The Ohio State University
ID Bar


Stats for
Autumn 2006

Undergraduate Program

486 students in major, 5.9% minority, 5.9% female, 35 B.S.E.C.E. degrees specializing in electrical engineering awarded, 8 B.S.E.C.E. degrees specializing in computer engineering awarded; 8 students graduated with honors; 3.18 average gpa over all; 234 students in pre-major

Graduate Program

17 M.S. degrees awarded, 18 Ph.D. degrees awarded

Dissertations:

S. Alam, "A CMOS Frond End for High Linearity Zero-IF WCDMA Receiver," Advisor: J. DeGroat

A. Armstrong, "Investigation of Deep Level Defects In GaN:C, GaN:Mg and Pseudomorphic AlGaN/GaN Films," Advisor: S. Ringel

Y. Bayram, "Hybrid Methods for Mixed Signal Circuits to On and Off Broad-Electromagnetic Interference," Advisor: J. Volakis

Z. Chen, "Dynamics and Control of Collision of Multi-Link Humanoid Robots with a Rigid or Elastic Object," Advisor: H. Hemami

A. Helmy, "Characterization of Substrate Noise Coupling, Its Impacts and Remedies in RF and Mixed-Signal ICS," Advisor: M. Ismail

Y. Horiki, "A Self Calibration Technique for a DOA Array in the Presence of Mutual Coupling and Resonant Scatterers," Advisor: E. Newman

G. Korkmaz, "GPS Based Wireless Communication Protocols for Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks," Advisors: F.Ozguner/E. Ekici

J. Lee, "Processing and Characterization of Advanced AlGan/Gan Heterojunction Effect Transistors," Advisor: W. Lu

M. Lee, "Experimental and Theoretical Study of Wide-Band Spiral Antenna Miniaturization Via Material and Lumped Element Loadings," Advisor: J. Volakis

D. Li, "Multi-Player Pursuit-Evasion Differential Games," Advisor: J. Cruz

C. Lim, "Computational Electromagnetic Modeling for Wireless Channel Characterization," Advisor: J. Volakis

Y. Liu, "Studies to Support Vector Machines and Applications to Video Object Extraction," Advisor: Y. Zheng

N. Quijano, "The Ideal Free Distribution: Theory and Engineering Application," Advisor: K. Passino

D. Shen, "Nash Strategies for Dynamic Noncooperative Linear Quadratic Sequential Games," Advisor: J. Cruz

X. Tan, "Nash Strategies with Adaptation and Their Application in the Deregulated Electricity Market," Advisor: J. Cruz

M. Wei, "Reconstruction Theories of Non-Ideal Games," Advisor: J. Cruz

L. Xu , "Hierarchical Behavior Planning in Distributed Decision Making Systems," Advisor: U. Ozguner

X. Yuan, "Model-based Feedback Control of Subsonic Cavity Flows," Advisors: A. Serrani/H. Ozbay


In the News

bullet Ethical Engineers: Ethics course tackles tough questions for engineering students

Prof. Kevin Passino teaching ethics courseWhen Professor Kevin Passino started teaching a class on ethics in engineering in 1991, courses on that subject were virtually unheard of. Passino started the course with one book and a conviction that ethics were an important component of engineering. Sixteen years later, others agree. The National Science Foundation has taken an interest in the topic, and accreditors have wanted to see it in the curricula of engineering schools. Accreditors recently told Passino that Ohio State has one of the best ethics in engineering programs in the nation. Read the full article, by Kristen Convery of University Relations. Professor Passino is also the faculty advisor for Engineers for Community Service (ECOS) at OSU.

Student-Alumni Announcements

bullet For the local (Ohio, Western PA, Kentucky, West Va) EE/ECE OSU alumni, we are planning an Alumni/current student rafting trip to the New River in West Virginia through the OSU Adventure Recreation Center (ARC) in late spring. The cost for participants for the rafting trip will be capped at $150 per person and there are 18 spaces for students, alumni and faculty. To reserve a space, a check should be written to "The Ohio State University" and mailed to Bradley Clymer, 205 Dreese Labs, 2015 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. Cost includes: transportation to and from W Va from OSU, all food during the trip, tent, sleeping bag and all fees for rafting. Participants can use their own tents and sleeping bags, but this would not reduce the cost. The trip will depart from OSU during the day on Friday, June 8 and return to OSU in the evening on Saturday June 9 so that participants can attend Commencement on the Sunday. Please  reply to ece_alumnicoord@ece.osu.edu  and let us know of your interest so we can plan accordingly.
Matthew T. Williams

bullet Matthew T. Williams, B.S.E.C.E. with honors Winter 2003, passed away in June of 2006 after battling cancer for more than five years. While a student at OSU, he worked with Prof. Paul Berger's nanoelectronics research team in setting up new equipment and experiments. At the time of Matthew's death he was a Research Officer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A memorial scholarship fund is currently being established by his wife, Alycia, also an ECE alum, to assist a deserving student each year in the ECE program. Details will follow in an upcoming newsletter on
where donations may be sent.

bullet The first OSU EE/ECE Alumni Society Board meeting was held on Dec 28, 2006 at the Ohio State University Longaberger Alumni House.  Interested alumni were invited to participate to serve as Committee Chairs or Board members for the Society as it begins the chartering process.

The meeting plan was to brainstorm possible activities for the Society, determine priorities and assign tasks. Ideas discussed included establishing an Adopt-an-Intern Program between alumni and undergraduate ECE co-op students, setting up and maintaining an Alumni/Student newsgroup bulletin board and an Alumni/Student job/ resume website, holding ECE Department events in regions with concentrations of alumni, surveying alumni for ideas for the Society, and creating Outreach activities, such as ECE department developed programs for alumni to present at local high schools and/ or middle schools.

There is an alumni event being planned for the alumni in Texas. In March, there will be meetings in three different Texas cities, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Houston. If  you are interested in attending the event, please send email to:  ece_alumnicoord@ece.osu.edu

New Grants and Endowments

bullet The Duhamel Gift: Howard G. Duhamel graduated with a BC(E) in Electrical Engineering in 1929 and passed away in 1988. His wife, Leta, was a 1935 Home Ec. graduate of OSU. When Leta passed away in 2005 a lump sum of $150,000 was gifted to Ohio State to be shared equally between the departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Human Ecology. Since that time, the estate trust accumulated funds of approximately $2.5 million and is designated to be given equally between the two departments for the purpose of scholarships determined by the respective departments. The funds that ECE receives will be used for graduate fellowships.

bullet The Ohio Third Frontier Commission has awarded a $28 million state grant to establish the Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST). $20 million of the grant is for capital equipment and $8 million will be used to leverage research, development, and commercialization of sensor technology. The Institute is a consortium of universities and industries in Ohio led by University of Dayton; The Ohio State University ECE faculty principally involved are John Volakis, Joel Johnson, and Randy Moses. OSU will receive more than $3.5 million in capital funds from the State. These funds will be used to significantly expand our research space in sensor research as well as develop a software radar laboratory, an ultra-wideband sensing and communication network research facility, and a persistent video sensing and monitoring laboratory.

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission has also announced the award for the new Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC). Professor Robert Collins of the University of Toledo and Dr. Robert J. Davis of OSU will be the center Co-Directors. The Ohio State University ECE faculty principally involved are Paul Berger and Steven Ringel. The $18.3 million budget for the center includes approximately $6.8 million for OSU over three years to fund research, development, and commercialization activities in advanced photovoltaic materials, devices, and systems in the College of Engineering and the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Introductions

Ms. Stephanie Muldrow

bullet Stephanie Muldrow is ECE's new Receptionist/Office Assistant. Prior to joining the department Stephanie worked at Alliance Data Systems as a collection specialist/customer service representative and team leader within the collections department.  She is currently an undergraduate transfer student at Columbus State Community College but has just enrolled at OSU and will officially start taking classes autumn quarter majoring in sociology.

Visitor Talks

bullet UPCOMING - Opportunities and Challenges in Networking: A Unifying Approach (abstract)
Dr. Atilla Eryilmaz, ECE Faculty Candidate, Postdoctoral Researcher at MIT
Thursday, March 8, 1:30 pm, Dreese Labs 260

bullet UPCOMING - Beyond Scaling - extracting performance from Silicon Technology
Prof. Subramanian S. Iyer; Distinguished Engineer and Director, IBM
Thursday, March 29, 1:30 pm, Dreese Labs 260

bullet UPCOMING - MOSCAP's and MOSFET's on III-V Channel Materials with Si, Ge and SiGe Interface Passivation Layer (abstract)
Prof. Jack Lee, Microelectronics Research Center, Dept of ECE, University of Texas-Austin
Thursday, May 24, 1:30 pm, Dreese Labs 260

bullet RECENT - Exploiting Diversity in Large-Scale Wireless Networks (abstract)
Lei Ying, Ph.D. student, ECE Faculty Candidate, Johns Hopkins University

bullet RECENT - Optimal Noise Filtering in the Chemotactic Response of E. coli (abstract)
Burton W. Andrews, Ph.D. student, Dept of ECE, Johns Hopkins University

Personal Notes

bullet Get well soon wishes go out to Professor Emeritus Carlin Weimer who recently underwent surgery to correct a herniated disc. The surgery was a success and he is doing well at home after his recovery at the Wesley Glen Retirement/Rehabilitation Center.

Group photo from ECE dinner

bullet The Annual ECE Dinner was held on December 17, 2006 at the Blackwell Hotel on campus. Many friends and colleagues of ECE joined in for a delicious meal and good conversation. Right, standing: Cindy Flores, Wendell and June Cornetet, Bob Lackey; sitting: Martha Battocletti and Ellen Davis.

Carol Liu and Edwin Limbullet Wedding Bells! Congratulations to Carol Liu and Edwin Lim. The two recently returned from Asia where they held their wedding ceremony amidst family members. Edwin received his B.S. in CSE and is on staff in ECE as a Systems Specialist; Carol received her Ph.D. in ECE and now works for AEP. We wish them every happiness in their new lives together!

We welcome your comments, questions and contributions. If you have information about alumni that you think would be of interest to our readers, please forward them to newsletter-feedback@ece.osu.edu.