The Department of Electrical,

Computer, and Energy Engineering

Focus on
ENERGYhttp://ecee.colorado.edu
ECEE by the
numbers: “We will harness the sun and the
Students: winds and the soil to fuel our cars
and run our factories. And we will
Undergraduate: 320
Graduate: 237

Faculty:
transform our schools and colleges
The department’s 41 faculty cover ten to meet the demands of a new age.”
major research areas including computer
engineering, dynamics and controls,
electromagnetics, nanostructures and — President Barack Obama
devices, optics and photonics, remote
sensing, and biomedical engineering.   Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009
Research:
The department has two interdisciplinary
research centers and receives over $6.5
million in sponsored research awards
annually.

Education:
A degree from ECEE prepares graduates
for careers in renewable energy, wireless
communication, aerospace, biomedical
engineering, nanotechnology, computer
engineering, computer hardware design,
and automation and manufacturing.

Salary:
Average starting salary of CU
ECEE bachelor's graduates:
$59,979 electrical
$64,303 computer
A new name, a long tradition
From the development of more renewable energy technologies to the prospect of increased
regulations on efficiency and a possible carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, the challenges
of energy production, distribution and efficient use have become a topic of global interest.

Given this pervasive global focus on energy, and the fact that our
department has a long history of research and teaching in this
area, we asked ourselves how we could raise the profile of our work
among the public, potential students, research partners, and special
interest groups. After much discussion, we decided to headline this
important area and future direction by adding energy to our name.

Now known as the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, our
department will continue to be an innovator on the electrical side of energy with our work
on power electronics, efficient lighting, photovoltaics, high torque motors, energy storage,
wind energy, and low-power computing systems. Research in energy spans all areas of our
department. Our faculty have taken key roles in the Energy Initiative on the CU-Boulder
campus, have wide-ranging cooperation with industry, and are partnering with various local
municipalities and government labs on critical energy projects.

With this brochure, we introduce our new department name and invite you to join us as
students, research partners, and global citizens in solving key energy challenges using the
tools and techniques of electrical and computer engineering.

Michael Lightner, Chair

Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering

Electric/Hybrid Car “Environmental and

Drive Trains
The hybrid automobile, which was
invented in 1916 by C.E. Woods and
exhibited in the Deutsches Museum
in Munich, inspired Professor Ewald
Fuchs to focus on the design of
variable-speed drives for electric/
hybrid cars. Widespread use of
electric/hybrid cars requires solv-
ing the challenge of combining
lightweight electric storage and drive
components with high-efficiency
performance in a cost-
effective manner.
Professor Fuchs
recently received a
provisional patent
for a variable-speed
drive train concept.
With its high starting torque, gearless
wide speed range, and 50 percent
savings in weight per output power,
Professor Fuchs’ design is exception-
ally suited for hybrid/electric cars.
This savings in weight translates into
increased battery capacity and thus
increased cruising range for hybrid/
electric cars.
energy concerns are
key drivers for the
next generation of
electric/hybrid cars.
Based on my industrial
experience it is up to a
broad range of future
scientists, engineers,
entrepreneurs, and
tinkerers to overcome
competing design
constraints to achieve
goals of low-weight,
low-cost, and high-
performance vehicles.”
—
—Professor Ewald Fuchs
Photovoltaics: Harnessing the Sun
Multiple research groups in the ECEE
department are working to harness
the sun’s energy as one way to reduce
our dependence on fossil fuels.
Professor Robert Erickson is leading
a group of students in developing
smart photovoltaic (PV) shingles to
increase energy capture and to allow
PV to be installed on complex roof
geometries. Traditional systems must
be installed to face in one direction
without shadows or reflections. The
smart system, however, is designed
for multidirectional roof geometries
and can be directly wired into a
house, bringing down the cost
of installation and substantially
increasing the energy captured.
The Quantum Engineering
Laboratory headed by Professor
Garret Moddel makes use of
leading-edge fundamental science
to develop new energy technologies
such as PV systems that convert
sunlight to electricity using micro-
antennas. While most solar cells use
semiconductors to absorb sunlight
and convert it to electrical power,
this approach wastes a large fraction
of the solar spectrum because the
cells perform optimally with only a
small range of wavelengths. Moddel's
new system receives the sun’s energy
on micro-antennas and converts it
to direct current using ultra-high
frequency diodes.

“For economic, environmental, and geopolitical reasons, we desperately

need a low-cost alternative to carbon-based fuels in the 21st century.
Covering a small fraction of our land area with efficient and low-cost solar
cells is the most promising long-term solution to our energy needs.”
—Professor Garret Moddel
 Solar/Wind
Forecasting
Efficient extraction of wind and solar
energy require accurate forecasting of
environmental conditions on time scales
ranging from fractions of a minute to periods
of several days. Environmental observations
and high-resolution forecasting are thus an
integral part of the department's research
effort in renewable energy.

The NOAA-CU Center for Environmental

Technology led by Professor Al Gasiewski
conducts studies in advanced sensor design
and numerical modeling, focusing on
short-term forecasting of wind turbulence
and solar energy flux. Integration of data
from sensor networks near wind farms and
rooftop photovoltaic sources with satellite
data and large-scale weather forecasts are
a major part of the effort to help develop
smart, distributed electrical generation.

Wind Power
Currently the fastest-growing energy source in the world, wind
is recognized as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly
component in meeting our global energy challenge. While the
cost of wind energy is competitive with that of coal and natural
gas, there are still many unsolved challenges in expanding
wind power. From turbine bearings under constant friction
to blades that must be able to handle gusts, lightning, and
constantly changing wind conditions, today’s wind turbines
need increasingly sophisticated component designs, sensors,
and control systems.

Professor Lucy Pao’s research group recently developed an

adaptive controller for wind turbines that was shown to result in
meaningfully increased energy capture without any additional
cost. New research is focused on achieving increased power
generation by using novel systems to sense wind flow.

ECEE and Professor Pao are key participants in the multi-

institutional Center for Research and Education in Wind (CREW).

“The control of wind energy is fascinating.

There are many interesting research and practical
questions. Plus, I know I’m doing something good
for society and the world at the same time.”
—Professor Lucy Pao

Power Electronics
Professor Dragan Maksimovic’s
research focuses on intelligent
control of power electronics. His
current pursuits are in areas that are
gaining importance in the world
today, such as energy efficiency,
power management, and renewable
energy sources. Professors Dragan
Maksimovic and Robert Erickson
co-direct the Colorado Power
Electronics Center (CoPEC), which is
one of the world’s leading research
centers in the area of power manage-
ment. Their work shows that digital
control in power electronics can yield
significant improvements in dynamic
responses and sophisticated ways of
controlling power.
“Power electronics is
what ties wind turbines
to the electric power grid,
what propels hybrid and
electric vehicles, and what
makes it possible to use
battery-powered mobile
phones and laptops for
many hours. Efficient and
smart power management
and power electronics
are now addressing
major challenges of the
21st century: how to
reduce overall energy
consumption and how to
enable much wider use of
clean, renewable energy
sources.”
—Professor Dragan
Maksimovic

Wireless
Micropower
Demand for real-time, context-specific
information is growing exponentially
in all aspects of engineering systems.
This demand is fueling a proliferation of
wireless sensors and interactive devices
that communicate via low-power wireless
networks.

Powering these wireless sensors and

networks by harvesting energy from RF,
vibrational, solar, wind, and biological
sources is a key focus of Professors Regan
Zane and Zoya Popovic. There are many
situations where a battery-less sensor and
transmitter would be beneficial, such as
in a medical implant where batteries are
not easily replaceable due to the high cost
and risk for the patient. Other applications
include monitoring buildings, bridges,
and roadways with devices that can be
embedded in concrete without concern
that a battery will die at a critical time.
Energy Efficiency
ECEE faculty are doing research to improve energy-
efficiency in homes and businesses as part of meeting
the global energy challenge. Professor Regan Zane has
been researching energy-efficient, solid-state lighting
solutions, which are predicted to be competitive in
commercial and residential markets within the next
five years. Professor Zane’s lab is putting major
emphasis on developing very low cost electronics
that allow LED lighting to be installed directly
into a home’s existing electrical system.

The current annual cost to operate computer

data centers worldwide has exceeded $2.7
billion. Thus, energy consumption has
become and will continue to be the most
prominent concern in computer system
design. Professor Li Shang seeks to
optimize the power and energy usage of
computer-based systems across various
application domains, from thermal and
reliability challenges in high-performance
integrated circuits and systems, to
energy constraints in ubiquitous mobile
platforms. He also is investigating
ultra-low-power, nano-electronic system
design.

Energy
Storage
The United States currently receives only
about 1 percent of its electrical energy
from wind; the goal of integrating more
than 20 percent wind energy into the grid
will require modifications in grid design
and operation, including the necessity of
new energy storage systems.

Professor Frank Barnes and his research

“Wind and solar energy are variable and may not be
available when they are needed. Solar cells will not run
your lights at night—thus, having a mechanism for
storing energy will allow us to match these sources to our
needs. We’ve been investigating mechanisms for storing
energy to make renewable sources more useful.”
—Professor Frank Barnes
group are working on these challenges.
One promising technique is pumped
hydro, where water is pumped from a
lower elevation to a higher elevation
using the energy from wind turbines or
solar panels, and then released through
generators when wind and solar cannot
produce enough energy to meet demand.
Department of Electrical,
Computer, and Energy Engineering
College of Engineering & Applied Science
University of Colorado at Boulder
425 UCB • Boulder, CO 80309-0425
303-492-7327 phone • 303-492-2758 fax
http://ecee.colorado.edu

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Opportunities
for Giving
Your individual support or
corporate partnership will
result in critical research
accomplishments in the
fields of energy technology
and engineering. Join
us in enabling these
exciting discoveries in our
department.

To learn more about

opportunities for giving,
contact:

Ann Scott
Director of Development
Phone: (303) 735-2562
Email: ann.scott@cufund.org