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Events for September 06, 2013
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CENT Distinguished Speaker Series
Fri, Sep 06, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jerry M. Woodall, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis
Talk Title: High Impact Alternative R&D at a University
Abstract: This presentation is about game changing alternative energy R&D at a university. This is not an easy career path, because if you have a great idea that will likely be a game changer, but not on some agency’s roadmap, you most likely won’t get funded. This is why most tenure track and mid-career professors chose to chase the money in-stead. This situation is particularly onerous for those working in the alternative energy fields such as photovoltaics (PVs), energy storage, and energy conversion. And because agencies fund “roadmaps” rather than fund track record and great practical ideas that could lead to “products” and not just mostly unread Ph.D theses, the US will not be among those nations who reap the economic benefits of the alternative energy industries. In spite of this situation I have chosen to work on high impact alternative energy projects. My presentation will cover the highlights of my self-defined alternative energy programs, which, if successful, will lead to new alternative energy products. These include a solar power conversion project and a project that uses bulk aluminum rich alloys for large scale and safe energy storage, which splits water to make hydrogen on-demand. My presentation will include a discussion of why, in my opinion, the government funding agencies are not supporting the academic community in performing high risk but high impact R&D so desperately needed by the US technology based economy.
Biography: Jerry M. Woodall, a National Medal of Technology Laureate, and Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis, received a B.S. in metallurgy in 1960 from MIT. In 1982, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. He pioneered and patented the development of GaAs high efficiency IR LEDs, used in remote control and data link applications such as TV sets and IR LAN. This was followed by the invention and seminal work on gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) and GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunctions used in super-bright red LEDs and lasers found in, for example, CD players and short link optical fiber communications. He also pioneered and patented the GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor used in, for example, cellular phones. Also, using GaAs/InGaAs strained, non-lattice-matched heterostructures, he pioneered the “pseudomorphic” high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), a state-of-the-art high speed device widely used in cellular phones. He is cur-rently developing a high speed, high power HBT fabricated with merged III-V and III-N materials, small scale photo thermal solar energy converters, and developing a new company to market ultra high purity hydrogen and UHP alumina by splitting water with aluminum-gallium alloys.
Host: Center for Energy Nanoscience and Technology
More Information: Woodall.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eliza Aceves
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Sep 06, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Ken Cooper, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Talk Title: Terahertz Imaging Radar for Personal Screening Applications
Abstract: A summary of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s 675 GHz imaging radar will be presented, with an emphasis on several key design aspects that enable fast, reliable through-clothes imaging of person-borne concealed objects for standoff ranges out to 40 m. These include a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar technique with a 30 GHz bandwidth to achieve sub-centimeter range resolution, software to compensate for signal distortion and generate clear imagery, a low-noise microwave chirp generator, and a high-performance 675 GHz transceiver. The radar’s optical design will also be described, which enables fast beam scanning for real-time frame rates of 4 Hz, as well as agile re-focusing over a large fractional range swath. Still faster speeds are on the horizon as multi-beam THz transceivers are developed.
Biography: Ken Cooper received an A.B. degree in physics from Harvard College in 1997, and a Ph.D. degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 2003. Following postdoctoral research in superconducting microwave devices, he joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an RF Engineer in 2006. At JPL he has led an effort to develop terahertz imaging radars and transceiver arrays for national security applications. His research interests include submillimeter-wave radar, radiometry, spectroscopy, and device physics.
Host: Hossien Hashemi, Mike Chen, Mahta Moghaddam, Kunal Datta
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/
More Information: Ken Cooper_Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Danielle Hamra
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/activities/integrated-systems/
