George Corcoran Student Teaching Award

Graduate students David Wang and Alejandra Mercado were the co-recipients of the 1997 student George Corcoran Award.

This honor, awarded annually by the Department of Electrical Engineering, is in recognition of "excellence in teaching by a graduate student." Both Mercado and Wang are teaching assistants in the department.

Hewlett Packard Gift Increases Department's Facilities

A gift from the Hewlett Packard Company worth $50,270 will add three new digital logic analyzers to the department's facilities.

The new logic analyzers will be used primarily to support the undergraduate Fundamental Electric and Digital Circuit Design Laboratory class, taught this semester by Prof. Wesley Lawson.

The additional analyzers bring the department's count up to nine, which will allow all of the groups in the class to work on their own analyzer at the same time, according to Lawson.

One of the analyzers will hold up to one million points on 136 channels, while the other two will be DLA/oscilloscope combinations.

The course is a basic introduction to circuit theory, introducing students to various electronic circuit components and circuits, as well as various methods of analysis. Students in the class not only analyze and characterize circuits, but build them as well. Circuit types built in the class include op-amp, adder, clock, and synchronous sequential.

Department Hosts Second Annual Research Review Day

The department hosted its Second Annual Research Review Day on May 12, 1997, an event designed to give industry and government agencies an inside peek at the department's research activities.

More than 100 people attended this year. The day lifted off with technical presentations by four faculty members. They were: (1) Hybrid Communication Networks: Architectures, Management and Services, by Prof. John Baras; (2) Ion Beam Microfabrication, by Prof. John Melngailis; (3) Software Engineering for Real-Time Systems, by Dr. David B. Stewart; and (4) Optical Guiding of Ultra-Intense Laser Pulses, by Dr. Howard Milchberg.

The day continued with a luncheon featuring The Honorable Kumar Barve, Chair of the Subcommittee on Science and Technology, state of Maryland House of Delegates, who spoke about the importance of state, industry and university partnerships.

During the afternoon, visitors were escorted on tours of the department's laboratory facilities, where both students and faculty members conducted demonstrations of their research. In addition, two conference rooms were filled with posters detailing even more of the research conducted within the department. Students and faculty members alike displayed the processes and results of their work.

Department Launches Student Recruitment Days for Industrial Partners

The department hosted a series of recruitment days this fall for its industrial partners.

The recruiting days are part of an increased effort by the department to offer expanded services to supportive industry members. The department organizes a student resume book each semester, after which it provides private, on-site interview arrangements for industry members to meet with potential hires.

There are currently ten members of the Industrial Affiliates Program. For more information about EE Recruiting or the Industrial Affiliates Program, please contact Prof. Gilmer Blankenship, at (301) 405-3632, or gilmer@eng.umd.edu.

Fall Distinguished Lecturer Series

Information theory pioneer Dr. Thomas Cover, Kwoh-Ting Li Professor of Electrical Engineering and Statistics at Stanford University, visited the department for the fall Distiguished Lecturer Series.

Cover's talk, titled "Universal Data Compression and Investment," detailed the use of data compression to develop a universal investment algorithm.

Cover's enthusiasm and warm speaking style was well-received by students, faculty, and industry in a packed Judith Resnick Lecture Hall, and continued during a round table discussion in the afternoon.

Cover is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and has received many other distinctions, including the 1990 Claude E. Shannon Award in information theory, the IEEE Neural Network Council's Pioneer Award in 1993, and the 1997 IEEE Richard M. Hamming medal for contributions to information theory.