ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
St. John’s conference focused on wireless power technology
W I S E S T U D E N T E M I LY W I S E M A N .
The 2015 Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference (NECEC 2015), which took place in St. John’s, brought together a diverse, technical program for its 24th annual conference. Organized by the Newfoundland and Labrador section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the conference included speakers Chris Kennedy, Solace Power, who spoke about the company’s RC2 Technology and Dr. Charles Robertson, Verafin, who spoke about combatting human trafficking using big data.
The 14th Canadian Workshop on Information Technology (CWIT 2015) was held in St. John’s this past July. It was the first time this biennial, research-oriented workshop was held in Newfoundland. The workshop covered areas related to information and communication technology (ICT), which are of interest to academics, professionals and industries in this field. The workshop brought together experts in ICT and highly renowned international scholars. Plenary Speaker Monique Morrow, the chief technology officer (CTO) of Evangelist New Frontiers Development and Engineering at Cisco Systems, described the key attributes, passion and self-confidence, that is needed to impart a new generation of engineers and computer scientists. Vahid Tarokh of Harvard University presented major new results in extreme value theory, along with its applications, along with Moe Win from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who provided an overview of his latest results in the fundamental limits of network localization and navigation. Conference Chair Dr. Octavia Dobre, a professor of electrical engineering at Memorial University, was excited to showcase the research being done here at Memorial as well as the opportunity to advance ICT, which is becoming increasingly important in society. “With ICT being recognized by Memorial as a strategic research area, and being included in the “Blueprint for Prosperity” report and innovation strategy by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development, this workshop was the perfect opportunity to promote business, collaborations and knowledge transfer at
Memorial hosted international workshop on information theory the local, national and international levels,” said Dr. Dobre. “ICT has become part of our everyday life, with wide applications ranging from wireless cellular to local and personal area communications, from optical wireless for short distance to optical fiber for long-haul communications, from underwater acoustic to satellite communications.” For the first time, the workshop included an industry-academia panel, a session where top experts from both business and research in the ICT field discussed challenges and rewards of collaboration. The workshop also included invited talks given by internationally renowned experts, along with oral and poster sessions selected from peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Dobre was instrumental in bringing the workshop to St. John’s and, along with the organizing committee, spared no effort to make it one of the best. Dr. Greg Naterer is dean of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial and commends Dr. Dobre on her initiative and enthusiasm to bring the workshop to St. John’s. “This conference provided a great opportunity to raise Memorial’s profile nationally and interact with leading researchers on the latest emerging technologies of ICT,” said Dr. Naterer. “Special thanks to Dr. Dobre for her efforts and exceptional leadership of the workshop.” For more information on CWIT 2015, please visit http://cwit.ca/2015/index.html. ■■■
The annual one-day conference brings together presenters from industry and academia to highlight the impressive work that is being done in Newfoundland and Labrador in the areas of electrical and computer engineering. ■■■
COMMITTEE MEMBERS FROM LEFT ARE LORI H O G A N , D R . W E I M I N H U A N G , D R . O C TA V I A D O B R E , B R I A N K I D N E Y, D R . J O N AT H A N ANDERSON AND GEOFF HOLDEN.
SPRING 2016
BENCHMARKS
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