NEWs

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Outstanding Faculty Award

Dr. Ashkan Ashrafi, Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Faculty Award in recognition as the most influential university professor in the academic career of Kyle Donoghue (BSEE ’22, Summa Cum Laude).

Dr. Ashkan Ashrafi received his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama, Huntsville in 2006. He has been teaching at San Diego State University since 2007. Dr. Ashrafi’s research areas include Digital Signal Process, Brain Signal Processing, and Estimation Theory.

Dr. Junfei Xi Receives a $314,818 CCRI Grant, National Science Foundation (NSF)

Dr. Junfei Xie, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering received a $314,818 CCRI grant from the NSF to develop an enhanced networked airborne computing platform. The grant is sponsored by the NSF and is titled "Enhanced Open Networked Airborne Computing Platform".

The project aims to develop an enhanced open networked airborne computing platform to facilitate the design, implementation, and testing of an airborne computing platform that seamlessly integrates control, computing, communication, and networking. The project will provide community support based on the flywheel model, and to attract and engage community users through organized support from four regional sites in the nation, hands-on workshops, testbed access, and technical user services.

This collaborative project brings together investigators from the University of North Texas (UNT), the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), San Diego State University (SDSU), and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). All four participating universities are minority-serving (UPRM) or Hispanic-serving (UTA, UNT, and SDSU) institutions with a large number of underrepresented minority students. The project will reach out to local communities through K-12 activities, and also pursue broad dissemination through organizing student design competitions, tutorials, and workshops, participating in national demonstration efforts, and engaging domain professionals. The proposed education and outreach activities will produce a profound impact on broad communities and benefit a large number of underrepresented minority students. The proposed project on enhanced open networked airborne computing platform will address the design and evaluation needs of many researchers in the CISE community and benefit a wide range of applications in the emergency, energy, environment, and transportation sectors.

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, 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.