the First IEEE International Symposium on Wireless Vehicular Communications held last fall in Baltimore, Md.

The award-winning paper reports the first doubly selective (includes joint Doppler and delay) propagation channel models based on measurements for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside wireless links at 5.9GHz. The measurements were made in support of the development of the IEEE 802.11p (WAVE) standard and specifically as a basis for the WAVE/DSRC equipment certification test. One model is described for each of six different vehicular environments (e.g. "expressway same direction" and "roadside to vehicle, suburban street"). The model description is in a form that is convenient for implementation in standard RF channel emulators and MATLAB Simulink channel simulators. (January 31, 2008)

Drs. Riley and Lim Participate in Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellows Program
ECE associate professors George Riley and Sung-Kyu Lim have been invited to participate in the Hesburgh Award Teaching Fellows Program, which is run by Georgia Tech’s Center for the Enhancement for Teaching and Learning (CETL). Both Dr. Lim and Dr. Riley specialize in computer engineering.

An invitation to participate in the fellows program is an honor reserved for tenured faculty members who are successful in their careers and have the potential to provide leadership in teaching and learning to their colleagues. Each year, CETL solicits nominations for the program and invites a small multidisciplinary group of faculty to participate in a discussion on teaching and learning issues followed by work on a related project. (January 28, 2008)

State of Georgia FIRST LEGO League Challenge Coming on Feb. 9
The State of Georgia FIRST LEGO ® League Challenge will be held on Saturday, February 9 from 7 am-5 pm at the Georgia Tech Student Center. ECE and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing are co-hosting this event.

FLL challenges are created each year to inspire interest in science and engineering among young people ages 9 to 14. The 2007 Challenge theme is "Power Puzzle: Energy Sources Meeting the Global Demand." During the 2006 Challenge, 140 teams participated in five qualifier tournaments held prior to the final competition, narrowing the field to 48 teams. This year, 220 teams are competing in nine qualifiers, involving 1,600 students; organizers expect 48 teams to advance to the February 9 event.

Volunteers are needed in many different areas ranging from referees to food coordinator to registration attendants. For more information, please contact ECE Associate Professor Jeff Davis.

Additional sources of information:

• A recent article in ECE Highlights about the upcoming State of Georgia FLL Challenge
• The State of Georgia FLL Challenge web site
• View PBA video of the 2006 FLL Challenge

(January 16, 2008)

Last revised on May 6, 2008.