Arogyaswami Paulraj inducted into the USPTO National Inventors Hall of Fame

His pioneering MIMO work revolutionized broadband wireless internet.

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Arogyaswami Paulraj.
Paulraj joins 14 other inductees this year, recognized for their inventions that have changed the world. The inductee ceremony will be held on May 3, 2018 at the National Building Museum, Washington D.C.
Paulraj pioneered MIMO—Multiple Input, Multiple Output—a wireless technology that has revolutionized broadband wireless internet access for billions of people worldwide. MIMO improves both transmission data rates and expands network coverage. It is the essential foundation for all current (WiFi and 4G mobile) and future broadband wireless communications.
About the National Inventors Hall of Fame:The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is the premier non-profit organization in America dedicated to recognizing inventors and invention, promoting creativity, and advancing the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. Founded in 1973 in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, NIHF is committed to not only honoring the individuals whose inventions have made the world a better place, but also to ensuring American ingenuity continues to thrive in the hands of coming generations through its national, hands-on educational programming and challenging collegiate competitions focused on the exploration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NIHF has served more than 1 million children and 125,000 educators and interns, and awarded more than $1 million to college students for their innovative work and scientific achievement through the help of its sponsors.
Congratulations to Paulraj for this well deserved, and very impressive, honor!
Read more about NIHF inductee Arogyaswami Paulraj 
 
Excerpted from National Inventors Hall of Fame.

This month, the Electrical Engineering staff recognized for their outstanding effort are Ann Guerra, Joe Little, and Socorro Ungson. Please join us in acknowledging their extraordinary work!
Each were nominated by peers, faculty and/or students who included comments about their professionalism that went above and beyond their everyday roles. Gift card recipients continue to make profound and positive impact in the department's everyday work and academic environment.
 
Please join us in congratulating Ann, Joe, and Socorro. Modified excerpts from their nominations follow.
Ann Guerra, Faculty Administrator

Ann's organizational skills helped my event to go flawlessly.
The planning for my project lasted several months, I appreciate her focus and attention to detail.

Joe Little, Principal Systems Architect

Joe is very patient and helpful in suggesting possible solutions for improvements.
He is very professional, and I appreciate his deep expertise. I'm glad he's part of our team!

Socorro 'Suki' Ungson, Faculty Administrator

She is amazing and proactive – I appreciate the help and advice.
Suki is a friendly and positive group member.

The Staff Gift Card Bonus Program is sponsored by the School of Engineering. Each year, the EE department receives several gift cards to distribute to staff members who are recognized for going above and beyond their role. Each month, staff are chosen from nominations received from faculty, students, and staff. Past nominations are eligible for future months.
Nominate a deserving staff person or group today! We encourage you to nominate individuals or groups that have made a profound improvement in daily work life. Each recipient receives a $50 Visa card. Nominations can be made at any time.

Goldsmith Awarded UC Berkeley Distinguished EECS Alumni Award

Her citation reads, “For excellence in research and teaching, and for tireless commitment to the advancement of women in the profession.”

University of California, Berkeley EECS alumna Andrea Goldsmith (B.A. '86/M.S. '91/Ph.D. '94) has been awarded the 2018 Berkeley EECS Distinguished Alumni Award. Her citation reads, "For excellence in research and teaching, and for tireless commitment to the advancement of women in the profession."Andrea is the Stephen Harris Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering.
Distinguished Alumni Awards winners are selected each year by the EE and CS Chairs in consultation with the Berkeley EECS Faculty Awards Committee and with input from the EECS faculty.
 
Please join us in congratulating Andrea!
 
Related news:
"Prof. Goldsmith receives the 2017 IEEE WICE Mentorship Award," October 2017
"Professor Goldsmith elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences," April 2017
"Professor Andrea Goldsmith elected to the National Academy of Engineering," February 2017

Professor David Tse elected to the National Academy of Engineering

His citation reads, “For contributions to wireless network information theory.”

David Tse has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering with the citation, "For contributions to wireless network information theory."
Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."
A professor of Electrical Engineering, Tse is the Thomas Kailath and Guanghan Xu Professor of Engineering. Dr. Tse's research interests are in information theory and its applications in various fields, including wireless communication, energy and computational biology.
Previously, Professor Tse was awarded the 2017 Claude E. Shannon Award from IEEE Information Theory Society. Read article.
 
Please join us in congratulating David for this well-deserved recognition of his profound contributions.
 
Read NAE Press Release, February 7, 2018

The Sloan award honors outstanding early-career researchers – literally the future of twenty-first century science.

Gordon Wetzstein has been selected as a 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Computer Science. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers as recipients of the 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements mark them as among the very best scientific minds working today.
"The Sloan Research Fellows represent the very best science has to offer," says Sloan President Adam Falk, "The brightest minds, tackling the hardest problems, and succeeding brilliantly—Fellows are quite literally the future of twenty-first century science."
Awarded in eight scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics—the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by an independent panel of senior scholars on the basis of a candidate's independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in his or her field.
Congratulations to Gordon for this outstanding achievement!

 
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. www.sloan.org
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Press Release

PhD candidate Angad Rekhi helped develop low-power ‘wake up’ receiver for IoT

The receiver is intended to save energy while extending the battery life of a larger device.

Angad Rekhi (PhD candidate) and Amin Arbabian have developed a wake-up receiver that turns on a device in response to incoming ultrasonic signals – signals outside the range that humans can hear. By working at a significantly smaller wavelength and switching from radio waves to ultrasound, this receiver is much smaller than similar wake-up receivers that respond to radio signals, while operating at extremely low power and with extended range.
This wake-up receiver has many potential applications, particularly in designing the next generation of networked devices, including so-called "smart" devices that can communicate directly with one another without human intervention.
"As technology advances, people use it for applications that you could never have thought of. The internet and the cellphone are two great examples of that," said Rekhi. "I'm excited to see how people will use wake-up receivers to enable the next generation of the Internet of Things."
Excerpted from Stanford News, "Stanford researchers develop new method for waking up small electronic devices", February 12, 2018
 
Related news:
Amin's Research Team Powers Tiny Implantable Devices, December 2017.
Stanford Team led by Amin Arbabian receives DOE ARPA-E Award, January 2017.
Amin Arbabian receives Tau Beta Pi Undergrad Teaching Award, June 2016.

BMI’s may be the tool that allow the study of mental rehearsal, necessary for realworld action.

Krishna Shenoy and team have been researching the use of brain machine interfaces (BMI) to assist people with paralysis. Recently, one of the researchers changed the task, requiring physical movement from a change in thought. He realized that the BMI would allow study of the mental rehearsal that occurs before the physical expression.
Although there are some important caveats, the results could point the way toward a deeper understanding of what mental rehearsal is and, the researchers believe, to a future where brain-machine interfaces, usually thought of as prosthetics for people with paralysis, are also tools for understanding the brain.
"Mental rehearsal is tantalizing, but difficult to study," said Saurabh Vyas, a graduate student in bioengineering and the paper's lead author. That's because there's no easy way to peer into a person's brain as he imagines himself racing to a win or practicing a performance. "This is where we thought brain-machine interfaces could be that lens, because they give you the ability to see what the brain is doing even when they're not actually moving," he said.
"We can't prove the connection beyond a shadow of a doubt," Krishna said, but "this is a major step in understanding what mental rehearsal may well be in all of us." The next steps, he and Vyas said, are to figure out how mental rehearsal relates to practice with a brain-machine interface – and how mental preparation, the key ingredient in transferring that practice to physical movements, relates to movement.
Meanwhile, Krishna said, the results demonstrate the potential of an entirely new tool for studying the mind. "It's like building a new tool and using it for something," he said. "We used a brain-machine interface to probe and advance basic science, and that's just super exciting."
Additional Stanford authors are Nir Even-Chen, a graduate student in electrical engineering, Sergey Stavisky, a postdoctoral fellow in neurosurgery, Stephen Ryu, an adjunct professor of electrical engineering, and Paul Nuyujukian, an assistant professor of bioengineering and of neurosurgery and a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.
Funding for the study came from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, a Ric Weiland Stanford Graduate Fellowship, a Bio-X Bowes Fellowship, the ALS Association, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Simons Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Excerpted from Stanford News, "Mental rehearsal prepares our minds for real-world action, Stanford researchers find," February 16, 2018.
 
Related News:
Research by PhD candidate and team detects errors from Neural Activity, November 2017.
Krishna Shenoy's translation device; turning thought into movement, March 2017.
Brain-Sensing Tech Developed by Krishna Shenoy and Team, September 2016.
Krishna Shenoy receives Inaugural Professorship, February 2017.
 

Dr. Olukotun Recipient of IEEE Computer Society 2018 Harry H. Goode Memorial Award

His citation reads “for fundamental and sustained effort to create and leverage chip-multiprocessors.”

Oyekunle Olukotun, Cadence Design Systems Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University, has been selected to receive the IEEE Computer Society 2018 Harry H. Goode Award. 
 
The Goode Award was established to recognize achievements in the information processing field which are considered either a single contribution of theory, design, or technique of outstanding significance, or the accumulation of important contributions on theory or practice over an extended time period. 
 
A well-known pioneer in multicore processor design and the leader of the Stanford Hydra Chip Multiprocessor (CMP) research project, Olukotun is being recognized “for fundamental and sustained effort to create and leverage chip-multiprocessors.”
 
Related Links


Dr. Oyekunle Olukotun Named Recipient of IEEE Computer Society 2018 Harry H. Goode Memorial Award, IEEE Computer Society, February 2018.
Kunle Olukotun receives the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award, Stanford Report, March 2018.
N3XT: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, November 2015

Stanford researchers develop technique to see objects hidden around corners

Someday your self-driving car could react to hazards before you even see them, thanks to a laser-based imaging technology being developed by Stanford researchers that can peek around corners.

A driverless car is making its way through a winding neighborhood street, about to make a sharp turn onto a road where a child’s ball has just rolled. Although no person in the car can see that ball, the car stops to avoid it. This is because the car is outfitted with extremely sensitive laser technology that reflects off nearby objects to see around corners.
“It sounds like magic but the idea of non-line-of-sight imaging is actually feasible,” said Gordon Wetzstein, assistant professor of electrical engineering and senior author of the paper describing this work, published March 5 in Nature.
Related Links

Gordon Wetzstein awarded Sloan Research Fellowship, February 2018.
Juan and Gordon to present at Stanford's Great Teaching Showcase, December 2017.

Bringing together top graduate and postdoc women in EECS for discussions and sessions to navigate early stages of an academic career.

Department News

In November 2017, the EE and CS departments hosted the Rising Stars Workshop. We welcomed 70 women from around the world for two days of workshops, panels, and discussions aimed at helping them navigate an academic career.
Rising Stars – now in it's 6th year – was started at MIT with the sole intention of helping women interested in academic careers navigate the process.
At the welcome dinner, Provost Persis Drell encouraged the participants to "always remember that the diversity you bring to the conversation is of enormous value. It's not about them having accepted or allowed you into the room, it's that they desperately need you to be there."
Co-chairs of the event were professors Moses Charikar, Andrea Goldsmith and Fei-Fei Li. They were joined by more than 30 faculty, as well as industry leaders to organize and run the event. The participants were selected from nearly 400 applications.
For the young scholars, hearing from a range of panelists with a variety of backgrounds helped give them the tools and the mindset they need to succeed. Umashanthi Pavalanathan, a doctoral candidate in social computing and natural language processing at Georgia Tech, said that as an international student from Sri Lanka, hearing the experiences of faculty members with similar histories gave her confidence: "When I see role models, I get inspired." Adds Sara Mouradian, a doctoral candidate in quantum information processing at MIT: "When you go to conferences, I'm usually the only one or one of two women in any given room of 50 to 100 people, so it's been great to see all these women." Being here, she says, has been "mind-blowing."
Thanks to all of our participants and support for the 2017 Rising Stars event.
 
Excerpted from "'Rising Stars' workshop raises visibility for women in engineering," Stanford Engineering, March 14, 2018.
Rising Stars 2017 website.

ACM names Hennessy and David Patterson recipients of the 2017 Turing Award for pioneering a systematic, quantitative approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with enduring impact on the microprocessor industry.

Professor John L. Hennessy and retired UC Berkeley professor David Patterson have been named recipients of the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award for pioneering a systematic, quantitative approach to the design and evaluation of computer architectures with enduring impact on the microprocessor industry. Hennessy and Patterson created a systematic and quantitative approach to designing faster, lower power, and reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessors. Their approach led to lasting and repeatable principles that generations of architects have used for many projects in academia and industry. Today, 99% of the more than 16 billion microprocessors produced annually are RISC processors, and are found in nearly all smartphones, tablets, and the billions of embedded devices that comprise the Internet of Things (IoT).
John is the James F. and Mary Lynn Gibbons Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Shriram Family Director, Knight-Hennessy Scholars. He was dean of the School of Engineering (1996-2000), university provost (1999-2000), and Stanford University's 10th president (2006-2016).
The ACM Turing Award, often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Computing," carries a $1 million prize, with financial support provided by Google, Inc. It is named for Alan M. Turing, the British mathematician who articulated the mathematical foundation and limits of computing. Hennessy and Patterson will formally receive the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award at the ACM's annual awards banquet being held this June in San Francisco.
"ACM initiated the Turing Award in 1966 to recognize contributions of lasting and major technical importance to the computing field," said ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. "The work of Hennessy and Patterson certainly exemplifies this standard. Their contributions to energy-efficient RISC-based processors have helped make possible the mobile and IoT revolutions. At the same time, their seminal textbook has advanced the pace of innovation across the industry over the past 25 years by influencing generations of engineers and computer designers."
Attesting to the impact of Hennessy and Patterson's work is the assessment of Bill Gates, principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, that their contributions "have proven to be fundamental to the very foundation upon which an entire industry flourished."
Please join us in congratulating John for this outstanding recognition of quantitative computer architectures and impact on the microprocessor industry.

 
Related News:
"Marty Hellman receives 2015 ACM A.M. Turing Award," March 2016.
ACM press release, "Pioneers of Modern Computer Architecture Receive ACM A.M. Turing Award," March 21, 2018. 
Stanford News, "Former Stanford President wins Turing Award for contributions to computing," March 22, 2018.

The Electrical Engineering staff recognized this month for their outstanding effort are Beverly Davis, Teresa Nguyen, and Helen Niu.
Each were nominated by peers, faculty and/or students who included descriptions of their professionalism that goes above and beyond their everyday roles. Gift card recipients make profound and positive impact in the department's everyday work and academic environment.
 
Please join us in acknowledging Beverly, Teresa, and Helen's extraordinary work! Modified excerpts from their nominations follow.
 
Beverly Davis, Faculty Administrator

"Beverly is a rock star!"
She is really fun to talk to and does her job flawlessly.

Teresa Nguyen, Student Financial Officer

"She has been such a great help to me during grad school!"
Teresa is very knowledgeable and kind - I'm so glad she's part of our team.

Helen Niu, Faculty Administrator

Helen is extraordinarily capable and diligent.
"I am extremely grateful for her!"

Please congratulate them for their outstanding work!
The Staff Gift Card Bonus Program is sponsored by the School of Engineering. Each year, the EE department receives several gift cards to distribute to staff members who are recognized for going above and beyond their role. Each month, staff are chosen from nominations received from faculty, students, and staff. Past nominations are eligible for future months.
Nominate a deserving staff person or group today – nominate individuals or groups that have made a profound improvement in your daily work life. Each recipient receives a $50 Visa card. Nominations can be made at any time.

EE PhD students presented research posters during EE's admit weekend, March 9 and 10.

The 2018 EE Admit Weekend welcomed 60 newly admitted PhD graduate students. The 2-day event connected admitted students with current students, faculty and staff. Several student-faculty sessions occurred throughout the 2 days, fostering a range of discussions from research topics to housing. Admitted students also participated in research lab and campus tours. Friday concluded with a PhD student research poster session and dinner with faculty.
Twenty-two PhD research projects were presented in this year's poster session. The posters are judged on oral presentation, visual quality, and clarity of presentation – all within a one minute timeframe. Judges include staff, faculty and students, and select one entry from EE's core research areas.
The 2018 poster award winners are:

Spyridon Baltsavias (PhD candidate '21), Hardware/Software Systems, for his poster, "Ingestible and Implantable Ultrasonic Sensors for GI-Tract Real-Time Monitoring"
Joseph Landry (PhD candidate '19), Physical Technology & Science, for his poster, "Structured Illumination Light Sheet Microscopy for High Throughput Imaging of Thick Tissue"
David Lindell (PhD candidate '22), Information Systems & Science, for his poster titled, "Confocal Non-Line-of-Sight Imaging based on the Light Cone Transform"

The winning student researchers were presented with a gift card and certificate from the EE Student Life Committee.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for participating in the 2018 EE Admit Weekend and research poster session! Additional thanks to the EE Admissions, GSEE, and the EE Student Life Committee for sponsoring the poster contest and generous prizes. 
 

Ana Klimovic & Team Win Award For Work on Next-Generation Memories

The NVMW’18 Memorable Paper Award recognizes the best recent research on non-volatile memories published throughout the world

Congratulations to Ana Klimovic (PhD candidate '19), Professor Christos Kozyrakis, and postdoc Heiner Litz. They won the 2018 Memorable Paper Award for System Architecture and Applications at the 9th Annual Non-Volatile Memories Workshop (NVMW) hosted by the University of California, San Diego. Their paper, "ReFlex: Remote Flash == Local Flash" was one of six finalists for the award selected from over 80 papers submitted to the workshop.
About The Memorable Paper Award
The Memorable Paper Award recognizes the best recent research on non-volatile memories published throughout the world. It is given annually to outstanding research published in the last two years that is expected to have substantial impact on the study of non-volatile memories. To be eligible, the paper must have been published in peer-reviewed venue in the last two years and the lead researcher must have been a student at the time.
About the Non-Volatile Memories Workshop
The Non-Volatile Memories Workshop is the world's premier venue for research into how to use non-volatile memory technology to improve the performance, reliability, and efficiency of computing systems. It was founded in 2010 by Dr. Paul Siegel and Dr. Steven Swanson of the University of California, San Diego's Jacob School of engineering. The workshop is a co-production of the Center for Magnetic Recording Research and the Non-Volatile Systems Laboratory at UC San Diego. More information, including a detailed program, is available at nvmw.ucsd.edu.
Please join us in congratulating Ana, Christos, and Heiner on their award! 
Award winner Ana Kilmovic (center) with general chairs of NVMW'18 Professor Steven Swanson (left) and Professor Paul Siegel (right), both of UCSD.
Paper Summary:
Internet companies such as Facebook and Google host trillions of messages, photos, and videos for their users. Hence, they need storage systems that are massive in scale, fast to access, and cost effective. Scale is achieved by hosting internet services in datacenters with thousands of machines, each contributing its local storage to the global data pool. Speed is achieved by selectively replacing slow hard disks in machines with Flash storage devices that can serve data accesses with 100x lower latency and 10,000x higher throughput.
However, Flash makes it difficult to build a cost-effective storage system. Flash devices are typically underutilized in terms of capacity and throughput due to the imbalance in the compute and storage requirements of the internet services running on each machine. In the past, datacenter operators dealt with the same challenge for disks by allowing services running on each machine to allocate storage over the network on any disk with spare capacity and bandwidth in the datacenter. Remote (over the network) access to disks enables utilizing all available capacity and throughput. Past efforts to implement similar remote access systems for Flash devices have run into significant challenges. Network protocol processing at the throughput of Flash devices requires a large number of processor cores and adds overheads that cancel out the latency advantages of using Flash. Moreover, when two remote machines access the same Flash device, interference between the two access streams can lead to unpredictable performance degradation.
To address these challenges, researchers Ana Klimovic, Heiner Litz and Christos Kozyrakis developed a software system called ReFlex. ReFlex enables high performance access to remote Flash storage with minimal compute resources and provides predictable performance for multiple services sharing a Flash device over the network. Using a single processing core, the system can process up to 850,000 requests per second which is 11x more than a traditional Linux network storage system. ReFlex makes remote Flash look like local Flash to applications, making it easy for a service running on a particular machine to use spare Flash capacity and bandwidth on other machines in the datacenter. To provide predictable performance when multiple remote machines access the same Flash device, ReFlex uses a novel scheduler to process incoming requests in an interference-aware manner.
ReFlex is having an increasing impact in industry and, in collaboration with IBM Research, has been integrated into the Apache Crail distributed storage system. This integration allows popular data analytics frameworks to leverage ReFlex to improve their resource efficiency while maintaining high, predictable performance. ReFlex is also being ported to a system on chip (SoC) platform by Broadcom Limited. ReFlex is open-source software and available at: https://www.github.com/stanford-mast/reflex.
 
Excerpted from the full NVMW'18 press release.

Nikhil Garg (PhD '20) uses machine-learning to measure 100 years of gender and ethnic stereotypes in the U.S.

His interdisciplinary research provides a new level of evidence that allow humanities scholars to go after questions about the evolution of stereotypes and biases at a scale that has never been done before.

Lead author Nikhil Garg (PhD candidate '20) demonstrates that word embeddings can be used as a powerful tool to quantify historical trends and social change. His research team developed metrics based on word embeddings to characterize how gender stereotypes and attitudes toward ethnic minorities in the United States evolved during the 20th and 21st centuries starting from 1910. Their framework opens up a fruitful intersection between machine learning and quantitative social science.
Nikhil co-authored the paper with history Professor Londa Schiebinger, linguistics and computer science Professor Dan Jurafsky and biomedical data science Professor James Zou.
Their research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.
The researchers used word embeddings – an algorithmic technique that can map relationships and associations between words – to measure changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes over the past century in the United States. They analyzed large databases of American books, newspapers and other texts and looked at how those linguistic changes correlated with actual U.S. Census demographic data and major social shifts such as the women's movement in the 1960s and the increase in Asian immigration, according to the research.
"Word embeddings can be used as a microscope to study historical changes in stereotypes in our society," said James Zou, a courtesy professor of electrical engineering. "Our prior research has shown that embeddings effectively capture existing stereotypes and that those biases can be systematically removed. But we think that, instead of removing those stereotypes, we can also use embeddings as a historical lens for quantitative, linguistic and sociological analyses of biases."
"This type of research opens all kinds of doors to us," Schiebinger said. "It provides a new level of evidence that allow humanities scholars to go after questions about the evolution of stereotypes and biases at a scale that has never been done before."
"The starkness of the change in stereotypes stood out to me," Garg said. "When you study history, you learn about propaganda campaigns and these outdated views of foreign groups. But how much the literature produced at the time reflected those stereotypes was hard to appreciate." 
The new research illuminates the value of interdisciplinary teamwork between humanities and the sciences, researchers said.
"This led to a very interesting and fruitful collaboration," Schiebinger said, adding that members of the group are working on further research together. "It underscores the importance of humanists and computer scientists working together. There is a power to these new machine-learning methods in humanities research that is just being understood." 

 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Word embeddings quantify 100 years of gender and ethnic stereotypes" April 3,2018.  
Excerpted from Stanford News, "Stanford researchers use machine-learning algorithm to measure changes in gender, ethnic bias in U.S." April 3, 2018.
 
 
 

Angad Rekhi (PhD ’20) won the contest to design a wall graphic for the Allen Building entry.

Department News

Come to the Allen Building and view the original wall art designed by EE PhD candidate Angad Rekhi.
Angad Rekhi has spent many hours in the Allen Building, researching & reflecting on low power circuits and systems. As a member of the Arbabian Lab, he also helped develop a low power wake up receiver for IoT.
Angad was intrigued by the call to submit a design for the Allen Building entrance. The design challenge opened in October 2017, encouraging students, faculty & staff to create a visually representative piece that illustrates the research done within the Allen Buildings.
Angad's concept illustrates the entire electrical engineering design hierarchy – from a device-focused perspective at the far left, through chip and board design in the center, to end applications on the far right. "Design at all levels occurs in the Allen Buildings. They contain spaces and labs for the full process of design and build, from concept to product," states Angad. "For example, ExFab allows rapid prototyping of microelectronics, and the SPF (System Prototyping Facility) supports electronic sub-system design. So really, anyone on campus can go from idea to product within these walls."

Please come by to view Angad's artwork! The wall art is a creative way to greet those interested in leveraging Allen's spectrum of device development, and those who are yet to discover what's possible inside of the Allen Buildings.
About the Allen BuildingsAt the time of it's construction, the building (originally named CIS) was considered "the best example of Stanford's resident architect's progressive historicism," acknowledging the blending of 1880s architectural style with 20th and 21st century Stanford architecture. The "building was designed by Antoine Predock, an Albuquerque architect with a reputation for New Age structures that rise organically from the Southwest's desert landscape." The building is named after Microsoft's co-founder, Paul G. Allen.
Together, the Allen and Gates buildings anchor the north side of the Engineering Quad. Twenty years ago, former Dean James Gibbons said "It has been a 10-year dream of ours to draw electrical engineering and computer science – the hardware and the software ­– together in an environment surrounded by such things as the biological sciences and medicine." And by spring 2019, the Neurosciences and ChEM-H research facility is expected to be complete, just on the north side of the Allen Buildings.
Related Links

Arbabian Lab 
"Pride of Place: 7/2/97. Balancing act: The quest for architectural harmony in the university's second hundred years," Stanford Report, July 2, 1997

Her citation reads, “for contributions to the theory and practice of adaptive wireless communications and sustained translation of theoretic results into commercial technologies and industry standards."

Today the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named Andrea Goldsmith the 2018-2019 Athena Lecturer for contributions to the theory and practice of adaptive wireless communications, and for the successful transfer of research to commercial technology.
Professor Goldsmith is the Stephen Harris Professor in the School of Engineering. Her research is focused on the design, analysis, and fundamental performance limits of wireless systems and networks, as well as the application of communications and signal processing to biology and neuroscience.
Andrea introduced innovative approaches to the design, analysis and fundamental performance limits of wireless systems and networks. Her efforts helped develop technologies used in long-term evolution (LTE) cellular devices as well as the Wi-Fi standards that are used in wireless local area networks. She participated in the launch of companies to commercialize her work, which has led to the adoption of her ideas throughout the communications industry.
Andrea also serves on Stanford's Budget Group, Academic Council Advisory Board, Faculty Senate, and Faculty Women's Forum Steering Committee. She previously served as Chair of Stanford's Faculty Senate and as a member of its Commissions on Graduate Education and on Undergraduate Education, as well as its Task Force on Women and Leadership.
"The anytime, anywhere computing era in which we now live owes a debt to innovators like Andrea Goldsmith who have helped lay the groundwork for the wireless infrastructure that makes mobile computing possible," said ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. "Her work has improved the transmission, reception and overall quality of wireless communications. Importantly, Goldsmith's career has exemplified the spirit of the ACM Athena Lecturer Award in the numerous ways she has mentored young women throughout her career. She has helped prepare promising young women PhD students and postdocs for faculty positions, and she has worked to develop actionable strategies to improve the climate, recruitment and retention of women in the high tech industry."
Please join us in congratulating Andrea for this well-deserved recognition!
About ACMACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking. Excerpted from The ACM press release.  
Related Links

Stanford Professor Receives ACM Athena Lecturer Award for Contributions to Wireless Communications, ACM Press Release, April 2018.
Goldsmith Awarded UC Berkeley Distinguished EECS Alumni Award, February 2018.
EE and CS Departments Host the 2017 Rising Stars Workshop, March 2018
Professor Andrea Goldsmith elected to the National Academy of Engineering, February 2017.
Prof. Goldsmith receives the 2017 IEEE WICE Mentorship Award, October 2017

The award recognizes his work on systems-level integration of electronic nanomaterials.

Congratulations to Tony Wu (PhD '18). He has been awarded the Northern California Electronic Materials Symposium's Ross Tucker Award. Tony's work on systems-level integration of electronic nanomaterials was particularly impressive, and the award is well-deserved. Tony's advisor is Subhasish Mitra.
The Ross N. Tucker Award memorializes Dr. Ross N. Tucker, who contributed significantly to the advancement of the technology of materials used in semiconductor electronics, the Ross Tucker Award is given each year to a pair of graduate students at UC Berkeley and Stanford.
The 46th Annual Northern California Electronic Materials Symposium, co-sponsored by TMS and IEEE Santa Clara Valley Section, will be held at Benson Memorial Center in Santa Clara in May 2018. The program features presentations on advanced electronic materials processing techniques and devices, and analytical techniques by outstanding speakers who have made significant contributions to their respective fields.
 
Congratulations Tony!

Graduate student wins Materials Research Society 2018 Best Presentation Award

Michelle Chen presented "Electrostatic Cycling of Suspended Graphene Thermal Switches”

Graduate student Michelle Chen won the Best Presentation Award at the 2018 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit. Michelle is a Materials Science & Engineering student working in Eric Pop's research lab, PopLab. 
The title of her talk was "Electrostatic Cycling of Suspended Graphene Thermal Switches." Michelle's current research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of 2D materials and devices for use in thermal management. She is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Fellowship.
Additional authors are M. Chen, F. Lian, M. Muñoz Rojo, A. Sood, K. Goodson, E. Pop.
 
Congratuations Michelle!

Gordon Wetzstein 2017 Electronic Imaging Scientist of the Year

His citation reads, “for pioneering contributions to electronic imaging in the areas of computational light field and near-eye display technologies."

Congratulations to professor Gordon Wetzstein! He is recognized by the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) as Electronic Imaging (EI) Scientist of the Year. His citation reads, "for pioneering contributions to electronic imaging in the areas of computational light field and near-eye display technologies."
The EI Scientist of the Year award is given annually at the EI Symposium to a member of the electronic imaging community who who has demonstrated excellence and commanded the respect of his/her peers by making significant and substantial contributions to the field of electronic imaging via research, publications, or service.
 
About the IS&T
Founded in 1947, the Society for Imaging Science and Technology (imaging.org) is a professional internationalorganization dedicated to keeping members and others apprised of the latest scientific and technological developments in the field of imaging through conferences, educational programs, publications, and its website.
IS&T encompasses all aspects of imaging science, with particular emphasis on digital printing, electronic imaging, color science, image preservation, photofinishing, pre-press technologies, hybrid imaging systems, and silver halide research.
 
Related links

EI Scientist of the Year
Stanford researchers develop technique to see objects hidden around corners, March 2018.
Gordon Wetzstein awarded Sloan Research Fellowship, February 2018.

PhD candidate Sarah Hooper receives 2018 Hertz-Gates Fellowship in Global Health and Development

She aims to improve health outcomes through technological innovation.

Congratulations to EE PhD candidate Sarah Hooper! She has been selected as a 2018 Hertz Foundation Fellow. Sarah is a member of Sanjiv Sam Gambhir's  research lab, which develops novel materials and biosensor devices for the early detection and personalized treatment of diseases.
Sarah is driven to improve health outcomes through technological innovation. She helped create multiple new medical devices during her undergraduate career at Rice University, where she earned her B.S. in electrical engineering and a minor in global health technologies.
Through developing and implementing different medical devices, she saw the incredible power of technology to transform patient care. In particular, she saw the potential for accessible medical devices to drastically improve health outcomes in resource-limited settings during an internship in Malawi, where she worked to create low-cost devices to combat neonatal hypothermia.
In addition to her work in global health, Sarah became interested in how machine learning could be applied to benefit healthcare through her research using data science to create a seizure prediction system for patients with epilepsy. She is excited by the many opportunities she sees to use machine learning and signal processing to improve domestic and global health outcomes.
Please join us in congratulating Sarah and the other 2018 Hertz Fellows!
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering America's most brilliant minds in science, mathematics and engineering, announced the 2018 recipients of the prestigious Hertz Fellowship. The 10 newest Hertz Fellows were chosen from nearly 700 applicants interested in pursuing graduate work in the United States. The 2018 class includes six women, the highest proportion of women of any class in the Foundation's history, with Fellows' research focusing on chemistry, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics and physics.
"The 2018 fellowship awardees are an outstanding group of students, with diverse talents and an extraordinary drive to reach new heights in scientific research and technological innovation,"said Robbee Baker Kosak, president, Fannie and John Hertz Foundation."We are delighted to welcome these six women and four men to the Hertz Community. They join the hundreds of Hertz Fellows who are leading important breakthroughs and developing some of the most important scientific and engineering solutions to challenges in our world today. We look forward to seeing what these 10 women and men contribute to that goal in the coming years."
The Hertz Foundation is the only organization in the United States that supports PhD candidates for a full five years at one of the Foundation's numerous partner institutions and grants students total research freedom, ensuring that each Fellow is able to pursue the most compelling, cutting-edge research. Members of Hertz's 2018 class hail from eight different states and nine different undergraduate schools. Several of this year's Fellows have already published papers in disciplines from biological chemistry to quantum computing.
"Hertz Fellows do extraordinary work and are truly changing the world, so our new Fellows are in fine company," said Dr. David Galas, Hertz Fellow, chairman of The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation's board of directors and Principal Scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute. "The fellowship interviewers were amazed by the brilliance and creativity of these young people. I am confident their careers will have great impact on American and global science and technology."
At Stanford University in the electrical engineering Ph.D. program, Sarah will continue to pursue research aimed at improving patient care. She will focus on developing new medical imaging devices and associated data-driven computational tools to better diagnose and treat patients. After earning her Ph.D., Sarah plans on devoting her career to innovating technical solutions to reduce the global burden of noncommunicable disease.
Excerpted from
the Hertz Foundation: "The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Announces 2018 Fellows", March 26, 2018
and Hertz Foundation Fellow profile, Sarah Hooper.

Jim Gibbons receives an Avenidas Lifetimes of Achievement Award

The annual award is presented to outstanding contributors in the local community.

Congratulations to emeritus professor Jim Gibbons! Recognized by Avenidas for his significant contributions in the social well-being of the community at large.
"[...T]he former Dean of the School of Engineering at Stanford, is known internationally for his important achievements in education and for his development of fabrication technologies that were foundational for the modern semiconductor industries in Silicon Valley and around the world. Less well known is the fact that his work has also contributed significantly to the social well-being of our community at large. Jim also served on no less than 13 boards in the Valley (among them Cisco, Raychem, SRI, Lockheed Martin, PARC, and more). In the educational field, he vastly expanded and improved the Stanford Instructional Television Network, which provided topnotch education via television to thousands of engineers at local companies. Again, this provided a crucial piece of "infrastructure" to the Valley, and was a forerunner of present internet courses.
His engagement with the Santa Clara Juvenile Hall in 1996 led him and his colleagues at SERA Learning to develop a successful program that teaches at-risk youth how to manage their anger and walk away from fights. SERA's "Skills for Managing Anger" course has since be used in 355 schools and juvenile justice applications across the country, including Columbine High School and NYC after 9 /11. It included new student centered teaching methods that Jim had developed for the Stanford Video program. Jim credits his wife Lynn who supported him in all his endeavors. He says: "She encouraged me to do things that would serve the needs of others." Avenidas is thrilled to celebrate Jim's amazing contributions and success."
The 2018 Lifetimes of Achievement honorees include Nancy Mueller, Dick Mansfield, Ellie Mansfield, Kristine Erving, John Erving, Christy Holloway and Jim Gibbons.
 
Excerpted from the Avenidas press release, "Avenidas Unveils Names of Community Contributors for the 2018 Avenidas Lifetime of Achievement Awards," February 12, 2018.

Anthropology and EE major Jack Andraka wins 2018 Truman Scholarship

As a Truman Scholar, Andraka intends to enter an Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health (MD/MPH) program specializing in global health.

Jack Andraka, a junior in anthropology and electrical engineering has been awarded the 2018 Truman Scholarship for Graduate Studies. He plans to put his training in engineering, anthropology and data science to work as a public health physician devoted to addressing global health inequities affecting citizens in low- and middle-income countries.
Jack is one of 59 exceptional college students chosen from across the nation for the scholarship, which provides up to $30,000 for graduate study – in the United States or abroad – to students who want to attend graduate school in preparation for a career in public service.
Andraka's honors thesis in anthropology focuses on Sierra Leone: Disease Dollars: An Ethnographic Study of Foreign Aid and Ebola in Sierra Leone. Andraka hopes to study how environmental contaminants violate the health and human rights of disadvantaged populations in the impoverished West African country.
He is also writing an honors thesis in electrical engineering, A Novel Paper Biosensor for the Detection of Infectious Diseases and Environmental Contaminants, which describes the sensors he developed that detect 20 different diseases or contaminants in five minutes at a cost of less than one cent.
As a Truman Scholar, Andraka intends to enter an MD/MPH (Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health) program specializing in global health.
"The MD degree would enable me to frame my engineering background within medicine and provide me with an appreciation for the clinical realities of working in global health," Andraka wrote in his Truman Scholarship application. "In doing so, I will be able to work with communities in clinical settings to better understand locally relevant issues and design programs to address them. The Master of Public Health degree, alongside my anthropology training, will provide me with a deep understanding of broader socioeconomic, environmental and political determinants of health."
Eventually, Andraka hopes to become a public health physician devoted to addressing the global health inequities in low- and middle-income countries, where life expectancy is 36 years lower than in high-income countries.
Please join us in congratulating Jack on his excellent achievement!
 
 
Excerpted from Stanford News, "Stanford junior wins 2018 Truman Scholarship for graduate studies," April 13, 2018.

North Surakitbovorn (PhD candidate) wins Student Paper Award

For his paper titled “Design of a GaN-Based Wireless Power Transfer System at 13.56MHz to Replace Conventional Wired Connection in Vehicle"

Congratulations to PhD candidate Kawin "North" Surakitbovorn! He received the Student Paper Award at the 2018 International Power Electronics Conference - ECCE Asia, IPEC-Niigata, 2018.
North presented his paper at the conference held in Niigata, Japan on May 23, 2018. Also attending were his advisor, Juan Rivas-Davila and fellow researchers from the SUPER Lab.
 
Please join us in congratulating North on his accomplishment!

EE emeritus listed in top 10 notable papers from the journal "Linear Algebra and its Applications”

Thomas Kailath’s “Linear complexity parallel algorithms for linear systems of equations with recursive structure,” was published in 1987.

Department News

A paper by Emeritus Professor Thomas Kailath and co-authors is included in the top 10 notable papers from the last 50 years of papers published in the journal "Linear Algebra and its Application (LAA)." LAA is published by Elsevier and was the first journal devoted to linear algebra.
Along with Thomas Kailath (Electrical Engineering), three more Stanford faculty have papers included in the notable papers list. Including Richard W. Cottle (Management Science and Engineering), George B. Dantzig (Operations Research and Computer Science), and G.H. Golub (Computer Science).
Please join us in congratulating Thomas Kailath along with all of the authors on their extraordinary contributions!
 
All of the notable papers are free to access, and are hosted in the Elsevier Mathematics Open Archive. The 10 notable papers are:
Complementary pivot theory of mathematical programming, Volume 1, Issue 1, January 1968, Pages 103-125, Richard W. Cottle, George B. Dantzig
On the Eneström-Kakeya theorem and its sharpness, Volume 28, December 1979, Pages 5-16, N. Anderson, E.B. Saff, R.S. Varga
A new look at the Lanczos algorithm for solving symmetric systems of linear equations, Volume 29, February 1980, Pages 323-346, B.N. Parlett
A generalization of the Eckart-Young-Mirsky matrix approximation theorem, Volumes 88–89, April 1987, Pages 317-327, G.H. Golub, Alan Hoffman, G.W. Stewart
Linear complexity parallel algorithms for linear systems of equations with recursive structure, Volumes 88–89, April 1987, Pages 271-315, I. Gohberg, T. Kailath, I. Koltracht, P. Lancaster
Scalings of matrices which have prespecified row sums and column sums via optimization, Volumes 114–115, March–April 1989, Pages 737-764, Uriel G. Rothblum, Hans Schneider
Pencils of complex and real symmetric and skew matrices, Volume 147, March 1991, Pages 323-371, Robert C. Thompson
Riemannian geometry and matrix geometric means, Volume 413, Issues 2–3, 1 March 2006, Pages 594-618, Rajendra Bhatia, John Holbrook
A constructive version of the Boyle–Handelman theorem on the spectra of nonnegative matrices, Volume 436, Issue 6, 15 March 2012, Pages 1701-1709, Thomas J. Laffey
Perron–Frobenius theorem for nonnegative multilinear forms and extensions, Volume 438, Issue 2, 15 January 2013, Pages 738-749, S. Friedland, S. Gaubert, L. Han
 
Additional Links:

Linear Algebra and its Applications Journal
LAA News, "Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Linear Algebra and its Applications," 2018.

Stanford Robotics Club participates in University Rover Challenge

The challenge simulates tasks future rovers might need to do on Mars.

The 2018 University Rover Challenge (URC) took place in at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, May 31 - June 2. Thirty-six teams from 10 countries participated in the annual event. Both graduate and undergraduate students make up the teams.
This is the first year that the Stanford Robotics Club has participated in the competition. The Stanford MARS Rover Team placed 34th, and is already making plans for the 2019 competition.
The URC required completion of the same tasks as in previous years: Sample Cache Task, Extreme Retrieval and Delivery Task, Equipment Servicing Task, and the Autonomous Traversal Task. Teams and their rovers were additionally challenged with harder versions of several tasks. The most exciting task of 2018 proved to be the Equipment Servicing Task, which featured a custom lander designed and built by a URC sponsor. Rovers were required to load a canister into the lander, and conduct a series of complex procedures required to "launch" this lander from Mars back to Earth.

The 2018 Stanford Robotics Mars Rover Team members are:

Shi Tuck - Sophomore in EE - Electrical systems
Christina (Tina) Li - Sophomore in CS - Drive Mechanical
Claire Huang - Sophomore in CS - Arm Mechanical
Michal Adamkiewicz - Sophomore in EE - Team Lead
Neil Movva - Junior in EE - Electrical systems
Freddy Dopfel - Graduate Student in MS&E
Julia Thompson - Freshmen in Chemistry and Mathematics - Science Analysis
Chandler Watson - Freshmen in CS - Team Lead
Thariq Ridha - Freshmen in CS - Drive Mechanical
Nick Lai - Sophomore in CS - Science Analysis
Marion Lepert - Senior in ME - Arm Mechanical
Rachel Gardner - Sophomore in CS - Software
Peter Maldonado - Freshmen in CS - Software
Victoria Tsai - Sophomore in CS - Software
Thomas White - Sophomore in AA - Drive Mechanical
Chaitanya Asawa - Senior in CS - Software

Congratulations to all the Mars Rover teams! 
Additional information
Stanford Robotics Club: roboticsclub.stanford.eduUniversity Rover Challenge (URC): urc.marssociety.org 
 
(Excerpted from http://urc.marssociety.org/home/urc-news/universityroverchallengetitlereturnstopoland)

Her research focuses on information theory and applications, and communications systems.

Professor of Electrical Engineering Ayfer Ozgur has won the 2018 Okawa Foundation Research Grant. The Research Grant Presentation Ceremony will occur in San Francisco in September.
The mission of the Okawa Foundation is promotion and development in the field of Information and Communications Technology through awards and research grants as well as efforts to nurture researchers, engineers, and providers. It also seeks to promote diversity and ubiquitousness of human communication and thereby contribute to the peace and prosperity of humankind.
 
Please join us in congratulating Ayfer for this well-deserved award!
 
Read more about the Okawa Foundation: www.okawa-foundation.or.jp/en/outline/index.html

The Electrical Engineering staff recognized this month for their outstanding effort are Julia Gillespie, Lauren Harris, Meo Kittiwanich, and Rachel Pham.
Each received nominations from peers, faculty and/or students who included descriptions of the staff member's professionalism that goes above and beyond their everyday roles. Staff gift card recipients make profound and positive impact in the department's everyday work and academic environment. Nomination link.
Please join us in acknowledging Julia, Lauren, Meo, and Rachel's extraordinary work!
 
Modified excerpts from their nominations follow.
Julia Gillespie, Faculty Administrator

"Julia puts a lot of thought and care into everything she does."
Our entire group has benefited from Julia's can-do spirit and competence.

Lauren Harris, Program Assistant

"She has done outstanding work this entire year – from leading a new grad student forum to producing visual designs."
Lauren always goes above and beyond!

Meo Kittiwanich, Degree Progress Officer

Meo is resourceful, and able to coordinate several tasks simultaneously.
"She works very well with students, helping them navigate program requirements with kindness and warmth."

Rachel Pham, Academic Affairs & Programs Administrator

Rachel is always on top of her work.
"She is creative and efficient and finds ways to improve work process for everyone's ease."

 
Please join us in congratulating them for their outstanding work!
The Staff Gift Card Bonus Program is sponsored by the School of Engineering. Each year, the EE department receives several gift cards to distribute to staff members who are recognized for going above and beyond their role. Each month, staff are chosen from nominations received from faculty, students, and staff. Past nominations are eligible for future months.
Nominate a deserving staff person or group today – nominate individuals or groups that have made a profound improvement in your daily work life. Each recipient receives a $50 Visa card. Nominations can be made at any time.
 

Her citation reads “For contributions to the fundamental understanding and innovation in adaptive and multiple antenna techniques for wireless communication networks.”

Professor Andrea Goldsmith has been awarded the 2019 Eric E. Sumner Award. Andrea is the Stephen Harris professor in the School of Engineering.
Professor Goldsmith's research is focused on the design, analysis, and fundamental performance limits of wireless systems and networks, as well as the application of communications and signal processing to biology and neuroscience.
Her IEEE citation reads "For contributions to the fundamental understanding and innovation in adaptive and multiple antenna techniques for wireless communication networks."
 
The IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1995.
It is named in honor of 1991 IEEE President Eric E. Sumner, who retired as Vice President, Operations Planning, AT&T Bell Laboratories after a long and distinguished career.
Please join us in congratulating Andrea for this well-deserved award!
Related news:

Andrea Goldsmith receives ACM Athena Lecturer Award​, April 2018
EE and CS Departments Host the 2017 Rising Stars Workshop, March 2018
Goldsmith Awarded UC Berkeley Distinguished EECS Alumni Award, February 2018

June 17th marked Electrical Engineering's 123rd commencement. Congratulations to all graduates and their families!

Department News

Samsung Professor in the School of Engineering and Chair of Electrical Engineering, Stephen Boyd opened the department's 123rd commencement on Sunday, June 17.
Welcoming families and friends, Stephen acknowledged their support and sacrifice and wished everyone a very happy Father's Day. A catered picnic lunch was available and refreshments were available after the awarding of diplomas.

The 2018 Design Award Recipients 
Professor Bob Dutton awarded six undergraduate students with the Student Design Project Awards. The capstone projects coalesce curriculum and allow students to innovate in novel ways.

Penelope Anema
Noa Glaser
Sarah Pao Radzihovsky
Kirill Safin
Anjali Majumdar
Samuel Stewart Johnson



2018 Centennial Teaching Assistant Award Recipients
Teaching Assistants and Course Assistants who excel in teaching are recognized by students and faculty. The centennial Award recognizes tremendous service and dedication in providing excellent classroom instruction. 

Sanghyeon Park
Rahul Trivedi 


2018 James F. Gibbons Award for Outstanding Student TeachingThe James F. Gibbons Award for Outstanding Student Teaching Award highlights students who have been nominated by faculty and peers for their extraordinary service as teaching assistants. We are deeply appreciative of the commitment to learning and sharing that our students display.

Alex Bertrand
Job Nalianya
Pin Pin Tea-mangkornpan



2018 Ford Scholar Award Students that are eligible for this award must have both a high GPA within the School of Engineering and also actively pursuing an advanced degree. Four undergraudate students are recognized this year, two of them are EE students.

Theo Diamandis
Logan Spear



Terman AwardThe Terman Award is presented to the top 5% of each senior class in the School of Engineering. We are pleased that 5 of our undergraduates received this recognition for their outstanding work.

Theo Diamandis
Logan Spear
Richard Mu
Georgia Murray
Akshay Rajagopal



Faculty awards included the 2017-18 Tau Beta Pi (TBP) Teaching Honor Roll and the Chair's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. The TBP Honor Roll recognizes engineering instructors for excellent teaching, commitment to students, and great mentoring.
Tau Beta Pi Teaching Honor Roll

Joe Kahn
Dwight Nishimura

Chair's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate EducationProfessor Roger Howe teaches one of our very popular undergraduate courses, "An Introduction to Making." He, his co-instructors, and the teaching staff lead a few hundred students in building a variety of interesting devices. Please join us in congratulating Roger!

Roger Howe



The 2018 Student Speaker was Richard Mu (B.S. '18). He fondly recalled late nights with fellow students in Packard, Gates, Allen, Huang, and Clark. He thanked staff, advisors, insructors, mentors, family and friends who nurture and make countless sacrifices of support. 
"The single name on a diploma belies the community that must come together for each one of us to graduate. On behalf of the class of 2018, thank you to everyone that has supported us on our journey through Stanford and for supporting us on the adventures to come. And until machine learning tells us otherwise, wear sunscreen. Thank you."  –Richard Mu (EE B.S. '18)


Congratulations to each and every one of the 2018 Electrical Engineering graduates!

Dwight Nishimura has won the ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) Gold Medal

His citation reads, “For pioneering innovations in angiography, fast imaging pulse sequences, image reconstruction, and MR education."

Professor Dwight G. Nishimura has received the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Gold Medal. This is the highest award of the ISMRM society.
His citation reads, "For pioneering innovations in angiography, fast imaging pulse sequences, image reconstruction, and MR education.
Dwight was honored at an award ceremony during the Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM–ESMRMB held in Paris, France in June.
 
The award presentation listed highlighted his contributions, including

Theme of coronary MR angiography
Spiral imaging
Tagging sequences
Spectral-spatial excitations
Non-contrast MRA

A professor of Electrical Engineering, Dwight is the Addie and Al Macovski Professor in the School of Engineering.
 
Please join us in congratulating Dwight for this well-deserved award!
 
Note: Professor Nishimura's Introduction begins at 28:35 minutes. Clicking the image below (or this link) will open the video in a new browser tab. Drag the timeline to 28:35.

Fan Lab & SUPERlab are one of three winners of NASA iTech’s 2018 Energy Cycle

Their project is titled, "Two C: Transportation Electrification through Ubiquitous Wireless Charging".

Congratulations to professors Jon Fan and Juan Rivas-Davila! Two of their researchers won the 2018 NASA iTech Forum. The event is a collaborative effort between NASA and the U.S. Department (DOE) of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to find and foster innovative solutions for critical energy challenges on Earth and in space.
The winning project was presented by Grayson Zulauf and Thaibao (Peter) Phan. Both are PhD candidates. Their collaborative project is developing technology for wireless charging of electric vehicles on Earth, and eventually, Mars. The researchers received invaluable feedback from NASA and DOE's ARPA-E leaders, as well as experts in the field of advanced energy technology.
"NASA is proud to provide a platform for innovators that exposes them to a cadre of industry experts who will be instrumental in the development of their technologies," said Kira Blackwell, NASA iTech program executive for STMD. "NASA's chief technologists and the U.S. Department of Energy's leading subject matter experts provided the teams with a better understanding of requirements for potential infusion of their technologies within a space environment."
Judges selected the top three innovations based on criteria including technical viability, the likely impact on future space exploration, benefits to humanity and commercialization potential. The teams representing the top three entries selected at the end of the forum received a trophy during the recognition ceremony on June 14.
"Our mission at ARPA-E is to change what's possible. We've been delighted to collaborate with NASA for the iTech challenge, to highlight and empower the people driving energy innovation across our country," said Conner Prochaska, senior advisor and chief of staff for ARPA-E. "We look forward to future collaborative opportunities with NASA so, together, we can continue to cultivate the next generation of energy technologies for Americans on the ground and in space."
"It was an honor for Citi to host 'Energy-Tech' thought leaders -- policy makers, academics, scientists, investors and innovators -- for NASA iTech challenge," said Jay Collins, vice chairman of Corporate and Investment Banking at Citi. "We were proud to work with NASA on such an important effort to move energy technology out of the lab and into scalnble solutions for the Moon, Mars and the planet Earth. Congratulations to the winners, whose technological leadership and entrepreneurialism made us all proud."
The top three winners of NASA iTech's 2018 Energy Cycle are listed in alphabetical order:

iFeather, Boulder, Colorado. In-situ Fabrication of Extraterrestrial Aerogels for Transparency, Heat, and Energy Regulation (iFEATHER) for Habitat, Aeronautic and Space Vessel, and Space Suit Applications. Focus area: Innovative Power Management and Distribution
Stanford University - Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford, California. Two C: Transportation Electrification through Ubiquitous Wireless Charging. Focus area: Innovative Power Management and Distribution
WBGlobalSemi, Inc., Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Commercializing High Power Silicon Carbide (SiC) Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) and Power Modules for Power Management and Distributed Power Applications. Focus area: Innovative Power Management and Distribution

 

Grayson Zulauf (third from left) is an EE PhD candidate. He is a researcher in the SUPERLab, directed by Professor Juan Rivas-Davila. the Fan Lab is directed by professor Jonathan Fan.
 

Watch 2018 NASA iTech Cycle II Energy Forum Winners video.
Excerpted from "NASA iTech Forum Showcases Innovators' Top Energy Solutions," June 18, 2018.

 
Congratulations Jon, Juan, Grayson and Peter!

Research by EE PhD candidates Geng, Liu, and Yin featured in NYT Tech article

Prof. Prabhakar’s team introduces ML technique that synchronizes computers within 100 billionths of a second.

Interdisciplinary research between professor Balaji Prabhakar, his team, and Google has produced a software clock synchronization system that can track time down to 100 billionths of a second.
The paper, presented at NSDI '18, describes a nanosecond-level clock synchronization that can be an enabler of a new spectrum of timing- and delay-critical applications in data centers.
The current, popular clock synchronization algorithm, NTP, can only achieve millisecond-level accuracy. Current solutions for achieving a synchronization accuracy of 10s-100s of nanoseconds require specially designed hardware throughout the network for combatting random network delays and component noise or to exploit clock synchronization inherent in Ethernet standards for the PHY.
The research team presents HUYGENS, named for the Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens, who invented the pendulum clock in 1656. HUYGENS is a software clock synchronization system that uses a synchronization network and leverages three key ideas. First, coded probes identify and reject impure probe data—data captured by probes which suffer queuing delays, random jitter, and NIC timestamp noise. HUYGENS then processes the purified data with Support Vector Machines, a widely-used and powerful classifier, to accurately estimate one-way propagation times and achieve clock synchronization to within 100 nanoseconds. Finally, HUYGENS exploits a natural network effect—the idea that a group of pair-wise synchronized clocks must be transitively synchronized— to detect and correct synchronization errors even further.
The importance of technical advances in measuring time was underscored by European regulations that went into effect in January and that require financial institutions to synchronize time-stamped trades with microsecond accuracy.
Being able to trade at the nanosecond level is vital to Nasdaq. Two years ago, it debuted the Nasdaq Financial Framework, a software system that it has envisioned eventually trading everything from stocks and bonds to fish and car-sharing rides.
The new synchronization system will make it possible for Nasdaq to offer "pop-up" electronic markets on short notice anywhere in the world, Mr. Prabhakar said. He cited the World Cup as a hypothetical example of a short-term electronic marketplace.
"There are tickets needed, housing, people will need transportation," he said. "Think of an electronic market almost like a massive flea market hosted by Nasdaq software."
The HUYGENS team is Yilong Geng (EE PhD candidate), Shiyu Liu (EE PhD candidate), and Zi Yin (EE PhD candidate), Ashish Naik (Google Inc.) EE professors Balaji Prabhakar and Mendel Rosenblum, and Amin Vahdat (Google Inc.)
 
Related Links (excerpted from)

The New York Times', "Time Split to the Nanosecond Is Precisely What Wall Street Wants," June 29, 2018.
Paper presented at NSDI '18, "Exploiting a Natural Network Effect for Scalable, Fine-grained Clock Synchronization".

Inaugural Linvill Distinguished Seminar on Electronic Systems Technology

Featured speaker Prof. Hennessy presents "The End of the Road for General Purpose Processors & the Future of Computing”. VIDEO AVAILABLE

Department News

March 2018 marked the Inaugural John G. Linvill Distinguished Seminar on Electronic Systems Technology. Founded by Professor Emeritus James Gibbons and Professor H.S.- Philip Wong, the intention of the Linvill Seminar is to encourage the exploration of future trajectories for electrical engineering.
John Linvill was a revered figure at Stanford as much for his self-effacing and unpretentious style as for his engineering foresight and his commitment to the entrepreneurial spirit. Linvill helped launch Stanford on a trajectory that would ensure Stanford's continuing leadership in electronics engineering for decades to come. These lectures have been created to help us explore our paths going forward, and to honor John Linvill's enormous legacy as both a faculty member and a department chairman, whose commitment to excellence at Stanford continues to be a model for us all.
Featured speaker, Professor and President Emeritus John L. Hennessy, presented "The End of the Road for General Purpose Processors & the Future of Computing". The inaugural Linvill presentation is available through the video below.
 

Abstract of "The End of the Road for General Purpose Processors & the Future of Computing" – After 40 years of remarkable progress in VLSI microprocessors, a variety of factors are combining to lead to a much slower rate of performance growth in the future. These limitations arise from three different areas: IC technology, architectural limitations, and changing applications and usage. The end of Dennard scaling and the slowdown in Moore's Law will require more efficient architectural approaches than we have relied on to date. Although progress on general-purpose processors may hit an asymptote, domain specific architectures may be one attractive path for important classes of problems.
Read more about John Linvill
Visit Stanford EE's YouTube Channel

John Hennessy to receive the Semiconductor Industry's Top Honor

He has been named the 2018 recipient of SIA’s Robert N. Noyce Award

Congratulations to President Emeritus and EE Professor John Hennessy. He has been named the 2018 recipient of the Semiconductor Industry Association's Robert N. Noyce Award. The annual award recognizes a leader who has made outstanding contributions to the semiconductor industry in technology or public policy.
"Throughout his outstanding and influential career spanning more than four decades, John Hennessy has helped move the semiconductor industry forward, leading efforts to advance semiconductor technology and train future generations of electrical engineers," said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "John literally wrote the book on computer architecture design and has spearheaded semiconductor research that has helped make our industry what it is today. On behalf of the SIA board of directors, it is an honor to announce John's selection as the 2018 Robert N. Noyce Award recipient in recognition of his exceptional accomplishments."
John co-developed an approach to computer architecture that came to be known as the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, which involved significantly fewer transistors. The simpler design led to faster speeds, lower costs and shorter design times.
John joined EE in 1977 as an assistant professor and rose through the academic ranks to become Stanford's 10th president, serving in that role from 2000 until his retirement in 2016. In February 2018, Dr. Hennessy was appointed chairman of Alphabet Inc., parent company of Google.
 
Please join us in congratulating John on this well-deserved recognition!
Related Links

SIA Press Release 
Hennessy delivers Inaugural Linvill Distinguished Seminar on Electronic Systems Technology
John Hennessy receives the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award, March 2018
Stanford News (excerpted from), “John Hennessy to receive the 2018 Robert N. Noyce Award”, August 1, 2018

For his work in advanced display hardware and display-specific rendering techniques.

Congratulations to professor Gordon Wetzstein! He has been presented with the Significant New Researcher Award for his work in advanced display hardware and display-specific rendering techniques.
Gordon develops displays that address a variety of perceptual challenges, including auto-stereoscopy, the elimination of vergence-accommodation conflict, and elimination of the need for observers with vision defects to wear corrective lenses.
His research has produced technology that corrects for myopia, hyperopia, or presbyopia. The Light Field Stereoscope, in 2015, presented a near-eye display technology that supports focus cues in virtual reality applications.
To utilize these display mechanisms, images are rendered with new algorithms that substantially increase image fidelity. The displays are not only designed, but also prototyped and tested. Indeed, several have been demonstrated in the SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies exhibit.
Gordon is author or coauthor of over 80 conference and journal publications in Transactions on Graphics and in journals and proceedings in the fields of computer graphics, optics, information display, computer vision, and computational photography. These publications include contributions that support advanced display techniques, such as virtual reality camera rigs and cameras that capture both depth and velocity.
Please join us in congratulating Gordon on this terrific acknowledgement!
 
Excerpted from siggraph.org's "2018 Significant New Researcher Award: Gordon Wetzstein"
 
Related Links

Gordon Wetzstein 2017 Electronic Imaging Scientist of the Year
Stanford researchers develop technique to see objects hidden around corners

PhD candidate, Julie Chang and team build hybrid optical-electrical computer

Designed specifically for image analysis, the hybrid is expected to be small and energy efficient.

The team, led by professor Gordon Wetzstein, is addressing the challenge of autonomous vehicles and aerial drones relying on large, energy intensive computers to process images. They have joined two types of computers: optical and electrical, to create a hybrid machine that can analyze images with far less computation and energy.
The result is profoundly fewer calculations, fewer calls to memory and far less time to complete the process. Having leapfrogged these preprocessing steps, the remaining analysis proceeds to the digital computer layer with a considerable head start.
"Millions of calculations are circumvented and it all happens at the speed of light," reports Gordon Wetzstein. "Some future version of our system would be especially useful in rapid decision-making applications, like autonomous vehicles."
In addition to shrinking the prototype, Wetzstein, Chang and colleagues at the Stanford Computational Imaging Lab are now looking at ways to make the optical component do even more of the preprocessing. Eventually, their smaller, faster technology could replace the trunk-size computers that now help cars, drones and other technologies learn to recognize the world around them.
 
Their work was published in Nature Scientific Reports, "Hybrid optical-electronic convolutional neural networks with optimized diffractive optics for image classification", in August.
Excerpted from The Stanford News, "Stanford engineers create new AI camera for faster, more efficient image classification", August 17, 2018
 

Congratulations to the four Electrical Engineering staff recognized this month for their outstanding effort! Included are Doug Chaffee, John DeSilva, Kenny Green and Kara Marquez.
Each of them received nominations from peers, faculty and/or students who included descriptions of the staff member's professionalism that goes above and beyond their everyday roles.
Staff gift card recipients make profound and positive impact in the department's everyday work and academic environment. Consider nominating a staff member today.
 
Join us in congratulating Doug, John, Kenny and Kara for their extraordinary work!
Modified excerpts from their nominations follow.
Doug Chaffee, Faculty Administrator

Doug is very friendly and helped me settle in. I appreciate his support with reimbursements, answering questions, and chatting!
"He's very helpful and prompt. He always makes sure everything runs smoothly."

John DeSilva, Systems and Network Manager

"John always has options to solve any problem –– and he always follows up on the status."
He has greatly improved our lab's productivity by upgrading our internet speed and adding new computers.

Kenny Green, Building Manager

He is a tremendous resource -– quickly solving problems and providing support.
"Kenny can be relied on to always have a solution, and he goes about everything in a calm and capable manner."

Kara Marquez, Faculty Administrator

"Kara's ability to really listen and understand what is needed is terrific. She keeps things moving forward."
She is always willing to help resolve unforeseen issues — which can be frustrating for her, but is greatly appreciated!

The Staff Gift Card Bonus Program is sponsored by the School of Engineering. Each year, the EE department receives several gift cards to distribute to staff members who are recognized for going above and beyond their role. Each month, staff are chosen from nominations received from faculty, students, and staff. Past nominations are eligible for future months.
 
Nominate a deserving staff person or group today – nominate individuals or groups that have made a profound improvement in your daily work life. Each recipient receives a $50 Visa card. Nominations can be made at any time.

The week long event was titled 'The First Annual Stanford-CUHKSZ Technology Innovation Forum'

Department News

Welcome back to our undergraduate and graduate students who participated in an inaugural week long joint forum with the University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen (CUHKCZ).
Stanford and CUHKSZ students visited several Chinese tech companies such as Huawei, Tencent, and DJI. Students also spent time together doing various activities, as well as collaborative projects. Their projects were created in a new maker space on campus, and were presented at the end of the week. Being in China's tech capitol gave Stanford students an opportunity to interact with the infrastructure afforded to people in Shenzhen. For example, touring Huaqiangbei (a massive electronics hub), where visitors are able to peruse hundreds of shops to select parts for current and future projects. Students report they had an amazing time experiencing Chinese culture and the growing tech industries in Shenzhen.
 

Students and faculty during an outing in Shenzhen, September 2018.

Her citation reads: "For contributions in the fundamental capacity limits of multihop wireless networks and energy-harvesting radios."

Ayfer Ozgur was recently selected to receive the Communication Theory Technical Committee (CTTC) Early Achievement Award for 2018. Her citation reads: "For contributions in the fundamental capacity limits of multihop wireless networks and energy-harvesting radios."
The CTTC Early Achievement Award recognizes members of the Communication Theory Technical Committee (CTTC) who have achieved early career visibility in the field through research and service and who have participated in the CTTC, and are within 10 years of their Ph.D.
Please join us in congratulating Ayfer on this well-deserved award!
 
Related News: 


June 2018, "Ozgur wins 2018 Okawa Foundation Research Grant,"

March 2018, "EE and CS Departments Host the 2017 Rising Stars Workshop"

 

The iCON award celebrates an event that has demonstrated excellence in innovation, content curation, community building, and financial stability and growth.

Congratulations to Professor Andrea Goldsmith and Santa Clara University Professor Katie Wilson (PhD '94).
As co-chairs of the IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (WCNC), they are recognized for their successful mission to incorporate diversity, the latest technologies, and both industrial and academic forums.
The IEEE WCNC event is the world premier wireless event to exchange ideas and information on the advancement of wireless communications and networking technology. The event brings together industry professionals, academics, and individuals from government agencies and other institutions to exchange information and ideas.
Held in San Francisco, IEEE WCNC 2017 featured a comprehensive technical program with numerous technical sessions showcasing the latest technologies, applications and services. In addition, the conference program includes workshops, tutorials, keynote talks from industrial leaders and renowned academics, panel discussions, a large exhibition, business and industrial forums. 


The award was accepted by co-chairs Andrea Goldsmith and Katie Wilson of Santa Clara University, whose outstanding leadership drove results for and led advancement for the conference's long-term goals. This event is exemplary of how future events can grow, evolve, and be representative of today's technology industry. The WCNC organizing committee included several Stanford alums who also participated as chairs for the technical, tutorial, workshop, and panel sessions.
 
 

Please join us in congratulating Andrea, Katie and the planning committee that helped make this event such a success!
Pictured are Professor Goldsmith and Professor Wilson, receiving the iCON Award, August 2018. 
 
Related Links

Read full press release, "ICON 2018 Award Winner: IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference (WCNC)" 
Conference website, 2017 IEEE Wireless Communications & Networking Conference

Researchers will explore new ways to detect photons, build bio-inspired circuits, develop light-based communication systems and more.

Professor Jelena Vuckovic has received NSF grants for two quantum research projects.
Many of today's technologies rely on the interaction of matter and energy at extremely small scales. Quantum mechanics studies nature at such scales -- at least a million times smaller than the width of a human hair -- allowing researchers to observe, manipulate and control the behavior of particles. Next-generation technologies for communication, computing and sensing will exploit interactions among particles in quantum systems, offering the promise of dramatic increases in accuracy and efficiency.
NSF-funded researchers will explore new ways to detect photons, build bio-inspired circuits, develop light-based communication systems and more. The new awards support multi-disciplinary research through two efforts: Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE)-Transformational Advances in Quantum Systems (TAQS) effort, and RAISE-Engineering Quantum Integrated Platforms for Quantum Communication (EQuIP) effort.
Some of the supported research teams will study new possibilities about the behavior of quantum states. Others will investigate new ways to stabilize quantum systems, making them more useful for technological applications. Both efforts support training of the future quantum workforce.
Jelena's projects are both within the RAISE-TAQS effort. RAISE-TAQS will support several projects for innovative approaches, experimental demonstrations and transformative advances that will help lead to systems and proof-of-concept validations in quantum sensing, communication, computing and simulations.
The NSF RAISE-TAQS effort is at the intersection of multiple disciplines and is designed to encourage scientists to pursue exploratory, cutting-edge concepts. It is meant to build a strong community of team participants who have demonstrated a readiness to examine a broad range of scientific and engineering topics related to quantum technologies.
Jelena is the Principal Investigator of "Engineering high quality, practical qubits in diamond". She is coordinating the research effort between Stanford, Harvard, and Virginia Tech.
Her second project is titled, "Inverting the design paradigm: Tunable qubits in hybrid photonic materials as a scalable platform for quantum photonic devices". She is the co-Principal Investigator.
 
Please join us in congratulating Jelena for this outstanding achievement.
 
 
 
 
Excerpted from the National Science Foundation Press Release, "NSF Announces new awards for quantum research, technologies", September 24, 2018.

Joe Goodman named honorary member of Optical Society of America

Emeritus professor, former chair, & acting dean was named an honorary member of the Optical Society of America for seminal contributions to the field of optics.

The Optical Society (OSA) has named Joseph W. Goodman, emeritus professor, the 2018 Honorary Member of The Optical Society. Honorary Membership is the most distinguished of all OSA Member categories, bestowed on individuals who have made seminal contributions to the field of optics as determined by unanimous vote of the OSA Board of Directors.
Dr. Goodman is honored for fundamental contributions in the fields of Fourier Optics and Optical Information Processing through his research, teaching and classic textbooks.
"Joe Goodman's pioneering work in holography, Fourier optics, and optical information processing produced the defining textbooks on these topics," said OSA President Ian Walmsley. "He has made outstanding contributions to OSA and our community. It is my great pleasure to welcome Joe into this group of distinguished OSA Members."
Dr. Goodman received an A.B. Degree in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1958, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1960 and 1963, respectively. He has held several positions at Stanford including, William E. Ayer Professor of Electrical Engineering, Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Senior Associate Dean in the School of Engineering.
Since retiring from Stanford in 2000, Dr. Goodman has devoted time to philanthropic activities, including administering the J.W. and H.M. Goodman Family Charitable Foundation. In 2005, he and his wife, Hon Mai Goodman, endowed a book-writing prize, the Goodman Book Writing Award, which recognizes a recent and influential book in the field of optics and photonics. The award is co-sponsored by OSA and SPIE.
Goodman has held numerous leadership positions in the optics community. He was the 1988-1990 President of the International Commission for Optics (ICO). He has served OSA as a traveling lecturer, technical group leader, conference organizer, journal editor, Board of Directors member and 1992 President. He also served as a director of several corporations, including Optivision, Inc., where he was a co-founder, ONI Systems and E-TEK Dynamics.
Dr. Goodman is a Fellow of OSA, IEEE, and SPIE. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including OSA's Frederic Ives Medal / Jarus W. Quinn Prize, Max Born Award, Esther Hoffman Beller Medal and Emmett Leith Award. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1987, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.
 
Please join us in congratulating Joe on this wonderful recognition!
Source: www.osa.org, "Joseph W. Goodman Named 2018 Honorary Member of The Optical Society", September 2018.

Small changes in commute routines could reduce the negative effects of congestion.

Professor Balaji Prabhakar researches traffic and routes and how a nudge can help us better manage our commute. Stanford Radio host Russ Altman speaks with Balaji on "The Future of Everything". 
While well-known mapping apps have transformed the daily commute through better information, Balaji Prabhakar is exploring ways to digitally incentivize people to improve their driving habits.
He calls it "nudging," and says that small shifts in commute times — just 20 minutes earlier or later — can make a considerable impact on the day's congestion in highly trafficked urban areas, like San Francisco.
A few years ago, Prabhakar made headlines with a Stanford-only study that used small monetary incentives backed by larger lottery-like rewards to reduce peak-hour commuting on campus. He later undertook a similar but much larger effort in Singapore to promote off-peak train travel. In four years, participation in Singapore grew from 20,000 to 400,000 users.
Listen to the Stanford Radio, "Nudging your Commute with guest Balaji Prabhakar"

Excerpted from the School of Engineering, Research & Ideas, "Balaji Prabhakar: Can digital incentives help alleviate traffic?" October 2018. 
Related News
"Research by EE PhD candidates Geng, Liu, and Yin featured in NYT Tech article", July 2018.
"Balaji Prabhakar has been named ACM Fellow", December 2017.

Congratulations to Dan and Shan on their well-deserved recognition.

Dan Boneh has been named the inaugural holder of the Cryptography Professorship.
Shan Wang has been appointed the fifth holder of the Leland T. Edwards Professorship.
 
Dan joined the Stanford faculty in 1997 and has become one of the world's leading authorities on cryptography, encryption, cybersecurity, and most recently, blockchain. He also co-directs Stanford's cross-disciplinary Cyber Initiative. Dan is known by his colleagues as an extraordinary scholar who brings deep mathematical insight to his practice, while at the same time doing work that is transforming the industry. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and a recipient of the ACM Prize in Computing.Dan's students describe him as an educator who is not only inspiring, but encouraging, fun, and humble at the same time.
Shan's work is remarkable both for its impact on society and for the way it captures the imagination of students and other faculty across a variety of areas. His current research explores the use of nano-sensors to detect cancer and other diseases, and he is also a leader in the field of information storage technologies. A few years ago, a group of his graduate students came up with a lab motto — "Make magnetics work for humankind, not vice versa!" — which Shan said was in part the students' tongue-in-cheek rebellion against their workload, and in part a pledge to focus on practical applications of their research. There's no question that Shan's work is having an extraordinary impact across a range of fields.
Previous holders of the professorship include Jens Nørskov, James Swartz, and Calvin Quate.
 
Please join us in congratulating Dan and Shan on their well-deserved appointments!
 
 
Read the "Report of the president: Appointments and promotions", October 18, 2018
 

Tom Kailath receives NAE's 2018 Simon Ramo Founders Award

His citation reads, “for pioneering contributions to diverse fields of electrical engineering and for leadership in technology commercialization and in engineering education, guiding a stellar array of young scholars”.

Professor emeritus Thomas Kailath was awarded the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Simon Ramo Founders Award. "For pioneering contributions to diverse fields of electrical engineering and for leadership in technology commercialization and in engineering education, guiding a stellar array of young scholars". The award ceremony was held during NAE's annual meeting.
Tom's acceptance remarks acknowledged his discovery of Simon Ramo and John Whinnery's 1944 textbook, Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics.
The Simon Ramo Founders Award recognizes achievement and is the most pretigious award from NAE. The Founders Award was established in 1965 by the Academy to honor an outstanding NAE member or foreign member who has upheld the ideals and principles of the NAE through professional, educational, and personal achievement and accomplishment. In 2013, the award was renamed after SImon Ramo, who was at the time the only surviving founding member of the NAE. He was a member of a committee of 25 that in 1964 advocated for establishing the National Academy of Engineering, which operates under the same congressional charter that governs the National Academy of Sciences.
 
Tom Kailath's acceptance remarks are available on the 2018 Simon Ramo Founders Award Acceptance Remarks page.
 
Please join us in congratulating Tom on this outstanding accomplishment!

A bulletin of ACM members whose personal and professional stories are a source of inspiration for the larger computing community.

Andrea Goldsmith is the Stephen Harris professor in the School of Engineering and professor of EE. Goldsmith is featured in an October 'People of ACM – Andrea Goldsmith' — a bulletin that features ACM members whose unique scientific accomplishments and compelling personal attributes are making a difference in advancing computing as a science and a profession.
The bulletin details how she became interested in engineering and communications networks, and the future challenges of wireless communications.
In 2018, Goldsmith received several awards and recognitions. Including the

IEEE iCON Award - read EE News article
2019 IEEE Sumner Award - read EE News article
2018-19 Athena Lecturer Award- read EE News article
2018 Berkeley EECS Distinguished Alumni Award - read EE NEws article

Andrea's research is focused on the design, analysis, and fundamental performance limits of wireless systems and networks, as well as the application of communications and signal processing to biology and neuroscience.
Andrea also serves on Stanford's Budget Group, Academic Council Advisory Board, Faculty Senate, and Faculty Women's Forum Steering Committee. She previously served as Chair of Stanford's Faculty Senate and as a member of its Commissions on Graduate Education and on Undergraduate Education, as well as its Task Force on Women and Leadership.
 
Please join us in congratulating Andrea!

Dianmin Lin (EE PhD ’16) and team develop tiny light detectors that work like gecko ears

Published in Nature Nanotechnology, their research paper is titled, "Subwavelength angle-sensing photodetectors inspired by directional hearing”.

Published in Nature Nanotechnology, the team's research is also featured in the Stanford News. By structuring nanowires in a way that mimics geckos' ears, this team has found a way to record the incoming angle of light. This technology could have applications in robotic vision, photography and augmented reality.
"The typical way to determine the direction of light is by using a lens. But those are big and there's no comparable mechanisms when you shrink a device so it's smaller than most bacteria," states co-author and EE professor Shanhui Fan.
More detailed light detection could support advances in lens-less cameras, augmented reality and robotic vision, which is important for autonomous cars.
A long-term commitment This project began when co-author Dr. Zongfu Yu (EE postdoc & research associate '09-'13), was a student in Shanhui Fan's lab and took the initiative to combine his work there with research by Mark Brongersma and his lab. They made progress but had to put the work on hold while Yu applied for faculty positions and, subsequently, established his lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is now an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and in whose lab Soongyu Yi works.
Many years later, and after publishing the current proof-of-concept, the researchers said they look forward to building on their results. Next steps include deciding what else they might want to measure from light and putting several nanowires side-by-side to see if they can build an entire imaging system that records all the details they're interested in at once.
"We've worked on this for a long time – Zongfu has had a whole life story between the start and end of this project! It shows that we haven't compromised on quality," Professor Brongersma said. "And it's fun to think that we might be here for another 20 years figuring out all the potential of this system."
 
Congratulations to all the authors!
Authors include: Soongyu Yi; Ming Zhou; Zongfu Yu; Pengyu Fan; Nader Behdad; Dianmin Lin (PhD, '16); Ken Xingze Wang; Shanhui Fan; Mark Brongersma. Abstract: Sensing the direction of sounds gives animals clear evolutionary advantage. For large animals, with an ear-to-ear spacing that exceeds audible sound wavelengths, directional sensing is simply accomplished by recognizing the intensity and time differences of a wave impinging on its two ears. Recent research suggests that in smaller, subwavelength animals, angle sensing can instead rely on a coherent coupling of soundwaves between the two ears. Inspired by this natural design, here we show a subwavelength photodetection pixel that can measure both the intensity and incident angle of light. It relies on an electrical isolation and optical coupling of two closely spaced Si nanowires that support optical Mie resonances. When these resonators scatter light into the same free-space optical modes, a non-Hermitian coupling results that affords highly sensitive angle determination. By straightforward photocurrent measurements, we can independently quantify the stored optical energy in each nanowire and relate the difference in the stored energy between the wires to the incident angle of a light wave. We exploit this effect to fabricate a subwavelength angle-sensitive pixel with angular sensitivity, δθ = 0.32°. Source, Nature Nanotechnology.
Paper link www.nature.com/articles/s41565-018-0278-9
Related Links:

Stanford News, "Stanford engineers develop tiny light detectors that work like gecko ears", October 29, 2018.
"Dianmin Lin (PhD '16) awarded the 2017 QEP Doctoral Research Prize", June 2017.

What was a fascinating theoretical problem has been launched, and is proving to have a positive impact.

Professor Dan Boneh is the Rajeev Motwani Professor in the School of Engineering and head of the Applied Cryptography Group. He and advisee, PhD candidate Henry Corrigan-Gibbs, developed a system called 'Prio.' Their data privacy system aims to allow data collection to be strictly device data, not personal data.
Many internet-enabled devices need to know how people use their products in order to make them better. But when faced with the request to send information about a computer error back to the developers, many of us are inclined to say "No," just in case that information is too personal.
The Applied Cryptography Group, has developed a new system for preserving privacy during data collection from the internet. Their technique emphasizes maintaining personal privacy.
"We have an increasing number of devices – in our lightbulbs, in our cars, in our toasters – that are collecting personal data and sending it back to the device's manufacturer. More of these devices means more sensitive data floating around, so the problem of privacy becomes more important," said Henry Corrigan-Gibbs, a graduate student in computer science who co-developed this system. "This type of system is a way to collect aggregate usage statistics without collecting individual user data in the clear."
Their system, called Prio, works by breaking up and obscuring individual information through a technique known as "secret sharing" and only allowing for the collection of aggregate reports. So, an individual's information is never reported in any decipherable form.
Prio is currently being tested by Mozilla in a version of Firefox called Nightly, which includes features Mozilla is still testing. On Nightly, Prio ran in parallel to the current remote data collection (telemetry) system for six weeks, gathering over 3 million data values. There was one glitch but once that was fixed, Prio's results exactly matched the results from the current system.
 
"This is rare example of a new privacy technology that is getting deployed in the real world," reports Dan, "It is really exciting to see this put to use."
 
Excerpted from Stanford News, "Stanford researchers develop new data privacy technique" November 1, 2018.
Related News:

Boneh & Wang receive Endowed Professorships
Cyber Initiative tackles pressing issues in cybersecurity, governance and the future of work
Stanford Radio: Blockchain and Cryptocurrency with guest Dan Boneh.


 

Shanhui Fan and team are creating a device that is a solar harvester on top and radiative cooler on the bottom.

The device is a solar harvester on top and radiative cooler on the bottom. Shanhui Fan says the goal is to figure out how to make solar cells more efficient so it's easier for the two technologies to share roof space. Fan states, "We think we can build a practical device that does both things."
The team's article, "Simultaneously and Synergistically Harvest Energy from the Sun and Outer Space", was published November 8, in Joule. It describes how their device is able to simultaneously harvest energy from the sun, and dispel heat from the building, addressing two of the most sought after energy needs.
The sun-facing layer of the device is nothing new. It's made of the same semiconductor materials that have long adorned rooftops to convert visible light into electricity. The novelty lies in the device's bottom layer, which is based on materials that can beam heat away from the roof and into space through a process known as radiative cooling.
In radiative cooling, objects – including our own bodies – shed heat by radiating infrared light. That's the invisible light night-vision goggles detect. Normally this form of cooling doesn't work well for something like a building because Earth's atmosphere acts like a thick blanket and traps the majority of the heat near the building rather allowing it to escape, ultimately into the vast coldness of space. Fan's cooling technology takes advantage of the fact that this thick atmospheric blanket essentially has holes in it that allow a particular wavelength of infrared light to pass directly into space. In previous work, Fan had developed materials that can convert heat radiating off a building into the particular infrared wavelength that can pass directly through the atmosphere. These materials release heat into space and could save energy that would have been needed to air-condition a building's interior. That same material is what Fan placed under the standard solar layer in his new device.
The researchers believe they can build a device that is able to both harvest solar and create The team is now designing solar cells that work without metal liners to couple with the radiative cooling layer.
...Stay tuned!

 
Read article from the theverge.com 
Excerpts from Stanford News, Stanford researchers develop a rooftop device that can make solar power and cool buildings, November 2018.

Pop Research Group explores Control of Heat Transfer at the Nanoscale

The thermal transistor could help conduct heat away from delicate electronic components and also insulate them against chip and circuit failure.

Researchers from the Pop Lab, with help from UC Davis researchers, published an article about electrochemically-driven nanoscale thermal regulators.
The paper's abstract states, "the ability to actively regulate heat flow at the nanoscale could be a game changer for applications in thermal management and energy harvesting. Such a breakthrough could also enable the control of heat flow using thermal circuits, in a manner analogous to electronic circuits. Here we demonstrate switchable thermal transistors with an order of magnitude thermal on/off ratio, based on reversible electrochemical lithium intercalation in MoS2 thin films."
In order to make this heat-conducting semiconductor into a transistor-like switch, the researchers bathed the material in a liquid with lots of lithium ions. When a small electrical current is applied to the system, the lithium atoms begin to infuse into the layers of the crystal, changing its heat-conducting characteristics. As the lithium concentration increases, the thermal transistor switches off. Working with Davide Donadio's group at the University of California, Davis, the researchers discovered that this happens because the lithium ions push apart the atoms of the crystal. This makes it harder for the heat to get through.
The researchers envision that thermal transistors connected to computer chips would switch on and off to help limit the heat damage in sensitive electronic devices.
Besides enabling dynamic heat control, the team's results provide new insights into what causes lithium ion batteries to fail. As the porous materials in a battery are infused with lithium, they impede the flow of heat and can cause temperatures to shoot up. Thinking about this process is crucial to designing safer batteries.
In a more distant future the researchers imagine that thermal transistors could be arranged in circuits to compute using heat logic, much as semiconductor transistors compute using electricity. But while excited by the potential to control heat at the nanoscale, the researchers say this technology is comparable to where the first electronic transistors were some 70 years ago, when even the inventors couldn't fully envision what they had made possible.
Excerpted from "How can we design electronic devices that don't overheat?" Nov 9, 2018.
 
Related Links


Pop Lab creates prototype chip 3 atoms thick
Molybdenum-Disulfide 2D Transistors Go Ballistic
Read Nature Communications article, "An electrochemical thermal transistor", October 30, 2018. 

She is being recognized for contributions to experimental nano and quantum photonics.

Please join us in congratulating Jelena Vuckovic on her elevation to IEEE Fellow. She is being recognized for contributions to experimental nano and quantum photonics. The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields. Jelena received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2006, the Humboldt Prize in 2010, and the Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship in 2013. In addition to her research activities, she helped to organize, and participated, in the 2017 Rising Stars in EECS Academic Conference.
Jelena leads the Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab. She is also a faculty member of the Ginzton Lab, PULSE Institute, SIMES Institute, and Bio-X. Jelena is a member of the scientific advisory board of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics - MPQ (in Munich, Germany), and of the scientific advisory board of the Ferdinand Braun Institute (in Berlin, Germany). Currently, she is also an Associate Editor of ACS Photonics, and a member of the editorial advisory board of Nature Quantum Information. Her research areas include • nanophotonics, quantum information, quantum technology, quantum optics, Integrated quantum photonics, photonics inverse design, nonlinear optics, optoelectronics, cavity QED.
 
Please join us in congratulating Jelena on her well-deserved recognition!
 
Related Links 

Vuckovic receives two NSF Grants for Quantum Research
Vučković and team demonstrate practical approach to making a quantum chip

Please join us in congratulating the Electrical Engineering staff recognized for their outstanding effort – Vickie Carillo, Steven Clark, Ann Guerra, Kara Marquez, and LaToya Powell.
Each of them received nominations from peers, faculty and/or students who included descriptions of the staff member's professionalism that goes above and beyond their everyday roles. Staff gift card recipients make profound and positive impact in the department's everyday work and academic environment. Nomination link.
Please join us in acknowledging the extraordinary work being done by Vickie, Steven, Ann, Kara, and LaToya!Modified excerpts from their nominations follow.
Vickie Carillo, Administrative Associate• "Vickie is always behind the scenes, making sure everything is organized and taken care of."• She is one of the reasons our department runs so smoothly!
Steven Clark, Instructional Labs Manager• "Steve brings enthusiasm and fun into being part of EE."• He gives great options to students, and is terrific to have his help prepping labs.
Ann Guerra, Faculty Administrator• "Ann is very welcoming and efficient. She's a great resource to have!"• She handles complicated matters quickly, without errors and is always professional.
Kara Marquez, Faculty Administrator• "Kara's awesome; I feel lucky to work with her!"• She takes care of a myriad of tasks—from booking international travel to buying equipment and remodeling!
LaToya Powell, Graduate Admissions Officer• "Even during her busiest times, LaToya is gracious and helpful, always giving her fullest effort."• She thinks beyond the status quo – helping to shape the department for a successful future.
Please join us in congratulating each of them for their outstanding work!
The Staff Gift Card Bonus Program is sponsored by the School of Engineering. Each year, the EE department receives several gift cards to distribute to staff members who are recognized for going above and beyond their role. Staff are chosen from nominations received from faculty, students, and staff. Past nominations are eligible for future months.
Nominate a deserving staff person or group today – nominate individuals or groups that have made a profound improvement in your daily work life. Each recipient receives a $50 Visa card. Nominations can be made at any time.
 
 

He is being recognized for contributions to reinforcement learning and approximate dynamic programming.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Benjamin Van Roy on his elevation to IEEE Fellow. He is being recognized for contributions to reinforcement learning and approximate dynamic programming. The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields. Recently, Ben received the Stanford Management Science and Engineering Graduate Teaching Award, and the Stanford Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He also received the NSF CAREER Award in 2000.
Ben's research focuses on understanding how an agent interacting with a poorly understood environment can learn over time to make effective decisions. He is interested in the design of efficient reinforcement learning algorithms and stochastic control. He also leads the DeepMind Research team in Mountain View, and has led research programs at Unica (acquired by IBM), Enuvis (acquired by SiRF), and Morgan Stanley.
 
Please join us in congratulating Ben on his well-deserved recognition!
 
Related Links

EE News, "Professor Benjamin Van Roy named INFORMS Fellow," November 2015.

Recognizing Jennifer’s research in data management and analysis, the prize honors the most influential woman in science each year.

Congratulations to Professor Jennifer Widom for receiving the 2018 Erna Hamburger Prize from the EPFL-WISH Foundation. The award acknowledges her significant contributions and research in data management and analysis. Award honorees are celebrated for their dedication to informing, educating and motivating other women in science. Jennifer is the Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the School of Engineering, and a staunch advocate of education for all, which she supports through MOOCs and by taking her teaching to other parts of the world.
Prior to becoming Dean, she visited 15 countries – including Bangladesh, Chile, India, Tanzania and Nigeria – for an "instructional odyssey." She gave short courses and workshops at universities and other institutions in her areas of expertise: big data, design thinking and collaborative problem solving.
"I commend the EPFL-WISH Foundation for creating the Erna Hamburger prize to honor women in science and humanities," said Professor Widom. "Professor Hamburger is an inspiration. I'm flattered and humbled to join the truly distinguished list of recipients of the prize in her name."
EGFL-WISH Foundation established the Erna Hamburger Prize in 2006 in honor of the first female professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
 
Please join us in congratulating Jennifer on this meaningful honor!
 
 
Excerpted from Stanford's "Dean Jennifer Widom receives the 2018 Erna Hamburger Prize", December 12, 2018 and EPFL's "A MOOC pioneer honored at EPFL" August 8, 2018.