ECE Impact Report 2022

IMPACT REPORT

New Iowa State ECpE Faculty

Student Spotlight!

Engineering meets art

Iris Top is a graduate student at Iowa State University studying computer engineering specializing in Secure and Reliable Computing. She is a member of the CyberEd team and is currently working on a tool for teaching k-12 students tricks used in phishing attempts and how they can be detrimental to themselves and wherever they are. Iris has been very active on campus throughout her graduate and undergraduate studies. This past summer marked the end of her term as the Gaffer’s Guild president: a student organization whose purpose is to teach students the art of glass blowing.

“We do not limit our members on what they want to create,” Top said. “Everyone has their own path they want to follow.” Her specialty is in making intricate paperweights and she is testing techniques for encapsulated flowers. Top said that engineering and glass blowing are connected through required attention throughout an entire process. A seemingly tiny and insignificant detail can have a huge impact on the resulting product.

Saving lives through revolutionary biosensors

Helping law enforcement hunt evil

Guan serves as the Cyber Forensic Coordinator for the Center for Statistic and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE). It was through CSAFE that Guan and his team developed EviHunter. This software can analyze a smart phone’s apps for evidence relating to a crime, and it is automatic, taking only 20 minutes to complete.

Guan started with an Android operating system, with 3.14 million apps on the Google Play Store. There are over 65 other app stores worldwide, with over 8.93 million apps available across the globe. With an average of 40 to 80 apps per device, investigations take 1-2 days per device, which has created backlogs in all crime labs. EviHunter can search a device automatically, taking out human error and finding vital information to prove a suspect did the crime, or eliminate the wrongly accused.

Upgrading and securing GPS system

Cutting-edge microelectronics research with state-of-the-art

Securing critical energy infrastructure

Research assistant professor Ravikumar Gelli’s research on securing critical energy infrastructure and enabling trustworthy infrastructure for clean energy resources has gained national interest as recognized by his National Science Foundation, Iowa Economic Development Authority, and DOE Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response federal and state-funded multi-million dollar research grants ($3.6M+ including state and federal funds and cost-share).

Gelli’s research focuses on integrating physics-based grid-aware models, cyber-informed methodologies and intelligent learning-based (machine learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning) algorithms to design, develop and demonstrate defense-in-depth cybersecurity and resiliency for bulk power systems, distribution grids and distributed

energy resources (DERs), such as distributed solar, storage, electric vehicles and other clean energy technologies. Gelli’s team is working towards devising novel systems and tools for building trustworthy (security + resiliency) DER communication infrastructure: proactive defensein-depth cyber-physical security technologies, including physicsinformed and cyber-informed intelligent learning-based methods; and nextgeneration edge-intelligent devices that brings the power of AI and edge computing at the grid-edge connected devices.

These next-generation systems and technologies help ensure modern energy delivery systems are designed, installed, operated and maintained to quickly recover from grid disturbances and cyberattacks.

Liang Dong, Director of the Microelectronics Research Center

Ashfaq Khokhar

Professor and Palmer Department Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Editor: Zach Clemens

Photography: Ryan Riley and Dan McClanahan

Graphic Design: Madeline Willits and Bill Beach

More info: www.ece.iastate.edu

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