Fall 2011 courses not to miss
posted Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

ENEE 788: Advanced Computational Methods

Professor: Drs. Curtis Menyuk and Andrew Docherty

Semester: Fall 2011  Time: MW 5:30-6:45  Credits: 3  

This course teaches the computational methods that every scientist and engineer working in photonics should know in order to be able to understand the scientific literature.  The focus will be on applications to light wave propagation through optical fibers and other media, lasers, receivers, and amplifiers.  A basic knowledge of electromagnetic theory, probability, and ordinary differential equations is assumed.  No background in computational methods is assumed, but experience with MATLAB is useful.  The final grade will be based primarily on a computational project.  The lead instructor (CRM) is an internationally-renowned expert in computational photonics and has given short courses on this subject for over fifteen years at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference and the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics — the most important scientific meetings in this field.  The second instructor (AD) has over ten years’ experience in applying computational methods to photonics problems.

 

CMPE 677: Agent Architectures and Multi-Agent Systems

Professor: Dr. Sergei Nirenburg, Professor

Semester: Fall 2011         Time: MW 5:30-6:45         Credits: 3           Room: ITE 277

This course teaches students fundamental techniques for developing intelligent agents and multi-agent systems, including: cognitive, logic-based, reactive, and belief-desire-intention architectures; inter-agent communication languages and protocols; distributed problem-solving, planning and constraint satisfaction methods; distributed models and rational behavior; and learning and adaptation in multi-agent systems.

 

 

CMPE 691: MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS)

Professor: Dr. Gymama Slaughter, Assistant Professor

Semester: Fall 2011          Time: MW 4:00-5:15             Credits: 3

This course exposes graduate students to the latest developments in MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). MEMS is a rapidly growing field that combines micron-scale mechanical structures with microelectronics circuits, which have many applications in sensing, actuation, and communication. A wide range of topics including: mechanical and electrical design, bulk and surface micromachining, MEMS design and layout, fabrication processes, and applications will be covered. Software available on the web will be used in all assignments. The course work will be used to develop potential graduate research topics and look at the feasibility of different aspects of MEMS.

 

 

MS defense: Fast Fullchip Transient Response Estimation Technique
posted Monday, July 25th, 2011

MS thesis defense

A Fast Fullchip Transient Response Estimation Technique

Sushmita K. Rao

11:00am Monday, 25 July 2011, ITE 346

Circuit Simulation has long been a dependable technique for design engineers for functional testing before a circuit is taken to silicon. But as we move into very deep sub-micron technologies, chips are becoming more complex and denser. The dense power grid adds to long simulation run time rendering fullchip simulations difficult and computationally expensive for larger designs. Some large designs may not be simulatable owing to system requirements. Even fast simulators like Cadence UltraSim fail to provide SPICE level accuracy. Dynamic solutions provide greater accuracy than statistical techniques but long simulation run time becomes the biggest tradeoff. Accurate measurement of dynamic currents is required for applications like power estimation, supply noise predictions and in verifying the power grid designs and testing. The research reported in this thesis is focussed on providing a current based method to estimate a fullchip's transient response without carrying out a fullchip simulation. Instead, a part of the chip is simulated and the power port currents thus measured are used to estimate the fullchip currents using the principle of superposition. This technique eliminates fullchip simulations that are complex and time consuming but the accuracy is maintained as the fullchip estimation is carried out on simulated data. A simple scaling method is also proposed to compensate for resistive variations in the test circuits. Experimental results reported demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Committee members:

  • Dr. Chintan Patel (Chair)
  • Dr. Ryan Robucci
  • Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin
Faculty Research Profile: Dr. Penny Rheingans
posted Monday, July 25th, 2011

Dr. Penny Rheingans, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, co-directs UMBC's VAnGOGH lab, where she uses her knowledge in data visualization to solve problems in a variety of application areas. “I think it’s a really cool area because it allows me to synthesize things from a number of areas,” says Rheingans of the field, which allows her to combine techniques from computer graphics, art and illustration, and knowledge of human perceptual and cognitive systems.

To read more about Dr. Rheingans' research pursuits, see her full research profile.

Faculty Research Profile: Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin
posted Monday, July 25th, 2011

Dr. Tinoosh Mohsenin, professor of computer science and electrical engeineering, runs UMBC's Engergy Efficient High Performance Computing Lab, where she works to develop highly accurate, low-power communications and healthcare devices. Currently, Dr. Mohsenin is pursuing three distinct projects in conjunction with her lab that fall within the realm of digital signal processing (DSP) and VLSI implementation: 1) many-core architectures for DSP and secured trusted platforms, 2) low-power processors for portable healthcare devices, and 3)efficient error correction techniques for communication devices.

To read more about Dr. Mohsenin's research pursuits, see her full research profile.

Faculty Research Profile: Dr. Fow-Sen Choa
posted Monday, July 25th, 2011

Dr. Fow-Sen Choa, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, uses a Chemical Vapor Desposition System to grow semiconductors that are used for chemical detection and breath analysis using photo-acoustic (PA) effects. In addition, he has been working with undergraduate students at UMBC on projects dealing with flying robots, Fourier analysis of music instrument, x-ray scan of superlattice crystal growths, and brainwave measurement and analysis.

To read more about Dr. Choa's research pursuits, see his full research profile.

UMBC recognized as a ‘Great College to Work For’
posted Sunday, July 24th, 2011

UMBC was recognized as a “Great College to Work For” in a survey done by the Chronicle of Higher Education. The 2011 survey was based on responses from nearly 44,000 people at 310 US institutions. UMBC was as one of ten large four-year colleges (> 10K students) selected for the honor roll based on its scores on nearly 100 questions across twelve key categories.

Attack of the patent trolls
posted Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

This week’s story on This American Life, When Patents Attack, is a good introduction to how the patent system is being used and abused, especially in the software industry. I listened to it today and got new insights into a complex problem. It will be aired on WYPR (88.1) at 4:00pm Sunday and available for for online listening or downloading after 7:00pm on Sunday. The text of the show is available now on NPR’s Planet Money blog. Here’s how it starts… (more…)

Exploring job trends
posted Thursday, July 21st, 2011

The job search aggregator indeed.com collects job listings from a large number of of websites, including job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages. Using this data, they regularly report on job trends by country, region and keywords. Their most recent report by industry shows the weakness of the economic recovery but also shows a strong market for IT jobs.

Indeed has a web page that lets you see trends in the number of job postings with certain keywords. Amazingly, the current top ten trending phrases are all IT related: HTML5, mobile app, Android, Twitter, jQuery, Facebook, social media, iPhone, cloud computing and virtualization.

If you are preparing to look for a job or just trying to better prepare for a career, it is an interesting source of data. One thing to keep in mind is that you should invest your time in college building a foundation of knowledge and skills that will support you for the rest of your life, both professionally and as a well-rounded person. The undergraduate programs at UMBC aim to do just that. But you might give some thought to choosing some electives that will prepare you for the opportunities you will find in the short term, too. As usual, finding the right balance is the key.

Students can now rent Kindle textbooks from Amazon
posted Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Amazon has announced a new program allowing students to rent textbooks.

“Kindle Textbook Rental is a flexible and affordable way to read textbooks. You can rent for the minimum length, typically 30 days, and save up to 80% off the print list price. If you find you need your textbook longer, you can extend your rental by as little as 1 day as many times as you want and just pay for the added days.”

Amazon’s typically sells its kindle textbooks for nearly the same as the hardcopy ones, so renting a textbook may be attractive. We’ve not yet seen any Computer Science or Computer Engineering kindle books for rent, so can’t say how much of a discount there is if you rent for a semester.

By the way, the format that Kindle uses is based on Mobipocket, which is based on HTML. There are some good open source systems that you can use to create kindle-compatible documents from various sources.

Teens prepare for cybersecurity careers at CCBC camp
posted Monday, July 18th, 2011

The Community College of Baltimore County this month held a five-day cybersecurity camp for teenagers who may be on track to becoming cyber experts. Twenty-two students from Baltimore and Howard counties took part in the camp, which was intended to get high school students interested in security, and to consider pursuing college degrees or entry-level positions in the field. WBAL has a short article and video.