School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Sets Record for Research Expenditures
The University of Oklahoma School of Electrical and Computer Engineering recently announced that its research expenditures for fiscal year 2020 exceeded $11.5 million, breaking the $10 million record that was set in FY2019.
“This is a remarkable achievement,” said professor J.R. Cruz, director of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “The tireless work and dedication of our researchers sets the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the top in research expenditures for the university.”
The annual expenditure total of $11.5 million in FY2020 was accomplished by numerous ECE faculty within seven special interest research groups across more than 50 grants. The special interest research groups include radar, medical imaging, solid state, communications, transportation, controls, and power and energy.
Of the seven groups, radar, medical imaging, solid state, communications and power and energy have contributed a majority of the growth.
Radar Research Group
The Radar Research Group efforts are funded by a variety of federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Some of its current projects include antenna and filter technologies that enable agile use of frequency allocations; calibration techniques for sophisticated phased-array radar systems; and processing algorithms that efficiently perform simultaneous radar imaging and perform target detection from the same dataset. Dr. Nathan Goodman, Dr. Mark Yeary, Dr. Tian-You Yu, Dr. Rockee Zhang, Dr. Caleb Fulton, Dr. Jessica Ruyle, Dr. Hjalti Sigmarsson, Dr. Jay McDaniel, Dr. Justin Metcalf and Dr. Jorge Salazar-Cerreño are leading these projects.
Medical Imaging Group
Researchers in the Medical Imaging Group – Dr. Hong Liu, Dr. Bin Zheng, Dr. Javier Jo, Dr. Yuchen Qiu and Dr. Shawn Xiang – have made significant strides in developing active collaborations with clinical researchers and have focused their research on developing and advancing translational imaging techniques to further improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The group has received funding from three National Institutes of Health Research Project Grants and a pilot grant from Oklahoma Shared Clinical and Transnational Resources.
Solid State Group
The Solid State Group research projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense Army Research Office. The group, consisting of Dr. Binbin Weng, Dr. Rui Yang, Dr. Pat McCann and Dr. Zhisheng Shi, has conducted research in thermophotovoltaic cells based on quantum-engineered semiconductor structures, which convert radiant photons from a heat source into electricity. The group has also developed a low-cost, high-performance infrared sensing system for small-sized unmanned aerial vehicles.
Communications Group
In the last fiscal year, the Communications Group has designed and developed a TurboRAN testbed – a testbed to enable cutting-edge experimental research toward artificial intelligence-powered zero-touch automation in emerging networks – for 5G and beyond and a set of paradigm-shifting self-healing solutions that increase network reliability manifold. Phase 1 of the TurboRAN project is funded by a National Science Foundation grant. The Communications Group includes Dr. Ali Imran, Dr. J.R. Cruz, Dr. Sam Cheng and Dr. Cliff Chan.
Power and Energy Group
The Power and Energy Group includes Dr. John Jiang and Dr. Paul Moses. Dr. Jiang has focused his research on discovering, quantifying and controlling the complex time-space manifestation of energy flows in existing and next-generation electric power grids. Dr. Moses is researching destructive electromagnetic disturbances in power systems and new techniques for condition monitoring of critical network assets, such as transformers and rotating machines. Recently, the Solar Energy Technology Office of the Department of Energy invested a $4.5 million research fund in a project led by Dr. Jiang and Dr. Moses, aiming at developing new technology for integration of large-scale solar energy into the power grids.
By Mackenzie Scheer
Article Published: Wednesday, July 29, 2020