Welcome from the Chair

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER

ENGINEERING

FALL/WINTER 2014ECENEWS

Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh is THRIVING. In this issue of our annual

newsletter you’ll discover a few items of note that represent only a small portion of the outstanding academic and scholarly achievements of the students (approx. 400 undergraduate + 170 graduate) and faculty (25 regular full-time) associated with Pitt ECE. Looking at the big picture, a few of our accomplishments over the last half-dozen years include: 45% increase in the number of PhD students (ten PhD graduates in 2014),

80% increase in the number of journal publications (NOT counting high impact computer engineering conferences), and a 70% increase in annual research expenditures ($3.7 million now).

As you’ll see in the following stories our faculty members are moving up with tenure and promotions – Dr. Yiran Chen and Dr. Kartik Mohanram are now associate professors with tenure and Dr. Gregory Reed is now full professor. So far in 2014, some of the awards given to our faculty members include: Fellow of IEEE to Dr. Thomas McDermott, Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award to Dr. Steve Levitan, ACM SIGDA Outstanding New Faculty Award to Dr. Yiran Chen, NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium appointment to

Dr. Irvin R. Jones, Jr., and the Best Paper Award for the IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI (ISVLSI 2014) to Dr. Hai Li (and graduate student, Chenchen Liu).

Our faculty are growing and evolving each year. Just this year we added Dr. Alexis Kwasinski (Richard King Mellon Faculty Fellow; power electronic systems, microgrids, and ultra-reliable and fault-tolerant power systems), Dr. Murat Akcakaya (statistical signal processing and machine learning for biomedical sensing), and Dr. Brandon Grainger (power systems analysis with emphasis on DC distribution). We also have had valued colleagues move to emeritus status such as Prof. Luis F. Chaparro.

Finally, our research is also expanding into new directions. These include neuromorphic computing, DC power systems and distribution, advanced manufacturing, and radiation-hard fiber optic sensor networks for nuclear power safety, among other areas.

Please take a look inside and/or contact me for more information.

Sincerely,

William Stanchina, PhDChairman and Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

ECE Doctorate Candidate Awarded a Bronze Medal from the ACM SIGDA Student Research Competition

Wujie Wen, a doctorate candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department, has won a bronze medal from the ACM SIGDA student research competition (SRC) at this year’s International Conference on Computer Aided Design (ICCAD 2014) in San Jose, CA. Wen was

awarded for his research, “Error Character-ization and Correction Techniques for Reliable STT-RAM Designs.”

The SRC consists of three rounds of review, like abstract review, poster session and presentation. PhD students of the electronic

design automation (EDA) society from all over the world participated in this competition and only three Grand Finalists are selected. The other two finalists are from CMU and UCSB, respectively.

continued on page 9

2 | Fall/Winter 2014 n ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Power management company Eaton and the University of Pittsburgh today unveiled the Swanson School of Engineering’s new

Electric Power Systems Lab with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pitt’s Benedum Hall of Engineering in early 2014. Equipped with electrical products donated by Eaton, the 1,500 square-foot lab will help educate the next generation of electric power engineers with the latest power delivery technol-ogy. The lab, inspired by Eaton’s highly successful Power Systems Experience Center in Warrendale, Pa., is the latest initiative in a long-standing collaboration between Eaton and the Swanson School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Pitt’s Center for Energy.

“We need to rely on the next generation of highly skilled engineers to help us meet our critical electrical power management challenges,” said Revathi Advaithi, president, Electrical Sector, Americas Region, Eaton. “Our continued col-laboration with the University of Pittsburgh, and innovative training initiatives like the new Electric

Power Systems Lab, can help attract the most talented students to this vital field and reinforce the Pittsburgh region’s growing reputation as a leader in energy innovation.”

Eaton and Pitt have collaborated over the past five years to develop new courses, certificate programs and research projects. The lab, located on Benedum Hall’s recently constructed “Energy Floor,” will foster research across a wide range of electric power areas, including energy efficiency, alternative energy systems and microgrids. It features a state-of-the-art teaching laboratory for undergraduates majoring in electrical engineering with an electric power concentration.

“Two of our academic and research priorities are energy and sustainability, and the new Electric Power Systems Lab will enable our students and faculty to better explore the next generation of sustainable power engineering technologies,” said Gerald D. Holder, PhD, the Swanson School’s U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering. “What’s more, university and industry research partnerships

like ours with Eaton greatly enhance the potential to develop new technologies that will have a tremendous impact on power generation, transmission and distribution.”

“Eaton’s continued support of the University of Pittsburgh’s power engineering curriculum has helped us educate students through unique classroom and hands-on activities,” said Gregory Reed, PhD, director, Swanson School’s Electric Power Initiative; Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and a renowned electric power engineer. “The new lab will prepare students for future career challenges, helping sustain the workforce needed to advance power and energy technologies, as well as provide opportunities for critical research activities in these fields including work in the emerging area of DC systems.”

In addition to its support for the Power Systems Lab, Eaton has been a participant in the Swanson School of Engineering’s cooperative education, or co-op program. This year the co-op program

Celebrate Opening of New Electric Power Engineering Lab

PITT and EATON

n Fall/Winter 2014 | 3ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

recognized Eaton as the Co-op Employer of the Year for its sustained commitment to the program and the quality of its projects and assignments for participating students.

The Swanson School’s Electric Power Engineering program, offered through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is rooted in core electric power engineering principles. The program focuses on the expansion and enhanced reliability of electric power grid infrastructure through application of power electronics and advanced control technologies, as well as areas such as renewable energy integration, hybrid AC and DC systems development, and smart grids. The University of Pittsburgh offers bachelors, masters and doctorate degree programs in this area.

In 2013 the Swanson School launched a distance-enabled post-baccalaureate/graduate certificate in electric power engineering for students in the graduate program and electric engineering professionals who wish additional post- baccalaureate technical education in this area. The program offers synchronous learning online for the working professional in conjunction with actual classroom graduate course lectures. Program content – combined with innovative distance-enabled delivery and collaborative program components – makes this program an attractive and unique choice in post-baccalaureate engineering education, particularly for individuals in industry and business.

Gregory Reed, PhD, welcomes the audience to Pitt’s new Electric Power Engineering lab.

Eaton’s Revathi Advaithi addresses the audience at the ribbon cutting.

4 | Fall/Winter 2014 n ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Packing Hundreds of Sensors into a Single Optical Fiber for use in Harsh EnvironmentsPublished with permission of The Optical Society (OSA)

By fusing together the concepts of active fiber sensors and high-temperature fiber sensors, a team of researchers at

the University of Pittsburgh has created an all-optical high-temperature sensor for gas flow measurements that operates at record-setting temperatures above 800 degrees Celsius.

This technology is expected to find industrial sensing applications in harsh environments ranging from deep geothermal drill cores to the interiors of nuclear reactors to the cold vacuum of space missions, and it may eventually be extended to many others.

The team describes their all-optical approach in a paper published today in The Optical Society’s (OSA) journal Optics Letters. They successfully demonstrated simultaneous flow/temperature sensors at 850 C, which is a 200 C improvement on an earlier notable demonstration of MEMS-based sensors by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The basic concept of the new approach involves integrating optical heating elements, optical sensors, an energy delivery cable and a signal cable within a single optical fiber. Optical power delivered by the fiber is used to supply energy to the heating element, while the optical sensor within the same fiber measures the heat transfer from the heating element and transmits it back.

“We call it a ‘smart optical fiber sensor powered by in-fiber light’,” said Kevin P. Chen, an associate professor and the Paul E. Lego Faculty Fellow in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The team’s work expands the use of fiber-optic sensors well beyond traditional applications of

temperature and strain measurements. “Tapping into the energy carried by the optical fiber enables fiber sensors capable of performing much more sophisticated and multifunctional types of measurements that previously were only achievable using electronic sensors,” Chen said.

In microgravity situations, for example, it’s difficult to measure the level of liquid hydrogen fuel in tanks because it doesn’t settle at the bottom of the tank. It’s a challenge that requires the use of many electronic sensors – a problem Chen initially noticed years ago while visiting NASA, which was the original inspiration to develop a more streamlined and efficient approach.

“For this type of microgravity situation, each sensor requires wires, a.k.a. ‘leads,’ to deliver a sensing signal, along with a shared ground wire,” explained Chen. “So it means that many leads – often more than 40 – are necessary to get measurements from the numerous sensors. I couldn’t help thinking there must be a better way to do it.”

It turned out, there is. The team looked to optical-fiber sensors, which are one of the best sensor technologies for use in harsh environments thanks to their extraordinary multiplexing capabilities and immunity to electromagnetic interference. And they were able to pack many of these sensors into a single fiber to reduce or eliminate the wiring problems associated with having numerous leads involved.

“Another big challenge we addressed was how to achieve active measurements in fiber,” Chen said. “If you study optical fiber, it’s a cable for signal

transmission but one that can also be used for energy delivery – the same optical fiber can deliver both signal and optical power for active measurements. It drastically improves the sensitivity, functionality, and agility of fiber sensors without compromising the intrinsic advantages of fiber-optic sensors. That’s the essence of our work.”

Based on the same technology, highly sensitive chemical sensors can also be developed for cryogenic environments. “The optical energy in-fiber can be tapped to locally heated in-fiber chemical sensors to enhance its sensitivity,” Chen said. “In-fiber optical power can also be converted into ultrasonic energy, microwave or other interesting applications because tens or hundreds of smart sensors can be multiplexed within a single fiber. It just requires placing one fiber in the gas flow stream – even in locations with strong magnetic interference.”

Next, the team plans to explore common engineering devices that are often taken for granted and search for ways to enhance them. “For fiber sensors, we typically view the fiber as a signal-carrying cable. But if you look at it from a fiber sensor perspective, does it really need to be round or a specific size? Is it possible that another size or shape might better suit particular applications? As a superior optical cable, is it also possible to carry other types of energy along the fibers for long-distance and remote sensing?” Chen noted. “These are questions we’ll address.”

Paper: “Fiber-optic flow sensors for high- temperature-environment operation up to 800°C,” R. Chen at al., Optics Letters, Vol. 39, Issue 13, pp. 3966-3969 (2014).

n Fall/Winter 2014 | 5ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Pitt Engineering and Corporate Research Group Receives Nearly $1 Million DOE Grant for

Nuclear Power Safety ResearchResearchers at the University

of Pittsburgh were awarded a $987,000 grant from the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) to develop radiation-hard, multi-functional, distributed fiber optical sensor networks to improve safety and operational efficiency in

nuclear power reactors and fuel cycle systems. The grant

was awarded under NEUP’s Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) program.

The principal investigator is Kevin P. Chen, PhD, associate professor of electrical engineering and the Paul E. Lego Faculty Fellow. Project collaborators include Corning Incorporated in Corning, NY and Westinghouse Electric Company LLC in Pittsburgh, PA and.

“An important lesson of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 is the lack of situation awareness of nuclear power systems especially under stressed or severe situations,” Dr. Chen says. “When the plant was evacuated following the earthquake and tsunami, we lost the ability to know what was happening in key systems. This information blackout prevented the implementation of proper control mechanisms, which then triggered a disastrous chain of events.”

According to Dr. Chen, the fiber optical sensor networks will enable nuclear engineers to better monitor a number of parameters critical to the safety of nuclear power systems. The sensor networks will have high sensitivity, high accuracy, and high spatial resolutions, with up to 100 sensors per meter in critical locations. This high- resolution sensing data will provide operators with critical

information to quickly isolate problems and implement solutions at minimal cost. Scientists at Corning, one of the world’s leading innovators in materials science, will help to develop radiation-hard, application-specific air-hole microstructural fibers for multi-parameter measurements of temperature, pressure, and hydrogen concentration. Novel fiber structure designs and the integration of nano-composite coating will enhance functionalities of distributed fiber sensing schemes beyond traditional uses for temperature and strain measurements. Pitt’s researchers will also work with engineers at Westinghouse Electric Company to academically evaluate performance in both normal and post-accident scenarios, and to assess practical applications for sensor implementation in nuclear power systems.

“This is a challenging project because we will be designing new radiation-robust sensors from the ground up," Dr. Chen says. “However, the success of this project will enable us to improve the reliability and safety of future nuclear systems, as well as existing nuclear power plants through retrofitting. Hopefully, our engineering work will make a difference.”

Pitt’s grant was part of $11 million awarded for 12 research and development projects led by U.S. universities, Department of Energy national laboratories and industry in support of the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Crosscutting Technology Development Program (NEET CTD) to address crosscutting nuclear energy challenges. Since 2009, the Energy Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy has awarded approximately $350 million to 98 U.S. colleges and universities to continue American leadership in clean energy innovation and to train the next generation of nuclear engineers and scientists through its university programs.

6 | Fall/Winter 2014 n ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Swanson School Names Alexis Kwasinski as Richard King Mellon Faculty Fellow in Energy

The University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering

has named Alexis Kwasinski, PhD as Associate Professor and Richard King Mellon Faculty Fellow in Energy. Dr. Kwasinski,

who joins Pitt this fall from the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering, will hold a tenured appointment in ECE that is funded in part through a 2012 grant from Richard King Mellon Foundation to the University’s Center for Energy.

Dr. Kwasinski is recognized for research in energy security and electric power resiliency, in particular the use of microgrids to improve power supply availability after natural disasters. His field research included studying the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Ike and Sandy, and the 2011 earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, and how microgrids in particular could help return power to damaged areas more quickly than traditional infrastructure.

Dr. Kwasinski received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology (ITBA) in Argentina; a graduate specialization degree in telecommunications from the University of Buenos Aires in 1997; and a master of science and PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

His career began with Telefonica of Argentina from 1993-1997, designing and planning telephony outside plant networks, and he also was a member of the Executive Committee of the Argentine Electrotechnical Association from 1994-1995. Later he joined Lucent Technologies Power Systems (now GE Power Electronics Inc.) for five years as a Technical Support Engineer and a Sales Technical Consultant in Latin America and was also a part-time instructor in charge of ITBA’s Telecommunications Laboratory for three years. At UT-Austin he was assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering with seven PhD students, published 22 journal and more than 50 conference papers, and secured more than $2 million in funding from both government agencies and industrial sponsors.

His awards include the IBM Faculty Innovation Award (2011), National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award (2009), Best Technical Paper Award at the International Telecommunications Energy Conference/INTELEC (2007) and the Joseph J. Suozzi INTELEC Fellowship (2005). Currently he serves as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.

Dr. Kwasinski’s appointment is the second Richard King Mellon Faculty Fellow within the Swanson School. John Keith, PhD, a catalytic processes researcher, was named the inaugural Richard King Mellon Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering in March 2013. Prior to Pitt, Dr. Keith was an associate research scholar in Professor Emily Carter’s research group in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University.

n Fall/Winter 2014 | 7ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

More than 300 attended the Swanson School of Engineering’s 50th annual Distinguished Alumni Banquet on Thursday, March 27, 2014. This annual event recognizes alumni from

each of the Swanson School’s engineering departments, as well as for the Swanson School itself. This year’s honoree for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was triple EE alumnus Donald Gillott, PhD.

A graduate of the Connellsville, Pa. High School class of 1949, Dr. Gillott attended St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. prior to transferring to the University of Pittsburgh where he received BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering. After attaining his PhD, he served as an associate professor at Pitt for five years; then in 1968 he accepted the position of Chairperson of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Sacramento State University in California. In 1976, after a national search, he was appointed to the position of Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the position he held until his retirement in 1993.

Dr. Gillott was one of the main architects in developing the State of California Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, which gained national recognition and is credited with playing a major role in significantly increasing the enrollment of young men and women from these underrepresented groups. He has received a MESA California Statewide award in recognition of outstanding service as Faculty Sponsor of the Sacramento State University’s MESA Center, and the Centennial medal for extraordinary achievement by the International Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

In 1993, the California State Legislature passed a special resolution upon Dr. Gillott’s retirement as Dean, acknowledging his years of dedicated service to the citizens of the State of California. The resolution honors Dr. Gillott for his “leadership in developing plans for a new Engineering and Computer Science building complex, including his leadership in a successful $5,000,000 fundraising campaign to support the new facility.” Faculty, students, and alumni of the College of Engineering and Computer Science also presented Dr. Gillott with an award honoring outstanding service as Dean and “the many contributions of Dr. Gillott to the success of that Academic Unit.”

Dr. Gillott was born in Connellsville, Pa. in 1931. He and his wife Betty were married in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in 1957 and are the proud parents of three children, Donna Louise Gillott Monsoor, Dr. Douglas Louis Gillott, and Dennis Louis Gillott; and five grandchildren, Amanda and Dylan Gillott, Elizabeth and Ian Monsoor, and Zachary Gillott.

Donald Gillott Receives ECE’s 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award

PhD Dissertations in ECE Over the Past YearAugust 2014Grainger, Brandon, “Design and Power Management of an Offshore Medium Voltage DC Microgrid Realized Through High Voltage Power Electronics Technologies and Control,” (Prof. Gregory Reed).

Hu, Miao, “Memristor: Modeling, Simulation and Usage in Neuromorphic Computation,” (Prof. Hai Li).

Kim, Myungji, “Nano-optics-enabled High-efficiency Solar Cells,” (Prof. Hong Koo Kim).

Taylor, Emmanuel, “Direct DC Solar Integration,” (Prof. Gregory Reed).

Wang, Qing-qing, “All-fiber Mode-locked Ultrafast Lasers, Their Applications and Echelle Spectrograph,” (Prof. Kevin P. Chen).

April 2014Can-Cimino, Azime, “Asynchronous Representation and Processing of Analog Sparse Signals Using a Time-scale Framework,” (Prof. Luis. F. Chaparro).

Huang, Jiyong, “Patterned Fabrication of Nanowire Arrays for Ultrasensitive Biomolecule Detection,” (Prof. Minhee Yun).

Kerestes, Robert, “Harmonic, Interharmonic and Sub-harmonic Analysis, Estimation and Elimination of the Static Kramer Drive System,” (Prof. Gregory Reed).

Khanna, Raghav, “Characterizing and Modeling of Transient Behavior in Power Electronic Circuits with Wide Bandgap Semiconductors and In Maximum Power Point Tracking for Photovoltaic Systems,” (Prof. William E. Stanchina).

December 2013Li, Yong, “Software-oriented Data Access Characterization for Chip-multiprocessor Architecture Optimizations,” (Prof. Alex Jones).

Sun, Zhenyu, “High-performance and Low-power Magnetic Material Memory-based Cache Design,” (Prof. Hai Li).

Zhao, Bo, “Improving Phase Change Memory (PCM) and Spin-torque-transfer Magnetic-RAM (STT-MRAM) as Next-generation Memories: A Circuit Perspective,” (Prof. Jun Yang).

8 | Fall/Winter 2014 n ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

By Stephanie Novak, Pittsburgh Business Times – Reprinted with permission

A group of students at the University of Pittsburgh are working to harness the sun’s energy to power the towers that

send signals to cellphones.

SolarCell, a student project of Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, is developing patented technology that would allow solar panels to be the main power source for cellphone towers, specifically in rural areas, said Emmanuel Taylor, the student leader of the project and a PhD candidate at Pitt.

Currently, most cellular towers use alternating current, or AC, and then convert the power to direct current, or DC, to power cellphones and computers, among other things. This process wastes a lot of energy, Taylor said.

“AC allowed us to make the modern electrical grid,” he said. “Now all devices run on DC, (and) they need constant voltage.”

SolarCell’s panels directly produce the direct current the devices need, Taylor said. No more need to convert AC to DC.

“Eliminating all of these conversions between AC and DC would lead to more efficiency,” said Gregory Reed, director of the Electric Power Institute at Pitt and the students’ project advisor.

The SolarCell model is a hybrid system, using solar power as a primary way to collect energy, with a backup battery option on which a cell tower can run for two to seven days and a separate fuel cell that allows the tower to extract electricity from natural gas or diesel in case of emergencies.

Reed said SolarCell’s technology would help reduce emissions associated with typical cell-phone towers, particularly in rural areas where diesel fuel would no longer be the primary power source for a tower. Unlike urban cell towers, which exist on a larger grid, rural towers have to be self-sufficient and are primarily fueled by diesel.

In rural areas, building out a cell tower involves digging trenches where companies lay cable at a cost of $300,000 per mile, Taylor said. In the United States, many carriers such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile, are looking to flesh out their rural coverage, creating a market for SolarCell’s product, Taylor said.

He estimates the SolarCell model would cost companies less than $100,000 to install, compared with the $300,000 cost per mile of cable currently associated with rural cell tower development.

And the company has had success since the start of the year, winning first place at Pitt’s Randall Family Big Ideas competition and taking second

place at Pitt’s Startup Weekend. Taylor said two local carriers are already interested in the project, and next steps include creating a prototype this summer and continuing to work with partners.

“It’s been a very exciting semester for us as students,” he said.

SolarCell

Program sponsors and participants: SolarCell is an independent student project supported by the Electric Power Initiative at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering. Emmanuel Taylor leads the student team of Jai Kumar, Dean Rosenwald, Nick Scangas and Abhishek Agarwal. Gregory Reed serves as the students’ advisor.

What the program does: SolarCell is developing equipment to provide reliable electricity for cellphone towers by using renewable energy and DC technology.

Biggest accomplishment to date: Being honored with three awards in less than four months “really speaks to the amount of progress we have made in a short period of time,” Taylor said.

This article appeared in the online edition of the Pittsburgh Business Times on May 9, 2014 Copyright ©2014 Pittsburgh Business Times, 424 South 27th Street, Suite 211, Pittsburgh PA 15203

Pitt Students Working to Power Cellular with Solar

The SolarCell team includes (l to r) Dean Rosenwald, Jai Kumar, Abhishek Agarwal, Emmanuel Taylor, Nick Scangas, and Gregory Reed, PhD.

n Fall/Winter 2014 | 9ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Pitt, Wisconsin Researchers Receive $500K in Grants to Design a Better Solar Cell

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and University of

Wisconsin are exploring the potential to improve the efficiency of low cost organic photovoltaic solar cells, thanks to a $332,323 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems. The three-year grant, “CDS&E: Collaborative Research: Multiscale Modeling, Simulation and Optimization for Designing Organic Solar Cells,” is led by principle investigator

Guangyong Li, PhD, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; and co-PIs Geoffrey Hutchison, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry; and Xiaoping Qian, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering, which is contributing an additional $182,049 toward the research.

“Organic photovoltaics hold the potential of being a low-cost, highly flexible renewable technology. But because materials and manufacturing create limitations in energy efficiency, OSCs have not yet proven to be a viable alternative to silicon,” Dr. Li explained. “Our goal is to develop a multiscale simulation and optimization methodology for OSCs that directly links the basic materials properties (electronic and optical), nanoscale morphology and their dependency on processing conditions (e.g. temperature and time), bulk material properties (e.g. bulk mobility), and device designs, to device efficiency.

“This simulation and optimization process would eliminate the trial-and-error approach to identifying the best materials and manufacturing,” Dr. Li said. “This could potentially provide a more sustainable method to produce OSCs and create a new manufacturing industry for renewable solar energy.”

From the Abstract

The proposed research aims to merge simulation tools across multiple time and length scales using successive integration steps. The resulting tools would enable a holistic design approach where the design space will be systematically explored to dramatically improve the performance of OSC devices. Such a holistic approach integrates experimental validations to refine the simulations at each scale (micro, meso, and macro) and ultimately to verify the optimization results. More specifically, the research will verify the multiscale simulation by characterizing nanoscale morphology, measuring bulk mobility, and testing the devices. The PIs will then optimize the designs and fabrication processes of OSCs for high efficiency through surrogate modeling and sensitivity analysis of the multiscale models. Successful completion of this research will fill a critical knowledge gap in organic electronics research and will form a new simulation paradigm for organic electronics by accounting for multiscale coupling in charge transport and material properties and by experimental validation at each scale. The scheme to bridge the micro and macro scales in this project will set an example for multiscale simulation and optimization of other type of solar cells and energy devices such as super-capacitors and batteries. The results of these models and simulations will lead to more rational designs and greater potential for significant technological advances in OSCs.

These three Grand Finalists and their advisors are invited to represent the Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA) to attend the Annual ACM Awards Banquet in June 2015 where they are recognized for their accomplishments, along with prestigious ACM award winners, including the winner of the Turing Award. They will also receive an award medal and other benefits.

Wen has worked on the reliability challenges of new emerging memory technologies, like Spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM), since he began his PhD work in September 2011. “Wujie introduced several interesting and intelligent ideas to identify

and solve issues in his field,” says Dr. Yiran Chen, Wen’s advisor. “It is no wonder that he received a medal from the intensive world-wide student research competition for his insightful work.”

Wujie Wen received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University and Tsinghua University, respectively. His current research interests include design automation of statistic reliability analysis for emerging memories, low power design, and computer architecture. Wen received the 2014 Design Automation Conference (DAC) best paper award nomination. Wen is also the recipient of the

Dean’s Scholarship for Spring 2015 and the 2012 DAC A. Richard Newton Scholarship, the most prestigious PhD scholarship ($24,000, one awardee per year) in the EDA society.

continued from page 1

ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

ECE Announces Faculty PromotionsThree faculty members in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering were recently promoted, according to an announcement from William E. Stanchina, PhD, professor and chairman.

“These three individuals are excellent teachers, mentors and researchers who have contributed greatly to the department and to the Swanson School, and on behalf of the department I want to congratulate them and wish them continued success.”

The three faculty members are:

YIRAN CHEN, PhD APPOINTED ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR WITH TENURE

Dr. Chen received his B.S. and M.S. (both with honor) from Tsinghua University and PhD from Purdue University. His research interests include data storage architecture, low-power design, emerging technologies and embedded systems. Dr. Chen has published one book, several book chapters, and more than 170 technical publications in refereed journals and conferences. He has also been granted 83 US patents with other 17 pending applications. He is the associate editor of IEEE Transactions on CAD of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD), ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems (JETC), and ACM SIGDA e-news.

He has served various roles in the technical and organization committees of more than 30 international conferences, including DAC, ICCAD, DATE, ASP-DAC, ISLPED, FPT, ISCAS, CODES+ISSS, ICONIP, RTCAS, etc. His work received “The hot 100 products of 2006” from EDN, the finalist of “Prestigious 2007 DesignVision Awards” from International Engineering Consortium (IEC) and “PrimeTimeVX - EDN 100 Hot Products Distinction” from Synopsys Inc. He received three best paper awards from ISQED 2008 and ISLPED 2010, GLSVLSI 2013, respectively, and seven times best paper nominations. He is the recipient of NSF CAREER award (2013), the 2014 Outstanding New Faculty Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA), and the participants of 2013 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. Dr. Chen is the pioneer of e-business in China and co-founded www.welan.com (www.wl.cn), the fourth largest online book store in China.

KARTIK MOHANRAM, PhD APPOINTED ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR WITH TENURE

Dr. Mohanram earned his B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, and his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. His primary research interests are in computer engineering and systems, with an emphasis on modeling, simulation, and computer-aided design of integrated circuits. He has presented and published more than 70 papers in publications including ACS Nano, Design, Automation and Test in Europe, IEEE Electron Device Letters, and Nano Research.

GREGORY REED, PhD APPOINTED PROFESSOR, NON-TENURE STREAM AND DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ENERGY

Dr. Reed earned his B.S. from Gannon University, his M.Eng. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and PhD in electric power engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He also serves as Director of the Electric Power Initiative in the Swanson School of Engineering and Associate Director of the University’s Center for Energy. He is the Director and Technical Lead of the Grid Technologies Collaborative for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory; and an inaugural member of the National Academies of Science and Engineering’s Energy Ambassador Program. In addition to these roles, he is the owner and principal consultant of Power Grid Technology Consulting, LLC.

His research interests, teaching activities, and related pursuits include advanced electric power grid and energy generation, transmission, and distribution system technologies; power electronics and control technologies (FACTS, HVDC, and MVDC systems); renewable energy systems and integration; smart grid technologies and applications; and energy storage development. He has

YIRAN CHEN, PhD

KARTIK MOHANRAM, PhD

GREGORY REED, PhD

10 | Fall/Winter 2014 n

n Fall/Winter 2014 | 11ENGINEERING.PITT.EDU

Dr. Murat Akcakaya

Murat joins the Swanson School of Engineering in September 2014 as an Assistant Professor in

the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Dr. Akcakaya received the B.Sc. from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2005, and the M.Sc. and the PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, in May and December 2010, respectively. Between April 2012 and June 2103, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Northeastern University, and between July 2013 and August 2014, he worked there as a Research Assistant Professor. Dr. Akcakaya’s research interests lie in the general areas of statistical signal processing and machine learning with applications to (1) radar signal

processing, (2) biologically inspired sensing, (3) noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG) based brain computer interface (BCI) systems, and (4) physiological signal analysis for health informatics. Dr. Akcakaya was a winner of the student paper contest awards at the 2010 IEEE International Radar Conference, 2010 IEEE International Waveform Diversity and Design Conference, and 2010 Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers.

over 27 years of combined industry and academic experience in the electric power and energy sector, including positions in engineering, research & development, and executive management throughout his career with the Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, ABB Inc., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., and DNV-KEMA.

Dr. Reed has authored or co-authored more than 75 papers and technical articles in the areas of electric power system analysis, the applications of advanced power systems and power electronics technologies, and power engineering education. He is an active member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE), including the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES), Power Electronics Society (PELS), and Industrial Applications Society (IAS); and is also a member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Past IEEE positions include governing board member of the Power & Energy Society, as well as the president of the IEEE PES Pittsburgh chapter. He is currently an associate editor for IEEE PELS Letters. He is also the founder and chair of Pitt’s annual Electric Power Industry Conference (EPIC), established in 2006; and co-founder/co-chair of the DOE NETL Grid Technologies Collaborative Conference.

Faculty and Student RecognitionThe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering congratulates the following individuals for their accomplishments in 2013/2014.

FacultyYIRAN CHEN, PhD Associate Professor

Recipient of the Outstanding New Faculty Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design Automation (SIGDA), 2014

IRVIN JONES, PhD Assistant Professor

Invited participant, NAE Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium

STEVEN LEVITAN, PhD John A. Jurenko Professor

Recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Pittsburgh, 2014

HAI (HELEN) LI, PhD Assistant Professor

Best Paper Award for the IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI (ISVLSI 2014)

THOMAS McDERMOTT, PhD Assistant Professor

Named IEEE Fellow

StudentsEMILY CRABB Undergraduate, Computer Engineering

Recipient of a 2014 Goldwater Scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program

MICHAEL DOUCETTE, CHRISTOPHER SCIOSCIA and ZACHARY SMITH Undergraduate Class of 2014, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Recipients of the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Scholarship Plus Initiative from the IEEE Foundation

Benedum Hall 3700 O’Hara Street Pittsburgh PA 15261

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH | SWANSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING | ECE NEWS | FALL/WINTER 2014

30%

post-

consumer waste content

Dr. Thomas E. McDermott Named 2014 IEEE Fellow

Thomas E. McDermott, PhD, P.E., assistant professor of electrical and

computer engineering, has been named an IEEE Fellow. Dr. McDermott is being recognized for contributions to modeling and analysis of electric power distribution systems and lightning protection, which have led to greater integration of renew-able energy sources and to more reliable operation of the electric power system.

The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The total number selected in any one year cannot exceed one-tenth of one-percent of the total voting membership. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement.

Dr. McDermott’s technical accomplishments include the development of widely-used software tools for engineering design, contributions to

national standards for renewable energy integration, contributions to international standards for smart grid interoperability, and application guides for lightning protection of electric power lines. After a full career in private industry, including participation in an IPO and incorporating his own successful consulting practice, Dr. McDermott recently joined the Swanson School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department full time in the tenure stream. From this position, he intends to pursue more forward-looking research opportunities and to help educate the next generation of electric power engineers.

Dr. McDermott graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with BS and MEng degrees in Electric Power, and from Virginia Tech with a PhD in Electrical Engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. Previously, he received the IEEE Fortescue Fellowship, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, and the IEEE Power and Energy Society Pittsburgh Chapter Outstanding Engineer awards. In addition to serving in several roles with IEEE, he also contributes to Cigre, the international Council on Large Electric Systems based in Paris.