ECE Profiles

Mark Hansen
Marek Perkowski
Christof Teuscher
Ai Ling Chen & Don Tornquist

ECE Professor Leads Future Engineers

The 26th Annual Intel Northwest Science Expo for high school and middle school students was held April 10th at PSU and many of the winners can attribute their success to ECE professor Dr. Marek Perkowski. Since 2004, Dr. Perkowski has held a "Sunday School on Quantum Robotics" for teens. There is no cost - and he does not get paid for the 'classes.' He just enjoys working with these very bright young people. Dr. Perkowski is pictured here with Arushi Raghuvanshi and her robot Schrödinger Cat. Arushi is a 10th grader at Jesuit High School and was a multiple winner at this year's Intel Science Expo. Click here for more on this story and to view the winners.

Mark Hansen

Mark Hansen received the award in the category of Best New Semiconductor Test Equipment for 2009 for the Cascade Microtech Edge Flicker Noise Measurement System. The "Best in Test" award banquet was held by Test and Measurement World Magazine on April 1st. "The most complicated part of the project was designed by me," says Mark, "based directly on the techniques I learned in ECE 531/532 at PSU."

Christof Teuscher

As an outdoorsy and environmentally conscious person, Christof Teuscher, new ECE Faculty member, says he greatly enjoys what Portland has to offer. "I love the small downtown campus and teaching has been a lot of fun too so far," he says. "My next step is to get my lab going and to recruit the best and brightest students."

Dr. Teuscher obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in computer science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) in 2000 and 2004 respectively. In 2004 he became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in 2005 a distinguished Director's Postdoctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and in 2007 a Technical Staff Member. Dr. Teuscher has published multiple books and over 90 scientific publications. His main research interests include emerging computing architectures and paradigms, biologically-inspired computing, complex & adaptive systems, and cognitive science. Teuscher has received several prestigious awards and fellowships. At PSU Dr. Teuscher will establish a leading research team and lab in future and emerging computing machines and paradigms. For more information about his research and his lab visit http://www.teuscher.ch/christof and http://teuscher-lab.ece.pdx.edu. Current students interested in doing research with Dr. Teuscher can check out this flyer.

ECE Undergrads Experience Life in the Lab

Undergraduate students in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department log a lot of lab time in their studies, but research outside of the classroom is usually limited to graduate students. The Intel Undergraduate Research and Mentoring Program has enabled two ECE undergraduate students to expand their experience in the lab in a profound way.

Ai Ling Chen, a senior, and Don Tornquist, a junior, are participating in the two-term cohort this year in the NEAR-Lab. Mentoring is a large part of the cohort and both students have received invaluable support from students and faculty of lab. Don explains his experience as follows, "I am now working in the NEAR-Lab, helping to study the properties of terahertz radiation. Specifically, I’m working with another student planning and organizing an experiment to study the scattering effect of terahertz radiation as it contacts rough surfaces. I enjoy the corroboration, and I look forward to conducting the experiment. In order to actively participate in this research, I’ve had to quickly learn much about EM theory and the use of the lab equipment. But the professors and fellow students in the lab have been quite helpful, directing me to relevant papers and books, and willingly answering my numerous questions. They listen to my ideas and give me useful feedback. I am treated as a fellow member, and I receive the guidance that I need."

Although Ai Ling's has a different research subject, she is also very excited about the research she is doing and the help she has gotten along the way. "My major task this term is to use Bellhop and Matlab to calculate the pressure field and transmission loss given the environment of the ocean. In the past month, I learned about the theory of ocean acoustics and how to use normal nodes model to calculate the pressure field. Recently I am learning about how to use the ray methods to calculate the pressure field. I really enjoy doing the research and I am learning a lot. There are many students working in different topics in the NEAR-Lab. They are very nice people and always willing to share their experience."

Dr. Zurk has nothing but praise for the two. "It has been great having Don and Ai Ling as part of the NEAR-Lab team. We regularly have had undergraduates working in the lab and we think it is a great mechanism to expose them to research - often they stay to continue as graduate students in the NEAR-Lab."

The Intel Undergraduate Research & Mentoring Program is designed for students that are interested in electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering as well as computer science. The Maseeh College recognizes the importance of mentoring undergraduate students in the areas of cross-disciplinary research, graduate engineering education, and industry partnerships. Students accepted into our program will be part of a cohort that will work with MCECS faculty and participate in engineering conferences, educational workshops, special events, and stimulating undergraduate research.  For more information about the Intel Undergraduate Research and Mentoring Program please contact Program Coordinator, Kristen Nieman at krisc@cecs.pdx.edu.