EECS News for 2015 |
Stephen Forrest - The End of Moore's Law: Are We Facing the Creation or the Apocalypse? At long last, Moores Law is inevitably reaching its end. Nothing continues in an exponential fashion forever, and the same goes for the miniaturization of transistors that has led to this computational explosion. In his distinguished faculty lecture, Stephen Forrest, Paul G. Goebel Collegiate Professor of Engineering, discusses this trend and what it means for industry and the economy. [Full Story] ECE Celebrates Diwali ECE continued its new tradition of celebrating the different cultures of its student body with a celebration of Diwali on November 13. The event included Indian music, dance, cuisine, and other Diwali traditions. [Full Story] Chillin with Chewie Are you hyped up for The Force Awakens? So is U-M Engineering to celebrate, faculty have been bringing in some familiar faces to talk Star Wars tech and get down with a holiday rap from Dean Munson. [Full Story] Demosthenis Teneketzis Earns George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award for Solution to a Class of Fundamental Control Problems Prof. Demosthenis Teneketzis has been awarded the IEEE Control Systems Society's George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award for his paper Decentralized Stochastic Control with Partial History Sharing: A Common Information Approach. The paper presents a new methodology that achieves the optimal solution of a very broad class of previously unsolved stochastic control problems. [Full Story] The 'skyscraper chip' that could boost the power of computers by a THOUSAND This arrticle highlights the called Nano-Engineered Computing Systems Technology (N3XT) project, a carbon nanotube transistor based stacked mricochip architecture under development by researchers at Stanford, Michigan, CMU, and UC Berkeley, including Prof. Igor Markov. [Full Story] ECE Spinoff Xtera Communications Sets Terms for IPO Xtera Communications, founded by Prof. Mohammed Islam, went public in November. Xtera is a leading provider of high-capacity, cost-effective optical transport solutions, supporting the high growth in global demand for bandwidth. The company sells its high-capacity optical transport solutions to telecommunications service providers, content service providers, enterprises and government entities worldwide to support their deployments of long-haul terrestrial and submarine optical cable networks. [Full Story] How someday robots may run to the rescue -- literally Prof. Jessy Grizzle Grizzle, along with a group of robotics engineers and students at U-M, is not only working to develop algorithms -- self-contained, step-by-step operations -- to be performed by walking robots, he's working to revolutionize them. [Full Story] Michigan Researchers Win the 2016 Applied Networking Research Prize A team of researchers, including CSE graduate students Zakir Durumeric, David Adrian, James Kasten, CS student Ariana Mirian, and Prof. J. Alex Halderman have received The Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) for their paper, "Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor MITM... An Empirical Analysis of Email Delivery Security". The Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) recognizes the best new ideas in networking. [Full Story] How computers are getting better at detecting liars This article highlights the lie-detecting software that was created by Prof. Rada Mihalcea. Using videos from high-stakes court cases, the researchers have built a lie-detecting software database that uses a persons words and gestures to detect behavioral patterns that may be out of the norm. [Full Story] New Lie-Detecting Software from U-M uses Real Court Case Data By studying videos from high-stakes court cases, Prof. Rada Mihalcea and Prof. Mihai Burzo (UM Flint) are building unique lie-detecting software based on real-world data. Their prototype considers both the speaker's words and gestures, and unlike a polygraph, it doesn't need to touch the subject in order to work. [Full Story] Mapping the brain: Probes with tiny LEDs shed light on neural pathways With the help of light-emitting diodes as small as neurons, University of Michigan researchers are unlocking the secrets of neural pathways in the brain. The researchers have built and tested in mice neural probes that hold what are believed to be the smallest implantable LEDs ever made. The new probes can control and record the activity of many individual neurons, measuring how changes in the activity of a single neuron can affect its neighbors. The team anticipates that experiments using probes based on their design could lead to breakthroughs in understanding and treating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. [Full Story] New software analyses words, gestures to detect lies This Economic Times article highlights Prof. Rada Mihalceas research. She is developing a unique lie-detecting software that considers both the speaker's words and gestures, and unlike a polygraph, does not need to touch the subject in order to work. By studying videos from high-stakes court cases she is building the lie-detecting software based on real-world data. [Full Story] Dragomir Radev Named ACM Fellow for Contributions to Natural Language Processing and Computational Linguistics Prof. Dragomir Radev has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions to natural language processing and computational linguistics. Prof. Radev is a leader in the field of computational linguistics, which leverages techniques from computer science and linguistics and is concerned with the computational aspects of the human language faculty. [Full Story] Parag Deotare: New Faculty Member with a Nanophotonics Focus Parag Deotare is joining the department as a new faculty member January 2016. He one of four new faculty that we are excited to welcome to Michigan in the coming year. His research interest lies in light-matter interaction in nanoscale systems for the development of low energy photonic and excitonic devices, for applications in data communication and life sciences. [Full Story] A Search Engine for the Internets Dirty Secrets This MIT Technology Review article highlights a new search engine called Censys, which aims to help security researchers find specific hosts and create aggregate reports by tracking all the devices hooked up to it. Data is harvested through the software ZMap and the researchers are trying to maintain a complete database of everything on the Internet. The open-sourced project is led by CSE graduate student Zakir Durumeric. [Full Story] Alumnus Nam Sung Kim Elected IEEE Fellow for Contributions to Circuits and Architectures for Power-Efficient Microprocessors Nam Sung Kim (PhD CSE 04), an associate professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has been named an IEEE Fellow, Class of 2016, for contributions to circuits and architectures for power-efficient microprocessors," which is a high honor for an associate professor. While at the University of Michigan, Kim was advised by Prof. Trevor Mudge. [Full Story] Celebrating Maxwell's Equations: 150 Years A special celebration took place on November 20 that brought over 100 attendees together to commemorate the anniversary of James Clerk Maxwell's foundational treatise on light and electromagnetism. Titled Celebrating Maxwell's Equations: 150 Years," the event brought together students, researchers, and industry experts from around the nation to enjoy keynote talks, project demonstrations, and open discussion with a panel of experts. [Full Story] Why medical devices are so hard to secure In this article, Prof. Kevin Fu addresses the security of medical devices. Many of the aging medical devices still in wide use in hospitals across the U.S. were built without much consideration for security controls. [Full Story] Medical device security? Forget hackers, think 'hand-washing' In this article, Prof. Kevin Fu talks about the potentially dangerous faults in implants and bedside devices. Fu states, if you're using this old software, these old operating systems, you're vulnerable to all that malware that garden-variety malware that has been out in the wild for more than 10 years. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Project - Supplemental InformationCourse No.: EECS 498-006 and EECS 498-007 Could hackers break my heart via my pacemaker? This BBC article highlights Prof. Kevin Fu's first peer-reviewed paper describing an attack on a heart device. Fu and his team made a combination pacemaker and defibrillator deliver electric shocks, a potentially fatal hack had the device been in a patient rather than a computing lab. The article addresses the publics concern about the security of pacemakers. [Full Story] Researchers Receive NSF/Intel Award to Develop Visual Recognition System for Wearable Devices A team of researchers including Profs. Jia Deng (PI), Jason Mars, Kevin Pipe, Lingjia Tang, Thomas Wenisch and CSE Chair Marios Papaefthymiou have been awarded a $1.4M joint NSF and Intel grant for their research project, Large-Scale Visual Recognition: From Cloud Data Centers to Wearable Devices. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Multidisciplinary Capstone (MDE) Design PilotCourse No.: EECS 498 Smarter renewable power: six innovations Innovations are helping renewable energy become more accessible, powerful and effective. Among these are solar cells inspired by ancient Japanese paper cutting. Using this technique allows the cells to flex and track the sun for increased effieciency. The concept was developed in part by Prof. Stephen Forrest, working with prof. Max Shtein in MSE and Matt Shlian in U-M Art and Design. [Full Story] Al Hero Receives 2015 IEEE Signal Processing Society Award Alfred Hero, R. Jamison and Betty Williams Professor of Engineering, has received the 2015 IEEE Signal Processing Society Award, for contributions to the field of statistical signal and image processing and for sustained service to the Society. This is ahe highest award given by the Signal Processing Society, and honors outstanding technical contributions in the field, as well as outstanding leadership. [Full Story] 2015 CSE Graduate Student Honors Competition Highlights Outstanding Research Biruk Mammo was the winner of the 2015 CSE Graduate Student Honors Competition. The competition culminated on November 23, when four finalists presented on an area of their research, with a panel of CSE faculty and industry sponsors from Northrop Grumman ranking the presentations. [Full Story] Irma Wyman (1928-2015), Alumna and Pioneer of Women in Engineering, Passed Away Irma Wyman (BSE EngMath 49) passed away on Tuesday, November 17, 2015. Irma was a pioneer in the field of computers, beginning with her work on some of the earliest programmable machines ever made. As the first female vice president at Honeywell, she knew success - but she also knew firsthand how rare she was to succeed in a field where women were scarce. She became a strong advocate for equal opportunity for women, and established the Irma M. Wyman Scholarship at the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women. The scholarship supports women in engineering, computer science, and related fields. Irma passed away on Tuesday, November 17, 2015. [Read more about Irma Wyman's work and experiences.] [Full Story] Alumnus Benson Yeh Earns Overall 1st Place at Reimagine Education Awards for First Chinese MOOC Prof. Benson Yeh (PhD EE:S 05) of the National Taiwan University competed in the 2014 Wharton-QS Stars: Reimagine Education Awards, earning a 1st Place Overall Award and E-Learning Award. Yeh's group created a multi-student social gaming platform called PaGamO, the first ever MOOC made in Chinese. This platform allows thousands of students to compete on the same map by occupying territory through problem solving. [Full Story] Creating a formula to detect lies in the face (Spanish) This article reports on research conducted by Prof. Rada Mihalcea and her collaborators in the area of deception detection. The researchers have produced a computer algorithm that is significantly better at spotting lies in courtroom testimony than humans are. [Full Story] Fairy Door in CSE is First at U-M Fairies have for the first time ventured onto the Michigan campus and have taken up residence in a computer located in the Bob and Betty Beyster Building, which is home to CSE. Next time you're here, look for them in the first-floor atrium. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Information Retrieval and Web SearchCourse No.: EECS 498-001 Winter 2016: Introduction to Autonomous RoboticsCourse No.: EECS 398-002 Winter 2016: Social Computing SystemsCourse No.: EECS 498-008 Winter 2016: Computing for Computer ScientistsCourse No.: EECS 398-003 Winter 2016: Power System Markets & OptimizationCourse No.: EECS 598-003 Winter 2016: Intelligent Interactive Systems (IIS)Course No.: EECS 498-002 Winter 2016: Learn To Be A Software Consultant By Doing Consulting!Course No.: EECS 498-009 Four Tips to Making the Most of Your Data Too often, retailers hear, You should use big data in your retail operation, and immediately start analyzing data to figure out what lessons can be learned. Unfortunately, without a game plan in advance, this practice is more like searching for needles in haystacks. Brandon Levey (BSE MSE EE 04 06) offers tips for retailers' overall strategy to help them dive into the pool. Bioengineering professor featured in Top 100 list on African-American influential site Bioengineer Todd Coleman (BSE EE CE 00), now at the University of California - San Diego, has been named one of 100 outstanding individuals for 2015 by The Root, a premier news, opinion, and culture site for African-American influencers. Coleman's research brings together electronics for medical use, machine learning and public health. His research group develops multi-functional, flexible bio-electronics and new analytics methods to help patients and medical decision makers. [Full Story] Ford, Michigan Researchers Test First Autonomous Vehicle at Mcity Profs. Edwin Olson and Ryan Eustice, working with Ford Motor Company, have been the first to test a fully autonomous vehicle at the University's Mcity test facility. The Ford vehicle features sensing and AI technology developed at Michigan. [Full Story] NREL research honored with R&D 100 awards A technology developed at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), led by ECE alumnus Christ Deline (BSE MSE PhD EE 03 05 08), has been honored by R&D Magazine as a winner of a coveted R&D 100 award as well as an Editor's Choice award. The team's research into using a strain of cyanobacteria to produce bioethylene won both awards in the category of Mechanical Devices/Materials. [Full Story] The Promise and Perils of Predictive Policing Based on Big Data Given our ability to sift through big data and to make predictions from it, we should not be surprised to learn that police departments are using data analysis to move toward "predictive policing." In this article, Prof. HV Jagadish comments on the potential benefits and pitfalls of such approaches. [Full Story] New Research: Encouraging trends and emerging threats in email security This Google security blog entry highlights recent findings from an analysis of email delivery security. Google will leverage the findings to improve the security provided through its Gmail service and to warn its users when messages are not secure. The study was conducted by Michigan researchers J. Alex Halderman, Zakir Durumeric, David Adrian, Ariana Mirian, and James Kasten along with rsearchers from the University of Illinois and Google. [Full Story] Gmail Will Soon Warn Users When Emails Arrive Over Unencrypted Connections This article in Tech Crunch highlights recent findings from an analysis of email delivery security. Google will leverage the findings to improve the security provided through its Gmail service and to warn its users when messages are not secure. The study was conducted by Michigan researchers J. Alex Halderman, Zakir Durumeric, David Adrian, Ariana Mirian, and James Kasten along with rsearchers from the University of Illinois and Google. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Advanced Topics and Design of Power ElectronicsCourse No.: EECS 598-007 Winter 2016: Topics in Optoexcitonic EngineeringCourse No.: EECS 598-009 Soon We Will Hunt Like Predator With This New Night-Vision Sensor Graphene could make it possible to build ultra-thin, flexible thermal sensors for built-in night vision technology just like that lethal alien in the Predator franchise. Last year, Zhaohui Zhong created a prototype graphene-based contact lens that could image IR at room-temperature. That device is about the size of a fingernail and could be scaled down further, making it suitable for contact lenses or arrays of infrared camera sensors for wearable electronics. [Full Story] Samsung President and CMO, WP Hong, Ph.D., to Keynote at CES 2016 The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced that Dr. Won-Pyo Hong (MSE PhD EE 84 88), President and CMO of Samsung Electronics, will deliver a keynote address at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The keynote is scheduled for Thursday, January 7. CES is the worlds gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, and will run January 6-9, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. [Full Story] San Diego Alumni Connect and Celebrate at ECE Event ECE@Michigan hosted an alumni reception for graduates living in the San Diego area on Wednesday, October 28. There were 40 alumni in attendance, with graduation years ranging from 1965 to 2014. Khalil Najafi, ECE Chair, and Yogesh Gianchandani, Director of the Center for Wireless Integrated Microsensing and Systems (WIMS2), shared updates about the division. [Full Story] Students and alumni celebrate research and progress at the 2015 Engineering Graduate Symposium ECE students presented on a broad range of topics at 2015's Graduate Symposium. The College of Engineerings annual event to highlight research and engage prospective graduate students gave ECE presenters the chance to demonstrate their work to prospective and fellow students. Posters and presentations were judged by faculty and a visiting group of 14 returning ECE alumni, and winners were chosen in each area of study. Fifteen ECE students were recognized as 1st or 2nd Place in their division, and two of the three Towner PhD Research Awards went to ECE nominees. [Full Story] First-Ever ECE Career Fair Builds Student Careers and Alumni Connections The ECE division hosted its very first career fair on October 29, the day before the College-wide graduate symposium. Local companies of all sizes and from many industries set up stands in the EECS Atrium to recruit from over 200 registered graduate and undergraduate students. Over 15 companies were in attendance, many of them either founded or led by alumni. In addition to these were several large local companies representing the local automotive and energy sectors. [Full Story] Dick Daniel's awarded for his lifelong work bringing jobs to Arkansas Dick Daniels (BSE EE 1948) was honored with the newly created Dick Daniel Distinguished Citizen Award by the city of Rogers, AK. Recipients are those who contributed to the community over a long period of time. Mr. Daniels helped bring Daisy Manufacturing, and 500 new jobs, to Rogers, AK. Though he meant to establish the business and return to Michigan, he stayed after seeing the dedication of the residents to their community. [Full Story] Mina Rais-Zadeh Receives 2015 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award for Research in N/MEMS Professor Mina Rais-Zadeh has been awarded the 2015 IEEE Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award, "For pioneering research in sensors technology: adaptable nano/micro-electromechanical systems (N/MEMS)." This early career award honors individuals with outstanding technical contributions within the scope of the IEEE Sensors Council. [Full Story] Lie-detecting algorithm spots fibbing faces better than humans This article in New Scientist highlights the work of postdoctoral fellows Veronica Perez-Rosas and Mohamed Abouelenien, Prof. Rada Mihalcea, and Prof. Mihai Burzo in using machine learning to detect whether a person is being deceptive or not. The system outperforms the best human interrogators. [Full Story] Ashraf Dahod: 2015 CoE Alumni Medal Award Winner Ashraf Dahod (BSE EE ), co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Altiostar Networks, Inc., was awarded this year's College of Engineering Alumni Medal, the highest alumni award offered by the college. Dahod has combined an understanding of technology with a knack for recognizing market opportunities on the horizon and built a string of successful technology companies. Based on his latest venture, Altiostar Networks, look for interesting days ahead for LTE communication. [Full Story] Rick Wallace (CEO and President, KLA-Tencore): A Chat With our Alumni Rick Wallace (BSE EE ) serves as the CEO and president of KLA-Tencor Corporation as well as a member of the companys board of directors. He came to campus as this year's ECE Merit Award winner. He also offered a talk on campus about his life as a controls engineer. Watch his talk here. [Full Story] Garlin Gilchrist II: Innovation for the People Garlin Gilchrist II (BSE CE/CS 05) is on a lifelong mission to bring engineering solutions to communities in need. As Detroit's Deputy Technology Director for Civic Community Engagement, he's vital to restoring trust in Michigan's biggest city. [Full Story] Five U-M Programming Teams Compete in ACM Regional Contest Five University of Michigan programming teams have competed in the 2015 ACM East Central North America Regional Programming Contest, with two teams, the Valiant and the Conquering Heroes, placing in first and second place. The East Central North America Regional Programming Contest was held October 31st and took place simultaneously at four sites: Cincinnati, Grand Valley, Windsor, and Youngstown, and the U-M teams competed at the Grand Valley site. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Hands On RoboticsCourse No.: EECS 498-003 U-M Leading International Neurotechnology 'Dream Team' for Brain Research and Education A "dream team" of experts in sensors, electronics, data analysis and neuroscience has been awarded a $5 million grant to help unravel the mysteries of the brain and cross-train an international group of neuroscientists and engineers. The project is directed by Prof. Euisik Yoon, and includes experts and partner institutions around the world. [Full Story] Jimmy Hsiao A Local Player in a Global Market Jimmy Hsiao (BSE EE 85; MSE CSE 87) has made Ann Arbor his lifelong home. He finished college, worked two jobs, met his wife, and started a family all in A2. But settling down so close to his alma mater hasnt slowed the ambitions of this multinational entrepreneur. 20 years ago, Jimmy founded Logic Solutions, Inc., a consulting company offering website development, web and mobile applications, and other tech solutions to companies around the world. In his time as CEO, he has led Logic from a local startup to a global company boasting four international offices in China and Taiwan, a presence in California and Chicago, and over 200 employees. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Carbon Nanoelectronics and NanophotonicsCourse No.: EECS 598-005 Having Fun with ECE Students, alumni, faculty, and friends came together to see ECE's fun side on September 25. In the division's first-ever Family Fun Night, 500 attendees of all ages brought the EECS atrium to life in an evening of lasers, science, games, and more. [Full Story] Email Encryption is Broken This article in Motherboard highlights research which found that large chunks of email traffic are being deliberately stripped of their encryption, or just sent without any in the first place, leaving them totally open to passive eavesdroppers. Amongst the study's authors are Prof. J. Alex Halderman and CSE graduate students Zakir Durumeric, David Adrian, Ariana Mirian, and James Kasten. [Full Story] Cynthia Finelli Earns Award at Frontiers in Education Conference for Being an Agent of Change Prof. Cynthia Finelli was presented with the Frontiers in Education (FIE) Helen Plants Award at the 45th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2015) conference. This award is given for the best special (non-traditional) session at the conference. The award-winning session, titled "Agents for STEM change - Articulating the goals of our community," was presented by Prof. Finelli and five colleagues from around the country at the FIE 2014 conference. [Full Story] Computer Scientists Win Best Paper Award at ACM Conference on CCS for Exposing the Vulnerabilities of the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange A team of researchers, including Prof. J. Alex Halderman and CSE graduate students Zakir Durumeric, David Adrian, Drew Springall, Benjamin VanderSloot, and Eric Wustrow, has won a Best Paper Award at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), which took place October 12-16, 2015 in Denver, Colorado. In the paper, Imperfect Forward Secrecy: How Diffie-Hellman Fails in Practice, the researchers investigate the security of Diffie-Hellman key exchange. [Full Story] Eric Michielssen Named Louise Ganiard Johnson Professor of Engineering Eric Michielssen, an international leader in the field of computational electromagnetics, has been named the Louise Ganiard Johnson Professor of Engineering in recognition of his outstanding reputation and contributions in the areas of research, education, and leadership. In addition to being a professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering, he is Associate Vice President forAdvanced Research Computingand Director of theMichigan Institute for Computational Discovery and Engineering(MICDE). [Full Story] The Future of Data Science: Kicking Off U-Ms Proactive Step into an Exploding Field Researchers from around the nation gathered at Rackham on October 6 to celebrate the official launch of Michigans $100M Data Science Initiative. Central to this program is the new Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), which aims to make sense of the massive datasets researchers in every field now have at their disposal. The symposium, titled The Future of Data Science: A Convergence of Academia, Industry, and Government, was an all-day event featuring representatives of many major industries and academic institutions. [Full Story] Students help bioscience get a grip on technology A team at University of California San Diego, led by ECE alum Dr. Todd Coleman, are designing thin, flexible sensors that integrate directly onto the human body. These sensors can have clinical applications from monitoring infants or brain injuries to measuring the electrical rhythms of the brain. With these and other bioscience projects, Coleman is helping his class to pursue cutting-edge ideas through experiential learning. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Organic Electronics: From Fundamentals to ApplicationsCourse No.: EECS 598-001 Drones are coming soon to an apple orchard near you, farmers and students hope Students were invited to a local orchard on Tuesday, Oct. 20 to explore how drones can help fruit growers maintain their harvest. From analyzing how sunlight hits the orchard, to giving temperature or pest readings, all agreed the technology could have a major impact on the business. EECS grad students Ivan Ma (CSE) and Haohuan Wang (ECE) offered drone demonstrations. [Full Story] Competitive Team in Data Science Launches at Michigan The Michigan Data Science Team (MDST) has been formed to solve data prediction challenges in competitive venues. MDST is one of the first collegiate teams of its kind, with a mission to compete against professional and amateur data scientists from around the world in online prediction challenges. They've just completed their first competition with very good placement. [Full Story] Winter 2016: Random Matrix TheoryCourse No.: EECS 598-004 Winter 2016: Information ScienceCourse No.: EECS 398-001 Winter 2016: Plasma ChemistryCourse No.: EECS 598-002 PsiKick Makes the Sand Hill IoT 50 Needle Movers Sand Hill looked at 50 companies that will form the basic foundation of technologies that address several Internet of Things problems. PsiKick made the list for its ultra-low-power wireless sensing devices that address the power barrier problem. Low power requirements allow energy to be harvested from vibration, thermal gradients, solar, RF or piezo actuation. PsiKick is was co-founded by Prof. David Wentzloff. [Full Story] Bright Blue PHOLEDs Almost Ready for TV A new energy-efficient organic LED (OLED) that glows a deep blue is finally close to meeting the most stringent U.S. video display brightness requirements, researchers say. [Full Story] Phosphorescent OLEDs glow deep blue - almost ready for prime time A new molecule developed by researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California shines a deep blue that is close to meeting the stringent brightness requirements of the National Television Systems Committee. "Bright, deep blue, phosphorescent emitters have been very elusive. Our work has resulted in deep, display quality blue at very high efficiency and extremely high brightness," said Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Engineering and Paul G. Goebel Professor of Engineering. [Full Story] This Common Cryptography Method Is Alarmingly Vulnerable This blog posting on Slate examines the recent paper presented by Prof. Halderman and other researchers at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security. The paper reveals the vulnerabilities of the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, which is a method for two parties to securely share a cryptographic key that was first published in 1976 and is widely used. [Full Story] How the NSA can Break Trillions of Encrypted Web and VPN connections Privacy advocates have pushed developers of websites, virtual private network apps, and other cryptographic software to adopt the Diffie-Hellman cryptographic key exchange as a defense against surveillance from the US National Security Agency and other state-sponsored spies. Now, Prof. Alex Halderman and other researchers are renewing their warning that a serious flaw in the way the key exchange is implemented is allowing the NSA to break and eavesdrop on trillions of encrypted connections. [Full Story] Research Shows How NSA Exploits Flaws to Decrypt Huge Amounts of Communications Instead of Securing the Internet According to an award-winning paper, which was co-authored by Prof. Alex Halderman, the NSA has likely used its access to vast computing power as well as weaknesses in the commonly used TLS security protocol in order to spy on encrypted communications. The paper represents a major contribution to public understanding by drawing a link between the NSAs computing resources and previously known cryptographic weaknesses. [Full Story] NSA may be Breaking Popular Algorithm A popular algorithm, known as the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, is vulnerable to state-sponsored attackers, according to a new research paper presented at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, which was co-authored by Prof. Alex Halderman. Diffie-Hellman is used to secure websites, email and other protocols. [Full Story] Peter M. Chen Recognized for Influential Work in Operating Systems with ACM SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award Prof. Peter M. Chen has been recognized with the ACM SIGOPS Hall of Fame Award for his paper entitled, ReVirt: Enabling Intrusion Analysis through Virtual-Machine Logging and Replay, which demonstrated that the execution of an arbitrary program inside a virtual machine can be replayed deterministically and efficiently. Prof. Chen authored the paper with his former CSE graduate students George Dunlap, Samuel King, Sukru Cinar, and Murtaza A. Basrai. [Full Story] Getting the Light Out (of OLEDs) Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a way to get 50% more light out of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), bringing them one step closer to more widespread adoption as a general lighting source, while increasing their value in displays. OLED technologies, a nearly $16B market, are already found in more than 750 million smartphone and tablet screens worldwide. The appearance of OLED technology in the world of general lighting is steadily growing, and as of 2014 can even be found in lighting fixtures sold at Home Depot. [Full Story] Dr. Tzeno Galchev is the winner of the 2015 John Atanasoff Award Alumnus Dr. Tzeno Galchev (BSE CE EE , MSE PhD EE ) is the 13th laureate of the presidential award John Atanasoff, awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of information technologies. Dr. Galchev's research interests are in the area of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). He has worked on developing microsystem technologies for harvesting kinetic energy and transforming it to electricity for supplying different wireless and mobile electronic systems using renewable energy. [Full Story] J. Alex Halderman and Collaborators Receive NSF Cybersecurity Award to Develop Rapid-Response Architecture A team of leading security experts has been awarded $2M by the National Science Foundation for a project aimed at reducing the impact of software vulnerabilities in Internet connected systems. The researchers, J. Alex Halderman, Vern Paxson, and Michael Bailey, will leverage the high-speed ZMap Internet-wide scanning system developed in Prof. Halderman's lab as the basis for a rapid response architecture to counter emerging threats. [Full Story] Bosch's popular diesel engine software was not preprogrammed to cheat Jim Freudenberg, ECE professor and director of the automotive engineering master's program, commented on automotive software that can detect road conditions. [Full Story] Computing CARES: A Plan to Boost the Retention of Women in Computing The field of computing is one in which women have been historically underrepresented. A few faculty in the CSE Division have recently begun in a new quest to boost the participation and retention of women in computing courses and degree majors. These expanded opportunities will be accomplished through a U-M's Third Century grant. Prof. Valeria Bertacco and Mary Lou Dorf spearheaded this effort through a proposal that they submitted this past summer to the Third Century Initiative. [Full Story] U-M faculty part of Senate effort to reauthorize America COMPETES Act Faculty members Stephen Forrest and Alan Taub participated in a U.S. Senate roundtable discussion Tuesday on reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act. Peters and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, both members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, have held three roundtable discussions to solicit input from leading science and technology policy experts as the committee works to reauthorize the Act. [Full Story] Jeff Fessler Receives Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award Jeffrey Fessler, a world-renowned leader in medical image reconstruction, has been selected to receive a 2015 Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the U-M Rackham Graduate School. Prof. Fessler has revolutionized the theory and practice of medical imaging with his group's groundbreaking mathematical models and algorithms that significantly improve both patient safety and image quality. [Full Story] Prof. Jason Flinn Receives U-M's Faculty Recognition Award Prof. Jason Flinn has been selected to receive a Faculty Recognition Award by the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan for his remarkable contributions to the University through achievements in scholarly research and excellence as a teacher, advisor and mentor. [Full Story] From search to distributed computing to large-scale information extraction Prof. Michael Cafarella was interviewed for the O'Reilly Daily Show Podcast, and excerpts from that conversation are published here. In the interview, he talks about the origins of Nutch, Hadoop (HDFS, MapReduce), HBase, and his decision to pursue an academic career and step away from these projects. They also discussed ClearCutAnalytics, his startup to commercialize a highly regarded academic project for structured data extraction. [Full Story] Claude Gauthier and OmniPhy: Connecting to the Ethernet Revolution Call ECE alum Claude Gauthier a global personality. A Canadian with two Michigan degrees, a Silicon Valley career, founder of international company OmniPhy, and customers across six continents, he has navigated his connections to destinations he never expected. [Full Story] Layered Graphene Beats the Heat An international team of researchers, led by Ted Norris, Gerard A. Mourou Professor, have found that a layered form of graphene can expel heat efficiently, which is an important feature for its potential applications in building small and powerful electronics. [Full Story] Prof. Kevin Fu Addresses Technical Debt of Medical Device Security at NAE Symposium Prof. Kevin Fu was selected to speak at the 2015 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, which was hosted by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The event took place September 9-11 at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center in Irvine, California. He was one of only 15 speakers who presented at the symposium. [Full Story] Brad Campbell and Pat Pannuto Organize Robo Cafe Demo at DARPA Tech Conference CSE graduate students Brad Campbell and Pat Pannuto participated in the Wait, What? A Future Technology Forum that took place September 9-11th in St. Louis, Missouri. The forum was hosted by DARPA and focused on future technologies in conjunction with national security. Campbell organized a demonstration from the TerraSwarm team that integrated technologies from five universities. [Full Story] ECE Welcomes New Faculty ECE is delighted to welcome three outstanding new faculty members to Michigan. These faculty broaden and deepen ECE's areas of expertise in high frequency circuits and systems, power electronics, and engineering education. [Full Story] Using Energy Storage in an Environmentally Friendly Way Yashen Lin Earns a Dow Sustainability Fellowship Yashen Lin, an ECE Research Fellow, has earned a Dow Sustainability Fellowship to pursue research in smart grid applications and their environmental impacts. Dr. Lin studies how introducing distributed energy storage (DES) into the power grid under the current dispatch algorithm may have counter-intuitive impacts on the environmental outcome of the system, and how to mitigate these environmental burdens. [Full Story] Brilliant 10: Alex Halderman Strengthens Democracy Using Software For the 14th year, Popular Science honors the brightest young minds in science and engineering. Prof. J. Alex Halderman has been named one of their Brilliant 10 for exposing the vulnerabilities in electronic-voting systems and working with governments to make them more secure. [Full Story] J. Alex Halderman Named One of Popular Science's Brilliant Ten Associate Professor J. Alex Halderman has been named one of Popular Science's 2015 Brilliant 10 for his work in computer security and privacy. From exposing the vulnerabilities in e-voting systems to making voting more secure, he is the epitome of a bright young mind that Popular Science selects for their annual list. [Full Story] ISS, founded by ECE Alumni and Faculty, to Exhibit Wireless Left-Heart Implantable Monitoring Device Integrated Sensing Systems (ISS), co-founded by alumnus Nader Najafi and Profs. Khalil Najafi and Ken Wise, will exhibit its wireless left-heart implantable hemodynamic monitoring system for long-term management of congestive heart patients at the Heart Failure Society of America's 19th Annual Scientific Meeting (9/26-29/15). The device, called the Titan Wireless Implantable Hemodynamic Monitoring System, has passed a study demonstrating a high safety protocol and effectiveness as a pressure monitoring system for the management of patients with congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, and structural hearts diseases. [Read more about ISS and Nader Najafi.] [Full Story] Eleven New Faculty Join CSE CSE is delighted to welcome eleven outstanding new faculty members to Michigan. From contributions in big data and computer architecture to robotics and cryptography, they'll help to lead and teach us as we enter a world increasingly shaped by computer science and engineering. [Full Story] Michigan's Bi-Ped Robots on the Big Ten Network MARLO the bi-pedal robot was the subject of a special spot on the Big Ten Network, which premiered during Saturday's football game against UNLV. Go Blue! Pictured are Brent Griffin and Brian Buss, members of Prof. Jessy Grizzle's research group. [Full Story] 5 things to know about 'America's Got Talent' finalist (and U-M grad) Oz Pearlman ECE alum Oz Pearlman managed an impressive third place finish on this season of America's Got Talent - see what else the talented mentalist can do! [Read even more about Oz.] [Full Story] Silicon Valley, Seeking Diversity, Focuses on Blacks This article in the New York Times reports on the diversity gap in Silicon Valley and describes some of the new efforts being undertaken to help black students to bridge the opportunity gap. EECS alumnus Erin Teague, director of product management at Yahoo, is quoted on her experience. "I didnt know what to dream for." [Full Story] Honglak Lee Receives CAREER Award for Research in Advanced Deep Learning Techniques Assistant Professor Honglak Lee has been awarded an NSF CAREER grant for his project, "CAREER: New Directions in Deep Representation Learning from Complex Multimodal Data."Prof. Lee will develop advanced deep learning techniques to learn a robust representation that allows for holistic understanding and high-level reasoning (such as, analogy making, hypothetical reasoning and temporal prediction, and question answering) from complex, multimodal data. [Full Story] Engineering Friendship - ECE Alumni Startup Helps You Meet New People While social networks keep us connected to old friends, theyre not so great for meeting new friends in new places. Now, an alumni startup is looking to address this gap in the Web with a new site devoted to getting people together, no strings attached. Called Jetivity, it is a free platform for posting or finding open recreational activities. [Full Story] MHacks 6 Showcased Another Round of Creative Projects Student hackers from around the country have completed MHacks 6, which took place September 11th-13th, 2015 on University of Michigans North Campus. Over 1,300 students were represented at this 36 straight hour event to produce creative and impactful projects. The grand prize winner was Relay, an application that allows you to easily and securely access all of your accounts. [Full Story] Inspired by art, lightweight solar cells track the sun Solar cells capture up to 40 percent more energy when they can track the sun across the sky, but conventional, motorized trackers are too heavy and bulky for pitched rooftops and vehicle surfaces. Now, by borrowing from kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of paper cutting, researchers at the University of Michigan have developed solar cells that can have it both ways. [Full Story] Glucose Monitoring with Lasers 200 million estimated people with diabetes might one day utilize laser research going on at the University of Michigan to painlessly read their glucose levels. Professor Mohammed Islam is leading the reconstruction of super continuum lasers he designed to aid the military detect the chemical composition in camouflage nets and explosives into a non-invasive tool to measure a teaspoon of glucose in the blood system. [Full Story] $3.46M to Combine Machine Learning on Big Data with Physical Simulations Prof. Barzan Mozafari is co-PI of the new Center for Data-Driven Computational Physics. The center will build and manage a new computing resource, called ConFlux, which is designed to enable supercomputer simulations to interface with large datasets while running. The National Science Foundation is providing $2.42 million to develop the facility and the university is providing an additional $1.04 million. [Full Story] U of Michigan Project Combines Modeling and Machine Learning This article in HPC Wire highlights ConFlux, the unique new facility, funded largely by NSF, to be built at Michigan which will enable supercomputer simulations to interface with large datasets while running. Prof. Barzan Mozafari will oversee the implementation ConFlux. [Full Story] Online security braces for quantum revolution This article in Nature examines the security ramifications of quantum computers, which are expected to be a reality in the next 5 to 30 years. The article references work in the area of lattice based cryptography done by Prof. Chris Peikert and his collaborators. [Full Story] A Tricky Path to Quantum-Safe Encryption This article in Quanta Magazine examines the security ramifications of quantum computers, which are expected to be a reality in the next 5 to 30 years. The article references work in the area of lattice based cryptography done by Prof. Chris Peikert and his collaborators. [Full Story] Michigan Researchers Win Best Paper Award at VLDB 2015 Prof. H.V. Jagadish, the Bernard A. Galler Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and CSE graduate student Fei Li have received the Best Paper Award at the 41st International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, which took place Aug 31st - Sept 4th in Kohala Coast, Hawaii. Their paper is entitled "Constructing an Interactive Natural Language Interface for Relational Databases". [Full Story] 3 ECE Companies Make the Silicon 60 List - AGAIN! For the second year in a row, three startup companies co-founded by ECE faculty alumni made the EE Times Silicon 60 List of tech startups to watch. Ambiq Micro (Prof. David Blaauw, Prof. Dennis Sylvester, and alumnus Dr. Scott Hanson), Crossbar, Inc. (Prof. Wei Lu), and PsiKick (Prof. David Wentzloff), are leading the way in ultra-low power chip design, pioneering computer memory, and ultra-low power wireless sensor platforms for the Internet of Things. [Full Story] Laura Balzano Receives Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Program Award for Research in Big Data Prof. Laura Balzano has been selected to receive s a 2015 Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Program award in recognition of her key research in the area of Big Data. Applications of her work include creating a 3D model for objects using only 2D images of the object, and environmental monitoring. [Full Story] Michigan Institute for Data Science: Bringing the MIDAS Touch to Big Data Prof. Al Hero is co-director of the new Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), which aims to facilitate finding the gold nuggets in the massive data sets now available to researchers in virtually all fields. Called the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS), it is the new focal point for the multidisciplinary discipline of data science at Michigan, and part of Michigan's $100M Data Science Initiative. [Full Story] MHacks Adds New Workshops and Events for 6th Hackathon Since the first MHacks in February 2013, Michigan students have built the bi-annual event into a sophisticated operation that draws speakers, participative sponsors, and student participants with a variety of technical and non-technical backgrounds. With each new MHacks comes new projects that showcase what students are capable of creating. There will be an emphasis on learning and diversity at this coming hackathon with their new workshops and events. [Full Story] Fall 2015: Randomness and ComputationCourse No.: EECS 598-04 Relationship with Addis Ababa Institute of Technology Grows with Research Exchange Program Profs. Todd Austin and Valeria Bertacco have started a research exchange program between UM and AAiT. During the pilot program, which took place this year, three U-M CSE graduate students, William Arthur, Salessawi Ferede, and Biruk Mammo, traveled to Ethiopia for one month to bootstrap research projects with current AAiT students. [Full Story] Avegant Announces $24M in Series B Funding to Develop Next Generation of Wearable Displays ECE alumni startup Avegant closed $24M in Series B funding, bringing them closer to a planned product launch by the end of 2015. Founded by Allan Evans (MS PhD EE གྷ ཅ) and Ed Tang (BSE EE ཇ), the company is pioneering the world's first vivid reality near-eye display. Their Glyph headset combines vivid video display with premium audio in a unique, flip-down wearable form factor. [Full Story] Michigan Researchers create virtual reality 'Matrix' with unreal engine Popular Science magazine gives a glimpse of U-M's 3D Lab, which focuses on research into virtual reality, 3D modeling/printing, motion capture, and other emerging technologies. The Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus has been recently upgraded with an 'unreal graphics engine,' and improved tracking system. PS calls the results "nothing short of breathtaking." [Full Story] Don't like Siri? Build your own! In this CBC radio interview, Prof. Jason Mars speaks about the rise of intelligent personal assistants and the computational load that is associated this trend. He and Prof. Lingjia Tang led the research project that resulted in Sirius, an open-source IPA that anyone can download and use. Sirius was used to model future workloads in order to determine requirements for future data centers. [Full Story] Fall 2015: Graph Mining and Exploration at Scale: Methods and ApplicationsCourse No.: EECS 598-012 Fall 2015: Human Computation and Crowdsourcing SystemsCourse No.: 598-011 Nader Najafi: A Dream That Saves Lives Miniature wireless sensing and computing devices have the potential to improve peoples health, even save lives. Twenty years ago, working on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as a student at Michigan, Nader Najafi had a dream to be part of this future reality. He turned that dream to action when he left a promising career at a large firm to return to Michigan and start his own company. As founder, CEO, and President of Integrated Sensing Systems, Inc. (ISS), Dr. Nader Najafi is now leading the development of some of the most advanced micro-scale medical technology in the world. [Full Story] A Real-World Approach to Digital Signal Processing For two semesters, Prof. Laura Balzano's Digital Signal Processing course (EECS 351, formerly 451) has incorporated a data collection and analysis project that gives the students firsthand experience with sensors and many signal processing techniques. Students could use sensors or other data collection tools to pursue a goal of their choosing, ranging from smart handwriting replicators to recreating the reverb of famous recording environments. [Full Story] Puzzling out which Ann Arborites construct crosswords for The New York Times This MLive article highlights four Ann Arborites who contribute crossword puzzles to The New York Times. Among them is Prof. Jason Flinn, who began solving crossword puzzles while recovering from an illness. He became hooked an began constructing his own puzzles, the first of which was published in the Times on October 9, 2013 and the most recent on June 18, 2015. [Full Story] David D. Lee and BioSolar, Inc.: Making better batteries for mass market adoption of energy storage David Lee, Founder, President and CEO of BioSolar, talks about his company's development of a high capacity Super Cathode for use by battery manufacturers to create the ultimate high capacity, low cost lithium-ion battery. They believe their super battery can double the capacity, cost four times less, and potentially break the $100/kWh cost barrier needed for mass market adoption of energy storage. Achieving the $100/kWh cost barrier would effectively reach what is referred to as the "holy grail" for energy storage. [Full Story] John Holland (1929-2015): In Memoriam John Henry Holland, University of Michigan professor of psychology, computer science, and complex systems, passed away on Aug. 9 at the age of 86. Holland was the first U-M Ph.D. in computer science (1959). He soon became one of the first professors in the U-M Department of Computer and Communication Science. [Full Story] Making a Middle Class: Can Engineering Education Lift Ethiopia? For the past six years, Profs. Todd Austin and Valeria Bertacco have been going to Ethiopia to visit the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology. In 2009, they went to talk about Michigan Engineering, in 2011, they established a 25-station computer lab, and in 2012, they spent a sabbatical teaching at AAIT. Recently, the professors attended a symposium in Addis Ababa where more than 30 U-M professors met with a range of Ethiopian professors and government officials to map the future of U-Ms role in the country. [Full Story] IBMs Rodent Brain Chip Could Make Our Phones Hyper-Smart In this MSN article, Prof. Jason Mars comments on TrueNorth, a chip created by IBM that has the same number of neurons as a small rodent brain. This chip can run deep learning algorithms in smaller spaces with considerably less electrical power, which will allow more AI onto phones and other tiny devices. [Full Story] Engineering a Better Future for Ethiopia Prof. Heath Hofmann and Ph.D. student Abdi Zeynu traveled to Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAIT) in the capital of Ethiopia to bring the latest knowledge in Controls Systems and Power to a nation in dire need of this expertise. During their trip in June 2015, they taught a 3-week course in Electric Machinery and Drives and provided consultation and support as the schools engineering college expanded its Control and Power programs. [Full Story] Electrify Tech Camps Offer High Schoolers An Electrifying Summer High schoolers took over the EECS building this July, filling the hallways and labs as they designed circuits, built holograms, and whirred around on segways. In ECE's first-ever Electrify Summer Tech Camps, students from near and far gathered for three five-day sessions to learn the basics of electrical and computer engineering. [Full Story] Zakir Durumeric Named MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 MIT Technology Review has named CSE graduate student Zakir Durumeric one of this years Innovators Under 35. Each year since 1999, MIT Technology Review selects exceptionally talented young innovators whose work they believe has the greatest potential to transform the world. His work focuses on developing quantitative, measurement-based approaches to combat threats against hosts and networks on the Internet. [Full Story] CSE Researchers Win at Texas Instruments Innovation Challenge CSE graduate student researchers Sam DeBruin and Branden Ghena, together with their advisor Prof. Prabal Dutta and postdoctoral researcher Ye-Sheng Kuo received the "Best Environmental Impact" award and placed in the top ten at the Texas Instruments Innovation Design Challenge for their PowerBlade project. [Full Story] Fall 2015: Data Science for MedicineCourse No.: EECS 498-005 An Engineer's Magic Moment Oz Pearlman (BSE EE 03) is a professional magician and mentalist. His performances have made him one of the most well-known in this field, with shows on six continents and clients that would leave an A-list celebrity starstruck. And now, in his latest endeavor, the engineer-turned-wizard has taken on Americas Got Talent. So far his shot at the mainstream is still going strong on August 25, Oz will perform for his biggest audience yet in the competitions quarterfinals. [Full Story] University of Michigan Develops Social Sensory Surfaces for Autism Therapy [Video] This story on WDET covers the work of students from EECS and the School of Art and Architecture in creating a blend of light, music, and structure to provide highly sensory experiences for children with autism spectrum disorder. Prof. Sean Ahlquist is interviewed; Dr. David Chesney appears in the video. [Full Story] Virta Labs Introduces PowerGuard Virta Labs recently introduced their flagship product called PowerGuard. While it looks like an everyday power outlet, its embedded intelligence detects when an infected device is plugged into the outlet by analyzing subtle power consumption patterns. [Full Story] Michigan Rolls a Different Kind of Car off a Different Kind of Assembly Line This story on the Big Ten Network highlights the work of Prof. Edwin Olson, who is using 3-D printed low-speed electric vehicles provided by alternative carmaker Local Motors to develop an intelligent transportation on demand system built around autonomous vehicles. [Full Story] Mary Lou Dorf Wins Best Paper Award at ASEE Dr. Mary Lou Dorf and her collaborators have received the Best Paper Award at the 122nd American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exhibition (ASEE) for their paper entitled, "Student Performance Improvement using Interactive Textbooks: A Three-University Cross-Semester Analysis." [Full Story] Can hackers take over Ann Arbor's traffic signals? U-M researcher discusses In this MLive article about the security of municipal traffic signal systems, the work of CSE graduate student Branden Ghena is highlighted. Ghena received permission to hack the traffic lights at an unnamed Michigan municipality in 2014, where he quickly demonstrated how signals could be taken under the control of a hacker. Ann Arbor's system, he notes, is hardwired and would require a direct connection, rather than a wireless connection, to hack. [Full Story] Can hackers take over traffic lights? In this Washingtion Post article about the security of municipal traffic signal systems, the work of CSE graduate student Branden Ghena is highlighted. Ghena received permission to hack the traffic lights at an unnamed Michigan municipality in 2014, where he quickly demonstrated how signals could be taken under the control of a hacker. [Full Story] An Eye for Detail Brings Unique Rewards Prof. Igor Markov has received two Knuth reward checks in exchange for suggesting improvements to publications authored by Prof. Donald Knuth of Stanford. According to MIT Technology Review, "Knuths reward checks are among computerdom's most prized trophies." [Full Story] Lynn Conway Receives 2015 IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal Lynn Conway, Professor Emerita of EECS, received the 2015 IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal, for contributions to and leadership in design methodology and pedagogy enabling rapid advances and dissemination of VLSI design tools and systems. The James Clerk Maxwell Medal is one of the highest awards presented by IEEE. [Watch her acceptance speech.] [Full Story] The Conversation: Big Data analyses depend on starting with clean data points Join The Conversation about big data, where Prof. HV Jagadish has written about the need to avoid inaccuracies in large data sets and how an emphasis on clean data should motivate data collection and processing. [Full Story] Dragomir Radev Coaches US Linguistics Team to Multiple Wins at IOL Dragomir Radev, Professor in Computer Science and Engineering, the School of Information, and in the Department of Linguistics, has coached North American high school students to successful competition at the 13th International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL), which was held in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria from from July 20-24, 2015. [Full Story] Two sentences explaining why your self-driving car wont have a steering wheel Prof. Edwin Olson comments on why, once an autonomous vehicles is operating, it is actually difficult for a human occupant to take control in an emergency. Prof. Olson is working on projects related to autonomous vehicles and transportation systems at the newly-opened Mcity test facility. [Full Story] Scientists warn against Artificial Intelligence weapons Prof. Michael Wellman confirms that the potential for danger from automated weapons systems should be taken seriously in this story that appeared on Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ. Prof. Wellman was one of over a thousand AI researchers who recently signed a letter to the UN urging them to ban robotic weapons. [Full Story] The race is on to figure out what self-driving cars should look like In this Washington Post article, Prof. Edwin Olson notes that we don't know what autonomous vehicles might look like in the future, since autonomy will change many factors in the way transportation is scheduled and executed. Prof. Olson has just launched a project to study a transportation on demand system built around autonomous vehicles. [Full Story] Celebrating Women's History MonthIn recognition of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, the department is thrilled to highlight the many contributions made by its excellent women faculty, alumni, and students. [Full Story] EECS Students Make Career Connections at NSBE Conference The 41st National Convention of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) brought together over 3,600 members to Anaheim, California for career fairs, competitions, professional workshops, networking events, and elections. 55 U-M engineers attended the convention, themed Reimagining Your Future, and developed vital connections in their field. [Full Story] Building Better RoboBoats: UM::Autonomy Takes Third at International Competition Autonomous vehicles are in hot demand right now, and thats just as true at sea. UM::Autonomy designs, programs, and builds their own autonomous boat every year for the annual RobotBoat competition. This year the team took third prize. [Full Story] Researchers Employ Unsupervised Funniness Detection in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Researchers including Prof. Dragomir Radev and his former student and alumnus Rahul Jha teamed up with Bob Mankoff, Cartoon Editor for The New Yorker, to take a computational approach to understanding humor. [Full Story] Over 140 Students attend 2015 MiBytes Computer Camps MiBytes, a series of summer computer camps hosted by CSE, was even bigger and better for summer 2015. There was a 5-day Tinkering With Mobile Apps camp and a 2-week-long Hacking in a Digital World camp, both led by Dr. Jeff Ringenberg, as well as a 5-day Game Design & Development camp led by Dr. Jeremy Gibson. [Full Story] Celebrating Diversity and Making Our Students Feel at Home with an Iftar Dinner On Wednesday, July 15, ECE hosted an Iftar reception. Iftar is the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. The reception, which featured traditional foods and live music, had over 40 in attendance. Students attending the reception indicated their appreciation for the program, offering their help for the evening and on future efforts. [Full Story] Why Are Computers So Bad At Jokes? What is funniness? Can it possibly be quantitative? And why is it so difficult to define -- for, say, a mechanical reproduction of it? These are questions that have plagued scientists for decades. And its the central question that brought together an incredibly diverse group of authors on a new paper looking for an answer, including Prof. Dragomir Radev; The New Yorker's Cartoon Editor, Bob Mankoff; and scientists from Yahoo! and Columbia. [Full Story] ECE Alumni Networking Event at Transducers Conference A stunning Alaskan landscape was the backdrop for this year's ECE reception and dinner on June 23 at the 18th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems (Transducers 2015). About 65 alumni, students, faculty, friends and family gathered for dinner and an opportunity to catch up with the department and their colleagues. [Full Story] Chicago Alumni Connect at Networking Reception The first-ever alumni networking event in Chicago took place July 1, 2015, and 35 local alumni met up with an additional 20 alumni, faculty and students who were in Chicago attending the 2015 American Control Conference. [Full Story] Michigan Light Project: Shining a Light on Optics By teaching children how to build a hologram and piezo-electric animals, members of the Michigan Light Project (MLP) are introducing the future generation to technology that is key to modern society. Capitalizing on UNESCOs designation of 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015), the MLP seeks to provide outreach and education about the the world of optics in general, and the optics industry in Michigan specifically. The academics, industrialists, and artists involved are using this forum to demonstrate the amazing aspects of light and energy in society as well as to promote awareness that the State of Michigan is a worldwide hub of light-related industry, culture, and art. [Full Story] Improving the image quality of ultra-low dose CT scans with big data Prof. Jeffrey Fessler is collaborating with alumnus Prof. Yong Long on research that aims to provide high image quality CT scans while reducing the X-ray radiation dose to an ultra-low level. The team expects to achieve dramatically improved results by including big data analysis of existing CT images in their approach. Prof. Fessler's research in medical imaging is one of five joint projects to receive continued funding as part of the University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Collaborative Research Programs for Energy and Biomedical Technology. The program funds projects that have commercial potential and are likely to attract follow-on research funding from the U.S. and Chinese governments, as well as industry. [read the announcement in The University Record] [Full Story] Won-Pyo Hong: To the GALAXY and Beyond From the classroom to the boardroom, success seems to follow Won-Pyo Hong wherever he goes. But no matter how high he climbs right now hes leading one of the most innovative branches of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd,, which itself stands among the 15 largest companies in the world - he credits his education at Michigan as one of his most significant assets. [Full Story] 3-D Printed Cars Emerging; Early Units will Serve as Testbed for On-Demand System at Michigan Prof. Edwin Olson will be using 3-D printed low-speed electric vehicles provided by alternative carmaker Local Motors to develop a transportation on demand system built around autonomous vehicles. He is quotes in the article about Local Motors' plans. [Full Story] Four EECS companies make Crain's list of most innovative companies, and one tops the list Four EECS faculty and alumni companies specializing in the life sciences and computer security made the list of the top 25 most innovative companies in SE Michigan, according to Crains. Topping the list is Omni MedSci, Inc., a medical device company founded by Prof. Mohammed Islam. At #3 is NeuroNexus Technologies, Inc., specializing in neural probes; at #11 is Integrated Sensing Systems, Inc., a company working on microelectronic implants for monitoring heart functions; and at #14, Duo Security, a computer security company. [Full Story] Ernest S. Kuh (1928 - 2015): Pioneer in Electronic Circuit Theory and EDA Ernest S. Kuh (BSE EE 1949), pioneer in electronic circuit theory and electronic design automation, passed away peacefully at his home on June 27, 2015 at the age of 86. Prof. Kuh was a former department chair, dean, and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley. As a devoted Michigan alumnus, he established the Ernest and Bettine Kuh Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan. [Full Story] U-M to Test Driverless 3-D Printed Carts in this article, the Detroit News reports on the University of Michigan's plans to test low-speed, 3-D printed driverless carts within the year and eventually deploy them on its North Campus. Researches led b Prof. Edwin Olson will use the carts to develop an automated on-demand transportation system. [Full Story] An Autonomous "SmartCart" Testbed is Coming to Michigan Researchers led by EECS Prof. Edwin Olson and NAME Prof. Ryan Eustice will be using 3D printed "SmartCarts" at Mcity to develop an on-demand autonomous transit system. The focus of this particular project is not the autonomy itself, but the challenges of an intelligent transit system that include understanding passengers' preferences and expectations, coordinating the routes of a fleet of vehicles, and figuring out how to balance supply and demand. [Full Story] Two-legged robot with human feet can now walk independently Brent Griffin, doctoral student in ECE, was interviewed by Popular Science about his research with Prof. Jessy Grizzle on bipedal robots. He says a bipedal robot would have access to terrain that is not accessible to wheeled vehicles, and that they would be able to more seamlessly navigate our human-built world, including ladders and stairs. There's proof in all of us that bipedal walking can be stable, says Griffin. [Full Story] Worlds smallest computer can fit on the edge of a nickel David Blaauw, Dennis Sylvester, David Wentzloff, and Prabal Dutta, as well as several graduate students, have developed tiny computing units (on a millimeter scale) that are capable of harvesting solar power to utilize wireless communication, pressure and temperature sensors, and even still image and video processing. Ready for production now, the M3 is expected to see use in the medical field for monitoring human body processes, as well as conducting EKGs and detecting and monitoring tumor growth. Harkening back to scenes from the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage or 1987s Innerspace, the M3 can actually be injected into the body to perform some of these functions. [Full Story] David Wentzloff Receives Joel and Ruth Spira Excellence in Teaching Award Prof. David Wentzloff received the 2015 Joel and Ruth Spira Excellence in Teaching Award for his exceptional achievements in the education of our students. He has received the HKN Professor of the Year Award twice in recent years, and invites undergraduate as well as graduate students to be members of his Wireless Integrated Circuits and Systems Group [Full Story] Miss Wayne County Inspires Young Girls to Pursue Computer Science CS student Anna Dai is redefining the stereotype of women in computing. She is this year's Miss Wayne County, which she achieved through passion, talent, and hard work, and she is combining her pageant win with her love of computer science. She decided to run for Miss Wayne County to inspire thousands of little girls across the country as Miss Wayne County, and hopefully Miss Michigan and Miss America in the future. [Full Story] Next generation laser plasma accelerator Michigan is part of a multi-institution collaboration to develop key laser technology that will enable the design a high-power, ultra-short-pulse laser system which is expected to enable new low-cost, compact accelerator-based light sources for a wide variety of biological, chemical, materials science, and security applications. The technology may also lead to compact, portable TeV (tera electron volt) linear colliders, and enable the same kind of research now being conducted in conventional accelerators, such as the 17 mile Large Hadron Collider, on a table top. [Full Story] The Economics of Energy Hamidreza Tavafoghi Earns a Dow Sustainability Fellowship Hamidreza Tavafoghi, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded a Dow Sustainability Fellowship to support his research in energy economics. Hamid is studying ways to increase the use of renewable energy sources on the grid. Adapting the nation's grid to include renewable power, energy storage, and other technologies essential for sustainable energy sources requires a shift in how this enormous market operates to ensure an efficient and stable transition. [Full Story] Stryd, co-founded by Prof. Robert Dick, Selected as Part of the 2015 Techstars Class Stryd, co-founded by Prof. Robert Dick, has been chosen as one of ten companies in the 2015 Techstars class in Boulder, CO. Techstars provides mentorship and seed funding to select companies in different locations nationwide. Stryd applies the concept of power output to a wearable device for runners to help them improve their performance, [Full Story] Researching the Future of Remote Sensing ECE researchers will explore the fundamental capabilities of remote sensing through a new grant funded by NASA. Directed by Kamal Sarabandi, Rufus S. Teesdale Professor of Engineering, the new program aims to create theoretical models for remote sensing of ice and snow. Specifically, the research seeks to develop a better understanding of wave propagation and scattering, and to improve tools for future monitoring. This work could feed into the development of new sensors for a variety of remote sensing applications. [Full Story] Prof. Kevin Fu Testifies on the IRS Data Breach for Senate Committee As reported on the Computing Community Consortium blog, Prof. Kevin Fu was one of the five witnesses to testify to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs at a hearing on "The IRS Data Break: Steps to Protect Americans Personal Information." Video from the hearing is available here; Prof. Fu speaks at about 13:00. [Full Story] Ron Dreslinski Selected for IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award Dr. Ron Dreslinski has been selected to receive the Young Computer Architect Award from the IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee on Computer Architecture (TCCA). The award recognizes an early career individual who has made an outstanding, innovative research contribution or contributions to Computer Architecture. [Full Story] Stephanie Crocker Earns NSF Fellowship to Bring Sustainable Energy to the Grid Stephanie Crocker, a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded an NSF Fellowship to support her work on integrating renewable energy sources into the power grid. Working with Prof. Johanna Mathieu, Stephanie seeks to provide continuous energy balancing on the grid by automatically controlling loads. This must be done without disrupting customers and without compromising the grid's physical integrity. [Full Story] Steven Parkison Earns NSF Fellowship to Design Tools for the Future of Autonomous Cars Steven Parkison, Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received an NSF Fellowship to support his research on machine learning for autonomous vehicles. He is working with Prof. Ryan Eustice as part of the Next Generation Vehicle (NGV) project, a partnership between Ford Motor Company and researchers at the University of Michigan and State Farm Insurance to develop the autonomous vehicles of the future. Michigans principal investigators, Profs. Eustice and Edwin Olson, are taking a leading role on sensing and decision-making. [Full Story] New Michigan-Saudi Arabia Collaboration Promises Exciting New Research - Beginning with the Auto Industry A new collaborative research center, called the Center of Excellence for Microwave Sensor Technology, has been established between ECE faculty and Saudi Arabias King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). The Center will be a major site for research in microwave sensor technology, with the first projects focusing on autonomous vehicles and novel approaches to electric vehicle charging. [Full Story] Massive Clinton-era Internet bug shows pitfalls of Obama's 'backdoor' proposal In this CNN Money article, Prof. J. Alex Halderman is quoted regarding the FBI's request for security backdoors in technology products. "It's a bad idea," he says. [Full Story] Duc Le Selected for Mary A. Rackham Institute Graduate Student Research Assistantship CSE PhD student Duc Le has been selected by the Mary A. Rackham Institute for a Graduate Student Research Assistantship. The Institute's GSRA positions are offered to encourage outstanding doctoral students to pursue research careers in areas pertinent to the Institute's mission of promoting the well-being of individuals who are struggling with mental health, learning, and communication difficulties. [Full Story] ECE Alumna Ruba Borno to Join New Executive Team at Cisco Dr. Ruba Borno (MS PHD EE 03 08) has been selected as Cisco's new Vice President of Growth Initiatives and Chief of Staff to the CEO-designate, Chuck Robbins. The young executive has an extensive history in both the business and tech worlds, and promises to be a powerful asset to the company's new executive leadership team. [Full Story] Alyssa Kody Earns NSF Fellowship for Research in Energy Harvesting and Wireless Sensing Alyssa Kody, a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue research in powering wireless embedded systems. The goal of Alyssa's project is to improve energy harvesting technology and decrease network power consumption by implementing whats called energy forecasting. This would enable sensor nodes to predict energy availability in the future and make decisions based on this knowledge. In other words, she would give energy-aware decision making capabilities to a system. [Full Story] Introducing the Ensemble of CSE Ladies The Ensemble of CSE Ladies is a group to support graduate women students in CSE at the University of Michigan. The group aims to foster a sense of community among graduate women, support members' academic and career development, help incoming graduate students adapt and thrive in CSE, and generally enable a great graduate experience for their members. [Full Story] Mark Brehob Named U-M Collegiate Lecturer In recognition of his outstanding contributions to instruction, Dr. Mark Brehob has been selected for distinction through the U-M Collegiate Lecturer Program. His appointment as Collegiate Lecturer this year is a title he will retain throughout his career at the University. [Full Story] Michigan Researchers Win Both Best Paper Awards at AAMAS 2015 Michigan researchers won both best paper awards at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents & Multiagent Systems 2015, which took place May 4-8 in Istanbul, Turkey. The two winning papers were selected from a field of 127 full paper submissions in the main technical track. [Full Story] Stephen Forrest Named Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor Stephen Forrest has been named the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Engineering. Prof. Forrest is an internationally-renowned researcher, educator, and entrepreneur - and easily one of the most prolific inventors in academia today. As director of the Optoelectronic Components and Materials (OCM) Laboratory, he and his group conduct research on photovoltaic cells, organic light emitting diodes, and lasers & optics. His investigations in these areas span decades, and have resulted in five startup companies, 277 issued patents, and key technologies that are pervasive in the marketplace. In addition, he has graduated 54 Ph.D. students. [Full Story] Mud-Fueled Smart Sensors for the Bottom of the Ocean If you put tiny electrodes in the mud on the ocean floor, you can harvest enough energy to power a tiny sensor platform that can monitor whats going on at those depths. The sensing platform draws just 2 nanowatts, and is part of a broader portfolio of work focused on powering electronic systems with low energy sources. [Full Story] Michigan Researchers Win Best Poster Award at MobiSys 2015 CSE graduate student researchers Shichang Xu, Ashkan Nikravesh, Hongyi Yao (University of Michigan), David R. Choffnes (Northwestern University) with advisor Prof. Z. Morley Mao have won the Best Poster Award at MobiSys 2015. The poster describes their work in measuring important network phenomena for debugging problems at the edge of a cellular network. [Full Story] Rumor-detector software IDs disputed claims on Twitter Prof. Qiaozhu Mei and a team of researchers have developed software to help society identify and correct erroneous claims on Twitter. They introduced the software recently at the International World Wide Web Conference in Florence, Italy. Later this summer, they hope to put it in practice at a website they're developing called Rumor Lens. [Full Story] New data science major aligns with growing corporate needs The Michigan Daily reports on the new data science major, which will be subsumed under the Computer Science and Engineering division and the Statistics Department. The new major will be available in Fall 2015 to both LSA and Engineering students. [Full Story] ECE Alumni Connections @ IMS2015 The IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) set the stage for ECE's most recent alumni networking event, held in Phoenix on May 19, 2015. It's been more than ten years since ECE brought the Michigan flag to IMS, and it was great to be back! [Full Story] Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Help Bring WIMS2 Technology to the World As Corporate Outreach Directors for the WIMS2 Center, entrepreneurs and U-M alums Sassan Teymouri and Shahin Hedayat are helping to introduce its wireless integrated microsensing and systems technology to Silicon Valley and strengthen the Center's ties to industry. [Full Story] The Mad Scientists Lab: A Look Inside Mitch Rohde and Quantum Signals School-Sized Playhouse Quantum Signal, co-founded by Prof. Bill Williams and alumnus Mitch Rohde, is a signal processing consulting company specializing in intelligent sensing, data analysis, and visualization. From robotics to gaming and everything in between, Quantum Signal applies signal processing to today's hottest areas. Some of its products include autonomous vehicles, video games, facial recognition devices, and even a system to detect counterfeit bills. [Full Story] Two Michigan Papers Share the Best Paper Award at MobiSys 2015 Two papers with authors from Michigan shared the best paper award at the 13th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services (MobiSys 2015). The first, "Accelerating Mobile Applications through Flip-Flop Replication," was an all-Michgan paper, and the second, "Outatime: Using Speculation to Enable Low-Latency Continuous Interaction for Mobile Cloud Gaming," was a collaboration from amongst Michigan, Microsoft Research, and other authors. [Full Story] The Gift of an Education: Paul and Ruth Bauhahn Fund the Next Generation of Life-changing Technology Alumni Paul and Ruth Bauhahn have made a planned gift of $450,000 to establish the Ruth E. and Paul E. Bauhahn Fellowship Fund. The fund will support full-time grad students in ECE. Pauls work covered the frequencies from DC to daylight. It included developing microwave, millimeter wave and micromechanical devices, and working with lasers for diverse applications. He retired from Honeywell with thirteen patents. Ruth retired from Medtronic as a human factor scientist in product development with five patents related to the design of medical devices for spinal cord stimulation. [Full Story] 2015 Faculty Promotions Congratulations to the following faculty who received promotions this year: Prabal Dutta, J. Alex Halderman, Rada Mihalcea, Sandeep Pradhan, and Zhengya Zhang. Keep up the great work! [Full Story] Kevin Fu Named to CRA Computing Community Consortium Council Prof. Kevin Fu has been appointed as one of five new members on the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Council. CCC conducts activities that strengthen the computing research community, articulate compelling research visions, and align those visions with pressing national and global challenges. [Full Story] HTTPS-crippling attack threatens tens of thousands of Web and mail servers ARS Technica reports on the Logjam vulnerability in detail and quotes Prof. J. Alex Halderman, who says, "Logjam shows us once again why it's a terrible idea to deliberately weaken cryptography, as the FBI and some in law enforcement are now calling for. That's exactly what the US did in the 1990s with crypto export restrictions, and today that backdoor is wide open, threatening the security of a large part of the Web." [Full Story] New Computer Bug Exposes Broad Security Flaws The Wall Street Journal reports on the newly-discovered Logjam bug, which could allow an attacker to read or alter communications that claim to be secure and may have been exploited by the National Security Agency to spy on virtual private networks, or VPNs. The vulnerability could also be exploited by hackers. CSE Graduate student Zakir Durumeric, one of the researchers working on the bug, is quoted in the article. [Full Story] We Are Now One ECE: The Merged Graduate Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering In recognition of how the Electrical Engineering discipline has evolved, and to better reflect Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Michigan, the two graduate programs: Electrical Engineering (EE) and Electrical Engineering:Systems (EE:S) have merged to form one graduate program: Electrical and Computer Engineering. Students will apply to the new program beginning Fall 2015. [Full Story] What makes cancer cells spread? New device offers clues Why do some cancer cells break away from a tumor and travel to distant parts of the body? A team of oncologists and engineers from the University of Michigan teamed up to help understand this crucial question. Prof. Euisik Yoon led the engineering team that created a new device that is able to sort cells based on their ability to move. Cancer becomes deadly when it spreads, or metastasizes. Not all cells have the same ability to travel through the body, but researchers dont understand why. This study is a step towards coming to that understanding. [Full Story] Health and Fitness Company Founded by CS Alum Gets Acquired by Practo Dhruv Gupta (BSE CS ༿) co-founded FitHo, a web and mobile based weight management program that provides customized diet plans and exercises, in 2011. FitHo has recently been acquired by Practo, an Indian health care startup that helps patients find doctors and book appointments online. [Full Story] Iverson Bell - Researching the Future of Space Satellites Iverson Bell is about to graduate with his PhD in electrical engineering. As a member of Prof. Brian Gilchrist's research group, Mr. Bell is investigating the potential of electrodynamic tether propulsion technology to enhance the capabilities of an emerging class of smartphone-sized satellites. Potential applications for these satellites include emergency preparedness, emergency relief, and space weather. In this video, he discusses grad life at Michigan and his ambitions in his field. [Full Story] Medical Education meets Google Glass Google Glass is being adopted in anatomy labs at U-M as an avenue for hands-free and immediate access to information. The inventor of Glass, ECE alumnus Babak Parviz (MSE PhD EE; MSE Physics), anticipated these types of applications and has described how the Glass technology is changing what it means to know something when answers can be nearly instantaneous. Also mentioned in the article about Glass and medical education are alumni Larry Page (BSE CE), Founder of Google, and Tony Fadell (BSE CE), who is currently leading the team exploring the future of Google Glass. [Read more about Dr. Parviz and the development of Google Glass] [Full Story] Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble Stretches, Challenges Performers and Audience Creativity and tech were blended as the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. Georg Essl, performed 12 original works at its Final Class Concert in April. This story includes video of each of these unique performances. [Full Story] Computer Engineering Research Lab Explores the Bounds of Computer Integration The new Computer Engineering Lab at U-M is the successor to the 30-year-old ACAL Lab and is home to researchers who are looking to stretch the definition of how computational systems are designed and employed. [Full Story] CE Alum Jon Fraleigh Named New Executive at BrightPoint Security Jon Fraleigh (BSE CE ྎ) has been named senior VP of worldwide sales at BrightPoint Security (formerly Vorstack), a leading Threat Intelligence Platform provider for automation, curation, and sharing of threat intelligence to fight cyber threats. He was most recently senior VP of worldwide sales at Q1 Labs/IBM Security Systems Division, where he grew revenue from $10 million to $200 million over six years, and expanded sales into more than 90 countries. [Full Story] Space Tethers Can Be Used to Fling Spacecraft Into Interplanetary Space Brian Gilchrist is collaborating with NASA researchers and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to develop space tethers - a means to "fling" spacecraft further into interplanetary space. Electromagnetic tethers on already-orbiting or space bound satellites could be used to move a spacecraft in space without any propellant whatsoever. The tether could be used to deorbit out-of-use spacecraft, push spacecraft from low Earth orbit into higher orbits, or even push spacecraft out of Earth's orbit altogether. [Full Story] Designing Machines - Can we create machines who learn like we do? Technology certainly seems smart now - phones listen and talk, computers interpret images and video - but in spite of that, the field of artificial intelligence might best be described as a hot mess: an assortment of intriguing pieces that have yet to be integrated into a truly intelligent system. This article in looks at some of those pieces and how they might fit together. [Full Story] Hospitals are testing a way to detect malware by analyzing the flow of electricity to connected devices One of the biggest reasons why health professionals are reticent to connect their devices is a concern over security for health tech, attacking a device can mean attacking a person. Prof. Fu talks about WattsUpDoc, a program that uses power and electricity as a means to detect if a malware has been introduced into a network. Hospitals are now slowly beginning to sign up and try out this new malware detection system. Eric M. Aupperle (1935 - 2015): An Internet Pioneer Leaves a Remarkable Legacy Eric Max Aupperle (BSE EE and Math '57; MSE NERS '58; Instm.E. '64), renowned president of Merit Network and Research Scientist Emeritus, passed away Thursday, April 30, 2015, at the age of 80. As director and president of the computer research network called Merit, Eric Aupperle had a strong influence on the current form of the Internet. [Full Story] EECS Graduate Student Instructors Earn Awards for Teaching Excellence The EECS Department held its annual Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) / Instructional Aide (IA) Awards Ceremony on April 30 to honor top student instructors and aides for their remarkable service and excellence in teaching. ECE and CSE Associate Chairs Dave Neuhoff and Scott Mahlke hosted the event and introduced the awardees. [Full Story] Bay Area CSE Alumni and Friends are Invited to Join Us for Tech Talks Bay Area CSE alumni and friends are invited to join us for tech talks, conversation and hors d'oeuvres including Zingerman's from Ann Arbor on May 7th. More info and registration here. [Full Story] Over 600 Students Present Final Projects at EECS 183 Showcase On Friday, April 24th, a number of students, parents, and professors attended the EECS 183 Showcase at Palmer Commons. Non-CS students from EECS 183, Elementary Programming Concepts, presented what they learned about CS this semester in a day-long showcase that featured over 150 projects made by over 600 students. [Full Story] Your House Is Your Next Fit Band This article in Discovery highlights a Wi-Fi based approach to a local area fitness monitoring system prototyped at MIT. It includes commentary by U-M Prof. Fu, who sees potential for the system, especially in cases where typical sensor placement is not viable. He does, however, have concerns about WiFi security for medical data transmission. [Full Story] Winter 2015 Games Showcase Brings Lively Crowd to Tishman Hall On Friday, April 24th, Tishman Hall in the Beyster Building had a lively crowd of over 100 attendees for the 2015 Computer Games Showcase. The event showcased the final projects of computer science seniors in EECS 494, Computer Game Design and Development, which is taught by Jeremy Gibson. [Full Story] Prize Winning Class Team Project for Improved Image Processing An interdisciplinary team of three graduate students earned prizes in the graduate level course, EECS 556: Image Processing, thanks to the sponsorship of Apple. The course, taught by Prof. Jeff Fessler, covers the theory and application of digital image processing, which has applications in biomedical images, time-varying imagery, robotics, and optics. [Full Story] Students Show off Projects during Winter Semester Showcases A number of CS students finished the semester strong by displaying their projects during the winter semester project showcases. Students, professors, and parents were able to see a combination of hard work, creativity, and skill during the ENG 100, EECS 183, EECS 373, EECS 467, and EECS 494 project showcases. [Full Story] New Undergraduate Program in Data Science Announced CoE students have a new major course of study to choose from, and it's a highly relevant choice in this age of "Big Data." The program in Data Science, developed in conjunction with the Statistics Department, will help to prepare a class of experts who can extract actionable data from text, audio, video, and sensor measurements. The program will be offered for the first time in the Fall of 2015. [Full Story] Digital democracy: will 2015 be the last paper-based general election? There is a growing call for on-line voting in the UK with Estonia's system seen by some as a model, as discussed in this article in The Telegraph. However, work by Prof. J. Alex Halderman and others, including Halderman's 2014 assessment of the Estonian systems, point to major risks in the system [Full Story] US hospitals to treat medical device malware with AC power probes This article in The Register highlights plans for testing in two hospitals of a system that can detect malware infections on medical equipment by monitoring AC power consumption. Former CSE postdoc Denis Foo Kune developed the technology, called WattsUpDoc, with Prof. Kevin Fu and others while at Michigan. They have commercialized it through their startup, Virta Labs. [Full Story] 13 Of 2015s Hottest Topics In Computer Science Research In this contributed piece on Forbes, Prof. Igor Markov presents his view of where computer science research will be focused in the near term. It's a list worth reviewing! [Full Story] Shift Collaborative: Providing Creative Space and Community for Tech Students with Business on the Brain Located in a house just off U-Ms campus, Shift Collaborative is home to a student group that exists to nurture and facilitate its members fresh and creative ideas for new applications, programs, products, or startup businesses. Originally the brainchild of U-M alumnae Nancy Chow and backed by funding from former University of Michigan and NFL football player Dhani Jones, Shift Collaborative was founded in the fall of 2013. [Full Story] At 50 Years Old, The Challenge To Keep Up With Moores Law NPRs All Tech Considered: Fifty years ago this week, a chemist in what is now Silicon Valley published a paper that set the groundwork for the digital revolution. That man was Gordon Moore. Moores Law is all about electronic miniaturization, and the article talks about the worlds smallest computer, the Michigan Micro Mote, currently on display at the Computer History Museum. [Full Story] Eta Kappa Nu Awards Professors of the Year at St. Georges Day Feast In an afternoon of food and fun, the annual department St. George's Day Feast provided a welcome break for students in their last week of class. As part of the event, two professors were chosen as 2014-2015 HKN Professors of the year by U-M Eta Kappa Nu, the local chapter of the national honor society for electrical and computer engineers. Prof. David Wentzloff, Associate Professor in ECE, and David Paoletti, lecturer in CSE, were chosen based on student input. [Full Story] Advancing Computation: 4th U-M Alum Wins Turing Award With the recent announcement of Michigan alumnus Michael Stonebraker as the 2014 Turing recipient, we'd like to recognize Stonebraker and three other Michigan alumni Frances Allen, Edgar Codd, and Stephen Cook who are recipients of this honor, extending a legacy of impact by Michigan alumni on the field of computing. [Full Story] Future Scientists Tour CSE On Friday, April 10th, CSE Professors Valeria Bertacco and Todd Austin hosted a CSE visit for the preschoolers of U-Ms Towsley Childrens House. The event was a way for the children to experience computer science in a fun and engaging way. The day started with a meet and greet from Prof. Edwin Olson through his TeleRobot. [Full Story] Thomas Chen Earns NSF Fellowship for Research in Artificial Neural Networks for Computer Vision Thomas Chen has been awarded an NSF Fellowship to pursue his research in the design of efficient artificial neural networks for computer vision. Thomas and his group were able to design custom hardware architectures for efficient and high-performance implementations of a sparse coding algorithm called the sparse and independent local network (SAILnet). [Full Story] ECE Welcomes New Engineering Robotics Center A $54M robotics center is coming to North Campus. It will offer state-of-the-art facilities in a brand-new, 3-story, 100,000 square foot building. ECE faculty are excited at the promise the new space offers for increased collaboration and synergy of effort. [Full Story] CS Students Sweep Awards at 2015 Mobile Apps Challenge Computer science students dominated the awards for the 2015 U-M Mobile Apps Challenge, which is open to students, faculty, and staff campus-wide. First place went to freshman Janum Trivedi, who will be declaring in CS soon. [Full Story] Elaine Wah Receives CoE Marian Sarah Parker Prize Elaine Wah, a CSE PhD candidate, has been awarded a CoE Marian Sarah Parker Prize. The award is given to an outstanding woman graduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence, leadership qualities and outstanding contributions to the University and/or community. [Full Story] The Crazy-Tiny Next Generation of Computers This article in Medium describes Prof. Prabal Dutta's interest in Smart Dust - a network of tiny, sensor-enabled autonomous computers - and its ability to to measure everyday data to solve issues of critical sustainability. It traces how he began collaborating with Profs. David Blaauw and Dennis Sylvester on the development of the Michigan Micro Mote (M3), which is now the world's smallest and first millimeter scale computer. [Full Story] Duo Security Raises $30 Million To Protect Enterprises Against Data Breaches Ann Arbor-based Duo Security, the two-factor authentication startup founded by CS alums Dug Song and Jon Oberheide, wants to do more to help protect companies from hackers trying to gain access to their networks. With that goal in mind, its launching a new product to secure their networks and announcing $30 million in new funding led by Redpoint Ventures. More in this article on Techcrunch. [Full Story] Creativity in the Classroom: Gibson Puts Emphasis on Collaborative Learning and Quick Prototyping in Games MDE Many forward thinking educators are flipping the tables on their students by diverging from the standard classroom lecture format and implementing innovative curriculum in order to enhance student experience and stimulate learning. In his EECS 494 Computer Game Design and Development course, instructor Jeremy Gibson has done just that, and the results are promising. [Full Story] Machine politics: Electronic voting and the persistent doubts about its integrity Prof. J. Alex Halderman and his collaborator Dr. Vanessa Teague are interviewed on Up Close, the research talk show from the University of Melbourne, about their work in investigating the iVote system recently used in New South Wales and about the security challenges of electronic voting in general. [Full Story] OpenSource.com: A case for predictable databases Prof. Barzan Mozafari is interviewed in this Q&A on OpenSource.com about his open source DBSeer and DBSherlock database tools, and about guaranteeing a consistent and predictable level of performance is cloud-based database systems [Full Story] Mobile Friendly - apps to improve life Prof. Jasprit Singh believes mobile apps can help change lives for the better, and he's built platform technology to help make it happen. Singh and his colleague John Hinckley have consulted with a number of U-M researchers on the development of mobile apps, and by creating a general platform, they can reduce costs and turnaround time. Singh helped Prof. Daniel Eisenberg build Tinyshifts, an app that actively prompts users to answer questions about their mental health issues. [Full Story] Elaine Wah Receives Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship for Research on Algorithmic Trading Elaine Wah, a CSE PhD candidate, has been awarded a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship to support her research on algorithmic trading, or the use of automated computer algorithms to submit orders to buy or sell, in financial markets. [Full Story] Karl Winsor Honored with Goldwater Scholarship Honors Mathematics and Computer Science undergraduate student Karl Winsor has been named a Goldwater Scholar for the 2015-16 academic year. This program provides scholarships to students interested in careers in science, math, and engineering, and they are considered the premier scholarships awarded to undergraduates in these fields. [Full Story] ECE Ideas Worth Spreading - TEDxUofM TEDxUofM welcomed two speakers from ECE to its stage to "give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less." Profs. Shai Revzen and Herbert Winful spoke about their passion for their work at the sixth annual conference, themed "Constructive Interference." Prof. Winful's talk was titled "How Hidden Passions Can Connect People," and Prof. Revzen's talk was titled "Facing the Unknown, With Robots." [Full Story] This is the worlds smallest computer CBS News did a video and story about the Michigan Micro Mote (M3), which is the world's smallest computer and the world's first millimeter scale computer. "As the Internet of Things (IoT) gets bigger, the Michigan team is pushing to make computers ever smaller." [Full Story] Seattle Alumni Connect and Celebrate at ECE Networking Event ECE Alumni of the greater Seattle area gathered for a networking dinner at the World Trade Center on March 19, 2015. The event, sponsored by ECE Alumni Babak Parviz (Amazon) and Dawson Yee (Microsoft), was the first time many alumni in the area had a chance to meet. The evening was such a success, plans are already underway for a follow-up event, in Seattle and around the country. [Full Story] Why you arent voting for Chicago mayor from a smartphone This article in the Chicago Tribune summarizes why Chicago voters won't be casting online votes in April 7's mayoral runoff election. Although other transactions can be accomplished by smartphone, "the shape of the problem is fundamentally different than things we routinely do online today," says Prof. J. Alex Halderman in the article. [Full Story] The Hackathon Fast Track, From Campus to Silicon Valley This article in the New York Times examines the phenomenon of hackathons and how they have become a new fast track to success in the tech industry. Quoted are CS major and director of the past two MHacks, Vikram Rajagopalan, as well as David Fontenot, a former MHacks director. [Full Story] Elnaz Ansari Earns Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement Elnaz Ansari, PhD candidate in EE, has received the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement. Elnaz implements large-scale analog circuits using automatic design techniques that are mostly used in digital system designs. Using these techniques, she has fabricated a high-speed, high-resolution digital to analog converter (DAC) in 65nm CMOS technology. [Full Story] Fall 2015: PlasmonicsCourse No.: EECS 598-007 Students Getting Ready to Race with MHybrid The Michigan Hybrid Racing Team (MHybrid) unveiled their new formula racecar, and students are hard at work to make the car a success at the Formula Hybrid Competition at Dartmouth on April 27. The car will be tested on its speed, design, and efficiency. The team will take a number of design improvements over previous models to the track, and the electrical group has been busy making them happen. [Full Story] Fall 2015: Power System Dynamics and ControlCourse No.: EECS 598-003 Fall 2015: Foundations of Computer VisionCourse No.: EECS 598-001 Fall 2015: Hybrid Systems: Specification, Verification and ControlCourse No.: EECS 598-002 Fall 2015: An Introduction to Social, Economic and Technological NetworksCourse No.: EECS 498-002 Worlds Largest Processor Announced; Perfect for Big Data and Other Applications Computer architecture researchers in the Computer Science and Engineering division of the EECS Department at the University of Michigan have announced a new paradigm in the evolution of computer development: the worlds largest processor chip, designed for big data. [Full Story] Smart Phone Apps: An Interview with Prof. Georg Essl (in German) Prof. Georg Essl is interviewed on German public radio (WDR) on the subject of smart phone apps and their potential as musical instruments. The interview includes numerous musical examples from Essl's Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble. [Full Story] Our Data, Our Health. A Future Tense Event Recap. This blog posting on Slate addresses threats to medical device security and highlights the thoughts of Prof. Kevin Fu on the matter. Prof. Fu directs the Archimedes Medical Device Research Center at Michigan. [Full Story] Mastering Illusions Of The Mind Many students say they went into electrical engineering because the things that engineers do is like magic. One of our alumni, Oz Pearlman, actually became a magician. He followed his passion after spending a few years at Merrill Lynch, honing his craft on the side. He is now a a renowned mentalist who has performed across 6 continents and over 30 countries. [Full Story] Probing the Whole Internet for Weak Spots This article in MIT Technology Review profiles the work of CSE graduate student Zakir Durumeric. Durumeric led in the development of ZMap, the software capable of probing the entire public Internet in less than an hour. Through the use of ZMap, Durumeric was first person to realize the scope of the FREAK flaw. His use of ZMap was also pivotal to researchers' understanding of the recent Heartbleed flaw. [Full Story] ECE spinoff Arborlight gets $1.7M in VC funding to commercialize new lighting technology "Arborlight wants every indoor space to be able to reap the benefits of natural -- or as close to natural -- sunlight, and thanks to a $1.7 million venture capital investment, the company is one step closer to that goal." Arborlight is co-founded by Prof. P.C. Ku. [Full Story] Jason Davis: Ph.D. candidate confident yet cautious of future Crain's Business Detroit sat down with Millennial and ECE staff member Jason Davis to hear how things were going in his life and career. Jason is working as the Alumni Relations Coordinator while pursuing his doctorate in higher education. His passion is issues of diversity and inclusion, something he brings to his work. He is also a regular volunteer for a variety of organizations. [Full Story] ECE Students Earn CoE Distinguished Leadership Awards Three ECE students have been awarded the CoE Distinguished Leadership Award. This award recognizes students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and service to the College, University, and community. Cheng Zhang and Elizabeth Dreyer are both Ph.D. students in electrical engineering, and Lauren Bilbo is an undergraduate senior majoring in electrical engineering. All three are actively involved in student organizations and leadership positions. [Full Story] Stephen Forrest Receives 2015 Distinguished University Innovator Award Stephen Forrest, Paul G. Goebel Professor of Engineering, has been awarded the 2015 U-M Distinguished University Innovator Award. Prof. Forrest is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful academic inventors and entrepreneurs today. He has participated in the founding of 5 companies which have generated more than 1,000 jobs, holds 271 patents, and published more than 540 papers which have received more than 85,000 citations in Google Scholar. During his tenure as U-M's Vice President for Research, he was responsible for several key initiatives that helped make Michigan a leader in tech transfer. [Full Story] U-M Develops Controls for Bipedal Robots with Model-Based Design Developing a two-legged robot capable of walking and running like a human is a key goal for robotics researchers. In 2011, Professor Jessy Grizzle and a small team of Ph.D. students advanced toward that goal with MABEL, a bipedal robot that could run a nine-minute mile and regain its balance after negotiating an eight-inch step. When MABEL's successor, MARLO, needed new coding, the researchers moved away from hand-coding, and used Model-Based Design with MATLAB and Simulink to speed up the development of real-time control systems for MARLO and other bipedal robots. [Full Story] Michael Stonebraker Receives ACM Turing Award Michael Stonebraker (MS EE '66, PhD CICE '71) has been named the recipient of the 2014 ACM A.M. Turing Award for fundamental contributions to the concepts and practices underlying modern database systems. The ACM Turing Award, widely considered 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. [Full Story] Voice Control Will Force an Overhaul of the Whole Internet This article in Wired reports on Sirius, the open-source personal digital assistant released by Profs. Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang and graduate student Johann Hauswald. It focused in in the projects underlying thrust: that the data centers of today are not built to accommodate the voice-based data loads of tomorrow. Sirius is a tool that will help researchers to understand the needs of next-generation data centers. [Full Story] Cheng Zhang Awarded Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship for Research on Nanophotonic Materials and Devices Cheng Zhang, a 5th year Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering, has been awarded a Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship to support his doctoral research in new optical materials and device concepts for future optoelectronic devices. Key to one facet of Cheng's research is his investigation of a new kind of silver film, aluminum-doped silver (Al-doped Ag), for device fabrication. In addition, Cheng is investigating nano-size metamaterials for use in optical spectrum filtering and polarization/direction control. [Full Story] Thousands of NSW iVotes open to FREAK flaw This article in The Australian covers the discovery of a security flaw in the the online voting system used in New South Wales during the current election. The researchers included Prof. J. Alex Halderman and Dr. Vanessa Teague of the University of Melbourne. [Full Story] Critical iVote security flaws expose risk of online voting fraud This article in CNet covers the discovery of a security flaw in the the online voting system used in New South Wales during the current election. The researchers included Prof. J. Alex Halderman and Dr. Vanessa Teague of the University of Melbourne. [Full Story] Australian online voting system may have FREAK bug This article in The Register covers the discovery of a security flaw in the the online voting system used in New South Wales during the current election. The researchers included Prof. J. Alex Halderman and Dr. Vanessa Teague of the University of Melbourne. [Full Story] NSW election result could be challenged over iVote security flaw This article in The Guardian covers the discovery of a security flaw in the the online voting system used in New South Wales during the current election. The researchers included Prof. J. Alex Halderman and Dr. Vanessa Teague of the University of Melbourne. [Full Story] Security Flaw in New South Wales Puts Thousands of Online Votes at Risk A security flaw detected by Prof. J. Alex Halderman and Dr. Vanessa Teague of the University of Melborne may have exposed thousands of votes to manipulation during a six-day period of online voting in New South Wales, Australia. [Full Story] Fall 2015: EECS 498: Control of Manufacturing SystemsCourse No.: EECS 498-001 Edwin Olson: Driverless Cars (radio interview) In this radio interview on Newstalk ZB in New Zealand, Prof. Edwin Olson discusses the future of autonomous vehicles, how autonomy might be introduced into the marketplace, and M City, the automated test track for autonomous vehicle research and testing at Michigan. [Full Story] Michigan Micro Mote (M3) Makes History Michigan Micro Mote (M3), the worlds smallest computer, is taking its place among other revolutionary accomplishments in the history of computing at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Measuring in at less than a half a centimeter, it is a fully autonomous computing system that acts as a smart sensing system. [Full Story] 2015 CoE Towner Prize for Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors Each year the College of Engineering awards the Towner Prize for Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) to the top graduate student instructors throughout the College of Engineering. In 2015, three of the four awards went to students in EECS. The winners are Jonathan Beaumont, Michael Benson, and Mai Le. [Full Story] EECS Undergraduate Student Awards Students, parents, and faculty gathered on Friday, March 13, 2015 to celebrate the achievements of EECS students who earned special awards for academic achievement, research, service, or entrepreneurial activities. [Full Story] Researchers just built a free, open-source version of Siri This article in VentureBeat reports on Sirius, the open-source intelligent personal assistant software introduced by CSE Profs. Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang, along with graduate student Johann Hauswald. It focuses on the open-source nature of Sirius and quotes the researchers regarding its possibilities. [Full Story] Two ECE Alums Make Top Semiconductor CEOs List Two ECE alumni were recognized in an Electronics Weekly list of 2014's topsemiconductor CEOs. Syed B. Ali (MSE Electrical Engineering), founder, president, and CEO of Cavium, Inc. and Steve Mollenkopf (MSE Electrical Engineering), CEO of Qualcomm, Inc. took two of the list's top ten spots. [Full Story] Yi-Chin Wu Receives ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for Research in Network Security Yi-Chin Wu (MSE PhD EE:Sys 11 14) received the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award for 2014 for her dissertation, Verification enforcement for opacity security property. Her research brings Discrete Event Control Theory to the analysis and design of secure systems. Dr. Wu says that we can no longer solve security and privacy threats by only examining the implementation of each specific system. To proactively design general secure systems, we need to address security in a theoretical approach. [Full Story] Engineers Bring A New Open-Source Siri To Life This article in readwrite reports on Sirius, the open-source intelligent personal assistant software introduced by CSE Profs. Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang, along with graduate student Johann Hauswald. It focuses in part on the open-source nature of Sirius and the potential that creates for anyone to create a customized personal assistant. [Full Story] Free Sirius One-Ups Siri This article in EE Times reports on Sirius, the open-source intelligent personal assistant software introduced by CSE Profs. Jason Mars and Lingjia Tang, along with graduate student Johann Hauswald. The article focuses in part on Sirius's ability to process photos. [Full Story] What You Tweet Might Tell Janet Yellen Its Time to Raise Rates Economists at the Fed are looking into whether non-traditional data could improve the accuracy and timeliness of the forecasts they put before monetary-policy decision makers about every six weeks. This could include Prof. Mike Cafarella's social media tool that monitors tweets to create an index of initial claims for unemployment. [Full Story] Irma Wyman: Computer Pioneer and Advocate for Women in Engineering Irma Wyman (BSE EngMath 49) was a pioneer in the field of computers, beginning with her work on some of the earliest programmable machines ever made. As the first female vice president at Honeywell, she knew success - but she also knew firsthand how rare she was to succeed in a field where women were scarce. Now, at 86 years of age, she remains a strong advocate for equal opportunity for women. [Full Story] Scott Mahlke Receives Micro Test of Time Award CSE Associate Chair Scott Mahlke has been recognized with a Micro Test of Time Award for his groundbreaking 1992 paper on the hyperblock, a structure for improving the efficiency of code execution on superscalar and related processors. [Full Story] Sirius Is the Google-Backed Open Source Siri This article in Motherboard discusses Sirius, the open-source digital assistant developed by CSE researchers, its ability to process images, its open-source roots, and ultimately reflects on its utility versus a past attempt in this realm. [Full Story] Meet Sirius: An Open-Source Digital Assistant CSE researchers have introduced Sirius, an open-source computing system designed to spark a new generation of intelligent personal assistants for wearables and other devices. Core functionalities include speech recognition, image matching, natural language processing, and a Q&A system. [Full Story] Emily Mower Provost Receives Oscar Stern Award for Research in Emotion Expression and Perception Assistant Professor Emily Mower Provost has been awarded the 2015 Oscar Stern Award for Depression Research. The award will support her research into how variation in mood affects variation in emotion perception using stimuli developed at UM. The intent of the award is to promote high impact, innovative ideas leading to strategic interventions to prevent or manage mood disorders. [Full Story] Chappie ponders future of humans in a world run on artificial intelligence Prof. Satinder Singh Baveja is quoted in this article in The Washington Times on the emergence of artificial intelligence and the need for controls to be established before AI can operate independently of human oversight. [Full Story] Mark Kushner Awarded 2015 IEEE NPSS Charles K. Birdsall Award Mark Kushner, George I. Haddad Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been awarded the 2015 IEEE NPSS Charles K. Birdsall Award from the Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society for his outstanding contributions in computational nuclear and plasma science. [Full Story] Security Concerns Raised Regarding Clinton Offices Use of Private Email Prof. J. Alex Halderman is quoted regarding security concerns in this Al Jazeera America article on Hillary Clinton's use of a private email service while in office as Secretary of State. Prof. Halderman has previously demonstrated vulnerabilities in the security of a number of trusted systems, including airport body scanners and electronic voting systems. [Full Story] Outdated Encryption Keys Leave Phones Vulnerable to Hackers Prof. J. Alex Halderman and CSE graduate student Zakir Durumeric have used their ZMap scanning software to determine that of the 14 million web sites worldwide that offer encryption, more than 5 million remain vulnerable to the FREAK encryption flaw as of March 4. Prof. Halderman is quoted on the danger of weak crypto and "back doors" in this New York Times article on the subject. [Full Story] Researchers Map Extent of FREAK Security Flaw Prof. J. Alex Halderman and CSE graduate student Zakir Durumeric have used their ZMap scanning software to determine that of the 14 million web sites worldwide that offer encryption, more than 5 million remain vulnerable to the FREAK encryption flaw as of March 4. The U-M researchers are part of a broad effort that has demonstrated the dangers inherent in the older 512-bit encryption code that is still in use. [Full Story] Dave Neuhoff Receives Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award Dave Neuhoff, Joseph E. and Anne P. Rowe Professor of Electrical Engineering, has been honored with a 2015 Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award for his sustained efforts as advisor, teacher, advocate, sponsor, and role model to doctoral students. Prof. Neuhoff's influence has been felt both within his own graduate research group, and across the entire department. [Full Story] Alumnus Erin Teague Listed Among 25 Women to Know in 2015 Erin Teague (BSE CE '04) was listed in Rolling Out Magazine as one of the top 25 woman we should know in 2015. Erin is the director of product management at Yahoo! The article, part of a celebration of International Women's History Month, describes the barriers she's broken in the industry. Previously, she was named among the 100 Coolest People in Tech by Business Insider. (Check out a previous Q&A with Erin for more in-depth info here.) [Full Story] Z. Morley Mao Receives Google Faculty Research Award Associate Professor Z. Morley Mao has been awarded a 2015 Google Faculty Research Award for her work entitled, "Enabling Cross-layer Visibility for Mobile Apps: Performance and Energy Efficiency Diagnosis". Mao's goal was to create a diagnosis tool to achieve responsive and energy-efficient mobile apps that work well in diverse network conditions. [Full Story] Urging STEM Support in Washington, DC (Iverson Bell and Michigan Space Grant Consortium) Iverson Bell (right), a doctoral student in electrical engineering, talks with Dan Jourdan, legislative director for Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, about wire that could be used to power micro-satellite propulsion. Representatives of the Michigan Space Grant Consortium part of a national NASA-funded program aimed at increasing the number of students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and math were in Washington, D.C., recently to urge support. U-M manages the Space Grant program in Michigan. (Photo by Mike Waring, Washington Office) Alumnus Steve Dail Voted Teacher of the Year in Farmington, MISteve Dail, who received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, was named Teacher of the Year by Farmington Public Schools. Mr. Dail teaches Physics at Harrison High School, provides extracurricular activities in STEM, and developed the RoboHawks robotics club. His classroom style has been likened to episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy. EE Times Highlights ECE Research at ISSCC EE Times offered 18 Views of ISSCC through photos of some of the most interesting and cutting-edge products and research shown at the event. They showcased research by Prof. Blaauw, Prof. Sylvester, and graduate student Wootaek Lim. The chip is an ARM Cortex-M0+ running off a 0.09mm2 solar cell that puts out 400 picowatts, thanks to novel circuits designed to suppress power leakage. Electronics360 previewed the work, calling it a stand-out paper. [Electronics360 preview] Dutta and Halderman Named Morris Wellman Faculty Development Professors Prabal Dutta and J. Alex Halderman, assistant professors in Computer Science and Engineering, have been named Morris Wellman Faculty Development Professors. The professorship is awarded to junior faculty members in recognition of outstanding contributions to teaching and research. [Full Story] Prabal Dutta Selected for Sloan Research Fellowship Professor Prabal Dutta has been selected for a Sloan Research Fellowship for his work in developing energy-scavenging sensors and wireless communications, mobile-sensor-interfaces, and "Smart Dust" system architecture. [Full Story] J. Alex Halderman Selected for Sloan Research Fellowship Professor J. Alex Halderman has been selected for a Sloan Research Fellowship for his work in the science of computer and network security with an emphasis on problems that broadly impact society and public policy. [Full Story] The Lunar New Year Celebration - Bridging Cultures The EECS atrium got festive on February 19 with a celebration of the Lunar New Year. A large crowd turned out for the show, including many Chinese students. Many said that the recognition of their country's most widely celebrated calendar holiday made them feel more at home. Check out photos and a video from the event. [Full Story] HiJack Enables a Smartphone Dongle for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases HiJack, the hardware/software platform that was developed by Prof. Prabal Dutta and his students five years ago, has opened the door to new technology. Recently, a team of researchers from Columbia University developed an HIV and syphilis point of care test that detects the diseases within 15 minutes after a fingerprick of blood. [Full Story] Jacob Abernethy Receives NSF CAREER Award Prof. Jacob Abernethy has received an NSF CAREER Award for his research project, "CAREER: Machine Learning through the Lens of Economics (And Vice Versa)," to investigate the relationship between machine learning and microeconomic theory. [Full Story] Grant Schoenebeck Receives NSF CAREER Award Prof. Grant Schoenebeck has received an NSF CAREER Award for his research project, "CAREER: Social Networks Processes, Structures, and Algorithms," to develop a rigorous theoretical understanding of complex networks. [Full Story] Jessy Grizzle Delivers Distinguished University Professorship Lecture on Bipedal Robots Jessy Grizzle delivered a lecture on his work with bipedal robots last week in honor of being named the Elmer G. Gilbert Distinguished University Professor of Engineering. The lecture covered the different iterations of Prof. Grizzle's world-renowned bipedal creations since he started work on Rabbit in 1999. His most recent project, MARLO, is his first bipedal robot to walk freely outdoors. [Full Story] Jason Corso Receives Google Faculty Research Award Prof. Jason Corso received a 2015 Google Faculty Research Award to further his research in computational learning from instructional video content. His goal is to develop a consistent and reliable method for producing a visual and textual summary of any video that describes a process - from simple sandwich how-to's to more elaborate technical processes. [Full Story] Jia Deng Receives Google Faculty Research Award Assistant Professor Jia Deng has been awarded a 2015 Google Faculty Research Award for his work in large-scale image understanding. The Google Faculty Research Awards program is a competitive worldwide program intended to facilitate more interaction between Google and academia. [Full Story] CSE Sponsors Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing Conference to be Hosted by U-M The University of Michigan will host the 5th biennial Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing conference. The conference, which is also sponsored by CSE, will take place at the Duderstadt Center March 20-21st, 2015 and registration is now open. [Full Story] Careers in Robotics: Spotlight on the University of Michigan This article in Robotics Business Review takes a look at robotics research at Michigan, in particular the work in perception and autonomy that is being conducted by Profs. Edwin Olson and Ryan Eustice. It also examines how that research is a key ingredient in the work to be done on autonomous vehicles at Michigan's new Mobility Transportation Center. [Full Story] Robots In Our Image If two-legged locomotion is the next frontier for robotics, Prof. Jessy Grizzle and his team are setting the standard for graceful, human-like walking by robots. He talks about his own robot, MARLO, in the context of the upcoming DARPA Robotics Challenge. MARLO is not entered, but is making great strides here at the University of Michigan. [Full Story] Babak Parviz Goes Through the Glass EE alum Babak Parviz received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2015 Golden Mousetrap Awards for his work with Google Glass and Smart Contact Lenses. He is currently VP at Amazon. Read the Design News article, and listen to Babak talk about these devices and more during his last visit to Michigan, when he received the Alumni Merit Award for 2014. Former CSE Chair Farnam Jahanian Named Provost at Carnegie Mellon University Farnam Jahanian, former chair of CSE and most recently vice president of research at Carnegie Mellon University, has been appointed as CMU's provost. Jahanian was on the faculty at the U-M from 1993 to 2014 and served as chair for CSE at U-M from 2007 to 2011. [Full Story] U-M Engineering Leads a $5M Initiative to Reform STEM Education In an effort to drive systemic reform of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, education, Michigan Engineering is co-leading a national program that will give more undergraduates and masters students deep experience in faculty research. A $5 million grant from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has established the Vertically Integrated Projects, or VIP, consortium a group of 15 universities. Among them are institutions that primarily serve underrepresented, minority, or nontraditional students, as well as members of the Association of American Universities. [Full Story] Electrify Tech Camp for High School Students - Register now for one or more of our 3 camps Electrify Tech Camp consists of three non-residential summer camps (Power Up; Light It Up; and Sense It) for high school students. Camp participants will be introduced to college-level topics at an introductory level suitable for high school students. Each camp will range between 24-30 students. Campers will work together in groups of 3 or 4 at the same state-of-the-art equipment used by Michigan undergraduate students. They will build devices, learn some coding, and test their work, all under the careful supervision of faculty and current Michigan students. It is an amazing opportunity for any high school student who has an interest in modern technology, and a love for science and math. [Full Story] Two Faculty Open Door for Collaboration with Ethiopian Institute Profs. Todd Austin and Valeria Bertacco visited Addis Ababa Institute of Technology in Ethiopia in 2009 to talk about Michigan Engineering. They found great enthusiasm but scant resources. By 2011, they were donating equipment for labs and in 2012 built curriculum and taught during sabbatical. A broader initiative between U-M and AAIT now exists, and Austin and Bertacco were part of a recent U-M delegation to AAIT. That trip, and a look at Ethiopia, is the subject of this Digital Multimedia Experience. [Full Story] Prof. Emerita Lynn Conway to Advise Open-Access CS Journal Lynn Conway, Prof. Emerita of EECS, will serve on the advisory board for a new open-access journal by PeerJ, called PeerJ Computer Science. (What is an open-access journal? Watch this comic video) The peer-reviewed web journal previously considered articles in the biological and medial sciences, making this its first expansion into a new field since its founding in 2012. [Full Story] HKN Students Crowned Mr. and Ms. Engineer at the The Engineering Games This years Engineering Games, hosted by SWE (Society of Women Engineers), pitted teams from six engineering student organizations in a clash of talent, skill, and problem solving. Representing HKN (Eta Kappa Nu), the international honor society for Electrical and Computer Engineers, ECE graduate student David Hiskens and CS senior Alyssa Kornylo took home the Mr. and Ms. Engineering crowns. [Full Story] Researchers Build Groundbreaking Device for NASA SMAP Mission Prof. Kamal Sarabandi and his team constructed the most powerful radar calibration device in the world to interface with NASAs newest orbiting satellite, called Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP). The goal is to measure the amount of water in moisture, which should ultimately to improve our ability to forecast the weather, monitor droughts, predict floods, enhance crop productivity, and understand the Earths water, energy, and carbon cycles. [Full Story] Somin Eunice Lee Receives CAREER Award for Research in Nanoscale Biotechnology Prof. Lee aims to develop configurable nanostructures to deliver genes efficiently and specifically to the cell nucleus, without impacting neighboring cells, using optical transport, or light. This method for efficient and specific delivery of corrected genes should lower required dosages and minimize unwanted side effects. [Full Story] New Alumni Book: State Space Consistency and Differentiability Demetrios Serakos published a new book entitled State Space Consistency and Differentiability. Dr. Serakos received his Master's and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan, and currently works at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Virginia. The book was published by Springer. [Full Story] Cooking robot may offer artificial culinary intelligence Prof. Jason Corso was asked to comment on research that involved the use of artificial intelligence to provide robots with the ability to recognize objects and learn actions by watching humans. In this case, the robot was watching a video. He said it is possible to reconstruct the 3D environment (2D space plus time) that is being shown in the video. [Full Story] Distinguished University Professor lecture involves walking robots Despite tremendous advances in the field of two-legged robots during the past few decades, bipedal machines are a long way from impersonating, much less improving upon, the human gait. In his inaugural lecture as the Elmer G. Gilbert Distinguished University Professor of Engineering, Jessy Grizzle will discuss the efforts underway in his lab to close this gap. All are welcome at the lecture, Feb. 4 at 4pm in the Rackham Amphitheatre. A reception will follow in the Assembly Hall. [Full Story] Coding For Kids: Teaching Girls, Minorities To Program Important For A Diverse Tech Workforce This story on the International Business Times website speaks about creating a new generation of programmers by reaching out to demographics that historically haven't considered coding as a profession. In it, Prof. Elliot Soloway says, "Coding is about giving kids the new pencil and paper, it's giving them the new typewriter, the new tool to say things that they couldn't say before." [Full Story] MHacks Continues to Impress with Over 1200 Participants at Hackathon Since its inception in February 2013, MHacks, the university's semi-annual event that helped spark the nation's college hackathon movement, has grown from a just-for-fun challenge to a sophisticated operation that draws big sponsors and students from a variety of backgrounds. Hacks have gone from short-term creations to impressive longer-term ventures. [Full Story] Helen Hagos, CSE Masters Student, Selected for Dow Sustainability Fellowship Helen Hagos has been selected for a Dow Sustainability Fellowship for her work in the design of embedded systems for use in differentiated waste collection and management. [Full Story] Student Team Reaches Qualcomm Finals with their Proposal for a Wearable Haptic Device Paul Myers, EE Senior, and Amin Sandoughsaz, EE PhD student, were selected as finalists for the 2015 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship. They will present their project, A Wearable Haptic Device with Integrated Sensing and Actuation for Next Generation Communication Systems, at the Finals on March 23, 2015 in San Diego. The goal of the project is to augment the transmission of audio and video with the sense of touch [Full Story] Four ECE Faculty Selected for 2014-15 College of Engineering Awards Four ECE faculty are recipients of CoE Awards: Prof. Jay Guo for Research Excellence; Prof. Stephane Lafortune for Service Excellence, Prof. Mingyan Liu for Education Excellence; and Prof. Wei Lu for Innovation Excellence. [Full Story] CSE Graduate Student Develops Lower-Cost Self-Driving Car Navigation System CSE graduate student Ryan Wolcott has developed a navigation system for autonomous vehicles that leverages game technology and which could eliminate the need for expensive laser-scanning sensor systems. [Full Story] Four CSE Faculty Selected for College of Engineering Awards Four CSE faculty have been selected for 2014-15 College of Engineering Awards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to research and education: Todd Austin, Ronald Dreslinski, J. Alex Halderman, and Edwin Olson. [Full Story] Three Faculty Selected for 2015 EECS Outstanding Achievement Awards The EECS Outstanding Achievement Awards are presented annually to faculty members for their outstanding accomplishments in teaching, research, and service. The recipients of the 2015 EECS Outstanding Achievement Award are Benjamin Kuipers, Stephen Rand, and David Wentzloff. [Full Story] Jessy Grizzle to Deliver U-M Distinguished Lecture on Bipedal Robots (Feb 4 at Rackham) In Science Fiction, robots walk, run, and jump better than you. In reality, can you count on them to walk over rubble and pull you from a burning building? Not so much. Jessy Grizzle will give the lecture, Taking Bipedal Walking Robots from Science Fiction to Science Fact , in honor of being named the Elmer G. Gilbert Distinguished University Professor of Engineering. He will describe how the science of feedback systems is enhancing the ability to achieve highly dynamic locomotion in bipedal machines. The theory used in the talk will be amply illustrated with graphics and videos of his experiments to make the material accessible to a general audience. [Full Story] Career Center Report Shows Computer Scientists Highly Sought, Best Compensated The Engineering Career Resource Center has issued its Annual Report, which includes reported placement and salary survey data for College of Engineering students. By most measures, CS students and grads are the most sought and best compensated. [Full Story] Students Win Prizes for Circuit Designs in EECS 413 Two teams of students in Monolithic Amplifier Circuits (EECS 413) earned prizes for their final circuit design projects. First place went to Paul Myers, Tianyu Huang, Di Hu, and Rifat Sheikh for their project An Ultra-Low Power Energy Harvester with Integrated MPPT Circuit. Second place went to Seyed Amin Sandoughsaz Zardini, Chester Liu, Kanghwan Kim, and Shengshuo Lu for An Integrated Ultra-Low Power CMOS On-Chip Thermal Sensor. [Full Story] Making small things big in the world of organic electronics The first City University of Hong Kong Distinguished Lecture of 2015 was delivered by Professor Stephen Forrest on the topic of "Making Small Things Big in the World of Organic Electronics." What interests Professor Forrest is that as devices get smaller, the potential to make things bigger was now available. [Full Story] Despite Cold Weather, CSE Community Turns Out For Science on Screen Movie & Lecture The event took place at downtown Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater on the evening of January 8, 2015. It featured a screening of the movie, The Imitation Game, followed Prof. Kevin Compton's lecture on WWII cryptography and the life of Alan Turing. [Full Story] Researchers Gather at CSE for Midwest Theory Day Computer scientists and mathematicians from across the greater midwest region gathered at CSE on December 6, 2014 for the 66th Midwest Theory Day. The event provided an opportunity for the theory community to meet up, share research findings, and initiate collaborations. [Full Story] The Center for Future Architectures Research Holds Annual Research Review at U-M The Center for Future Architectures Research (C-FAR) held its Annual Research Review on Nov. 20-21 at the University of Michigan. The event featured research updates from some of the leading researchers in computer architecture on exciting new topics in the field. [Full Story] Miss Washtenaw County Finds Creativity in Every Opportunity From operettas to oil refineries to pageants, Alexandria Strother has done it all. As Miss Washtenaw County and a double major in Electrical Engineering and Vocal Performance, Alexandria works to bridge her many different worlds with a lot of ambition and creative problem solving. [Full Story] Computer Architecture Researchers Debate Future for Von Neumann Architecture On December 16, 2014, computer architecture researchers and scientists assembled in the debating chamber of the University of Cambridge Union for a hot debate on whether or not the end of the road has been reached for the Von Neumann Architecture. Chairing the debate was Trevor Mudge, Bredt Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan. [Full Story] Stephen Forrest Elected to National Academy of Inventors Stephen Forrest, Paul G. Goebel Professor of Engineering, has been named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction given to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. [Full Story] MHacks is Returning for its Fifth Hackathon MHacks is gearing up for their 5th hackathon, which will take place January 16th-18th, 2015 on North Campus at The University of Michigan. Over 1,000 students from 267 schools will be represented at this 36 straight hour event to think big, collaborate, and produce creative projects. [Full Story] Prof. Wei Lu Publishes Book on Semiconductor Nanowires Prof. Wei Lu has published the book, Semiconductor Nanowires : From Next-Generation Electronics to Sustainable Energy. This is the first book dedicated to Semiconductor Nanowires and provides a resource for researchers working in the area, those new to the field, and for individuals interested in commercial applications. [Full Story] Mourning the Loss of an Innovator: J. Robert Beyster Dies at 90 Michigan alumnus, philanthropist, scientist, and entrepreneur: J. Robert Beyster, a namesake of the Bob and Betty Beyster Building and funder of Michigan Engineering's largest fellowship program, has died at age 90. [Full Story] How drones and insects merged in ways that might surprise you Michigan is designing the microelectronics that are the eyes, ears, and brains of the tiny insect-like drones being developed under the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) collaborative. The research at Michigan is part of the Center for Objective Microelectronics & Biomemetic Advanced Technology, directed by Prof. Kamal Sarabandi. [Full Story] |