NEWs Archives
Dr. Longya Xu, ECE Adjunct Faculty
National Academy of Engineering Member, Dr. Longya Xu joins SDSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an Adjunct Professor.
Dr. Xu, Fellow of IEEE, is the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Nikola Tesla Award
which is presented annually by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE). He was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2023.
Dr. Longya Xu received his M.S. and Ph. D. from University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1986 and 1990, respectively. From 1971 to 1978, he participated in 150kVA synchronous machine design, manufacturing and testing for mobile power station in China. From 1982 to 1984, he worked as a researcher on linear machines at the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Sinica Academia of China. After his arrival in the U. S., Dr. Xu has served as a consultant to many industrial companies, including Honeywell, Boeing, General Electric, Raytheon Company, US Wind Power, Pacific Scientific Co., Ford Motor Company, and General Motor Company for various industrial concerns. He was a faculty member at The Ohio State University where he was a professor until 2022 when he was named Professor Emeritus. Professor Longya Xu is known for his “contributions to design and control of efficient electric machines for wind power generation and electrified vehicles.” His specific research and teaching interests include dynamics and optimized design of special electrical machines and power converters for variable speed drive and generating systems, application of advanced control theory and digital signal processor for motion control and distributed power systems in super-high speed operation. He served as Director for the Center for High Performance Power Electronics at Ohio State University.
Go AzTechs: SDSU Team Wins First Place in National Hackathon
Article by Melinda Sevilla, March 14, 2023
A team of electrical and computer engineering students won first place with their
solution to managing crowds in an emergency. Target: Petco Park.
San Diego State University students are working to solve pressing public safety issues
for crowd control at concerts, sporting events, and other large-scale events. Team AzTechs, a group of SDSU electrical and computer engineering students, won the grand prize
of $10,000 in a competition at the DASSH (Designing Actionable Solutions for a Secure
Homeland) Student Design Challenge held February 24-26. To read the full article, click on Go AzTechs: SDSU Team Wins First Place in National Hackathon.
Nathan Russert ('22) Pens Children's Book on Engineering - The Great Harvest: An Engineering Story
Article by Melinda Sevilla, March 8, 2023
An electrical and computer engineering alumnus has written and published a children’s
book on a group of animal engineers to introduce young readers to the world of engineering.
“The Great Harvest: An Engineering Story” is a read-aloud story for kids with the aim of transporting kids to a fictional
world where animals with different skills work together to solve a big problem. “They'll
watch the animal friends use mechanical, electrical, civil, and aerospace engineering
to come up with brilliant solutions,” said author, Nathan Russert (‘22). To read the full article, click on Nathan Russert.
Dr. Chunting “Chris” Mi Receives a $959,932 Grant in Collaboration with Solid Energies, Inc.
Dr. Chris Mi, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received a $959,932 grant for his work in collaboration with Solid Energies, Inc. The grant is sponsored by the California Energy Commission and is titled “High Safety, Wide-Operation-Temperature, Low-Cost All-Solid-Sates Li-Ion Battery and ASSLiB-Based Energy Storage Systems”.
Octavio Martínez (BSEE '92, MBA '00) - From Internship to International Agreement
Article by Melinda Sevilla, January 17, 2023
Octavio Martínez’s (BSEE ‘92, MBA ‘00) immersion into semiconductors as a San Diego State University
student led to a successful career in the field, and a recent high-profile involvement
in the binational semiconductor chip agreement between the United States and Mexico.
Electrical engineering alumnus Martínez had what he called the “greatest privilege”
of being selected as an honorary witness and signing the memorandum of understanding
(MOU) on semiconductor cooperation between the two nations. To read the full article,
click on From Internship to International Agreement.
Eric Johnson ('86) - What the Hell is an Economy?
Article by Melinda Sevilla, January 4, 2023
It’s a question that Eric Johnson ‘86 wouldn’t have asked while an electrical engineering graduate student at San Diego State University. “I gave it no thought,” he said.
But throughout his career and life experiences, Johnson has learned that the economy includes goals of productivity, improving quality of life across the board, and “just the right amount of compassion.” To read the full article, click on What the Hell is an Economy?
Jesus "Sammy" Samaniego Sanchez, Troops to Engineers (T2E)
Article by Melinda Sevilla and Audrey Chuakay, November 8, 2022
Jesus "Sammy" Samaniego Sanchez is currently working towards his bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering
here at San Diego State University. SDSU's T2E program’s goal is to ease the transition
to civilian learning for student veterans like Sammy Sanchez. T2E is offered exclusively
at SDSU to student veterans in undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. To
read the full article, click on Troops to Engineers.
Barry Dorr, Engineering Lecturer by Day, Jazz Musician by Night
Article by Audrey Chuakay, November 8, 2022
Professor Barry Dorr, Lecturer for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego
State University works his childhood passion for music into his instruction for senior
design projects.
To read the full article, click on Engineering Lecturer By Day, Jazz Musician By Night.
Alan Dulgeroff, SDSU Alumni ('92, '18), SDG&E and Snapdragon Stadium
Video provided by Melinda Sevilla, November 2, 2022
Alan Dulgeroff, Director of Electric System Planning at SDG&E received his Bachelor of Science in
Electrical Engineering in 1992 and his Master of Engineering degree in 2018 at San
Diego State University. Alan shares his story of SDG&E's collaboration with SDSU's Snapdragon Stadium. Click SDG&E and Snapdragon to view the video clip.
Audrey Chuakay - Pinoy Pride: Finding Her Chosen Family at SDSU
Article by Melinda Sevilla, October 26, 2022
Audrey Chuakay, a senior in Computer Engineering at San Diego State University, shares her story
about her identity as a Filipina and woman in STEM, and how SDSU's organizations help
her explore them. To read the full article click on Pinoy Pride: Finding Her Chosen Family at SDSU.
Dr. Junfei Xie Named Presidential Research Faculty Fellows
Article by Kelly Woodhouse, October 21, 2022
Dr. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was
among seven faculty members to be named Presidential Research Faculty Fellows at San
Diego State University in recognition of their outstanding research, scholarship and
creative endeavors. To read the full article click on Presidential Research Fellows Honored for Advancing Their Fields.
Joe E. Kiani, SDSU Alumni ('84 & '88), 2022 Forbes 400 Billionaire
Joe E. Kiani, founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Masimo Corporation, a publicly held (since 2007) global medical technology company, immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a child of poverty to become a billionaire!
In 1984, Joe earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and in 1988 his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University. He was also the 2005 Monty Awardee. SDSU's Monty Award honors alumni who have made significant contributions to San Diego State University, the San Diego community or California, nationally or internationally, and is presented to one distinguished alumnus/alumna from each college annually.
Now, Joe Kiani is the cover story on the 2022 Forbes 400 magazine. To read the entire
article, click on Meet the Iranian Immigrant Who Became a Covid MedTec Billionaire, written by Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes Staff.
Dr. Duy H. N. Nguyen, Beyond 5G: SDSU Professor Earns NSF CAREER Award
Article by Melinda Sevilla, October 19, 2022
We have sensors in our cars, our phones, and now even our homes — all meant to make
our day-to-day lives easier through the use of wireless communications. Electrical
and Computer Engineering professor Duy Nguyen wants to make these machine learning and signal processing algorithms even stronger
— and our lives even easier.
Nguyen has earned an NSF CAREER Award of $500,000 over the next five years for his
research on wireless communications, signal processing, and machine learning. The
NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award is the NSF’s most prestigious
award for early-career faculty. To read the full article, click on Beyond 5G: SDSU Professor Earns NSF CAREER Award.
SDSU Hosts the San Diego Foundation-Funded Outreach and Workforce Development Workshop
Article by Melinda Sevilla, July 28, 2022
From June to July 2022, San Diego State University’s College of Engineering hosted the LevelUp summer engineering workshop for local high school students.
This program was made possible thanks to grant support from The San Diego Foundation. The generous funding allowed for the workshop to bring Engineering to the next generation - with a special focus on exposing girls and underrepresented students to STEM careers.
During the summer, students experienced academically stimulating, hands-on interactive engineering activities, lectures, and career panels with SDSU professors, graduate students, and industry partners (Society of Women in Engineering - San Diego Chapter, Solar Turbines, General Atomics, Cubic Transportation Systems, to name a few) with an emphasis on allowing students to envision themselves in STEM careers in the future.
Led by civil engineering professor Marta Miletić and electrical and computer engineering professor Sweta Sarkar, the 4-week long summer program engaged with underprivileged high school students in order to build a pathway to engage them in STEM careers.
The event proved to be successful, with one student participant even proclaiming, “I am adding SDSU to the list of colleges I am going to apply to!”
“Thank you to The San Diego Foundation for the generous funding which allowed us to bring Engineering to our next generation of potential engineers, scientists and researchers,” said Miletić and Sarkar in a joint statement.
View the full photo album here
SDSU Hosts Robotics Camp 2022
Article by Melinda Sevilla, July 25, 2022
When the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering assistant professor Junfei Xie earned her NSF CAREER Grant for her project on Networked Airborne Computing in 2021, she set goals to use some of the $550,000 award to host student educational outreach events. Since then, Xie began by hosting the 2nd CPS-IoT Week Student Design Competition on Networked Computing on the Edge.
Her latest outreach event? A Robotics Summer Camp. To read the full article, click
on Robotics Camp 2022.
View the full photo album here.
Students Build Replicas of Unmanned Smuggling Boats to Help Coast Guard Find Them
Unique Camera System Improves Probability of Detection
Article by Edward Lundquist, Naval Engineers Journal, June 2022, Vol. 134, No. 2
A unique student project is helping the Coast Guard find small and hard to detect unmanned autonomous surface vessels (UASVs) that can be used to transport drugs into the U.S. Several UASVs have been recovered attempting to transit from around the maritime border with Mexico and into California. The boats are can carry about 90 lbs. of cargo, which could be illegal narcotics, explosives or other contraband
According to Coast Guard Sector San Diego officials, four of the UASVs were seized by federal law enforcement authorities in Southern California. The first was found in March 2018, another in December 2020, and two more in February and March of 2021, suggesting a high likelihood that there are many more that have gone undetected.
To learn how these boats might be best detected by sensors, the Coast Guard engaged
the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), which collaborates with major universities
and the venture community to develop solutions that drive national security innovation.
With Coast Guard Sector San Diego as the project sponsor, NSIN capstone students at
San Diego State University and Rice University in Houston, Texas, have been prototyping
boats this semester.
To read the full article, click on Students Build Replicas of Unmanned Smuggling Boats.
The San Diego State University capstone project sponsored by NSIN, USCG, and Ocean
Aero was a joint effort between the students of the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Team Kraken.
Dr. Junfei Xie Hosts Design Competition via NSF CAREER Award Funding
Article by Melinda Sevilla, May 24, 2022
Dr. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at San Diego State University used funding from her NSF CAREER project on Networked Airborne Computing to host the 2nd CPS-IoT Week Student Design Competition on Networked Computing on the Edge.
Spread over five years, Dr. Xie’s $550,000 NSF award allows her to build on her previous work and develop a system for drones to have networked airborne computing capability. The funding also allows for community and student competitions such as this one.
CPS-IoT Week is the premier event on Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet-of-Things Research. It brings together five top conferences, HSCC, ICCPS, IPSN, RTAS and IoTDI, multiple workshops, tutorials, competitions and various exhibitions from both industry and academia.
To read the full article click on Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Hosts Design Competition via NSF CAREER
Award Funding
Thomas Offenbecher
2022 College of Engineering Outstanding Student
The admiration is mutual as Thomas wrote, "Next to me in the photo is the incredible Professor Barry Dorr, whom I have chosen as my Most Influential Faculty member. He was without a doubt the best part of my entire undergraduate electrical engineering career. I had the privilege of taking four classes with him (EE310, EE330, EE430L, and senior design). I have never met a professor who is so kind, humble, and down to earth. He consistently goes out of his way to help students gain a better understanding of not only the material but what it means to be a good engineer. He approaches students as his friends and respects them. One of his greatest and most unique talents is to take difficult concepts and make them very simple and practical. Whether it was the transistor’s small-signal model, sketching the magnitude response of a circuit, demystifying the Smith chart, or simply “why on earth is this capacitor here?”, he filtered out the noise and made concepts click for me. Lectures were so enjoyable, not only because he truly made concepts come alive, but also because of his great sense of humor and how he pulled from his extensive industry experience. His great enthusiasm for electronics design helped foster an enthusiasm in me as well and is a contributing factor to my choice to pursue design engineering for wireless/DSP/RF/embedded electronic systems. As I go forward in my career, I will always carry with me and remember these valuable experiences I had as his student."
SDSU's ECE/ME Team HADES to Participate at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC)
Launabotics 2022, Florida
Team HADES is representing San Diego State University at the NASA Robotic Mining Competition (RMC) Lunabotics 2022 by designing, building, and operating a lunar mining robot. This student competition has been facilitated through NASA’s Artemis Generation of student competitions and projects, while for Team HADES it was also their San Diego State University Senior Design Capstone project. The competition is an engineering challenge in which students gain experience with the engineering lifecycle process, from concept development to system closeout. During the project lifecycle, the team was able to apply what they have learned inside the classroom in this hands-on project. The goal of NASA RMC is to find innovative solutions to extract material from beneath the lunar surface using a partially autonomous robot with a dust-free operation/design.
In nine months, five Mechanical Engineering (Alyssa Brunen, Sterling Belaire, Linda Clark, Nathan De Chambeau, and William (Billy) Bilicki) and five Electrical & Computer Engineering students (John Paul Edwin Ventura, Jaquelyn Fernandez-Iniguez, Jean Michel Vives, Josh Dolled, and Andrew Chung) worked closely together to create a lunar mining robot. The rover is able to maneuver through a lunar environment, with simulated craters and boulders, dig through a layer of BP-1 to retrieve simulated lunar regolith material beneath it, and deposit the regolith to a specified location. Inspection, gravel mining, average bandwidth consumption, robot energy spent, dust tolerance design & operation, and autonomy are some of the categories HADES will be scored on at the competition.
An important note is that Team HADES is also a first-year competition team, which means that no prior San Diego State University Team has participated in this competition, and HADES has made it to the final, which is an incredible accomplishment and showcases the ability of SDSU’s Engineering Students at such a national high level. The competition will take place May 26th–27th, 2022 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The goal is to extract a minimum of 1kg of lunar regolith in each of the two 15-minute trials. The more gravel removed, the more points the rover receives, allowing it to place higher in the competition.
View the Team HADES Proof of Life video, a formal submission to NASA, here.
View the HADES Design Day 2022 Video here.
Dr. Junfei Xie (ECE) and Dr. Natalie Mladenov (CCEE) - SDBJ's Top 50 Women of Influence
in Engineering
The SDSU NewsCenter has featured the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor, Dr. Junfei Xie, in their article "A Q&A with Two of SDBJ's Top 50 Women of Influence in Engineering" written by Melinda Sevilla. To read the full article, click on A Q&A with Two of SDBJ's Top 50 Women of Influence in Engineering.
Dr. Chris Mi - Recipient of the 2022 Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair, Dr. Chris Mi, is the
recipient of the Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship which is SDSU's highest research
honor.
Dr. Mi presented the lecture, "Wireless Power Transfer - from Science Fiction to Reality" - Over the past 100 years, scientists have been searching for solutions to realize
wireless power transfer reliably and efficiently. Their goal? A tether-free world.
It is only in the past ten years that this has become reality. With the help of semiconductor
devices, electromagnetic materials, and microcomputers, we can now not only charge
a cell phone wirelessly, but we can also charge an electric car or a humongous electric
ship without plugging it in. In this talk, Professor Chris Mi will look at how his
work has made wireless power transfer cheaper, faster, safer and more efficient, enabling
cable-free conference rooms, battery-less drones, and factories populated by untethered
robots and autonomous vehicles.
To read the article on Dr. Mi's award, click on article of Dr. Mi's 2022 Albert W. Johnson Research Lectureship.
To watch the video on Dr. Mi's award, click on video of Dr. Chris Mi's 2022 Albert W. Johnson Research Leadership.
Dr. Chris Mi (ECE) and Dr. Kevin Wood (ME) Receive Grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC)
The SDSU NewsCenter has featured the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair, Dr. Chris Mi, in their article "Used EV Batteries Could Be Solution to Surging Electricity Demand" written by Melinda Sevilla. To read the full article, click on Used EV Batteries Could Be Solution to Surging Electricity Demand.
To read the article "California is Testing Reuse Systems to Head off Anticipated Flood of Retired Electric Car Batteries" written by Thomas Fudge (Science and Technology Reporter for KPBS' platforms) and listen to the radio segment on KPBS, click on California is Testing Reuse Systems to Head Off Anticipated Flood of Retired Electric Car Batteries.
Dr. Junfei Xie selected as the Weber Honors College Research Fellow
Dr. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
was selected to participate in the Weber Honors College Research Fellow Program for
Spring 2022. As a Weber Honors College Fellow, Dr. Xie will support and guide selected
honors students at San Diego State University in the development and application of
research skills.
SDG&E - Engineers Week Employee Spotlight: Reena Roy, Senior Engineer
Reena Roy graduated with her Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering degree in 2010 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, San Diego State University. She has been with San Diego Gas & Electric for 12 years as their senior engineer.
Click SDG&E Engineers Week Employee Spotlight: Reen Roy to read the article.
Dr. Junfei Xie Receives the NSF Career Award
Dr. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, which is the NSF’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty. The title of the project supported by this award is "Towards Networked Airborne Computing in Uncertain Airspace: A Control and Networking Facilitated Distributed Computing Framework". This 5-year project aims to develop an innovative theoretical framework to enable networked airborne computing, which relies on the airborne network formed by aerial vehicles with direct flight-to-flight communication links to achieve computing in the air. Findings from this project will have broad applications to next-generation air traffic control, Internet of Things, mobile edge computing, etc.
Click Drones that Can Calculate, Communicate and Solve Complex Problems for the SDSU NewsCenter article.
Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar Receives the 2021 Diversity Excellence Award
The Diversity Excellence Awards recognize faculty, staff and alumni / community members
who have shown an exemplary commitment to diversity, inclusion and social justice.
Nominees were evaluated for their quality and their contribution to diversity and
social justice.
Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
She received her doctorate degree from University of California, San Diego. After
a brief stint as a senior scientist in SPAWAR Lab, Point Loma, Dr. Sarkar joined SDSU
as a tenure-track faculty member in August 2006. Dr. Sarkar's research interest lies
in the area of wireless data networks. She has published over 95 research articles
in technical journals, conference proceedings and book chapters. She is the Director
of the NSF funded Wireless Networks Research Group at SDSU where she leads a team
of Ph.D. and Masters students along with post-doctoral scholars, visiting faculty
and PhD students from various countries. Dr. Sarkar is the recipient of the President’s
Leadership award at SDSU in 2010 for her excellence in research and the Outstanding
Faculty Award in 2014 for her excellence in teaching. In her role as the Co-Director
of Education in the NSF funded Engineering Research Center (Center for Neurotechnology),
she conducts extensive outreach programs in building the next generation of women
scientists and those from underrepresented communities. She is currently the Chair
of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee in the College of Engineering at
SDSU and serves as the College’s liaison to the University’s DDI Council.
Dr. Christopher Paolini - Sustainable Horizons Institute Article
The Sustainable Horizons Institute has featured the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering Assistant Professor, Dr. Christopher Paolini, in their feature story, "SRP: Creating Opportunities for Breakthrough Collaborations". To read the full article, click on SRP: Creating Opportunities for Breakthrough Collaborations.
Dr. Paul
Stuverud Makes $50,000 Gift for Scholarship
The College of Engineering, is pleased to announce that alumnus Paul Stuverud, ’71 BSEE
and ’76 MSEE, has made an additional $50,000 gift to the endowed scholarship fund
“Paul Stuverud MESA Endowed Scholarship” he created in 2019. Grateful for his SDSU
education that launched a successful career working in integrated circuit design,
Paul hopes that his generosity can ease the financial burden of students today. Paul
first started giving to the College shortly after he completed his Master’s degree
in 1976, supporting the College with annual gifts. Some 50 years later, Paul used
his IRA Rollover to establish the fund and provide additional support.
The following link is to a “Where Are They Now” donor story that the College did when
Paul established the fund in 2019: https://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/_resources/images/stuverud_Paul_WhereAreTheyNow.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1qRXKN2BIjyT061ApZAm6b_hXdDFyebMsNYz45e9a8CfgW2K8zmJtsXPs .
The College is grateful to all those who provide much needed philanthropic support. If you know of anyone who might have an interest in supporting the College, please contact Kate Carinder, Senior Director of Development, College of Engineering at: [email protected].
Dr. Amir Alimohammad Receives the Sydney R. Parker Best Paper Award
Dr. Amir Alimohammad, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
and his former graduate student, Uday Korat, received the Sydney R. Parker Best Paper
Award in the area of Signal Processing for their journal article entitled "A Reconfigurable
Hardware Architecture for Principal Component Analysis", published in Springer Circuits,
Systems, and Signal Processing.
Dr. Reza Sabzehgar Awarded the Best Paper Award at IEEE Transportation Electrification
Conference (ITEC) 2020
Dr. Reza Sabzehgar, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, along with co-authors S. Heydari, P. Fajri, and M. Shadmand received
the Best Paper Award at IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference (ITEC2020) for their paper on "Maximizing Harvested Energy through Regenerative Braking Process in Dual-Motor All-Wheel
Drive Electric Vehicles". This paper introduces a braking strategy for a dual-motor all-wheel drive electric
vehicle that maximizes energy extraction during braking. The braking strategy is based
on real-time sensing of each motor controller’s DC link current to achieve optimum
brake allocation between friction and regenerative braking in both axles.
Jo
hnsons Make Gift to Endow fred harris Chair in DSP
We are pleased to announce that Peggy (BSEE 1985) and Eric Johnson (MSEE 1986) have made a $3,100,000 gift to name and endow the fred harris Chair in Digital Signal Processing (DSP).
Professor Emeritus fred harris started his more than 50 year career at SDSU in 1967 teaching DSP and Communication Systems courses. He is internationally renowned in Electrical Engineering and holds over 35 patents on digital receiver and DSP technology. He is the co-inventor of the Blackman-Harris Window.
Peggy is CEO of Magic Leap, a spatial computing company. Eric is an angel investor. They met at SDSU. Grateful for their SDSU education, fred’s inspiration and life-long friendship, they made the naming gift in his honor.
If you happen to see Peggy, Eric or fred at a community event, an industry meeting or online, please feel free to express appreciation on behalf of the College.
The College of Engineering is grateful for all those who provide much needed philanthropic
support. If you or someone you know is interested in making a gift to the College,
please reach out to Kate Carinder, SDSU Senior Director of Development at: [email protected].
Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar Awarded the Fulbright Fellowship
Dr. Sarkar, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has
been awarded a fellowship under the Fulbright Specialist program, established by the
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). This program
pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad
to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain
international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at
their overseas host institutions. Fulbright Specialists, who represent a wide range
of professional and academic disciplines, are competitively selected to join the Fulbright
Specialist Roster based on their knowledge, skill sets, and ability to make a significant
contribution to projects in foreign host institutions in over 150 countries. Once
abroad, Specialists partner with their host institution to conduct project activities
in support of the host institution’s priorities and goals. Dr. Sarkar’s Fulbright
fellowship will commence in Fall 2021 and will span three academic years.
Dr. Junfei Xie and Team Receives the Special Track on Networked Computer on the Edge
Award
Congratulations to Dr. Junfei Xie (assistant professor, SDSU), Baoqian Wang (co-advisor,
PhD student, SDSU), Ramiz Hanan, David Pierce Walker-Howell, and Leo Peralta (undergraduate
students, SDSU) for winning the award in the student design competition at the 2020 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM
2020). The competition is targeted for undergraduate students.
The title of their project is "Vision-based Autonomous Driving Robot Capable of Navigating
in Unknown and Dynamic Rural Environments". In this project, the students developed
a modular, intelligent, and autonomous driving robot that is not only capable of navigating
in a known urban environment, but also in an unknown and dynamic rural environment
with unpaved roads.. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, was selected to participate in the Weber Honors College
Research Fellow Program for Spring 2022. As a Weber Honors College Fellow, Dr. Xie
will support and guide selected honors students at San Diego State University in the
development and application of research skills.
Dr. Amir Alimohammad Receives the 2020 National Science Foundation (NSF) Award
One of the primary motivations of brain-computer interfaces is to restore a full range
of movements for paralyzed patients who are unable to move or communicate through
normal neural pathways caused by strokes or chronic diseases. The NSF awards Professor
Alimohammad of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to create a transformative
brain-implantable processor for drastically relaxing power-hungry wireless neural
data transmission through the skull while directly
Dr. Duy H. N. Nguyen Receives Best Paper Award at IEEE ICC 2020 
Dr. Duy H. N. Nguyen, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, along with co-authors Dr. Lee Swindlehurst (UC Irvine) and Ly Van Nguyen
(a UC Irvine/SDSU joint doctoral student) received the Best Paper Award at IEEE ICC 2020 for their paper on "SVM-based Channel Estimation and Data Detection for Massive MIMO Systems with One-Bit
ADCs".
The UC Irvine article states, "The paper describes using a classical method of machine learning, called
support vector machines, to target new 5G-and-beyond systems, which employ large arrays
of antennas. These arrangements, called massive MIMO – multi-input, multi-output wireless
systems – can be costly and use a lot of power, so researchers seek ways to reduce
price and power usage without sacrificing performance."
Dr. Andrew Y.J. Szeto Makes Gift to the College of Engineering
The College of Engineering announced that Dr. Andrew Y.J. Szeto has made a $50,000 gift to the Rehabilitative Engineering and Assistive Technology Program at SDSU to support travel, senior design projects, stipends, and etc. in the program. Click here for the full article.
Dr. Andrew Y.J. Szeto is an Emeritus Professor for the Electrical & Computer Engineering
Department.
Dr. Alimohammad Receives the Northrop Grumman 2019-2020 Excellence in Teaching Award
Dr. Alimohammad, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the recipient of the Northrop Grumman 2019-2020 Excellence in Teaching Award for his innovative teaching methodologies and his commitment to present students with state-of-the-art education.
2019 IEEE Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award
Dr. Chunting "Chris" Mi is the recipient of the IEEE Power Electronics Society 2019 IEEE Power Electronics Emerging Technology Award for contributions to wireless power transfer technologies.
Dr. Mi is a Professor and Department Chair for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2019 Favorite Faculty Member Award
Dr. Parisa Kaveh is the recipient of the College of Engineering Student Council (CESC) 2019 Favorite Faculty Member award. CESC is the umbrella student organization for multiple engineering clubs that provide engineering students experiences for their careers. The CESC allows a voice for all students' needs and acts as a liaison between students and the College of Engineering Dean's Office.
Dr. Kaveh is a Lecturer for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2019 Most Influential Faculty Award
Best Faculty 2016-2017 Award
Professor Barry Dorr was awarded the 2019 Most Influential Faculty award in recognition as the most influential faculty member in the academic career of Chenxi Chu (Computer Engineering, 2019 College of Engineering Outstanding Graduate). Professor Dorr was also the recipient of the Associate Engineering Student Council (AESC) Best Faculty 2016-2017 award. AESC is a student organization whose mission is to get students involved, and prepare them for successful careers as professional engineers.
Professor Dorr is a Lecturer for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Favorite Faculty 2018-2019 Award
Dr. Parisa Kaveh is the recipient of the Favorite Faculty 2018-2019 award given by the Residential Education Department.
The Favorite Faculty award is a result of the residential students recognizing their
Favorite Faculty member.
Chenxi "Henry" Chu
2019 College of Engineering Outstanding Student
Chenxi "Henry" Chu is the 2019 College of Engineering Outstanding Student. This honor is not only based on Henry's academic performance but it is a culmination of Henry's character, professionalism, integrity, and drive for excellence.
Henry came to the United States from China as a freshman. As a junior, he took Professor Dorr's EE330 Microelectronics class, which the Matlab/SPICE project that semester was the analysis of a multistage guitar amplifier. Henry expressed he wanted to get some practical experience by building and testing the amplifier in the lab. Henry and his team worked in the Senior Design lab, learning and applying the practical skills needed to create a working prototype from a schematic diagram. When they were done, with the help of an excellent guitar-playing student, they demonstrated their amplifier to the class. Throughout the years Henry was often seen working in the Senior Design lab on other projects.
The year before Henry graduated, he again had an opportunity to work with Professor
Dorr. That same year, for his English class, Henry was asked to interview a working
engineer and prepare a report so he interviewed Professor Dorr. Henry interviewed
Professor Dorr at length and when the interview was over, Professor Dorr asked Henry
if he could get a copy of the completed report. In the words of Professor Dorr, "I
was impressed by his understanding and interpretation of what he had heard. I was
also pleased that this young man, who does so well in classes and builds projects
to challenge himself, also had a parallel ability to observe the world around him,
listen to others, and articulate his observations. The Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering and the College of Engineering have chosen to honor a student
who not only has an excellent academic record, but is also a soulful young man who
will, no doubt, use his academic gifts to move technology and his other equally-important
gifts to help mankind."
2019 BigData Hackathon Winners! 
On March 9 and 16, 2019, SDSU hosted the BigData Hackathon here on campus in Peterson Gym 153. The BigData Hackathon is a free event open to both students and community members from all disciplines. The idea of the hackathon is to bring these people together to work in teams to solve real problems here in San Diego.
We are proud to announce, the first-place winners in the "Aging Independently" category of this year's hackathon were our own students from both the Computer and Electrical Engineering programs, team F.A.M.E - Find And Manage Elderly. F.A.M.E received a prize award of $500 sponsored by SDSU ZIP Launchpad. Their project was to predict daily activities of an Alzheimer patient using a machine learning algorithm. This algorithm sends a text message to the patient about their next activity in order to remind them of the daily things they need to be doing. F.A.M.E's team members were Omar Aljedani (undergrad-EE), Kinjal Gala (grad-EE), Gurami Keretchashvili (undergrad-CompE), Nika Nizharadze (undergrad-CompE), and Saipriyati Singh (grad-EE).
For more information on the BigData Hackathon, please visit these sites:
http://bigdataforsandiego.github.io
https://www.hackathon.com/event/sdsu-big-data-hackathon-5c61f6c4ad437b001b288463
2018 IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Prize Letter Award
Dr. Chunting "Chris" Mi is the recipient of the IEEE Power Electronics Society 2018 IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Prize Letter Award for the paper entitled "A Two-Plate Capacitive Wireless Power Transfer System for Electric Vehicle Charging Applications," co-authored by Drs. Fei Lu and Hua Zhang, published in the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 33, no.2, pp. 964-969.
Donald G. Wilson Scholarship Awards $60,000
The College of Engineering announced that the Donald G. Wilson scholarship has awarded a total of $60,000 for the 2018- 2019 school
year.
Creating Alternative Communication Highways
Dr. Mahasweta Sarkar is a Researcher, Professor, and MSEE Graduate Advisor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
2nd Place Award - IEEE Power Electronics Society
Drs. Fei Lu and Hua Zhang - Project Demonstration on Emerging Technology Award: "Long Distance Capacitive Power Transfer with one Pair of Metal Plates"
Computer Engineering rated No. 86 in 2017 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools
Our Computer Engineering program was recognized in the 2017 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools and ranked No. 86.
Innovation Center
Zahn Innovation Platform Launchpad
- Apply to the $50K Zahn Challenge for SDSU students, faculty and staff with an idea for a commercial enterprise, social enterprise or project resulting in a social impact.
- The Zahn Innovation Center is a commercial and social incubator that supports San Diego State University innovators and aspiring entrepreneurs—students, faculty and staff from any major or department on campus—as they transform their ideas into companies.
- Zahn Innovation center at San Diego State University College of Engineering is an incubator that support students, faculty and staff as they transform their ideas into products and companies.
Events
2022 Engineering Design Day
For an in depth look at the senior design projects, please visit our Design Day 2021 site.
- The San Diego State University senior engineering Design Day presents a collection of projects from graduating seniors.
- The San Diego State University College of Engineering will host its annual Design Day on May 4, 2022 from 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm at Montezuma Hall in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union building. To view the 2021 Design Day projects click here.
- The event will feature project demonstrations from graduating seniors in the engineering program, as part of a capstone design class.
- Design Day exhibits a collection of projects from graduating seniors from Electrical and Computer engineering majors. This event is well attended by representatives from local industry, parents and faculty from other departments.
- Please continue to check our Engineering Design Day website for further information and this site also lists all of our past Design Day events.