Research news & funding
Innovative sensing platform unlocks ultrahigh sensitivity in conventional sensors
Optical sensors serve as the backbone of numerous scientific and technological endeavors, from detecting gravitational waves to imaging biological tissues for medical diagnostics. These sensors use light to detect changes in properties of the environment they’re monitoring, including chemical biomarkers and physical properties like temperature. A persistent challenge in optical sensing has been enhancing sensitivity to detect faint signals amid noise.
New research from Lan Yang, the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, unlocks the power of exceptional points (EPs) for advanced optical sensing. In a study published April 5 in Science Advances, Yang and first author Wenbo Mao, a doctoral student in Yang’s lab, showed that these unique EPs – specific conditions in systems where extraordinary optical phenomena can occur – can be deployed on conventional sensors to achieve a striking sensitivity to environmental perturbations.
WashU
engineers manage a first: measuring pH in cell condensates
In a first for the condensate field, Matthew Lew and colleagues figured out how nucleolar sub-structures are assembled.
Scientists trying to understand the physical and chemical properties that govern biomolecular condensates now have a crucial way to measure pH and other emergent properties of these enigmatic, albeit important cellular compartments.
Quantum physics may help lasers see through fog, aid in communications
Communications and other laser-based technologies can be hampered by adverse conditions, such as fog, extreme temperatures or long distances.
Jung-Tsung Shen, associate professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, is developing a prototype of a quantum photonic-dimer laser with a two-year, $1 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. With the funding, Shen will implement his lab’s two-color photonic dimer laser technology, in which carefully controlled pairs of light particles, or photonic dimers, are used to generate a powerful and concentrated beam of light, or laser. Quantum photonic-dimer lasers take advantage of quantum effects to bind two photons together, increasing their energy and efficiency.
McKelvey Engineering researchers to develop low-power, highperformance radar systems
Radar technology is essential to detecting and tracking objects with applications ranging from navigation and safety of autonomous vehicles to environmental monitoring and security systems. With an award from the National Science Foundation to develop advanced radar technology to support these and other applications.
Shantanu Chakrabartty, the Clifford W. Murphy Professor, in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, along with a team from WashU and Oregon State University, aims to develop a new radar system that dramatically reduces power consumption and computing time compared with conventional radar systems. They also plan to prototype a low-power, high-performance radar system-on-chip to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and scalability of their approach.
Communication within an extremely large-scale network system focus of new stochastic model
Network systems, whether computer networks, networks of autonomous vehicles, social networks, or the complex network of neurons in the brain, rely on communication between individual agents to run smoothly. Researchers understand what type of communication structure is essential for sustaining a fundamental system property, such as stability and controllability. However, it is not easy to predict whether the required communication structure can be established for agents performing in an uncertain environment.
Xudong Chen, associate professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, plans to develop a framework that would predict how fundamental system properties of large-scale networks behave in uncertain environments. With a grant from the National Science Foundation, Chen plans to integrate several ideas and mathematical tools, including a new random graph model known as the graphon model. The project sits at the intersection of structural system theory and random graph theory.
Advancing
robot autonomy in unpredictable environments
Yiannis Kantaros has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. Kantaros aims to advance robot intelligence and enable teams of robots to interact collaboratively with their perceived environment to overcome unanticipated obstacles and events.
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Photo credit: Yang Lab
Photo credit: Yiannis Kantaros
Image created by Shantanu Chakrabartty using DALL-E
Image credit: iStock photo
Image credit: JT Shen using DALL.E and Affinity Designer
Photo credit: Pappu lab
Awards & honors
Li named IEEE Fellow
Jr-Shin Li, the Newton R. and Sarah Louisa Glasgow Wilson Professor of Electrical & Systems Engineering at WashU, has been named an IEEE Fellow in the Class of 2025. This prestigious honor recognizes senior members who have significantly advanced technology. Only 0.1% of IEEE members achieve this distinction annually.
Li was honored for his contributions to ensemble control systems theory and applications to quantum and biological systems. His research spans systems, computational, learning, and data sciences, with a focus on complex systems in quantum physics, biology, neuroscience, and public health.
Li earned his doctorate at Harvard in 2006 and joined WashU, where he also holds appointments in Computational & Systems Biology and the Division of Computational & Data Sciences. Among his accolades are the NSF CAREER Award and the Air Force Young Investigator Award. He also co-chairs the IEEE Technical Committee on Quantum Computing, Systems, and Control.
Six McKelvey Engineering faculty among world’s highly cited researchers
The Institute for Scientific Information has named Lan Yang, the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor of Electrical & Systems Engineering, and five other McKelvey Engineering faculty among the most highly cited researchers in the sciences in 2024.
The faculty rank among the top 1% by citations for their field in the past decade.
Kamilov receives Pierre-Simon Laplace Early Career Technical Achievement Award
Ulugbek Kamilov, an associate professor of electrical & systems engineering and computer science & engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the 2024 IEEE Signal Processing Society Pierre-Simon Laplace Early Career Technical Achievement Award. The award honors his significant contributions to computational imaging, including advancements in MRI, CT, optical microscopy and computational photography.
As director of the Computational Imaging Group at WashU, Kamilov leads groundbreaking research in AI and signal processing. He joined the university in 2017 after earning his doctorate at EPFL, Switzerland, and working as a research scientist at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. Kamilov will accept the award at the ICASSP 2025 ceremony in Hyderabad, India.
Student news and community
Engineering students take on social choice
Two days after the U.S. presidential election, students in Ben Wormleighton’s “ESE 3090 Modeling & Design in Social Choice Systems” class tackled redistricting in a fictional nation, Gridlandia. Their task? Analyze voter distributions on 3x3 grids to explore how district maps impact election outcomes. This inquiry-based class blends math and software tools to address challenges in social choice systems, from splitting checks to electing leaders. “There’s a hunger for learning that’s both rigorous and socially relevant,” said Wormleighton, a lecturer in systems engineering.
Students generate thousands of district maps, use algorithms to detect gerrymandering, and explore ethics in engineering. “It’s about connecting computational skills with real-world impact,” said senior Michaela Sewall. Guest speakers from law and math further broaden perspectives. Wormleighton’s goal? Equip students to interrogate projects through fairness and equity, preparing them for socially conscious engineering careers.
Zhao selected for CAS Future Leaders program
Junyi Zhao, a doctoral student in the lab of Chuan Wang, was one of 35 graduate students and postdocs selected for the 2024 CAS Future Leaders program. Known as one of the best leadership learning experiences in science, the program honors comprehensive research achievements, visions and leadership in broad scientific communities.
Engineering the Future: Women in Engineering
On this episode of Engineering the Future, Addison Schwamb and BethAnna Jones, graduate students in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, describe their systems-based approaches to brain dynamics and dispel some science-fiction inspired misconceptions. With their adviser ShiNung Ching, associate professor of electrical & systems engineering in McKelvey Engineering, Schwamb and Jones use mathematics to understand how the brain works and apply that knowledge to address questions at the intersection of engineering, brain science and human health.
(Image: Aimee Felter/Washington University)
Photo credit: Sid Hastings
Clockwise from top left: Bai, Jiao, Martin, Yang, Wu and Pappu
Photo credit: Ron Klein
Photo credit: Ron Klein