2017-2018 Review
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Table of Contents
2 3-4 5-7 8-10 11-13
Message from Department Chair ECE Snapshot
Research
Educational Enhancements
Student Success
14-16
Community Engagement
17-18
Industry Advisory Board and Partnerships
19-22
First Job and Internship Stories
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New Faculty
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Faculty Highlights
25-26
Faculty Research Interests
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
MESSAGE FROM DEPARTMENT CHAIR Dear Colleagues and Friends, The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Florida International University (FIU) has completed yet another year filled with growth and innovation with its continuous mission to lead transformation within the engineering community, both locally and nationwide. From 2017 to 2018, the department graduated 255 students. This year, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded FIU a $4.8 million grant to launch a new center called the Transforming Antennas Center (TAC). Stavros Georgakopoulos, professor and inventor of origami antennas, will be leading this center. Read more on this grant on page 5. Our academic programs continue to expand. Last year, we were proud to announce the launch of the new bachelor’s degree in Internet of Things (IoT), making FIU the first university in the nation to offer the degree. This year, starting fall, 2018, we are introducing a new RF (Radio Frequency) & Microwave Engineering track under the master’s degree in
electrical engineering, which can be completed in just 10 months! We have also increased the number of programs available online by now offering all of our bachelor’s degrees online, including the IoT degree, through FIU Online. The department would not be able to succeed without the support of all its faculty, staff and students. In this report, you will read about John Gibson becoming FIU’s first Bridge to the Doctorate graduate, Aldo Amenta suffering an accident but continuing his studies with the help of FIU’s Ignite Campaign and many more achievements. ECE also continues to grow with the addition of two new faculty members. Join me in welcoming new Instructors Luis Galarza and Mubarak Mujawar. The following report celebrates FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s achievements and efforts in providing our students with a strong foundation to excel in their future.
Shekhar Bhansali, Ph.D. Alcatel-Lucent Professor and Chair Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
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ECE SNAPSHOT Rankings
13
29 14
#
#
#
for computer engineering
for electrical engineering
for best online master’s degree
awarded by school
awarded by school
(master’s degree in computer
bachelor’s degrees
bachelor’s degrees
Per the American Society
for Engineering Education
Per the American Society
engineering: network security)
(ASEE), 2016-2017
Per Best College Reviews, 2018
for Engineering Education
(ASEE), 2016-2017
programs in engineering
Faculty on the Rise
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7
7
8
23
Professors
Associate Professors
Assistant Professors
Instructors
U.S. Patents Awarded to ECE Faculty (2017-2018)
Research Areas
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• Bioengineering
• Data Systems
• Power & Energy
• Communications
• Embedded Systems
•C omputer Architecture & Microprocessor Design
• Human Cyber-physical Systems
• Radio Frequency (RF) & Microwave
• Integrated Nano-technology
• Smart Infrastructure
• Control Systems
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Cybersecurity
• Networking & Security
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
255 Degrees Awarded
185 48 22
2017-2018 REVIEW
Research Awards
Bachelor’s degrees awarded Master’s degrees awarded Doctoral degrees awarded
2016-2017
$6,416,383 2017-2018
$10,053,116
Total Student Enrollment
986
Diversity in ECE
59%
Hispanic Students
19%
International Students
17%
Firstgeneration Students
13% Females 4 *FIU Accountability
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
RESEARCH Air Force grants FIU $4.8 million to establish center for origami antennas ground stations on earth. Also, soldiers have traditionally relied on bulky and heavy antennas to share intelligence from the field. Origami antennas improve airborne and spaceborne systems communications and will increase soldiers’ mobility on the ground as they’ll be able to easily carry antennas in their backpacks. The center plans to establish partnerships with the government and private companies in the industry to become a research and development hub. The center’s research team includes Elias Alwan and Shubhendu Bhardwaj, assistant professors, and Sakhrat Khizroev, professor from FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Pezhman Mardanpour, assistant professor from FIU’s Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering; John Volakis, dean for the College of Engineering & Computing at FIU and professor from FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Manos Tentzeris, professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Stavros Georgakopoulos The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) awarded FIU a $4.8 million grant to launch the Transforming Antennas Center (TAC), where innovative and advanced origami-based antenna technologies will be developed for next-generation Air Force and Department of Defense systems. The center will be led by Stavros Georgakopoulos, professor and inventor of foldable origami antennas. Georgakopoulos pioneered the development of the first-generation origami electromagnetic systems through a previously awarded National Science Foundation (NSF) Emerging Frontier in Research and Innovation (ERFI) grant, which was co-funded by the AFOSR. Inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding, origami electromagnetic systems include reconfigurable, foldable and deployable multifunctional antennas and antenna arrays, adaptable “smart skins” for communication and sensing, and compact / collapsible wearable antennas. When antenna systems are launched into space, they must fit into very small compartments. While in orbit, they must effortlessly deploy into very large sizes to communicate with 5
“This award demonstrates our investments and leadership in RF technologies and microwave communications systems in an effort to provide more opportunities and research projects for our engineering students,” said Volakis. “The center is set to generate a team of well-trained students in wireless technologies and serves the growing needs of the Department of Defense and commercial companies.”
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“These technologies will provide groundbreaking capabilities to Air Force and military communication, reconnaissance, sensing and energy harvesting systems that are used by aircraft, drones and satellites,” – Stavros Georgakopoulos
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
EPS group looks into framework of future smart cities with NSF grants What will a modern-day city look like as a smart city 20 to 30 years from now? As a pressing technical challenge, FIU’s Energy, Power and Sustainability (EPS) group is envisioning future cities and is developing their framework with two awards they received from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The first NSF award of approximately $249,000 is for RIPS (Resilient Infrastructure Processes and Systems). Modern infrastructure systems, such as power grids and transportation networks, are intertwined with each other. A failure of an element in one system can cause a failure in another system, resulting in a catastrophic widespread failure. With this grant, the EPS group is developing mathematical models to design resilient interdependent systems and innovate strategies to enhance the systems and quickly restore system operations if a failure occurs. “What’s unique about this project is we’re also incorporating the concept of human vulnerability,” said Arif Sarwat, associate professor and director of the EPS group. “Diverse human behaviors can also cause disruptions. Human behavior is a key component when it comes to future smart cities.”
Asadulla Khalid, doctoral student, and Arif Sarwat
“I want to make a transformation,” said Sarwat. “I want to improve cities by making them smart cities for my children and the future generation to enjoy.” The second NSF award of approximately $511,000 is for CRISP (Critical Resilient Interdependent Infrastructure Systems and Processes). The EPS group is developing a smart city architecture which integrates cyber-physical critical infrastructures (CIs) like smart transportation, wireless systems, water networks and power grid. Smart city CIs are dependent on each other as they share energy, computation, and wireless spectrum and can be affected by natural disasters, human-made disasters and malicious attacks. The group is addressing this challenge by coordinating an interdisciplinary approach to lay the mathematical foundations of resilient smart cities.
Sakhrat Khizroev’s TEDx talk on technobiology Sakhrat Khizroev, professor and expert in the fields of physics and electrical and computer engineering, discussed technobiology, a new science approach created by him and his students, at a TEDx Coconut Grove event held in March 2018. The technology’s purpose is to advance the treatment of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. “One human brain can store as much information as what’s stored on the entire Internet. The human brain is the central processing unit of the Internet of the human body,” said Khizroev. “If the human Internet fails, then diseases develop.”
Sakhrat Khizroev
In the TEDx talk, Khizroev explained the main challenge of figuring out how the brain works. His mission is to figure out how to wirelessly study the brain, which he effectively researched by conducting a test on mice with Parkinson’s disease. “Every day we are getting closer to testing this approach on humans and hopefully eliminate these diseases once and for all,” said Khizroev.
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Cybersecurity@FIU, an Emerging Preeminent Program An Emerging Preeminent Program is a collaborative endeavor with high potential to be designated preeminent. With strategic support, this kind of program can earn the Preeminent Program designation. A Preeminent Program is a collaborative endeavor that demonstrates extraordinary success in providing unique learning opportunities, pioneering research and engagement, while expanding FIU’s financial base. Cybersecurity@FIU focuses on digital defense and protection issues that impact the global cyber landscape and examines complex human and social questions related to privacy policies and trust. Taking a multi-faceted approach, the university combines technical cybersecurity strength in areas such as cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing and storage with complementary expertise in international and public affairs, business and law. These competencies together establish a comprehensive foundation for the continued advancement of research, education, workforce development and international capacity-building activities. “FIU’s College of Engineering & Computing will be leading the research component of this program with its excellent faculty members and facilities. The program focuses on four pillars that relate to technical research in cybersecurity based on FIU’s strengths and strategic location. These are foundations, smart cities and living, cyber forensics and critical infrastructure security,” said Kemal Akkaya, co-chair of the Cybersecurity@FIU Emerging Preeminent Program and professor for FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Research labs that contribute to this research include Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab (CSL) under Selcuk Uluagac, assistant professor; Advanced Wireless and Security (ADWISE) Lab under Akkaya; Cyber Security and Privacy Research (CaSPR) Lab under Bogdan Carbunar, associate professor for FIU’s School of Computing and Information Sciences; and Department of Energy Secure Evolvable Energy Delivery Systems (SEEDS) Center under Osama Mohammed, associate dean of research for FIU’s College of Engineering & Computing and professor for FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Kemal Akkaya
“Under this program, our faculty will be involved in more interdisciplinary research with other FIU colleges to investigate issues that relate to foundations, smart cities and living, cyber forensics and critical infrastructure security, and help enable FIU to become a research and technology hub in the area of cybersecurity for South Florida.”
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DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
EDUCATIONAL ENHANCEMENTS Introducing NEW 10-month RF & Microwave Engineering track Graduate students in the new RF (Radio Frequency) and Microwave engineering track, offered under the master’s degree in electrical engineering, are working on improving the speed and performance of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, wireless communications and WiFi. Starting fall, 2018, the RF and Microwave engineering track will be available for graduate students who have an interest in technologies including antennas, radio frequency and 5G wireless communication. “With the emerging 5G, millimeter wave and terahertz technologies, the RF and Microwave track will enable students to learn the concepts and skills in modern wireless communication systems,” said Elias Alwan, assistant professor and program coordinator for the track. “The curriculum of this track interconnects with other engineering disciplines including biomedical applications, cybersecurity and IoT.” The RF and Microwave engineering track is an accelerated program where students can earn their specialized degree in exactly 10 months. Classes are offered online and in person; however, a student has the option to complete the program fully online. “It’s designed for online students to learn how to design antennas and in-person students to focus on physically building the designed antennas in the state-of-the-art RFCOM Laboratory,” said Alwan. Dean John Volakis, an expert in the field of RF communications for more than 30 years, joined the College of Engineering & Computing in August 2017 and has heavily focused on expanding the RF curriculum. “With this track, we are preparing our students for the job market as there’s an exponential growth in jobs related to RF communications,” said Volakis. “Our students will be provided with the necessary skillsets to meet and exceed the industry’s needs.”
Satheesh Bojja Venkatakrishnan and Rimon Hokayem The highly relevant curriculum will include courses in radio frequency circuit design, antennas for wireless communication, antenna theory and design, optical fiber communication systems and 5G technologies.
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
ECE undergraduate degrees now available fully online As the number of online programs and degrees continues to rise, FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is working closely with FIU Online to have all their undergraduate degrees available online.
processing and computer networking. Those enrolled in the online electrical engineering program will learn about electronics, nanotechnology, power and energy systems, communications and more.
The ECE bachelor’s degrees offered online are the bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, the bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and the bachelor’s degree in Internet of Things (IoT). “This is a great opportunity for students to be able to balance their academics with their personal life and graduate on time,” said Alexander Perez-Pons, instructor from FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
And for those with an interest in learning how smart devices (smart watches, smart phones, smart homes, etc.) connect with each other, students in the online IoT program will become experts in the rapidly growing field of interconnected devices. “Offering all of our undergraduate degrees online also helps expand the brand of FIU beyond our South Florida community. These programs are now accessible to anyone and that’s a huge deal,” said Perez-Pons.
Students in the online computer engineering program will be trained in the areas of hardware architecture, software engineering, hardware-software integration, signal and image
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It is projected there will be approximately 20 billion IoT devices and 4.5 million IoT jobs by 2020.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) focuses on Internet of Things security From smart home hacking to wearable-assisted continuous authentication, undergraduate students from different universities spent their summer in Miami at FIU’s Engineering Center as part of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, funded by the National Science Foundation for the last four years. In the 10-week program, students focused on cybersecurity research with an emphasis on the security of smart things and the Internet of Things (IoT). Brandon Purvis, a computer science and physics major from the University of Miami, worked on a smart home hacking project in an effort to enhance the security of smart homes.
Leandro Lopez and Billy Jang
Billy Jang, a computer science and math major from Amherst College, and Leandro Lopez, a computer science major from Carnegie Mellon University, enhanced an existing system started by cybersecurity doctoral students. The system is called wearable continuous authentication, which requires a computer user to wear a smart watch to constantly be verified as the actual user and not a hacker. “The system measures how fast the user types, the time it takes between two keypresses and how hard the user presses on the keyboard,” said Jang. “This is a great program to make the students aware of FIU’s strength in cybersecurity research,” said Selcuk Uluagac, assistant professor and Co-PI of the REU program. The REU program provides students with a $2,000 monthly stipend, $600 for travel, on-campus housing and meals. Students receive individual academic counseling, obtain hands-on training and experience cultural and social events across Miami. “It is a great feeling to touch the lives of the students in a positive manner,” said Kemal Akkaya, professor and primary lead of the REU program. “I was fortunate to attend the graduation ceremony of Ruben Munoz who was an FIU REU student. I experienced his parents’ appreciation towards me, and now he’s working for Lockheed Martin.” Akkaya is also the program coordinator of the Internet of Things program. FIU’s REU program started in summer, 2015, and since then, Akkaya and Uluagac have hosted and trained more than 40 students from different institutions.
2017-2018 REVIEW
IoT MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
11 DIGITAL, PRINT & BROADCAST STORIES
LOCAL The Miami Herald Miami Patch Miami Today NBC 6 South Florida Business Journal WLRN WSVN 7 (FOX)
NATIONAL Crain Communications Ed Tech Magazine IoT News
INTERNATIONAL Newsdog (India) (News coverage from June 2017 to June 2018)
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
STUDENT SUCCESS
Meet FIU’s first Bridge to the Doctorate program graduate At a young age, John Gibson loved breaking things apart and putting them back together. In a computer class he took during high school, Gibson, with permission from his teacher, would dismantle computers and learn how to reconstruct them. Fast forward to spring, 2018, when Gibson graduated with a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from FIU, making him the first graduate from FIU’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Bridge to the Doctorate program. The Bridge to the Doctorate program is a fellowship program that helps underrepresented students pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields. Students in this program receive a full tuition waiver and an annual living stipend of $32,000 for the first two years. The program also provides students with professional development workshops, seminars, networking events and state-of-the-art facilities.
research on topics that blend different fields of science, such as chemistry and electromagnetics,” said Georgakopoulos. The Bridge to the Doctorate program at FIU includes 11 different majors and is funded by NSF, in partnership with the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP). Applicants interested in the program must have earned a bachelor’s in a STEM discipline, participated in the LSAMP program, be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and have a minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA. While at FIU, Gibson volunteered as a math tutor for Golden Scholars, a group of minority undergraduate students, and visited pre-collegiate students at Carol City High School, where he taught them a course on building websites with HTML. After graduation, Gibson accepted a job offer at the Air Force Research Laboratory as an electronics engineer.
John Gibson
“What I’ve loved most about this program are all the resources available to us,” said Gibson. “By being in this program, I’ve received unimaginable opportunities like interning at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, for space communication. I worked on an antenna to communicate with the International Space Shuttle. My advice to students is to take every opportunity.” Professor Stavros Georgakopoulos was Gibson’s Ph.D. advisor. Georgakopoulos introduced Gibson to the field of antennas and electromagnetics. “Gibson was an exceptional doctoral student as he was not afraid to try new things and conduct
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John Gibson interning at the NASA Glenn Research Center.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
An unstoppable electrical engineering student A few years ago, Aldo Amenta was injured after diving into a pool, leaving him with a broken neck and a spinal cord injury, ultimately rendering him quadriplegic. As an international student, Amenta and his family had to decide between paying for therapy or paying for his studies towards a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Because of FIU’s Ignite Campaign, funded by FIU faculty and staff, Amenta was able to use his money for therapy. His tuition was completely covered. The Ignite Campaign was launched Aldo Amenta back in 2012 to encourage FIU employees to give back to their university by donating any amount of money. The idea first came to be in 2005 between Howard R. Lipman, vice president at the time, and Stephen M. Fain, retiring professor. A steering committee consisting of FIU faculty and staff members was created in 2011. They led the execution of this campaign with their message: “Why not pledge a cup of coffee?” They wanted to show that it only takes the cost of a cup of coffee to participate in something bigger. The specific program that helped Amenta was Ignite’s Panther Protection project, which is an educational grant designed to assist students with unexpected events, primarily emergencies. Ou Bai, assistant professor, recalls having Amenta as a student in his signal and systems course. “When I received a notice from the University’s Student Center informing me a student with extensive disability would join my class, I thought how would he be able to complete math-extensive assignments as he was restricted to a wheelchair and his hand could hardly hold anything?” said Bai. “His approach was to type everything, including math equations. He was an excellent student and didn’t miss any assignments or any of my lectures. He even ranked top two in my class with a total of 60 students. I feel honored to have had such an outstanding and positive student in my class.” Because of FIU’s strong philanthropic community, Amenta is now a senior about to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
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“It’s truly an honor for me to take part in FIU’s Ignite Campaign. It changed my life by giving me an opportunity I thought was lost, allowing me to pursue my dreams of becoming an engineer. I’ve seen the enormous growth of FIU in every aspect in just a few years. I can only be excited to see where the future is leading us. Now, more than ever, I feel proud and honored to be part of the FIU community that has become a family to me!” - Aldo Amenta
From left to right: Ruth Paladino-Figueroa, director and founder of Nirvana Project Organization; Aldo Amenta, student and co-founder of the organization; Osman Altamiralo, runner volunteer
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Representing FIU overseas at the Maize Genetics Conference Born in the small town of Greensburg, Louisiana, Lamar Burton recalls his 40-minute walks to the nearest grocery store. At the age of six, Burton and his parents moved to Baton Rouge to start a new chapter in their lives. Burton excelled in Baton Rouge, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Southern University and Agriculture & Mechanical College. Through the National Science Foundation’s Bridge to the Doctorate program, Burton moved to Miami where he began his graduate studies in electrical engineering at FIU.
Lamar Burton
Burton fabricates electrochemical sensors for determining nutrients in soil. Currently, there are no platforms that allow agriculturalists and environmentalists to measure nitrates and phosphates in soil in real time. Due to his research, Burton was encour-
aged to apply for the MaGNET Travel Award to attend the 60th annual Maize Genetics Conference, an annual meeting where experienced scientists of all stages and underrepresented students learn the latest about maize genetics. Burton won the MaGNET award, which covered costs for travel, hotel and meals. Burton was one of only two graduate students selected. At the conference, which was held in Saint-Malo, France, Burton found out he was the only FIU student and electrical engineer in attendance. “It was a rewarding experience because I got to enjoy a city I had never visited before with my wife,” said Burton. “I also made connections with program directors from the National Science Foundation and industry professionals.” Shekhar Bhansali, Alcatel-Lucent professor and chair of FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serves as the Bridge to the Doctorate program’s co-director and is also Burton’s advisor. “Burton is a hardworking and passionate electrical engineer. I can picture him working for the Senate representing agriculture and engineering industries,” said Bhansali.
graduate gets hired by Facebook When Chunfei Li was 20 years old, her great grandfather, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, passed away. At the time, Li was studying applied mathematics in China, her home country. She earned her bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and decided to pursue her graduate studies in the United States, determined to learn more about the disease.
Chunfei Li 13
In 2012, Li came to FIU to pursue her master’s degree
and two years later became an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student. Her research focused on the application of imaging processing techniques for early diagnosis and to assess the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Over the past four years, Li has published six journal articles, three of them as the first author, and five conference papers. She also collaborated with the Wien Center for Memory Disorders and Alzheimer’s disease at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Li graduated from FIU as a WorldsAhead graduate in spring, 2018 and moved to New York to work as a research assistant for Facebook. She had previously interned at Facebook as a software engineer. Her long-term goal is to do more research on Alzheimer’s disease.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Senior design For the first time ever, the College of Engineering & Computing hosted a Senior Design Project Showcase. In the past, each department held its own event, but this year, all four departments and two schools within the college collaborated together. Held at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center at FIU’s Modesto Maidique Campus, more than 500 engineering seniors presented their senior design projects. As part of the curriculum, all engineering students are required to create a senior design project that identifies a problem and promises a solution.
Multi-sense team members
Wilmer Arellano, senior instructor, teaches Senior Design I and Senior Design II, where he oversees the electrical and computer engineering students’ senior projects. “Having the opportunity to work with the students is a very rewarding experience. Witnessing a real life-like process, where students advance an idea from scratch to a working prototype, passing through all the design phases, is an unparalleled experience,” said Arellano. “But the greatest satisfaction comes from the feedback students give, once employed, on how the Senior Design experience helps them in the work field.” Companies and members of each department’s industry advisory board were invited to attend the event and recruit graduates for employment positions. A total of 20 electrical and computer engineering groups presented their projects at the showcase.
Current engineers inspiring future engineers Divided into 20 teams, over 90 electrical and computer engineering students presented their senior design projects to local high schoolers at the end of spring, 2018, hoping to ignite in the young students a love for the discipline.
Marti MAST Academy. “They envision engineering just to be about coding computers or building a car. The idea that engineering is everywhere really inspired my students after the presentations.”
The high school students learned about the engineering projects the electrical and computer engineering senior students worked on for two whole semesters. Senior design projects included “Skyleep,” a device that detects and records when sleepwalking occurs and “Auto Shutters,” where shutters automatically close when winds hit 70 miles per hour.
FIU students also benefited from the interaction. “I attended a high school where nobody cared about anything. Presenting my project to students who expressed interest in the STEM field rather than having a negative view on math and science because it is considered ‘too hard’ was really rewarding,” said Georges Nicoli, electrical engineering alumnus.
“These presentations have opened up the eyes of several of my students,” said Jennifer Kaelin, physics teacher at Jose
The participating high schools were American Senior High School, G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School, Jose Marti
MAST Academy, Latin Builders Association (LBA) Academy Charter High School, St. Brendan High School and TERRA Environmental Research Institute.
Senior design students 14
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Cybersecurity experts are ahead of the hackers By Diana Hernandez-Alende and Gisela Valencia
With increases in cyberattacks targeting online shoppers and malicious links being sent to businesses causing sensitive information to be leaked, cybersecurity experts are working together to solve these issues.
discussion on cybersecurity risks faced every day and live “hack” demonstrations from Selcuk Uluagac, assistant professor, and three of his doctoral students: Amit Kumar Sikder, Leonardo Babun and Abbas Acar.
This past fall, 2017, FIU, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Small Business Development Center Network and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce hosted the 2017 Cybersecurity Conference at FIU. The conference featured a panel
The team from the Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab demonstrated how hackers can abuse smart devices, including a sensor-based attack using a smartwatch and a smartphone. Hackers can use specific light patterns to hack into a smart device from another smart device and obtain personal information. They also demonstrated how SaINT, an analysis tool, can detect when sensitive information from Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as smart locks and smart bulbs can be leaked.
Selcuk Uluagac, Amit Kumar Sikder, Leonardo Babun, Abbas Acar
The final demonstration showed how motion sensors on wearable smart devices can act to support continuous authentication and can verify the identity of a computer’s user. “Seventy-six percent of people share their passwords with family members,” said Uluagac. “One-time login process in traditional authentication systems does not guarantee the identified user is the actual user throughout the login session.” The research projects mentioned are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Emerging engineers envision future cities Forty teams of middle school students from Miami-Dade and Broward counties addressed the growing issue of social exclusion and isolation of senior citizens at the 2018 South Florida Future City Competition, a competition that raises awareness of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). This year’s theme was The Age-Friendly City. Students were tasked with designing a model of a future city where residents could be physically active and independent. The students were judged on the design and engineering of virtual and physical city models, an essay and a five-minute presentation. 15
They were required to use recycled materials to create their models. The winning team was from St. Hugh Catholic Middle School. The presenters (Isabella Gonzalez, Bella Pennekamp and Andrea Altamirano) acted as a resident, a mayor and a voice-controlled database to describe all Tandanya, their future city, has to offer: an eco-friendly transportation system with self-driving pods to prevent collisions; solar panels installed on every building; recreational centers; and an underground waste management system that prevents odor from spreading throughout the city. “This is an important STEM opportunity to encourage students at an early
stage in their education to get involved in engineering-based projects,” said Osama Mohammed, associate dean of research for the College of Engineering & Computing and regional coordinator of the national competition.
Dean John Volakis & Associate Dean of Research, Osama Mohammed, with winning team
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
Spotlight on ECE at eMERGE Americas eMERGE Americas is an annual technology conference for business leaders, entrepreneurs and government officials to learn about creative technologies from private companies, start-ups and higher education institutions. FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has consistently played a key role at eMERGE Americas. Researchers who exhibited at FIU’s 900-square-foot pavilion demonstrated cyber and energy security techniques. The Energy Systems Research Laboratory, led by Osama Mohammed, associate dean of research for the College of Engineering & Computing and professor for FIU’s Department
Abla Hariri and and Tarek Youseff at eMERGE Americas of Electrical and Computer Engineering, demonstrated a demo where a hacking technique impacted devices working with a communication standard used in power system automation. Tarek Youssef, post-doctoral associate, and Abla Hariri, doctoral student, represented the energy group at the event. Youssef’s demo entails a security algorithm to protect the devices from an attack in the power systems, protecting the power system from hacking. Also present at eMERGE was the Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory, led by Selcuk Uluagac, assistant professor. His doctoral students, Amit Kumar Sikder, Leonardo Babun and Abbas Acar, demonstrated a live hack between two smart devices and other newly-developed cybersecurity technologies.
Engineering expo sparks interest in K-12 students The College of Engineering & Computing opened its campus doors to more than 1,000 elementary, middle and high school students from 31 South Florida schools.
Students visiting the Energy, Power & Sustainability Lab
Dean John Volakis
The K-12 students visited the college’s state-of-the-art laboratories to see live demonstrations, such as analyzing human walking with a wireless body sensor network and live hacks of smart devices. The students had the chance to see what types of projects current FIU engineering students work on. The participating ECE labs included: INSYST (Integrated Nanosystems Research Lab); Energy, Power & Sustainability Lab; Electro Chemistry Lab; ElectroMagnetics Lab; CATE (Center for Advanced Technology and Education); Digital Signal Processing Lab; and Cyber-Physical Systems Security Lab.
Students from Brauser Maimonides Academy attending engineering expo
The engineering expo was created to raise awareness of engineering in young students.
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS Industry Advisory Board The following individuals contribute to the success of ECE at FIU. They are members of the South Florida business community who have knowledge in business, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, quality systems, technical design and regulatory compliance. We thank them for dedicating time to be members of ECE’s Industry Advisory Board.
Ivan Aguirre
Manager, PwC Digital Services
Khalid Barazanji, Ph.D.
Bert Gyselinckx
General Manager and Vice President, IMEC
Lorenzo Ponce de Leon Motorola Dan Noble Fellow
Marco Pravia, Ph.D.
ACE Branch Chief, United States Army Aeromedical Research Lab
Vikram Kapoor, Ph.D.
University of Central Florida
Chief Scientist, BAE Systems Technology Solutions
Daisy Barrera
Jean Labrosse
Vicente Tanasi
Ryan Bobryk
Peter Legor
Henry Chang
Marco Midon
Sirius XM
Account Manager, ANSYS Corp.
Senior Staff in the Antenna Products Division, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems
Kane Crisler
Packet Forensics
Christopher Day
CIO, Packet Forensics and CEO, Chymera-Group, LLC
Alexander Elorriaga Francisco “Cisco” Fernandez
Micrium Embedded Software
President, BrickMed
NASA
CSO, CarePredict
Eliecer Viamontes
Dave Minasi
Jose Palma
ATSAIC – MECTF, U.S. Secret Service
Senior Director and Fellow of the Technical Staff, Motorola Mobility LLC
Florida Power & Light
Sal Pazhoor
Robert Villanueva
Wladimiro Villarroel, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Naztec
Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor, Ohio State University
Carlos Perez-Crissien
James Wood
Data Solutions Architect, Verizon
Randy Fraser
Christa Petros
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Krishnatej Vedala
Industry Advisory Board (IAB) Vice Chair and General Manager, Florida Power & Light Company
Continuous Improvement Support Leader, Cemex
Ford Motor Company
VP and General Manager, RGC International Corp.
Industry Advisory Board (IAB) Chair and VP Product Development, Sirius XM Radio
NASA Chief Engineer, NASA Kennedy Space Center
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
Employment of Graduates Throughout their time at FIU, our ECE students participate in hands-on projects and learn the value of collaboration. Such experiences provide a solid foundation on which to build successful careers. Our alumni go on to work at leading companies throughout the country and abroad. Here is a selected list of organizations that hire our graduates:
Apple
Intel
Northrop Grumman
Boeing
Lockheed Martin
Rockwell Collins
CarePredict, Inc.
Lutron Electronics
Ryder
Chrysler
NASA
SMC Corp.
DOCOMO Innovations
National Security Agency
State Farm
Florida Power & Light
Naval Air Systems Command – Aircraft Division (NAVAIR)
Tesla Motors
General Electric Google
NAVSEA
Ultimate Software
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
ECE GRADS SHARE THEIR FIRST JOB JOURNEY KARINA QUINTANA Flight Test Engineer Boeing
As a flight test engineer for the Boeing Company at the Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) in China Lake, California, Karina Quintana helps integrate the latest software changes for the APG-73 radar subsystem onto the F/A-18 Hornet Platform, a combat jet designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. The APG-73 radar subsystem is an all-weather, search and track sensor that uses programmable digital processors to provide better features needed for air-to-air missions and air-tosurface missions. Quintana, born and raised in Miami, Florida, attended the 2014 Great Minds in STEM Conference (a non-profit organization that focuses on STEM educational awareness programs towards
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Hispanic students). At this conference, Quintana met representatives from Boeing and was selected as an intern for the summer 2015 cohort. A year later, she received a full-time offer. “Having previously interned at Boeing, I met so many subject matter experts that contribute to the success of integrating new capabilities onto the F/A-18 and EA-18G platforms,” said Quintana. “Part of me had impostor syndrome because I was unsure if I had the necessary technical skills to be prepared for my first full-time engineering career after gaining my college degree.” Quintana overcame this feeling by participating in regular training sessions, shadowing senior engineers and
reading documentation to stay up to date on the radar functionality. Having discussions and study sessions with her teammates helped reinforce the background knowledge she has on Radio Frequency (RF) theory, which she applies on a daily basis. The coolest thing about her job so far has been participating in advanced tactical training provided by the Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific and the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One, which provides Quintana with a perspective of the rigor and effort Naval and Marine test pilots employ to be qualified with advanced systems and sensors.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
SAMUEL DE LA TORRE Protection & Control Engineer Florida Power & Light (FPL)
Samuel De La Torre is a recent FIU graduate who received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Now, he’s using all the skills he gained in school for his position as a protection & control engineer at Florida Power & Light (FPL), the third-largest electric utility company in the United States. As a protection & control engineer, De La Torre checks to ensure all breakers and wires installed by substation electricians landed correctly using the prints provided. Breakers feed thousands of customers with electricity. De La Torre and other engineers prepare the settings for the protective relays that safeguard the electrical grid
components being fed by that feeder breaker. Their main responsibility is to install, calibrate and test the protective relays that protect the electrical grid from itself and outside faults. “Seeing all the moving parts that keep customers’ televisions and refrigerators running is nothing short of awe inspiring,” said Samuel De La Torre. “At the end of the day, I go home feeling satisfied because I played a role in keeping the lights on for thousands of customers.”
fault currents, understanding leading and lagging power factors, watts, VARs, phase and line voltages and currents. “Power courses helped me prepare for this job. You won’t learn everything you need from school, but it definitely gives a great base from which to build on,” said De La Torre. “I’ve loved my job at FPL this far and I appreciate how much FPL takes care of their employees.”
While at FIU, De La Torre took various power courses where he learned electrical theory including calculating 20
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
GAINING HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE THROUGH INTERNSHIPS RANDY MATOS Thermal & Power Management Engineer Intel
Randy Matos, an electrical engineering doctoral student, received the GEM Fellowship in 2017, helping him pursue a doctoral degree. GEM works with industry sponsors to match students with companies looking for specific skill sets. Matos, originally from Cuba and raised in Miami, packed his bags and headed to Hillsboro, Oregon, to start a five-month internship program at Intel. At Intel, Matos worked as a thermal and power management engineer, where he managed all the aspects of the client
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computing business across multiple platforms like phones and tablets, driving Intel’s corporate-wide user experience initiatives. Matos, along with his colleagues, would receive a batch of “future Intel platforms” (chips and processors) from the fabrication facility and would put the platforms through a series of specific stress tests while monitoring their thermal output, as well as their electrical power consumption. “I loved my experience at Intel. I felt like a part of the team and even my lab
manager told me it felt like I had been there forever,” said Matos. “The benefits are amazing and Intel treats their employees really well. When I spoke up about my research background in micro- and nano-scale fabrication, I was asked to speak at the following week’s tech forum. The feeling I got from that experience was pretty amazing and somewhat indescribable.”
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
MANUEL LOSADA Systems Engineer Rockwell Collins
In 2017, Manuel Losada, an electrical engineering undergraduate student, interned at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a systems engineer for the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) government contract, meaning auto-landing for fighter jets. The JPALS is composed of three machines that go on an aircraft carrier. Each machine was tested by Losada under Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) to study how a hostile or military enemy tries to disrupt signals among fighter jets.
As a systems engineer, Losada interfaced between the technicians who brought his design to life and the customer (government), who required information such as whether the system was at military standard, when the testing would be completed, setbacks and progress. Losada obtained his internship in an interesting way. “I attended the 2016 Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation Conference in Anaheim, California,” said Losada. “I was approached by the lead engineer of
JPALS from Rockwell Collins because I was wearing a pin of his favorite microcontroller brand!” Losada’s responsibilities as a systems engineer were the same as those of full-time engineers. His tasks contributed directly to the JPALS project. Losada would design cables that were impervious to signal jamming and were being used by other engineers to test the JPALS. “Seeing what I had designed in action was extremely gratifying,” said Losada.
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
NEW FACULTY
Instructors Luis Galarza and Mubarak Mujawar join the ECE department
Luis Galarza, Ph.D.
Mubarak Mujawar, Ph.D.
Luis Galarza has been involved with FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for over 14 years. He has worked as the electrical and computer engineering undergraduate advisor, serving as a liaison between faculty and students to guide students to take the correct courses to ensure timely graduation. Galarza has also worked as an adjunct professor, consultant and visiting faculty and has assisted with teaching courses including logic design, microcomputers and computer design. Now, he has become an instructor for the department. Galarza’s current research is on image processing, signal processing and system design. Galarza works closely with Malek Adjouadi, Ware professor and director of the Center for Advanced Technology and Education (CATE), in research projects and publications including his dissertation titled A Book Reader Design for Persons with Visual Impairment and Blindness. Galarza received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from FIU.
Mubarak Mujawar’s research is focused in the area of nanomanufacturing, and currently he is investigating low-temperature plasmas for applications in materials processing, energy and biotechnology. He is also involved in undergraduate STEM education research and has an interest in facilitating active and collaborative learning environments for large enrollment classrooms and online courses. Mujawar is deeply committed to improving the support and inclusion for underrepresented minorities and women in engineering disciplines. He has worked as a facilitator on the NSF-funded INCLUDES project and serves as the Education Coordinator of NSF ERC-ASSIST. He is a member of several professional and non-profit organizations including IEEE, ASEE, IoP and NCWIT. Mujawar received his doctoral degree in plasma science and technology from Dublin City University in Ireland. Prior to joining FIU, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Laser and Plasma Applications group at Trinity College in Ireland.
Instructor
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Instructor
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
2017-2018 REVIEW
FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS Driven to win
CONGRATULATIONS!
Energy, Power & Sustainability (EPS) group wins: Best Symposium Paper Award
MPCE Best Paper Award
Arif Sarwat, associate professor and director of both the FPL-FIU Solar Facility and EPS group, along with his doctoral students Aditya Sundararajan and Longfei Wei, wrote a paper titled, A Distributed Intelligent Framework for Electricity Theft Detection Using Benford’s Law and Stackelberg Game. The researchers proposed a distributed intelligent framework for electricity theft detection and addressed the concerns of smart meter energy consumption fraud. The researchers won the Best Symposium Paper Award at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Resilience Week in Wilmington, Delaware.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS WIN TOP HONORS FOR THEIR PAPERS ON RADIO FREQUENCY At the Commission B of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Triennial Conference in Montreal, Canada, two of our researchers won first and second place for their papers on radio frequency. First place went to Shubhendu Bhardwaj, assistant professor, for his work entitled, Novel Circularly-Polarized Antenna and Phase-less Characterization Method for sub-mmwave and Terahertz Communication and Sensing.
Both students from the research group secured internship opportunities this year at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, respectively. These internships were focused on conducting research in the fields of energy resources and cybersecurity. FIU’s President, Mark B. Rosenberg, recognized the students’ success in these internship opportunities. At the 2017 Advisory Board & Editorial Board Meeting of Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy (MCPE), held in Chicago, Illinois, Sarwat and colleagues were presented with the MPCE Best Paper Award for their work titled Weather-based
Interruption Prediction in the Smart Grid Utilizing Chronological Data. The research shows the development of a tool that can predict in the short and long term the number of failures and power interruptions that could happen on an electric smart grid system in a region.
Shubhendu Bhardwaj and Satheesh Bojja Venkatakrishnan His research focuses on developing antenna components and modeling techniques for sub-millimeter wave and terahertz electronics. As radio technology shifts into millimeter waves, his research will have applications in improving WiFi and cellphone communications. Satheesh Bojja Venkatakrishnan, research assistant professor, won second place for his paper Multi-band Multi-beam Performance Evaluation of On-Site Coding Digital Beamformer using Ultra-Wideband Antenna Array. His research focuses on a novel onsite coding
Aditya Sundararajan, Arif Sarwat, Longfei Wei
receiver, known as OSCR, which aims to reduce hardware requirements while addressing limited spectrum issues. An eight-channel OSCR system and a dipole array architecture were shown to provide high percentage reductions in power, cost and total hardware. Dean John Volakis was a co-author on both papers.
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FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
FACULTY RESEARCH INTERESTS Malek Adjouadi
Armando Barreto
Kemal Akkaya
Shekhar Bhansali
Brain research with neuroscience applications and assistive technology research with a focus on visual impairment and motor disability
Network security, blockchain, key management, privacy-preserving protocols, Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems security
Elias Alwan
Digital signal and image processing, application to human-computer interaction, affective computing, assistive technologies and biosignal manipulation
Application of micro / nanotechnology and engineering to address challenges in the area of biomedical sensors
Shubhendu Bhardwaj
Antennas, Radio Frequency (RF) systems, millimeter wave and secure 5G communication systems
Sub-mm-wave, terahertz antennas, modeling methods, multiphysical / multiscale electromagnetism, metasurfaces, electronics bandgap structure and slow-wave structures
Jean Andrian
Amaury Caballero
Application of category theory on modeling complex systems
Wilmer Arellano
Electronic design, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), VANET simulations, traffic assignment and insect-inspired algorithms
Ou Bai
Cyber-physical systems with human-in-the-loop, sensors and real-time sensor signal processing and recognition, smart and connected health research on in-home exercise / rehabilitation monitoring
Electrical communication, control systems and construction management
Mercedes Cabrerizo
Signal and image processing applied to neurosciences focusing on Alzheimer’s, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Schizophrenia and ADD/ADHD neurological disorders
Hai Deng
Networking communication, radar signal processing, MIMO radar and radar networks, spectrum sharing between radar wireless systems and biomedical signal processing
Luis Galarza
Image processing, signal processing and system design
Stavros Georgakopoulos
Origami and foldable antennas, reconfigurable antennas, antenna arrays, wireless power transfer, wearable antennas, RFID and electromagnetics
Ahmed Ibrahim
Wireless communication and networking with emphasis on millimeter wave, vehicular, drone-based aerial and visible light communication
Sakhrat Khizroev 25
Nanomagnetic/spintronic devices for medicine and next-generation information processing
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Grover Larkins
R&D of cryogenic communications systems intended for space-based applications
Osama Mohammed
Smart grid, energy cyber-physical systems, smart cities and communication infrastructures, transportation electrification systems, electric drives and power electronic, Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in power systems
Mubarak Mujawar
Nanotechnology, MEMS and engineering education
Nezih Pala
Atoussa Tehrani
Computer architecture, embedded systems hardware and software design, data communications and computer networks
Selcuk Uluagac
Cybersecurity, security and privacy of Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS), computer security, big data security, blockchain, wireless and mobile device security, smart city and smart home security
Frank Urban
Numerical ellipsometry
Integrated nanotechnology, THz devices and technologies, nanophotonics and plasmonics, bio/chemical and medical sensors and Visible Light Communication (VLC)
Yuri Vlasov
Alexander Perez-Pons
John Volakis, Professor & Dean
Cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT), networking, embedded systems and machine learning cybersecurity systems to detect malware and network traffic utilizing behavioral factors
Gang Quan
Embedded systems / computer architecture, microprocessor design, real-time systems, power / thermal-aware computing, reconfigurable computing and cloud computing
Pulugurtha Markondeya Raj
Bioelectronic and electronic packaging, 3D power packaging, mm wave packaging, passive components and integration; organic, ceramic and flex substrates
Gustavo Roig
Engineering education and human potential development
2017-2018 REVIEW
Experimental research in solid state physics, nanotechnology, MEMS and sensors
Electromagnetics & microwaves, wireless communications, antennas and arrays, wearable electronics, RF materials and metamaterials
Herman Watson
Embedded systems, C ++ and STL, ARM, wxWidgets, biomedical sensors, applications and systems
Wujie Wen
VLSI design and computer architecture, hardware acceleration and security for deep learning systems, and emerging, non-volatile memory system design
Kang Yen
Faults detection of sensors and actuators in cyber-physical systems and robust system control
Arif Sarwat
Smart grids, smart cities, high-penetration renewable systems, power system reliability, large-scale distributed generation integration, large-scale data analysis, cyber security and vehicular technology
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Florida International University College of Engineering & Computing Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 10555 West Flagler Street, EC 3900 Miami, FL 33174
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