Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel
Welcome to the site of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Drexel University, one of the most dynamic and innovative communities of scholars and researchers in the nation. We are a major resource of high-quality professionals in all areas of ECE, from original investigators in nanotechnology, robotics, multimedia and clean energy - to analysts who use optimization techniques to study the stock markets, and telecommunication engineers who work on new wearable communication devices for first responders.
New Computer Engineering faculty member to join department
Dr. Mark Hempstead will be joining the ECE faculty by yearend as an assistant professor. Dr. Hempstead is a graduate of Tufts University (B.S. 2003) and Harvard University (S.M. 2005, Ph.D. 2009). He was co-advised at Harvard by Professors Gu-Yeon Wei and David Brooks, and his interests lie mostly in the field of Computer Engineering. They include: power-aware computer architecture, low-power VLSI design, wireless sensor networks and accelerator-based architectures. His doctoral dissertation is entitled "Accelerator-based computing for wireless sensor networks and future multicore microprocessors."
Many thanks to the ECE Computer Engineering recruiting committee for its diligent and successful efforts. Members of the committee included Dr. Harish Sethu (chair), S. Basavaiah, Ali Shokoufandeh, Timothy Kurzweg, Nagarajan Kandasamy, John Walsh and Steven Weber.
Posted June 8, 2009.
ECE Senior Design teams take 1st and 2nd place at 2009 Competition
The College of Engineering (CoE) held its 2009 Senior Design Competition on June 3, 2009 in the Mitchell Auditorium. All graduating CoE students are required to complete a Senior Design project, teaching students the engineering design process from conception to production. Eight teams competed for first place, but ECE Professor Steven Weber and his team took the grand prize of $2000. The ECE team designed an application called 'schdulr', which is a web-based course scheduling application that provides students with a unified interface to plan out their course of study and register for classes. Team members included Abhishek Bhardwaj, Anisha Shrestha and George Benny Varghese (not pictured).
Second place and the $1000 prize went to the joint ECE and Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics (MEM) student team for the design and construction of the Drexel FSAE Formula Hybrid Car. The hybrid car team designed, fabricated, tested and raced an open-wheel Formula Hybrid SAE car. The car utilized a series drive train incorporating a motorcycle engine - electric motor pair for power generation, ultracapacitors for energy storage and independent electric motor drive for the rear wheels.
Team members included ECE students Joshua Verdieck, Arnold DiBlasi, Jason Futcher and Robert Smith and MEM students Matthew Sera, Matthew Janisch, Joseph Kain and Matthew Schoman. The design team was advised by ECE faculty member Dr. Kevin Scoles and MEM faculty members Drs. Tein-Min Tan and Nicholas Cernansky.
The Senior Design team advised by Dr. Harish Sethu of the ECE Department was also nominated for the competition for its project titled "ProxiTrack: A Real-Time Product Locating System Accessible by GPS-Capable Devices." The ProxiTrack system assists consumers in locating retail products in a given area and provides vendors with a means to track in-store inventory efficiently.
Posted June 8, 2009.
ECE students assist in introducing Jaemi HUBO the Humanoid
A team of researchers lead by Drexel University is collaborating with a team of Korean researchers on advancing humanoid development and enhancing the concept of human-robotic interaction. The goal of the five-year project, funded through the National Science Foundation Partnership for International Research and Education Program, is to enable humanoids to interact with their environment and to train scientists and engineers to effectively work in global multi-disciplined design teams. Through the collaboration, Drexel now houses a version of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) HUBO humanoid, Jaemi HUBO, in the Drexel Autonomous Systems Laboratory directed by Dr. Paul Oh of the Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department.
ECE doctoral student, Daniel Lofaro, traveled to Korea to work with KAIST and is one of the primary caretakers of Jaemi HUBO. ECE undergraduate students Brian Kobe, Robert Sherbert and Clayton McNeil also contribute to the project and have performed co-ops at our travelled to KAIST. Mr. Lofaro is pictured introducing Jaemi HUBO at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia on May 28 through a demonstration of the humanoid interacting with the children, greeting passerby and playing "Simon Says." The event served to educate the American public at all ages and increase the interest of young children in robotics and humanoid interaction. Subsequent appearances will also be scheduled at various times throughout the year.
More information and videos about the overall project and news coverage of the Please Touch Museum event can be found here.
Posted June 8, 2009.