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ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY • SPRING/SUMMER2001
One to One: From the Department Head
On The Shoulders of Giants...
I joined Texas A&M University in the fall of 1978. At that time I would often run into a
tall, unassuming electrical engineering professor that I came to know as Jack Kilby. I knew that
he was the inventor of the integrated circuit at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1958, but little did I
know that he would be the recipient of the greatest honor that a scientist can have, the Nobel
Prize in Physics, for this invention.
Jack has had a long relationship with Texas A&M. Besides being a Distinguished Profes-
sor in the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1978 to 1985, Texas A&M conferred upon
him an Honorary Doctor of Science degree to recognize his contributions to science and
engineering in 1995. In 1998, TI endowed the TI/Jack Kilby Chair in our department to recognize
the long-term relationship between Jack, TI and the department.
In light of this long-term relationship, our department and TI jointly sponsored a sympo-
sium to honor Jack. This symposium, “The Integrated Circuit and its Legacy” was held on
March 27, 2001, on the Texas A&M campus. The inaugural speeches were given by Dr. Ray
Bowen, President of Texas A&M, and Tom Engibous, CEO of TI, who presented Jack with the
Engineering Program Lifetime Achievement Award. Roland Haden, Dean of Engineering, also
participated in the ceremony.
This is a singular event, which is a source of pride to many—colleagues at TI felt pride
as Jack invented the integrated circuit while he was there and we feel proud that one of our
faculty members received the Nobel Prize in Physics. After all, how many electrical engi-
neering departments in the world can claim such an honor. In fact, the whole electrical
engineering profession feels pride as Jack is perhaps the only Nobel Laureate who had all
his degrees in electrical engineering.
Highlights - Chanan Singh
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Former Electrical Engineering Distinguished
3 Kerkman Professor Awarded Nobel Prize In Physics
Discusses IGBTs A former distinguished professor in the Kilby, who also was co-inventor of the
Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas pocket calculator, shares the $915,000 Award
A&M University recently with Zhores I. Alferov of the
4 Nortel Provides was awarded one of the A.F. Ioffe Physico-Technical
Scholarships highest honors for a Institute in St. Petersburg,
scientist—The Nobel Prize Russia, and Herbert Kroemer,
in Physics. a German-born researcher at
4 Chew Lectures on The Royal Swedish the University of California at
Academy of Sciences Santa Barbara. They were
Fast Solvers for presented Jack St. Clair honored for their work in
Electromagnetic Kilby, distinguished developing technology used
professor for the depart- in satellite communications
Simulations and cellular phones.
ment from 1978 to 1985, the
Award in October for his Kilby’s microchip, now the
6 Poor Discusses part in the development of electronic heart of products
the integrated circuit at ranging from supercomputers,
“The Wireless Texas Instruments, a space probes and medical
Revolution” design said to have diagnostic equipment to
revolutionized the electron- cellular phones, was designed
ics industry. by Kilby soon after he joined
8 Annual Fund “It is a worthy inven- Texas Instruments (TI) in
tion,” said Dr. Ohannes 1958. It was fabricated from a
Eknoyan, professor of single piece of semiconductor
9 Alumnus News electrical engineering at material about half the size of
Kilby with his chip a paper clip.
Texas A&M. “It is the
building block for everything that we have Kilby said in an Associated Press article
9 Bovic Lectures on now. Although it was a very fundamental and that he was surprised by the Award because
AM/FM Models basic thing at the time, without it we wouldn’t he worked in engineering and not physics, a
have anything.” trend fellow colleagues hope will continue.
See KILBY- page 2
KILBY-continued from page 1 a member of the Academy. electrical engineering Department Head,
“Here’s a case where the Nobel “It had an impact on all our communi- Dr. Chanan Singh.
committee recognized some things that cations,” Eknoyan agreed. “I joined the department in 1978,”
have happened in solid state physics “ It’s good they don’t draw the lines said Singh. “(Kilby) gave advice freely
that have really impacted everyone’s that sharply,” Parker said. “I’m glad he to graduate students and faculty about
life,” said Dr. Frederick Strieter, electrical got it. It’s hard to say where we would be their research topics and to the admin-
engineering adjunct professor and fellow without the integrated circuit.” istration about the shape of technolo-
colleague of Kilby at TI. Kilby grew up in Great Bend, Kansas gies to come. He played an important
“It is encouraging (to engineers),” and his interest in electronics can be role in shaping the agenda of the
Eknoyan agreed. “The award was traced to his youth. His father ran a department’s future in research.”
given to three people. All three power company that served a wide area At present, Kilby maintains a schedule
contributed to engineering, so it is in this rural area of Kansas, and he used of work and travel on industry and
giving more recognition to engineers’ amateur radio to keep in contact with government consulting assignments
contributions.” customers during emergencies. During an throughout the world and serves as
Kilby also said he had no idea during ice storm, Kilby saw firsthand how director of several corporations.
the microchip’s development that it electronic technology could positively He also is the recipient of two of the
would become a linchpin of modern impact peoples’ lives. nation’s most prestigious honors in
information technology. “I thought that it With B.S. and M.S. degrees in science and engineering. In 1970, in a
was important when I did the work,’’ he electrical engineering from the Universities White House ceremony, Kilby received
said, but added that he did not realize of Illinois and Wisconsin respectively, the National Medal of Science. In 1982,
that it would revolutionize electronics. he began his career in 1947 with the he was inducted into the National
According to fellow colleagues, this Centralab Division of Globe Union Inc. Inventors Hall of Fame, taking his place
unassuming attitude was in Milwaukee, developing ceramic-base, alongside Henry Ford, Thomas
normal for Kilby. Edison and the Wright Brothers
“Jack’s a pretty modest in the annals of American
guy,” said Streiter, adding that innovation.
Kilby was part of the reason he He also holds more than 60
decided to work at A&M. “I’ve U.S. patents, is a Fellow of the
heard him say that if I hadn’t Institute of Electrical and
invented it someone would, but Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and
Jack was there first. Without a member of the National
him we wouldn’t have a lot of Academy of Engineering (NAE).
things.” He has been awarded the
“He’s very humble—easy to Franklin Institute’s Stuart
work with, but he expected Ballantine Medal, the NAE’s
results,” agreed Dr. Don Parker, Vladimir Zworykin Award, the
electrical engineering profes- American Society of Mechanical
sor. “He’s a walking encyclope- Engineers’ Holley Medal and the
dia on research and he has a IEEE’s Medal of Honor, Cledo
pretty good feeling on what will Brunetti Award and David
work and won’t work. He’s Sarnoff Award.
always reading both technical On the 30th anniversary of
and non-technical books, the invention of the integrated
which makes him a good Kiby’s first integrated circuit was comprised of only a transistor and other circuit, the Governor of Texas
inventor.” components on a slice of germanium,it was7/16-by-1/16-inches in size. dedicated an official Texas
And his invention revolu- historical marker near the site of
tionized the industry. Worldwide, the silk-screen circuits for consumer the TI laboratory where Kilby did the
semiconductor market has since grown electronic products. work that eventually won him his
into a $137 billion industry, fueling After his stint at TI, Kilby left in 1970 greatest honor, the Nobel Prize in
explosive growth of the communications, to become a freelance inventor, exploring, Physics.
computer and consumer electronics among other subjects, the use of silicon The Nobel Prize is the first interna-
industries. Sales of electronic devices technology for generating electrical tional award given yearly since 1901 for
around the world amounted to $900 power from sunlight. This project started achievements in physics, chemistry,
billion in 1997. his research in electrical engineering at medicine, literature and peace. The prize
The Royal Swedish Academy of Texas A&M, and later earned him a consists of a medal, a personal diploma
Sciences, which also chooses chemistry distinguished professorship there. and a prize amount. According to
and economics winners, invited nomina- “When he worked on research founder, Alfred Nobel, they are given to
tions from previous recipients and projects he would get involved,” those who, “shall have conferred the
experts in the fields before whittling Eknoyan said. “He was not the type to sit greatest benefit on mankind” and that
down its physics choices. Apparently behind the desk.” one part be given to the person who
they agreed with the assessment of “He really cared about the research,” “shall have made the most important
Kilby’s invention and that of his co- Parker agreed. “He talked to the graduate discovery or invention within the field of
nominees since this year they decided to students and whenever anyone needed physics.” So far, 160 laureates have
award the Nobel Prize in Physics to help, he was there.” received Nobel Prizes for achievements in
scientists and inventors whose work has In 1995 Kilby earned an honorary physics and now Kilby joins their
laid the foundation of modern informa- doctorate degree from Texas A&M. In distinguished ranks.
tion technology. 1998 Texas A&M and TI honored him “It feels good to recollect that this
“Without Kilby, it would not have been with an endowed chair in his name in the humble man I used to run into in the
possible to build the personal computers Department of Electrical Engineering. coffee room is now a Nobel Laureate,”
we have today,’’ said Hermann Grimmeiss, Both well-deserved honors according to Singh said.
2
3M Pledges Grant To Texas A&M EE Student Awarded Fellowship
A new educational alliance recently announced by 3M, will
help Aggie engineers hit the ground running when they enter Recently a graduate student
the workforce. in the Department of Electrical
The $522,000 grant aims to develop and integrate interdisci- Engineering at Texas A&M
plinary design education in senior-year and graduate pro- University received a prestigious
grams, according to Dr. C. Roland Haden, Texas A&M Univer- fellowship for his research in
sity dean of engineering and electrical engineering professor. hybrid electric vehicles.
Dr. Arthur C. West, technical director of the Fiber Optics & Jean Yves Routex has been
Electronic Materials Technology Center at 3M and an electrical awarded the 2000 CONVER-
engineering external advisory board member, said they chose GENCE Fellowship, an award
A&M for several reasons, including the engineering curricu- presented jointly by the IEEE
lum and students who’ve graduated from A&M to work for Vehicular Technology Society
and Society of Automotive Routex
their company.
“Engineering schools across the country have wrestled for Engineers. He received the award for his research interests, which
decades with how to effectively integrate real-world design include design of electromechanical devices such as more electric
challenges into academic curricula. Thanks to 3M, we have a cars and hybrid electric vehicles, using equivalent circuit modeling.
unique opportunity for Texas A&M to lead the way and create The CONVERGENCE Fellowship offers a stipend of $12,000. It
a model that others can emulate,” Haden said. was established to highlight the growing importance of transpor-
Leading the initiative from Texas A&M are electrical tation electronics, a field that applies the design and development
engineering professor, Dr. Jo Howze, and Dr. Christian Burger of electronic devices to the increasing need for safety and
and Dr. Ravi Chona from mechanical engineering. convenience features in highway and off-road vehicles.
“Companies want engineers who can start work and contribute Candidates are selected on the basis of their potential to contrib-
immediately, rather than after several months or even years on the ute to the profession of electrical and/or electronics engineering with
job,” Howze said. “3M was obviously impressed with our a preference for studies involving transportation electronics.
students’ ability to contribute quickly and effectively.” Routex was considered highly qualified for this fellowship
Last fall 3M and Texas A&M created a first-time interdisci- according to Dr. Mehrdad Ehsani, professor in the department of
plinary design class for senior mechanical and electrical electrical engineering and director of the Advanced Vehicle
engineering students. Howze and Chona co-teach the two- Systems Research Program at A&M, a program established for
semester course while 3M engineers present projects and interdisciplinary research and development in advanced vehicle
provide feedback on student solutions. systems. Currently, this program is developing new electric and
“We’ve been focusing too heavily on discipline-specific hybrid vehicle propulsion systems for commercial applications.
engineering science. That’s where students are assigned a well- Ehsani is Routex’s supervising professor.
defined problem, along with the data and process to find a specific “Routex is one of the most outstanding graduate students in
answer,” Howze said. “But in industry many problems are not well our vehicle system research group over the past eight years,”
defined. A need is expressed—like a new power source to Ehsani said in his nomination letter. “He has made outstanding
See GRANT- page 8 technical and leadership contributions for our center.”
Among Routex’s accomplishments considered was a VTC-2000
paper he co-authored entitled “Modeling of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
IGBTs: Boon or Bane See ROUTEX- page 8
System efficiency and productivity
improvements attainable through variable
frequency drives have resulted in an increas- Schlumberger Gives Gift to TAMU
ing percentage of low voltage induction Dr. Hamid Toliyat, associate professor for the Depart-
motors operating with pulse width modulated ment of Electrical Engineering, was among two engineering
voltage source inverters according to Russel faculty members to receive a $60,000 gift from the global
Kerkman, distinguished lecturer for the engineering firm Schlumberger.
electrical engineering department. This has Gas hydrates and “smart motors” are the target of the gift
Kerkman been made possible by the decreasing cost to Texas A&M University. Toliyat will be awarded $30,000 for
of increasing power capability of IGBTs. his work to develop electromechanical and power electronics
Kerkman said with IGBT switching speeds less than 400 ns and technologies. Dr. Yuri F. Makogon, research engineer in
associated reduction in switching losses, drive size has decreased and petroleum engineering, will receive $30,000 for research on the
performance increased. However, the fast switching speeds has been kinetics and morphology of gas hydrates.
accompanied by unintended and often unforeseen consequences. He “We have started a new effort Electromechanical, Power
addressed these problems by presenting field data demonstrating the Electronics and Control Laboratory to build on the exper-
problems, modeling and analyses techniques that are representative of the tise that we have in these areas,” said Dr. Chanan Singh,
observed phenomena, and mitigation techniques to reduce the adverse electrical engineering department head. “Dr. Toliyat is an
effects on drive performance. internationally known expert in electric machines and will
Kerkman received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in from Purdue play a leading role in this initiative. We are grateful to the
University, in 1971, 1973 and 1976, respectively. He is currently an Schlumberger Foundation for strengthening this effort.”
engineering consultant at Rockwell Automation / Allen Bradley Company, Toliyat’s expertise has helped make Texas A&M a world
Mequon, WI. leader in the novel electric machine design and variable speed
His current interests include: modeling and control of general purpose drive technology that is integral to “smart motors” now found
industrial drives, adaptive control applied to field oriented induction in most industries. His work in the Electric Machines and
machines, application of observers to ac machines, design of ac motors for Power Electronics Laboratory focuses on a wide variety of
adjustable speed applications, and EMI from PWM inverters. He is a co- applications including hybrid electric vehicles propulsions,
holder of twenty-four patents, all in the adjustable speed drives and is the ship propulsions, washing machines and wind power.
recipient of seven IEEE Prize Paper Awards. He is a member of Industry A Texas A&M faculty member since 1994, Toliyat is an
Applications Society, Industrial Electronics Society and Power Electronics Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers senior
Society. See SCHLUMBERGER- page 4
3
Chew Discusses Fast Solvers for Nortel Provides EE
Electromagnetic Simulations Scholarships
Fast Solvers for Electromagnetic Simulations— The Department of Electrical Engineer-
Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science, was the ing was one of two departments at Texas
topic in the Distinguished Lecture Series presented by A&M University to receive $250,000 in
Dr. Weng Cho Chew, director for the Center for funding from Nortel Networks to provide
Computational Electromagnetics in the Department of scholarships to A&M students.
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University Dr. Costas Georghiades, professor for
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. the Department of Electrical Engineering
During his lecture, Chew gave an overview of the and group leader for the telecommunica-
development of solution techniques for Maxwell’s tions and signal processing area, said the
equations as an analysis tool, which reviews the solution scholarships will be given to both
techniques that were prevalent around the beginning of graduate and undergraduate students
the 20th century. He said during that period, closed form over a two-year period.
solutions were sought for simple shape objects such as “In electrical engineering we are using
spheres, cylinders, half-planes, half-spaces, among other the money mostly to attract undergradu-
things. That was the age of simple shapes. ate students to telecommunications,
Dr.Kai Chang presents Chew with
As the demand of science and engineering called for a plaque of appreciation. which is the area Nortel is interested in,”
solutions to more complex problems, Chew said he said. “We very much appreciate Nortel
scientists and engineers developed approximate methods to solve Maxwell’s equa- Networks’ generous offer to provide
tions. This was often the combined use of asymptotic and perturbation methods. funds for scholarships to the electrical
Consequently, a larger class of solutions can be sought by such techniques, empow- engineering department at Texas A&M
ering the solutions available to Maxwell’s equations. University.
Chew said the most recent developments of analysis methods for Maxwell’s equations Scholarships provide a way for
departments to attract and/or retain
are the fast solvers, which have been developed for electrostatics, electrodynamics, as well
qualified students in areas of need, as
as fast solvers that are continuously valid from static to electrodynamics; for the fre-
quency and time domains, as well as for layered media. He said these fast solvers use well as to reward deserving students and
entice them to strive for even higher
resources that are orders of magnitude smaller than traditional numerical solvers. Their
importance in electromagnetic simulations is as important as fast Fourier transforms inachievements, both at the undergraduate
and graduate levels.
signal and image processingand that it is quite certain that these solvers will precipitate a
revolution in analysis methods in electromagnetics. Problems that required 10 years of All undergraduate students in the
computer time to solve in the past can now be solved within a day. department with a GPA above 3.2 will be
Weng Cho Chew was born in Malaysia. He received the B.S. degree in 1976, both eligible to apply for the scholarships. For
the M.S. and Engineer’s degrees in 1978 and the Ph.D. degree in 1980, all in electricalgraduate student applicants, a minimum
engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. His recent 3.5 GPA will be required. Applicants for
research interest has been in the area of wave propagation, scattering, inverse scholarships must fill an application and
scattering, and fast algorithms related to scattering, inhomogeneous media for include a copy of their latest resume. The
geophysical subsurface sensing and nondestructive testing applications. Previously, application form will include, among other
he has also analyzed electrochemical effects and dielectric properties of composite things, information on the student’s GPA
materials, microwave and optical waveguides, and microstrip antennas. and year of study (i.e. junior, senior,
From 1981 to 1985, he was with Schlumberger-Doll Research in Ridgefield, Con- graduate, etc.).
necticut. While he was there, he was a program leader and later a department manager. Additionally, applicants will be asked
From 1985 to 1990, he was an associate professor with the University of Illinois. He to write a one-page essay on their
currently is a professor at the University of Illinois. professional interests. The resume must
Chew has authored a book and has published more than 220 scientific journal contain information on internships and
articles and presented over 300 conference papers. He is an IEEE Fellow and was an extra-curricula activities. Selection of
NSF Presidential Young Investigator in 1986. Chew also is presently an associate scholarship recipients will be based on
editor of the several publications. academic achievement, other experience,
The Department of Electrical Engineering presents this year-long program of acquired for example through internships,
lectures to broaden the horizons of faculty, students and friends interested in the and involvement in extra-curricula
progress of electrical engineering. activities.
Nortel Networks is a global leader in
SCHLUMBERGER-continued from page 3 telephony, data, wireless and wireline
member. His honors include the Space Act Award from the NASA Inventions and solutions for the Internet. Today, Nortel
Contributions Board and a Select Young Investigator Award from the Texas Engineering Networks is creating a high-performance
Experiment Station. His professional interests also include simulation techniques and Internet that is more reliable and faster
electric and hybrid electric vehicles traction motor drives. than ever before.
Schlumberger is a leading supplier of services and technology to the international It is redefining the economics and
petroleum industry, with service locations in more than 100 countries, and research and quality of networking and the Internet
development facilities around the world. through Unified Networks that promise a
The Schlumberger Foundation, founded in 1954 by the Schlumberger family, is a new era of collaboration, communications
separate, not-for-profit organization. The foundation supports educational research and and commerce. Nortel Networks has
charitable organizations in the United States and Canada. offices and facilities in Canada, Europe,
Specifically, the Schlumberger Foundation provides scholarships, fellowships and Asia-Pacific, Caribbean and Latin
technical grants for research to universities with a long-standing Schlumberger recruiting America, the Middle East, Africa and the
relationship. United States.
Contributed by TEES Communication
4
numerous technical reports. He also has Lynette Huval
EE Briefs served as chairman and organizer of Huval, administrative assistant for the
Shankar Bhattacharyya various IEEE committees, conferences and department, received the 2000 EE
Designation as a TEES Senior Fellow administrative committees. Outstanding Staff Award. Recipients of
was awarded to Bhattacharyya, profes- Ehsani is a fellow of IEEE, distinguished this award are nominated by their fellow
sor for the department. A faculty member speaker of the IEEE Industrial Electronics co-workers for their outstanding work
permanently retains the title of TEES Society and distinguished lecturer of the performance. The objective of this award
Senior Fellow after twice achieving the IEEE Industry Application Society. He is to recognize support staff for their
rank of TEES Fellow based on outstand- earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees continuous endeavors towards excellence
ing research achievement. from the University of Texas in 1973 and and promotion of the continued success
Bhattacharyya, who has been with 1974 respectively and his Ph.D. from the of the department. Huval has been with
Texas A&M since 1980, has interests in University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. the department since 1996.
control systems and robust control. He
is an IEEE Fellow, Fulbright Lecturer, has John Fleming Nasser Kehtarnavaz
Fleming, senior lecturer for the depart- Kehtarnavaz, professor for the depart-
won the prestigious Halliburton Award ment, received the 2000 EE Outstanding
and serves on the editorial board of the ment, received the 2000 EE Outstanding
Faculty Award. Recipients of these awards Faculty Award. Recipients of these awards
Birkhauser Series on Circuits, Signals are nominated by their fellow co-workers
and Systems. Bhattacharyya received his are nominated by their fellow co-workers
for their outstanding work performance. for their outstanding work performance.
bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The objective of this award is to recognize
Indian Institute of Technology in The objective of this award is to recognize
faculty members for their continuous faculty members for their continuous
Bombay and his doctoral degree from endeavors towards excellence and
Rice University. endeavors towards excellence and promo-
promotion of the continued success of the tion of the continued success of the
department. department.
Karen Butler-Purry Fleming received his Ph.D. from Cornell
Butler-Purry, associate professor for His research interests include Digital
University in 1977 and has been with the signal processing, image processing,
the department, was presented the B. P. department since 1978
Amoco for Teaching Excellence Award. algorithm implementation on DSP
She joined the electrical engineering processors, medical image analysis and
Michael Russell Grimaila pattern recognition. Kehtarnavaz is editor
department in 1994 and serves as Grimaila, lecturer for the department,
assistant director of the Power Systems of several journals and has had many
received the Outstanding Professor of the papers and journal articles published. He
Automation Laboratory. Her research Year from the A&M branch of IEEE.
interests are in the areas of distribution received his Ph.D. from Rice University in
Grimaila received his Ph.D. (1999), 1987 and has been with the department
automation and intelligent systems for M.S.E.E. (1995) and B.S.E.E. (1993) degrees
power quality, state estimation, equip- since 1986.
in electrical engineering at Texas A&M.
ment deterioration and fault diagnosis. He worked in the Research and
Butler-Purry has received several Franco Maloberti
Development Group of Rockwell Maloberti, professor for the department
recognitions, among them the 1999 Office International’s Lightwave Transmis-
of Naval Research Young Investigator and inaugural holder of the TI Jack Kilby
sion Systems Division located in Dallas Chair in Analog Engineering, was honored
Program Award and she was named a from 1984 through 1990. During this
1998-99 Montague Center for Teaching by the world’s largest technical profes-
time, he was responsible for the design, sional society with the Institute of Electrical
Excellence Scholar. She received her testing and system integration of VLSI
bachelor’s degree from Southern Univer- and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Third
ASIC’s for use in high-speed digital Millennium Medal.
sity, a master’s degree from the University transmission systems.
of Texas at Austin and her doctoral degree He joined the faculty in March. In 1992
Grimaila also received the 1999-2000 he received the XII Pedriali Prize for his
from Howard University. Outstanding Professor of the Year award technical and scientific contributions to
from the A&M chapter of IEEE and Eta national industrial production. He was co-
Andrew Chan Kappa Nu and the best paper award from
Chan, professor for the department, was recipient of the 1996 Institution of Electrical
the IEEE VLSI Test Symposium in 1999 as Engineers (U.K.) Fleming Premium. Other
awarded the Halliburton Professorship. His lead author for his work on the commercial
research interests include Digital Signal honors include the 1999 IEEE CAS Society
experiment of novel ATPG methods. Meritorious Service Award and the 1999
Processing, Image Processing, Wavelets, His research interests include the
Nonlinear Optical Propagation and CAS Society Golden Jubilee Medal.
design, analysis, and testing of mixed- Maloberti received the Laurea Degree in
Numerical Methods. signal systems; microprocessor system
Chan has been at A&M since 1976. physics (summa cum laude) from the Uni-
design and interfacing; VLSI CAD and versity of Parma in Italy and the Doctorate
He received his bachelor’s, master’s and simulation; and defect-oriented test pattern
doctoral degrees from the University of Honoris Causa in electronics from the
Washington and is a member of several generation and analysis. Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y
professional societies. Electronica (Inaoe), Puebla, Mexico.
Debbie Hanson
Mehrdad Ehsani Hanson, administrative assistant for Krzysztof Michalski
Ehsani, professor for the department, the department, received the 2000 EE Michalski, associate professor for
was named a Ruth and William Neely ‘52/ Outstanding Staff Award. Recipients of the department, was elected to the rank
Dow Chemical Fellow. this award are nominated by their fellow of Fellow by IEEE, one of the highest
Ehsani joined Texas A&M in 1981. co-workers for their outstanding work distinctions for the organization. This is
He founded the power electronics and performance. The objective of this award considered a significant honor since
motor drives program in the department is to recognize support staff for their the number of IEEE members who may
during his tenure there. continuous endeavors towards excel- be advanced to Fellow grade in one
Ehsani has authored more than 300 lence and promotion of the continued year is 0.10 percent of the total 320,000
publications, two books, an IEEE stan- success of the department. Hanson has Institute membership.
dards book, has more than 13 patents and been with the department since 1984.
See BRIEFS- page 10
5
Young EE Graduate Receives Prestigious Scholarship
The National Science Foundation telecommunica- get more excitement trying to figure out
(NSF) seeks to ensure the vitality of the tions. “I helped something by myself, which is what you
human resource base of science, her apply for the do in research.”
mathematics and engineering in the NSF fellowship, With a goal of graduating with her
United States and to reinforce its it’s a very presti- Ph.D. by the time she is 21, Dalton said
diversity. To do this, a competition is gious fellowship. she hopes to carry on her research in a
conducted for Graduate Research She could have teaching position.
Fellowships, with additional awards taken this fellow- “I would like to teach in a place like
offered for women in engineering and ship and gone A&M, one of the best things about A&M
computer and information science. anywhere and is the atmosphere. Everyone is more laid
While approximately 900 outstanding nobody would back and happier.”
graduate students receive this fellowship have said no. And Georghiades believes Dalton can
throughout the nation, few are as Fortunately she Dalton accomplish whatever she attempts, even
outstanding as Texas A&M University’s decided to stay—it was great for us.” teaching students several years older
electrical engineering graduate student Dalton said she looked at other than her.
Lori Dalton, who began work on her schools, but she preferred A&M. “She’s doing great in my class,” he
master’s degree at the early age of 18. “I compared all the schools and it turned said. “I’ve talked to other faculty, who tell
Dalton, who began working on her out to be the best choice,” she said. “The me by far she is the best student in their
Master’s degree during the spring 2001 location is pretty close to home and the cost class. We have students who come from
semester, began taking college courses at was pretty good and the school itself had a the top schools all over the world and she
an early age at Texas Accounting of Math good reputation. Everything put together it is the best. She’ll do well after graduation
and Science (TAMS) in Denton. ended up beating all the other schools.” with whatever she tries.”
Dalton said she graduated a year early While at A&M, Dalton said she hopes to The National Science Foundation
from high school, but she had also earned pursue research in Space-time coding, some- (NSF) is an independent agency of the
two years of college credits while at thing she worked on as an undergraduate. U.S. Government. It consists of the
TAMS, which helped her earn her “Space-time coding is an area that is National Science Board of 24 part-time
Bachelors degree from A&M quickly, with very important right now,” Georghiades members and a Director (who also serves
an interest in telecommunications. said. “I have several students working on as ex officio National Science Board
“We got her resume and I thought a very interesting problem, so I figured member), each appointed by the President
there was something wrong here, this would be good for her to work on a with the advice and consent of the U.S.
because she listed her date of birth and problem of current recent interest. It is in Senate. Other senior officials include a
she said she was going to graduate the forefront of this research.” Deputy Director who is appointed by the
sometime this year and she was going Dalton said she is enjoying the President with the advice and consent of
to be 18,” said Dr. Costas Georghiades, research because she is a more hands-on the U.S. Senate, and eight Assistant
Dalton’s advisor and area leader in type of person. “Class is interesting, but I Directors.
“The Wireless Revolution: A Signal Processing Perspective”
The Wireless Revolution: A Prior to joining the Princeton faculty
Signal Processing Perspective, was in 1990, Poor was on the faculty of the
the topic discussed by Distin- University of Illinois from 1977-1990. He
guished Lecturer, Dr. Vincent Poor, also has held visiting appointments at a
professor in the Department of number of universities and research
Electrical Engineering at Princeton institutes in the United States, Britain
University. and Australia, including Imperial College
Poor explained how during the in London, where he has spent his two
19th and 20th centuries, communica- sabbatical leaves. His research interests
tions underwent revolutionary are in the area of statistical signal
changes as first the telegraph and processing, with applications primarily in
then the telephone, emerged and Poor wireless multiple-access systems.
transitioned to wireless transmission. Now, at the advent of the Among his publications in this area is the 1998 book “Wireless
21st century, an even more revolutionary transition is taking place Communications: Signal Processing Perspectives.”
as the Internet moves into the wireless domain. Poor also is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America,
He said like its predecessors, today’s wireless revolution is the American Association for the Advancement of Science and
being made possible by major strides in electro-technology. In the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). In
particular, the current drive to push system capacity, quality of 1990, he served as President of the IEEE Information Theory
service and mobility, well beyond their preconceived limits, is Society, and in 1991-1992 he served on the IEEE Board of
being enabled by striking innovations in signal processing Directors. Among his honors are the Terman Award of the
methods and technology. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) in 1992, the
These innovations include direct developments, such as Distinguished Member Award of the IEEE Control Systems
multimedia compression, multi-user detection, space-time pro- Society in 1994, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000 and
cessing and coding and turbo decoding, as well as indirect the IEEE Graduate Teaching Award in 2001.
developments, such as the use of signal processing techniques to At Princeton, he has recently developed a course - “The
push practical micro-lithography beyond its current limits. Poor Wireless Revolution: Telecommunications for the 21st Century”
also provided an overview of these developments in the context – to teach students from diverse disciplines about the ongoing
of their impact on emerging and future wireless communications revolution in wireless communications.
applications such as third-generation cellular telephony, broad- The Department of Electrical Engineering presents this year-long
band wireless local loop, high-speed wireless local area networks program of lectures to broaden the horizons of faculty, students
and wireless information appliances. and friends interested in the progress of electrical engineering.
6
Scholarship and Fellowship Winners
Congratulations to the following graduate and undergraduate students chosen to receive Department of Electrical Engineering
fellowships and scholarships.
Graduate Fellowships and Scholarships
TexTEC Scholarships Nortel Scholarships Vijay Kappagantula Rajeshwary Tayade
Deepak Gilra Omar Khaswawneh Siridhar Vellanki
Jing Li Gurumurthi Venkatraman
Ben Lu Shengjie Zhao Namjin Kim
Zeming Zhu Ryoung-Han Kim Aleksander Wojcik
Navneet Malpani Zhu Ye
Daryl Reynolds Ching-Fu Lan
EE Scholarships Hui Lui Zeming Zhu
Dong Xuan
Ikjun Yeom Pankaj Bhagawat Samer El-Haj Mahmoud
Yoon Cheung Chang Pankaj Pandey Nokia Scholarships
Kaushik Chosh Vijaya Patil Vivek Gulati
EPPE Fellowships WooCheol Chung Sathyanarayan Raman Yogen N. Deshpande
Sasa Jakovljevic Sumantra Dasgupta Ray Shubhankar,
Sangsun Kim Deepak Gilra Stephen Robertson Department Fellowships
Jiansheng Lei Saurabh Gupta Jean Routex Shanfeng Cheng
Chris Nail Sung-Ling Huang Attoor Sanju Nair Xiaohua Fan
Hokeun Shim Sai Ingale Anand Selvarathinam Deepak Kumar
Bharat Iyer Narayanan Swaminathan Sunitha Venkataraman
Sasa Jakovljevic Raja Venkatesh Tamma Jianhong Xiao
Undergraduate Scholarships and Fellowships
Nortel Scholarships EPPE Scholarships Robert D. Chenowith Bolton Scholars
Ryan Hamilton Brown Leslie Fraley Brian Jeffrey Whitaker Darren Ahr-Kennedy
Lori Dalton Derrick Haas Idan Anis-Whitaker
Ana Laura Garza Carmela L. Herrera Fred D. Lege III Rida Assaad-Whitaker
Jonathan Hansen Collin Martin Crystal Coe Anand Chawla-Kennedy
Jeff Holly Kenneth N. McBurnett Carl Peter Walther Brian Hargraves-Whitaker
Na Lei Andrew Meier Dun Ngoc Hoang-Whitaker
Juan Manuel Lopez Lewis M. Haupt Deepak Janakiraman-Kennedy
Bryan Thomas Murray Raymond Van Hook Tyler J. Beers Chiranjib Mukherjee-Whitaker
Wayne Allen Pellerin Jeffrey Cobb Timothy Fischer Wayne Pellerin-Kennedy
Andrew Puryear Jennifer Gullickson Clinton Rand-Kennedy
Alan Rankin Amanda Ott Kevin D. Faske Ramy Sabet-Kennedy
Adam T. Snider Andrew Meier John Sublette-Thigpen
Benjamin Paul Swan Albert Wewengkang-Kennedy
Feng-Kun Tang Zachariah Sulak
Keith A. Wilson M.J. Pickett
Thrassos Thrasyvoulou
James Wingfield Ruchna Bhagat Schlumberger Foundation
Johnny Tran Gregory Collins George Bukmaster
Ching-We Wang Marvin W. Smith David Dorsey Karl Jablonski
Gaurav Garg Elizabeth Fausak
Nokia Scholarships Laura Gurley Jeff Holly Corporate Sponsored
Lori Dalton Aaron Patton Ji Hoon Kang Steven Campbell-Fluor Daniel
David Walker Guidry Brandon Turner Eric Lasmana Kurt Champion-Chevron
Johnny Tran Wesley Weibel Jeremy Ross Cory Cress-Chevron
Eric Schendel Iris Foyt-CPL
TxTEC Scholarships Willard P. Worley Sigil Simon Adrian Gonzalez-CPL
Lori Dalton Lindsay Ann Clem Brian Steele Derrick Haas-Fluor Daniel
Huu-Loi Phan Jayson David Roe Russell Wedelich Gregory Hajovsky-CPL
Mohammed Pulak Reid Wilbur Eric Schrock-CPL
Gift and Endowment Information
Currents is published by the Gifts and endowments help in attracting and educating top quality students, reward-
Department of Electrical Engineering ing and retaining top quality faculty and promoting the growth of the department. We
Texas A&M University would be delighted to discuss further with you how to make a gift or establish an
College Station, Texas endowment in your own name or the name of a loved one. Endowments may also take the
77843-3128 form of naming a laboratory or the department. Gifts of any size may also be made to the
Electrical Engineering Development Fund to help the growth of the department.
Phone (979) 845-7441 For more information, contact:
Fax (979) 845-6259 David Wilkinson, Director of Development Dr. Chanan Singh, Deparment Head
Web http://ee.tamu.edu Dwight Look College of Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering
Email currents@ee.tamu.edu Texas A&M University Texas A&M University
Writer, Editor and Photographer College Station, TX 77843-3126 College Station, TX 77843-3128
Deana Totzke Phone (979) 845-5113 Phone (979) 845-7589
Email d-wilkinson@tamu.edu Email singh@ee.tamu.edu
7
GRANT-continued from page 3 Distinguished Lecturer Discusses Large Video
improve fuel efficiency and emissions. There are
many interdisciplinary approaches. Our Database Research
challenge is to teach students the design Video Browsing Environment (ViBE), a unique
process to find a superior solution.” browseable/ searchable paradigm for organizing
3M is a diversified manufacturing company video databases, was among the research issues in
with annual sales of about $16 billion in 1999. the deployment and management of large video
With operations in more than 60 countries and databases discussed by Dr. Edward J. Delp,
employing more than 70,000 people worldwide, distinguished lecturer for the Department of
3M sells products in more than 200 countries Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University.
around the world. 3M is headquartered in St. The lecture was titled “Image and Video Databases:
Paul, Minn., and manufactures a wide variety of Who Cares?”
products serving industrial, commercial and Delp, professor at Purdue University, said the
consumer markets. ViBE system first segments video sequences into
Austin is the global headquarters city of the shots by using the Generalized Trace obtained from
3M Electro and Communications Markets, the DC-sequence of the compressed data stream.
which is comprised of five line divisions: Each video shot is then represented by a hierarchical
Telecom Systems, Electronic Products, Elec- tree structure of key frames, and the shots are
tronic Handling & Protection Products, automatically classified into predetermined pseudo-
Interconnect Solutions, and Electrical Products. semantic classes. Finally, he said the results are
The 3M Visual Systems Division also has its Delp presented to the user in an active browsing environ-
global headquarters in Austin. ment using a similarity pyramid data structure.
ROUTEX-continued from page 3 The similarity pyramid allows the user to view the video database at various levels of
Using Gyrator Theory: Application to Design,” detail, according to Delp, who said the user can also define semantic classes and
and several reports. reorganize the browsing environment based on relevance feedback.
“I found him to be a serious, dedicated, Delp received his B.S.E.E. (cum laude) and M.S. degrees from the University of
enthusiastic and capable student,” agreed Dr. Cincinnati, and his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University. From 1980-1984, Delp was
Shankar Bhattacharyya in his nomination with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of
letter. “I have no doubt he will be successful Michigan. Since August 1984, he has been with the School of Electrical and
as a scientist and engineer.” Computer Engineering at Purdue.
Routex received his Diplôme d’Ingénieur in His research interests include image and video compression, multimedia security,
Electrical Engineering from the Institut National medical imaging, multimedia systems, communication and information theory. Delp also
Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG) in France. has consulted for various companies and government agencies in the areas of signal
Currently, he is working towards his Master’s and image processing, robot vision, pattern recognition and secure communications.
degree in electrical engineering, specializing in He has published and presented more than 250 papers and in 1990 he received a
Power Electronics and Advanced Vehicle Fulbright Fellowship to visit the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona,
Systems. He also is working towards another Spain, as well as the Honeywell Award.
French Technical Degree in Power Electronics. In 1992 he received the D.D. Ewing Award for excellence in teaching and he was
He plans to graduate next May and is looking selected a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 2000. He
for a career opportunity as an automotive is the program co-chair of the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing
engineer. He was awarded the fellowship during that will be held in Barcelona in 2003.
the CONVERGENCE 2000 International meeting The Department of Electrical Engineering presents this year-long program of
in October, the premier automotive electronics lectures to broaden the horizons of faculty, students and friends interested in the
conference in the world. progress of electrical engineering.
Electrical Engineering’s Annual Fund Donors
The Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University would like to thank the following supporters for their
contributions to this year’s Annual Fund. This fund was established for scholarships, recruiting and other items not covered by state
or tuition in order to compete for the retention of the finest students and faculty. The unrestricted gift categories were as follows:
Sponsor - EE Patron - EE Benefactor - EE Supporter - EE Friend -
$5,000 + $1,000-$4,999 $500-999 $250-$499 Up to $250
Robert Alaniz- Supporter Allen B. Cunningham- Patron Melvin Kalmans- Supporter Manford Noster- Supporter
Stas J. Andrzejewski- Friend John Dodge- Friend W.N. Keisling- Friend Frank A. J. Parma- Friend
Wray M. Barnett- Friend Elmer Elkins- Friend Mrs.Jeptha M. Kent- Friend Virgil Peacock- Supporter
William Barnhart, II- Friend R. William Ezell- Friend G. Holman King- Friend Jim Rector- Friend
J. R. Biard- Friend Darren Ray Faulkner- Supporter David Kratochvil- Friend Antonio Serbia- Friend
Wayne Bibeau- Friend Alex and Rilda Ford- Patrons George Lee- Supporter William Small- Friend
John E. Boelte- Benefactor Humberto M. Fossati- Friend Scott A. Little- Friend E.F. Smith- Supporter
Jane & Clay Booker- Friends Michehl R. Gent- Friend Richard Machos- Friend Manning D. Smith- Friend
Richard Booton- Friend Ernest E. Godsey- Supporter Chau Mai- Friend Charles E. Swearingen- Supporter
Geoffrey Brehmer- Supporter Victoria Gonzalez- Friend Dewey R. Tipton- Friend
Arthur Brown- Friend Marc Marini- Friend
Anthony W. Calle- Supporter Quy Ha- Supporter Ford Mays II- Friend Randy Washington- Friend
Richard Chamrad- Friend Gary Hamilton- Friend Bruce Moore- Friend James & JoAnn M. Webster- Friend
Howard C. Choe- Supporter Herb Hilburn- Friend Joseph Nabicht- Supporter C. B. Wilson- Friend
Timothy Cook- Friend Thomas F. Johnston- Friend Hideo Nagumo- Friend Anthony Wood- Benefactor
Steven L. Cowart- Friend Sunitha Kadirvel- Friend Jeffrey A. Nill- Friend Samer G. Younis- Sponsor
8
forces and modeling and simulation of He joined the litigation section of
Alumuni News satellite communications. the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P.
Daly earned his Ph.D. in Imaging in Nov. 99. Prior to that, He clerked for
Charles “Chaz” J. Daly Science from the Rochester Institute of the U.S. District Judge Sim Lake ‘66 for
Daly was born in Philadelphia, PA in Technology, Rochester, NY in 1998. His two years.
1957 and is currently a Major in the dissertation is entitled “Emph{The Arccos
United States Air Force. He has been and Lommel Diffraction Formulations}”. He Arvid K. Hassinger
serving in the Air Force for more than remains on active duty in the USAF and After living in Port Authur for 53
two decades. has published a book entitled “Scalar years (47 years in the same house),
In his enlisted days, he was a Chinese Diffraction from A Circular Aperture,” with Hassinger and his wife moved to
and Korean linguist at Osan Air Base, N.A.H.K. Rao in March, 2000. Houston and are happily located in a
Republic of Korea. In 1988, Daly earned patio home in order to be near three of
an undergraduate degree, Summa Cum Pradeep Tapadiya
Laude, in electrical engineering from their four children.
Tapadiya just finished writing a book
Texas A\&M University. He was then entitled “COM+ Programming - A
commissioned and went to Vandenberg Practical Guide Using Visual C++ and Michael D. Vajdos
AFB, CA, where he worked as a technical ATL.” The book is about developing Vajdos was named deputy program
engineer on Minuteman and Peacekeeper software using COM+ technology to manager of Aeromedical Evacuation at
missile systems. address enterprise level requirements Brooks AFB in Texas. He completed Air
Daly next earned a Master’s Degree in such as scalability, robustness, security, Command and Staff College in July 2000.
electrical engineering from the Air Force transactional support, etc. COM+
Institute of Technology, Dayton, OH. technology was first introduced with Arild Kolsrud ’95, ’97 masters
His Master’s thesis is entitled “Emph{An Windows 2000. The book was released in Kolsrud is an MTS (member of the
Analytical and Experimental Investigation September 2000. technical staff or Engineer) of Lucent
of FM-by-Noise Jamming}”. Technologies, Inc. He received the 1999
He next went to the Air Force Dan Hinde Lucent Technologies Rise and Shine
Information Warfare Center where he Hinde is an associate with Vinson & Award and has a 2000 patent number
worked on space-support to operational Elkins, LLD. 6.053,646 “keyball”.
Distinguished Lecturer Discusses AM-FM M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and
computer engineering in 1982 and 1984,
Models: New Image Representations respectively, all from the University of
AM-FM Models: New Image Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Representations, was the topic of the He also is the General Dynamics
Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Al Bovik, Endowed Fellow in his department at
professor in the Department of Electrical the University of Texas. His current
and Computer Engineering at the research interests include digital video,
University of Texas at Austin and image processing, computer vision,
associate director of the Center for wavelets and computational aspects of
Vision and Image Sciences. biological visual perception. He has
During his lecture, Bovik described a published more than 300 technical
powerful class of image models known as articles in these areas and holds two
AM-FM Image Models, focusing on the United States patents.
application of these models to problems Bovik also is a recipient of the IEEE
involving visual signals applicable to all Third Millennium Medal (2000), the
kinds of multimedia signals: speech, IEEE Signal Processing Society
images, video, and sound. Meritorious Service Award (1998) and
He said AM-FM models are intended was named Distinguished Lecturer of
to represent nonstationary signals (or the IEEE Signal Processing Society
subsignals) that have been variously (2000). He is a Fellow of the IEEE and
Bovik has been involved in numerous
described as locally stationary, locally
narrowband, locally quasi-monochro- Dominant Component Algorithm (DCA) professional society activities, includ-
matic or locally sinusoidal. Thus, extracts the strongest single AM-FM ing: editor-in-chief, IEEE Transactions
signals (images) are modelled as sums component from any image. The second on Image Processing; and editorial
of sinusoidal components with algorithm, the All Channels Algorithm board, Proceedings of the IEEE. He was
nonconstant amplitudes (AM signals) (ACA), sums all the AM-FM compo- the founding general chairman of the
and/or non-linear phases (FM signals). nents extracted from the responses of a First IEEE International Conference on
He began with the simplest model spatially diverse filterbank. The third Image Processing, held in Austin in
where an image is modelled as a single- algorithm, the Component Tracking November 1994.
component AM-FM image function, and Algorithm (CTA), seeks to represent any Bovik is a registered Professional
described how the AM and FM func- image with as few AM-FM components Engineer in the State of Texas and is a
tions are extracted – an ill-posed as is physically meaningful. frequent consultant to industry and
problem. He then extended the problem Bovik concluded his discussion by academic institutions.
to representing images with multiple showing three applications of AM-FM The Department of Electrical
summed AM-FM components, which image analysis: Shape-from-FM, Stereo Engineering presents this year-long
requires methods for separating and Ranging-from-FM and Latent Fingerprint program of lectures to broaden the
individually estimating the several AM- Analysis. horizons of faculty, students and
FM components. Three algorithms are Bovik received his B.S. degree in friends interested in the progress of
presented – the first algorithm, the computer engineering in 1980 and his electrical engineering.
9
BRIEFS-continued from page 5 and Signal Processing. He received his B. Don Russell
Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technol- Russell, professor for the department
Nominations are initiated by IEEE ogy, his M.S. from Iowa State University and the Texas Engineering Experiment
members and the public, then reviewed by and his B.S. from Coimbatore Institute of Station (TEES) deputy director, has been
a panel of peers. Their recommendations Technology in India. named a Regents Professor by The Texas
are submitted to the IEEE Awards Board for Other recent achievements include A&M University Board of Regents.
approval by the IEEE Board of Directors. earning the Advanced Technology Russell, who is also the associate vice
Michalski’s research interests include Program (ATP) Award from the Texas chancellor for engineering research
numerical and analytical methods for the Higher Education Coordinating Board. programs for the Texas A&M University
solution of electromagnetic boundary value System and the associate dean for
problems, electromagnetic theory, Green’s Robert Nevels research in the Texas A&M Dwight Look
functions, integral and differential equation The Association of Former Students at College of Engineering, joined 10 other
methods, method of moments, finite Texas A&M University recently recognized faculty members in receiving the system-
element and finite difference techniques, Nevels, professor for the department, with wide regents service awards.
electromagnetic scattering and radar cross- the Distinguished Achievement Award for He received a bachelor’s degree in 1970
section analysis, antennas and scatterers his excellence in teaching. and a master’s degree in 1971, both in
embedded in stratified media, microstrip The association says these awards electrical engineering, from Texas A&M
antennas and transmission lines, dielectric “are the most prestigious awards that can University and he earned a doctorate in
resonators, analog effects in high-speed be presented to a faculty or staff member electrical engineering from the University of
digital circuits, radiated emissions from at Texas A&M.” A campus-wide Oklahoma in 1975 before joining the Texas
printed circuit boards, electromagnetic committee composed of faculty, staff and A&M electrical engineering department in
interference and compatibility, radio wave students chooses recipients. 1976 as an assistant professor.
propagation, microwave and radio fre- Nevels began working at Texas A&M Russell is a member of the National
quency engineering and borehole induc- in 1978 as an assistant professor, quickly Academy of Engineering and a fellow of
tion logging tools. moving to associate professor then IEEE, the world’s largest technical profes-
Michalski received his Ph.D. from the professor. During his tenure at Texas sional society. Russell has served as
University of Kentucky in 1981 and his A&M he established the Electro- president, vice-president and secretary of
master’s degree from the Technical magnetics and Microwave Laboratory the IEEE Power Engineering Society and
University of Wroclaw in Poland. Other and organized an undergraduate micro- also is a member of the National Society of
honors include being named a Texas wave lab/lecture course for which he Professional Engineers and the American
Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) wrote the lab manual and obtained Society of Engineering Education.
Fellow in 1991, earning the Oliver Lodge equipment funding. In 1998 he became Among his many awards and honors is
Premium, winning best EMP Paper Award the assistant department head. 1997 “R&D 100” award - the “Oscars of
in 1984 and he was a U.S. delegate to the His interest areas include Mathemati- invention” - for inventing one of the 100
21st General Assembly of the International cal and Numerical Techniques in most technologically significant new
Union of Radio Science (URSI) in 1984. Electromagnetics, Electromagnetic products. Russell also won the IEEE
Scattering, Antennas and Wave- Herman Halperin Electric Transmission and
Krishna Narayanan guidance. Distribution Award, the society’s highest
Narayanan, assistant professor for the Other distinctions include being honor, in 1997 for his outstanding contribu-
department, received the prestigious named the Institute of Electrical and tions to power engineering. The National
Faculty Early Career Development Electronics Engineering (IEEE) Region 5 Society of Professional Engineers honored
(CAREER) Award sponsored by the Outstanding Educator Award for 1997, him in 1991 with its Outstanding Engineer-
National Science Foundation (NSF). the Clear Lake Council of Technical ing Achievement Award.
The NSF established the CAREER Societies Technical Educator of the Year The Regents Professor Service Awards
program to support junior faculty within in 1996, the Outstanding Professor and the Regents Fellow Service Awards are
the context of their overall career develop- Award from the IEEE Texas A&M among the highest honors given by the
ment, combining in a single program the Student Chapter in 1994 and 1998 and the A&M System Board of Regents.
support of research and education of the Amoco Foundation Award for Distin- Russell also was granted diplomate
highest quality and in the broadest sense. guished Teaching in 1995. status in the American Board of Forensic
Through this program, the NSF emphasizes In addition to many other professional Engineering and Technology, a state
the importance on the early development of activities through IEEE and other research agency and a member of the
academic careers dedicated to stimulating organizations, Nevels has authored many A&M System.
the discovery process in which the papers and was associate editor for a Diplomate certification is a peer review
excitement of research is enhanced by book entitled “Handbook of Microwave process that recognizes excellence in the
inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning. and Optical Devices.” profession of forensic examination. Diplo-
Narayanan’s research involves He received his bachelor’s degree from mates frequently testify in criminal and
iterative decoding of concatenated the University of Kentucky in 1969, his other court cases often of national
codes. He said the discovery of turbo master’s degree from the Georgia Institute significance.
codes and the recent rediscovery of low of Technology in 1974 and his Ph.D. from Among the advisory bodies for
density parity check (LDPC) codes or the University of Mississippi in 1979. certification are the American Board of
Gallager codes are two of the landmark
developments in this area.
Narayanan received the award
through his research activities, which
We Want YOU...
include interference rejection for TDMA
and CDMA systems, equalization and to visit our website!
coding for magnetic recording and
wireless communications and VLSI
architecuters for turbo decoders.
Narayanan joined the department in http://ee.tamu.edu
1999 in the area of Telecommunications
10
Forensic Examiners and the American (CAREER) Award sponsored by the States Army Research Office (ARO), and
Board of Forensic Medicine. The ACFE, National Science Foundation (NSF) for the CAREER Award from the National
formed in 1992, is a member in the his research on “An Integrated Science Foundation.
Specialty and Service Society of the Cyclostationary Signal Processing Xiongreceived his bachelor’s degree at
American Medical Association (AMA). Framework for Optimized and Robust Wuhan University in P.R. China, his
Another honor Russell recently Wireless Communications.” master’s degrees at the University of
received was the IEEE Third Millennium The NSF established the CAREER Kansas and the Illinois Institute of Tech-
Medal. To celebrate the third millennium, program to support junior faculty within nology and his doctoral degree from the
IEEE is awarding about 3,000 millennium the context of their overall career develop- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
awards to individuals among its global ment, combining in a single program the
320,000 membership.IEEE societies, support of research and education of the Xiadong Wang
sections, regions and boards selected the highest quality and in the broadest sense. Wang, assistant professor for the
recipients based on their outstanding Through this program, the NSF emphasizes department, was named a TEES Select
contributions. the importance on the early development of Young Faculty member, an honor that
academic careers dedicated to stimulating goes to promising young researchers.
Edgar Sanchez-Sinencio the discovery process in which the Wang has worked in the areas of
Sanchez-Sinencio, professor for the excitement of research is enhanced by digital communications, digital signal
department, was selected as a William inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning. processing, parallel and distributed
and Ruth Neely/Dow Chemical Faculty Serpedin’s research involves the computing, nanoelectronics and
Fellow for 2000-2001 by the Dwight Look development of a general and novel quantum computing. His publication
College of Engineering. framework for designing robust and record includes 19 refereed journal
The Faculty Fellows Program was optimal spectrally efficient channel papers and 28 refereed or invited
established to recognize recipients’ estimation, synchronization and equaliza- conference papers.
overall contribution to the engineering tion algorithms. He also spent the summer of 1997 at
program, including classroom instruc- Key elements of the work include the Wireless Communications Depart-
tion, scholarly activities and profes- development of a unified framework for ment of the AT&T Labs - Research, in
sional service. designing and analyzing non-data Red Bank, NJ, where he worked on
The William and Ruth Neely/Dow aided joint carrier frequency-offset/ performance analysis of dynamic
Chemical Fellowship was made avail- Doppler shift and symbol timing frequency hopping techniques for the
able by a donation from Ruth and Bill estimators in time-selective and flat- third generation wireless cellular
Neely ’52. Mr. Neely is a retiree of Dow fading channels, development of a systems. Wang also was named
Chemical. robust non-data aided framework for recipient of the prestigious Faculty
Sanchez joined the electrical engi- estimation and equalization of time- and Early Career Development (CAREER)
neering department in 1984 after frequency-selective fading channels Award, which is sponsored by the NSF.
serving as a visiting professor. He and development of a robust non-data
currently is group leader for the Analog aided space-time signal processing Wang joined the faculty in electrical
and Mixed Signal Group. framework for synchronization and engineering in 1998. He received his
Other recent recognitions include the estimation of multipath signals arriving Ph.D. from Princeton University, his
Golden Jubilee Medal commemorating the at an antenna array. The proposed master’s degree from Purdue University
50th anniversary of the Institute of research offers a wealth of innovative and his bachelor’s degree from Shanghai
Electrical and Electronics Engineers educational projects for course and Jiao Tong University, China.
(IEEE) Circuits & Systems Society laboratory instruction.
(CASS), being named the inaugural TI Serpedin began working for the Karan L. Watson
Analog Chair. He also has received the department in 1999. He received his Watson, professor and associate dean
Halliburton Professorship Award of Diploma of Electrical Engineer from the in the Dwight Look College of Engineer-
Excellence and the IEEE Guillemin- Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, his ing, was honored with IEEE’s Third
Cauer Award. Specialization Degree in Transmission Millenium medal.
Sanchez’s research interests include and Processing of Information, L’Ecole Watson, a Texas A&M Regents
continuous-time filters and oscillators, Superieure d’Electricite (SUPELEC), in Professor, also was honored in 1998 by
switched capacitor networks, computer- Paris, his master’s degree from the the world’s largest federation of scien-
aided analysis and design, neural Georgia Institute of Technology, ECE tists and engineers with the American
networks hardware implementations, School in Atlanta and his Ph.D. from the Association for the Advancement of
design and construction of MOS University of Virginia. Science’s Mentor Award. Watson also
integrated circuits, applications of His research interests are in the areas has received a Presidential Award for
operational transconductance amplifiers, of signal processing for wireless commu- Excellence in Science, Mathematics and
current-mode techniques, CMOS nications, equalization/synchronization Engineering Mentoring at the White
implementations of neural networks and of communication channels, statistical
fuzzy logic circuits. signal processing, spectral analysis, and House in 1997. She was nominated by the
He received his doctoral degree in antenna array signal processing. IEEE Education Society.
electrical engineering from the University The only female dean in the college’s
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, his Zixiang Xiong 100-plus years, Watson has been at
master’s degree from Stanford University Xiong, assistant professor for the Texas A&M since 1983. An IEEE Fellow,
and a Communications and Electronics department, was named a Eugene E. Watson has joint appointments as
Engineer professional degree from the Webb ’43 Fellow by the college of professor in the computer science
National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico. engineering. He began working at A&M department. Her professional interests
in 1999 after a stint at the University of include real-time knowledge-based
Erchin Serpedin Hawaii as an assistant professor. systems, diagnostic systems and expert
Serpedin, assistant professor for the He also has received a Young systems. Watson earned her bachelor’s,
department, received the prestigious Investigator Award from the Office of master’s and doctoral degrees from Texas
Faculty Early Career Development Naval Research (ONR) and the United Tech University.
11
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