Electromagnetic Compatibility Course ECE Students … Students Compete on Robot Rivals ... a top...
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ECE Students Compete on Robot Rivals In today’s automated society robots have become a mainstay of indus- try, manufacturing, hospitals, space exploration and even police bomb squads. Four ECE undergraduate students recently had the opportuni- ty to put their robot designing and building talents to the test when they appeared on the Do It Yourself (DIY) Network’s new show, Robot Rivals, where students from two universities design and build robots in one day. At the end of the day, the two teams compete in head-to-head compe- tition to earn the title of Robot Rivals champion. A few weeks before the end of the Fall, 2002, semester Dr. Ian Walker received a phone call inviting Clemson to send a team to a Robot Rivals competition. Dr. Walker contacted Charly Hermanson, a senior in elec- trical engineering from Bangkok, Thailand, whose teams had previous- ly competed in Pong Robot at the 2002 IEEE Southeastern Conference (winning 3 rd place out of 28 teams) and also participated in the 2003 IEEE Southeastern Conference. Led by Hermanson, the Clemson Robot Rivals team consisted of Jamey Holcombe, an Anderson, SC, native and senior in computer engineering; Iris Johnson, a senior in electrical engineering from Nichols, SC; and Will McMahan, a senior in electrical engineering from Springfield, VA. “We chose Clemson because of its reputation in engineering and its high ranking in college reviews,” said Rob Lundgren, chief operating officer of RIVR Media, the Knoxville, Tennessee, production company behind Robot Rivals. “They had a tough assign- ment, but these were great kids, they worked their tails off,” said Lundgren. Other engineering teams picked for the first season include Harvard, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UC-Berkeley, MIT, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. The show, which aired on the Do It Yourself Network on Friday, May 2, was shot in mid-January. A week before the taping of the show, the team received the objective, rules and a partial list of parts which would be available, and was asked to start work on their design. Their objective: build an egg-grabbing robot. The Clemson team exchanged several e-mails and CAD drawings with their team’s expert advisor from the show regarding their ideas for the design. However, when the Clemson team arrived in Knoxville the evening before their taping and visited the warehouse studio where the show is produced, they realized they need- ed to make some major design changes before returning to the studio the next day for their competition. The day of the competition they arrived at the studio at 7:30 a.m. A large wall kept the two teams in the same studio, but sepa- rate. Because they weren’t just trying to build a robot in one day, but were also filming a TV show, the team was often asked to un-do and re-do their work several times for the cameras. And, because of the noise factor while filming, they were also often asked to stop what they were doing (i.e., using power tools) while their competition, the team from the University of Utah, was being interviewed and filmed on the other side of the wall. Both teams were supplied the same tools and parts. At the end of the day the separating wall was dramatically pulled back and the competing teams met, admired the other team’s work and competed. Although the University of Utah won the competition, the Clemson team enjoyed their experience. “It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun,” they agreed. Godsey Interviewed on McNeil Lehrer NewsHour When Computer Engineering student Joseph Godsey accepted an invitation to attend the Middle Eastern Research Information Project’s (MERIP) Campus Columnist Forum concerning the con- flict in Iraq in Washington, D.C., in October, 2002, he had no idea that it would lead to an appearance on the McNeil Lehrer NewsHour, a nationally-televised PBS program. Godsey, a junior double majoring in Computer Engineering and Political Science, was recommended to receive the invitation to the conference by the editor of The Tiger, Clemson’s student newspaper where Godsey serves as a columnist. Previously Godsey also served as The Tiger’s Ad Production Manager and Layout Coordinator. The forum participants, 20 promising student columnists from cam- puses across the nation, were sponsored by MERIP, a non-profit, non-governmental organization which provides independent infor- mation and analysis on the Middle East. The purpose of the forum was to enable students to discuss policy matters regarding the con- flict with Iraq and interact with scholars and columnists regarding their campus’ perspective. Just a few days before leaving for the conference, Godsey received a call from MERIP’s Associate Editor saying he had been selected to be interviewed on the NewsHour regarding the Clemson campus’ response to Iraq. He received notification before leaving for the conference that he was one of four students (including students from Princeton University, the University of Texas at Austin, and George Mason University) who had been selected to appear on the show. The students were told the questions on the show would be similar to the ones they responded to in the phone interview, but when they arrived at the NewsHour studio, they were told the format had been changed. Godsey noted that there was no prepa- ration, the students were not given the questions prior to the show, and there was only one taping, making the show as close to “live” as possible. During the interview Godsey commented on the Clemson campus’ “impressive” handling of the topic of mili- tary intervention in Iraq, “weighing in on the points of the issue, rather than immediately making a decision on it.” Godsey enjoyed the conference and his appearance on the NewsHour. He said he was amazed at the support he received from the Clemson family and appreciative of the many calls and e-mails he received saying he had represented Clemson well. That same Clemson family is what recruited Godsey, a Kingsport, TN, native, to attend Clemson University. In fact, Clemson was not at the top of his list; however, an invitation to visit the school and be interviewed as one of the first National Scholars lured him to the campus in the spring of 2000. During that week-end he met all levels of the Clemson family and learned about the school, discovering roots and a depth he had not experienced on other campus visits. The affinity Godsey felt for Clemson prompted him to tell his parents when they were leaving town after the interview week-end that, regardless of the results of the National Scholar program, he was coming to Clemson because “I fell in love with the Clemson family.” During his three years at Clemson, Godsey has been busy pursuing his double major, serving as a Student Government Senator, and working on The Tiger. Although his bid for Undergraduate Student Body President was not successful this spring, he plans to continue his work with the Student Government next year as the Research and Development Director for the Undergraduate Student Government Cabinet. This summer Godsey will work in the IT and Public Relations Departments of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) located in Arusha, Tanzania, Africa. This is an organization created by the UN Security Council to prosecute war crimes and genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994 and 1995. Godsey’s long-term plans include graduate school, although he hasn’t decided which discipline he will study, possibly computer engineering, international busi- ness, policies studies, or international relations/law. But when he retires, Godsey says he wants to return to Clemson and teach. The Wire Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering During the Spring, 2003, semester undergraduate and graduate students enjoyed the opportunity to take a special course, ECE 493/693 - Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, a class funded by a grant from the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society. Every year the EMC Society awards a grant to a university to initiate a class with the hope of increasing formal training of EMC. The Clemson grant proposed creating demonstrations which the Society could use to enhance EMC education. Three outside speakers, experts in the field of EMC, were also hosted by the grant. Students were assigned a project which they worked on all semester, culminating in a technical presentation and documenta- tion which could be given to the EMC Society. This course was taught by a top scholar in electromagnetic compatibility, Dr. Frederick Tesche, a con- sultant who has also been a part- time faculty member in our Department since he moved to the Tryon, NC, area sev- eral years ago. Tesche showed an early interest in both applied electromag- netics and computa- tional techniques. In the late 1950’s he obtained his Novice amateur radio license and also joined the high- school computer club to participate in the develop- ment of a relay-based digital computer. Later, in his undergraduate and graduate studies at UC-Berkeley, he spe- cialized in the area of numerical methods for EM problems and grad- uated with a Ph.D. in 1971. During the period of 1966 to 1968, Tesche took a break from the rig- ors of graduate school and joined the Peace Corps, where he was assigned to a 5-year technical university in Colombia, South America, to Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering 105 Riggs Hall Clemson, SC 29634-0915 NON PROFIT ORG US Postage PAID Clemson, SC Permit # 10 http://www.ece.clemson.edu Spring 2003 Power Systems 2003 Conference ECE Staff Win Awards Dawson Wins Murray Stokely Award ECE Undergraduates Honored SoutheastCon Swannack Wins NSF Fellowship Ziska Wins Goldwater Scholarship (l-r) Robot Rivals host Chris Chianelli, Iris Johnson, Jamey Holcombe and Charly Hermanson with their egg-grabbing robot. Joseph Godsey, a Junior, was one of four students selected nationwide to appear on the show. develop and teach an entry-level course in electromagnetic theory in the Spanish language. During this time, he developed a fondness for teaching, which he has pursued from time to time during his career in industry. Tesche taught a course in microwave antennas at UC-Berkeley in 1978 and served as a visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1982, 1992, 1994, and 1998. In addition to these teaching activities, Tesche has either developed or par- ticipated in a number of specialized short courses dealing with the subjects of the nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP), high power microwaves (HPM), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and numerical methods. Based on his research work in the industrial arena, Tesche was awarded IEEE Fellow status in 1991, with the citation “For the development of tran- sient electromagnetic field models, and contributions to their application.” He was also awarded the Stoddard Award from the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society for his contributions to field coupling to transmission lines. For the last ten years Tesche has owned his own company, consulting for a number of companies in the U.S. and Europe as well as the Swiss gov- ernment’s Civil Defense Testing Programs. He enjoys working with Dr. Chalmers Butler on his grants and enjoyed the opportunity to develop and teach this course. Although it was a lot of work and difficult to cover all the material he wanted to cover in the curriculum, Tesche noted that the class was “a lot of fun.” The Wire Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Published twice a year, by the Milton W. Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, for alumni and friends. Subscriptions are free upon request. Please let us know of story ideas and special events in your career and personal life. Editor: Wendy Howard Contributors: Sandy Dees, Adly Girgis, Ron Grant, Marsha Hassell, John Komo, Trish Nigro, Dan Stanzione and Fred Tesche Electromagnetic Compatibility Course
Transcript of Electromagnetic Compatibility Course ECE Students … Students Compete on Robot Rivals ... a top...
ECE Students Compete on Robot RivalsIn today’s automated society robots have become a mainstay of indus-try, manufacturing, hospitals, space exploration and even police bombsquads. Four ECE undergraduate students recently had the opportuni-ty to put their robot designing and building talents to the test when theyappeared on the Do It Yourself (DIY) Network’s new show, Robot Rivals,where students from two universities design and build robots in one day.At the end of the day, the two teams compete in head-to-head compe-tition to earn the title of Robot Rivals champion.
A few weeks before the end of the Fall, 2002, semester Dr. Ian Walkerreceived a phone call inviting Clemson to send a team to a Robot Rivalscompetition. Dr. Walker contacted Charly Hermanson, a senior in elec-trical engineering from Bangkok, Thailand, whose teams had previous-ly competed in Pong Robot at the 2002 IEEE Southeastern Conference(winning 3rd place out of 28 teams) and also participated in the 2003IEEE Southeastern Conference. Led by Hermanson, the ClemsonRobot Rivals team consisted of Jamey Holcombe, an Anderson, SC,native and senior in computer engineering; Iris Johnson, a senior inelectrical engineering from Nichols, SC; and Will McMahan, a senior inelectrical engineering from Springfield, VA.
“We chose Clemson because of its reputation in engineering and its high ranking in college reviews,” said Rob Lundgren, chiefoperating officer of RIVR Media, the Knoxville, Tennessee, production company behind Robot Rivals. “They had a tough assign-ment, but these were great kids, they worked their tails off,” said Lundgren. Other engineering teams picked for the first seasoninclude Harvard, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, UC-Berkeley, MIT, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
The show, which aired on the Do It Yourself Network on Friday, May 2, was shot in mid-January. A week before the taping of theshow, the team received the objective, rules and a partial list of parts which would be available, and was asked to start work ontheir design. Their objective: build an egg-grabbing robot. The Clemson team exchanged several e-mails and CAD drawingswith their team’s expert advisor from the show regarding their ideas for the design. However, when the Clemson team arrived inKnoxville the evening before their taping and visited the warehouse studio where the show is produced, they realized they need-ed to make some major design changes before returning to the studio the next day for their competition.
The day of the competition they arrived at the studio at 7:30 a.m. A large wall kept the two teams in the same studio, but sepa-rate. Because they weren’t just trying to build a robot in one day, but were also filming a TV show, the team was often asked toun-do and re-do their work several times for the cameras. And, because of the noise factor while filming, they were also oftenasked to stop what they were doing (i.e., using power tools) while their competition, the team from the University of Utah, wasbeing interviewed and filmed on the other side of the wall. Both teams were supplied the same tools and parts.
At the end of the day the separating wall was dramatically pulled back and the competing teams met, admired the other team’swork and competed. Although the University of Utah won the competition, the Clemson team enjoyed their experience. “It wasa lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun,” they agreed.
Godsey Interviewed on McNeil Lehrer NewsHourWhen Computer Engineering student Joseph Godsey accepted aninvitation to attend the Middle Eastern Research InformationProject’s (MERIP) Campus Columnist Forum concerning the con-flict in Iraq in Washington, D.C., in October, 2002, he had no ideathat it would lead to an appearance on the McNeil LehrerNewsHour, a nationally-televised PBS program. Godsey, a juniordouble majoring in Computer Engineering and Political Science,was recommended to receive the invitation to the conference by theeditor of The Tiger, Clemson’s student newspaper where Godseyserves as a columnist. Previously Godsey also served as TheTiger’s Ad Production Manager and Layout Coordinator.
The forum participants, 20 promising student columnists from cam-puses across the nation, were sponsored by MERIP, a non-profit,non-governmental organization which provides independent infor-mation and analysis on the Middle East. The purpose of the forumwas to enable students to discuss policy matters regarding the con-flict with Iraq and interact with scholars and columnists regardingtheir campus’ perspective.
Just a few days before leaving for the conference, Godsey received a call from MERIP’s Associate Editor saying he had beenselected to be interviewed on the NewsHour regarding the Clemson campus’ response to Iraq. He received notification beforeleaving for the conference that he was one of four students (including students from Princeton University, the University of Texasat Austin, and George Mason University) who had been selected to appear on the show.
The students were told the questions on the show would be similar to the ones they responded to in the phone interview, butwhen they arrived at the NewsHour studio, they were told the format had been changed. Godsey noted that there was no prepa-ration, the students were not given the questions prior to the show, and there was only one taping, making the show as close to“live” as possible. During the interview Godsey commented on the Clemson campus’ “impressive” handling of the topic of mili-tary intervention in Iraq, “weighing in on the points of the issue, rather than immediately making a decision on it.”
Godsey enjoyed the conference and his appearance on the NewsHour. He said he was amazed at the support he received fromthe Clemson family and appreciative of the many calls and e-mails he received saying he had represented Clemson well.
That same Clemson family is what recruited Godsey, a Kingsport, TN, native, to attend Clemson University. In fact, Clemson wasnot at the top of his list; however, an invitation to visit the school and be interviewed as one of the first National Scholars luredhim to the campus in the spring of 2000. During that week-end he met all levels of the Clemson family and learned about theschool, discovering roots and a depth he had not experienced on other campus visits. The affinity Godsey felt for Clemsonprompted him to tell his parents when they were leaving town after the interview week-end that, regardless of the results of theNational Scholar program, he was coming to Clemson because “I fell in love with the Clemson family.”
During his three years at Clemson, Godsey has been busy pursuing his double major, serving as a Student Government Senator,and working on The Tiger. Although his bid for Undergraduate Student Body President was not successful this spring, he plansto continue his work with the Student Government next year as the Research and Development Director for the UndergraduateStudent Government Cabinet. This summer Godsey will work in the IT and Public Relations Departments of the InternationalCriminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) located in Arusha, Tanzania, Africa. This is an organization created by the UN SecurityCouncil to prosecute war crimes and genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994 and 1995. Godsey’s long-term plans includegraduate school, although he hasn’t decided which discipline he will study, possibly computer engineering, international busi-ness, policies studies, or international relations/law. But when he retires, Godsey says he wants to return to Clemson and teach.
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During the Spring, 2003, semester undergraduate and graduate studentsenjoyed the opportunity to take a special course, ECE 493/693 -Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility, a class funded by a grantfrom the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society. Every yearthe EMC Society awards a grant to a university to initiate a class with thehope of increasing formal training of EMC. The Clemson grant proposedcreating demonstrations which the Society could use to enhance EMCeducation. Three outside speakers, experts in the field of EMC, were alsohosted by the grant. Students were assigned a project which they workedon all semester, culminating in a technical presentation and documenta-tion which could be given to the EMC Society. This course was taught bya top scholar in electromagnetic compatibility, Dr. Frederick Tesche, a con-
sultant who has also been a part-time faculty member in our
Department since he movedto the Tryon, NC, area sev-eral years ago.
Tesche showed anearly interest in bothapplied electromag-netics and computa-tional techniques. Inthe late 1950’s heobtained his Noviceamateur radio license
and also joined the high-school computer club to
participate in the develop-ment of a relay-based digital
computer. Later, in hisundergraduate and graduate
studies at UC-Berkeley, he spe-cialized in the area of numerical
methods for EM problems and grad-uated with a Ph.D. in 1971.
During the period of 1966 to 1968,Tesche took a break from the rig-
ors of graduate school andjoined the Peace Corps, wherehe was assigned to a 5-yeartechnical university inColombia, South America, to
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering105 Riggs HallClemson, SC 29634-0915
NON PROFIT ORGUS Postage
PAIDClemson, SCPermit # 10
http://www.ece.clemson.edu
Spring 2003Power Systems 2003
ConferenceECE Staff Win AwardsDawson Wins Murray
Stokely AwardECE Undergraduates
HonoredSoutheastConSwannack Wins NSF
FellowshipZiska Wins Goldwater
Scholarship
(l-r) Robot Rivals host Chris Chianelli, Iris Johnson, JameyHolcombe and Charly Hermanson with their egg-grabbing robot.
Joseph Godsey, a Junior, was one of four students selected nationwide toappear on the show.
develop and teach an entry-level course in electromagnetic theory in theSpanish language. During this time, he developed a fondness for teaching,which he has pursued from time to time during his career in industry.Tesche taught a course in microwave antennas at UC-Berkeley in 1978and served as a visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1982, 1992, 1994, and1998.
In addition to these teaching activities, Tesche has either developed or par-ticipated in a number of specialized short courses dealing with the subjectsof the nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP), high power microwaves(HPM), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and numerical methods.
Based on his research work in the industrial arena, Tesche was awardedIEEE Fellow status in 1991, with the citation “For the development of tran-sient electromagnetic field models, and contributions to their application.”He was also awarded the Stoddard Award from the IEEE ElectromagneticCompatibility Society for his contributions to field coupling to transmissionlines.
For the last ten years Tesche has owned his own company, consulting fora number of companies in the U.S. and Europe as well as the Swiss gov-ernment’s Civil Defense Testing Programs. He enjoys working with Dr.Chalmers Butler on his grants and enjoyed the opportunity to develop andteach this course. Although it was a lot of work and difficult to cover all thematerial he wanted to cover in the curriculum, Tesche noted that the classwas “a lot of fun.”
The WireHolcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Published twice a year, by the Milton W. Holcombe Department of Electrical andComputer Engineering, for alumni and friends. Subscriptions are free upon request.Please let us know of story ideas and special events in your career and personal life.
Editor: Wendy HowardContributors: Sandy Dees, Adly Girgis, Ron Grant, Marsha Hassell, John Komo, TrishNigro, Dan Stanzione and Fred Tesche
Electromagnetic Compatibility Course
ECE Undergraduates HonoredOutstanding undergraduate students were recognized during this spring’s ECE Awards Luncheon, held in Riggs
Hall on April 5. The top two awards given were to Brian Greskamp of Lakeville, MN, the Riggs Outstanding Seniorin Computer Engineering, and James Simons of Boulder, CO, the Rhodes Outstanding Senior in ElectricalEngineering.
Greskamp has been the recipient of the Kimberly-Clark Bright Futures Scholarship, the Robert C. ByrdScholarship, the National Merit Scholarship and the Frances S. Hefti Scholarship. He has been on the President’sList every semester and is a member of the University’s Calhoun Honors College, and the student chapter ofIEEE. Greskamp also participated in the IEEE Student Paper Competition. His long-range goals include obtain-ing a doctorate in Computer Engineering and ultimately holding a research professorship. Simons is a Square DScholar. In addition to his scholastic achievements and honors, he is a member of Eta Kappa Nu (the ElectricalEngineering Honor Society), for which he served as Vice President. He has also been on the President’s Listevery semester. Simons has served as Secretary of the Clemson LaCrosse Club, Vice President of InternalAffairs for Zeta Beta Tau, and Initiate Advisor for Phi Sigma Pi. Simons has had three semesters of co-ops withMichelin Tire Company, spending his last assignment in France. His awards and honors include the Frank A.Burtner Leadership Award, the IFC Best New Member Award, and the Phi Sigma Pi Service Award. After grad-uation Simons plans to travel to Europe and, after a few years, attend graduate school.
Other awardees were Matthew Simpson of Easley, Rhodes Outstanding Junior in Computer Engineering; LukeWalters of Simpsonville, Rhodes Outstanding Junior in Electrical Engineering; Jeffrey Young of North Augusta,Rhodes Outstanding Sophomore in Computer Engineering; Vijay Ullal of Mount Pleasant, Rhodes OutstandingSophomore in Electrical Engineering; Robert Keisler of Columbia, IEEE Piedmont in Computer EngineeringAward, and Iris Johnson of Nichols, IEEE Piedmont in Electrical Engineering Award.
Ziska Wins Goldwater ScholarshipJoseph M. Ziska, a sophomore majoring in Computer Engineering from Dover, Delaware, and a National Scholarfrom the class of 2001, was recently awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2003. The Goldwater Scholarshipis an award given to sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated significant progress in research in science andengineering majors. The award grant covers cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board (up to a maximum of$7,500 annually) for Ziska’s remaining two years of undergraduate study. Ziska is one of three Clemson studentswho received this award in 2003 (out of 300 students nationally). Since each University is only allowed four nomi-nations, Clemson’s award of three Goldwater Scholarships in one year is exceptional. This marks the first yearClemson has had three winners in one year – more than Stanford, Georgia Tech, UC-Berkeley and Johns Hopkins.
Ziska is currently a group leader for three of the five subgroups for the SPIRIT II Rocket Research Program. Thisgroup designed and built a payload that measures upper-atmospheric winds for a rocket provided by NASA Hisresearch proposal involved a combination of computer modeling and upper atmospheric science to study “sprites,”
which is lightning that originates from the tops of clouds and travels into the atmosphere.Ziska explains he is “attempting to create a computer model for this phenomenon so
we can understand what’s going on.”
This summer Ziska plans to work for six weeks at an internship with the Departmentof Transportation in Washington, D.C., before heading to Slovakia with CampusCrusade for Christ for eight weeks to work at an English campus for Slovak highschool and college students. His other interests during the academic year includeactivities with the Dixon Fellows program and the Calhoun Honors College.
Ziska notes that when he was accepted to Clemson it was the last school on hislist of possible universities; however, after visiting the campus, he says he “fell
in love with Clemson University — the people and the campus atmos-phere.” He was also very impressed by the research opportunities hewould have as an undergraduate student.
Ziska plans to enroll in ECE’s direct-entry Ph.D. program in ComputerEngineering. After earning his Ph.D. he hopes to conduct research in com-puter applications in Aeronautics and Aerospace engineering fields byworking on designs of instruments and data analysis for atmosphericresearch.
SPAWAR
From the Chair
Spring is the primary “harvest time” for theUniversity, and we recently graduated 70undergraduate students and 29 graduatestudents. We had some true “superstars”among the graduates, as described else-where in this newsletter. We are verypleased that many of our top seniors havedecided to stay at Clemson to work ongraduate degrees.
We had one mid-year retirement this year,Dr. Bill Harrison, who had been a valuablemember of the faculty since 1984. Dr.Harrison regularly taught our senior designcourse and was one of the most admiredteachers in the Department. In recentyears, he was also Chair of ourUndergraduate Program Committee andhead of our assessment efforts. He mademajor contributions to our program and willbe sorely missed.
Our efforts to bring in new faculty havebeen seriously held back due to the statebudget crisis. However, we were success-ful in recruiting one outstanding ComputerEngineering faculty member to join us nextfall. We were also authorized to extend anoffer to another top Computer Engineeringfaculty candidate, and we are still waiting ona response.
The University gives several prestigiousawards each spring, and our faculty areusually included in the recipients. This year,Dr. Darren Dawson won the Murray StokelyAward for Excellence in Teaching. Dr.Dawson has won research awards in thepast, and has now been recognized for hisoutstanding contributions in the classroom.
Our faculty continue their excellent achieve-ments in research. In another develop-ment, Dr. Ian Walker has just learned that a$6.37M proposal to support his research inrobotics will be funded by DARPA. Anotherimportant event of the Spring Semesterwas the second annual Clemson PowerSystems Conference, organized by Dr. AdlyGirgis. This highly successful eventfocused on distribution generation and onadvanced metering. This conference alsofeatured a highly entertaining banquet withMiddle Eastern food and entertainment.
Our undergraduate students representedus well again at the IEEE SoutheastCon,which was held this year in Jamaica. Ourstudents came in second in the technicalpaper contest and fifth in the hardwaredesign competition.
A major addition to our curriculum for thespring semester was a new course on elec-tromagnetic compatibility, which was fund-ed by IEEE and taught by visiting professorFred Tesche. Dr. Tesche, one of the world’stop experts in this field, also collaborateswith Dr. Chalmers Butler on research activ-ities in the EM area.
This past year has been very challengingbecause of the significant cutback in statefunds to the university. The generosity ofalumni contributions to the Department hashelped immensely. With even more budgetcuts expected for the new budget year thatbegins on July 1, alumni support will con-tinue to be vital to our moving forward. Giftfunds are utilized for such things as under-graduate laboratories, equipment for stu-dent projects, laboratory equipment for newfaculty, and graduate student fellowships.Please consider allocating all or part of yournext gift to Clemson to the ECEDepartment.
We wish everyone a great summer. If youare in the area, please stop by for a visit.
Power Systems 2003 ConferenceToday, reliability and security of electric power systems are of more concern than ever and a major reason thatdistributed generation (DG) continues to grow. This integration of distributed generation with the utility systemintroduced challenging issues in operation, control and protection of power systems. Distributed generations wasthe primary focus of the second annual Power Systems Conference (PSC ’03) which was held on March 12-14,2003, at Clemson’s Madren Center.
This conference brings together power industry leaders, researchers and manufacturers to discuss state-of-the-art issues in the generation and distribution of electric power. New metering and communication approaches werealso addressed at this year’s conference.
The conference was co-sponsored by ABB, Beckwith Electric, Capstone Microturbine, Cummins Atlantic, DukePower, General Electric, Sandia National Lab, Santee Cooper, SCE&G and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.Industry keynote speakers included John Tiencken, President and CEO, Santee Cooper; Jim Hicks, Senior VicePresident, Duke Power; Ed Schweitzer, President and CEO, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories; Ake Almgren,President and CEO, Capstone Microturbine; Herman Amelink, President and CEO, KEMA Consulting; and NevilleLorick, President and COO, SCE&G. Additional information about PSC’03 is available at the conference website:http://www.ces.clemson.edu/powsys2003/.
The third annual power conference, Power Systems ‘04: Distributed Generation, Advanced Metering andCommunication, is scheduled for March 10-12, 2004, at Clemson University’s Madren Center. As in past years,the conference offers professional development hours (up to 20 hours) to the attendees.
Important dates for PSC’04:8/31/03 paper abstract due9/30/03 notification of acceptance due11/30/03 final paper and advanced registration due
For more information contact:[email protected], [email protected]
ECE Staff Win AwardsCongratulations to Ms. Maria Barrett, Ms. Gale Black and Ms. Wendy Howard, ECE staff who were awarded threeof the ten annual College of Engineering and Science staff awards at the College recognition lunch in December,2002.
Black, who was characterized by one faculty nominator as a “hard-working, dedicated, and highly proficientemployee,” was awarded an Innovation Award in recognition, in part, of her many innovative, cost-cutting ideaswhich improve service and cost effectiveness.
Howard, who was described by one faculty nominator as “a stellar employee who will always go the extra mile toensure the successful operation of the Department,” was awarded an Achievement Award in recognition of her
willingness to learn new methods and techniques,and achievement of preset goals for self-improve-ment.
Barrett won the top administrative award for theCollege, the Hattie B. Wagener Award. This award,established in memory of a former secretary in ourDepartment, recognizes excellence within the admin-istrative staff of the College of Engineering andScience and includes $1,000 and a plaque. Barrettwas lauded by a faculty nominator as “an exceptionalstaff member in terms of her capabilities, the breadthof tasks she executes effectively, and her ability towork well with faculty and other staff.” Since theWagener award was established in 1997, two of thesix recipients have been from ECE (Ms. WendyHoward in 1999 and Barrett in 2002).
Dawson Wins Murray Stokely AwardCongratulations to Dr. Darren Dawson who was awarded the College of Engineering& Science’s 2003 Murray Stokely Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of the highestawards for engineering faculty. This honor is given for demonstrated excellence inteaching engineering at the undergraduate and/or graduate level with an emphasison the most recent three years. Teaching includes not only classroom and lab-oratory instruction, but also development of new methods, courses, or materi-als (e.g., books or software). The award includes $1,000 and a plaque, plusrecognition on a permanent plaque in Riggs Hall. This year marks the ninthannual Murray Stokely Award; Dr. Dawson is the third ECE faculty to receivethis honor (Dr. Randy Collins in 2000 and Dr. Ian Walker in 2001).
Butler Delivers Commencement Address Dr. Chalmers Butler, Warren H. Owen Professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, delivered the commencement address, “A Top-TwentyGraduate,” at the December, 2002 engineering graduation ceremony.
SoutheastConIEEE SoutheastCon 2003 was held inOcho Rios, Jamaica, from April 4through April 6. Ten Clemson ECE stu-dents participated in the Conference.The hardware team, consisting of TorryDixon, Jerry Gathers, Jerry Groover,Stephanie Hudgens, William Morris,and Susan Pedelty, finished 5th out oftwenty-five entrants from otherUniversities in the southeast. BrianGreskamp, the winner of Clemson’slocal student paper contest, finished2nd in the student paper contest. Theother student representatives ofClemson were Rob Keisler (2002-2003student chairman), Nick Honko (2003-2004 student chairman), and IrisJohnson (2002-2003 student secre-tary). All of the students at this confer-ence represented ECE very well.
Swannackwins NSFFellowshipECE student Charles Swannack was
recently notified that he had beenawarded a prestigious NSF Fellowship.This highly competitive fellowshipincludes $10,500 for institutional sup-port (e.g., tuition) plus $27,500 per yearfor three years of graduate work. Theselection process is extensive andincludes an essay that describes aProposed Plan of Research.
Swannack willattend MIT where
he plans to gethis M.S. thenPh.D. in theareas ofcoding the-ory andc o m mu n i -cations. His
l o n g - t e r mgoal is to per-
form researchand teach at the
University level.
On Friday, May 2, 2003, at SPAWAR Systems Center, Charleston, senior Clemson students, Zach Anderson, James Hyslop and Rob Keisler presented and discussedthe results of their Senior Design Project entitled, “Navy Distributed Signals Intelligence Network (DSIN).”
The project is the first example of a collaborative effort between SPAWAR and Clemson University to bring real-life engineering situations to the classroom. Under thedirection of SPAWAR Engineer and Clemson alum, Thomas Kirkpatrick, and Clemson University computer engineering professor, Dr. Dan C. Stanzione, Jr., the three
students were presented with the problem of sharing Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) infor-mation throughout an ever-changing battle space.
The design goal of this project was to provide an efficient means of distributing intelli-gence. The current model of centralized fixed servers connected to multiple clientsthrough high-speed network connectivity, while very efficient, is not often feasible in thefast-moving environment of a modern battlefield. Students explored the possibility ofeach military unit having its own server capable of communicating with other serversand the challenges faced as units moved in and out of range.
The students developed an innovative design that will help to advance the Center’sunderstanding of how a modern peer-to-peer network can function in today’s militaryenvironment. DSIN demonstrates a new way of thinking about distributed signal intelli-gence, which can be extended to many other military data models as well.
SPAWAR Systems Center is a leading edge, network-centric Navy engineering centerthat designs, builds, tests, fields, and supports many of the finest frontline command,control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance(C4ISR) systems in use today, or planned for the future.
(l-r) Maria Barrett, Wendy Howard & Gale Black
(l-r) Tom Kirkpatrick, Dan Stanzione, Rob Keisler, James Hyslop, and Zach Anderson
