7:30 am - 5:00 pm |
Registration |
8:30 am - 9:00 am |
Conference Opening
- Introductions: John Janowiak, Executive Director, ECEDHA
- President's Welcome: Zhihua Qu, Professor and Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Central Florida, President, ECEDHA
- Hosts' Welcome: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Institute, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of Miami,
- Conference Overview: Ashfaq Khokhar, Professor and Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Vice-President, ECEDHA
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9:00 am - 9:30am |
Association Updates & Open Forum
Speaker:
Zhihua Qu
Professor and Chair
University of Central Florida
Zhihua Qu has been with University of Central Florida since 1990 and currently is the Pegasus Professor and Chair of ECE Department as well as the SAIC Endowed Professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science. His areas of expertise are systems and nonlinear control, with applications to energy and power systems, autonomous vehicles and robotics. His most recent work focuses upon cooperative control and plug-and-play operation of networked and autonomous systems, distributed optimization and game algorithms, and resilient and intelligent networks. He received a service award from the ECEDHA. He is a Fellow of both IEEE and AAAS.
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9:30am - 10:30 am |
Keynote: Henrik Christensen, Director of the Institute for Contextual Robotics, University of California San Diego
Speaker:
Henrik Christensen
Director of the Institute for Contextual Robotics
University of California San Diego
Henrik I Christensen is the Qualcomm Chancellor's Chair of Robot Systems and the director of the Contextual Robotics Institute at UC San Diego and also a Professor of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Prior to this he served as the executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech.
Dr. Christensen was initially trained in Mechanical Engineering and worked subsequently with MAN/BW Diesel. He earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. EE degrees from Aalborg University, 1987 and 1990, respectively.
Upon graduation Dr. Christensen has participated in a large number of international research projects across 4 continents. He held positions at Aalborg University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology before and Georgia Tech before joining UC San Diego.
Dr. Christensen does research on robotics with a particular emphasis on a systems perspective to the problem. Solutions must have a strong theoretical basis, a corresponding well-defined implementation and it must be evaluated in realistic settings. There is a strong emphasis on “real systems for real applications!”
The research has involved collaborations with ABB, Electrolux, Daimler-Chrysler, KUKA, iRobot, Apple, Partek Forest, Volvo, SAIC, Boeing, GM, PSA Peugeot, BMW, Yujin, ...
Dr. Christensen has published more than 300 contributions across robotics, vision and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Christensen served as the Founding Chairman of EURON (1999-2006) and research coordinator for ECVision (2000-2004). He has lead and participated in a large number of EU projects such as VAP, CoSy, CogVis, SMART, CAMERA, EcVision, EURON, Cogniron, and Neurobotics. He served as the PI for the CCC initiative on US Robotics. He is a PI on ARL MAST CTA, the Robotics-Vo and a number of projects with industry. He was awarded the Joseph Engelberger Award 2011 and also named a Boeing Supplier of the Year 2011. He is a fellow of AAAS (2013) and IEEE (2015). He was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering (Dr. Techn. h.c.) from Aalborg University 2014.
Dr. Christensen has served / serves on the editorial board for many of the most prestigious journals in the field incl. Intl. Jour. of Robotics Research (IJRR), Autonomous Robots, Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), IEEE Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), and Image & Vision Computing. In addition, he serves on the editorial board of the MIT Series on Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents. He is the co-editor-in-chief of Trends and Foundations in Robotics.
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10:30 am - 10:45 am |
ECEDHA Photo Shoot |
10:45 am - 11:00am |
Networking Break |
11:00 am - 12:30 pm |
Next Generation Computing Plenary Panel
To date, progress in high performance computing has been stifled by fundamental roadblocks in energy consumption and thermal management owing to scaling limitations. Information processing has been based on basic Von Newmann computing architectures dictated by binary CMOS circuits. However, because of their scaling limitations, these traditional architectures cannot meet constantly growing demands any more. This is further aggravated by modern global developments related to security, energy, reliability and sustainability. Artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), machine learning, and brain-machine interface (BMI) are becoming indispensable concepts of everyday life. These concepts will revolutionize our lives if there are computing architectures to match the tasks. In-memory computing, neuromorphic computing and quantum computing (QC) are three of the most promising alternative and complementing computing architectures on the horizon. This panel will include three leading scientists in these respective fields. Reetu Das, Ivan Schuller, and Jungsang Kim will present the state-of-the-art and future perspectives for these emerging computing paradigms.
Organizer:
Michael Devetsikiotis
Professor and Chair
University of New Mexico
Michael Devetsikiotis joined the University of New Mexico in July 2016, as a Professor and the Chair of the ECE Department in the School of Engineering. His research work has resulted in 40 refereed journal articles, 140 refereed conference papers, and 62 invited presentations, in the area of design and performance evaluation of telecommunication networks, complex socio-technical and cyber-physical systems, efficient simulation, and smart grid communications. His work has received well over 4,800 citations. In 2017 he was inducted to the NC State ECE Alumni Hall of Fame. He is a Fellow of the IEEE since 2012.
Moderator:
Sakhrat Khizroev
Professor
University of Miami
Physicist and Electrical Engineer by training, Sakhrat Khizroev is a Professor at two FIU Colleges, Engineering and Medicine, respectively. His research focus is on the basic study of nanomagnetic and spintronic devices to enable leapfrog advances in a broad range of applications including next-generation information processing and nanomedicine. His background in a reverse chronological order is given below.
In 2011, Khizroev came back to FIU to undertake a challenging task of working hand-in-hand with his colleagues at the recently established Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine to create a world-class university-wide research initiative in the emerging field of patient- and disease-specific medicine (Personalized Nanomedicine). The main mission is to use nanotechnology to bridge advances in fundamental research with the current need in medicine. He started his medical career as a Professor at the Department of Immunology where he also served as Vice Chairman. Since 2014, Khizroev’s main appointment is at the Department of Cellular Biology and Pharmacology – the heart of cross-disciplinary research at the College of Medicine. From 2006 to 2011, Khizroev was a tenured faculty (Professor in 2009-2011 and Associate Professor in 2006-2008) at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of California, Riverside (UCR). He started his academic career in 2003 as an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at FIU, where he was tenured in 2005.
Panelists:
Reetuparna Das
Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Reetuparna Das is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Prior to this, she was a research scientist at Intel Labs, and the researcher-in-residence for the Center for Future Architectures Research. Some of her recent projects include in-memory architectures and custom computing for precision health and AI. She has received IEEE Top Picks awards, an NSF CAREER award, CRA-W's Borg Early Career Award, Intel's outstanding researcher award and Sloan Foundation Fellowship. Prof. Das has been inducted into IEEE/ACM MICRO and ISCA Hall of Fame. She also serves as the co-founder and CTO of a precision medicine start-up, Sequal Inc.
Ivan Schuller
Distinguished Professor;
Director Center for Advanced Nanoscience;
Director Energy Frontier Research Center on
Quantum-Materials for Energy Efficient Neuromorphic-Computing (Q-MEEN-C);
Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
University of California, San Diego
Prof. Ivan K. Schuller, the director of the Center for Advanced Nanoscience (CAN) at the University of California-San Diego, is a Solid State Physicist. He is winner of major awards such as the Lawrence Award from the US Department of Energy, and several awards from the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society and the International Union of Materials Research Societies. He has also won several EMMY and other television awards for his science related movies. Prof. Schuller received his Licenciado from the University of Chile, PhD from Northwestern University and an Honoris Causa Doctorate from the Spanish Universidad Complutense the largest European University. He is a member of the Latin American, Chilean, Spanish, Belgian and Colombian Academies of Science. His more than 600 papers and 20 patents have been dedicated to many aspects of solid state and materials physics in Nano and Meso science with possible applications to Neuromorphic Computing and Sensors. His extensive artistic activities have spanned the award winning production and writing of plays, movies, YouTube videos and acting in a variety of venues. He was recently elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jungsang Kim
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Physics and Computer Science
Duke University
Jungsang Kim leads the Multifunctional Integrated Systems Technology group at Duke University. His main area of current research is quantum information sciences, where his group uses trapped atomic ions and a range of photonics technologies in an effort to construct a scalable quantum information processors and quantum communication networks. His research focuses on introduction of new technologies, such as micro fabricated ion traps, optical micro-electromechanical systems, advanced single photon detectors, compact cryogenics and vacuum technologies, towards a functional integration of quantum information processing systems.
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12:30 pm - 2:00 pm |
Keynote Luncheon: Dr. Jeffrey Duerk, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, University of Miami
Speaker:
Jeffrey Duerk
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Provost
University of Miami
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jeffrey L. Duerk is the
University of Miami's chief academic officer, with appointing and oversight authority
concerning the deans of the 11 schools and colleges, as well as the senior administrators
involved with research, undergraduate and graduate education, and other academic
areas. He has primary responsibility for budgetary matters regarding academic and
research initiatives.
Duerk, former dean of the School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve
University, is an accomplished engineer and scientist, as well as a respected academic
with deep appreciation for the social sciences, the arts, and the humanities. Throughout
his distinguished career he has promoted many interdisciplinary research and
educational initiatives. A leading expert in biomedical imaging, especially magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI), he holds more than 40 patents and has been awarded
numerous National Institutes of Health and industry sponsored grants. He has published
nearly 200 peer reviewed scientific articles. In 2017 he was inducted as a fellow into the
National Academy of Inventors, which recognizes academic achievement, innovation,
and scientific discovery.
Duerk joined the Case Western faculty in 1988 and was appointed dean in 2012.
He was the founding director of the Case Center for Imaging Research, an innovative
and interdisciplinary center that brings together engineers, physicists, physicians,
biochemists, and radiochemists to explore and develop new biomedical imaging
technologies and translational applications. He was also a founding leader of the Cancer
Imaging Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. An advocate for study
abroad and international collaboration, Duerk was instrumental in either planning,
continuing, or putting in place research and student learning programs in Germany,
Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, China, Brazil, Romania, South Korea, Indonesia, and
other locations. He is a fellow of the IEEE, ISMRM, and AIMBE, among other professional
organizations.
He received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, his
M.S. in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. in biomedical
engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1987.
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12:30 pm - 4:00 pm |
ECE Communicators Session
This two-day program will provide the opportunity for ECE Communicators to come together to gain a greater understanding of how difficult it has become to educate the public and prospective students about ECE amid the noise of more popular programs.
Through ECEDHA's ECE Communicators Network, this program allows the opportunity to share best practices in educating the public and prospective students about the exciting field of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
To learn more about this session please visit the ECE Communicators Program page.
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2:00 pm - 3:30 pm |
Plenary Panel: Software Skill Needs in Tomorrow's ECE Workforce
The rigor and depth of the core ECE curricula has been validated as essential for decades. Yet as government, industrial, consumer, and enterprise systems continue to grow in complexity, an understanding of systems architecture, contextual machine learning, edge+cloud computing, and distributed software orchestration are becoming essential skills in industry. As Marc Andreessen famously said, “Software is eating the world”.Our challenge is to develop curricula that uniquely prepare ECE students to flourish as designers, implementers, and innovators in increasingly complex, “blended” systems. The key question is, how much software training is enough, and what, if anything, in our core curriculum must make way to ensure our students get the necessary training. Our panelists will discuss the balance between traditional ECE core training, and new skills in software design, architecture, and automation that ever- increasing systems complexity requires of our students.
Speaker:
Rick Gessner
COO, Goju Labs
Academic Coordinator and Lecturer
University of California, San Diego
Rick Gessner is a successful serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience
creating great technology product companies in California.
In 1995, Rick co-founded DigitalStyle, and created Gecko -- a revolutionary browser
platform acquired by Netscape and productized as the Firefox browser. The Gecko
platform produced numerous patents, and served as the basis for the modern model for
internet browsers with support for XML, CSS, XUL, dynamic HTML and more. Rick
holds several internet- related patents.
Rick served as Entrepreneur in Residence at Maveron, a Seattle VC firm found by
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Soon after, Rick was the 5th employee at a startup
called Bridgepoint Education, now a publicly traded for-profit online education company,
where he served as Chief Technology Officer from 2004-2010. Bridgepoint grew from
23 students to more than 80,000 online students today.
At Empowered Education, Rick was hired as Chief Architect, helping to develop a worldclass social learning platform. He was promoted to Chief Innovation Officer, where he
was responsible for the ensuring that Empowered products retain the cutting edge
necessary to provide customers with a fulfilling, engaging and delightful experience.
Empowered Ed. was acquired in 2016 by Qualcomm.
Today, Rick owns and operates a technology incubator called Goju Labs. He is also a
professor at UCSD, currently teaching “The Art of Product Engineering” to future
generations of entrepreneurial engineers.
Rick works and lives with his wife and three daughters in sunny San Diego. He enjoys a
vibrant outdoor lifestyle, is a ranked black-belt in Goju Ryu Karate and Aikido, and a
committed dad. Rick’s ongoing involvement in his community includes teaching selfdefense classes to raise money for San Diego Youth Charities, teaching
entrepreneurialism to local students, and as an assistant coach to his local high-school
football team.
Jerry Doorenbos
TI Fellow and Chief Technologist
Amplifiers Business Unit
Texas Instruments
Jerry Doorenbos is a TI Fellow and Chief Technologist for the Amplifiers Business Unit at Texas Instruments. Jerry’s previous roles include mixed signal design engineer, engineering manager, and test engineer. He has developed many integrated circuits including amplifiers, ADCs, DACs, and temperature sensors. Jerry is involved in TI’s university research and recruiting programs. Jerry is a member of the Iowa State University ECE Advisory Board and Arizona State University ECE Advisory Board. Jerry has a BSEE from Iowa State University and resides in Tucson, Arizona.
Ben White
Boeing Defense & Space Business Unit
Works Near Boeing Field in Systems Engineering (Systems Capabilities)
Boeing
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3:30 pm - 4:00 pm |
Networking Break |
4:00pm - 4:45pm |
Keynote:
Speaker:
Babak Parviz
Vice President
Amazon
Babak Parviz is a Vice President at Amazon.com. He received his BA in Literature from University of
Washington, BS in Electronics from Sharif University of Technology, MS in Physics from University of
Michigan, MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Univ. of Michigan; and completed his postdoctoral
fellowship in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Prior to joining Amazon he was with
Google as a Google Distinguished Engineer and a Director at Google [x]. He is the creator of Google
Glass. He founded, built, and led the Glass program till 2013, founded the robotics surgery program (now
an independent company, Verb Surgical), and co-founded the Smart Contact Lens program at Google
(now a joint collaboration with Novartis). He co-invented the biosensing technology resulting in the
founding of Claros Diagnostics Inc. (acquired by OPKO). His research, engineering, and development
interests span novel computing and communication paradigms, high-tech with social impact,
bionanotechnology, bioengineering, MEMS, nano-scale devices, and photonics. His work has been put
on display at the London Museum of Science and has received numerous recognitions and awards
including National Science Foundation Career Award, MIT Technology Review 35, Time magazine’s best
invention of the year (2008 and 2012), IEEE CAS Industrial Pioneer Award, Your Health Top 10 Medical
advance of the year, and About.com top invention and has been reported on in thousands of articles
worldwide. He was selected by Ad Age as one of the 50 most creative people in the United States. Last
year he received the University of Michigan Bicentennial Alumni Award.
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4:45 pm - 5:30 pm |
Keynote: Rico Malvar, Distinguished Engineer and the Chief Scientist, Microsoft
Information technology has evolved significantly over the past couple of decades. New kinds of computers, with new kinds of processors, storage, and input / output systems are evolving rapidly. In this talk we explore some of the new opportunities, from the lens of the evolution of new computing and information systems at Microsoft. We look into new computing, storage, and communication approaches, which are driving new designs for cloud-bases computing systems. These new capabilities are in big part driven by the needs and opportunities of processing vast amounts of data with new artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. We look into new scenarios where the combination of AI, cloud computing, and Internet of Things are leading to significant disruptions in traditional business. These new opportunities for business impact need tighter integration of many capabilities within ECE areas, leading to interesting new opportunities for career profiles and curriculum evolution for ECE programs. We look into specific examples in new data storage systems, new capabilities in healthcare, and new interfaces for accessibility.
Rico Malvar
Distinguished Engineer and Chief Scientist
Microsoft
Rico Malvar is a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer and the Chief Scientist for Microsoft Research. He joined Microsoft Research in 1997, founding the signal processing group, which developed new technologies such as new media compression formats used in Windows, Xbox, and Office, and audio technologies used in Windows, Xbox, Kinect, and HoloLens. Currently he also heads the MSR NExT Enable group, which develops technologies for people with disabilities. Rico was a key architect for the WMA and JPEG XR formats and made key contributions to the H.264 video format, used by most Web video services. Prior to Microsoft, Rico was Vice President for Research at PictureTel Corp. Rico received a Ph.D. from MIT (1986) and is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the Brazilian Academies of Science and Engineering. He has over 120 issued US patents and over 160 publications. He is an IEEE Fellow and has received many awards, including a Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society.
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5:30pm - 6:30pm
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Corporate Focus Groups
Academics Only
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6:30 pm - 8:30 pm |
Evening Reception
Sponsored by: Keysight Technologies

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