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ECE NEW1

T

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

ECE NEWSECE NEWS

(Continued on back page)

YEAR IN REV

2010-201

www.engr.wisc.edu/ece www.engr.wisc.edu/ece

Monroe manufacturer partnerswith WEMPEC on electric truck A matter

of timing:

New strategies for de-buggingelectronics

onroe, Wisconsin, is a small city with

a big reputation for its cheese. Now,

a partnership between manufacturer

Orchid Monroe and UW-Madison engineers may

expand the city’s expertise to include innovative

clean vehicle technology.

Orchid Monroe is providing support for

researchers from the Wisconsin Electric Machines

and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC)

to develop a particularly rugged experimental

electric vehicle: a Ford F-150 pick-up truck.

Once graduate students and Orchid Monroe

engineers convert the truck to an electric vehicle

powered by an Orchid-built traction motor and

custom integrated motor controller package, the

vehicle will become an up-to-date test bed for a

wide range of battery and powertrain performanceexperiments by WEMPEC researchers.

Orchid Monroe manufactures laminated

electrical-grade steel components and assemblies

for the automotive, electric motor, generator,

lighting, transformer and wind power industries.

In the past two years, the company has expanded

into developing and manufacturing an electric

traction drive system for buses and other large

vehicle applications.

he components that make up the integrated circuits in electronic devices are nano-size

and number in the billions. Sometimes “bugs” lurking in these complex systems can

emerge and cause signicant performance errors.

One category of electronic bugs that can occur after a chip is fabricated is known as timing

errors. These errors can cause components to slow down and take longer to execute operations.

As components continue to become smaller, the process of preventing and solving timing errors

is becoming ever more complex, increasing the time it takes to send new products to market.Assistant Professor Azadeh Davoodi is one of the rst people to look at solutions for timing

errors, and she has received a 2011 Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) and gran

from the National Science Foundation.

Integrated circuits go through a rigorous testing process to nd and correct bugs that can

cause performance errors. However, the small size and sheer volume of components mean chips

realistically cannot be entirely validated before fabrication. “These errors occur, not because the

circuit isn’t functioning correctly, but because it fails to operate correctly at the desired speed,”

Davoodi says. “The nanoscale components in the chip are so small they can have weird physical

behaviors that can only be detected after they are fabricated.”

The validation process involves manually opening up a chip and examining billions of transistors

which is extremely time-consuming. Timing errors often are interdependent, meaning they emerge

only when certain operations are performed together. Testing for timing errors requires predicting

the chip’s behavior during a vast number of possible operations and combinations of operations. It can take several months to nd errors and alter chips during the validation process. Most of

this time is spent dealing with timing errors. Davoodi’s team will develop special sensor component

that can be added to a chip’s design, as well as methods to analyze measurements from the

components. The new components will provide custom timing information for a particular chip

design, allowing developers to predict, detect and even solve errors more quickly. Instead of manual

opening up and examining chips, developers simply could use data from the sensor components a

a compact representation of important areas of the design that may be causing timing errors.

In addition to supporting cutting-edge research, CAREER awards also fund innovative outreach

programs. Davoodi is developing technical coursework to introduce students to sophisticated soft-

ware programming and creating a unique course module that explores the One Laptop Per Child

project. The module will be incorporated into InterEgr 102: Introduction to Society’s Engineering

Grand Challenges.

Davoodi

M

WEMPEC researchers

are converting a truck into an electric vehicle with Orchid Monroe engineers.

DEPARTMENT OF

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER

ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER

ENGINEERING

8/4/2019 ECE News 2010-2011


ECE NEWS2

reetings from ECE! Times of

remarkable change are times

for remarkable opportunity, and

over the last year we have experienced these

opportunities at the department, college and

campus level.

First, we’re looking forward to connecting

with some of you in the next few months at

several regional visits. ECE faculty members

will be in Chicago, Illinois, in July; San Diego,

California, in August; and San Francisco,

California, in October. We’re scheduling

additional visits in 2012 around the Midwest

and East Coast. Stay tuned to the ECE

Facebook page, www.facebook.com/uwece,

or check out the new department website,www.engr.wisc.edu/ece, for more information.

As for department changes: I want to thank

those who responded to our recent graduate

survey. Much of your feedback about your

learning experience reinforces what we’ve

also heard from our Visiting Advisory Board

and student focus groups: You value the high

quality of learning in ECE and on campus, yet

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

G John Booske, Chair

2416 Engineering Hall 1415 Engineering Drive

Madison, WI 53706

Phone: 608/262-3840

[email protected]

A recent study shows UW-Madison is

responsible for an economic impact of

$12.4 billion per year in Wisconsin. We’re

proud to be part of this impact and are doing

our part to live up to the Wisconsin Idea. One

example is a new middle school outreach

program led by Professor Amy Wendt that will

develop effective methods to give Wisconsin

students, especially girls and underrepresented

minorities, an understanding of the engineering

profession and how engineering is part of

addressing societal grand challenges. Plexus

Corporation, the National Science Foundation

and the College of Engineering are supporting

the initiative.

Finally, I want to give a sincere thank you tothe alumni and corporate partners who have

been able to give nancially to the department.

Private support is critical for ECE to maintain

its position of academic leadership. Your

gifts are supporting a wide range of needs,

including outreach, new technology and

learning infrastructure, defraying textbook

and travel costs, instructor awards and

need-based nancial aid.

I’d like to invite 2011 graduates to

consider getting involved with UW-Madison

philanthropy by participating in an initiative

by alumni John and Tashia Morgridge. Theyhave pledged to match each gift by a member

of the graduating senior class through

December 31, 2011. You can learn more at

www.news.wisc.edu/19407.

On Wisconsin!

Duane H. & Dorothy M. Bluemke Professor

John H. Booske, Chair

Additionally, from the U.S. Department of Defense, Ma has received

funding to develop silicon-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

with collaborators at the University of Texas. If successful, the study

could lead to complete silicon-based photonics systems, as silicon-based

lasers are the last remaining barrier to entirely replacing the metal wires

currently used to connect chips, boards or entire computers. The DOD

also is supporting Ma’s work to develop multispectral imagers, including

visible and near infrared wavelengths. Ma will develop a process to image

lights at different wavelengths simultaneously, which could lead to a new

generation of advanced imaging systems for defense applications.

Jack Ma: Record fast transistors and innovative imaging systems

Visit our redesigned website:

www.engr.wisc.edu/ece

you see room for better advising and more

curricular freedom to take complementary courses outside of ECE and take advantage of study

abroad or other beyond-classroom learning opportunities. In response to this feedback, our

faculty members are hard at work on revamping our undergraduate curriculum with more free

electives, hands-on learning and other important innovations.This revamping is an ongoing project, and we are still interested in feedback. If you have

graduated in the last ve years and have not yet submitted your comments about the ECE

curriculum, please E-mail me at [email protected].

The engineering campus itself also is under-going signicant changes. The Wisconsin Institutes

for Discovery is now open for business, and a number of ECE faculty are closely involved in

research happening there. The new Union South also has opened and is fast becoming a great

place to hang out on campus. Union South hosted the inaugural run of the Qualcomm Wireless

Innovation Prize, which the department was closely involved in establishing. Read more about

this new innovation competition on p. 6.

Professor Zhenqiang (Jack) Ma received multiple grants

in 2010 and 2011 to support his various nanomembrane

and imaging research projects. In November 2010,

Ma reported promising results in the journal Small

from his project to develop thin-lm transistors with

a record speed of 12 gigahertz. Ma used a process that indicates

the great potential of preselectively doped single-crystal silicon

nanomembranes for exible electronics. His work was funded by a

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers and a grant

from the U.S. Air Force Ofce of Scientic Research.

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ECE NEW3

DEPARTMENT NEWS

IN MEMORIAM

An entrepreneur and pioneer in applied physics, Professor Emeritus Franco Cerr

died in July 2010. After retiring from UW-Madison in January 2010, Cerrina joine

Boston University as a professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Enginee

As a researcher, Cerrina applied physical sciences and engineering to manufacturing and biolo

challenges, focusing most recently on nanotechnology and biotechnology. Cerrina pushed the l

of photolithography for nanoscale applications ranging from fabricating devices on computer c

to DNA synthesis for biological research, drug and vaccine development, and genetic engineeri

In particular, he applied semiconductor fabrication techniques to biological problems—a pursuit

yielded the maskless array synthesizer commercialized by NimbleGen Systems Inc., his rst of

spin-off companies.

Cerrina worked closely with the semiconductor industry and federal government on developi

fabrication methods that will yield advanced processors and memory chips.

Professor Emeritus Franco Cerrina dies at age 62

with interests in biology-inspired approaches

and the application of smart polymer

materials for increased functionality, better

performance, and simplication of devices

and integrated microsystems.

Professor Luke Mawst has

been named an IEEE fellow, one

of the most prestigious IEEE

honors. Given to a select group

of recipients after a rigorous

evaluation procedure, the grade of fellow

recognizes signicant research contributions.

Mawst was recognized for his contributions

to semiconductor lasers.

Professor Bill Sethares co-

wrote a new undergraduatetextbook that was published

in early 2011. The book,

Software Receiver Design:

Build Your Own Digital Communication System

in Five Easy Steps , aims to help students

learn to use Matlab by creating a workable

receiver and exploring key concepts about

telecommunication systems along the way.

In recognition of his effective,

innovative and inspiring teach-

ing abilities, Professor Giri

Venkataramanan has received

the UW-Madison Chancellor’s

Distinguished Teaching Award. His approach

is based on constructivism and authenticity in

education, and he is especially motivated by

issues of sustainability. Venkataramanan also

is active with students beyond the classroom,

serving as faculty director for the UW-Madison

chapter of Engineers Without Borders. He is

one of 10 faculty members to receive a 2011

Distinguished Teaching Award.

Philip Dunham Reed Professor

Susan Hagness has been

named one of 11 winners of

the 2011 Kellet Mid-Career

Award, supported by theWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The

award recognizes outstanding mid-career

faculty members who are ve to 20 years

past the rst promotion to a tenured position.

Each winner, chosen by a Graduate School

committee, receives a $60,000 exible

research award. Hagness was recognized

for her work in applied electromagnetics,

with an emphasis on microwave detection

and treatment of breast cancer.

A team of faculty from across

the College of Engineering hasreceived a Madison Initiative for

Undergraduates grant to build

on the success of InterEgr 102:

Introduction to Society’s Grand Challenges.

Led by Philip Dunham Reed Professor Susan

Hagness, the team also includes Professor

Amy Wendt (pictured) and Assistant Professor

Stark Draper. The grant will extend the

innovative introductory engineering course to

students across campus, as well as develop

second-year undergraduate research opportu-

nities tied to engineering grand challenges.

Associate Professor Hongrui

Jiang is one of 13 faculty

members receiving a 2011

Romnes Faculty Fellowship,

supported by the Wisconsin

Alumni Research Foundation. The fellowship

is provided to exceptional faculty members

who have earned tenure in the last four years.

Winners receive $50,000 in unrestricted

research funds. Jiang was recognized for his

research in microscale devices and systems,

The Helically Symmetric

eXperiment (HSX), directed

by Professor David Anderson,

has received a substantial

U.S. Department of Energy

grant, totaling $5.1 million over three years.

Anderson, along with Engineering Physics

Professor Chris Hegna, received an additional

$900,000, three-year grant for a project to

explore the future of stellarator research.

HSX is one of two stellarators operating in

the United States and is the only device of its

shape. The Wisconsin State Journal featured

Anderson and HSX in April. Read the article

at http://tinyurl.com/3p7jyrw.

Professor B. Ross Barmish

was elected a fellow of the

International Federation of

Automatic Control (IFAC) for

his contributions to robust

control theory for systems with parametric

uncertainty. The ceremony will take place at

the 2011 IFAC World Congress in Milan, Italy.

Professor Nigel Boston gave

a keynote presentation at the

2010 IEEE IET International

Symposium on CommunicationSystems, Networks and Digital

Signal Processing. Held July 21 in Newcastle,

England, the international symposium brings

together engineers, scientists and young

researchers to discuss progress and leading-

edge information on communication systems,

communication networks and DSP.

Assistant Professor Stark

Draper has received a

collaborative grant from the

National Science Foundation

tied to a second grant awardedto collaborators from the University of

Southern California to analyze cooperative

routing in wireless ad-hoc networks, which

consist of cheap, mobile nodes that operate in

the absence of expensive, xed infrastructure,

such as base stations. In advanced relaying

methods, several nodes can cooperate to

forward information. Draper will analyze the

interconnections between two key questions

usually treated separately: design of coopera-

tive communication techniques, and routing.

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ECE NEWS4ECE NEWS4

Ormia ochracea is a small parasitic y best known for its strong

sense of directional hearing. A female y tracks a male cricket by

its chirps and then deposits her eggs on the unfortunate host. The

larvae subsequently eat the cricket. Though it doesn’t work out well

for male crickets, such acute hearing in a tiny body has inspired

Assistant Professor Nader Behdad as he studies new designs for

very small, powerful antennas.Behdad has received a 2011 Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) award and

grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue a novel approach to a challenge that has

thwarted electromagnetic researchers for more than a half century.

For a structure like an antenna to effectively transmit or receive an electromagnetic wave at a

given frequency, the size must be comparable to the wavelength at that frequency. Making the

structure’s aperture size physically smaller than a wavelength becomes a critical performance

issue. These small antennas aren’t as efcient and don’t work well beyond a narrow band of

Insect hearing inspires new approach to small antennas

frequencies. Additionally, many applications,

such as satellite TV and radar systems, require

antennas that can distinguish signals from

specic directions, and current small antennas

don’t have these precise directional capabilities.

“Designing small, directional antennas is

one of those things we tell students can’thappen,” Behdad says. “But the question is,

what if it can be done?”

Behdad decided to address the challenge

through a new lens, one not often used in his

eld. He is looking to nature for some design

guidance, an approach known as biomimetics or

biomimicry. He started by exploring the human

auditory system. Humans are equipped with a

fairly good sense of directional hearing, thanks

to two ears separated by a head large enough

Dawn Ann Harms, a Wauwatosa, Wisconsin,

native was a rst-generation college student.

Her professional career is marked by a journey

from design engineer to corporate leader and

she now is vice president of marketing and

sales at Space Systems/Loral, a world-leading

manufacturer of communications satellites

headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

In her position, Harms is responsible forsecuring and sustaining more than $1 billion

annually in gross sales of realistic satellite

systems in a high-stakes, vital and vibrant

international industry.

In 1984, at age 25, Harms enrolled at

UW-Madison and received a bachelor’s

degree in electrical and computer engineering.

She began her engineering career designing

traveling wave tubes at Teledyne MEC in

Palo Alto, California. In 1987, she became

business director for the company’s commercial communications

product line.

Harms joined Ford Aerospace, which became Space Systems/Loral,

as a subcontract engineering manager in 1990. In this capacity, she

specied and negotiated requirements for microwave components

and provided technical oversight for the subcontracts with vendors

worldwide. In 1993, she served as sales director of the company’s Asia

Pacic business development and then vice president of marketing and

sales for the Americas in 1996 before advancing to her current position.

In 2010, Harms was elected to the board of directors of the Society

of Satellite Professionals International. She frequently participates in worldwide conference panels

representing the satellite manufacturer’s perspective within the industry and in advanced engineering,

management and leadership programs. She served on the Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering Industrial Advisory Board for ve years and hosted events to foster relations between

alumni and the ECE department. She is excited to rejoin the board beginning in 2011.

Harms is a member of the Bay Area Badgers, Wisconsin Alumni Association, Special Need

Children Center Foundation and a supporter of Habitat for Humanity. Harms resides in Sunnyvale,

California, with her husband, Greg, who is also an engineer in the space industry. They are the

proud parents of Alyson, Geoffrey and Derek. Alyson is currently in law school at the University

of San Francisco and their twin sons, Derek and Geoffrey, are entering the rst grade. Harms is a

board member of Amazing Creations Preschool and Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School. In her free

time she cherishes family time at their vacation home on the Pacic coast.

ssistant Professor Nader Behdad has

received a prestigious Faculty Early Career

Development Award (CAREER) from the

National Science Foundation. CAREER awards,

which come with four-year grants of approximately

$400,000, recognize faculty members who are at

the beginning of their academic careers and have

developed creative projects that effectively integrateadvanced research and education.

A

ECE grads receive college Distinguished Achievement Awards These two ECE alumni were among eight grads

honored at Engineers’ Day, October 8, 2010.

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ECE NEW5

Nitish V. Thakor is a professor of biomedical engineering (BME),

electrical and computer engineering, and neurology at Johns

Hopkins University. He now directs the Laboratory for Medical

Instrumentation and Neuroengineering at the Johns Hopkins School

of Medicine to carry out interdisciplinary, collaborative engineering

research on technologies for basic and clinical neurosciences.

Born in Nagpur, India, Thakor developed an early interest in both

engineering and medicine. The rst in his family to travel abroad

and obtain a PhD, he completed a master’s degree in biomedical

engineering in 1978 and a PhD in electrical and computer engi-

neering in 1981, both from UW-Madison. While an undergraduate in electrical engineering

at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Thakor developed his rst interest in medicalelectronics and instrumentation. His undergraduate thesis was inspired by now-BME Professor

Emeritus John Webster’s research, and he eventually joined Webster’s lab at UW-Madison. It

was here that he developed the rst portable microcomputer-based abnormal heart rhythm

monitoring instrument under the supervision of Webster and BME Professor Willis Tompkins.

During his early career teaching at Johns Hopkins, Thakor carried out research on implantable

debrillators. He is now engaged in pioneering work on brain-monitoring technologies for

neurocritical care, and more recently, on brain-machine interface and neural control of

prosthetic limbs. He has published more than 200 refereed journal papers, edited one book,

generated 11 patents, and co-founded three medical device companies. He is the editor-in-chief

of the journal IEEE Transactions on Neural and Rehabilitation Engineering . He is also the director

of a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging

and Bioengineering neuroengineering training

program for doctoral students. He has super-

vised more than 50 graduate students and

as many postdoctoral fellows and research

faculty. He has given more than 25 keynote

or plenary talks worldwide.

Thakor is a recipient of a research career

development award from the National

Institutes of Health and the Presidential Young

Investigator Award from the National Science

Foundation. He is a fellow of the AmericanInstitute of Medical and Biological Engineering

and of IEEE and is a founding fellow of the

Biomedical Engineering Society. His honors

also include the Technical Achievement in

Neural Engineering Award from the IEEE

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society

and a distinguished alumnus award from the

Indian Institute of Technology. He and wife,

Ruchira, have four children: Mitali, Milan,

Jai and Vir.

to attenuate sound. Humans also have a brain

complex enough to calculate the time difference

between sound arriving in each ear and the

intensity of the sound to determine its origin.

“We’re like a large antenna,” Behdad says.

His research gradually led to smaller

creatures, such as mice and insects, and

eventually, he came across the Ormia ochracea.

“Some insects can hear in the same

manner we can. But their body size is small,

so the time difference of the sound arrival is

signicantly smaller,” he says.

Usually, an insect’s “ears” are not even

located on the head, but instead are close

together on its thorax or elsewhere, depend-

ing on the animal. Yet despite the small time

and intensity differences, some insects have

directional hearing capabilities surpassing

those of humans.

The parasitic y, which appears to be

among the smallest with superb directional

hearing, can detect the direction of a chirping

cricket with an accuracy of one to two degrees.

“These are small antennas that actually

work better than large antennas,” says

Behdad, who took this knowledge and began

designing circuits that could mimic an insect’s

auditory system.

Behdad has developed a proof-of-concept

design for a type of antenna known as super

resolving, which is capable of distinguishing

signals coming from different directions. If he

can create very small, efcient super-resolving

antennas, the technology could result in

signicantly more wireless bandwidth, better

cell phone reception and other applications in

consumer electronics, as well as new radar

and imaging systems.

Behdad also is interested in eventually

using his CAREER research to explore small

super-directive antennas, a class of antennas

that could capture a lot of power coming from

one direction. Though this type of antenna is

still far from reality, the result could be a tiny

antenna with the capabilities of a giant one.

In addition to the CAREER award, Behdad has received two moreprestigious young investigator awards. He has received funding

from the U.S. Air Force Ofce of Scientic Research and the U.S. Ofce of Naval Research. The

programs are designed to foster creative basic research in science and engineering and enhance

early-career development of outstanding young researchers.

For the U.S. Air Force program, Behdad is studying a class of synthetic structures known as

metamaterials. The structures are composed of layers of metals, dielectrics and other materials

that, when layered together, function as a distinct material as far as an electromagnetic wave is

concerned. When a wave hits a material, what happens to it is determined by the material’s index

of refraction. By creating particular patterns in a synthetic structure, Behdad is able to engineer

functional indexes of refraction out of materials robust enough to survive very high power levels.

Making waves with high-power materials These structures are a promising alternative

to current materials that cannot withstand mega

and gigawatt levels of electromagnetic power.Behdad is designing structures that could

be used in high-power phased-arrays, radar

systems and satellites. He also plans to study

antenna apertures that can shape electro-

magnetic pulses and structures that could act as

shields against enemy electromagnetic pulses.

The U.S. Navy program is supporting a

project by Behdad titled “Closely coupled multi-

mode radiators: A new concept for improving

the performance of electrically small antennas.”

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ECE NEWS6

STUDENT NEWS

Scrap metal wind turbine wins at Wiscontrepreneur

PhD students Dan Ludois (right) and Justin Reed participated in the 2011

Wiscontrepreneur 100-Hour Challenge, sponsored by the UW-Madison

Ofce of Corporate Relations. The pair won $300 and the award for “most

social value” by building a wind turbine from scrap materials at UW SWAP,

including a lm reel and plastic syringes. Ludois and Reed have entered

several innovation competitions at UW-Madison, and this was their last

chance to participate before both graduated in spring 2011. “This was a

cool competition—you get to make something out of nothing,” says Reed.

For Ludois, Wiscontrepreneur was simply about having fun. “It was a

chance to show off our creative spirit,” he says.

ECE student wins top prize in Climate Leadership Challenge

Undergraduate student Matthew Kirk is part of a team that claimed the top prize in the 2011

UW-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Climate Leadership Challenge. Kirk’s team,

which won $50,000 and a one-year lease in the University Research Park Metro Innovation Center,

developed a novel way to produce hydrogen from plant sugars in agricultural waste. Additionally,

ECE undergraduate student Parikshith Lingampally is on a nalist team that developed a self-

sustaining water purication system and won $2,000. Read more at www.news.wisc.edu/19313.

ECE coordinates inaugural

Qualcomm wireless competition

The ECE department was signicantly

involved in launching a new UW-Madison

student innovation competition. The inaugural

Qualcomm Wireless Innovation Prize,

sponsored by the San Diego, California-based

mobile technology company, was held

April 28, 2011, and rewarded students

who presented creative wireless technology

products and well-developed business plansto make those products protable.

“Every day we hear of one more idea that

has really taken off, such as Facebook,

Groupon, etc. This competition offers our

students an opportunity to show their

creativity in this area and encourages

interdisciplinary teams to not only innovate

on the technology front but also think about

the business potential of their idea,” says

Professor Parameswaran Ramanathan, who

co-coordinated the competition with Duane

H. and Dorothy M. Bluemke Professor and

Chair John Booske.

ECE undergraduate

student Tim McGowan

(pictured) was one of

the participants. He and

and engineering physics

student David Michaels

invented Obsedis Technologies, an RFID-

based theft-deterrent system designed for

student dormitories.

Twelve win prestigious Grainger Power Engineering awards

At an April 5, 2011, event, a group of accomplished ECE students received Grainger

Power Engineering Awards and Fellowships. The awards, sponsored by The Grainger

Foundation, recognize students for their academic success in the eld of power

engineering. From left (back row) : Dean Paul Peercy, Andrew Rockhill, Daniel Molzahn,

Mark Andrie, James Thomas, Benjamin Weight, Dalin Kim; (front row) Jonathan Jaeger,

Brian Bradley, Patrick Schneider, Justin Reed, Steven Hanson, Jennifer Vining.

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ECE NEW7

Undergraduate student Ray Uhen won rst place and $2,500 in the Tong Prototype Prize, one of a pair of competitions that

make up Innovation Days, an event that rewards UW-Madison students for innovative and marketable ideas.

Uhen invented Plane Balance, a slim ight-training tool that sits on

top of the instrument panel and helps pilots monitor small aircraft

coordination, or balance, via a system of color-coded LED lights.A pilot himself since age 16, Uhen says developing a feel

for coordinated ight is among the most difcult tasks for

students. Plane Balance will be easier for students to see and

interpret than the current small level often located in a far

corner of the instrument panel. Maintaining coordination is

especially key during turns, where stalling can occur if the

wings are off balance.

Uhen also won fourth place and $1,000 in

the Schoofs Prize for Creativity, the second

major Innovation Days competition.

ECE undergrad wins top prize in 2011 Innovation Days competition

PhD student Jacob Shea received an

international doctoral research award

from the 2010 IEEE Antennas and

Propagation Society for his research

project, “Eigenanalysis for system

optimization and spatial regularization

in microwave breast tomography.”

Graduate student Steve Kennedy won the Curtis

Carl Johnson Memorial Award from the Bio-

electromagnetics Society at the society’s annual

meeting in Seoul, South Korea, in June. Kennedy

presented “A locally constrained surface tension

model based on plasmalemmal-cortical anchoring

predicts stable electropore development.”

He Ren, a graduate student in the plasma

processing and technology lab, won the

best poster award at the 2010 Synchrotron

Users Meeting. The paper, titled “Vacuum

ultraviolet damage effects on dielectric

lms,” will be published in the Journal of

Applied Physics.

Cook receives DOE graduate fellowship

PhD student Carson Cook is among 150 graduate students given a prestigious

U.S. Department of Energy Graduate Fellowship in Science, Mathematics and

Engineering. The fellowship provides $50,500 per year for up to three years

to cover tuition, living expenses, research materials and travel. Cook was

selected from more than 3,000 applicants.

Originally from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Cook is studying computational

plasma physics with Professor David Anderson at the Helically Symmetric

eXperiment (HSX). Cook also collaborates with a pair of researchers at the

Department of Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory on software called

SIESTA that analyzes powerful magnetic elds.

Computational plasma physics was a natural next step for Cook afterearning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, physics and math

from UW-Madison. He met Anderson in an introductory electromagnetics

course as an undergraduate, and Cook realized working at HSX would allow him to combine

skills and knowledge from all of his majors.

“The SIESTA code I am working on is currently being used to analyze current experimental

machines that are studying plasma connement, and it will also be used to help model and

design new congurations for larger scale devices into the future,” Cook says. “The fellowship

has been an invaluable help with my graduate research.”

Cook works with scientists from Tennessee-based Oak Ridge almost daily, and the fellowship’s

travel support has helped him deepen these research relationships. Additionally, Cook attends a

conference every summer with the other

fellowship recipients. “It’s a very nice

opportunity to network with other young

researchers in plasma physics and other

areas of science and engineering,” he says.

The fellowships are funded in part by

$12.5 million from the American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act.

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ECE NEWS8

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering1415 Engineering Dr.

Madison, WI 53706

is a newsletter for alumni and friends of the UW-Madison Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.

Produced by: Engineering External Relations / Editor: Sandra Knisely / Design: Phil Biebl Paid for with private funds.ECE NEWSECE NEWS

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truck to investigate battery characteristics, such

as predicting energy stored in the battery and

how battery performance changes over time.

They will also evaluate the performance of themajor powertrain elements, including the power

converter and electric machine.

WEMPEC researchers also plan to use the

truck to explore future possibilities for electric

vehicles. “We’re interested in a version of

these electric vehicles that not only can be

charged by a utility but also can deliver power

back to that utility,” says Thomas Jahns,

WEMPEC co-director and the Grainger Professor

of Power Electronics & Electrical Machines.

“When plugged in, these vehicles can be used

as energy storage resources that supply some

of their energy back to a smart grid when

needed. Using the energy stored in electric

vehicle batteries could help to ll in temporary

dips in the power delivered by intermittent

renewable energy sources, such as solar

and winds. Partnering with Orchid Monroe

provides a wonderful win-win situation. There

are opportunities for them to benet in the

near-term with their business plans, while

creating a test bed for us to pursue research

into techniques for solving our nation’s long-

term energy supply problems.”

Monroe manufacturer partnerswith WEMPEC on electric truck (Continued from front page)

Led by graduate student Phil Kollmeyer

(pictured) , a group of graduate students

approached the company in summer 2010.

Orchid Monroe embraced the project,

providing the truck and equipment, as well as

setting aside facility space for students to use.

The team will convert the truck with motors

and software and let the students drive it for a

couple of years at the university to collect data,

says Will Lamb, Orchid Monroe engineering

manager. The data will help Orchid Monroe

assess the performance of its components

as the company expands into supplying the

electrical drive industry.

Moving Orchid Monroe into the electric

vehicle industry could be benecial for the

broader Monroe community, says vice president

of sales and marketing Keith Cornacchia. “We

have received an overwhelming amount of

interest and encouragement, especially from

the Green County Development Corporation,

the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and the

City of Monroe,” he says. “We are fortunate

to be part of a fantastic community.”

The new truck will use lithium-ion batteries,

which are becoming standard in modern electric

vehicles, as well as provide plenty of room

for more instrumentation. The team will use the

ece news 2010-2011

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