ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SPRING/SUMMER2000

One to One: From the Department Head

Currently the graduate program in our department has an enrollment of 400, with half of these students pursuing Ph. D. degrees. The US News & World Report ranked our electrical engineering graduate program 16th in the nation this year. This year 1450 students have applied to seek admission into our graduate program. These applicants come with excellent credentials with a large fraction from the top institutions around the world. This pool of high quality applicants makes the admission process very competitive. Just as top students contribute to the strength and quality of our graduate program, there is a direct relationship between our graduate program and the volume and quality of research in the department. The graduate students benefit from the research activities in the department, and quality research needs creative students. The undergraduate students, however, are more focused on course work and design projects. They can go through the department without much awareness of or involvement in the research activities. During the past year we started two programs to provide more research opportunities to the undergraduate students. First, we hosted our first Graduate Studies Day, inviting undergraduates to attend poster and display presentations by graduate students who discussed their research. Second, we initiated a departmental undergraduate research scholarships program funded by contributions from corporations and the departments annual fund campaign. The research scholarship recipients work with faculty members on research projects and can get credit for three hours. We hope that this program, in addition to creating awareness of research opportunities, will stimulate our undergraduates creative potential and encourage them to pursue graduate school and a research career.

Chanan Singh

Highlights
2 Patton Recieves IEEE Honor 4 Banerjee Speaks On Computer Engineering 5 EE Alumnus Reflects on Life 6 Scholarship and Fellowship Recipients 8 Annual Fund 9 Patt Discusses Computer Engineering

with more conventional Manipulating guided light materials. They also allow more beams may seem like a futuristic efficient electrical power expression found in Star Trek consumption. movies, but for a group of We have to apply an electrical engineering students the electrical signal on the surface of phrase is very familiar. those optical devices to control These students are involved in their operation, Eknoyan said. the electro-optic device research at By using these new materials, Texas A&M, concentrating on the requirement for electrical Integrated Optics. power is reduced significantly. Dr. Ohannes Eknoyan, professor, A technique that was said Integrated Optics is concerned developed at Texas A&M creates with the development of thin-film low-loss optical waveguides components for performing using the static strain-optic effect. functions such as modulation, This method made it possible for Research into Integrated Optics switching and multiplexing of guided the first time to construct guided benefits students, who have the light beams. opportunity to meet with the sponsors. wave devices in tungsten bronze The facilities at the Institute for ferroelectric materials SBN and Solid State Electronics fabricate the devices, and BSTN. These super-EO materials feature optical testing is done in the departments electroexceptionally large electro-optic coefficients, optics laboratories. Much of Eknoyans research at the Institute is oriented which comprehend optical modulators and toward applications in optical fiber communications, a field switches with very low electrical power consumption. Work is now continuing to that is evolving rapidly to keep pace with seemingly produce linear and very high frequency insatiable demands for bandwidth. Were pursuing basically two avenues in our efforts, modulators with these materials. The recent emergence of wavelengthEknoyan said. One is making integrated optics devices by division-multiplexing in fiber optic systems exploiting new concepts. The other is exploring new types also has created a need for tunable filters of electro-optic materials. for combining and separating the waveThe new materials offer an advantage for making length channels. devices smaller in size than similar devices constructed See OPTICS - page 2

Integrated Optics Research Producing Devices For Future

In the department, an electrotechnology, which requires photoliDr. Alton D. Patton, a professor in the optic tunable add-drop filter has thography and diffusion. Eknoyan been produced using a phasesaid the students who work on those Department of Electrical Engineering, matched strain-induced grating for projects help make and characterize recently received the 2000 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) polarization coupling in diffused them. Research sponsors have Richard Harold Kaufmann Award. waveguides in a lithium tantalate included the State of Texas, the The IEEE is the worlds largest technical substrate. National Science professional society with about 320,000 The electroFoundation, the optic tunable filter Defense Advanced members worldwide. The IEEE Board of Directors in 1986 established the IEEE allows one to Research Project control the flow of Agency, Rome Air Richard Harold Kaufmann Award, which was named after Kaufmann for his contributions information Development to industrial systems engineering. It is for Patton containing signals Center, 3M, outstanding achievement in the field of that are attached to Lockheed Martin, industrial systems engineering. different waveRockwell InternaThis integrated optical switchs One award is presented annually to those who have made length carriers on tional, Input/Output line width is approximately the line, and to Inc. and AMP Inc. exceptional contributions to electrical engineering in the industrial equal to 10 human hairs. make certain that The business of environment through the design or application of systems technolthe signals on a specific wavefiber optics and optical telecommunica- ogy, as well as apparatus, devices or materials for plant power distribution, drive systems, process control or other utilization length are routed one way and tion is booming-its a big market, systems. It is presented by the Board of Directors on recommendathose on other wavelengths go Eknoyan said. The experience that another way, Eknoyan said. students gain from their efforts here is tion of the Technical Field Awards Council and the Awards Board. Patton was cited For contributions to power system reliability These applications are aimed in a big demand now. primarily towards fiber-optic He added that not only is there analysis and its application to industrial power facilities. His interest areas include electric power systems, system and networksfor both digital and industry support but the students equipment reliability/failure analysis and neural network applications. analog type transmission systems. get to interact with the industry A former Texas A&M University electrical engineering Efforts are now centered on sponsor, giving them an advantage department head, Patton currently serves on the editorial advisory extending this work onto lithium after graduation, and that most boards for the Electric Machines and Power Systems and the niobate substrates to produce students graduating from the components that will meet the program have gone on to success- International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems. He also is a member of the National Research Council Panel for international standards for spacing ful careers. between channels with unprec[Former students] appreciate the Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory. Patton is a edented tuning speeds. work theyve done in integrated The demand is on high speed optics at Texas A&M and have made Life Fellow of IEEE. Patton received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M, a masters degree and wide bandwidth, he said. substantial advancements in their Those are two areas were chosen occupations, Eknoyan said. from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin. addressing. And while this may not be as For his accomplishment Patton received a bronze medal, The processes used in making futuristic as Star Trek, its a step in certificate and cash prize, which is funded by the IEEE Industry the devices are based on the right direction. We are doing Applications Society. conventional semi-conductor research for the next generation. area in the general telecommunications field, phone call. Since 1980, Texas A&M has offered the states only graduate specialty in he said. In that and subsequent meetings it analog and mixed-signal circuits and systems. was clear that we had a large number of We are well on our way to building one of common research interests with Motorola. To The Department of Electrical Engineername a few, we are both very interested in ing received more than a half-million-dollars the nations premier university analog and algorithms for efficient implementation of turbo mixed signal programs, said Dr. Chanan from Motorola for theAnalog and Mixedcoding/decoding, space-time signal processing Singh, head of the Department of Electrical Signal Processing Group and Wireless and multi-user detection. Engineering. This gift from Motorola is a Communications Laboratory (WCL). Georghiades said graduate students will recognition of the work done by our faculty Mario Rivas, Motorola corporate vice benefit directly from the funding provided by president and general manager of Motorola and students and it will further enhance our Motorola through research assistantships to research and educational endeavors. Semiconductors Wireless Subscriber fund their doctoral or masters thesis research. This gift from Motorola will allow us to Systems Group in Austin, presented the offer our graduate students a better infrastruc- In addition, contacts with Motorola technical first $500,000 gift in an Aug. 4 ceremony. personnel will educate students in industry ture, similar to what theyll find in industry, Analog and mixed-signal design are critical skills to the industry as semiconduc- added Dr. Edgar Snchez-Sinencio, professor perspectives to their research problems, thus providing them with a well-rounded education. and group leader for the Analog and Mixedtors become more and more integrated, For undergraduate students, he said the Signal Processing Group. Rivas said. Motorola looks forward to The second $60,000 gift from Motorola to the immediate benefit will be in better opportunities including these [Texas A&M University] Wireless Communications Laboratory (WCL) is to co-op with relevant Motorola groups, graduates in our future system-on-a-chip designed to give students and faculty members facilitated by a close cooperation with development programs. To be paid over a five-year period, the gift an opportunity to do fundamental research in the Motorola. In the longer term, Georghiades hopes to involve undergraduate students in will support activities of the analog and mixed- area of telecommunications. research of interest to Motorola. Dr. Costas Georghiades, professor and signal research program in the department. It Motorola, Inc., headquartered in director of the Telecommunications and Signal will primarily fund research assistantships to Schaumberg, Ill, is one of the leading increase the quantity and quality of graduates. Processing Group, said the gift from Motorola providers of wireless communications, came as a result of mutual research needs. Analog technology is vital in an Some time ago we had visited Motorola and advanced electronic systems, components increasingly digital world to process realand services. The company employs more gave presentations on our general research world information, such as light, temperathan 140,000 people on six continents. interests in the laboratory, which cover a wide ture or the sound of a voice on a wireless

OPTICS-continued from page 1

Patton Receives IEEE Honor

Motorola Provides Half Million Dollar Gift to EE

Dr. Mladen Kezunovic has been named to the first Eugene E. Webb Professorship in Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. Kezunovic, who has been at Texas A&M since 1987, is an electrical engineering professor and directs the Electric Power & Power Electronics Institute. The endowed professorship honors the late Webb, a 1943 Texas A&M electrical engineering graduate and a General Dynamics engineer in Fort Worth for more than Kezunovic 40 years. Kezunovic also is a Fellow of the global 320,000-member Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He specializes in power system control and protection. Last fall Kezunovic received the E.D. Brockett Professorship. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and a Senior Fellow of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), a state research agency and a member of The Texas A&M University System. Kezunovic has consulted for numerous national and international firms including Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba in Japan, Southern California Edison, Electricite de France, Entergy Services Inc., Reliant Energy HL&P, Hydro Quebec, Wisconsin Power and Light, ComEd in Chicago and TECHRON Inc. He has published more than 210 journal and conference papers. Kezunovic has given more than 50 invited lectures in over 20 countries. Before coming to Texas A&M, Kezunovic taught briefly at Washington State University, was on the faculty at the University of Sarajevo and worked in industry for Westinghouse Electric in the U.S. and Energoinvest company in Sarajevo. Kezunovic received his Ph.D. and masters degree from the University of Kansas. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Sarajevo.

Kezunovic Named Webb Professor

Dr. Edgar SnchezExcellence and the IEEE Sinencio from the DepartGuillemin-Cauer Award. ment of Electrical EngineerSanchezs research ing at Texas A&M Univerinterests include sity, received one of the continuous-time filters Golden Jubilee Medals and oscillators, commemorating the 50th switched capacitor anniversary of the Institute networks, computerof Electrical and Electronics aided analysis and Engineers (IEEE) Circuits & design, neural networks Systems Society (CASS). hardware implementaSanchez-Sinencio tions, design and Sanchez received the medal for his exceptional contribuconstruction of MOS integrated tions toward advancing the Societys circuits, applications of operational goals during its first half-century. The transconductance amplifiers, task of selecting the medal recipients current-mode techniques, CMOS was made by the Societys 1999 implementations of neural networks Awards Committee. and fuzzy logic circuits. Sanchez, who joined the department He received his doctoral degree in 1984 after serving as a visiting in electrical engineering from the professor, currently serves as professor. University of Illinois, UrbanaHe also is group leader for the Analog Champaign, his masters degree and Mixed Signal Group. from Stanford University and a Other recent recognitions include Communications and Electronics being named the inaugural TI Analog Engineer professional degree from Chair. He also has received the the National Polytechnic Institute of Halliburton Professorship Award of Mexico.

Sanchez-Sinencio Awarded IEEE CASS Golden Jubilee Medal

Designing practical coding schemes for future wireless data networks (WDN) is the objective of Dr. Krishna Narayanan, earning him an Advanced Technology Program (ATP) Award from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Narayanan, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University, recently received this $72,600 award, which was designed to promote the states economic growth and diversification by increasing the number and quality of scientists and engineers in Texas. Narayanan These wireless data networks will be designed to possess high spectral efficiency and power efficiency. The use of transmitter and receiver antenna diversity in conjunction with efficient channel coding is a key technology for future wireless networks. Turbo codes and space-time codes are some of the remarkable developments in coding theory in recent years. Although turbo codes provide excellent error performance, the associated high decoding complexity is a serious limitation in using them in some practical applications. With his research grant, Narayanan will design practical coding schemes for WDNs that have low decoding complexity, yet provide excellent performance by combining the concept of turbo coding and space-time coding, exploiting some characteristics of the modulator and the channel and designing low-complexity decoding techniques. Some of the issues addressed in this proposal are the design of turbo codes for multiple transmit antennas (turbo space-time codes) and multi-carrier systems, exploiting the memory in the modulator and the channel to improve power efficiency, low-complexity soft-output decoding and the design of practical receivers. This research is among several of Narayanans interests, which include interference rejection for TDMA and CDMA systems, equalization and coding for magnetic recording and wireless communications and VLSI architecuters for turbo decoders. Narayanan joined the department in 1999 in the area of Telecommunications and Signal Processing. He received his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology, his M.S. from Iowa State University and his B.S. from Coimbatore Institute of Technology in India.

Narayanan Earns ATP Award

Howze Named Ford Professor

Dr. Jo W. Howze, professor of electrical engineering, was one of two engineering faculty members at Texas A&M University named inaugural holders of the Ford Motor Company Professorship for his expertise in teaching and curriculum development. The professorships are part of the Ford/Texas A&M Strategic Alliance, established in May with a $1.75 million donation from Ford Motor Company. Howze, who received the professorship Howze with aerospace engineering professor, Dr. Dimitris C. Lagoudas, has been a faculty member since 1972. He is the undergraduate program coordinator and former department head of the electrical engineering department. Howzes research interests include theory and applications of control systems, dynamical systems modeling, linear systems, hybrid vehicles and optimization. He has received an Association of Former Students Distinguished Teaching Award and the Charles W. Crawford Teaching Award from the Dwight Look College of Engineering. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a member of the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Howze received his Ph.D, masters and bachelors degrees from Rice University.

Banerjee Speaks On Computer Engineering

elected to the rank of Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), one of the highest distinctions from the organization. Enjeti, a professor, is one of 16 faculty members in the Department of Electrical Engineering, to Enjeti reach the rank of Fellow, in addition to four professors with joint appointments with the department. This is considered a significant honor since the number of IEEE members who may be advanced to Fellow grade in one year is 0.10 percent of the total 320,000 Institute membership. Enjeti began working for the department as an assistant professor in 1988. His primary research interests are advanced converters for power supplies and motor drives, power quality issues and active power filter development, utility interface issues and Clean Power converter designs. He has two United States patents and has licensed two new technologies to the industry. Other honors include the IEEE-IAS second and third best paper award in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 1999; second best IEEE-IAS transaction during his tenure here. Two staff members in the Department of paper published in mid-year 1994 to mid-year In addition to CPR training, Hernandez has Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M Univer1995; and the IEEE-IAS Magazine Prize Article sity were cited in December for their outstand- implemented many other procedures to ensure Award in the year 1996. safety not only in the laboratories but also ing employment accomplishments by the Enjeti received his Ph.D from Concordia throughout the entire department. He is a Dwight Look College of Engineering. University in Montreal, Canada, his masters member of the Zachry Engineering Center Jessie Hernandez was presented the degree from the Indian Institute of TechnolEngineering Safety Excellence Award and Lisa Safety Committee. ogy in Kanpur, India, and his bachelors Lister, staff assistant to the department head, degree from Osmania University in India. Lister won the Outstanding Support Staff contributes significantly to the department not Achievement Award. only through her work ethic Hernandez, instrument but also because of her great shop supervisor, began A new professor attitude and her willingness to working in the electrical go the extra mile, according to recently joined the Analog engineering department in 1986 and Mixed Signal Group in a nomination letter. as an electronic technician, a the Department of Lister started in the position he held until 1990 and Electrical Engineering at electrical engineering departagain from 1991 to 1995, when Texas A&M University. ment in 1988 as a word he was promoted to his current Hernandez/Lister Dr. Aydin Karsilayan, processing operator and was position. comes from Portland State transferred into a senior secretary position As instrument shop supervisor, Hernandez University where he had a is responsible for lab safety. He is said to often within the year. A few months later she was research assistantship. He promoted to technical secretary. In 1997 Lister go beyond required duties. Jessie Hernandez began working for the has made major contributions to our program was promoted to her current position. Karsilayan department during the During her stay of 11 years with the that go beyond his job description, said Spring 2000 semester. He department, Lisa has consistently taken more Department Head Dr. Chanan Singh in his has interned for Triquint Semiconductor in responsibilities than required of her and nomination letter. Portland, where he worked on negative supply performed them in an excellent fashion, said This not only has improved departmental Singh in his nomination letter. Lisa Lister takes generators, charge-pump circuits and oscillators productivity, but also has improved the safety her job seriously. When she has a slow period, for a wide temperature range and process of the department and college, according to one nomination letter. One of his accomplish- she will come and ask for more work or voluntar- variations. He also interned for VESTEL ily help other staff. This is truly exceptional and Electronics Company and ASELSAN (Military ments was the initiation of CPR training for Electronics Industry), both in Turkey. exemplary. laboratory training assistants (TAs). Karsilayan received the Outstanding Ph.D. Her skills and willingness to work hard are This took many hours of effort in the appreciated, as well as her attitude towards both Student Award at Portland State University. He evening, which was the only time all TAs could is the author of several published articles. be brought together, said Assistant Depart- fellow employees and students. He received his Ph.D. from Portland State, She has always been a team player and ment Head Dr. Robert Nevels in his nomination letter. His efforts have paid off as evidenced volunteers to help with true enthusiasm, adds and his masters and bachelors degrees from Bilkent University in Turkey. by the lack of any major health safety problems Administrative Assistant Debbie Hanson.

Parallel Algorithms for VLSI CAD and A vehicle to support the increasing computing MATLAB Compilation Environment for requirements of future CAD tools. Distributed Heterogeneous Adaptive Systems With these parallel algorithms, Banerjee were topics of the Distinguished Lecture Series said runtime has been reduced from days to given by Dr. Prith Banerjee in March. hours. He then showed the results of these Banerjee, the Walter P. Murphy Professor applications on various parallel platforms. and chairman of electrical and computer In addition to his endowed professorengineering at Northwestern ship, Banerjee is director of the University, presented the lectures Center for Parallel and Distributed to students and faculty members in Computing at Northwestern. He the Department of Electrical received his Ph.D. in electrical Engineering at Texas A&M engineering from the University of University. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in During his lecture on the 1984. MATLAB Compilation, Banerjee His research interests are in Dr.Narasimha Reddy said adaptive systems constitute a presents Banerjee Parallel Algorithms for VLSI Design with a plaque. new class of computing and Automation and Compilers for communication systems, which are composed Parallel Computers, and he is the author of of configurable hardware capable of system- more than 200 papers in these areas. Banerjee level adaptation. also is the recipient of the 1996 Frederick He then discussed an experimental type of Emmons Award and was elected to the Fellow software system he is working on that will grade of the Institute of Electrical and Electrontake MATLAB descriptions of various ics Engineers (IEEE) in 1995 and the Associaembedded systems applications in signal and tion for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 2000. image processing and automatically map them The Department of Electrical Engineering to an adaptive computing environment. presents this year-long program of lectures In his second lecture, Banerjee determined to broaden the horizons of faculty, students that parallel processing for VLSI CAD applica- and friends interested in the progress of tions was becoming recognized as a popular electrical engineering.

Enjeti Elected to Rank of IEEE Fellow Dr. Prasad Enjeti was

Lister/Hernandez Win Staff Awards

Karsilayan Joins EE

From the outside looking in you cannot understand it; from the inside looking out you cannot explain it. A statement well known to Texas A&M University students, both current and past, that tries to explain the schools spirit and traditions. Today incoming freshmen are taught this quotation. When A. C. Ebensberger was a student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, he said he learned these words through experience. Ebensberger entered Texas A&M during the rocky period surrounding World War II. He claims that he was not the exemplary student, and though he was originally class of 43 he didnt get his diploma until 1947. I guess I really didnt know how to study and I was too darn lazy to go over things again and again, he said. I would have done better if I had. You dont really know what electricity is. Its a pretty evasive subject. For some reason Ive been able to adapt and accept the principles of handling some of it. Unfortunately his studies were interrupted when he was inducted into the army. While there Ebensberger was assigned to the electronics school at Harvard University, then to MIT to study radar and later to Hicksville, Long Island to learn high-power radio transmitters. He said he felt the Harvard training was the best and most advanced of its kind, so he contacted Texas A&M to transfer some credits back to Aggieland to graduate. I got my degree because someone [at A&M] bent the rules a little bit to accommodate, he said, adding that when he came home after the war Texas A&M officials let him transfer and substitute enough credits so he only needed six more hours for a degree. Gosh I was thrilled when they came back and said you just need to take thermodynamics and economics. So Ebensberger took those classes and a few more hours of coursework to finish the needed semester in January 1947. I think thats why Im so grateful, he said. If I had earned it the harder way, I dont think Id feel the same way. [Texas A&M officials] were very kind to me. Ebensberger demonstrates his Aggie spirit in one room of his house, which is covered in Texas A&M memorabilia, from his diploma, to an A&M clock, to rugs and other miscellaneous items. I dont run around patting myself on the back hollering Aggie this and Aggie that, he said. Its confined to this room. My family knows. Ive got a heck of a lot of loyalty to the old school. And Ebensberger showed his gratitude to Texas A&M and the Department of Electrical Engineering by endowing a fellowship in his parents names, the B. Pat and Frieda Ebensberger Graduate Fellowship, currently funded at more than $200,000. Ebensberger said he named the fellowship after his parents because of the support they gave him in all of his career decisions, especially since times were tough during that

Ebensberger Recalls Life After Graduation

pre-war era. It was their wisdom and good judgement that provided the eventual funding for the fellowship. Going to A&M was my decision and I dont know why. I think it just had to be because one of my idols at Boerne [my hometown] had gone to A&M, he said. My parents didnt have any influence one way or the other. Whatever I did was okay. My failures were not a thing to be chastised about. They trusted me to be doing the best that I could. I didnt express my gratitude when they were alive, he added. Thats a shame. You read about this all the time where you dont tell your parents how you feel about them. Though his choice of college wasnt always obvious, Ebensberger said his choice of career was, going back to an incident when he was young. I was inspired, or aimed in that direction by a family friend who was the local superintendent of the San Antonio public service company, which supplied power to that part of Texas. His name was Manning Francis. He was transferred to New Braunfels later, he said, adding that during a visit with Francis, he made his career decision. He took me to a power plant in New Braunfels and balanced a dime on this great big generator. He showed me how stable that generator was, (the dime) would sit there and stay on its edge while the generator was running.

(WSPG). This effort was expanded to include operation of ground telemetering stations, monitoring and recording data transmitted from the missiles fired at WSPG. Ebensbergers specific job duties involved telemetering, which brought him into contact with recognized scientists and trips aboard Navy ships to off shore Peru and the Alaskan Gulf. It was very interesting and exciting work, probably characterized as operational engineering, he said. After five years I decided that my resume should include design engineering too. Though I really hated to leave PSL and New Mexico, I managed to find employment with Collins Radio Company in Dallas. Ebensberger said Collins was highly regarded in the fields of airborne communication and amateur radio equipment and was building product lines in microwave and multiplex communication equipment. He worked there for 18 years, eight in engineering and 10 in quality assurance. Ebensberger said he liked working at Collins because the design work he was involved in was very interesting, but times were changing. I could comprehend and work with vacuum tubes, but then along comes the transistor, he said. You cant look at them the same way you do a vacuum tube. They brought in a Ph.D. from the University of Texas [at Austin] to bring us up to speed on transistors and transistor design. That kind of left me behind. Ebensberger said this difficulty understanding the new technology and an advancement into supervision persuaded him into early retirement. I didnt really enjoy this as much as Id like to have, because I was not really a leadership kind, he said. Im a loner and I prefer to work with my hands and by myself. Ebensberger said he and his wife, Pearl, Ebensberger enjoys spending time in his Aggie whom he met on a blind date, bought some land memorabilia room. north of Dallas with money from investments. And this demonstration left a lasting Eventually they built a house, moving there in impression. I remember when our first grade 1970 to become farmers. On the farm, which teacher went around and asked each of us what increased to about 250 acres, he and Pearl raised we wanted to do in life. I said I wanted to build their two sons, Gary and Grady, and they now big electric motors, Ebensberger said. I had no have three grandchildren. idea what was involved. In addition to the farming and cattle After graduating as an electrical engineer, operation, the opportunity to operate heavy Ebensberger said he still wasnt sure what his equipment presented itself and I began doing lifes work would be--whether to enter the custom bull dozer work, he said. Here was family-owned lumber yard business with his fulfillment. At the end of the day I could look father or pursue an engineering career in a field around and see that I had done something. in which he had no experience. Engineering jobs Quite different from having spent the day in were very scarce. Fortunately, a job offer came meeting or sitting behind a desk. to him from another Aggie at the New Mexico Of course this brought some interesting College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in problems to the surface. Ebensberger said the Mesilla Park near Las Cruces, New Mexico. heavy, 12-ton machine had to be transported, I got a sight-unseen offer, he said. I so a towing vehicle and trailer were needed. packed up my car and drove out there and Ebensberger was able to put his general said here I am. It was a wonderful job. Good engineering knowledge to play when he people to work with and very interesting designed and built the necessary accessories projects to work on. My employer was the for the used truck, including the bed and Physical Science Laboratory (PSL), an offwinch assembly. shoot of the Physics Department. These were assembled into a trailer Ebensberger said the PSL was founded to suitable for hauling the dozer in my own shop provide data reduction services for the on the farm, he said. There was good luck military agencies involved in missile work at in locating a suitable used running gear and the nearby White Sands Proving Ground See EBENSBERGER- page 7

Scholarship and Fellowship Winners

Graduate Fellowships and Scholarships
TexTEC
Scholarships
Udayan Dasgupta Qinghua Li Yingxue Li Ben Lu Yan Liu Murali Menon Xavier Carcelle Ali Emadi Rahul Khopkar Nader Samaan Sanjeev Srivastava

Congratulations to the following graduate and undergraduate students chosen to receive Department of Electrical Engineering fellowships and scholarships. These awards by the Graduate Studies Committee are based on publications and conference papers submitted by the applicants

EPPE Fellowships

College Of Engineering
Kinshuk Bakshi Patrick Chinery Xuechao Du Raguram Kamakshisundaram Adedayo Kuforiji Hsin-Hui Kuo Murali Menon Muthukumar Shanmugampillaai Suresh Sivakumar Sau-Hsuan Wu Shengjie Zhao Vivek Gulati Yogen N. Deshpande Chunyu Xin

Department Scholarships
Sebastien Gay Ming Hua Arthi Krishnamurthy Hyokwon Nam Siddhartha Roy Pierre Seigneurbieux Krishna Sreerambhatla Bharath K. Thandri Shan Yuan

Fellowships

Dongyan Chen Vivek Gulati Jeffrey McDougall Yongzhe Xie

MS Nokia Scholarships Motorola Fellowships Reliant Energy HL&P Fellowships

Preeti Gopalan Milos Todorovic

TI Fellowships

Adriana Becker Marcia Mendez-Rivera Antonio Mondragon-Torres Zhang Xiayong

Department Fellowships
Sooncheol Baeg Ge Gao Preeti Gopalan Christopher Rodenbeck Min Wu

Fouraker Graduate Fellowship

Jennifer Dworak
j

Graduate Merit Fellowship

Undergraduate Scholarships and Fellowships

Raymond Van Hook Memorial Scholarship
Jennifer Gullickson Tuan Anh Pham Philip Pollack Adam T. Snider James Wingfield Matthew Braunstein James Breckenridge Tierney Bruce William Chase Hefflefinger Scott Hiller Jason Jung Andrew Puryear Jason Wicker Casey Sam Anderson David Cummings Hai Dinh Hoang

Bolton-Kennedy Scholars

Lewis M. Haupt 27 Scholarship

Scott M. Olschewsky

Kevin D. Faske Scholarship

Brian Correll Chiang Tan

Marvin Wadsworth Smith Scholarship

Clark Jarvis Aaron Patton Wesley Weibel

Bolton-Whitaker Scholars Corporate Sponsored Scholarships

Kurt Champion - CPL Iris Foyt - CPL Armando Garza - CPL Kristopher Klaus - Sprint Austin Knight-Fluor Daniel Kenneth McDougall - Chevron Eric Schrock - CPL Joseph Sims - Chevron Douglas Turk - SWEMA
g

William Shula Scholarship TxTEC Scholarships

Casey Anderson Michael Burns Lori Dalton Chase Hefflefinger Gregory Hewes Asif Mahbub Michael Moreland Tim Ousley Eric Pham Huu-Loi Phan Mohammed Pulak Muhammad S. Qureshi Brian Correll David Gurley Sean Heinroth Brian Johnson David Joiner Jason Kithas Monica Medina

Willard P. Worley Scholarship

Jeffrey Bergeron Christine Worstell Carolyn Chadwell

Ben Thigpen Scholarship Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Peter Bourell Juan Carlos Juarez Charles Kidder Muhammed S. Qureshi Jiaying Shi Allen Thomson

Schlumberger Foundation
Asif Mahbub

EPPE Scholarships

Nokia Scholarships
Lori Dalton David Walker Guidry Johnny Tran

Gallagher/Reichart Win Achievement Awards

Gallagher, left, and Reichart, right, receive their awards from Dr. Henry Taylor.

Dedicated and supportive were just two words used to describe Ella Gallagher and Nancy Reichart, winners of the most recent Staff Achievement Awards distributed by the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University. The awards were presented to Reichart and Gallagher at the departments annual Christmas party in December, which was located at the Tavern in College Station. Gallagher was nominated for her dedication and hard work. She began working for the department in 1988 as a word processor operator, quickly moving up the corporate ladder. In March 1989 she was promoted to technical secretary, a position she held until her promotion to staff assistant for the Analog and Mixed Signal Processing Group in 1998. She has supported our work in all possible ways and has definitely exceeded expectations, said group leader Dr. Edgar Sanchez-Sinencio in the nomination letter. Reichart is considered a best example of a support staff ready to do assigned work with excellence. She began working for the Electric Power and Power Electronics group in 1997 as Staff Assistant. During this relatively short time Nancy has distinguished herself as a hard worker and dedicated professional, said Dr. Mladen Kezunovic, EPPE group leader in the nomination letter. She has worked on a variety of assignments. In all of the assignments Nancy has shown great enthusiasm, a creative approach to fulfilling the assignments, a team player attitude and extreme efficiency. The award consisted of a plaque and a check for $500. Other prize winners at the Christmas party were Lisa Lister and Billene Mercer, who won the Best Dressed Category. In addition to the awards ceremony, unique entertainment was provided by faculty members. Dr. James Biard opened with a couple of tunes played on the saw and finished his set with some songs played on a variety of harmonicas or mouth organs, with a little accompaniment from Dr. B. Don Russell. The night ended with music played by Dr. Shankar Bhattacharyya on a stringed instrument called a Sarod.

the whole job of assembly was completed with minimal help. There were a few cost overruns, but overall the job was completed at minimum cost and with great personal satisfaction when the freshly painted vehicles took to the road confidently hauling the big yellow dozer. He also is a ham radio enthusiast, talking with friends on Mondays and Thursdays. My proudest hour was in being able to provide the radio hook-up between a local mother and father with their student daughter doing research for a doctorate in biology over in Sierra Leone, the highlytroubled country in West Africa. This was before things got as bad as they have been recently. Shes since received her Ph.D. and is currently working at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. Its now to the point that I dont do much anymore, Ebensberger adds. We rent out all the cultivated land. I dont run cattle anymore. I do try to raise some hay, thats a real challenge. Theres always something coming up. Through the years hes seen many changes from telephones and television to the way the students are taught in electrical engineering. We had hand-cranked telephones when I was a kid, Ebensberger said. There are changes everywhere. Everyone in the electrical engineering department is so far ahead of what I can remember. I cant imagine how people pass through [Texas A&M] in four years with all the things they have to learn compared to what we did. I cant imagine going back and repeating what I did. Some of these things I couldnt have passed. And while many of the changes are for the better, Ebensberger believes the quality of life seems to be deteriorating. The whole world is just different then it used to be, he said. I dont know why all these terrible things are happening like they do on the street. Maybe its the bulging population. It has taken away individual responsibility. Although Ebensberger believes he has lived through the best, he does have one other regret. I never did build my big motor, he said. I wouldnt know where to start. That was the subject we were getting to at A&M when the war took us away. When I was there very little was taught about electronics, it was mostly devoted to power. That

EBENSBERGER-contd. from page 5

changed with our involvement in World War II. Things have turned out well, he said, adding that hes grateful to Dr. Chanan Singh, electrical engineering department head, for the opportunity to discuss his accomplishments after graduation. Ive been very lucky in many ways. When I look back at how I got here, it just simply could not have been done without the [Texas] A&M experience and especially the bending of rules that permitted me to get that cherished degree in electrical engineering. I hope Ive never dishonored that gift and trust, so I feel driven, maybe more than others, to give something back. Hopefully it matters.

Two New Staff Members Join EE Department

Two new staff members joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University during the spring semester. Kenneth Ray is the departments new Microcomputer Specialist and Lisa Reyes is the new Technical Secretary for the Analog and Mixed Signal Group. Ray began work in the department in March. Prior to Texas A&M, he was employed as a Network Technician II for the Texas State Technical College (TSTC) and IT Manager for CSI Inc., both in Waco. He received his AAS degree in Computer Science from the TSTC in Waco. Reyes transferred from the Mechanical Engineering Department where she worked as a Technical Secretary, though shes not new to the department. She had worked as a Technical Secretary and Clerk III in electrical engineering before going to work with Mechanical Engineering. She is a graduate of Bryan High School.

Reyez/Ray

Gifts and endowments help in attracting and educating top quality students, rewarding and retaining top quality faculty and promoting the growth of the department. We would be delighted to discuss further with you how to make a gift or establish an endowment in your own name or the name of a loved one. Endowments may also take the form of naming a laboratory or the department. Gifts of any size may also be made to the Electrical Engineering Development Fund to help the growth of the department. For more information, contact: David Wilkinson, Director of Development Dr. Chanan Singh, Deparment Head Dwight Look College of Engineering Department of Electrical Engineering Texas A&M University Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-3126 College Station, TX 77843-3128 Phone (979) 845-5113 Phone (979) 845-7589 Email d-wilkinson@tamu.edu Email singh@ee.tamu.edu

Gift and Endowment Information

Wang/Xiong Receive NSF CAREER Awards

Drs. Xiaodong Wang and Zixiang Xiong, assistant professors for the Department of Electrical Engineering, received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF established the CAREER program to support junior faculty within the context of their overall career development, combining in a single program the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense. Through this program, the NSF emphasizes the importance on the early development of academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning. The synergy of frontier-level discovery skills with the learning process and continuous educational innovation lies at the heart of these awards, said NSF Acting Deputy Director Joseph Bordona. Wang received the award through his research activities, which include multi-user communication theory and advanced signal processing for wireless communications. This award was even more significant since he received it after his first application. Wang has worked in the areas of digital communications, digital signal processing, parallel and distributed computing, nanoelectronics and quantum computing. His publication record includes 19 refereed journal papers and 28 refereed or invited conference papers. He also spent the summer of 1997 at the Wireless Communica-

Wang

Xiong

tions Department of the AT&T Labs Research, in Red Bank, NJ, where he worked on performance analysis of dynamic frequency hopping techniques for the third generation wireless cellular systems. Wang joined the faculty in electrical engineering in 1998. He received his doctoral degree from Princeton University, his masters degree from Purdue University and his bachelors degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Xiongs research interests include image and video coding, adaptive quantization and fast algorithms, digital watermarking, joint source channel coding, internet video, lossless medical image compression, image recovery, image rendering and color quantization. He also has authored and coauthored several books and journal papers. Xiong previously worked at the University of Hawaii as an assistant professor and began his duties at Texas A&M University in the fall of 1999. Xiong received his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, his masters degrees at the University of Kansas and the Illinois Institute of Technology and his bachelors degree at Wuhan University in P.R. China.

Electrical Engineerings Annual Fund Donors

The Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University would like to thank the following supporters for their contributions to this years Annual Fund. This fund was established for scholarships, recruiting and other items not covered by state or tuition in order to compete for the retention of the finest students and faculty. The unrestricted gift categories were as follows: EE Patron - EE Benefactor - EE Supporter - EE Friend Sponsor $1,000-$4,999 $500-999 $5,000 + Up to $250 $250-$499 Grady Muldrow - Friend This years donors are: Hideo Nagumo - Friend Reed Adams - Supporter Manford F. Noster - Supporter James R. Biard - Friend Frank Parma - Friend John E. Boelte - Supporter Jim Rector - Supporter Richard C. Booton, Jr. - Friend Leonard E. K. Ryan - Benefactor James A. Burke - Friend Walter Stoerkel - Friend Jose Caballero - Friend H. W. Swan, Jr. - Friend Anthony W. Calle - Supporter Henry A. Thomas - Sponsor David C. Copeland - Friend Donelle Wiechman - Friend Mr. And Mrs. Ignacio Davila - Friend William M. Monty Wilkins - Friend R. William Ezell - Friend Larry and Patty Williams - Friend Chad Gamble - Friend Anthony Wood - Benefactor J. Bradley Gates - Friend Samer G. Younis - Sponsor Quy Ha - Supporter Jimmy Hinton - Friend For more information about the Sunitha Kadirvel - Friend Annual Fund, visit our website at Jose Lozano, Jr. - Friend David E. Meeh - Friend ee.tamu.edu/News/annualfund.html

A new professor recently joined the Analog and Mixed Signal Group of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University, though his name may seem familiar. Dr. Ugur ilingiroglu was promoted from Cilingiroglu visiting professor to professor effective the Spring 2000 semester. He first began working for Texas A&M as a research associate during the 1984-85 school year, quickly becoming promoted to visiting assistant professor during the 1985-86 school year. He later was offered an assistant professorship at Texas A&M and worked in this position from 1988-1991. ilingiroglu then rejoined the faculty at Texas A&M as visiting professor during the 1999 school year. In addition to his positions at Texas A&M, ilingiroglu has taught at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in Turkey, starting as research assistant and working his way up to professor. He also was head of the Electronics and Communication Engineering Department at ITU for a year and was a member of the faculty board in the Electrical and Electronics Engineering College there. ilingiroglu also was director and cofounder of the ETA ASIC Design Center in Istanbul, principal investigator for a research project called Capacitive Threshold Logic and a consultant on other projects. Currently he is a member of the advisory board for the Turkish Electronics Industrial Association; the selection committee for the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, British Council and Turkish Education Postgraduate Scholarship Programs; and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His awards and recognitions include the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Professor Award, the National Science Foundation Research Award, the Fulbright Research Fellowship and the CENTO Scholarship. ilingiroglu also has published many journal articles, tutorials and a book entitled Systematic Analysis of Bipolar and MOS Transistors (Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1993). ilingiroglu received his Ph.D. from Southampton University in England, his masters degree from ITU and a certificate in Personnel and Finance Administration, Communication in Education from Loughborough University of Technology in England.

ilingiroglu Joins EE Faculty

C.G. Spike White, 35, of Branson, MO, had previously worked as director for intramural athletics and physical education and was assistant dean of students at Texas A&M University until he founded Kanakuk Kamp in Missouri, the flagship of eight Christ-centered, sports-oriented camps serving thousands of kids each year. Though he has passed on ownership of the camps to his son, Joe, he still enjoys such outdoor activities as Kayaking, tackling portions of the 10 most challenging whitewater rivers in the country. On Saturday nights he hosts a radio call-in show for teens. Kenton Brannan, 97, of Cypress TX works as an underground engineer for Reliant Energy HL&P. W. C. Gersch, 49, currently is building a ranch home near the Panhandle in Texas. He is wiring his entire house with three and four way switches and is raising wheat, grain and sorghum and is having a ball in the wide open spaces. He previously worked for Chance Vaught Aircraft for 32 years and Electronique Aerospatial for three years. Thomas G. Towns, 50, went to work with Westinghouse in 1950 until he retired in 1987. He died on June 27, 1999. He is survived by his wife, Georgia, of 47 years; his daughter and son-in-law, Rita and Steve Scroggs; his sons and daughters-in-law, David and Pat Towns; and Tommy and Sally Towns; six grandchildren; and his sister Virginia Barry. Lee W. Atkinson, 83, of Houston, TX., currently works as a PC architect for Compaq. He has six patents in his name and travels often to Taiwan to coordinate design/construction. LTC (Ret.) Richard I. Matthews, 63, died on June 22, 1999. Lih Kwok, 93, is a senior electrical engineer for Motorola Inc. in Singapore. He is involved in the designing of wireless personal communicating devices and also is taking a part time MSEE course at the National University of Singapore. Hoon S. Kim, 98, is working in the Simulations and Analysis group in the MTS Systems within the Communications Systems Lab division

Alumuni News

at Raytheon Systems Company. Opnet, a simulation application tool, which was developed by company called MIL3, is used to simulate and to analyze various network situations. Allan Lee Swindle, 82, is an engineer with General Motors. Dorothy Jackson, 85. For the past two years she has resigned all positions of employment to study and follow the Word of God. She founded the Oklahoma Chapter of the Christian Fellowship of Trailriders and has actively sought to promote the gospel of Christ while enjoying her favorite interest which is horseback riding. StephenA.Clarke,91, is an electrical engineer with Occidental Chemical Corporation. He passed the Professional Engineers Exam in April 1998. Dale C. Flint, 97, says Howdy! He is an electrical engineer with Motorola John Bullard, 80, is the Training Coordinator with Lockheed-Martin in Marietta. He retired from the USAF and his family has grown over the years. Does anybody know where Chris Hines is? I lost track of him years ago and would love to hear from him. Shane Stelmach, 91, is an ASIC Product Development Architect for Texas Instruments (Dallas). He was elected in 1996 as Member Group Technical Staff, and currently works as manager of ASIC Physical Architecture for deep submicron Product Development. Morris Palmer, 82, is a staff manager Apps Marketing for GTE. Keith V. Groesche, 97, is a design engineer for Daniel Measurement and Control, Inc. StevePearson,85,isaMember of the Scientific Staff for Northern Telecom/Wireless Networks. He is currently developing software for Inter-working between GSM and other wireless networks. Paul Tiner, 90, is a member of the technical staff of Texas Instruments. Rob Crowe, 86, is a naval officer currently working in Pascagoula, Paul C. Johnson, 86, is the Call Center Manager for Fisher-Rosemount Systems. He manages an inbound technical support call center for a high-tech company in Austin (since 3/98). Fourth daughter Jane was born 1/6/99. He also serves on the board of the Austin Call Center Alliance, which is an industry partnership with

the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Jack W. Pool, 60, is a Retired Mfgr. from Farm & Ranch Service Co. Tarun S. Khandpur, 91, is an electrical engineer (Digital Design) from Raytheon, Raytheon Systems Company, Aircraft Integration Systems. Allen P. Andrews, 97, is a systems engineer from Deep East Texas Electric Co-Op. Hilary Whitaker Allen, Jr. 89, was recently promoted to Global Sales Vice President, Power Systems Products, for Lucent Technologies. He is responsible for international sales of Power Systems products; primary markets are Telecom Service Providers (Bell South, AT&T, Telefonica de Espana, etc.) and OEM Manufacturers (NEC, Hewlett Packard, Nortel, IBM, Siemens, etc.). The Power Systems Division is headquartered in Mesquite, Texas; continue to be based in Coral Gables (Miami), Florida. Jagan Gudur, 93, says Howdy Aggies! After graduation with a masters degree, he worked at IBM for about two years on their RISC platforms and AIX operating system. He then spent the next two-and-one-half years at a company called Interphase Corp. working on high-speed networking technologies, including fast ethernet, FDDI, and gigabit ethernet. He now works at GTE in its Information Technology unit as a Principal Member of the Technical Staff. In 1998, he received two GTE Chairmans Leadership awards - one for outstanding individual contribution and the other for exceptional team performance. He currently leads a team of architects that provide state-of-theart systems solutions to GTEs business units. Pat Shuff, 83, is a systems engineer for Sun Microsystems and has recently been accepted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Houston in Electrical Engineering and is working on continuing education certificate at Stanford University in Computer Science. Three kids; 13, 4, and 1. Jason Looney, 97, is a systems engineer for RSI-Precision Controls. Yasar Atiyeh, 90, is a technical writer for OneWorld Software Solutions. Patt received his bachelors degree at Northeastern University and his masters and Ph.D. at Stanford University. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has recognized Patt with the IEEE/ACM EckertMauchly Award for important contributions to instruc-tion level parallelism and super scalar processor design and the IEEE Wallace W. McDowell Award for his impact on the high performance microprocessor industry via a combination of important contributions to both engineering and education. For his teaching accomplishments Patt received the Outstanding Professor of the Year, from the Michigan Chapter of Eta Kappa Nu and the National ACM Lectureship Programs Outstanding Lecturer of the Year Award. The Department of Electrical Engineering presents this year-long program of lectures to broaden the horizons of faculty, students and friends interested in the progress of electrical engineering.

Patt Disscusses Future Of Computers

By the year 2001, process technology will provide 100 million transistors on a single silicon die. By the year 2009, there could be one billion transistors. In fact, there seems to be no end to the higher performance expected of future generations of microprocessors. The job of computer engineers was to harness these transistors on behalf of higher performance. Dr. Yale Patt, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Austin, made these predictions last February in two presentations that ushered in the 21st Century for the electrical engineering departments Distinguished Lecture Series at Texas A&M University. Performance is always about delivering instruction bandwidth to the core and then

consuming that bandwidth said Patt in his first lecture. That means very wide issue machines combined with what it takes to support them. He discussed the major challenges to delivering high-instruction bandwidth and to consuming that bandwidth. In his second lecture, Patt discussed the computer science and engineering curriculum, including a new course for introducing students to computer engineering from the bottom up. The focus of his research is generally five to 10 years beyond current requirements.

Patt

retiring in the 1970s. The couple celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary in March 1999 Progress of Partnership Between the DSP before he passed away last August after and MSP Programs With TI Discussed several years of failing health. The progress of the partnership between The younger Caughlin and his wife are Texas A&M Universitys Digital Signal Reveille members of the 12th Man Foundation, Processing (DSP) and Mixed Signal Processing members of the Eternal Aggie Band, and (MSP) programs with Texas Instruments was the members of the Endowed Diamond Century focus of the third annual Texas Instruments Club. They have two sons, both graduates of Day. Texas A&M: William C. Caughlin, Class of 1976, After the opening address by electrical and Dr. G. Michael Caughlin, Class of 1977. engineering Department Head Dr. Chanan Singh, Gene Frantz, TI senior fellow and ExternalAdvisoryandDevelopment Torrence Robinson, manager of University Council Meets Programs in research, gave presentations on the The External Advisory and Development TI educational activities. Council for the Department of Electrical EngiDrs. Costas Georghiades, Hamid Toliyat and neering at Texas A&M University met in Mehrdad Ehsani gave updates on the three October to discuss the latest news and developDSP-funded research projects, followed by four ments and determine new ways to benefit the student presentations involved in the DSP department. program sponsored by TI. Three students in the Dr. Chanan Singh, department head and MSP area followed with the final presentations. professor, opened the session with an update The afternoon session included 40 poster and an overview of the activities, including the paper presentations in the Zachry Engineering growing number of students and their degree Center lobby in the areas of Telecommunication/ options. He said with this growing enrollment in Signal Processing, Analog VLSI and Power the department, there is a need for more faculty Electronics. members to give the best possible education. The meeting, which was organized by Dr. Dr. Mark Yeary, lecturer, discussed current Nasser Kehtarnavaz and Sonny Simpson, projects his ENGR 405 Senior Design Laboratory concluded with lab tours. classes were working on, including projects with Texas Instruments, Ericsson and National Caughlins Establish Engineering Scholarship Instruments. atTexasA&M Dr. Mehrdad Ehsani, professor, discussed William G. and Jo Ann Caughlin of College the project on the Advanced Vehicle Program Station have endowed a scholarship at Texas followed by a lab demonstration by Senior A&M in memory of a loving father and longtime Lecturer John Tyler on new computer equipment departmental staff member. The retired couples provided by National Instruments. $25,000 gift creates the William L. Caughlin After lunch Dr. Jo Howze, professor, Endowed Scholarship in Electrical Engineering. discussed interdisciplinary design projects with We appreciate the generosity of William sponsorships from 3M and Ford Motor G. and Jo Ann Caughlin in establishing an Company. endowed scholarship in the memory of Bill DepartmentofElectricalEngineering Caughlin, said Dr. Chanan Singh, electrical Hosts ONR Workshop engineering department head. It is obvious The future direction of the Office of Naval that Mr. Caughlin inspired his children to Research (ONR) was one topic of discussion receive higher education and to serve society during a workshop on Electric Shipboard by helping others receive the gift as well. Modeling, Simulation and Control. In his official capacity, Bill Caughlin Hosted by Texas A&M Universitys devoted 28 years to supervising instrument Department of Electrical Engineering at the repair and student labor for the electrical College Station Hilton, the two-day workshop engineering department. He maintained and had more than 30 attendees who were ONR developed various electrical systems for program managers, industrial contractors and testing and experimentation principal investigators. The principal investiIn his unofficial capacity, he served as gators represented 12 universities from the confidante and counselor to countless students United States and one Russian university. pursuing a university education, his son noted. The timing of the workshop was at the midpoint Education was very important to him, of the eight-year ONR electromechanic program said William G. Caughlin, Texas A&M Class of basic research in electric power systems. The of 1949. Through his encouragement and purpose of the workshop was to document help he saw that both his children graduated where researchers are based on the last four from college. He extended this encouragement later in life to his grandchildren [and other young people] as well. The senior Caughlin was born on a LeCompte, La., farm in 1907. During World War II he worked as a construction foreman building U.S. Navy destroyers in an Orange, Texas, shipyard. He married his wife Ethel in 1928, and both later worked at Texas A&M before

EE Briefs

years of research and decide on the direction for the next five-10 years. The goal of the workshop was to have a rough outline and research schedule by the end of the second day. The first day of the workshop consisted of a welcome by Dr. Chanan Singh, head of the department; and an opening plenary session by Terry Ericsen, ONR program manager, with an overview of the vision of the electrically reconfigurable ship program. Dr. Cliff Whitcomb, former ONR program manager and associate professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at MIT, discussed the research projects funded to date in the electromechanics program. In the breakout sessions which followed, specific progress was reviewed and future research directions were discussed. The topics of the breakout sessions were modeling and simulation, control, and power quality and stability. On the second day, a plenary session consisted of an open discussion on the development of standard system topologies for PI studies and summaries of the breakout sessions by Whitcomb, Dr. Karen Butler, Texas A&M assistant professor and Dr. Dagmar Niebur. National Instruments Brings High Tech To Classrooms Testing and measurement hardware and software from National Instruments added a new dimension to undergraduate computer labs this fall in Zachry Engineering Center and the H.R. Bright Building. In August, 50 classroom laptop computers in Zachry were equipped with hardware and software for computer-based data acquisition and circuit measurement in the classroom, according to John Tyler, electrical engineering senior lecturer and coordinator of ENGR 215, Principles of Engineering. The gift is valued by National Instruments at $92,725. This gift will support the teaching of introductory circuit measurement, analysis and design. Nearly every student in the college will take one of those courses and will benefit from the National Instruments equipment, Tyler said. He added that the technology will significantly enhance classroom capabilities, allowing instructors demonstrate actual circuit operation during lectures. In the Bright building, two computer engineering labs with 10 workstations each received hardware and software valued by National Instruments at $145,800.

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EE Faculty Members Recognized at Meeting Maloberti Joins EE As TI Jack Kilby Chair Holder achievements. Butler and Toliyat
were named TEES Select Young Faculty, an honor designated for young researchers in engineering. Bhattacharyya, who has been with Texas A&M since 1980, has interests in control systems and robust control. He is an IEEE Fellow, Fulbright Bhattacharyya Butler Howze Lecturer, has won the prestigious Halliburton Award and serves on the editorial board of the Birkhauser Series on Circuits, Signals and Systems. Bhattacharyya received his bachelors and masters degrees from Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and his doctoral degree from Rice University. Toliyat Kezunovic Wright Wright is area leader in the Several faculty members in the DepartBiomedical Imaging Group and has been ment of Electrical Engineering were acwith Texas A&M since 1988. His interests knowledged for their accomplishments at are in electromagnetics, magnetic resoTexas A&M University during the Dwight nance imaging and antenna theory. He is a Look College of Engineering Fall Meeting. member of the International Society for Among those recognized were Drs. Jo Magnetic Resonance in Medicine - a Study Howze, Mladen Kezunovic and Shankar Group on MR Engineering and the IEEE Bhattacharyya, professors; Steven Wright Engineering in Medicine and Biology and Hamid Toliyat, associate professors; Society. He is vice chair for the IEEE and Karen Butler assistant professor. Student Activities Committee. Howze was one of only three engineerHe received his bachelors, masters and ing faculty members who received a doctoral degrees from the University of Distinguished Teaching Award at the Illinois. college-wide meeting. He has been with Toliyat also began his career at Texas Texas A&M since 1972 and has interests in A&M in 1994 as a visiting professor. His control systems - theory and applications, research interests include power convertdynamical systems modeling, linear ers for electric machines, novel electric systems, engineering systems design, machines for different applications, DSP methodologies, hybrid vehicles, optimizacontrol of variable speed drives, simulation, automotive control systems, linear tion techniques such as finite elements algebra and semiconductor processing analysis and Pspice and Saber, condition controls. He received his bachelors, monitoring and fault diagnosis of electric masters and doctoral degrees from Rice machinery, electric and hybrid electric University and is a member of several vehicles and active power filters for engineering societies. power systems network. Kezunovic received the E.D. Brockett Toliyat received his bachelors degree Professorship. He joined the department in from Sharif University of Technology in 1987 as a visiting professor. His interests Iran, his masters degree from West include analysis and control, protective Virginia University and his doctoral relaying, power system modeling, protection degree from the University of Wisconsinsystem modeling and evaluation, applicaMadison. Toliyat also has received the tions of digital signal processing, expert Select Young Investigator Award from systems, artificial neural networks, fuzzy TEES, the Space Act Award from the logic, synchronized sampling and power NASA Inventions and Contributions engineering education. Board, and the Best Transactions Paper Kezunovic received his undergraduate from the Electric Machinery Committee of degree from the University of Sarajevo in the IEEE Power Engineering Society. He Bosnia and his masters and doctoral is listed in Marquis Whos Who in degrees from the University of Kansas. His Science and Engineering. Hes also listed honors include (Texas Engineering Experiment in the 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the Station) TEES Fellow and Senior Fellow, 20th Century. earning a CIGR, U.S. Committee Paper Butler joined the electrical engineering Recognition Award and a Fulbright Scholardepartment in 1994. She serves as assistant ship. Kezunovic also has served on several director of the Power Systems Automation national and international committees. Laboratory and has won several awards. She Bhattacharyya, Wright, Butler and Toliyat received her doctoral degree from Howard were among those honored by TEES. University, her masters degree from the Bhattacharyya and Wright were named University of Texas at Austin and her TEES Fellows in honor of their research bachelors degree from Southern University.

Dr. Franco Maloberti, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M University is the inaugeral holder of the TI Jack Kilby Chair in Analog Engineering. The $1.5 million endowed chair was created in 1998 by Texas Instruments Inc. of Dallas as part of the companys $5.1 million gift to Maloberti the electrical engineering departments analog design and engineering initiative. Malobertis professional expertise is in the design, analysis and characterization of integrated circuits and analog digital applications, mainly in the areas of switched capacitor circuits, data converters, interfaces for telecommunication and sensor systems, CAD for analog and mixed A-D design. Maloberti joined the faculty March 1, when his appointment became effective. He brings to the department a distinguished career. He received the Laurea Degree in physics (summa cum laude) from the University of Parma in Italy and the Doctorate Honoris Causa in electronics from the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (Inaoe), Puebla, Mexico. Previously he worked for the University of LAquila and the University of Pavia. During 1975-79, he was technical coordinator of the engineering school at the University of Mogadishu, Somalia. Maloberti has authored more than 230 published papers and two books, holds 15 patents and has won many awards for his research contributions. In 1992 he received the XII Pedriali Prize for his technical and scientific contributions to national industrial production. Other honors include the 1999 IEEE CAS Society Meritorious Service Award and the 1999 CAS Society Golden Jubilee Medal. Maloberti served on the European Commission as the ESPRIT projects evaluator and reviewer. He served the Academy of Finland (1996) and the National Science Foundation of Portugal (1999) in the assessment of electronic research and was a member of the executive board of the ESPRIT Project MEDCHIP.

Currents is published by the Department of Electrical Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-3128
Phone (979) 845-7441 Fax (979) 845-6259 Web http://ee.tamu.edu Email currents@ee.tamu.edu Writer, Editor and Photographer Deana Totzke

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Department of Electrical Engineering Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-3128

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