ece news 2009-2010
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ECE N1
FBRIGHTIDEAS
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER
ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER
ENGINEERING
NIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
ECE NEWSECE NEWS
(Continued on back page)
YEAR IN REV
2009-201
www.engr.wisc.ed/ecewww.engr.wisc.ed/ece
Intelliwindows, a system to open and close
windows based on the
weather and a desired
temperature in order to
reduce air conditioning
costs. Invented by ECE
sophomore .
un.me, a software suite that emphasizes
physical, social interaction and collaboration
between users. Invented by ECE sophomore
.
Bright Crank, a solar cell and hand-powered
system made from recycled bicycle and car
parts to light up bus stops. Invented by a
team including ECE senior .
Blocks Web API, an interface to allow devel-
opers to create web content
with a language set via a
proxy server that can trans-
late across all existing web
interfaces. Invented by ECE
sophomore .
Variable Power Source H2 Production, a sys-
tem that runs electricity into a high-pressure
electrolyzer and then through solid-oxide
fuel cells to create a baseload of energy,
which can be converted into AC voltage and
run to the electric grid. Invented by a team
including ECE sophomore .
Range Extending Hitch
Technology, a detachable
engine-generator for
plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Co-invented by ECEsenior .
Power StripWattmeter, a
device that connects to
an electrical outlet via a
power strip and displays
the average power usage
of the electric devices
connected to the outlet. Invented by ECE
and physics senior .
Recycled electrication systemwill light up developing nations
t age 15, Dan Ludois tried to convince
his grandparents that the best way to run
electricity to a shed in the corner of their farm
was to use recycled parts from a microwave.
At the time, his grandparents werent entirely
convinced of the teenagers technical credibility,
but Ludois kept the idea in the back of his
mind for the next 10 years.
On Earth Day 2010, Ludois andtwo of his fellow UW-Madison
ECE graduate students presented
the idea, which has evolved into
an electricity system called the
Microformer, at the second-
annual Climate Leadership
Challenge, a campus competition
focused on combating climate
change. The Microformer is designed
to provide electricity to rural households in
developing countries, and the idea was rewarded
with more than $50,000 in prizes.
Ludois partners, Jonathan Lee and PatricioMendoza Araya, each have experience with engi-
neering projects for developing countries. Lee is
involved in the UW-Madison chapter of Engineers
Without Borders and has served on projects in
Haiti and Rwanda. Mendoza has worked on a
hydroelectric generator and smart grid projects in
his native Chile, which is where the Microformer
team may rst implement its system.
n February, ECE undergraduate students made a
strong showing at the 2010 Innovation Days, an
annual UW-Madison event that rewards innovative
and marketable ideas. A team including ECE senior
Undergrad competition showcasesECE student ideas and inventions
Jason Lohr (pictured, right)won fourth place in the Schoofs Prize for Creativity and $1,000 for
CocoStove, an inexpensive cooking stove that burns plant oils rather than wood charcoal and
could create a new industry in rural Haiti. The team also won the Younkle Best Presentation
award, which comes with a $1,000 prize. ECE alumnus Peter Tong (MS 65) and the Tong Family
Foundation are among the competitions benefactors. Other ECE student teams included:
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ECE NEWS2
reetings to all alumni and friends
of the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering! This
newsletter brings you important updates on
faculty, staff, alumni, students, and learning
and research initiatives.
During the past couple years, we have
been engaged in a comprehensive self-study
and strategic planning process. One of the
important outcomes has been a commitment
to the philosophy of once-a-member-always-
a-member. Students who graduate from our
department do not cease their relationship
upon leaving our doors. You become part
of a lifelong, connected community. As our
Visiting Advisory Board reminds us, alumniand supporters represent an important
resource of knowledge, expertise and
experience to help us maintain the excellent
education and research outcomes we provide
with and for our students. And, we have
adopted a renewed commitment to continue
to serve our alumni and friends.
As a rst step in this direction, were
placing a greater emphasis in the newsletter on
sharing news and information of likely interest
to alumni, department friends and supporters.
To help us fulll this fresh emphasis, we need
you to send us your newsor questionswhich well happily include in future issues.
So, please send us your news or Whatever
happened to ? or How is ? Well be
Message froM the Chair
pleased to answer your questions or share
your news in future issues.
As a second step, I request the assistance
of every department alumnus to E-mail me ashort note answering the following biographical
questions. Our objective is to accumulate a
diverse pool of education-to-career proles
that illustrate to prospective students (under-
grad or graduate) what future career options
are made possible with a UW-Madison ECE
degree. (1) What degree(s) did you obtain
from our department? (2) In what ways do
you recall and value your education at UW-
Madison and the ECE department? (3) What
is your current job, and how does it allow
you to make an impact and a difference in the
lives of others? (4) How did your UW-Madisoneducation prepare you to end up where you
are now?
.
GJohn Booske, Chair
2416 Engineering Hall1415 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608/262-3840
Fax: 608/262-1267
www.engr.wisc.edu/ece
Pictured(back row, from left): Syed Akhtar, Kevin Olikara, Daniel Ludois, Craig Mitchell Jr.,Benjamin Tesch, Paul White, Jeremy Bricco, Daniel Dunar, Jacob Fritz; (front row, from left)College of Engineering Dean Paul Peercy, Micah Erickson, Anthony Di Loreto, Randy Johanning,Christopher Wolf, James Bukacek
n April 8, 2010, UW-Madison
engineering faculty, staff,
students, friends and familymembers gathered at the University of
Wisconsin Foundation to celebrate the
Grainger Power Engineering Award and
Fellowship recipients. The event honored
14 ECE students who are already making
contributions to their eld. The awards,
sponsored by The Grainger Foundation,
recognize students for their academic
successes in the eld of power engineering.
O
Congrats to the 2010 recipients
of prestigious Grainger awards
For those of you able to contribute nan-
cially, I want to thank you on behalf of the
entire department for the important service
that you provide to our current and future
students. Because of your gifts, we have
been able to sponsor many excellent students
and faculty with scholarships, fellowships or
named professorships. Your generosity has
enabled us to subsidize the costs of text-
books, educational experience abroad, student
conference travel, awards for best TAs and
instructors, and need-based nancial aid.
Just as importantly, your contributions
have enabled us to nurture a spirit of lifelong
community by sponsoring the formation of a
graduate student lounge, ECE undergraduatestudent events and alumni receptions around
the country.
I am incredibly privileged to be Chair of our
department with such outstanding students,
faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters. Your
individual and collective accomplishments
continue to reect our proud traditions and
great reputation. Thank you for your continued
enthusiasm and support for our Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
On Wisconsin!
Duane H. & Dorothy M. Bluemke Professor
John H. Booske, Chair
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ECE N3ECE N3
DePartMeNt NeWs
Nanion Technologies, a bio-
and microtechnology company
co-founded by Lynn H. Matthias
Professor , won
the 2009 Deutscher Gruender-
preis award. Given to outstanding entre-
preneurs in Germany, the award recognizes
entrepreneurial role models.
Nanion is a spin-off company from the
Center of Nanoscience at the University
of Munich, Germany, that develops and
manufactures sophisticated instrumentation
for the analysis of ion channels, the pore-
forming proteins that help establish and
control the small voltage gradient across
the plasma membrane of all living cells byallowing the ow of ions down their electro-
chemical gradient. The companys automated
patch clamp platforms increase the efciency
of drug discovery and are used by pharma-
ceutical companies and leading academic
institutions globally.
The Optical Society has
awarded Philip Dunham Reed
Professor the
Nick Holonyak Jr. Award in
recognition of his fundamental
contributions to high-power semiconductorlasers including active photonic-crystal
structures for high coherent power genera-
tion; single-lobe grating-surface-emitting
distributed-feedback lasers; and high-power,
high-efciency sources based on aluminum-
free technology.
The Nick Holonyak Jr. Award was
established in 1997 and recognizes signicant
contributions to optics based on semi-
conductor-based devices and optical materials,
including basic science and technological
applications. Botez joins an exceptional group
of 12 past Holonyak Jr. Award recipients.
Associate Professor
will lead a multi-university,
multidisciplinary research
program to develop biology-
inspired intelligent micro-
optical imaging systems with a four-year,
$2 million National Science Foundation grant
through the Emerging Frontiers in Research
and Innovation program. With state-of-the-art
Professor Emeritus
received a 2009 Nikola
Tesla Award from IEEE. The
award recognizes Novotny
for pioneering contributions
throughout the last 40 years to the analysis
and understanding of AC machine dynamic
behavior and performance in adjustable-
speed drives.
McFarland-Bascom Professor
has been elected
an IEEE fellow for contributions
to statistical signal and image
processing.
Each year, following a rigorous evaluationprocedure, the IEEE Fellow Committee
recommends a select group of recipients for
elevation to fellow, one of the institutes most
prestigious honors. The recipients are taken
from an international pool of applicants.
The IEEE grade of fellow is conferred by the
board of directors upon a person with an
extraordinary record of accomplishments in
any of the IEEE elds of interest.
The 2009 San Diego Microgrid
Symposium, held September
17-18, brought together 25organizations at the University
of California, San Diego to
discuss switching the San Diego electrical
grid to a digital smart grid by 2011. Professor
served on the steering
committee, and PhD student Patricio A.
Mendoza Araya presented at the conference
on evolving microgrids work in Chile.
Computer Sciences and ECE
Professor received
a UW-Madison Kellet Mid-
Career Award and $60,000research award supported by
the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Hill has been recognized for his research on
advancing parallel computer hardware.
technologies in microsystems, nanotechnology
and computer vision, Jiangs team will
incorporate elements of natural visual
systems into integrated, intelligent, micro-
imaging systems without anatomic and
physiological constraints.
Specically, they will develop spherical
multi-micro-camera arrays integrating light
eld photography for panoramic videos with
large depth of eld, articial-reecting-super-
position compound eyes for high-transmit-
tance and low-chromatic-aberration imaging
over a wide spectrum, and bio-inspired
multi-fovea coordination software for efcient
processing of visual information.
The Wisconsin Institutes for DiscoverySeed Grant provided the initial project grant.
Associate Professor
received a three-year,
$360,000 U.S. Department of
Defense grant to develop new
near-infrared and midwave-
infrared lasers using nanomembranes tech-
nologies. Traditional near-infrared (1.55 mm)
lasers can only be made on III-V substrates,
such as indium phosphide. Ma will work
with colleagues at the University of Texas
to develop such lasers on any substrates,including the desired silicon substrates.
The success will lead to the implementation
of optical interconnects for densely packed
silicon integrated circuits. The team also will
develop 3-5 mm midwave-infrared lasers
employing a similar principle.
Ma says the midwave-infrared lasers have
been difcult to make but would be very useful
for target seeking, sensing and laser radars.
Professor and
Chemical and Biological
Engineering Milton J. and A.Maude Shoemaker Professor
Tom Kuech have received a
two-year $330,000 grant from the Army
Research Lab to study high-efciency tandem
solar cells employing dilute-nitride materials
grown by metalorganic chemical vapor depo-
sition. One goal of the project is to increase
the efciency of multi-junction solar cells
through the development of new materials
to access key parts of the solar spectrum.
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ECE NEWS4ECE NEWS4
Assistant Professor is
designing low-power computing systems
that, if implemented on a broad scale,
could have signicant environmental and
economic benets.
When an Internet surfer opens Google and
types in a keyword, the command goes to oneof the companys U.S. data centers, which are
large-scale facilities with hundreds of computer
servers. In the last seven years, the utility bills
to power and cool the servers and auxiliary
equipment at U.S. data centers increased from
$15 billion to $30 billion in 2008, the last year
data is available.
This cost, coupled with the amount of
electricity consumed by computers in ofces
and homes, has consequences. To generate
that amount of electricity, we have to burn a
lot of fossil fuels, and thats not good for the
environment, Kim says. Also, we have toperform computations for almost every aspect
of our lives now, and by reducing the cost
for doing these computations, our national
economy could gain a competitive edge.
Kim is crafting designs and architectures
for low-power computing systems that
could address these challenges. He is
developing algorithms for two strategies to
reduce computer power consumption. The
rst strategy is to program machines that
can process computations more efciently.For example, several computations must
be completed for every pixel displayed on
a monitor or laptop screen. Each screen is
composed of tens of thousands of pixels,
but a viewer would not notice if some of
those pixels didnt show up.
The second strategy is to reduce wasted
energy during computations. To achieve
this, Kim is trying to identify which sections,
called blocks, of computer circuits can be
turned off during certain functions. Turning
the blocks off when they are not in use
rather than letting them remain on and idlereduces the overall power consumption of
the processor.
Once the block is turned off, it takes
some time to wake it back up, like it takes
time to wake a computer up after putting it
into sleep mode, he explains. To minimize
performance impact, or penalty, I have to
predict which blocks will be used and wont
be used in order to wake them up in time.
My main objective is to hide the time
penalty so users dont notice a slowdown.
Boosting computer performanc
with recongurable hardware
Assistant Professor
is studying how to use recongurable
hardware, which is a form of exible,
special-purpose hardware, to implement
a wide range of computer accelerators that
boost performance and increase energy
efciency.
Compton says the idea of her work is
similar to cooking. Chefs can make anything
from a cookbook, but they can make a dish
much faster if they memorize the recipe. A
traditional central processing unit, or CPU,is like a chef with a cookbook; it can process
anything, but its relatively slow since it
processes data sequentially and has to look
up the instructions every time, even if it has
handled the same task before.
Application-specic integrated circuits,
called ASICs, are hard-coded at the factory
with a single memorized recipe. This hard-
ware is fast because it doesnt
need to look up the instruc-
tions, and it processes
data in parallel, meaning
it handles multiple datathreads simultaneously
like a graphics pro-
cessing unit, or GPU.
Recongurable
hardware is like a
super chef who can
quickly memorize
or re-memorize
a small set
of recipes. Like
ASICs, the
T
Low-power computers could benet environment and U.S. economy
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ECE N5
hen Assistant Professor Nader
Behdad looks at a small antenna,
crickets and ies sometimes come
to mind. For the expert in applied electro-
magnetics, insects offer a humbling reminder
that, despite the best efforts of scientists in the
last 100 years, mankinds best sensors are still
not as sensitive as the senses of a bug.
This reminder serves as an inspiration for
Behdad, who is studying innovative approaches
for developing new electromagnetic tech-
nologies, including small and efcient
super-resolving antennas. Conventional
approaches dictate that efcient antennas
are sized in proportion to the wavelengths
they are designed to detect. For example,the wireless LAN system that an iPhone can
pick up works at a 2.4-gigahertz
frequency, which translates
to a wavelength measuring
roughly 12.5 centimeters.
The optimal antenna to
pick up this wavelength
would be around half
that length, or roughly
6.5 centimeters,
to work at optimal
efciency. However,
as cell phones andother wireless
devices continue
to get smaller and
smaller, antennas are
becoming so small
that their efciency is
being compromised.
Some ies, how-
ever, that are only about a
centimeter long, can detect
the direction of sound within
two degrees of accuracy. To do
this with our technology wed needantennas that are absolutely huge, explains
Behdad, who is considering two research
strategies for harnessing natures optimal
design. One way is to try to mimic what these
organisms are doing and come up with new
architectures based on living organisms. The
second way is to actually try to develop an
evolution lab.
This lab would theoretically examine basic
cell development and how that development
W
foCus oN NeW faCulty: NaDer BehDaD
could be altered to produce different out-
comes. For example, some organisms,
like sharks, are evolved to detect
electromagnetic signals produced
by certain sh. Perhaps, says
Behdad, this ability could be
engineered to allow other
organisms to not only sense
electromagnetic waves,
but also transmit them for
communication purposes.
Behdadwho joined the
ECE faculty in 2008 afterearning his PhD from the
University of Michigan in
2006 and spending two
years as an assistant elec-
trical engineering professor
at the University of Central
Florida, Orlandois taking
advantage of the collaborative
atmosphere at UW-Madison in
order to explore these complex
ideas. He is investigating various
biomedical applications for antennas,
including a partnership with Professor SusanHagness to study how antennas could be used
in micro-systems for breast cancer detection.
He is also brainstorming possibilities for the
evolution lab with biologists on campus.
Who knows if it could work? Thats the
problemnot knowing, he says. The question
is where to start, and theres no shortage of
expertise here. If theres anything you want to
know, there is someone in town who knows.
One wayis to try to mimic
what these organismsare doing and come upwith new architectures
hardware memorizes functions and performs
computations in parallel.
Recongurable hardware goes beyondASICs by loading sets of data that determine
which wires should be connected or discon-
nected, thereby creating different digital
circuits for different tasks. For example,
the hardware could load an MP3 encoder
accelerator to compress an audio le and
then quickly
switch to
become a
decryption
accelerator.
Comptons
research fo-cuses on how
a computing
system deter-
mines which
accelerators
should be
loaded into
hardware at
any given time.
Since rst publishing on system-level
recongurable hardware management in
2005, Compton has studied how to allocate
the accelerators in response to, but inisolation of, the rest of the computer system.
The CAREER award will allow her to expand
her work to study the entire system and
schedule multiple computing resources
to work in tandem with the recongurable
hardware.
In terms of the cooking metaphor, she
essentially is looking at the entire kitchen
workow to determine how the various
chefsin other words, the CPU, GPU and
recongurable hardwarecan best work
together to most efciently make the dish,
or execute an application.
Ultimately, Compton is working to
demonstrate to hardware companies that
recongurable hardware provides enough
of a boost to warrant adding it to everyday
computing devices.
based onlivingorganisms.
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ECE NEWS6
is the general manager for the Cisco Emerging Technolog
Group, which focuses on creating solutions in new and adjacent technolog
markets. In his 13 years at Cisco, Amelse has held various marketing, man
facturing and engineering roles. A Madison native, Amelse holds a bachelo
degree from UW-Stout and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He has
served on the VAB for two years. I believe strongly in helping develop th
next generation of technical leaders, he says. He also remains connected
to Wisconsin via his familys maple syrup business, Amelse Farms.
(BS 89) is a lab manager for track and trace solutions
at 3M, where he is also a volunteer for the Technical Teams Encouraging
Career Horizons for middle and high school students. He obtained his
electrical engineering masters degree from the University of Minnesota in
1996 and joined the VAB in 2006. I want to help the department grow and
remain competitive, attract and retain top faculty and students, and develop
excellent graduates, he says.
(BS 79) works in the Ofce of Corporate Relations at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to connect companies in Ind
Japan and the United States to relevant research at MIT. She has spent
many years as an industry analyst, tracking and anticipating under-the-rad
technologies and their impact on business, consumers and society.
Most recently, she was vice president at Strategy Analytics, a market
research and analysis rm, where she launched the companys Emergin
Frontiers program. Before this, she was vice president of emerging trends at a startup that
was acquired by Gartner. She has worked as director of marketing at Global Insight, as an
articial intelligence researcher and software developer at IBM, and as a hardware design
engineer at the Delco Electronics Division of General Motors. Buck holds an MBA from the
University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and was a PhD candidate in compuscience, specializing in articial intelligence, at Yale. She has served on the VAB for two yea
(BSME 80) is the F-15 chief program engineer at Boeing.
He holds a mechanical engineering masters degree from the University of
Missouri and an executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
He has experience in engineering, program management, supply chain
management, manufacturing and information technology. He has served
on the VAB for two years.
is a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in
the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, where he manages the
Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS). Eto hold
a bachelors degree in philosophy (1979) and a masters degree in energyand resources (1981) from the University of California, Berkeley. Eto, who
has served on the VAB for two years, is connected to UW-Madison throug
the students and faculty who work on CERTS initiatives.
(BS 85) is a program manager at the Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California, where she manages and negotiates power contracts,
performs and reviews transmission planning and interconnection studies,
and markets green energy. Finley, who was on the UW-Madison swim team
as a student and remains an active lifeguard and triathlon participant, is a
member of several technical committees and received her masters degree in
Meet the eCe VisitiNg aDVisory BoarDfoCus oN aluMNi
T
By Professor John Booske,ECE department chair
he ECE Visiting Advisory Board
(VAB) provides a fresh view of
the department from interested
individuals working and living outside the
faculty and campus. We remain appreciative
and indebted to each former and current board
member for this important and unselsh work.
During this past academic year, the board
members visited campus and met with ECE
leaders, faculty, students, as well as with
college deans and development ofcers. They
have identied several key recommendations
to help the department in the next decade.
Consistent with the VABs recommendations,
the department is pursuing a number of
exciting new initiatives.We have helped ECE graduate students
form the ECE Graduate Student Association
and undergraduate students form the ECE
Student Leadership Council. These groups will
participate in organizing and hosting events
and panels for new and current students.
The VAB has strongly endorsed the
departments plan to revise our undergraduate
curriculum and specically recommend
greater student exibility in selecting elective
courses while maintaining technical depth in
the major. More experiential learning will
be emphasized in the early stages of the newcurriculum, and students will receive more
direct advising from faculty and their career
and education options.
Supported by the College of Engineering,
we are planning to launch a new website that
will provide greater information support for
students and Internet visitors. The website
will present what it means to have a career
in ECE, the value of an education in the UW-
Madison ECE department, news of events and
opportunities,and much more with the use
of video, text and graphics and an improved
ease of navigation. The rollout of the newwebsite is expected before the end of 2010.
The VABs recommendations have been
instrumental in guiding aspects of each of
these and other exciting initiatives, and we
are looking forward to their future help as we
navigate news ways of educating, institution-
ally supporting research and acquiring and
using nancial resources to continue delivering
some of the best learning and knowledge
outcomes in the country and the world.
.
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ECE N7
electrical engineering from the University of
Southern California in 1989. She has been
a licensed professional engineer in California
since that year. Being one of very few
female ECE graduates in 1985, I feel honored
to be a part of the VAB, she says. This
opportunity motivates me to expand upon
my outreach efforts and reect on my expe-
riences as an engineer to encourage others,
especially student-athletes, females and
minorities, to pursue engineering careers.
Finley has been on the VAB for three years.
is senior
vice president of global
engineering servicesat Plexus Corporation,
where he is responsible
for ve design centers
located around the
world. Frisch joined
Plexus in 1990 and has held various director
and vice president positions. He obtained a
bachelors degree in electrical engineering
and technology from the Milwaukee School
of Engineering, where he has been a part-
time lecturer, and a masters degree in
electrical engineering and computer science
from Marquette University. I hope myindustry experience will be able to contribute
to the future success of the college, as I
believe the success of my company and the
electronics industry hinges on the ability to
develop well educated graduates, he says.
(BS 87, MS 88, PhD
92) is the senior vice
president of program
management in the QCT
division at Qualcomm
Inc. He has held variouspositions in engineering,
business development, program management
and general management at Qualcomm, and
he has experience in organizing, managing
and leading large, interdisciplinary, multi-site
development and operations organizations.
He served on the VAB in 2009 and remains
committed to help ECE maintain its quality
student experience.
(MS 82, MBA 82) has more than 20 years of experience
in co-founding and managing hardware and software solution companies.
Currently, he is the CEO and CFO of EvolveWare Inc., a software company
that has developed a unique technology to automate the transformation
of source systems to any target system. Prior to founding EvolveWare,
Marfatia co-founded Silicon Electronics and has previously worked at
ROLM Corporation and Pyramid Technology. Active in various community
organizations, Marfatia has served on the VAB for two years and says he
remains committed to UW-Madison to help the institution receive the recognition it deserves.
(BS 73, MS 74, PhD 77) is research manager of the
Advanced Technology Milwaukee Labs at Rockwell Automation/Allen
Bradley, where he conducts projects in real-time Ethernet, multilevel
inverters, motor starters, regenerative converters and permanent magnet
motor controls. Nondahl has more than 30 years of experience in electrical
drives, motor controls and communication networks for industrial appli-
cations. He has produced multiple technical papers and U.S. patents. He
has been active in the IEEE Industry Applications Society for many years
and is currently serving as the president of the society. He has served on the VAB for two years.
WE WoulD lIkE To HEAR fRom you!
IN MEMORIAM
Charles Gabriel (BS 72)
Lawrence Hall (PhD 73)
John Hart Jr. (BS 41)
Owen Holtan (BS 38)
Otis Ingebritsen (BS 47)
Douglas Jeske (BS 88)
Gordon Kent (BS 47)
Paul Ketchum (BS 38)
George Klinge (BS 50)
George Linn (BS 51)
Robert Medenwald (BS 48)
Arthur Moeller (PhD 65)
Ernest Mullen (BS 58)
Charles Navratil (BS 50)
William Pappathopoulos
(BS 66)
Raymond Partt (BS 49)
Richard Pierce (BS 48)Gene Reed (BS 57)
William Reeve (BS 52)
James Slagg (BS 49)
Milton Stenstrom (BS 49)
Walter Tolk (BS 49)
Reinhard Vater (BS 41)
Norman Volz (BS 51)
Frederick Bartman (BS 41)
Stephen Basche (BS 79)
Clifford Bastle (BS 51)
Robert Bohn (BS 47)
Ronald Breitwisch (BS 75)
Donald Brewer (BS 47)
Michael Brozek (BS 73)
Robert Derber (BS 49)
Lee Eichenseer (BS 61)
Samuel Elice (BS 48)
Nathan Engebretson (BS 34)
Paul Fischer (BS 42)
Laverne Froseth (BS 58)
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ECE NEWS8
hen Andrew Hanson (BS 09) met his laboratory partner for ECE 170:
Introduction to Circuitsduring his freshman year, he didnt realize he
was meeting his future business partner. Four years and a software
start-up later, Hanson and his former classmate, Justin Beck(BS 09), are still together working on their crazy idea.
When Hanson and Beck shared another class during their
sophomore year, Hanson took the opportunity to talk to
Beck about his internship at Google the previous summer.
The two met for lunch and chatted about the gaming industry,
as well as some ideas for new products. By the end of the meal, the two
decided to work together on a new game, called Little Dudes, for a
couple of months.
By winter break that year, the pair devised a new game called Parallel
Kingdom, a multi-player online role-playing game for the Google Android
and Apple iPhone. The games background is based on Google maps,
so a player in Madison can log in and wander the digital streets of the
city, interacting with other players who also are physically based inMadison. The game is open-ended and allows players to progress
though levels either by being friendly or hostile toward their neighbors.
In order to market Parallel Kingdom, Hanson and Beck founded
PerBlue in summer 2008. After graduating in 2009, they worked at the company full-time and
eventually hired seven others, most of who are also recent UW-Madison alumni. Parallel Kingdom
currently has more than 100,000 user accounts. Many players are located on the West Coast
and in Japan, and the number of European players is also growing.
Justin and I both enjoy this a lot because its our own thing, says Hanson. In hindsight,
I can see how much free time I would have had in college if we hadnt done this, but Im glad I
spent that time working on Parallel Kingdom.
n Oct. 16, 2009, an ECE alumnus
was among eight engineering
alumni honored at the colleges
annual Engineers Day, which recognizes and
celebrates inuential engineers. At the event,
Dean Foate (BS 82) received a Distinguished
Achievement Award.
Foates career is marked by his loyalty to
a pair of colleagues and the company hisfather co-founded. After graduating from
UW-Madison, Foate and his wife, Cindy, left
Foates two college roommates and closest
friends for Indiana,
where Foate began
his career design-
ing electronic engine and transmission
controls for Delco Electronics. However,
it wasnt long before the pair persuaded
Foate to return to Wisconsin and join Plexus
Corporation. The decision was made easier
when Foate and Cindy had a son, Jake, and
the family moved back to Foates native
Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1984, where they
subsequently had a daughter, Allison.
Foate began working for Plexus on
Groundhogs Day. His father couldnt believe
his son was giving up a secure job in the
middle of a recession to work for the small
company he had co-founded and retired
from. Yet Foate and his friends were
determined to become better engineers and
leaders to grow the companyand thats
exactly what they did.
Foate held various leadership positions
within Plexus, and when he became presi-
dent of the design and development organi-
zation, he decided to seek formal training.
He earned a masters degree in engineering
management from the Milwaukee School of
Engineering in 1999, graduating with honors.
His business knowledge helped drive the
growth and protability of Plexus, which is
now recognized as an industry-leading elec-
tronics manufacturing services provider with
revenues of approximately $1.7 billion and
the best shareholder returns among industrypeers. In 2002, Foate was named president
and chief executive ofcer of the company.
Foate credits his engineering education at
UW-Madison for the
communication and
leadership skills he
needed to launch his career. He now helps
other aspiring engineers as a supporter of
FIRST, a program for children to develop
technological and leadership skills. He also
sponsors a scholarship program and created
a Plexus foundation to provide technology
support to schools. Engineers have changed
the world in everything from technology to
infrastructure to communication, and engi-
neers can make a signicant impact on the
quality of life around the world, he says.
Hanson says he and his colleagues
are open to the possibility of eventually
selling PerBlue to another software
company, but for now they are happyrunning the company themselves. Either
way, Hanson has acquired a strong set of
entrepreneurial skills that he credits both
to his experiences at PerBlue and as an
ECE and computer sciences student.
In addition to Parallel Kingdom, Hanson,
a native of Rochester, Minnesota, was active
with student organizations while on campus.
He worked on the hybrid vehicle team and
was very committed to the UW-Madison IEEE
robotics team software group. It was fun to
see something you were writing go out and
actually move, he says.Those experiences combined with his
classes taught Hanson how to work with a
team to solve problemsskills he says have
carried over to PerBlue. Additionally, Hanson
advises other students interested in entre-
preneurship to be willing to learn about and
tackle many different roles, from engineering
to accounting to management.
And, of course, befriending a lab partner
never hurts.
O
foate receives Distingished Achieveent Award
Andrew Hanson: Transferring entrepreneurship from classroom to company
W
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ECE N9
mIHAEl SplITER
Bending engineering, bsiness and socia resonsibiity
that are reducing the cost-per-watt of solar
energy. The division has drawn national
attention and was featured in a New York
Timescolumn in September 2009.
For Splinter, developing solar-related
equipment and technology is a valuable move
for Applied Materials not only because of the
growing global market for green technologies,
but because of the environmental benets.
This blending of engineering and business
with social responsibility represents Splinters
general leadership philosophy. A persons
values and the practicing culture of a
company are incredibly important. Things
like being close to the customer, practicing
mutual respect and trust in the workplace,and always striving to have world-class
performancethese three things are high
on my list, he says.
As the industry of green technologies
advances, Splinter remembers his own
experiences as a young engineer in an
emerging eld. Much like I thought when I
was graduating that electronics, computer
chips and circuits would be something I
could make a career of, engineers can look
forward to focusing on our changing energy
landscape, he says, adding that a continued
focus on practical science by universities willbe important in the coming decades.
In the next 40 years, students graduating
today will be facing pollution, carbon dioxide
and water problems, and I cant imagine a
world where engineers arent going to be
working to solve these problems in a
practical, cost-effective way, he says.
Beyond the classroom, Splinter says hes
also glad to see students remain engaged
in social issues and activism. It makes me
o matter how far Michael Splinter
(BS 72, MS 74) travelseither
geographically or metaphorically
up the corporate ladderhe remains at heart
a Badger and an engineer.
Originally from Horicon, Wisconsin,
Splinter focused his graduate studies on
integrated circuits, and after receiving hisdegree he ventured to southern California to
work for the Electronics Research Center at
Rockwell International. During his 10 years
at Rockwell, Splinter began developing the
interest and skills to pursue management
positions and rose to become manager of
the semiconductor fabrication operations
division. Splinter then joined Intel Corporation,
where he held multiple executive roles during
his 20-year tenure.
Since 2003, Splinter has been the chief
executive ofcer of Applied Materials, located
in Santa Clara, California. Among his manytasks at the nanomanufacturing company that
develops equipment, service and software
for semiconductor chips and many other
products, Splinter is overseeing the creation
of a new division focused on energy and the
environment. This new division is generating
a variety of products focused on reducing
the use of fossil fuels, including equipment
to vastly increase the number of solar panels
manufactured each year, as well as products
N
excited that Wisconsin is still a place people
are going to learn and not be afraid of
challenging the status quo.
Splinter remains connected to UW-Madison
in a variety of ways, including serving on the
University of Wisconsin Foundation Board of
Directors and previous tenures on the College
of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board. He
is especially interested in seeing more engi-
neering students from diverse backgrounds.
Despite his many executive titles, Splinter
ultimately still considers himself an engineer.
Engineering is about learning how to
problem-solve, organize and look at things
in ways that are practical and solvable, he
says. And I think that kind of education wasvery practical for me and has helped me
tremendously in my early years and
continues to help me today.
ECE N9
Professor Emeritus died February 21 at the age of 77. Born in Montrose, Colorado,
King worked his way through college as a radio announcer, earning his bachelors degrees
in electronic and electrical engineering at the Indiana Institute of Technology and his
masters degree and PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado. King began
his career in academia at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1962 and joined UW-Madison
as a professor of electrical engineering in 1969. Named a Fulbright Fellow in 1973 and a guest
professor at universities in Denmark and New Zealand, King focused his teaching and research
on various aspects of electromagnetic theory and experiments relating to propagation over
non-uniform surfaces. He eventually left UW-Madison to join LLNL as a research engineer and
co-founded KDC Technology Corporation
in 1983, where he focused on developing
microwave instrumentation to evaluate
materials. Active in the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers and the National
Academy of Sciences, King held nine patents
and authored many professional papers. King
is survived by his wife, Diane; two children,
Karl and Kristin; and three grandchildren.IN
MEMORIAM
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ECE NEWS10
wo ECE faculty have achieved a nanoscale laser structure they anticipate will produce
semiconductor lasers in the next two years that are more than twice as efcient as
current continuous-wave lasers emitting in the mid-infrared. The novel structure
will produce lasers with more power and that are more efcient, reliable and stable, says Philip
Dunham Reed Professor Dan Botez, who created the new structure with Professor Luke Mawst.
These next-generation lasers could benet a wide range of industries, as they could be used
in biomedical devices, environmental monitoring devices, missile avoidance systems and even
food packaging processes. This wide range of applications is possible because the research-
ers have all but eliminated the temperature sensitivity for lasers operating in continuous-wave
mode, meaning the laser emits uninterrupted, coherent light.
For example, with current mid-infrared technologies
for detecting explosives, lasers can detect from
only approximately 30 feet away, Botez says.
With these lasers, devices could detect
explosives at more like 300 feet away.
Also important is that the researchers
created the new laser structure via a scal-
able industrial process.
How is a regular semiconductor laser built?
Researchers can harness electron movement toproduce a laser. In a free-oating atom, electrons orbit in rings
closer to or farther from the nucleus, depending on how much energy the electron is carrying.
In a solid, atoms are xed in a lattice (like a complex chain or pattern), and electrons move
in and jump between energy bands instead of between the xed energy levels corresponding
to the various orbits in free atoms. In semiconducting materials, electrons can move into an
energy band, called a conduction band, which produces a current. They can also move inside
a band called a valence band that is so jam-packed with electrons that no net current ow
happens. Electrons can easily be stimulated to move to the conduction bandbut to maintain
equilibrium, they eventually have to return to the valence band to ll in the holes they left
behind. The electron returns to the valence band via a port or well in the conduction band,
which dips closer to the valence band in a region called the active region. As that occurs, the
electron gives off its excess energy, sometimes in the form of a photon, which is a quantum of
light. (A quantum of something is the smallest discrete quantity possible.)
Electrons that spontaneously move between bands and produce light can be used for devices
like LEDs. However, to produce a laser beam, researchers place the lattice of atoms in a cavity
with mirrors, and the generated photons stimulate the electrons to return to the
valence band, thus releasing a photon with the same energy as the stimulating
one. The original photon and the new photon are in phase with each other and
will further stimulate the release of other photons, thus continuously amplifying
the number of photons and bouncing off the cavity mirrors. The process repeats
until the cavity reaches a threshold for oscillation and light is directed out of the
cavity in a coherent laser beam.
This is how a standard semiconductor laser works, but the problem is that
band-to-band transitions are limited to wavelengths below approximately three
microns, which correspond to transition energies of about .4 electron volts. Ifthe transition energies are smaller, which would correspond to longer wave-
lengths, the energy is released as heat, rather than lightmeaning traditional
semiconductor lasers have limited emitted-light wavelength potential.
A move forward: Quantum cascade lasers
To overcome wavelength limitations, scientists from Bell Laboratories
developed a laser by quantizing the energy bands, meaning they broke the
energy bands into sub-bands. As the lattice structure vibrates, it causes the
electrons to move rapidly between sub-bands, and the transitions between
sub-bands cause the electrons to emit energy. However, the process is
Textremely inefcient since electrons transi-
tioning between two sub-bands emit 1,000
phonons (quantized lattice vibrations) for every
one photon. Bell Labs scientists reduced this
inefciency by creating a cascade structure
by stacking 40 sub-band photon-emitting stages.
These stages allow one electron to be used
to emit a photon 40 times as it sequentially
moves and transitions along the cascade
structure. The result is only 25 phonons are
emitted for every one emitted photon and
then lasing action can be achieved.
The problem with this type of
laser is that xed compositions of
the layers for a particular stage,
which repeats along the cascade
structure, result in electrons
escaping from the structure.
Imagine dropping a ball down a
ladder; the ball may hit the rst couple
of steps, or sub-bands, but as it progressesalong the ladder, it can veer off course and drop
off the ladder entirely. A continuous-wave laser
system, which operates continuously, heats
up internally as electrons escape from the
structure, which in turn limits the emitted
power and the overall device efciency.
This loss of electrons, or carrier leakage,
has been a major barrier to increasing laser
efciency for practical applications.
A solution: Deep-well quantum cascade lasers
About ve years ago, a process for growing
multi-layer semiconductor structures becameavailable for fabricating quantum-cascade
lasers. Called metalorganic chemical vapor
New semiconductorlaser structure could produce more
efcient, powerful and portable sourcesemitting in the mid-infrared
Botezand M
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ECE N11
ECE and computer science student and founder of
FreedomDesigns.org, a name-your-own-price free-lance Web design business,
is among nine UW-Madison undergraduates to earn a $2,500 Wiscontrepreneur
scholarship to foster their entrepreneurial skills. The awards are distributed
through the UW-Madison Ofce of Corporate Relations. A computer science
and computer engineering major from Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, Bethencourt
is working to create software for a collaborative graphic design program.Supported by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation, the Wiscontrepreneur initiative offers a
variety of courses, programs, awards and activities to spur entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial
thinking across the entire campus and state.
deposition (MOCVD), the process is scalable,
unlike previous crystal growth techniques
suited for laboratories but not manufacturers.
MOCVD involves exposing a substrate to
high heat and chemicals, causing layers to
form on the substrate in an atomic-lattice
conguration. Unlike previous crystal-growth
techniques, MOCVD allows researchers to
fabricate cascade-laser structures with stages
composed of layers of varying composition.
Botez and Mawst are using the MOCVD
process to grow varying-composition
structures that prevent carrier leakage. To
compensate for the added strain caused in the
structure by creating deeper (quantum) wells,
they also create taller barriers. Now, rather
than electrons escaping from the system like
balls falling off a ladder, the system works
like a set of tiered boxes, with a ball get-
ting caught at each stage. This ensures that
electrons will efciently produce photonsin every stage of the cascade structure. The
new structure is called a deep-well quantum
cascade laser.
By suppressing carrier leakage, there is
about 2.5 times less heating in the device while
the laser is in continuous-wave operation,
says Botez. This is a dramatic improvement
that means the device will be almost
temperature insensitive.
The result will be continuous-wave lasers
that Botez anticipates will achieve at least
20 percent wall-plug efciency, which is the
electrical-to-optical power efciency of alaser system. Twenty percent efciency
would be roughly double the current world
record for practical continuous-wave quantum
cascade lasers.
This new structure, coupled with the fact
that MOCVD is a process suitable for mass
production, means that optimized mid-infra-
red lasers can become much more wide-
spread in medicine, the military and a wide
variety of industries.
The effect will be that as you get more
continuous wave power you should also get
better long-term reliability and stability, be-cause these lasers will be much less sensitive
to temperature variations than conventional
quantum cascade lasers, Botez says.
Botez and Mawst are actively interested
in commercializing the technology, which
is covered by two issued and one pending
U.S. patents through the Wisconsin Alumni
Research Foundation.
stuDeNt NeWs
Graduate student and under-
graduate student have received
a grant from the IEEE Standards Education
Committee for a project titled Characterization
of electron cyclotron resonance machine
magnetic eld parameters using IEEE standard
measurement practices. IEEE will publish their
nal project paper.
In March, PhD student received
a competitive UW-Madison PhD capstone
award, which recognizes students across
campus who have performed as outstanding
teaching assistants throughout their tenure.
A maximum of ve awards are presented
each year; students are nominated by faculty
and selected by a campus committee.
ECE student wins 2010 Alliant Energy/Erroll B. Davis Jr. Achievement Award
Shortly after graduating in December 2009 with his bachelors degree
in electrical and computer engineering, received the
prestigious Alliant Energy/Erroll B. Davis Jr. Achievement Award, which
recognizes outstanding scholarship and community service.
Adenle served for two years as the rst vice president of the NationalSociety of Black Engineers-WI Black Engineering Student Society. He also
started the diversity spring welcome event at the College of Engineering
to welcome underrepresented students to campus. Adenle has interned at the headquarters
of both General Electric and British Petroleum. Originally from Nigeria, Adenle has a long-
term dream of starting a non-prot organization dedicated to research and development
of solutions to energy shortage issues in African countries.
Adenle was presented with the award and $1,000 on Feb. 5, 2010, in Madison. Award
presenters included UW System President Kevin P. Reilly, UW System Senior Vice President
Rebecca Martin and Barbara Swan, executive vice president, general counsel and chief
administrative ofcer for A lliant Energy.
Solomons commitment and contributions show what one student can do to make the
UW experience richer both for himself and others. Students like Solomon are an inspiration
to all of us who urge our young people to put their talents to use to improve the society they
will soon lead, Reilly says.
The award is made possible by the Alliant Energy Foundation, which established an
endowment in 2007 in honor of former Alliant Energy CEO Erroll B. Davis Jr. Recipients of
the award represent undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented minority
groups pursuing degrees in engineering or business, two degrees held by Davis, who now
serves as Chancellor for the University of Georgia System. Recipients must be enrolled at
either UW-Madison or UW-Platteville, which are located in regions of the state where Alliant
Energy provides energy services.
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ECE NEWS12
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering1415 Engineering Dr.
Madison, WI 53706
is a newsetter or ani and riends o the uW-madison Deartent o Eectrica & oter Engineering.
prodced by: Engineering Externa Reations / Editor: Sandra knisey / Design: phi Bieb Paid for with private funds.ECE NEWSECE NEWS
Send address changes and other correspondence to:
(Continued from front page)
Recycled electrication system
The Microformer was recognized as the most
action-ready idea at the Climate Leadership
Challenge, which is staged by the UW-Madison
Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and
the Global Environment. The award comes
with a $50,000 cash prize, plus funds for
a promotional trip and a one-year lease for
space in the new University Research Park
Metro Innovation Center. Were excited to be
part of the innovation community over there
and nd resources to help us with the business
aspects of this, says Lee.
The team will form a company to ne-tune and
test the design, as well as begin implementing
the system in interested communities. The
students plan to sell affordable online kits that
instruct people how to build the system and
maintain it safely. Eventually, the group hopes to
expand to sell a variety of kits for constructing
renewable energy sources from local materials.
Fromleft:DanLudois,
JonathanLeeandPatric
ioMendozaAraya
After the earthquake that happened in Chile
[in February 2010], this is a good opportunity
for me to give back and encourage others that
things can be improved, says Mendoza.
The Microformer is based on the trans-
former inside microwave ovens. The trio put
the transformerwhich converts the 120
volts of electricity from standard wall outlets
into 2.5 kilovolts of potential powerinto
a metal paint can full of mineral oil, which
cools the transformer. The team then adds
a recycled spark plug to serve as an insulator
to move power in and out of the can.The resulting system provides enough
electricity to power a few lights, a small
refrigerator and other small electronics, such
as a cell phone charger or laptop. Essentially,
the Microformer can power a household in a
developing country with the electricity needs
equivalent to a typical U.S. dorm room.
A key aspect of Microformer is the cost:
A typical U.S. transformer costs more than
$1,000, but by using recycled materials, each
Microformer costs only $60-$70.