Faculty

Jensen joins ECEE in the systems and controls research area

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Jensen joins ECEE in the systems and controls research area Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/29/2023 - 00:00

The Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder is welcoming Emily Jensen to our teaching and research community.

Jensen is joining as an assistant professor in the systems & controls research area, and will begin in spring 2024. Welcome, Emily!

Biography:

Jensen began her higher education at a local California community college and went on to receive her Bachelor of Science degree in engineering mathematics & statistics at the University of California Berkeley, and her master's and PhD degrees in electrical & computer engineering at UC Santa Barbara. She has worked as a research and instructional assistant at the California Institute of Technology and has held postdoctoral appointments at UC Berkeley and at Northeastern University.

Research:

Jensen’s research is centered around the analysis and control of spatially-distributed systems, with motivating applications ranging from power systems to satellite constellations to bio-inspired soft-robotics. She develops theory to characterize performance bounds, structural properties, and inherent tradeoffs in these systems as a means to guide controller design and improve system safety and performance. Her work has been recognized by awards including the UC Regents Graduate Fellowship and the Zonta Amelia Earhart Aerospace Engineering Fellowship.

I value the importance that �� Boulder places on quality of teaching and the student experience, in addition to being an institution of world-class research. I am excited to begin a career that combines my passion for working with students along with my love for science. Outside the classroom, I love that Boulder has so many opportunities for hiking with my dog, biking, and enjoying the outdoors!"

The Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering is welcoming Emily Jensen community. Jensen is joining as an assistant professor in the systems & controls research area, and will begin in spring 2024. Welcome, Emily!

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Combes seeks to transform the quantum technology landscape

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 22:30:15 +0000

Combes seeks to transform the quantum technology landscape Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/21/2023 - 16:30

Charles Ferrer

Josh Combes

Quantum technology will open new capabilities in computing, networking and sensing. However, quantum computers that exist today have yet to live up to their full potential.

Assistant Professor Josh Combes is taking the challenge of quantum computing to the next level. Combes, who is based in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, recently earned a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to further his quantum research and foster the next generation of quantum-aware engineers across disciplines.

Through the CAREER Award, Combes seeks to design qubits — a basic unit of information in quantum computing — that are significantly more reliable than those used today. He calls them second-generation qubits.

While progress has been made on reducing qubit errors, first-generation qubits are designed to perform just below the required error rates.

“There's a huge difference between when the Wright Brothers flew their plane and now when you hop on a Boeing 747. There’s now several generations of aircraft, and the Wright Brothers could be compared to being the prototype of first-generation qubits in quantum,” said Combes.

He also used the example of early computers, which suffered from unreliable components. Over time, technologies such as the transistors have made computers smaller and, more importantly, reliable and faster.

“Second-generation qubits are built very intentionally to be protected against errors and computational noise. To build quantum technology that includes quantum computers, sensors and networks, we need to devise ways to eliminate or protect against those errors,” Combes said.

The development of these low-error, second-generational qubits could accelerate the large-scale superconducting quantum computers’ timeline. Quantum, which requires these large-scale computers, is pushing the boundaries in e-commerce, communications, GPS navigation and national security.

Combes is also committed to building a robust national quantum workforce. Universities around the world are struggling to meet the increased industry demands, which require ample quantum training. To that end, Combes designed a new quantum engineering (QE) minor to help STEM students outside of physics become proficient in quantum.

Quantum technology has traditionally been centered around the work from theoretical and experimental physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians. To create a quantum community, the field will need to draw its expertise across different disciplines.

“We're starting to see people from other fields coming in and making contributions,” said Combes. “We’re seeing electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and chemical engineers starting to make quantum technology, so it’s becoming a more multidisciplinary field.”

CAREER Awards provide approximately $500,000 over five years for junior faculty members “who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.” Seven faculty members within the College of Engineering and Applied Science have received CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation in 2023.

“What excites me is how this will impact our graduate students through funding and their ability to work on these ideas for broader impact. That’s the real meaning of earning this CAREER Award.”

Assistant Professor Josh Combes of the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering will use a prestigious NSF CAREER Award to further quantum research and foster the next generation of quantum-aware engineers across disciplines.

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Two new faculty members join department for fall 2022

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:08:13 +0000

Two new faculty members join department for fall 2022 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2022 - 08:08

Two new faculty members have joined the ECEE team in support of our research and teaching missions. Welcome, Mona and Cody!

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Barnes at 90: Helping others succeed is a career highlight

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 19:29:45 +0000

Barnes at 90: Helping others succeed is a career highlight Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/21/2022 - 13:29

Emily Adams

Distinguished Professor Emeritus Frank Barnes’ family moved a lot when he was a child. He estimates that he lived in nine states and attended 13 schools before graduating high school.

But for the past 63 years, he’s called just one place home — the University of Colorado Boulder.

Barnes, who turns 90 on July 31, is still an active faculty member in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. On a given day, you can find him advising two graduate students, supervising his postdoctoral researcher, collaborating on a research project with a faculty member at �� Anschutz and “rattling cages” across the university on topics he’s passionate about.

“My grandson jokes that I flunked the class on how to retire,” he said.

Academic career

Barnes launched his academic career in 1959 with an interview process that would likely be the envy of any prospective faculty member today.

Barnes (left) with students in the 1960s.

“I got a phone call from Harlan Palmer who was chair (of electrical engineering). He says, ‘I understand you're looking for a job. Have you thought about teaching?'" Barnes said. “I said no. He said, ‘How about having lunch with the faculty tomorrow?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ After that, they offered me a job as an associate professor two years out of grad school.”

Since joining the �� Boulder faculty, Barnes has served as department chair of electrical, computer and energy engineering twice and spent some time as acting dean of the college. In 1997, he was named a distinguished professor, the highest rank awarded to tenure-track faculty.

He estimates he’s averaged about one PhD graduate per year and said providing opportunities for students who weren’t doing well is one of his proudest achievements.

“The thing I feel best about is that I've been able to make it possible for a lot of people to do things that they couldn't have done otherwise,” Barnes said. “Both students and also the faculty. I've been able to make it possible for them to get their research project or get a lab or sometimes find students that fit.”

He has several stories of helping students who were struggling in their studies.

“I just took time to work with them and found out what they were doing and why they weren't doing as well as they might,” he said. “I would just spend time with them and managed to move them forward.”

One former student now runs a research lab in Pakistan that developed a way to look for contaminants in the country’s food supply. Another invented new kind of hearing aid that cuts down on background noise in crowded spaces.

Program innovation

As department chair, Barnes was instrumental in building the research and graduate program in electrical engineering. At the time, the department mainly provided undergraduate education, so he decided to change the way they did recruiting.

“I took some of our recruiting money, and I made one trip up and down the east coast and another one up and down the west coast and invited three people out for interviews,” Barnes said. “That's how we got started hiring assistant professors.”

Barnes (right) with George Codding.

In 1971, after a conversation with John Richardson, Barnes co-founded �� Boulder’s Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program with George Codding, a professor in political science. The program grew out of the academic and political environment of the late 1960s, as Barnes was exploring ways to boost enrollment in engineering.

“At that time, students considered engineering to be undesirable and believed technology was responsible for the Vietnam War and most of the rest of the world’s ill,” Barnes recalled in a program memoir published in the 1990s.

ITP was one of the first programs of its kind to blend technical education with sociology and law, becoming a very influential and highly ranked program before its rebranding several years ago as a program in technology, cybersecurity and policy.

Research interests

Barnes’ research interests have varied throughout the years, from building lasers and flash lamps to super conductors and avalanche photo diodes. But he’s always had an underlying interest in bioengineering.

Barnes did some of the early work on lasers that led to helping understand how laser eye surgery worked. Over the past decade, he has been taking a deep research dive into how the Earth’s electromagnetic field affects the human body, which he said could have implications for treatment of cancer and other health conditions.

One of those projects is with John Repine at �� Anschutz, who’s conducting rodent trials to replicate an experiment they did that decreased damage to the lungs from respiratory diseases by controlling the magnetic field.

Barnes said it’s been a challenging field because experimental results have varied so widely that many researchers have essentially given up. But he theorizes that it comes down to controlling feedback and repair systems in the body, including many oscillating systems that he compared to pushing someone on a playground swing.

“If I push the swing at the top, I accelerate. If I push in the same direction at the bottom, I slow it down,” he said. “If I push it at a different frequency, sometimes I’m accelerating, sometimes I'm slowing it down. Turns out that same model applies to oscillating systems in the body.”

Repine called Barnes a “terrific collaborator” and said their project has the potential to help treat and prevent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a highly fatal consequence of COVID-19 infection.

“He brings great wisdom, experience and enthusiasm to a project. His intensity is well offset by his self-effacing sense of humor,” Repine said. “He is focused on finding the truth and is exceptional about giving everyone a chance to participate.”

While Barnes isn’t sure how much longer he will continue in his work, he’s grateful to have been able to contribute in so many different ways.

“I enjoy what I’m doing, and it’s nice to be able to help people accomplish things,” he said. “I feel very fortunate.”

Barnes and his wife, Gay, chat with guests at a backyard BBQ in celebration of his 90th birthday. The Barneses have been married for 67 years.

As his milestone birthday approaches, Barnes is still advising graduate students, working on research projects and “rattling cages” across the university on topics he’s passionate about.

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Gopinath, Afridi win 2016 CAREER Awards from NSF

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 18:52:59 +0000

Gopinath, Afridi win 2016 CAREER Awards from NSF Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/06/2016 - 12:52

Assistant professors Juliet Gopinath and Khurram Afridi have received 2016 CAREER Awards, the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award for junior faculty.

"We anticipate with excitement that this new class of CAREER grantees will make pioneering discoveries and inspire young minds to advance the engineering enterprise and improve the lives of all Americans," NSF Assistant Director for Engineering Pramod Khargonekar said in a press release.

Gopinath will use her award to study the relationship between orbital angular momentum and rotating objects. “The results from the research will be far-reaching, with information about orbital angular momentum modal content essential for free-space communications and endoscopic super-resolution imaging (STED) for protein-level imaging in the human body,” she wrote in her proposal.

Afridi’s award will support his research in high-frequency power electronics for wireless power transfer systems. The technology “has the potential to address critical energy issues and improve human quality of life by enabling autonomous charging in applications ranging from electric vehicles (EVs) and robotics to portable electronics and biomedical implants,” Afridi wrote.

CAREER awards provide approximately $500,000 over five years.

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Popovic plays lead role in breakthrough light-based microprocessor chip

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 18:34:17 +0000

Popovic plays lead role in breakthrough light-based microprocessor chip Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/28/2015 - 11:34

Groundbreaking microprocessor chip uses light, rather than electricity, to transfer data at rapid speeds while consuming minute amounts of energy. The researchers also anticipate that the new technology can be integrated into current manufacturing processes smoothly and scaled up for commercial production with minimal disruption.

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Fiez joins ��-Boulder as vice chancellor of research, professor in ECEE

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Fiez joins ��-Boulder as vice chancellor of research, professor in ECEE Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/16/2015 - 00:00

A former National Science Foundation Young Investigator awardee with over 150 publications, Fiez’s scholarly interests focus on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and approaches to innovative education.

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Zoya Popovic named 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 20:22:51 +0000

Zoya Popovic named 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/23/2015 - 14:22

Zoya Popovic of electrical, computer and energy engineering will deliver this year's Distinguished Research Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. This lectureship is among the highest honors bestowed by the faculty upon a faculty member at ��-Boulder.

The title of Popovic's talk is "The Wireless World: 50 Cell Phones Sold Per Second!" She will attempt to answer the questions of where we are now in terms of wireless technology and its applications, how we got there, what are the current challenges, how engineers are solving them, and to speculate a bit on what the future holds.

The effects of wireless on the economy are impressive: In the first quarter of 2015 alone, the iPhone brought Apple over $50 billion, and this is just a part of wireless technology. In recent years, wireless communications accounts for 2% of energy usage in the world, which is equivalent to the aviation industry. At ��, research by Popovic and others solves challenges such as how to send more data while using less power, how radio waves can help in medicine, how to make smaller more functional radar and how to cook smartly.

Her lecture is free and open to the public, though pre-registration is recommended. To register, please visit www.tinyurl.com/ZoyaPopovic.

Each year, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research requests nominations from faculty for the Distinguished Research Lectureship, and a faculty review panel recommends one faculty member as a recipient. Three faculty members were selected this year, with Diane McKnight from civil, environmental and architectural engineering and Doug Seals from integrative physiology also delivering lectures.

Popovic is a Distinguished Professor and the Hudson Moore Jr. Endowed Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado. She obtained her Dipl.Ing. degree at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and her Ph.D. at Caltech. She has graduated more than 50 PhDs and currently advises 15 doctoral students in various areas of high-frequency electronics and microwave engineering. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the recipient of two IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Microwave Prizes for best journal papers, the White House National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential Faculty Fellow award, the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Issac Koga Gold Medal, the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE)/HP Terman Medal and the German Humboldt Research Award. She was named IEEE MTT Distinguished Educator in 2013. Her husband is a physicist, and together they have three daughters.

Zoya Popovic of electrical, computer and energy engineering will deliver this year's Distinguished Research Lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom.

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Device delivers drugs to brain via remote control

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 06:00:00 +0000

Device delivers drugs to brain via remote control Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/16/2015 - 00:00

Jae-Woong Jeong constructs optofluidic implant that could make drug therapies more targeted with fewer side effects.

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Erickson named ��-Boulder Inventor of the Year

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 20:34:20 +0000

Erickson named ��-Boulder Inventor of the Year Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/23/2015 - 14:34

Professor Robert Erickson has been named ��-Boulder Inventor of the Year by the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office. The award recognizes a researcher who "best represents both the spirit of innovation at ��-Boulder and best practices in commercialization of university technologies."

Erickson's work focuses on making use of new technologies to improve power management and energy utilization in a wide range of electronic systems including battery-powered mobile electronics, high-frequency switching power supplies and renewable-energy systems. His inventions continue to attract sustaining members to the Colorado Power Electronics Center (CoPEC), and one of his inventions, a low-profile micro inverter, has been engineered into a solar roof shingle.

Erickson holds eight patents, and took an entrepreneurial leave from the university in 2011 to serve as chief technology officer for Phobos Energy, a company he co-founded.

Currently, Erickson is serving as principal investigator on a two-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a new composite power conversion approach for electric vehicles. He and professors Khurram Afridi, Dragan Maksimovic, Dan Seltzer and Ronggui Yang also received a grant to compete in the Google/IEEE Little Box Challenge. The contest's goal is to dramatically change the technology of solar power inverters, creating one that is at least 10 times smaller than the current picnic cooler-sized inverters commonly used in photovoltaic solar power systems and other green energy applications.

Professor's work focuses on making use of new technologies to improve power management and energy utilization in a wide range of electronic systems.

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Faculty

Jensen joins ECEE in the systems and controls research area

Biography:

Research:

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Combes seeks to transform the quantum technology landscape

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Two new faculty members join department for fall 2022

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Barnes at 90: Helping others succeed is a career highlight

Academic career

Program innovation

Research interests

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Gopinath, Afridi win 2016 CAREER Awards from NSF

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Popovic plays lead role in breakthrough light-based microprocessor chip

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Fiez joins ����������-Boulder as vice chancellor of research, professor in ECEE

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Zoya Popovic named 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer

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Device delivers drugs to brain via remote control

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Erickson named ����������-Boulder Inventor of the Year

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Fiez joins ��-Boulder as vice chancellor of research, professor in ECEE

Erickson named ��-Boulder Inventor of the Year