2021 ECE Day: Seminars and Student Research Competition
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology held its annual ECE Day event. It hosted research panels, a research seminar, a student research competition, and the ECE faculty met with the ECE Board of Advisors to discuss department updates and strategic planning.
Earlier in the week, 70 students competed in various research presentation categories over two days. They were judged by a panel of ECE faculty and members of the ECE Board of Advisors, and there were a total of 30 student finalists.
“The day was a huge success,” says Jafar Saniie, chair of the ECE department and Walter and Harriet Filmer Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering. “The projects were all so impressive, and we are very proud of all the students’ hard work and efforts. We look forward to seeing what research next year’s competition will bring.”
Following faculty-led research panels, the event ended with a research seminar presented to more than 90 attendees by Harris Perlstein Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Yongyi Yang, a recent Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers fellow, entitled “Signal and Image Processing in Tomographic Imaging—A Tutorial” and an award ceremony announcing the winners of the student competition.
Congratulations to the following winners:
UNDERGRADUATE TEAM CATEGORY
First Place—Cameron Haley (CPE 4th Year), Anthony Banuelos (CCSE, M.A.S. CYSE 4th Year), Colin Prochnow (CCSE 4th Year), Kamil Kaczmarczyk (CPE 4th Year)—“Decibel Display: A Smart, Alexa Built-in Bluetooth Speaker with a Detailed, Music-Centric GUI for a Richer Listening Experience”
First Place—Melanie Acelor N’Dambani (M.Eng. Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, and Control), Irvin Delgado-Ramirez (CPE 4th Year), Peter Fitzpatrick (CPE 4th Year)—“Smart Lock Home Security”
Second Place—Neil Dhote (CPE 4th Year), Deep Trapasia (CPE 4th Year), Dominik Chraca (EE 4th Year), Saurabh Saluja (M.S. CPE)—“Neuro+Sleep”
MASTER’S CATEGORY
First Place—Xirang Zhang (M.S. EE)—“Motion Compensation in Cardiac SPECT Using Deep Learning”
First Place—Madhusree Mondal (M.S. EE)—“Video Object Detection Using CenterNet
Second Place—John Ford (CCSE 4th Year, M.S. CPE)—“Plant Species Image Recognition Using Artificial Intelligence on Jetson Nano Computational Platform”
PH.D. CATEGORY: Computer Systems, VLSI and Electronics
First Place—Muyu Yang (Ph.D. CPE Candidate)—“Secure SRAM Design and Layout in 7nm FinFET Technology”
Second Place—Zi Wang (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Interparticle Polarization Coupling and Hotspot Dynamics in an Asymmetrical Semiconductor Nanodimer”
Third Place—Xin Huang (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Software-Defined Encrypted Video Monitoring Using OFDM Ultrasonic Communication System”
PH.D. CATEGORY: Signal and Image Processing
First Place—Junchi Liu (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Deep Learning with Noise-to-Noise Training for Denoising in SPECT Myocardial Perfusion Imaging”
Second Place—Zhengyu Xia (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Improving Semantic Segmentation for Still Images Using Contextual Information”
Third Place—Xinrui Yu (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Recognizing English Cursive Using Generative Adversarial Networks”
PH.D. CATEGORY: Networks and Communications
First Place—Ziru Chen (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Optimizing Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access in Random Access Networks”
First Place—Shuai Zhang (Ph.D. CPE Candidate)—“Accelerating Wireless Network Optimization with Deep Learning”
Second Place—Mehri Mehrnia (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Resource Allocation for NOMA-Based mm-Wave Networks with SWIPT”
PH.D. CATEGORY: Power Systems
First Place—Sheng Lei (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Efficient Power System Transient Simulation for Stability Studies Based on Frequency Response Optimized Approximation”
Second Place—Jiayu Han (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“LfEdNet: A Task-Based Load Forecasting Model”
Third Place—Bikiran Guha (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Exploring Real-Time Control Strategies to Avoid Transient Cascading Failure in Power Grids”
Third Place—Mingyu Yan (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Blockchain for Peer-to-Peer Transactive Energy Market in Multi-Microgrids”
PH.D. CATEGORY: Power Electronics
First Place—Ziyan Zhang (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Time-Efficient Modeling of Acoustic Noise in Switched Reluctance Motors: An Analytical Approach”
Second Place—Aritra Kundu (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“WBG Fractional Power Processing: A New Design of Hybrid SI-SiC Voltage Source Inverter”
Third Place—Zhixi Deng (Ph.D. EE Candidate)—“Smart Plug 2.0: Solid State Smart Plugs Preventing Fire and Shock Hazards”
Image: Smart lock home security demo (N’Dambani, Delgado-Ramirez, Fitzpatrick)
