EE Newsletters

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING NEWS

January 23, 2001


This is the latest electronic update of news in the department. These newsletters are generated every few weeks. If you have specific news or announcements that you would like to have included in an issue of this newsletter, please send them to Howard (chair@ee.washington.edu) or Ann (annf@ee.washington.edu).

1. Congratulations/Announcements
2. Old Building Update
3. EE In the News
4. SPAC 2001 Event
5. Bergseth Fellowship

1. Congratulations/Announcements

Congratulations to our newest IEEE Fellow, Jenq-Neng Hwang. Professor Hwang's fellow citation reads "For contributions to adaptive learning systems." He joins over 16 other EE faculty members in this prestigious honor.

Congratulations to Mark Curry, who took 2nd prize in the student paper contest at the US national meeting of the International Union of Radio Science. He is working with Professor Kuga on imaging arrays.

According to informal communications, our newest assistant professors appear to have obtained at least 2 or 3 CAREER Awards from NSF. We are still awaiting official announcements so - stay tuned.

2. Old Building Update

The department has now almost completely vacated the old EE building. It now looks like the old building will be closed in the first or second week of February for hazardous material removal, followed by demolition and construction of Phase II.

3. EE In the News

The MyBus research program was described in the Los Angeles Times. Congratulations to Dan Dailey and his crew.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/science/20001211/t000118427.html

The UW's Nanotechnology effort, which includes EE Professors Bohringer and Darling, was featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education (December 15, 2000: The Gods of Very Small Things).
http://ink.e-quill.com/view/91ad6dac73be5d9c.

The fall Mobile Robotics course got a lot of press exposure, including in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, on three local TV channels, Northwest Cable News, and both TV and Newspapers in about 12 other cities. Congratulations to the class contest winners!
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/tech06.shtml
http://www.ee.washington.edu/events/2000/legorobots1204_winners.html

Associate Professor Rich Christie has been on KUOW talk shows and interviewed by two local TV stations regarding the Energy Crisis in California.

4. SPAC 2001 Event

On Thursday, January 11, 2001, our IEEE student branch chapter sponsored a "Student Professional Awareness Conference." in the HUB ballroom. Details of the event can be found at http://students.washington.edu/ieee/. It was a sell-out crowd, with great speakers and great door prizes (including a Playstation 2!). Congratulations to Curtis Lu and all of the IEEE Student Branch members who completely organize and ran this very successful event.

5. Bergseth Fellowship

The Electric Energy Industrial Consortium (EEIC) has agreed to sponsor an undergraduate assistantship every quarter under the EEIC program in honor of late Professor Robert F. Bergseth.

Robert F. Bergseth was a Professor of Electrical Engineering from 1947-1979. During his long career at the University he was a mainstay in the energy engineering program. His students particularly remember his strong interest in their education and their future careers through his willingness to devote his time to their needs, be they academic or personal. The Electric Energy Industrial Consortium is extremely pleased to name this assistantship in his honor.