Another great and eventful academic year is winding down in the Electrical and Biomedical Engineering Department! It can be best summed up as the year of embracing interdisciplinary engineering. From collaborations with industry partners (such as Global Foundries and Velco), collaborations with other departments (Semiconductor Engineering and Physics Certificate and Sustainable Energy Minor), to collaborations across campus (the Center for Biomedical Innovation, BME Research Conference) - our students and faculty demonstrate how interdisciplinary work improves engineering solutions. Below you will find articles highlighting some of our recent Departmental achievements as well as faculty and student activities. One of the most exciting accomplishments this past year has been the recruitment of outstanding new faculty!
Warmest regards,
Marilyn J. Cipolla, Professor and Chair
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
In the News
E(C)E Program Gets a New Name
The Electrical Engineering Program, here at UVM, has changed its name to Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). This name change reflects the breath of the Program more accurately, given the strong ties to the local Semiconductor Industry and the newly created Semiconductor Physics Certificate. Read more
Above: Research Assistant Professor Jackson Anderson (right) introduces EE seniors Couby Ouattara and Tom Sykes to new semiconductor chip testing equipment donated by GlobalFoundries in the new Device Characterization Teaching Lab.
The Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) Fosters Unique Partnerships
With nearly 65 percent of its population living in rural areas, Vermont is considered the most rural state in the nation. Delivering high-quality care to rural communities has always been a top priority for the University of Vermont Health Network; a new partnership with UVM’s Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) aims to develop a creative and scalable solution to that complex mission in the form of an innovative modular healthcare delivery vehicle. Biomedical Engineering students, faculty, and staff are involved in the hands-on development. Read more
Above: Eli Pay (Mechanical Engineering), Lindsay Aldrich (Medical Student), Jess Schenk (Biomedical Engineering), and Hayden Christensen (Medical Student) meet with CBI director Mike Rosen to discuss possible truck options for the Omni-mission Health Truck being developed by the lab in partnership the UVM Health Network.
BME and ECE Faculty Receive NSF CAREER Awards
Congratulations to Professor Amber Doiron (left) receiving a CAREER award from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for their groundbreaking research to develop new materials to fight biofilms. Read more about Professor Doiron research here.
And Congratulations to Professor Luis Duffaut Espinosa (right) for receiving a CAREER award for developing a framework for safety-aware data-driven control and estimation.
Collaboration with Marvel Develop ‘Mission Impossible’ Integrated Circuit
ECE and Marvel advance research in self-destruction methods for safeguarding integrated circuits. Prof. Tian Xia and EE Graduate Student Eric Hunt-Schroeder presented their work at the IEEE ISSCC in San Francisco last month. Read more
ECE Faculty Partner with VELCO
The Vermont Electrical Company (VELCO) partners with ECE faculty on creating a “digital twin” of the Vermont power grid to facilitate research propelling the decarbonization of the Vermont grid as well as provide unparalleled learning opportunities for students. Read more
UVM IEEE Students Go to Washington
Several Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) student club members attended the IEEE PES IGST (Innovative Smart Grid Technologies) North America conference in Washington, D.C. and returned inspired to tackle the challenges of the future.
Left to right: Emily Ninestein (president), Alec Benedict (Communications), Erik Simkins (Treasurer), Jack Mctasney (Vice-President), and Agusten Hoen (Member).
BME Research Conference Continues to be a Success!
Bringing together faculty and students from at least 4 colleges and UVM Medical Center, the BME Research Conference provides a forum to highlight the broad interdisciplinary nature of BME and foster collaborations. If you are interested in presenting please contact me at Marilyn.Cipolla@uvm.edu.
Above: Assistant Professor David Bernstein presents his lab’s research on microbiome metabolism
New Faculty Join the Department!
We are lucky to have some amazing new faculty join the Department: Amritanshu Pandey (Power and Energy), David Bernstein (Computational Biology), Jackson Anderson (Semiconductor Devices), Samuel Chevalier (Power and Energy) and Samantha Fox (Engineering Design).
Tony Barsic (Computational Optics and Microscopy, Joining Fall ‘24), Michael Brasino (Synthetic Biology and Cancer Detection; Joining in Fall ’24), Kaitlin McCreery (Biophysics, Mechanobiology; Joining in SP ’25), Michael Rosenberg (Biomechanics, Locomotion; Joining in Fall ’25)
Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineeering
Above: Current Faculty (left to right): David Jangraw, Luis Duffaut Espinosa, Matt Gallagher, Amrit Pandey, Samuel Chevalier, Amber Doiron, Marilyn Cipolla, Jim Kay, David Bernstein, Jackson Anderson,Mads Almassalkhi,Tian Xia. Faculty missing from the photo are Hamid Ossareh, Jeff Frolik, and Samantha Fox. .
New ECE Seminar Series Brings Internationally Recognized Speakers to UVM
The ECE Program brought speakers to UVM that presented current research and engineering on topics ranging from “Learning to Accelerate Optimization Algorithms for Resilient and Efficient Operation of Electric Grids” to “Multicopter Control Allocation for Predictable Saturation Behavior”.
Speakers included Michael Kane (Northeastern University), Ian Hiskins (University of Michigan), Robert Carritte (MPR Associates, Inc.), Nick Moy (Beta Technologies), Neal Patwari (Washington University), Colin Riggs (Rigorous Robotics), Harsha Nagarajan (Los Alamos National Laboratories), Colin Kelsall (Fourth Power), and Eric Hunt-Schroeder (Marvell Technologies, Inc.)
Above: Eric Hunt-Schroeder shares the research that he and Professor Tian Xia are advancing during the EE Graduate Seminar series.
Congratulations to all our graduating seniors
As the Spring 2024 semester winds down, graduating Electrical and Biomedical Engineering (EBE) seniors take a moment to reflect on their time at UVM and share their plans for the future.
Above:Couby Ouattara, Electrical Engineering; Abbey Knobel, Double Major in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science; Adam Zuchowski, Biomedical Engineering; Molly Ramirez, Electrical Engineering
Thank you!
We are grateful to Professor Mike Goodheart (left) Part-time Lecturer, for providing great instruction to our students and being a part of the ECE Program! We would also like to express our appreciation for Professor Matt Gallagher (right), Lecturer in ECE, for his outstanding commitment to students and the program over the past 5 years! Prof. Gallagher also served as Director of the Semiconductor and Physics Engineering Program and was instrumental in starting the SEP Program and teaching and testing laboratory that supports an Undergraduate Certificate in SEP (UCSEP) and soon a Graduate Certificate.
Alumni Corner
UVM Alumni share their entrepreneurial experience at
ECE Seminar Series
UVM alumni and entrepreneurs Colin Riggs and Diane Abruzzini Riggs at their company, Rigorous, that was founded in 2020 to help smaller companies access the efficiency benefits of automation.
Connect with CEMS alumni, students, and faculty
Now is the perfect time to join UVM Connect — your online portal to stay in touch with CEMS friends, colleagues, mentors, and community. The site recently introduced a new design and content refresh designed to make your interactions with our Catamount community more seamless and engaging than ever before. Be sure to join the Science, Technology, Engineering & Math group!
We are extremely grateful to all our supporters! Donations to the Department have and continue to support student clubs and travel, state-of-the-art labs and facilities, outstanding research, conferences and seminars, and much more! If you want to contribute to the success of the department and students please consider a donation.
