EECS: Year in Review

EECS: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Y E A R I N

REVIEW 2016-17

Message From the Chair In keeping with the strategic vision of UC Irvine and the Samueli School of Engineering, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science is in the midst of significant growth and expansion. We hope to hire five new faculty members this year and next, and are looking forward to the new interdisciplinary science and engineering building expected to open in 2020. Meanwhile, the caliber of our incoming students continues to increase each year.

Faculty recognition also continues to grow, with our faculty receiving major grant funding, and national and international awards.

We also emphasize quality, looking to improve our students’ experiences and seeking new ways to partner with industry and our community. We plan to add an undergraduate professor of teaching position next year, with a primary focus on improving curriculum and pedagogy.

We are working to better engage our Industry Advisory Board, a group of impressive professionals who offer important insight into what our students must know to succeed in today’s workforce.

As we work to engage industry leaders, prospective members will note our affiliation with major university research centers, including the Integrated

Nanosystems Research Facility, the Center for Pervasive Communications & Computing, the Center for Embedded Computer Systems, and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. EECS faculty members affiliated with these centers work closely with industry to develop new nanotechnology, distributed computing and secure network technology.

While focusing on the future, we also are keenly aware of our current challenges, both as an institution and as a country. With these challenges comes our resolve to be more inclusive, more transparent and more efficient with our resources, and a renewed dedication to doing things better and improving society through education. Our simple goals are in line with the University of California’s mission statement : “…to serve society as a center of higher learning, providing long-term societal benefits through transmitting advanced knowledge, discovering new knowledge and functioning as an active working repository of organized knowledge...”

We invite you to learn more about our department’s faculty, students and research centers by visiting http:// engineering.uci.edu/dept/eecs or contacting any of our faculty.

— H. Kumar Wickramasinghe Nicolaos G. and Sue Curtis Alexopoulos Presidential Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, UC Irvine

Contents 2

Facts and Figures

4 Accolades 8 12

Circuits and Devices Computer Science and Engineering

14 Systems 16 Alumni 20

Directory of Faculty

24 Ingenuity

8 12

EECS: Year in Review is published annually by the Samueli School’s Communications staff for the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

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Chair: H. Kumar Wickramasinghe EECS Dept. Administrator: Cynthia Dennis Editor-in-Chief: Shelly Nazarenus Art Direction: Michael Marcheschi, m2dg.com Publisher: Mike Delaney, Meridian Graphics

2016-17 Year in Review

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FACTS AND FIGURES

The UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has two key goals:

1983

•• Advance the minds of future leaders by providing the finest education to our students

Department of Electrical Engineering founded

1990

•• Consistently meet industry needs by developing cutting-edge technology EECS, home to more than 50 percent of UCI’s engineering student body, has internationally renowned faculty who are leading experts in their fields. The department is committed to an integrated view of the electrical engineering field – ranging from microscopic (and even nanoscale) devices all the way to architectures, communications and software design – everything from electrons to programs.

More than 20 research groups focus on areas as diverse as embedded systems, computer networks, middleware, realtime systems, micro-electro-mechanical systems and nanotechnology, communication systems, machine intelligence, and neural and soft computing. Mathematical and natural sciences are applied to the theory, design and implementation of devices and systems for the benefit of our society.

Department expands to include computer science

1006

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS B.S. degrees Electrical Engineering Computer Engineering Computer Science and Engineering

367

GRADUATE STUDENTS

M.S., Ph.D. degrees Electrical and Computer Engineering Networked Systems Masters of Embedded and Cyber-physical Systems (begins fall 2017)

2 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

FACULTY AND RECOGNITION

35 22

4 1 9 3 2

Full-time Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

National Academy of Engineering Members Presidential Young Investigator Award NSF CAREER Awards Endowed Chairs Chancellor’s Professors

RESEARCH & EXPENDITURES

$9.8M

3

2014-15 Research Expenditures

Research Thrusts Circuits and Devices Computer Science and Engineering Systems

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World-class Centers 2016-17 Year in Review

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ACCOLADES

work on private information retrieval (PIR), a method of protecting the privacy of users from data providers.

First, Sun won a 2016 Jack Keil Wolf ISIT Student Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory in Barcelona, Spain, for a paper co-written with Jafar. That was followed by the Communication Theory Symposium Best Paper Award at the IEEE GLOBECOM 2016 conference Washington, D.C.

Professor Syed Ali Jafar was recognized as among the world’s most influential scientific minds, according to the 2016 Highly Cited Researchers list published

by Thomson Reuters. The list of highly cited scholars includes preeminent researchers from around the world in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences who have demonstrated great influence as measured by citations to their work.

Jafar was included on the list for the third consecutive year. His research focuses on analyzing the capacity of wireless communication networks.

In addition to his earlier work on multiple antenna (MIMO) technology and cognitive radio, Jafar is best known for his influential contributions to the idea known as interference alignment, which demonstrates how a resource such as network bandwidth can be shared among competing users in such a manner that each user gets half of the total bandwidth free from interference from others.

Additionally, Jafar and his graduate student Hua Sun received recognition twice last year from IEEE for their

The pair’s paper, “Capacity of Private Information Retrieval,” determines the information theoretic capacity of the PIR problem. The goal of PIR is to allow a user to retrieve a desired message from distributed databases without revealing to any individual database which message is being retrieved.

Research and Technology Center in Princeton, N.J., where the research originated; he continued his work on the algorithm at UCI through a Siemens/ Department of Energy subcontract.

Along with his former colleagues, Al Faruque was honored in the energy category for a patent that offers a collaborative, networked energy management strategy for providing power to electric vehicle (EV) charging stations located in residential neighborhoods. The distributed system maximizes the number of charged EVs in a neighborhood while reducing local energy demands on the electricity infrastructure.

Mohammad Al Faruque has won several awards for research this past year. In November, IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA) recognized him with its Ernest S. Kuh Early Career Award, which honors one individual per year in the early stages of his/her career who has made innovative and substantial technical contributions to the area of electronic design automation.

Al Faruque, who was honored for his contributions to energy-efficient design of reliable embedded and cyberphysical systems, is the only University of California researcher to have received the award since its inception in 2009.

Also in November, he received the 2016 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award from the Research and Development Council of New Jersey, recognizing the most significant patents emerging from that state’s research community.

Before joining UCI in 2012, Al Faruque was a scientist at the Siemens Corporate

4 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

© 2016 John O’Boyle

Fadi Kurdahi took on a new role as the school’s inaugural associate dean for graduate and professional studies. Professor Kurdahi oversees policies and procedures for graduate and professional student education, including increased faculty engagement to support the school’s strategic goals, recruitment and retention, and the establishment of self-supporting and certificate programs.

Kurdahi was instrumental in developing a new interdisciplinary master’s degree program in embedded and cyber-physical systems (MECPS) to begin in fall 2017. He also has directed or codirected several multiyear programs with Saudi Arabia, France and Korea, has collaborated with researchers from around the world and served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program. He is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAS and the recipient of multiple best paper awards.

Anthony Lopez, a computer engineering doctoral candidate, has earned a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Award from the National Science Foundation. Lopez works at UCI’s Center for Embedded and Cyber-physical Systems, where he focuses on autonomous vehiclerelated security issues.

“Anthony is a determined individual who demonstrates wonderful leadership qualities and the ambition to do good for others,” says his adviser, Mohammad Al Faruque, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “I can easily say that Anthony has the intellectual merit and potential for broader impact required to take on … challenges in upcoming cyber-physical system technologies.”

Lopez is among 27 UC Irvine students and 2,000 nationwide to receive the threeyear fellowship award. He will receive a stipend of $34,000 per year, along with an education allowance for tuition and fees.

Professor Payam Heydari was named a 2017 IEEE Fellow in recognition of his contributions to siliconbased millimeter-wave integrated circuits and systems. The IEEE Board of Directors awards the Fellow designation to only one-tenth of one percent of the organization’s voting membership – those considered to have extraordinary records of accomplishment.

Heydari was one of the first engineering researchers to study and design millimeter-wave circuits in nanoscale silicon technologies. His research on new circuit techniques and system architectures paved the way for silicon technology use at speeds and frequencies that were once achieved only by a combination of other materials; it also led to the development of integrated systems that transformed point-to-point wireless communications and created new applications in wireless communications, imaging and sensing.

2016-17 Year in Review

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ACCOLADES

Twenty electrical engineering and computer science graduate students — 10 from UC Irvine and 10 from UC Los Angeles — gathered at UCI for the first Broadcom Fellows Student Research Workshop and Symposium in May. Supported by the Broadcom Foundation and under the guidance of Professor G.P. Li at UCI and Professor Ken Yang at UCLA, the fellowship program was established last year. Fellowships at UCI focus on sensors, actuators, controllers, electromagnetic components and 3-D packaging technology, while the fellowships at UCLA center on complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit design, embedded systems design and related areas.

The two-day workshop and symposium provides an opportunity for the 20 students to assemble and share their knowledge and scientific research. Each fellow explained his or her research in a three-minute oral presentation and with a poster session. The students then voted for the best overall winner, and UCI’s Sun Jun Park received top honors for his work on a wearable sensor for detecting a human’s motion and physiological signals.

Park, who received a $1,000 cash award, is pictured with (from left) Broadcom Foundation Vice President Nicolaos Alexopoulos, Broadcom Foundation Chair Henry Samueli, UCI Professor Li and Broadcom Foundation President Paula Golden.

6 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Samueli School alumnus Salvatore Campione, who earned a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering in 2013, has added a couple of new honors to his already impressive resume. Last August, the senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. was named the 2016 Outstanding Young Professional by the IEEE Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society, and later in the year, the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society awarded him its 2017 ACES Early Career award.

HKN selects one young professional, age 35 or younger, from a national pool of nominees each year. Campione was recognized for his contributions to electromagnetic modeling of complex systems and structures. While ACES recognized Campione for “innovative contributions to the electromagnetic modeling of complex systems and structures, from microwave to optical frequencies.”

At Sandia, Campione works on electromagnetic theory, antennas, metamaterials, nanostructure plasmonics and optical devices for energy and optoelectronic applications. A member of numerous professional societies, he was also selected a 2013 Marconi Society Paul Baran Young Scholar and was one of the top-50 UC Irvine alumni honored in 2015 for their professional accomplishments, community impact and contributions to their fields.

Professor Peter Burke developed a novel sensor made of graphene — a one-atom-thin layer of carbon — to gain new insight into the process of programmed cell death in mitochondria. In a paper published in Scientific Reports, Burke and his team, along with collaborators at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, described their electronic method for monitoring changes in the mitochondria that could provide important clues for kick-starting the cell’s selfannihilation process. This novel graphene sensor could enable new studies of mitochondrial biology and medicine that were previously inaccessible.

Three EECS professors were recently recognized for their contributions to the Samueli School. Dean Gregory Washington initiated faculty awards four years ago to acknowledge and honor the valued contributions of faculty.

Department chairs make the nominations, and one early career, mid-career and senior faculty member receive awards in the categories of research excellence and innovation in teaching.

A paper written by Professor Nader Bagherzadeh’s research group detailing a novel, integrated approach to improving the speed and efficiency of computer systems with many-core processors was the featured article in the February 2017 issue of “IEEE Transactions on Computers.”

Mohammad Al Faruque (left) received the early career award for excellence in research, and Payam Heydari (right) was given the mid-career award in the same category. The faculty excellence in research recognition is bestowed upon professors who have conducted exceptional fundamental or applied research in one or more areas, or who have made a single or unique contribution to engineering concepts, and in which the research is responsive to or has an impact on society as a whole.

Bagherzadeh, along with recent Ph.D. graduates Ashkan Eghbal and Pooria M. Yaghini, collaborated with Dutch colleague Freek Verbeek on the paper, “Deadlock Verification of Cache Coherence Protocols and Communication Fabrics.” Bagherzadeh’s team proposed an integrated and automated methodology capable of reporting whether proposed cache coherency systems actually will be deadlock-free as well as reporting the smallest possible queue size that will ensure the smooth flow of information.

For her consistent outstanding student evaluations and highly successful redesign of a parallel computer systems course that melds both theory and practice, Aparna Chandramowlishwaran (center) earned the early career award for faculty innovation in teaching. Selection favors those whose contributions have made important, pervasive improvements in engineering education with a significant potential for long-term impact.

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RESEARCH THRUST:

CIRCUITS & DEVICES

BROAD AND POWERFUL UCI Engineers Develop Novel Broadband Transceiver and Powerful Millimeter-wave Signal Generator Brian Bell Steve Zylius

8 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The lab of Payam Heydari has been a busy place recently. Last December, Northern

“We’re offering

California electronic measurement firm Keysight Technologies awarded the Samueli School professor more than $30,000 to further his research into a novel bit-rate programmable broadband transceiver that will increase speed and efficiency of last-mile fiber to homes and buildings.

an entirely

“The ever-increasing demand for broader bandwidth necessitates a high-speed optical communication backbone for applications ranging from data centers to last-mile connectivity,” Heydari says, adding that future applications could require users to adaptively control and/or vary data rates, saving energy while still meeting performance goals.

A NEW KIND

The CMOS (complementary metaloxide-semiconductor) bit-rate programmable broadband transceiver will be developed on the Advanced Design System (ADS) platform – electronic-design automation software for radio-frequency, microwave and high-speed digital applications.

The photonic transceiver will enable transmission up to 40 gigabits per second at 1550 nanometers of wavelength, transforming last-mile, high-speed fiber.

Additionally, Heydari and his collaborators have created a silicon microchip-based “radiator” component that could revolutionize scanning, spectroscopy and wireless communication. The tiny gadget emits millimeter-wave signals in the G band (110 to 300 gigahertz), allowing easy penetration of solid surfaces while providing extremely sharp resolution.

This technology, which Heydari says exhibits the highest power and efficiency ever recorded as well as the lowest noise, could enable new approaches to biomedical and security scanning and imaging, and point-topoint wireless communication.

NEW KIND OF PHYSICS,

OF DEVICE REALLY. Our power and efficiency is an order of magnitude greater than other designs.”

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UCI professor of electrical engineering & computer science Payam Heydari (left) and grad student researcher Peyman Nazari have engineered a circularly polarized radiating element that could have widespread applications.

“We’re very excited about the successful design of this radiator because it represents a complete breakthrough,” says Heydari, a 2017 IEEE Fellow. “We’re offering an entirely new kind of physics, a new kind of device really. Our power and efficiency is an order of magnitude greater than other designs.”

One of his lab’s graduate students, Peyman Nazari, designed the device as an octagonal semiconductor chip with a unique cavity structure that allows for the emission of circularly polarized radiation. Most transmitters now generate linearly polarized signals, which can get “lost” when antennas and receivers are out of alignment. Emissions from one of the UCI radiators, if you could see them, would appear as tiny spinning tornados. Beams of this shape

are particularly effective at penetrating solid objects and providing detailed pictures of what’s inside.

Heydari said his group’s invention will be particularly beneficial in biomedical applications, as it will give doctors a way to differentiate tumor masses from healthy tissue. It could also be used in genomic research, equipping scientists with an instrument that can be so precisely tuned as to enable the excitation, or lighting up, of individual proteins.

But the new radiator can do a lot more than facilitate scanning and imaging.

According to Heydari, it could be the key that unlocks millimeter-wave transmission as part of the fifthgeneration wireless standard now in development. In addition, the tiny

10 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

yet powerful chips can be embedded virtually anywhere. The internet of things will rely heavily on machines, buildings and other infrastructure being equipped with sensors and antennae.

Driverless vehicles will only be possible if cars and trucks can detect each other.

“By using this millimeter-wave technology, cars all of a sudden become super-smart processing systems,” Heydari says. “Vehicles will be able to communicate with one another, and radar capabilities will be enhanced, greatly improving blind spot detection and collision avoidance.”

His lab’s radiator work is sponsored by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology’s Global Research Outreach Program.

MAKING WAVES Next-generation 5G wireless is expected to maximize signals in the

millimeter-wave frequency band. This advancement will allow faster transmission of higher-quality video and multimedia content.

This silicon microchip-based radiator can emit powerful millimeter-wave signals.

WHAT IT IS The via stack (segments of conductive material) is sandwiched between two metal layers on a silicon base.

7 Millimeter wave output Radio waves are emitted in a circularly polarized manner.

Unlike linear polarization, circular polarization signals aren’t lost due to misalignment in orientation (polarization) between transmitter and the receiver antennas.

The layers create a container that collects and emits the millimeter-wave signal.

Container is encircled by a delay loop with eight amplifiers and eight ports to the containter.

Sustainable loop

At each segment, the amplifier boosts the signal and adjusts timing, resulting in a sustainable looping signal.

HOW IT WORKS

The peak of a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave makes a complete revolution during one period of the wave.

6

Signal is initiated

The startup signal is initiated from the fluctuation of the current (inherent thermal noise) within the delay loop circuit. No external startup signal source is required. 1

Because linear polarization radiates along one plane‌

signal route

Amplifier boosts 2 power of the signal Signal travels along the delay loop.

5 Weakened

signal

Timing gaps 3

Amplifier adds gaps to adjust timing. (The time it takes for a signal to make a complete loop determines its output frequency).

Split signal 4

Some of the signal travels through the port toward the center (container).

The remaining signal moves along the loop to the next amplifier. ‌ misalignment is more likely.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS Wave signals in the G band (110 to 300GHz) are able to transmit large chunks of data to a remote server and are powerful enough to penetrate solid surfaces and produce images with sharp resolution.

Spectroscopy and remote sensing

Point-to-point and short-range communications

Biomedical and security imaging

Graphic by Sharon Henry

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RESEARCH THRUST:

COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

PRIVATE DETECTIVE AntMonitor Advances Mobile Data Transparency

UCI associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science Athina Markopoulou (right) and her graduate research group have developed a mobile app that can perform real-time detection and prevention of private information leaked from devices to the network.

Mobile devices are today’s technology of choice, generating the majority of internet traffic. They’re

ubiquitous tools for working, socializing, communicating, shopping and more.

But they also harbor a treasure trove of personal data, which, unbeknownst to users, can leak information to a host of unauthorized recipients.

A research group led by Athina Markopoulou, associate professor of

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Anna Lynn Spitzer Sharon Henry

electrical engineering and computer science, is working to plug those leaks by letting users know when they happen and where the information is bound. The team is developing AntMonitor, a mobile app that can perform real-time detection and prevention of private information leaked from devices to the network.

“It’s useful to understand where your data are going,” Markopoulou says. “If half of my data plan is going to ad servers … that’s something I would like to know.

“If the app notifies me that my phone is contacting a new server, I can tell it to BLOCK

THOSE PACKETS. Or, if it’s something

I’ve authorized, the app will remember and won’t ask me again.”

If information like my location, my email address, my phone number or device ID are going to trackers, that’s important to know, too.”

She uses a chilling example: “If your phone is sending your credit card number to an unknown server in another country every day from midnight-2 a.m., you’d be able to stop it.”

AntMonitor analyzes the packets going into and out of mobile devices, discerning where they’re coming from and where they’re heading. But, Markopoulou emphasizes, this powerful tool does not need to read or collect the content of the packets; packet headers (such as origins and destinations) convey useful information as well.

Telecommunications companies, mobile software and analytics companies, as well as universities have expressed interest in the technology. Their goals can be a bit different, though – and could involve market research, user behavior statistics and other data collection that can seem at odds with privacy goals.

“I’m trying to navigate that challenge now,” Markopoulou admits. “If a developer or a marketing company uses our software, it should be their

When it senses something unusual, AntMonitor can alert the user to take action. Users can personalize the app to define privacy criteria using filters. If preselected data begin leaking from the phone, AntMonitor will notify the user.

responsibility to disclose to their customers what they will collect.”

The app uses a VPN (virtual private network) to intercept incoming and outgoing packets. This means traffic is not being redirected to a middle server, just observed and analyzed on the device.

While other groups are engaged in related research, Markopoulou says AntMonitor’s preliminary testing reveals several advantages. “It significantly outperforms comparable approaches with regard to throughput and energy,” she says, adding that it uses up to 12 times less energy, doesn’t drain the device’s battery and achieves speeds up to eight times those of existing mobile approaches.

Currently in beta testing, AntMonitor is funded by a twoyear $300,000 National Science Foundation EAGER grant and a $50,000 prize from the Data Transparency Lab. DTL, a nonprofit consortium that seeks to advance online data privacy and transparency, received 54 submissions in a recent funding competition and selected AntMonitor as one of six winners this year.

It also can learn routines. “If the app notifies me that my phone is contacting a new server, I can tell it to block those packets. Or, if it’s something I’ve authorized, the app will remember and won’t ask me again. Over time, it learns what’s normal and what’s not,” says Markopoulou.

In addition to being available as a downloadable app, AntMonitor is offered as a software development kit (SDK) that third-party app developers can integrate into their products.

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RESEARCH THRUST:

SYSTEMS

ENHANCING ACCESS NSF Awards Grant to Jafarkhani for Radio Spectrum Research

5G

Lori Brandt Debbie Morales

Hamid Jafarkhani is part of a four-institution research team awarded a National Science Foundation grant for its efforts to enhance the public’s access to the radio frequency spectrum −

the part of the electromagnetic spectrum used to facilitate telecommunications and modern information systems essential for public safety, transportation and national defense.

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“The research activities supported by these awards represent bold

NEW APPROACHES with the potential to contribute

to improvements in the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization.”

Jafarkhani. “This is mainly because of the propagation challenges that make it hard to use. If successful, our project will solve some of these problems, and eventually these frequencies can be used in later generations of cellular wireless networks, such as 5G. In my lab, we’ll be focusing on the coding and beamforming aspects of the project. The use of this new spectrum will provide more access.”

Jafarkhani’s is one of 11 awards totaling $12 million given by the NSF that addresses grand challenges in wireless communication and access.

Jafarkhani, a UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of the Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing, is working on “overcoming propagation challenges at millimeter-wave frequencies via reconfigurable antennas” along with colleagues at Boise State University, California State University, Bakersfield and the University of WisconsinMadison. The team will receive $1,258,741 over three years.

Smartphone use and demand for wireless broadband access have intensified in recent years, increasing use of the radio frequency spectrum. At the same time, traditional methods of assigning frequencies, coupled with the rise of new wireless technologies have contributed to shortages in available radio frequencies.

“The radio frequency spectrum is a finite but exceedingly valuable natural resource that facilitates a variety of applications and services,” says Jim Kurose, head of NSF’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, which supported the awards together with NSF’s Engineering and Math and Physical Sciences Directorates. “The research activities supported by these awards represent bold new approaches with the potential to contribute to improvements in the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization while protecting passive sensing services and allowing traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from current and future wireless-enabled goods and services.”

“Millimeter-wave frequencies are not used for commercial applications like cellular wireless networks,” explains

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ALUMNI

BEHIND THE GAMES

Alumna Encourages Other Minority Women to Enter Technology and Engineering Fields Adapted from an article by Rosemary McClure Penni Gladstone

Gaming and entertainment giant Electronic Arts has a winning hand when it recruits new talent: Who would turn down a job that pays you to play games and create fun?

But it has another ace in the hole: software engineer and UCI electrical engineering alumna Laura Wright Teclemariam ’04, who attends as many recruitment events as she can.

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“I take responsibility to PAVE

THE WAY

for other young girls and boys of color, to let them know there are role models that look like them.”

Although gaming is popular with African Americans − according to Nielsen figures, they’re the second-largest ethnic group to play, after Asian Americans − only 2.5 percent of game developers are black.

Like many African Americans in the field, Teclemariam hopes the tide will turn and is trying to help make that happen. “I take responsibility to pave the way for other young girls and boys of color, to let them know there are role models that look like them,” she says.

Her own entrance into the field was almost a fluke.

“Recruiting isn’t part of my core job responsibilities,” says Teclemariam, senior product manager for Bay Areabased EA, “but I think it’s important for students to see a female minority in technology, so they realize some of us have made it into this field.”

She directs for EA’s internal engagement and advertising platform, a big job at this gaming superpower, which has 8,500 employees worldwide. Black Enterprise recently named her one of the top 10 African Americans in the video game industry.

Raised by a single mother in Vallejo, Teclemariam had set her sights on becoming a doctor, which seemed to her to be the best path to the American dream. “My mother worked so hard,” she says. “I wanted to make her proud.”

There was just one problem. The first time she saw blood drawn, she grew nauseated and nearly fainted. “Medicine definitely wasn’t for me,” Teclemariam says now, laughing at the memory.

Her career plan dissolved with that realization, and she reluctantly switched to engineering on the advice of her guidance counselor, who said she should take advantage of her high scores in science.

“I had no idea what type of work engineers do, so I went to the library and looked up careers in engineering,” Teclemariam says. But she was still fuzzy about what would come next.

Her acceptance to UCI put her on track, along with an internship she scored at Microsoft’s satellite office in Irvine.

“I’m really proud that I received my degree from UCI,” Teclemariam says. “A decade or more ago, people would ask where the school was. But now people say, ‘Wow, that’s a great place.’ I’m proud of the way the university has grown its programs.”

Teclemariam earned a B.S. in electrical engineering with a minor in information & computer science. But it wasn’t easy.

The year she started college, she was the only African American woman majoring in that field at UCI, she says.

“I’ve always had my mom’s tenacity and ability to push through,” Teclemariam says. “But it’s rough when you’re the only one. It was scary at first to feel alone culturally and not share any cultural moments with anyone in my department.”

After graduation, Teclemariam spent two years at Deloitte Consulting in Costa Mesa.

“I was at a crossroads,” she remembers.

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“I wondered about getting an MBA, but I felt like I

BELONGED IN THE EMERGING

FIELD OF ENTERTAINMENT TECH.” “I wondered about getting an MBA, but I felt like I belonged in the emerging field of entertainment tech. Social media was just getting started, and people were trying to figure out how to use it in terms of entertainment.”

She opted to strike out on her own, establishing Avid Exposure LLC, a North Hollywood startup that merged a digital company with a marketing and advertising agency. Among Teclemariam’s clients: Monster Energy and Interscope Geffen A&M Records.

“That startup made me the person I am today,” she says. “I learned so much about hiring, taxes, marketing, sales and operations − from A to Z.” Teclemariam managed Avid Exposure for five years, but her personal life

was changing. She had gotten married, and her husband, Nerayo, a chemical engineer, had a job in the Bay Area.

With two young daughters and a home in Northern California, Teclemariam reluctantly decided to close the business and move on. “I have empathy for any woman entrepreneur with kids,” she says.

Good things awaited in the Bay Area.

Teclemariam became involved with Tapjoy, a $100 million startup, serving as product manager for its developer platform. And then two headhunters reached out from EA. “I thought, ‘Two headhunters? They must really want me,’” she says.

The company − known for such popular games as “Madden NFL,” “FIFA,” “Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes” and “The Sims” − allowed her to get back into entertainment through video games.

“It’s an exciting sector to talk about and be passionate toward every day,” Teclemariam says. “I decided to become a product manager because I wanted to be the customer’s voice and help the technical team build a product that customers will not only use, but love.”

She also plans to keep going to those recruiting events. “When I was growing up, girls were never targeted,” she says. “A lot of my efforts revolve around targeting them. Even if they don’t get a chance to talk to me, they can see my face. They can see there’s a woman of color there.”

18 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Q&A

with EECS Alumnus Ed Hernandez ‘91

Q. Favorite UCI memory?

Definitely the dorm experience. I encourage all of my students to live on campus if at all possible. Living under the same roof with a bunch of young, bright and equally motivated peers was amazing.

From study sessions to social events, it was really a home away from home.

Ed Hernandez, an awardwinning engineering teacher at Tustin High School, was named the 2015 California Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year by the Association of College and Technical Educators and the 2014 High Impact Teacher of the Year in STEM by Project Tomorrow, an Irvine-based organization that supports educational excellence in STEM. A first-generation college graduate, Hernandez is now using his experiences to help a new generation of college hopefuls achieve their goals.

Q. How and when did you know you wanted to be an engineer?

I’ve always been fascinated by technology and how things work. I’m naturally curious so engineering seemed like the perfect way to satisfy that curiosity. I had very little career counseling in high school; in a way I was lucky to have chosen the right field for me.

Q. What was your biggest challenge as an engineering student? What were your strategies for overcoming it?

As an incoming freshman, I was completely unprepared for the academic rigor of engineering. I did well in high school so I thought, “how hard can this be?” Well, I was on academic probation my second quarter at UCI! I quickly realized that working with others was the only way to succeed. I gradually developed a routine and work ethic, and I also adopted the “five-year plan.” My grades improved steadily all the way to graduation.

Q. Describe your role at Tustin High School.

I teach Engineering Principles, Product Design and our Engineering Capstone course. In addition, as director of the T-Tech Academy of Technology & Engineering, I manage the logistics involved with the development and maintenance of our STEM program.

Q. Why did you go into teaching?

After working in the semiconductor industry for 13 years, I no longer felt passionate about my work. I still loved technology, but felt that I belonged elsewhere. I began pursuing my master’s in education at night and quit my job to do my student teaching. It was definitely a leap of faith but it has proven to be the right move – I look forward to going to work every day; not everyone can say that.

Q. How would you describe your teaching approach?

My experience in industry shaped who I am and the way I teach. As a result, I bring technology and real-world applications to what is traditionally a drab curriculum. As students we’ve all asked, “When am I ever going to use this math and science stuff?” I can actually answer that question! I also have to realize that I wield an incredible amount of influence over my students’ choices and outlook on life. I try to put myself in their shoes and give them the same advice I would give my younger self.

Q. Speaking of that, if you could give your college self some good advice, what would it be?

people as possible and learn everything he can from them. And work on your communication skills, they are horrible.

Oh, and take some golf lessons, in a few years you’ll be glad you did.

Q. Proudest moment as an engineer and/or teacher?

I’ve guided a number of my students to pursue engineering at schools throughout the country and of course, UCI. I am super proud of my role in inspiring those students, but sometimes it is the unexpected successes that stand out. Last year, I got an email from a former student thanking me for inspiring him to pursue a career in aerospace. He is now working for NASA. Wow. Q. What can you share with us about the next generation of STEM learners?

It is finally cool to be smart. Students are being introduced to STEM in grade school and are given the opportunity to explore technology at a much younger age. Technology does not intimidate them! I hope this brings about a cultural shift where students are drawn to math and science because they can see the applications and pursue jobs, not just in engineering, but throughout technology.

Q. How do you spend your free time?

I like to spend time tinkering in my garage, making gadgets and gizmos, and fixing things that don’t need fixing. I also started playing golf a few years ago and got hooked. Of course, being the geek that I am, I make my own clubs!

Q. Anything else you’d like to mention?

It is entirely possible to major in engineering and have a social life! You just have to make sure to manage your time wisely and realize that you will have to work just a bit harder than most. OK, a lot harder – but it is worth it.

First I’d tell him that he is not as smart as he thinks he is. Then I would tell him to surround himself with as many smart

2016-17 Year in Review

19

FACULTY DIRECTORY

H. Kumar Wickramasinghe, Ph.D.

Peter Burke, Ph.D.

Brian Demsky, Ph.D.

Nicolas G. and Sue Curtis Alexopoulos Presidential Chair and Henry Samueli Endowed Chair Professor in Engineering

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Biomedical Engineering; Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Research Interests: nanoscale measurements and characterization, scanning probe microscopy, storage technology, nano-bio measurement technology

Research Interests: nano-electronics, bionanotechnology

Email: hkwick@uci.edu

Mohammad Al Faruque, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Emulex Career Development Chair Research Interests: cyber-physical systems, internet of things, embedded systems, CPS security

Email: pburke@uci.edu

Filippo Capolino, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: optics/electromagnetics in nanostructures and sensors, antennas/ microwaves, RF and wireless systems Email: f.capolino@uci.edu

Email: alfaruqu@uci.edu

Aparna Chandramowlishwaran, Ph.D.

Ender Ayanoglu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: communication systems, communication theory, communication networks Email: ayanoglu@uci.edu

Nader Bagherzadeh, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Computer Science Research Interests: parallel processing, computer architecture, computer graphics, memory systems, 3-D ICs, heterogeneous computing, low-power processing Email: nader@uci.edu

Ozdal Boyraz, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: integrated optics, silicon photonics, optical communications systems and microwave photonics Email: oboyraz@uci.edu

Research Interests: high-performance computing, domain-specific compilers, algorithm-architecture co-design, data analysis, scientific computing Email: amowli@uci.edu

Pai Chou, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Computer Science Research Interests: embedded systems, low-power design, wireless sensing systems, energy harvesting, wearable medical devices, real-time systems, hardware/software codesign Email: phchou@uci.edu

Franco De Flaviis, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: microwave systems, wireless communications, electromagnetic circuit simulations Email: franco@uci.edu

20 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Research Interests: computer security, programming languages, software engineering, computer systems, compilers, distributed systems, internet of things Email: bdemsky@uci.edu

Rainer Doemer, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: system-level design, embedded computer systems, design methodologies, specification and modeling languages, advanced parallel simulation, integration of hardware and software systems Email: doemer@uci.edu

Ahmed Eltawil, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: design of system and architectures for computing and communication devices, low power implementations and architectures for digital signal processing Email: aeltawil@uci.edu

Jean-Luc Gaudiot, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: parallel processing, computer architecture, processor architecture Email: gaudiot@uci.edu

Ramon Gomez, Ph.D. Assistant Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Email: ragomez1@uci.edu

Michael Green, Ph.D.

Pramod Khargonekar, Ph.D.

Guann-Pyng Li, Ph.D.

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Research Interests: analog/mixed-signal IC design, broadband circuit design, theory of nonlinear circuits

Research Interests: systems and control theory, learning and intelligent systems, applications to renewable energy and smart grid, neural engineering and economics, leadership and creativity, technology and society

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Biomedical Engineering; Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Email: mgreen@uci.edu

Glenn Healey, Ph.D.

Email: pramod.khargonekar@uci.edu

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Stuart Kleinfelder, Ph.D.

Research Interests: machine learning, data science, sabermetrics, physical modeling, computer vision, image processing

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Email: ghealey@uci.edu

Research Interests: circuits and systems for visual imaging, X-rays, electron microscopy, particle physics and other applications

Payam Heydari, Ph.D.

Email: stuartk@uci.edu

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Fadi Kurdahi, Ph.D.

Research Interests: design and analysis of analog, radio-frequency, millimeter-wave and terahertz integrated circuits

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Computer Science

Email: payam@uci.edu

Research Interests: embedded and cyberphysical systems, VLSI system design, design automation of digital systems

Syed Jafar, Ph.D.

Email: kurdahi@uci.edu

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Chin Lee, Ph.D.

Research Interests: wireless communication and information theory Email: syed@uci.edu

Hamid Jafarkhani, Ph.D. Chancellor’s Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: communication theory, signal processing, coding, wireless networks, medical image segmentation Email: hamidj@uci.edu

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: electronic packaging, bonding technology, metallurgy, thermal design, semiconductor devices, electromagnetic theory, acoustics and optoelectronics

Research Interests: micro/nano technology for sensors and actuators, internet of things, smart manufacturing, biomedical devices and millimeter-wave wireless communication Email: gpli@uci.edu

Kwei-Jay Lin, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Computer Science Research Interests: real-time systems, distributed systems, service-oriented computing Email: klin@uci.edu

Athina Markopoulou, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Information and Computer Sciences Research Interests: networking, including network protocols, network measurement and analysis, mobile systems and mobile data analysis, network security and privacy Email: athina@uci.edu

Henry Samueli, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: digital signal processing, communications systems engineering, CMOS integrated circuit design for applications in high-speed data transmission systems

Email: cclee@uci.edu

Email: engineeringdean@uci.edu

Henry Lee, Ph.D.

Phillip C-Y Sheu, Ph.D.

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Biomedical Engineering; Computer Science

Research Interests: photonics, fiber optics and compound semiconductors Email: hplee@uci.edu

Research Interests: semantic computing, robotic computing, biomedical computing, multimedia computing Email: psheu@uci.edu

2016-17 Year in Review

21

FACULTY DIRECTORY

Keyue Smedley, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: power electronics, renewables, energy storage and grid stabilization Email: smedley@uci.edu

A. Lee Swindlehurst, Ph.D. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: signal processing, estimation and detection theory, applications in wireless communications, geo-positioning, radar, sonar, biomedicine Email: swindle@uci.edu

Chen Tsai, Ph.D. Chancellor’s Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: integrated microwave magnetics, ultrasonic atomization for nanoparticles synthesis, silicon photonics Email: cstsai@uci.edu

Zhiying Wang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Email: zhiying@uci.edu

Homayoun Yousefi’zadeh, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Research Interests: communication networks Email: hyousefi@uci.edu

Khargonekar Named Vice Chancellor for Research Electrical engineer Pramod Khargonekar joined the EECS department last summer. He is serving as UCI’s vice chancellor for research, providing strategic direction to administration and enhancing the creative and scholarly activities of the university’s faculty.

Most recently, Khargonekar served as assistant director for engineering at the National Science Foundation, where he headed the Directorate for Engineering. He also helped set priorities and policies and led or co-led major initiatives promoting inclusion and diversity in science and engineering, natural hazards research and engineering education. In addition, he was the Eckis Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Florida.

“I am honored to be given this truly exceptional opportunity,” says Khargonekar. “I look forward to helping enable faculty to succeed in their research activities, stimulating interdisciplinary research directions and actively recruiting excellent new faculty from diverse backgrounds. I will work tirelessly to elevate the visibility of UCI research nationally and globally.”

22 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

CORPORATE INDUSTRY BOARD The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Corporate Industry Board was formed in 2007 and is comprised of industry representatives from a variety of electrical engineering and communications technology companies. The board meets quarterly to advise and assist academic leadership on curriculum development, student internships and design review, and to serve as a liaison to local industry.

Stuart Berman, Chair

Ray Clancy

Michael Klett

Dan Schumann

Stealth Next Generation Visual Analytics

Broadcom

Western Digital

CareFusion

Dan Cregg

Garrett Lee

Neema Shafigh

Insteon

The Boeing Company

Keysight Technologies

Dave Crespi

Anil S. Mankar

Shervin Shokooh

Emulex

Mindspeed Technologies

ETAP

Shafa Dahandeh

Ken Neeld

Royce Slick

Western Digital

Delphi Display Systems

Canon

Geert de Veirman

Hoa Nguyen

Ahmed Syed

Microsemi

OK International

Southern California Edison

George Eaton

Lyle Norton

Victor Tran

ThingKus

Thales Group

Southern California Edison

Pete Fiacco

George Papadopoulos

Steve Way

Executive Technology Consulting

3D Advanced Technologies

Northrop Grumman

Sangram K. Gaikwad

Robert Peirson

Christian Wiher

VTI Instruments

Skyworks Solutions

Broadcom

Oleksandr Goushcha

Brad Potts

Maria Wong

Array Optronix

Mentor Graphics

Ametek

Mingying Gu

Jacob Rael

Joon You

Western Digital

Broadcom

ISS

Jeffrey L. Hilbert

Eric Raith

David Yound

WiSpry

Conexant

Skyworks Solutions

Ying W. Hsu

Michael Rakijas

Raymond Yu

Irvine Sensors

Thales Raytheon Systems

Western Digital

Brian Johnson

Dennis Richman

Todd Zylman

Western Digital

Raytheon

Northrop Grumman

Charles J. Kim

Darryl Sato

Southern California Edison

Beryl Technologies

Khaled AbouZeid Mentor Graphics

Jim Aralis Microsemi

Thomas Badger Verizon Wireless

Dean Badillo Skyworks Solutions

Ed Barnes Western Digital

David Baugh Rockwell Collins

Brian Bennett Intel Corporation

Donald Bollella Skyworks Solutions

William Boyle Western Digital

Jun Cao Broadcom

Ting Chan Marvell

Elsa Chen Skyworks Solutions

Dooyoung Choi Mentor Graphics

2016-17 Year in Review

23

INGENUITY

RUBBISH RETRIEVER One man’s trash may be another’s treasure, but some trash is just garbage. Now there’s a robot for that: meet the GARBAGE PROCESSING UNIT. A Dean’s Choice award-winner at this year’s Samueli School of Engineering Winter Design Review, the fully automated trashcollecting robot was designed and built

by EECS undergraduate students as their senior project.

Custom circuit boards, 3/16-inch laser-cut acrylic sheets and 3-D printed parts,

as well as off-the-shelf components comprise the robot, which can navigate rooms and hallways locating, recognizing and picking up trash. Powered by two batteries, the autonomous robot has an Arduino-controlled arm, in which imbedded cameras help it navigate and detect detritus. Raspberry Pi and algorithms from the Open CV software library process images, allowing the robot to recognize rubbish. The prototype currently identifies soft drink cans, but the

24 UCI Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Anna Lynn Spitzer

software’s machine-learning algorithms can train it to recognize other types of refuse, too. “We want to help clean up our environment one can at a time,” said team member Michael Wegener (right), an electrical engineering student. Wegener, along with teammates Takahiro Ishikawa (left), a computer science major, and Steve Cho, also a senior in electrical engineering, plan to explore commercialization, potentially deploying the robot as a remedy for Southern California beach litter.

Three other EECS project teams were Dean’s Choice awardees: NO TOOL LEFT BEHIND A novel system to detect objects using magnetically tagged instruments and a magnetometer array that provides simple visual detection of the tool left behind.

PULSE

WALKTEXTER

A biofeedback-enabled emotionrecognition system that empowers users to create and experience emotionally aware virtual reality games.

A wearable device detects obstacles in the user’s surroundings and immediately sends a warning to the user’s mobile device through an Android application, with the goal of keeping users safe while using their mobile devices.

Students: Andrew Tran, Reigan Alcaria, Jude Collins, Jong Seon Lee

Students: Aditya Kudva, Dacoda Strack, Shrishti Bhatnagar, Anand Shah

Students: Andrew Yu, Stefan Cao, Linda Vang, Tony Nguyen

2016-17 Year in Review

25

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