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UA Undergraduates Present Summer Research at ICFDA 2024

  • August 14th, 2024

A group of 9 students from the College of Engineering  (from both the ECE and CS departments) continued their international research experiences this summer by presenting posters of their research at the 2024 International Conference on Fractional Differentiation and Applications (ICFDA) in Bordeaux, France.

Students shared the results of their projects, which were focused on fractional-order circuits and systems, to audiences of mathematicians, engineers, and scientists across a range of disciplines.  While at the conference students were able to participate in workshops and network with leading professionals in the field, including Dr. Igor Podluby and Dr. Roberto Garrappa (researcher’s whose work they have extensively used in their projects).

These students are part of an NSF-funded International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program coordinated by Dr. Todd Freeborn (Department of Electrical Engineering) in collaboration with Dr. Jaroslav Koton (Vice-Dean for Research and PhD Study in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication) at the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic.  Students spent 12 weeks researching with faculty at the Brno University of Technology from May to July and are returning to UA to continue their studies for the Fall semester.

Alabama Teachers Join Engineering Research Labs

  • July 25th, 2024

This summer Dr. Todd Freeborn (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Dr. Chris Crawford (Department of Computer Science) launched an NSF-supported Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site at the University of Alabama.

This site, Engaging  and Training Alabama STEM Teachers in Sensing Technologies, has brought 11 Alabama middle and high school teachers to campus for June and July to engage in 7-weeks of research under the mentorship of faculty from the College of Engineering.  This years group of teachers are from schools in the Tuscaloosa City, Tuscaloosa County, Greene County, and Hale County districts.

The goal of the program is to get teachers hands-on experience with engineering research that they can take back into their classrooms to use in their lessons and teaching.  All research projects that the teachers will support use sensing and measurement technologies to explore physiological and environmental monitoring. This common theme on sensing is based on the fact that knowing how to measure and analyze physical features of materials, devices, tissues, and/or the environment underlies many engineering research questions.

Beyond their research, teachers are participating in weekly workshops to learn more about engineering careers, sensors/programming, and receive support to translate these experiences into curriculum for their classrooms.  The program will wrap up on July 25, 2024 when all participants present their summer research results at a Summer Research Symposium hosted in Shelby Hall.

UA Undergraduates Research in the Czech Republic

  • July 5th, 2024

This summer a group of 9 UA undergraduates in the College of Engineering (from ECE and CS departments) are again traveling to the Czech Republic for research experiences at the Brno University of Technology (BUT)

As part of this program, UA undergraduates participate in 12-weeks of summer research under the mentorship of BUT faculty focused on fractional-order topics, including the design of analog filter circuits, design of fractional-order elements, and measurement of materials with fractional-order electrical impedances.  The goal is to introduce fractional-order design and analysis techniques to students to be applied to electrical circuits and systems.  Beyond their research, students also learn about the culture and history of the Czech Republic, visiting historical sites, events, and museums in Prague, Brno, and Lednice.

This opportunity, Fractional-Order Circuits and Systems Research Collaboration with EU COST Action, is coordinated by Dr. Todd Freeborn (an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UA) in collaboration with Dr. Jaroslav Koton (Vice-Dean for Research and PhD Study in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication at BUT) with support from National Science Foundation through the International Research Experiences for Students program (Award 1951552).  The 2024 cohort marks the third iteration of this program with a total of 22 UA students having now participated in this international research experience.

Student group photo with Prof. Freeborn

9-13-23 Research Seminar: Biomedical Sensors Integrating Machin eLearning-Based Hardware Architectures

  • September 12th, 2023

Syed Kamrul Islam
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211

When: Wednesday September 13, 2023 2:00 pm
Where: SERC 1013

Abstract

Rapid development of sensor technologies, CMOS fabrication processes and wireless sensor network technologies have unlocked new and innovative applications of health monitoring systems. For long-term reliable detection of various biological signals in point-of-care health monitoring systems it is essential to provide adequate power savings for the associated electronic circuits. A solution for designing low-power and high-performance integrated circuits for readout electronics involves implementation of machine learning/deep learning algorithms into CMOS integrated circuits to process any type of physiological signals, including respiratory, ECG or EEG signals. Various machine learning models, such as deep learning architectures, have been employed to design intelligent healthcare systems. However, deploying these sophisticated and intelligent devices in real-time embedded systems with limited hardware resources and power budget is complex due to the requirement of high computational power in achieving a high accuracy rate. As a result, this creates a significant gap between the advancement of computing technology and the associated device technologies for healthcare applications. Power-efficient machine learning-based digital hardware design techniques have been introduced in this work for the realization of a compact design solution while maintaining optimal prediction accuracy. This has a potential to become a versatile signal processing hardware platform for biomedical instrumentation. Integrating machine learning functions and algorithms into a single CMOS integrated circuit and implementing it in a deep submicron CMOS process targeting very low power consumption will be a potential new approach to the development of future wearable medical devices and technologies.

Syed Kamrul Islam received B.Sc. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and systems engineering from the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He is currently serving as Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Missouri. His research interests include semiconductor devices, nanotechnology, bio-microelectronics and monolithic sensors. He has more than 100 publications in refereed journals, more than 150 papers in conference proceedings, and a number of invited talks. He also co-authored a book and 12 book chapters. Prior to joining the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Missouri in July 2018, he served as James W. McConnell Professor and Associate Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee. In recognition of his teaching, research and related efforts at the University of Tennessee he received John W. Fisher Professorship, Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Award, Moses E. and Mayme Brooks Distinguished Professor Award, College of Engineering Research Fellow Award, The Gonzalez Family Award for Excellence in Teaching, Tickle College of Engineering Teaching Fellow, University of Tennessee Citation for Research and Creative Achievement, Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty of the year award and the Alexander Prize. He also received Outstanding Electrical Engineering Professor award at the University of Missouri.

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