ECE Advisory Board
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ABOUT THE BOARD:
The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Advisory Board provides counsel to the ECE Department Chair and Associate Chairs regarding the mission, goals, and strategic plans of the Department, and seeks to promote the interests of the Department locally, regionally, and internationally. Members offer their insights, advice, and expertise on a wide range of issues that include undergraduate and graduate education, research activities, strategic planning, corporate partnerships, fundraising, and public relations. Members also serve as liaisons between the Department, industry, government, and other academic institutions.
MEMBERS:
 Geoffrey L. Barrows
Founder & CEO, Centeye, Inc.
Geoffrey Barrows earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics at the University of Virginia in 1993, an M.S.E.E. from Stanford University in 1994, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1999. He specializes in the area of Robotics and UAVs. He was named to the MIT Technology Review TR100 list in 2003. He worked in the Naval Research Laboratory from 1994-2000. He is a member of IEEE. He currently lives in Washington, DC.
 Bill Bennett
Principal Engineer, Planning Systems
BAE Systems Advanced Information Technologies
Dr. Bennett is a Principal Research Engineer and Assistant Director of Planning Systems in the Intelligence Innovation Division of BAE Systems, Advanced Information Technologies (AIT). AIT (formerly ALPHATECH, Inc.) became part of BAE Systems North America (a subsidiary of BAE Systems PLC) in November 2004. He was project manager for the DARPA funded, Advanced ISR Management project and oversaw the development and transition of an optimization-based, multi-sensor, collection management planning application called the Multi-Asset Synchronizer. He was co-recipient of the BAE Systems bronze chairman’s award in 2005 for development of the Multi-Asset Synchronizer. He was co-recipient of the BAE Systems technology transition award in 2006 which recognized the decision by USAF Air Combat Command to deploy the Multi-Asset Synchronizer as part of the Collection Managers Mission Application toolkit, a DoD wide joint operations ISR collection planning system.
Dr. Bennett has over 30 years experience in military intelligence and weapon systems including space and airborne systems, sensor data fusion, guidance and control systems; and signal processing applications in sensor data processing. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (1972) from Rutgers University and a Master of Science (1979) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees both in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. Prior to joining ALPHATECH (now BAE System AIT) in 1999 he held several positions in industry and government including as technical staff of the Space Systems Division of Naval Research Laboratory, Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corp and Techno-Science Inc. He has served as adjunct faculty for Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of University of Maryland.
Dr. Bennett is a senior member of IEEE, the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He has served as past chair for AIAA Guidance and Control Technical committee of the Maryland National Capitol area.
 Jeff Bernstein
Co-Founder, 2Wire, Inc.
Jeff was a co-founder of 2Wire, Inc., now a leading producer of broadband home networking and media delivery equipment for DSL service providers. Previously, Jeff was a co-founder of PictureTel Corporation, which became a leading developer of videoconferencing and multimedia conferencing systems. At both companies Jeff held a variety of technology-oriented roles, contributing in the areas of product definition, system architecture, communication protocol design, user interface and industrial design, hardware and software design for real-time video and audio, and research and development of video and audio signal processing algorithms. Jeff has also been an active participant in international standardization organizations, including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the DSL Forum, and the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance.
Jeff received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1982 and an S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 1984. Jeff holds eight U.S. patents.
 Doug Bishop
Vice President & CTO, Engineering and IT
Thales Communications, Inc.
Doug Bishop joined Thales Communications, Inc. in 1989 and has served the company in a number of senior executive positions to include Director of Engineering, Vice President of Engineering, and currently holds the position of Vice President & CTO, Engineering and IT. In his role as Vice President & CTO, Mr. Bishop has responsibility for all product design and development activities at Thales Communications, Inc. to include strategic and technical leadership of systems, RF hardware, digital hardware, embedded software, digital signal processing, and mechanical engineering disciplines. Mr. Bishop is responsible for advanced technology research within engineering for the advancement of Thales’ ruggedized, secure, and high performance radio systems in the 2 MHz to 3 GHz operating frequency range. Mr. Bishop is also responsible for the strategic direction and management of the Information Technology group.
Mr. Bishop has more than 20 years of experience in the defense electronic communications and electronic warfare industry. Prior to Thales, his career included 6 years of service with Litton Systems, Inc. Amecom Division as a principal member of the technical staff designing and developing state-of-the-art microprocessor-based HF/VHF military communications equipment for U.S. Army S-250 communication shelters and U.S. Navy CG-47 and DD-963 class ships, and electronic warfare equipment for U.S. Navy E-2C Hawkeye and EA-6B Prowler surveillance aircraft. He currently serves as a member of the Strategy Council, Business Planning Council, Executive Quality Council, and Management Steering Committee and is a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Mr. Bishop received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from the University of Maryland.
 James V. Bodycomb
ECE Advisory Board President
Retired Vice President, Switching Product Management, Lucent Technologies
Jim Bodycomb received his B.S.E.E. at the University of Maryland in 1967, his M.S.E.E. at the University of Illinois in 1968, and graduated from Columbia University with an E.E. degree in 1975. He specialized in the areas of communications network design and operation, and communications switching systems. He held executive leadership positions in both R&D and business management. In 1967, he joined Bell Labs as a Member of the Technical Staff, and in 1974, he held the position of Assistant Engineering Manager at AT&T. In 1979, he was the Head of the Business and Government Services Applications Department at Bell Labs. In 1984, he was promoted to the position of Director, Network Planning and Performance Center, at Bell Labs. In 1991, he was named Architecture Vice President, AT&T Network Systems. In 2000, he retired from Lucent Technologies as Switching Product Management Vice President. His honors include membership in IEEE, Omicron Delta Kappa, Eta Kappa Nu, Phi Eta Sigma, Phi Kappa Phi, and Tau Beta Pi. He currently resides in Lusby, Maryland.
 Tag Cutchis
Senior Engineer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Protagoras ("Tag") Cutchis is a University of Maryland alumnus four times over. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering and a B.S. in physics in 1979, an M.S. in electrical engineering in 1990, and an M.D. from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1983. He is a licensed physician in the state of Maryland, and has extensive experience in hardware and software design of real time embedded systems as well as low power digital and analog circuit design. Dr. Cutchis is also experienced in biocompatibility issues, biomedical and chemical sensor design, as well as medical device requirements definition. He holds five patents and is a member of IEEE. In 2007 he was named to Scientific American’s “SA 50” list for a biomedical prosthetics device he developed that may enable amputees to communicate reflexive movements simply by thinking about them.
 Charles Franklin
Vice President, Compliance
CTI Consultants
Charles Franklin received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the Univeristy of Maryland in 1972. He has a background in designing and building and has worked extensively in the construction industry, as well as in the areas of mechanical/electrical/plumbing engineering. He is an IEEE Senior Member and Past Chairman of the DC Chapter. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Arbitration Association - National Roster of Arbitrators Construction/Commercial Panel, and Electrical Section Contributor for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). His honors include Engineer of Record, Comcast Center, College Park; Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC, and IESNA - Lighting Design Award, 1987. He resides in Columbia, Maryland.
 Sonjai Gupta
Strategic Investment Manager
Sprint Nextel Ventures
Sonjai Gupta received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland in 1993 and 1996, respectively. He currently works at Spring Ventures in the field of technology product management, marketing and early stage company development. He previously served as Product Manager, Wireless Data, at Sprint Nextel. Before arriving at Spring, he served as Product Marketing Manager at Exostar; Senior Engineer, Digital Communications at Wireless Matrix; and also served as a Member of the Technical Staff, Digital Entertainment, at Hughes Network Systems. He lives in Reston, Virginia.
 Jim Howland
Director, Signal Proessing Center
MITRE
James Howland is an Associate Technical Director of MITRE’s E530, Electronic Systems and Technology division. E530 works across MITRE’s C3I Federally Funded Research and Development Center sponsors, and is dedicated to technical expertise focused on communications, network, sensors, and signal processing technologies. He serves also as the corporate program lead for several counter improved explosive devices programs for both the DoD and intelligence communities.
Mr. Howland previously served as an associate director in MITRE’s Washington C3 Center, from October 2002 to October 2006. In that capacity he was responsible for the communications, networking, and signal processing technical departments and served as a technical director in W900. In that capacity he was responsible for technology support and W900 technical center support to the intelligence community. He was responsible for expanding the WC3 laboratory and hands-on work programs and assisted in developing the corporate laboratory and capital equipment resources. Prior to his assignment as a director, Mr. Howland was a responsible for the direction of WC3’s Signal Processing Center as a department manager.
As a member of the Technical Staff , Group Leader, then Principal Engineer from 1983 to 1998, he led the development of a several communications, antenna, and microwave system design and development programs. Responsible for the design and development of analog, RF, and microwave circuits and systems. Specific concentration on VHF, UHF, and L-band anti-jam, satellite and data communications systems for ground-to-ground, air-to-ground, and ground-to-space applications. Mr. Howland has expertise in wireless communications protocols including AMPS, GSM, and CDMA. Extensive experience with passive RF and microwave filter design, single and multiple element antenna design, propagation measurements and analysis, radar analysis, SAR imaging systems, PLL and DDS synthesizer design, amplifier design and heterodyne receiver design. CAD/CAE design and simulation experience with EEsof, SPICE, NEC, and other simulation tools.
Before joining MITRE in 1983, Mr. Howland was a physicist with the Foxboro Company He was involved in analysis and design of non intrusive ultrasonic measurement devices for the process control industry.
 P.R. Kumar
Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Illinois
P. R. Kumar obtained his B. Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering (Electronics) from I.I.T.
Madras in 1973, and the M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University, St. Louis in 1975 and 1977, respectively. From 1977-84 he was a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and since 1985 he has been at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he is currently Franklin W. Woeltge Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory.
He received the Donald P. Eckman award of the American Automatic Control Council in 1985,
the IEEE Field Award in Control Systems in 2006, and the Fred W. Ellersick Prize of the IEEE Communications Society in 2007. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.
He has presented plenary lectures at ALGOSENSORS, Asilomar Conference, Brazilian Automatic Control Congress, CDC, CISS, EWC, German Open Conf on Prob and Stat, HSCC, ICISIP, ICTW, IEEE Indus Autom and Cont, INFORMS Telecomm, IPSN, ISIT, MASS, MEDCON, Networking, Performance, SenSys, SPASWIN, WICON, WCLC.
He has worked on problems in game theory, adaptive control, stochastic systems, simulated annealing, neural networks, machine learning, queueing networks, manufacturing systems, scheduling, and wafer fabrication plants. His current research interests are in wireless networks, sensor networks, and networked embedded control systems.
 Rajiv Laroia
CTO, QUALCOMM Flarion Technologies
Born in Pune, India, in 1962, Rajiv Laroia received his master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Maryland in Electrical Engineering in 1989 and 1992, respectively.
Dr. Laroia’s innovations helped to nearly double the speed of data transmission over voiceband telephone channels. Specifically, he developed new precoding and constellation shaping methods for voiceband telephone line modems.
After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Laroia went to work at the Mathematical Sciences Research Center of Lucent Technologies’ Bell Labs. His work there dealt with broadband wireless systems for data communications. He became head of Bell Labs’ Digital Communications Research Department in its Wireless Research Center in 1997.
It is there that Dr. Laroia co-invented a spread spectrum technique for a wireless data systems called FLASH-ODFM, a system unique in its basis on Internet IP protocols—a base station acts as a router that connects mobile phones with modem cards to the Internet. This technology is being tested by a number of major telecommunications companies in the United States and abroad.
In essence, the technology helps companies extend IP-based Internet functions to mobile devices, efficiently transmitting data with minimal delay and quality of service support. Dr. Laroia’s invention is a cellular system that is packet-switched—messages are broken up into pieces (packets) before they are sent. His system not only is fast and requires less support, but it is highly spectrally efficient.
Lucent spun off Dr. Laroia’s research group in 2000, creating Flarion Technologies, with Dr. Laroia as founder and CTO. Flarion was purchased by Qualcomm in 2005, leading Dr. Laroia into the role of CTO for Qualcomm’s Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) Division.
Dr. Laroia holds 29 patents. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
 Patrick McCusker
Principal, Dulaney High School
Patrick McCusker formerly served as high school mathematics department chair and assistant principal before becoming principal at Lansdowne High and Eastern Technical High in Baltimore County. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at the University of Maryland College Park in 1990, and his Masters in Business Administration from Mount St. Mary's College in Emmittsburg, MD, in 1997. He was Presenter for the MSDE – Partners for Rigor through Relevancy, Northwest High School, Germantown, MD in June 2007. He served as a Panelist at the County Executive’s Advisory Board for Higher Education – Visions for a Competitive Workforce in June 2006. He was also a Presenter, MSDE – Citigroup High School Improvement Institute, in Hunt Valley, MD, in June 2005. He is a Member of the Association for Career and Technical Education, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) , and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). He currently lives in Reisterstown, MD.
 Ranjan K. Sen
Academic Relations Manager, Education Solutions
Microsoft Corporation
Ranjan Sen serves as Academic Relations Manager at Microsoft Corporation and also served as Program Manager at Windows Base OS performance and reliability group. Before that, he was a Sr. Software Engineer at IBM, working on a High Availability product.
Ranjan Sen also served as Computer Science professor at Rutgers University, Western Washington University, Hampton University, and was a founding faculty member of the Computer Science program at Indian Institute of Technology.
His research area includes parallel and distributed systems, programming, and performance engineering. He supervised Ph.D. students in dataflow computing, systolic architecture, parallel graph algorithms and interconnection networks. He published a number of research papers in IEEE TPDS, Parallel Computing, IPL, PAA, and authored an invited chapter of Advances in Parallel Computing.
He is a Sr. Member of IEEE and lifetime member of Seva-Bharati, an Experiment in Education in Rural India.
He has worked throughout his career to bring ideas from the educational environment to industry and the latest technology from industry to education.
 Milan Vlajnic
Chief Technology Officer, Vice President, Engineering & Operations
ComTek Communication Technologies, Inc.
Milan Vlajnic is Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering & Operations, at Communication Technologies. He oversees day-to-day operations, product development, IT & engineering and technology strategy. He has a long track record of providing technology vision and business leadership in ever-evolving telecommunications marketplace.
Mr. Vlajnic has held senior executive positions in engineering, operations, general management and R&D with Nortel Networks, Bay Networks and Penril Datability, where he was leading advances in wireless, optical, signal processing, software engineering, IP media and voiceband modem technology. He received his Masters in General Administration from the University of Maryland and his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade
 Philip Wiser
Chairman & President, Building-B, Inc.
Philip R. Wiser is President and Chairman of Building B, a new home entertainment technology and services company based in Silicon Valley. As a founder of Building B, Mr. Wiser is once again creating new technologies and solutions to accelerate the consumption of network media. Building B has developed a disruptive approach to media network technology that will dramatically open the home video and television markets.
Prior to starting Building B, Mr Wiser served as Chief Technology Officer of Sony Corporation of America (SCA). In this role, Mr. Wiser led Sony’s overall technology strategy and was responsible for coordinating technology efforts across Sony’s content companies and growing digital opportunities for Sony, including efforts in mobile entertainment.
Mr. Wiser joined Sony in 2002 as the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Digital Services of Sony Music Entertainment Inc. He was oversaw all digital media initiatives, including digital music distribution, mobile music businesses, new physical music formats and anti-piracy technologies.
Prior to joining Sony Music, Mr. Wiser co-founded Liquid Audio, Inc., in 1996 and served on its Board of Directors and as Chief Technology Officer of the Company through June 2001. He has also worked in key industry standard groups such as MPEG, SDMI, and AES to accelerate the adoption of networked technologies for media distribution.
Prior to Liquid Audio, Mr. Wiser worked extensively in the Silicon Valley. During this time he developed audio algorithms and audio processing systems for several professional and consumer audio organizations. He directed audio compression work at Chromatic Research, a multimedia semiconductor device company. He also served as director of digital signal processing research for Studer Editech Corporation, a professional audio recording equipment company. Prior to that, he developed audio software systems for Sonic Solutions and Euphonix, both developers of professional digital audio products.
Mr. Wiser holds a summa cum laude B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland and a M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1993. He spent time at the world-renowned Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) during his tenure at Stanford. He focused his research on digital audio signal processing algorithms and technologies. Mr. Wiser has developed several patents covering digital rights management, music distribution systems, and signal processing. He has also published research in the area of auditory neural processing and other areas of neurophysiology.
 William E. Witowsky
Senior Fellow, Texas Instruments
Bill Witowsky is currently a Senior Fellow at Texas Instruments and serves as Chief Technical Officer of Systems and Software for the DSP Systems Group. He holds a number of patents, serves on several technology advisory boards and previously cofounded Telogy Networks, a company pioneering Voice over IP. Bill received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and his MS in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.
Links of Interest:
ECE Staff Directory
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Clark School Administrative Staff Directory
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University Faculty & Staff Directory
ECE Corporate Affiliates Program
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