USF Electrical Engineering Newsletter 2018

THE

Issue 6 2018

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NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

message from the chair W elcome to the Fall edition of our newsletter. Much has happened since our last newsletter. Last July we said our goodbyes to our now former Chair Dr. Thomas Weller, who chose the mountains of Oregon over the beaches of Florida; Tom is now head of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State (see inside for more information). We wish him and his family the best and happy hiking – they will be missed by all.

You may have also heard that USF is now part of the big three in Florida, having been designated as a Preeminent State Research Institution by the Florida Board of Governors; those of us on the inside knew all along that this was a long overdue recognition. And speaking of recognition, USF also climbed 10 spots in the rankings of national universities according to US News & World Report and we are now #58 .

For Fall 2018 our department is home to approximately 600 students split roughly 50/50 between our graduate and undergraduate programs. Over 100 of these students are in the PhD program and along with their professors continue to make substantial contributions to research programs that range including networks & security, the smart grid, organic electronics, wireless networking systems, MEMS, signal processing and more. And thanks to the efforts of two of the most dedicated instructors – Drs. Castellanos and Jeong – we also added about two dozen high schoolers to our student rolls. They come from Middleton High School’s Engineering Magnet program and are taking EE classes as part of a dual enrollment program. They are an impressive group of young men and women and we look forward to them joining our program in the near future.

It has been a year since the launch of our new BSEE curriculum, and student response has been extremely positive. The freedom to choose and the opportunity to personalize their curriculum has students constantly engaging their advisors in search of the

best combination of courses that meet their needs and better prepare them for their future employers. The options keep increasing for our undergraduate students, too; one of the goals in redesigning the curriculum was to provide a dynamic environment that allows faculty to quickly respond to changes in workplace demands by introducing new content. To that end, we recently approved a Systems and Security Track, which we expect to include in the 2019 Undergraduate catalog, and will allow our students to gain in-depth knowledge in security aspects of EE, a highly sought skillset.

Effective this fall (2018) our BSEE curriculum has another new requirement: a series of courses called Professional Formation of Engineers (PFE). The three PFE courses will serve as a bridge between the freshman engineering and our senior capstone design courses and focus on the development of professional competencies. The PFE has been under development for over a year, and is being taught by a professor of practice – Joel Howell who has over 12 years of experience in Business Development and Advanced Programs Engineering at Harris Corp; Joel has already piloted the first two courses with great success, with the 3rd one ready to launch next semester. As one of our students Copper Neal said “although it can be difficult for students to develop professional competencies while completing a rigorous electrical engineering curriculum, the PFE has allowed me to embrace these skills daily. The class series has given me great exposure to critical professional traits that will allow me to excel in my career.” I think that’s a perfect ending to our Fall Newsletter.

We all look forward to sharing more department news with you in our Spring edition.

Christos Ferekides, Ph.D.

Interim Chair and Professor

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Electrical Engineering bids Farewell to Dr. Thomas Weller, Professor and Chair

A

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fter over 27 years of service

the 1996 Microwave Prize from the

Information Systems and served as

with the Department of

IEEE MTT Society, and a recipient

its co-director until 2018.

Electrical Engineering, with

of a CAREER Award from The

mixed emotions we announce the

National Science Foundation in

In August of 2006, he became a full

departure of our Chair, Dr. Thomas

1999. In 2001, he was promoted to

Professor. In 2008, he was appointed

Weller to accept a position as the

Associate Professor and achieved

as Associate Dean of Research in

new head of the School of Electrical

tenure. As Associate Professor, Tom

the College of Engineering at USF.

Engineering and Computer Science

was a recipient of the Outstanding

Here, he implemented a non-tenure

at Oregon State University. Tom

Young Engineer Award from the

earning (research) faculty track, an

entered the University of South

IEEE MTT Society in 2005, he also

annual college research symposium,

Florida as an Assistant Professor in

received IBM Faculty Partnership

an annual faculty research award,

the Fall of 1995. During this time,

Awards (2000, 2001), the University

the young faculty CAREER program,

he also co-founded Modelithics,

of South Florida President’s Award

an interdisciplinary scholarship

Inc, a company specializing in RF/

for Faculty Excellence (2003). He

seed-funding program, the Eminent

Microwave characterization and

was a founding member of the USF

Scholars Lecture Series, and the

modeling, was a co-recipient of

Center for Wireless and Microwave

College of Engineering Research

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Council. Finally, he re-joined the Electrical

publications is the profound impact that

department as Chair in 2011. As Chair,

he had on a large group of people that

Tom accelerated his career by becoming

work together every day. Whether it was

a charter member of the USF Academy

surfing (literally) for donations, coming

of Inventors and a fellow of IEEE and

up with innovative recruitment plans,

the National Academy of Inventors.

recognizing his faculty/staff for their hard

There were improvements made daily

work or showing up at each and every

within Electrical Engineering under

graduation and ring ceremony-even

Tom’s leadership: a transformation of the

initiating this very newsletter-Tom was

undergraduate curriculum twice, graduate

the driving force behind thousands of

program enhancements to enrich the

constituents during his tenure at USF. He

masters program graduation requirements,

will be greatly missed, but we look forward

departmental strategic plans were

to future collaborations.

created, accreditation accomplished and promotions approved. It’s easy to review CVs, google scholar, university news and other outlets to see the academic and professional impression that Tom has made at the University of South Florida.

We can find the faculty that worked with him and see their accomplishments, the students that graduated under his direction and how they’ve flourished, and all of the professional staff that speak highly of him. What is impossible to see from looking at awards, promotions and

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Dr. Sylvia Thomas receives the 2018 Women in Leadership and Philanthropy (WLP) Faculty Research Award Dr. Sylvia Wilson Thomas, Associate Professor and

the micro to the nano scale. Her research explores

former Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering

the synthesis and device integration of inorganic

at USF, holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical

and organic thin films and nanofibers. In addition to

Engineering from Vanderbilt University, where she

these efforts, Dr. Thomas is a motivational speaker/

was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow. Dr. Thomas

consultant for science, technology, engineering, and

received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from

mathematics (STEM) education, continued/graduate

Howard University, was a NSF Materials Research

education, K-12 efforts, career transitioning,

Center of Excellence Fellow and was a National

mentoring and professional development, and

Science Foundation (NSF) research engineer in

she provides inspirational lectures to community

Korea at Chonbuk National University during her

organizations and professional societies. She is also

doctoral program. Dr. Thomas leads the Advanced

an advocate for women in engineering and serves

Materials Bio and Integration Research (AMBIR)

on the inaugural Board of Directors for Black Girls

laboratory at USF. Her research and teaching

Code and frequently speaks for Girls Scouts, the

endeavors are focused on advanced materials

Great American Teach-In, and teacher and parent

for alternative energy sources, sustainable

organizations.

environments, aerospace, and bio-applications from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrMVCsvXrYc 4

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Discovery of Neurological Networks T

he human nervous system provides energy efficient,

and prosthetic limbs, but also of less invasive, clinically

highly complex realization and control of how we

accurate neurodevices. Devices that passively read

sense, think and act. For machines designed by humans,

and actively alter the electric field structures of regions

the ideas of energy efficiency and complexity are at

of the CNS and provide therapeutic treatment for the

odds, thus the question of how the central nervous

millions that suffer from neurological dysfunction, such

system (CNS) really works has received intense scrutiny

as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, and Autism Spectrum

for decades. Researchers at the University of South

Disorder.

Florida (USF) under the direction of Dr. Sal Morgera have discovered a sophisticated electric near-field generated

The long-term plan is to passively read the signatures of

in an energy efficient, natural manner by our billions

the internal electric near-fields (the endogenous fields)

of myelinated nerve fibers. This electric near-field is

using a custom designed antenna array to diagnose

roughly the counterpart of the magnetic near-field used

neurological dysfunction and then to rationally design

in smartphone contactless payment services such as

time-varying, frequency-rich and spatially directed

Apple Pay® and Google Wallet®, known as Near Field

external electric fields (the exogenous fields) to actively

Communications, or NFC.

interact with the internal fields and treat the dysfunction by “tuning” the appropriate region of the CNS. The

This work is an entirely new perspective on CNS

idea of a rational design is one based on engineering

structure and function that is supported by sophisticated

and scientific facts. This type of design is lacking in

computer modeling and in vitro experimentation at

currently available neurological medical devices and is a

several relevant frequency ranges. The researchers

deficiency that has led to significant numbers of recalls,

have discovered, for example, that the optic nerve has

lack of efficacy, and unexpected side effects for medical

over one million electric near-field circuits forming a

devices.

neurological network of extraordinary sophistication in which individual nerve fibers not only propagate action

Dr. Sal Morgera has been invited to give two Keynote

potentials as we learned in our high school biology

Speeches on this work. The first was in June at the

texts, but also interact through electric near-fields.

Nanotech France 2018 International Conference and

This paradigm shift in understanding can be a game

Exhibition (http://www.setcor.org/conferences/Nanotech-

changer in the development, not only of artificial eyes

France-2018) held at the Pôle Universitaire Léonard

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de Vinci (www.devinci.fr/en) in the Paris Metropolitan

and DARPA because understanding these extraordinary

Area, and the second in July at the World Conference

near-field networks and the possibly bio-metamaterial

& Expo on Biomedical Engineering held in Miami. At

human brain structure in which they operate will also

the first conference, details were presented on the

enable the design of non – von Neumann computing

characteristics of the brain’s electric near-fields and in

machine architectures and lifelike protheses that benefit

the second conference, the material of the brain was

from the manner in which nerve fibers interact and form

discussed and a hypothesis presented that the brain

a remarkably sophisticated neurological network.

possesses a type of metamaterial structure, not before believed to occur in nature. The area of advanced

For readers that desire further information on this work,

brain biomaterial synthesis is extremely exciting and will

please see the recent IEEE Brain article at https://brain.

provide additional insight into the structure and function

ieee.org/newsletter/2018-issue-3/discovery-of-new-

of the human brain.

neurological-networks/.

Dr. Sal Morgera has been approached by Sony, Samsung

Electrical Engineering Faculty in the Community

Dr. Zhixin Miao, Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department, served as a volunteer Mathcounts coach for a local middle school – Williams IB Middle Magnet School in 2017 -2018 school year.

The team won the Tampa chapter in Feb 2018, and was selected to participate in the state Mathcounts competition at Daytona Beach on March 23rd. Williams’ team placed eighth out of 45 teams. Congratulations to the team!

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KC Chen delivered a keynote at the ITU Workshop for 5G and Beyond The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Workshop on Machine Learning for 5G and Beyond took place in San Jose, California, on August 7, 2018. Professor Kwang-Cheng (KC) Chen, jointly with Professors A. Molisch (USC), G. Li (Georgia Tech) and S. Katti (Stanford) delivered the keynote for this leading technological event. Professor Chen talked about “Machine Learning Enabled Wireless Networks – Anticipatory Mobility Management for Ultra-Low Latency Mobile Networking”. Ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (uRLLC) is a pillar technology for 5G and beyond. Prof. Chen led the research to develop anticipatory mobility management based on machine learning, such that uRLLC can be successfully facilitated in mobile communications beyond 5G. The primary application scenarios of such technology include autonomous driving vehicles, smart manufacturing, and robotic communications.

Professor Chen also co-authored a paper titled “Machine Learning Paradigms for Next-Generation Wireless Networks” published in the IEEE Wireless Communications in April 2017, which has been recognized as a Highly Cited Paper in September 2018, the fourth for Prof. Chen since 2011.

This paper has been also among IEEE Xplore Popular since publication, and has been downloaded more than 13,000 times. Serving as the series editor of “Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Communications” in the IEEE Communications from this August, Professor Chen wishes to develop technological innovations across AI, communications, and IoT.

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Dr. Ismail Uysal Awarded Three Research Grants Dr. Uysal was awarded two USDA grants (PI): Sensor-assisted Sustainable and High-Quality Strawberry Production with Wireless Real-Time Field Monitoring, and Smart Strawberry Logistics as part of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). The purpose of the SCBGP is to solely enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through the use of technology (hardware and software) and scientific methods to improve efficiency of crop production and sustainability.

In addition, Dr. Uysal was also selected to receive support from the Florida High Tech Corridor Council’s Matching Grants Research Program for his project entitled “Algorithmic Prediction and Recognition of Human Activity and Falls from Wireless Accelerometer Data”. In this project, he and his team will develop deep neural network models to achieve state-of-the-art performance in motion and fall recognition using advanced AI technology and establish USF as one of the leading institutions in this domain.

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Dr. Nasir Ghani Receives Two NSF Cybersecurity Awards CyberTraining CIP:

Capacity Building:

Cyberinfrastructure Expertise on High-Throughput

Building a Cybersecurity Pipeline through

Networks for Big Science Data Transfers project

Experiential Virtual Labs and Workforce Alliances

establishes the Cyberinfrastructure Network of

is a cybersecurity concentration embedded in

Expertise (CNE) for teaching, training, and research

the Bachelor degree in Information Engineering

on networking technologies including Science

Technology at Northern New Mexico College

Demilitarized Zone (Science DMZ). The Science

(NNMC). The concentration will consist of two

DMZ is a network specifically designed to facilitate

regular core courses, two Capstone courses,

the transfer and sharing of very large scientific

and one internship experience. The program

data (big data) across geographically separated

of studies will also include three cybersecurity-

sites. The project serves the national interest,

infused prerequisite courses involving computers,

as it addresses the shortage of skilled research

networking, and programming essentials. This

personnel with specialized skills to support

effort will be conducted in partnership with the

networks carrying big science data among research

University of South Florida (USF).

institutions, universities, and national laboratories.

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Sea Level Rise (SLR) in Tampa Bay Dr. Yasin Yilmaz (the PI of the NSF Project “Sea Level Rise (SLR) in Tampa Bay”) together with co-PIs Alan Bush (Honors College) and Mark Hafen (School of Public Affairs), presented their SLR game, Atlantis, at the US Ignite Application Summit, co-located with the NSF PI meeting in Kansas City, MO, March 2018.

Climate change and sea level rise impacts will affect coastal

decision support and planning.

communities with multiple threats, including increased frequency of compound events - such as storm surge

Overall, better information is needed for governments,

combined with heavy precipitation.

planners, coastal managers, and personnel in a variety of agencies for effective communication, decision making and

This exacerbates social vulnerability, particularly in

adaptation planning. This requires the participation of key

underserved communities; stresses coastal ecosystems; and

actors to communicate the science, the variability, and the

impacts local economies by affecting property values, the tax

risk of various scenarios to stakeholders. Accurately modeling

base, and the cost of insurance, among other factors.

how these agents may respond to sea level rise scenarios can assist in the creation of policies tailored to local impacts

Because of sea level rise, Tampa Bay and Gulf of Mexico

and resilience strategies, and requires a variety of community

coastal communities are vulnerable to many of these

engagement and planning tools, including scenario planning,

impacts, and must build the adaptive capacity and resilience

gaming, and augmented reality.

frameworks to respond to these stressors through effective

Dr. Alexandro Castellanos Awarded the USF Status of Latinos (SoL) Faculty Award Dr. Castellanos was

on different development

because of his innovative contributions to

selected as a 2018e

programs applied in the

the Senior Design II project course and

recipient of the USF

state of Veracruz. As

guidance within his mechatronics course.

Status of Latinos (SoL)

a TA during his Ph.D.

Dr. Castellanos an accomplished

Faculty award for

program as now as an

musician and brings culture and joy with

his dedication and

Instructor, Dr. Castellanos

the harp and piano to Latin Communities

accomplishments. The

has encouraged and

either thru the Mexico’ s consulate in

Award was presented

supported the Latin

Orlando, or to his church Community (St.

at the USF Hispanic

community students not

Mark the evangelist Catholic Church) in

Heritage Celebration

only mentoring them, but

different events, sometimes for charity.

Luncheon 2018.

helping in any academic

Dr. Castellanos regularly provides live

Throughout his career, Dr. Castellanos

need related to the Latino student’s

entertainment during department

has been deeply committed to helping

programs.

events as well, when there are provisions

minorities get involved in Engineering.

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available.

During his tenure as Dean at the

Dr. Castellanos presence in the Electrical

Universidad Veracruzana, UV College of

Engineering department provides

Engineering reached its highest value

encouragement, not only for Hispanic

related to women in Engineering based

students, but for the entire student body

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EE Student Awards and Accomplishments Arya Menon, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Center for Wireless and Microwave Information Systems (WAMI), has been awarded the prestigious Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the STEM category for the 2017-2018 academic year.

The Provost’s Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Teaching Assistant was established in 1998 to recognize the exemplary contributions made by graduate teaching assistants (TAs) to excellence in undergraduate education and is administered by the Academy for Teaching and Learning Excellence (ATLE) at the University of South Florida. Awards are granted in four categories: Arts and Humanities, Education/Business/Social Science, Health/Medicine/Behavioral Science, and STEM. Arya’s research is focused on the development of a security scanner that combines radar and radiometric techniques for imaging. She is currently working towards demonstrating the technique by building prototype systems in the K band (18-26 GHz). Arya is advised by Dr. Thomas Weller, Professor and Chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering and WAMI center’s Director. Arya has served as TA for several courses offered by the WAMI center.

Vishwa Alaparthy, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and student researcher with the C4ISI Military & Intelligence Defense Laboratory, has been awarded an International travel grant from the Office of Graduate Studies, 2018. These grants are available for graduate students to present their work at an International Conference. Vishwa is advised by Dr. Salvatore D. Morgera, Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research interests are Network Security, IOT’s, Machine learning and Wireless Sensor Networks. Vishwa’s current research is focused on Adapting Human Immune theories to Network Security. He will use the travel grant funding to support a conference presentation during the 2018 Annual International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures in Prague.

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EE PhD student Keval Doshi’s Hack-A-Bull Team received first place awards in two categories at the Hack-A-Bull hackathon.

The hackathon is where creators use their coding experience to make a project about anything and everything. Keval’s team created a device for blind people that would describe the surroundings to them by the use of image processing and also provide all the features that Amazon Alexa provides. They also had a fall detection system that would notify the location of the user to the caretaker if a fall is detected.

Doctoral Candidate Kavyeshree Puttananjegowda was awarded a Signature Research Fellowship from the Office of Graduate Studies at USF for 2018/19 and 2019/20. This award represents recognition of your academic abilities and is intended to assist you during your graduate studies. This award will provide: $18,000 stipend for a maximum of two academic years along with fees and health insurance, up to 12 hours of graduate–level tuition and up to $600/year in conference travel support. Kavyeshree is a doctoral student under the direction of Dr. Sylvia Thomas, who leads the Advanced Materials Bio and Integration Research (AMBIR) laboratory at USF. Dr. Thomas’ research and teaching endeavors are focused on advanced materials for alternative energy sources, sustainable environments, aerospace, and bio-applications from the micro to the nano scale.

Electrical Engineering’s very own undergraduate student assistant, Spencer Perez, was crowned USF’s 2018 Mr. Latinx! Mr. Latinx is chosen by the USF Student body as those who value diversity and would like to represent the Hispanic/Latinx community at USF. As Mr. Latinx, they will help influence young minds to understand the diversity within the Hispanic/Latinx community and lead the entire community into a positive and aspiring path at USF. Mr. & Ms. Latinx 2018 were announced during the Noche Latina event, on Thursday, October 4th, 2018. Javier Mr. Latinx, Spencer Perez (L) is pictured with Javier Barcena, runner up and Ms. Latinx Ana Garcia

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Barcena, also an Electrical Engineering undergraduate student, won runner up for Mr. Latinx. Congratulations to both Spencer and Javier!

USF Reaches Preeminence T

he University of South Florida can officially stand

and faculty recruitment, and will enhance the economic

side by side with the University of Florida and

development of the Tampa Bay region.

Florida State University as the best universities in the state. The Florida Board of Governors voted

“This validates our efforts over more than a decade

unanimously to formally designate USF as a “Preeminent

to transform USF into a premiere institution of

State Research University,” recognizing the institution’s

higher education, rivaling peers twice our age,” said

high performance and strong trajectory toward national

USF System President Judy Genshaft. “This critical

excellence.

designation will have an exponential impact on our continued efforts to grow our research enterprise,

Preeminence represents the culmination of USF’s many

provide the highest-quality education to our students,

years of careful strategic planning, focused allocation of

strengthen our partnerships and help us make an even

resources and determination of thousands of students,

bigger difference in our community.”

faculty and staff. The designation comes with millions of dollars in additional funding, carries prestige that will benefit USF in many key areas, including new student

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Where are they Now? Dr. Prshanth Adithya (Ph.D., ‘18) has joined the research and development team at Stryker Corporation, a Fortune 500 medical technologies firm, as an EE Design Engineer.

Jim Alberti (Masters, ‘17) was hired as Senior Electrical Engineer at CONMED Corportation.

Dr. Shamara Collins (PhD, ’18) was selected as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Solar Energy Technology Office at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Dr. Mohamed Jasim (Ph.D., ‘18) was hired as a visiting Assistant Professor at Valparaiso University Diogo Oliveira (Ph.D., ‘18) was accepted as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Florida State University within the School of Information.

Ravi Vangapattu (Masters, August ‘17) was hired as a Process Engineer at GLOBALFOUNDIRES flagship IC fab located in Malta, New York.

EE Department Prepares for ABET Renewal this Fall Under the direction of ABET coordinator and Professor Drew Hoff, the EE department is preparing for another accreditation review this year. “We have been preparing for this for 6 years, and with the official review coming in Fall 19, our faculty is prepared for a thorough review.” ABET accreditation is proof that a collegiate program has met standards essential to produce graduates ready to enter the critical fields of STEM education. Graduates from an ABETaccredited program have a solid educational foundation and are capable of leading the way in innovation, emerging technologies, and in anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the department missions and objectives designed to meet the accreditation requirements of ABET. We are certain that good news will soon follow!

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USF Electrical Engineering offers Dual Enrollment course for Middleton High School Students!

T

his fall, the Electrical Engineering

high school diploma. For the last

program is that these students

department started working with

two years, their Valedictorians have

seriously consider USF as a possible

Middleton High School to offer dual

graduated with a GPA of 9.2 - the

destination for their college careers.

enrollment in our Fundamentals of

highest in the Hillsborough county

In the Fundamentals course, students

Digital Design course, taught at USF

school district, and amongst the

are expected to achieve the same

by Dr. Alexandros Castellanos. This

highest in the nation. Grieshop notes

in class experience using the latest

partnership allows high schoolers at

that his students have generally been

educational technologies for on line

Middleton to complete a college-

excited about the material and it is

courses: Fundamentals of Digital

level engineering course that is

boosting their confidence to see how

Design is the first course in the

offered online, complimented with

their knowledge is helping them in

digital systems path. Dr. Castellanos

periodic campus visits both at USF

this course.

enjoys the opportunity to interact

and Middleton, and personalized

with highly committed high school

instruction from Dr. Castellanos

The PLTW curriculum is designed

students who really enjoy being part

and Russell Grieshop, a teacher in

and intended to improve the

of the class and finds this a very

the Engineering Magnet Program

success rates for university students,

pleasant experience as an instructor.

at Middleton. Grieshop is a BSEE

especially for engineering and

He believes that the dual enrollment

alumnus from USF with an extensive

medical majors. Grieshop is hoping

partnership with Middleton is a great

background in applications and

that the students improve their

opportunity to recruit high achieving

systems development. He is currently

confidence, are better equipped

students to USF, and he would like

in his fourth year teaching magnet

to visualize what it might be like to

to see the department offer more

students at Middleton, having taken

be an EE student at USF, and to help

courses from our curricula in the

over the PLTW Digital Electronics

them learn how to interact with the

future.

course. Greishop said that many

other students and the professors.

of Middleton’s students receive an

He’s especially hopeful that a

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Ilia Bautista Adames Received 2018 HENAAC Scholar Award

I

lia Bautista Adames, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and graduate research assistant in the Nano Computing Research

Group, has been named a 2018 HENAAC Scholar by Great Minds in STEM™ (GMiS). Ilia is a recipient of the Intel Foundation Scholarship, a highly competitive award to minority graduate students with outstanding achievements and service to the community. Students must be US citizens or permanent residents pursuing a degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering or a computing-related program. Applicants must also demonstrate an interest in working for Intel.

Ilia is advised by Dr. Sanjukta Bhanja, Associate Dean for Academics and Student Affairs and Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. His research interests are neuromorphic and brain-inspired computing, machine learning, CMOS VLSI, and novel devices. Ilia’s current research is focused on emerging in-memory computation for Brain-Inspired Computing applications. In addition to the scholarship, GMiS provided travel support for Ilia to meet with Intel representatives during the 30th Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) from October 17-21, 2018 in Pasadena, California.

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2017-2018 Electrical Engineering Teaching Awards T

he Electrical Engineering Department at USF recognizes and rewards outstanding

performance in academic instruction, specifically with two awards that are annually given to a faculty member and a graduate teaching assistant.

The Outstanding Electrical Engineering

Educator Award is given to a faculty member in the USF Department of Electrical Engineering in recognition of significant contributions to the department’s teaching mission during the preceding academic year. Contributions considered include significant innovations in course development and/or course delivery methods, outstanding student evaluations, education-related grant funding or external support, and education-related publications.

Keysight Technologies, the WAMI center initiated

Significant student interaction in the form of

the Keysight RF & Microwave Industry-Ready

mentoring, project advising and other similar

Certification Program in 2013 as the first university

activities are also considered.

to develop and implement this program. Until now, a total of 65 USF students have earned their

The 2017-2018 recipient of this prestigious

Keysight RF Industry Ready certificates, while 39

award is Dr. Jing Wang. Dr. Wang is the Co-

other universities followed our footstep to join this

Director of the Center for Wireless and Microwave

program. At the ASEE 2018 conference, Dr. Wang

Information Systems (WAMI) with a long-term

contributed to a panel discussion entitled Different

mission to provide integrated research and

Strategies for Preparing Students to Tackle the

educational programs excelling in wireless and

RF Engineering Challenges of Tomorrow along

microwave technology. By collaborating with

with fellow panelists from University of Arizona,

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University of Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State

created to provide TAs a visible incentive to

University, and Georgia Institute of Technology

develop a commitment to student success and

(https://peer.asee.org/different-strategies-for-

excellence in undergraduate instruction. This award

preparing-students-to-tackle-the-rf-engineering-

encourages talented TAs to develop electronic

challenges-of-tomorrow-a-panel-discussion). Dr.

teaching portfolios that document and demonstrate

Wang has also been very active in mentoring

their teaching commitment and effectiveness,

graduate and undergraduate students to conduct

and allows the department to formally

crosscutting research funded by external agencies

acknowledge them for outstanding instructional

or companies. So far, 14 Ph.D. students have

accomplishments, publicize the accomplishments

successfully defended their dissertations and

of our TAs and to enhance the esteem in which

graduated under his supervision, and there are

teaching by graduate students is held as an integral

7 undergraduate students who are conducting

component of the professional preparation of

research in his lab funded by a NSF REU program.

graduate students.

In addition to the Faculty Educator award, the

The 2017-2018 Electrical Engineering Teaching

department issues an award to outstanding

Assistant Award was awarded to Vishwa Alaparthy,

Graduate Teaching Assistants. The Electrical

a doctoral student in the Electrical Engineering

Engineering Teaching Assistant (TA) Award was

program at USF. Vishwa has TA’d for courses in the

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department that include Logic Lab, Design II and

all the pressure surrounding them he tries to make

Introduction to Bioengineering. Vishwa recognizes

them feel comfortable by designing the course

that the knowledge students acquire during their

in such a way that it is both productive and does

time in a course is not just from the faculty or the

not consume a lot of their time. Vishwa’s research

TA but from various sources and he wants to enable

interests are in Network Security, IOT’s, Machine

the students to convert the skills attained from their

Learning, Computer Architecture, Routing, WSN,

curriculum into practical and real-world abilities

ADHOC Networks, Algorithm Development and

necessary for them when they graduate and start a

Bio Networking. Vishwa’s current research is

career.

focused on Adapting Human Immune theories to Network Security. He also was previously awarded

As a TA, Vishwa takes on the responsibility of

an International travel grant from the Office of

being available for the students whenever they

Graduate Studies, which provides grants to students

have a question about their projects or the

to present their work at an International conference.

course and encourages students to work toward an interdisciplinary approach for their projects, equipping them with more ideas, approaches and new inspirations. Knowing how difficult it can be for students in their final semester to cope up with

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Thank you to our generous corporate sponsors and all the individuals who have contributed to the advancement of our department: GGB Industries

Mini-Circuits

Innovatia Medical Systems

Modelithics

Jabil

Raytheon

Keysight Technologies, Inc.

Sciperio

Produced by Electrical Engineering Dr. Christos Ferekides, Interim Chair Cherie Dilley, Editor University of South Florida 4202 East Fowler Ave, ENB 118 Tampa, FL 33620 V: 813-974-2369 F: 813-974-5250 Editorial Contact: cdilley@usf.edu 20

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