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.
 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.
 Tag Cutchis
Principal 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 seven 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.
 Darrell Durst
Vice President, Cyber Solutions
Lockheed Martin, Information Systems & Global Services-Intelligence
Darrell Durst has provided more than 21 years of experience and demonstrated success in support of Lockheed Martin's execution and growth strategies for its multiple intelligence community customers. Darrell joined Lockheed Martin in 1989 and in June 2009 was announced the vice president of the Cyber Solutions line of business within the Lockheed Martin, Information Systems and Global Services-Intelligence product line. Today the Cyber Solutions line of business is comprised of development and operations programs totaling over $270M in revenue and over 600 personnel providing critical cyber-based capabilities to its government customers. These cyber-based programs are executed across the U.S. and foreign countries, where they employ cyber engineers, technologists and strategists developing capabilities with the government customer to meet some of the most challenging threats around the world. These capabilities help defend customer global information networks employing layered, adaptive defenses, advanced encryption technologies, information assurance, intrusion detection, wired and wireless network defense, cyber training and war-gaming, and in-depth security architecture integration. These programs also develop and deliver Quick Reaction Capabilities (QRC) in support of the DoD's Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to the war-fighter. Darrell has served in numerous engineering and leadership roles throughout his 20-year Lockheed Martin career and overall 24 years within the Intelligence Community. He has developed in-depth knowledge and background of many critical intelligence systems, allowing him to bridge between intelligence systems and domains to help define and deliver efficient and effective capabilities to the government's threats and hard problems. Darrell has a background that includes architecture development, requirements and concept-of-operations development, systems studies, modeling and simulation, and business case development applied to complex communications and signals systems. Darrell served as a first year member of the IS&GS heritage company Diversity Council in 2002 and served as the East South Diversity Council Chair from 2004 to 2006, and is currently a member of the Corporate Lockheed Martin Executive Diversity Council. Darrell holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Howard University.
 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.
 Paul Gaske
Executive Vice President and General Manager, North American Division
Hughes Network Systems
Paul Gaske is Executive Vice President and General Manager of the North American Division at Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes). The Division offers the HughesNet(TM) Internet service which focuses on delivering the Internet to rural and underserved markets and is the largest Broadband Satellite Internet Service in the USA. Hughes' North American Division is also a leading provider of Managed Network Services incorporating satellite, wireless and wire-line technologies for medium and large enterprise customers, and offers numerous telecom and emergency service solutions for state and federal government customers. Mr. Gaske is an officer of Hughes Communications, Inc., the parent company of Hughes Network Systems and is a member of the Hughes Communications, Inc. Executive Committee. Mr. Gaske joined Hughes in 1977 as a digital design engineer, and has held a variety of engineering, marketing, and business management positions throughout his career. He has worked extensively on digital communication networks, serving enterprises and consumers throughout the world. Mr. Gaske holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and a Master's Degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) and is a published author on satellite networking technologies and markets. He is also the holder of numerous patents in satellite communications and broadband networking.
 Dan Goodman
Entrepreneur in Residence Emeritus & Senior Fellow for Renewable Energy
Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
Dan Goodman is a serial entrepreneur, advisor and educator with over thirty-five years of widely varied business experience. His career includes leadership roles in organizations across several fields including electronic product development, technology commercialization, renewable energy, venture capital, and economic development.
Dan was the Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Maryland’s Office of Technology Commercialization, where he facilitated matchmaking between the university and industry for the licensing of University-owned inventions. Subsequently, he served as the Technology Commercialization Fellow at the R.H. Smith School of Business and an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Currently, he is the Smith School’s Entrepreneur in Residence Emeritus and Senior Fellow for Renewable Energy.
Dan has been interested in renewable energy since he built his first biogas digester in 1977 using canine waste. As Director of Engineering at The Silverthorn Group, an embedded systems design firm he founded in 1987, Dan’s product design work included energy systems (solar charge controllers, electric car battery assembly systems, and smart grid power meters) as well as transportation, building automation and medical systems. He is the Founder and President of the not-for-profit Foundation for Renewable Energy Education, the parent organization of the Biodiesel University and rGeneration mobile renewable energy education programs as well as a co-founder and Board Director of the Washington, DC region’s only biodiesel cooperative, the Green Guild Biodiesel Co-op.
Dan was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley to the Board of Directors of the Maryland Clean Energy Center, the State’s clean energy economic development authority, and serves as the Center’s Vice Chairman and chairman of it’s finance and budget committee. He also chairs the oversight committee of the Maryland Clean Energy Technology Incubator@bwtech, the State’s first clean energy technology incubator, located at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
Dan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from the University of 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 Processing 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.
 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.
 Patricia Mead
Professor, Norfolk State University
Patricia F. Mead, Ph.D., joined the faculty of Norfolk State University (NSU) as Professor of Engineering in summer 2004. Since her appointment, Dr. Mead has been a leading advocate for educational reform, with an emphasis on optics and photonics education and assessment. Dr. Mead is Director of Two + Three Community College to University Programs Scholars Project (T-CUP) and Education Director of the NSF-funded Nano- and Bio-Inspired Materials and Devices Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST). She also maintains an active research effort on Photonic Solutions for ENvironmental Science and Engineering (PSENSE). Dr. Mead previously served as Senior Program Officer in Engineering Education at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Washington, DC, where she was lead officer for several policy studies, including The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the 21st Century, a forward looking examination of the engineering profession and its role in society. Dr. Mead also served on the graduate Mechanical Engineering faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park, and she received the prestigious NSF Faculty Early CAREER Award in 1997.
 Zoran Mladenovic
General Manager, Software Development Organization, Texas Instruments
Zoran Mladenovic is the General Manager of SDO (software development organization), DSP Systems Group at Texas Instruments. In this role, he is responsible for large global development organization, providing software development tools and embedded software for Texas Instruments processors. He is focused on organization execution and operational efficiency, as well as strategic technology direction with the particular emphasis on the open source software. Zoran has over 20 years of experience in all phases of software and hardware product development for the embedded systems. His prior professional engagements were in the area of data modems, voice over packet networks, Media Gateways and Wireless Base Station products, spanning over system engineering, software development and silicon architecture definition. Throughout his carrier he has been involved in both, product development and standardization efforts and holds multiple patents. He has a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Belgrade.
 Hung Nguyen
Associate Director, Aerospace Corporation
Dr. Nguyen has been working in the field of communications and signal processing for more than 25 years, with several published papers and patents in both areas. He has been a member of various technical committees in IEEE ComSoc, served in many ICC and Globecom conferences and symposia, most recently as leading Co-Chair of the Signal Processing Symposium for Globecom 2010. Currently, he holds the position of Vice-Chair of the Signal Processing and Communications Electronics (SPCE) Technical Committee in ComSoc. Dr. Nguyen was with a number of industrial companies such as ENSCO, Combustion Engineering, Raytheon, Orincon, Booze Allen Hamilton, ManTech and MedAcoustics before joining The Aerospace Corporation in Chantilly, VA where he is currently an Associate Director in the Engineering and Technology Group and provides technical direction and subject matter experts in the areas of wireless and optical communications, detection & estimation theory, modulation & coding theory, and networking for US government customers. Dr. Nguyen received his B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Maryland, an MS in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Ph.D. from George Mason University where he was also a Visiting Research Scientist in Array Signal Processing, and Adjunct Professor teaching wireless and multimedia communications. Dr. Nguyen was a recipient of several industrial awards & patents and is an IEEE Senior Member.
 Laurie Villano
Senior Vice President, Sotera Defense
Laurie has over 30 years of experience leading and supporting the Intelligence Community primarily for the NSA. Her experience includes: business strategy and development, business case analysis, program management, systems development, systems engineering support, software development, and integration and test.
Her primary focus is IT software and system development as well as IT Infrastructure programs. In this capacity, she is responsible for strategic planning, client and industry relationship management, senior oversight on opportunity capture and quality delivery, and career development for a team of IT professionals. Prior to joining Booz Allen, Laurie was a Vice President of BDM International where she led a Columbia office focused on providing similar services to the local intel client.
Laurie earned an MS degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab and a BS degree in Mathematics from the University of Maryland at College Park. She is a member of AFCEA currently serving on the Board of Directors of the local Central Maryland Chapter. Previous roles included serving as the Chairman of the Board, President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Programs, and Intelligence Community Symposium Chair. Laurie is a member of the University of Maryland’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board and served as a Board Member to Johns Hopkins Business School Capstone program.
 Milan Vlajnic
ECE Advisory Board President
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.
 Ron Wages
Chief Executive Officer
Vagues Solid State Lighting
Mr. Ron Wages (CEO) is a seasoned executive. He brings over 20 years of experience in successful, high tech sales, marketing, business development and general management. Ron spent the first 10 years of his career with Texas Instruments where he was the DSP Marketing Manager with Worldwide responsibility for marketing programs. He served as VP Marketing at Spectrum Signal Processing (SSPI-Nasdaq), VP Sales and Marketing at D2 Technologies, VP Business Development at Virata (VRTA-Nasdaq), VP Sales & Marketing of JDS Uniphase MEMS Business Unit (JDSU-Nasdaq) and CEO of Memscap Inc (MEMS-Euronext). He is the founder of Vagues Solid State Lighting where he currently serves as CEO. He has a proven track record of managing high growth teams and building profitable businesses. He holds a BSEE from the University of Maryland College Park and a MBA from the University of Houston.
Links of Interest:
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