Electrical and Computer Engineering

High schoolers explore renewable energy engineering at Mason Square summer camp

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:39:36 +0000

High schoolers explore renewable energy engineering at Mason Square summer camp Teresa Donnellan Mon, 08/26/2024 - 12:39

Fourteen local high school students from six school districts spent a week in August delving into renewable energy engineering at ��AV’s Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp, held at Mason Square. Liling Huang, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Dominion Energy Faculty Fellow, led the camp sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS) from August 5 to 9.

Students learn about solar panels during the Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp. Photo courtesy of the Power Grid Lab.

Throughout the week, students engaged in activities designed to spark their interest in environmental stewardship and engineering excellence. The camp offered a mix of interactive sessions, hands-on labs, and group projects, all aimed at providing a foundational understanding of renewable energy engineering. Industry professionals from organizations such as Dominion Energy and the Solar Hands-On Instructional Network of Excellence (SHINE) contributed their expertise, giving students real-world insights into the energy sector.

The camp culminated in a two-part event on the final day. First, a panel of renewable energy professionals shared their experiences and advice with the campers. Panelists represented a broad spectrum of the industry, including AES Corporation, AWS, Dominion Energy, Hispanics in Energy, MPR Associates, Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC), and SHINE.

Students work on model town during the Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp. Photo courtesy of the Power Grid Lab.

"You all are choosing a field that's very exciting, and there's really an opportunity for you to have huge impact, whether it's here or abroad," said George Mason’s Liza Wilson Durant, Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement, addressing the campers as she introduced the panelists.

The panelists discussed the future energy landscape, the integration of renewable resources with traditional power grids, and the various career paths available in the power and energy sector. They also highlighted the importance of continuous learning and flexibility.

SHINE Executive Director David Peterson summed up his advice with a lyric by the Avett Brothers: “Decide what to be, and go be it.” He emphasized the importance of committing to a path without being overly concerned with immediate decisions. Nicholas Lee-Romagnolo, program lead of workforce and economic development at AWS, agreed, explaining that careers are more like jungle gyms than ladders: There are many different paths upward.

Industry panel closing GMU Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp. Photo courtesy of the Power Grid Lab.

Lee-Romagnolo also advised the campers to pay attention to the culture of their environment throughout their academic and professional careers.

“It's very difficult to change the culture that you go into. Often you as an individual change and become more like that culture, so be aware of and thoughtful about those groups that you enter into,” he explained, adding, “None of us learns or works individually, and the team that you choose will matter every single time.”

Following the panel, the students presented their main project—a model town powered entirely by renewable, clean energy. The model featured working offshore wind turbines and small solar panels that powered a lamp and fans inside the town's model houses and data centers. The students took on various roles in planning the town, addressing engineering, financial, regulatory, and social challenges. The model town was designed as a coastal Virginia community, with considerations for local population dynamics and environmental sustainability.

The campers expressed pride in their work, noting how much they had learned during the week. When asked who was planning to study energy engineering in the future, twelve of the fourteen students raised their hands.

CEC Dean Ken Ball with staff and campers of Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp. Photo by Bonnie Crews.

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Mason, AWS partner on renewable energy lab and Sustainable Data Center Engineering concentration

Martha Bushong — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 19:00:41 +0000

Mason, AWS partner on renewable energy lab and Sustainable Data Center Engineering concentration Martha Bushong Fri, 03/01/2024 - 14:00

The significant demand for data centers and their impact on global energy requires new models for renewable and sustainable energy systems. Working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), ��AV will unveil a renewable energy lab within Fuse at Mason Square and launch a companion curriculum concentration in sustainable data center engineering this fall 2024.

“We are very appreciative of our continuing partnership with AWS,” Mason President Gregory Washington said. “Because of their support, we are providing our students and faculty with cutting-edge technology and tools that unite our researchers across many disciplines to further their knowledge about data centers. With this level of education and experience, our students are well-prepared to enter the tech workforce.”

“Investing in expanded laboratory experiences for students is critical,” Nicholas Lee-Romagnolo, program lead of workforce and economic development at AWS, said. “George Mason students from all disciplines will have access to real-world technologies and hands-on simulations. This type of immersive learning complements the breadth of new programs offered to students and helps ensure they have the opportunity to develop the skills needed to fill high-demand jobs across the region.”

The new concentration in sustainable data center engineering will focus on renewable energy generation, storage, and distribution training and hands-on experience. The course builds upon the Data Center Engineering course launched last year that develops student expertise in data center infrastructure design, operations, efficiency, cooling, and decarbonization.

President Gregory Washington (right) visits student demonstrations at Fuse Topping Out event. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding.

With advanced equipment and software tools funded by AWS, Mason’s new Renewable Energy Lab will allow students to explore, analyze, and simulate data related to renewable energy sources as well as the complex design and operation of microgrids. The lab will replicate real-world equipment such as power grids, wind power plants, and other renewable energy sources.

“AWS’s investment in the renewable energy lab provides another critical piece to Mason’s experiential ecosystem designed to prepare the next generation of engineers for roles that did not exist 10 years ago. Mason will now expand the number of students in our power engineering and data center engineering programs with hands-on skills development, which is essential to bridge between the classroom and industry practice,” said Liza Wilson Durant, associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement.

The new lab will be based at Fuse at Mason Square and is part of a broad partnership with Amazon. This project also strengthens Mason’s participation in the Tech Talent Investment Program (TTIP), a statewide program that aims to increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students completing degrees in the fields of computer science, applied computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering.

Kamaljeet Sanghera, executive director for the Institute for Digital Innovation (IDIA) adds, “Mason consistently delivers on its promise to foster collaboration across disciplines and industries not only to deliver the best student experience but also to advance critical solutions to the nation’s grandest challenges.”

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Gregory Washington

Kamaljeet Sanghera

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College of Engineering and Computing launches graduate certificate programs in AI, microfabriction, smart grid technology, and machine learning

Teresa Donnellan — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 17:34:57 +0000

College of Engineering and Computing launches graduate certificate programs in AI, microfabriction, smart grid technology, and machine learning Teresa Donnellan Thu, 02/29/2024 - 12:34

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In response to the evolving demands of the engineering industry, ��AV's College of Engineering and Computing is launching four new graduate certificate programs, offering specialized training in burgeoning areas within mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, systems engineering and operations research, and computer science. These programs will equip students with the skills and expertise needed to excel in tomorrow’s job market.

Responsible Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate

Under the guidance of Missy Cummings, a professor and the director of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC), the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Graduate Certificate program addresses the pressing need for thoughtful AI integration into various industries.

Missy Cummings

“With the rise of large language models like ChatGPT, there is a critical need for companies to develop strategies for effectively and safely integrating AI into their systems. The Mason approach to Responsible AI emphasizes both rigorous technical and sociotechnical approaches to identifying and mitigating AI risks while achieving value-added outcomes,” said Cummings.

Ideal candidates for this certificate program are “people responsible for ensuring the safe and efficacious adoption of AI into their companies or agencies who want to develop and update their skills to understand the design, testing, and implementation of cutting-edge technology,” she added.

Cummings especially looks forward to teaching the AI Design and Deployment Risks class, she said, “because we analyze current and pressing issues surrounding the risks of deploying AI. The combination of theory and practice is critical to understanding these issues, as well as developing the technology and policy mitigations needed to ensure safe and efficacious AI.”

Microfabrication Graduate Certificate

Led by assistant professor Pei Dong, the Microfabrication Graduate Certificate program addresses the growing demand for multidisciplinary training in the manufacturing sector. With a focus on practical training opportunities facilitated by Mason's new cleanroom facility, this program prepares students for rewarding careers filling societal needs and industry demands.

Pei Dong

“Mason has demonstrated extensive expertise in this field for an extended period,” said Dong. “The new research facility now offers hands-on training opportunities for students, marking an exciting development. We believe the timing is perfect to launch the program.”

While the program is designed to benefit Mason graduate students in engineering and science, Dong noted, those with a bachelor’s in a STEM field from outside of the university can also enroll.

“I am thrilled about the four courses currently available to students,” said Dong. “The tremendous support from the Mechanical Engineering Department, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the Physics and Astronomy Department and the cleanroom team, ensure that these courses offer comprehensive training from both engineering and science perspectives.”

Smart Grid Technology Graduate Certificate

Associate professor Liling Huang spearheaded the creation of the Smart Grid Technology Graduate Certificate program for engineers interested in modernizing power grids with sustainability goals in mind.

Liling Huang

“The need for this program was identified through extensive market research and engaging with industry experts,” explained Huang. “We recognized a growing demand for professionals skilled in smart grid technology, driven by the imperative of modernizing power grids and meeting sustainability goals. The demand for smart grid technology is expected to continue growing, making it an exciting field for professionals to pursue.”

Ideal for professionals in the utility and energy sectors, this program offers comprehensive training in smart grid technology, addressing critical societal and economic issues such as energy sustainability and grid resilience.

Passionate about teaching power and energy courses, Huang is particularly excited about teaching ECE 518 Power System Protection and Control. She said that the contents of that course are “paramount in ensuring the reliability and stability of the energy infrastructure.

“This course incorporates hands-on experiments supported by the cutting-edge facilities in the Smart Grid Lab at Mason Square,” Huang noted. “I believe these practical experiments will provide students with invaluable insights into real-world applications and deepen their understanding of smart grid design, operation, and dynamics.”

Machine Learning for Embedded Systems Graduate Certificate

The Machine Learning for Embedded Systems Graduate Certificate program will equip students with the skills needed to harness the power of machine learning within computing systems, such as those in autonomous vehicles, medical devices, and smart appliances.

Maryam Parsa and team

“As machine learning models become more complex, their energy consumption and demand for computational resources grow,” said Maryam Parsa, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, who will be teaching in the program. “By focusing on embedded [computer] systems, this program contributes to the development of energy-efficient machine learning implementations, crucial for reducing the carbon footprint of digital technologies.”

In addition, Parsa noted, the program will address the importance of data privacy and security in embedded systems.

With electives in neuromorphic computing, big data technologies, and hardware accelerators for machine learning, among other topics, this program prepares alumni of computer or electrical engineering students to tackle complex machine learning challenges. Parsa added the program would be appropriate for “embedded software developers writing code for microcontrollers” and “hardware designers who do not have a background in machine learning.”

With a diverse range of new offerings, Mason continues to lead the way in engineering education and research. These four certificate programs represent the university's commitment to providing in-demand education and preparing future engineers and technologists to address the challenges of tomorrow.

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Quantum conundrums: Navigating noise and enhancing expertise

Nathan Kahl — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 14:12:07 +0000

Quantum conundrums: Navigating noise and enhancing expertise Nathan Kahl Wed, 08/23/2023 - 10:12

There’s a joke, playing on the quantum world’s unique properties, that goes, “There are three types of people in this world: Those who understand quantum computing, those who don’t understand quantum computing, and those who simultaneously do and do not understand quantum computing.” All kidding aside, Weiwen Jiang sees a world in which quantum computing is in widespread use; with new funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he is taking steps toward that goal.

Weiwen Jiang. Photo provided

Jiang, an assistant professor in ��AV’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is leading two recently awarded NSF projects—worth a total $900,000—for work on the development of these complex devices and on building the quantum workforce of tomorrow.

Quantum computers differ from classical computers in that they use elements of quantum mechanics to perform calculations, allowing them to operate much faster and crunch more data. While there are several operational quantum computers in use—IBM and Google are among the top manufacturers—they currently are far from their promised potential and simply cannot yet make the large-scale calculations predicted of them.

Jiang said one key problem is, “They are not ‘stable.’ We can use them for computations, but you might get one answer today and then get an entirely different answer tomorrow.”

Quantum devices are notoriously susceptible to “noise”—specifically, things like cosmic rays, changes in the Earth's magnetic field, radiation, and even mobile Wi-Fi signals. The noise contributes to the devices’ instability.

The $600,000 collaborative grant will fund the work of Jiang and his collaborators from Kent State University in developing an adaptor that will adjust to fluctuating noise, improving the performance of applications on quantum devices. Jiang is well versed on the topic, having recently won the Best Poster Award for “System-level optimizations in improving the robustness of quantum applications on unstable quantum devices” at an event at Oak Ridge National Lab.

According to Jiang’s preliminary works, the deployment of the quantum applications faces several challenges, including sustainability—on one quantum processor, most quantum applications are sensitive to the temporal changes of quantum noise; portability—different quantum processors (even from the same vendor) with specific properties will lead to variation of model uncertainty; and transparency—a lack of visualization tools can block users from tailoring their quantum applications to quantum computers for higher reliability. The NSF project will systematically provide solutions in response to these challenges.

Jiang is optimistic about the future of quantum computing: “Every year, we see a lot of breakthroughs. Just a couple of months ago IBM published a paper on noise reduction. And every year, we see that the number of qubits in quantum computers increases from five in the year 2000 to over 400 on a new computer from IBM.” (A qubit is the basic unit of information used in quantum computing, much like a 1 and 0 for traditional computing.)

Another grant, which Jiang shares with collaborators Mingzhen Tian and Jessica Rosenberg in the College of Science, provides $300,000 from NSF to bolster the quantum workforce pipeline. The grant is for “an end-to-end quantum system integration training program.” The faculty members are developing a new course at Mason, organizing workshops at the IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing in September (where Jiang is the quantum system track co-chair), and conducting tutorials at international conferences. Recently the team, led by Rosenberg, coordinated a summer immersion program at Mason for high school students. In addition, in the coming months, Jiang will be conducting seminars at a variety of minority-serving institutions in the DC region.

Jiang said the opportunities for quantum-trained engineers are robust and growing. “I have collaborations locally with Leidos and MITRE, for example, and they have needs in this field. Further, we know that quantum will make a difference in everything from finance to drug discovery to machine learning and beyond.”

He is encouraged about the quantum future—both in the world and here at Mason. He stressed that as student demand grows for this technology, “we need to provide the appropriate materials for our students because we’re seeing a lot of strong interest in this field.”

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From ChatGPT to Tesla’s Autopilot, Mason professor Missy Cummings isn’t afraid to call out bad tech

Melanie Balog — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 19:01:27 +0000

From ChatGPT to Tesla’s Autopilot, Mason professor Missy Cummings isn’t afraid to call out bad tech Melanie Balog Fri, 02/03/2023 - 14:01

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Missy Cummings

Missy Cummings.
Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

Missy Cummings made her name as one of the United States’ first female fighter pilots. But it is also in her current career researching artificial intelligence, human-autonomous system collaboration, and the socio-ethical impact of technology, that she has made headlines.

Cummings, a ��AV professor in the computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering departments of the College of Engineering and Computing, calls herself a “tech futurist,” whose job is to “make tech work. It’s not to stop tech, it’s to help it get better.”

One of the ways she does that is to call it as she sees it, such as her take on ChatGPT.

“If you really pay attention, you can see very quickly how wrong and dangerous disinformation coming from something like ChatGPT could be,” she says. “Intelligence technologies are advancing so rapidly, what we’re not doing is keeping up with allowing people to get educated in how to think about the design frameworks behind when you should have these systems. Why should you have these systems? What requirements are they really meeting? And, then, how should I test these systems to make sure they are sufficient?”

As a safety advisor from 2021 to 2023 for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), she also has a good grasp on the evolution of self-driving cars, particularly when it comes to Teslas.

“I think they are great cars. I am not anti-Tesla. But I will tell you … I just really hate bad tech. And if you’ve got some bad tech that is really dangerous, I’m going to call you out on it. The problem is, do not drive your Teslas on Autopilot without paying full and absolute attention and keeping your hands on the wheel.”

The dangers:

“This phantom braking issue, where the car sees something and then decides to dramatically decelerate, that is not just a Tesla problem. We see it in many other kinds of autonomous vehicles. They’re just not reliable enough to ‘see’ the world in the way we do. We’ve done some testing with Teslas in my own lab where we can see a statistical correlation with the sun going behind clouds. Even that is enough to potentially trigger a problem with the vision system. That’s just one of the many problems, and that’s the tech problem.”

On safety features vs. convenience features:

“In automation, there are two different kinds of cars. There’s auto-emergency braking, the front collision warning, these kinds of safety devices. They are working and we can see that decreases [crashes]. But [GM’s] Super Cruise, [Ford’s] BlueCruise, these are convenience features that do latitudinal and longitudinal control for you. They’re doing acceleration for you and steering. The jury is very much out. Having come from NHTSA, I did the analysis myself on all the crash data we have, and I will tell you that if you are in an accident in a car with these convenience features, you are statistically more likely to be seriously injured or killed.”

On industry guardrails:

“There are so many good things to love about Tesla… but Tesla had some questionable design decisions about letting people be hands-free. But now all the other car companies are modeling after Tesla, and I do not think we should allow that. No car, not Tesla, not Ford, not GM, no car with any driver assist should allow you to be hands-free. Tesla’s a great car except for this bad Autopilot. When you have your hands free, it basically promotes you into complacency. So I can like the car, but not the feature.”

How long until the technology is ready for prime time:

“We’re not even close. We will see in the short term, small-mile delivery is probably where we’ll see that happen. But if you’re asking me, should I go ahead and start investing in self-driving cars because they’re going to start turning a profit next year, I don’t know when that year is going to be.”

Missy Cummings can be reached at cummings@gmu.edu.

For more information, contact Damian Cristodero at dcristod@gmu.edu or 703-993-9118.

About George Mason
��AV is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls nearly 40,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility. Learn more at www.gmu.edu.

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Khaled Khasawneh receives NSF Awards in collaboration with University of California

Rena Malai — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 19:23:16 +0000

Khaled Khasawneh receives NSF Awards in collaboration with University of California Rena Malai Mon, 08/15/2022 - 15:23

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Khaled Khasawneh

Khaled N. Khasawneh, assistant professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the director of the Computer Architecture, Machine Learning, and Security (CAMLsec) Lab, has been awarded two NSF grants. These grants are in collaboration with University of California (UC) Davis and UC Riverside, and total $2.4M.

“These are timely awards to allow my group to continue pursuing cutting edge research in machine learning security, cloud security, and hardware security fields,” says Khasawneh. “Special thanks to NSF for their funding. I appreciate the efforts of my collaborators, the endless support from our department, and the efforts of the talented students in my group.”

Award 1: Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Targeted Microarchitectural Attacks and Defenses in Cloud Infrastructure

Cloud computing paradigms have emerged as a major facility to store and process massive amounts of data produced by various business units, public organizations, Internet-of-Things, and cyber-physical systems. The cloud scheduler is the component responsible for deciding which computer a cloud application should run. The current design of cloud schedulers only focuses on meeting the performance requirements of submitted applications without security considerations.

This project, in collaboration with professor Houman Homayoun’s lLab at UC Davis, examines how cloud schedulers can be exploited by attackers to facilitate targeted micro-architectural attacks in cloud environments. The project also explores novel approaches to defend against targeted micro-architectural attacks in the cloud.

Award 2: Collaborative Research: SHF: Medium: Approximate Computing for Machine Learning Security: Foundations and Accelerator Design

Advances in Deep Neural Networks (DNN) have enabled a wide range of promising applications. However, DNNs are vulnerable to Adversarial Machine Learning attacks, with potentially dangerous outcomes, such as mistaking a stop sign for a speed limit sign.

This project, in collaboration with professors Nael Abu-Ghazaleh and Samet Oymak at UC Riverside, will explore the use of approximate computing to improve the robustness of DNNs against adversarial attacks. Approximate computing is a design paradigm that trades results precision for simpler hardware.

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Electrical and Computer Engineering seniors excel in space and satellite student competition

Tama Moni — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 13:28:09 +0000

Electrical and Computer Engineering seniors excel in space and satellite student competition Tama Moni Wed, 06/08/2022 - 09:28

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Peter Pachowicz

A team of seniors from the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department combined their knowledge and skills to win the Space and Satellites Professionals International (SSPI) student prize competition.

Kelsey Schneider, the team’s leader, says they designed a satellite radar system to extract and transmit data from one antenna to another. Schneider says the satellite radar systems at space stations contain large and expensive antennas for this purpose. She says space stations use the Synthetic Aperture Radar System – SARS – to monitor a planet’s environment.

“The goal was to build a low-cost, low-size, weight and power synthetic aperture system,” Schneider said. “Our antennae was only about four inches in diameter.”

She said the satellite radar system transmits electrical waves and transmits data when the radar detects an object. Then the electrical waves bounce off the object and get sent back to the radar system. The radar then transmits the data through the antennas. They used a computer algorithm to convert the received data into an image.

Schneider said the hardest part of the competition was finding a balance between the technical and non-technical language used to explain the project to an easy-to-understand presentation. “You can’t be so nontechnical that it just doesn’t make sense,” Schneider said. “You don’t want it to sound silly.”

The competition featured a variety of competitors, ranging from graduate students to PhD students both competing as teams and individuals.

“We just felt really grateful. There were a lot of other really good projects and presentations we got to see. So, we were just really honored that they chose us out of the other teams.”

The competition was hosted by SSPI, who had reached out to Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Peter Pachowicz and Jay Deorukhkar, a PhD student and teaching assistant in the ECE department.

Deorukhkar was assigned to the team’s senior design class. While looking for projects to nominate, he reached out to Qiliang Li, a professor in the ECE department, who is the faculty advisor for the senior design projects.

As for how he feels about this team’s win in the SSPI competition: “Since we did not compete last year, it was great to see them participate and win this year."

The team also won the ECE award for their senior design project. The competition took place on May 12, 2022.

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Mason alum Marc Christensen named Clarkson University President

Tama Moni — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 17:24:48 +0000

Mason alum Marc Christensen named Clarkson University President Tama Moni Tue, 04/19/2022 - 13:24

Meet Marc Christensen, the new
president at Clarkson University
and Mason alum.

George Mason alum Marc Christensen (MS in Electrical Engineering, 1998; PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2001) will become the 17th president of Clarkson University, with its main campus in Potsdam, NY, on July 1. Marc was most recently the dean of the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, a post he held for nine years.

In a recent conversation, Marc looked back fondly at his time here at Mason.

“I owe so much to people there,” Marc noted. “Michael (Mike) Haney was my PhD advisor. He was actually my supervisor when I was a co-op student at a defense contractor. He told me in my second week as a permanent hire that he was going into academia. I wasn’t thinking about grad school at the time, but he told me it was time to start.” Marc credits him for instilling some important leadership qualities. “He taught me that a leader was responsible for getting the resources needed for the people reporting to them, and keeping the things flowing downstream off their shoulders, so they can get their job done. That has stuck with me my entire career. Much of what I know today about leadership, I learned from Mike in those early years.

“Ravi Athale was the professor who recruited Mike to Mason. As a co-op student, I used to sit in Ravi’s old office at the defense contractor,” Marc mused. “Once I was at Mason, a typical Friday afternoon was spent with Mike and Ravi pondering patterns and underlying principles in the science. Ravi’s holistic approach always had me looking for underlying connections.”

Marc also cited former Mason Professor Geoffrey Orsak, from whom he took his very first class, as having a big impact. Orsak moved on to Southern Methodist University (SMU) and brought Marc to SMU’s engineering school when he heard Marc was looking to go into academia. Marc said, “This gave me a tremendous opportunity to be involved with the strategic plan for the school and to learn strategic planning from Bobby Lyle, who went on to become the school’s namesake in 2008. When Geoffrey left SMU years later, I became dean.”

He noted that his time as a grad student was during a turning point for Mason and its engineering program. “I was their first PhD in electrical and computer engineering. Prior to that, it was in ‘information technology.’ My bachelor’s degree is in engineering physics, which I always have to explain, so when I learned I could have a PhD in something with a name that everyone could recognize, I held on until all the paperwork was in place for the new name. And because I was first, I think I had the most rigorous qualifying exam that’s ever been administered! At least the department chair at the time seemed intent on making sure that was so.”

Marc was well aware of the transformation Mason has undergone. “Campus was a lot different when I was there. I was one of those commuter students working full time for a defense contractor. It’s not the sleepy school I went to anymore. I think Ken Ball has been doing an incredible job as Dean. Mason’s engineering and computer science programs have really transformed under his leadership.”

Marc’s burgeoning family started right here in Northern Virginia. “I met my wife, Seema, when I was a co-op student and my eldest daughter was born the month I defended my master’s thesis. I was either writing proposals for federal funding, my dissertation, or something else, so I had tremendous support from my wife, who was a working engineer until we started our family.

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Students' sustainable fridge supplies solution to food waste

Tama Moni — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 18:26:17 +0000

Students' sustainable fridge supplies solution to food waste Tama Moni Tue, 04/12/2022 - 14:26

In This Story

Nathalia Peixoto

This fridge contains four coolers regulated by temperature
and humidity, using a computer program created
by Cameron Flores.

Mason engineering students are known for being resourceful in finding materials for their design projects all on an affordable budget. Electrical and Computer Engineering students, Cameron Flores and Nestor Arellano did just that with their senior design project building a sustainable refrigerator. This four-person team funded their project with their own money before receiving a $1,000 grant from the Patriot Green Fund.

Flores says his team looked at places like Facebook Marketplace and private sellers to find an average-cost fridge that would work for their project. “We went with what would be one [fridge] that we know that worked, two that did not smell, and three, was not infested with any ants or insects or cockroaches,” Flores says. They settled on a model, just under six feet tall, from a warehouse in Woodbridge and transported it from Arellano's work truck to their lab on the fourth floor of Peterson Hall. “Our budget was considerably smaller, and we had to go pick it up ourselves and move it around campus,” Arellano says.

Flores says the fridge works by regulating the temperature and humidity in the four coolers through manual input and automatic control. “They [consumers] put in one of the four pre-selected temperatures that they want.” The automatic setting evaluates the temperature and humidity of each cooler and balances it. “It will check the temperature levels and the humidity levels in each of them and look at the greatest difference.” The team’s goal is for produce to last longer in the fridge and reduce food waste, The students used fruits and vegetables such as kale, tomatoes, apples, and celery to test their hypothesis and a computer program for enabling the settings in the coolers.

These students received help from electrical and computer engineering Associate Professor Nathalia Peixoto and food science Associate Professor Margaret Slavin. Peixoto says the students were independent in building their project but that she helped them verify the technical components of it. “They wrote the proposal for the Patriot Green Fund, so they are the ones who got the money, which I’m really proud of,” Peixoto says.

Slavin says she produced the idea for a sustainable fridge after observing that most standard fridges in the U.S. do not lengthen the shelf life of produce. She contacted Peixoto, who presented the idea to the students. “I pointed them in the direction of the statistics,” Slavin says, in helping them design protocols and test the coolers’ preservation process. “We don’t foresee any decrease of energy consumption in our project,” Arellano says. “The original designers of the fridge probably achieved optimal energy consumption.”

The seniors and the faculty advisors both hope this project impacts Mason and beyond by raising awareness of food sustainability and healthy living. “I think its impact will be in a reduction of food waste and create a kind of domino effect. Also, influencing people to eat healthier if they are given that option,” Arellano says. Peixoto says she hopes more people will pay attention to food waste and take steps to lessen it. “I hope more people will be aware of the options when buying a fridge or that they can add, you know, a compartment to their fridge to make it more sustainable.”

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Weiwen Jiang wins IEEE Best Paper Award

Tama Moni — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 19:38:48 +0000

Weiwen Jiang wins IEEE Best Paper Award Tama Moni Mon, 12/13/2021 - 14:38

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Weiwen Jiang

A paper from, Weiwen Jiang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at ��AV, has been selected by the IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design for the 2021 Donald O. Pederson Best Paper Award.

The paper, “Hardware/Software Co-Exploration of Neural Architectures,” proposes a novel hardware and software framework for efficient neural architecture search (NAS), a technique to automate machine learning systems.

The IEEE TCAD Editorial Board and the IEEE Council on Electronic Design Automation selected the paper as one of two 2021 winners from over 800 papers published by the journal in the last two years, based on the overall quality, originality, level of contribution, subject matter, and timeliness of the research. The award was presented at the Design Automation Conference in December 2021.

“The awarded work is the first work that demonstrates that the best tradeoff between neural network performance and hardware efficiency requires the co-exploration of hardware design and neural network architecture. It provides fundaments of a series of my co-design neural network system works, among which several works have been nominated for best paper at top EDA conferences (e.g., DAC, CODES+ISSS, and ASP-DAC),” says Jiang.

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