ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING TODAY

The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Boise State University invites you to attend a free public seminar hosted on Zoom. This week's seminar features Jon Scaggs, Laboratory Safety Specialist at Boise State University. August 26 @ 10:30 am  https://boisestate.zoom.us/j/92994002201 ABSTRACT |  Creating a robust and comprehensive safety program is the responsibility of everyone from the university administrators to the students working in each lab. A large part of this program is to ensure those that work in the labs receive appropriate and adequate lab safety training in accordance with the national hazardous communication standards. The annual safety seminar ensures everyone can recognize risks and hazard s associated with work in a lab and be able to analyze these risks for all associated first- and second-order impacts. Additionally, mitigation strategies are explained to allow lab operators to develop their own specific to their work. Lastly, everyone shoul...

ECE doctoral candidate Al-Amin Ahmed Simon was recently granted access to the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) as part of a Rapid Turnaround Experiment aimed at developing a better temperature sensor. The NSUF is a program established by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy for the purpose of accelerating nuclear power research. Specifically, they seek to understand how radiation affects existing and proposed reactor materials over time. Al-Amin and his collaborators have been developing sensors made for high-radiation environments. His team includes ECE masters student Lyle Jones, Dr. Isabella Van Rooyen from the Idaho National Lab, and Dr. Maria Mitkova, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Boise State. Al-Amin's research will provide reliability data about a new type of printed temperature sensor, which utilizes the phase-change property of chalcogenide glass.  Ultimately, this research will lead to an improved ability to measure temperatu...

Adam Croteau is pursuing his master of science in electrical and computer engineering at Boise State University.  Join us at 10 AM on Friday, July 10 , for a presentation of Croteau's thesis  Design and Characterization of Low-Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Arrays for Killing and Removing Bacterial Biofilms.   Image of a Floating Plasma Line Cold atmospheric pressure (CAP) plasma has found novel uses in the electronics, medical, and food processing industries. CAP devices that can remove or etch away bacterial biofilm are free from harmful cleaning chemicals and completely renewable. Devices such as these represent the next step in medical and agricultural sanitation and disinfection and are currently under testing and optimization at Boise State University.  Image of a Plasma Array This research highlights the current state-of-the-art in dielectric barrier discharge CAP devices at Boise State. Single line discharge devices and plasm...

Assistant professor of electrical & computer engineering and IDoTeach, Dr. Noah Salzman has been awarded funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a new project designed to transform undergraduate engineering education. The three-year grant provides nearly $600K to support curriculum development. The goal of Salzman’s project is to integrate concepts of sustainable and resilient design into engineering and construction management curricula. Sustainable engineering designs balance economic, ecological, and societal needs by being responsive to community impact, public health, and the environment. Resilient designs are durable. In adverse situations, they continue to function, resist damage, and recover quickly.  Students need training and hands-on experience applying these concepts to their engineering solutions. To help students develop these design skills, Salzman’s team plans to develop a set of active learning modules that incorporate sustainable and resili...

Dan Isla earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Boise State in 2009. After graduation, Isla launched his career working as a Data Scientist and Systems Architect for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. After nearly 8 years at JPL, Isla transitioned to his new role at Google as a Cloud Solutions Architect. Isla was recently invited to participate in a new online series hosted by the College of Engineering at Boise State where he'll be discussing careers at Google.   EE Alum Dan Isla Discusses Careers at Google -- 4 PM on Wednesday, July 8 Learn more about the new  Stay Connected, Get Connected  program.

ECE PhD Candidate Sumedha Dahl to present her dissertation The Effect of Radiation on Memristor-Based Electronic Spiking Neural Networks  on Wednesday, June 10. Spiking neural networks are designed to learn spatio-temporal patterns representing 25 and 100-pixel characters. Two-terminal resistive memory devices (memristors) are used as synapses to manipulate conductivity paths in the network. Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) learning behavior results in pattern learning and is achieved using biphasic shaped pre- and post-synaptic spikes. A TiO2 based non-linear drift model in Verilog-A is used to implement memristor behavior and is modified to include experimentally observed effects of state-altering, ionizing, and off-state degradation radiation on the device. Effects of state-altering radiation on the STDP learning rule, system stability, and pattern learning ability of the spiking neural network are observed. In general, radiation interaction events distort the STDP learn...

Facing furloughs? Worried about layoffs? Want to make yourself recession-proof? It isn't too late to sign up for fall classes. Brush up your skills or completely retool by enrolling in graduate programs at Boise State.   The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering wants to help local employees get back to school. For a limited time, application fees are waived for anyone using promo code STRONGERIDAHO. We've also suspended the requirement for GRE scores and extended our application deadline to July 15.  It has never been even easier to get started!  HOW TO APPLY Submit an online  application for admission  to the Graduate College. Remember, your application fee is waived with promo code STRONGERIDAHO, a savings of up to $95. Request  official transcripts  from each educational institution (excluding Boise State) attended beyond high school. Refer to our online application guide for info on required admissions documents.