Electrical Engineering

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic crippled the global supply chain for chips that power everything from video games to cars to medical devices, semiconductors have been atop the national policy agenda. These shortages inspired a flurry of legislation, most notably the federal CHIPS Act, that aimed to "re-shore" semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S.

The world's computing needs have grown exponentially in recent years due to an explosion of technology. To meet the needs for the next technological leap, the scientific community is working to improve current processing capabilities and simultaneously develop entirely new computing methods.

Two new papers from the research group of Jean Anne Incorvia, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Chandra Family of Electrical and Computer Engineering, aim to contribute to both of these scientific needs. Together, they offer improvements on current semiconductor technology as well as a nimbler building block to the next generation of computers that think like the human brain.

Al Bovik, professor in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been elected to the Academia Europaea for 2023 for his contributions to video engineering. The object of Academia Europaea is the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages. The aim of the Academy is to promote European research, advise governments and international organizations in scientific matters, and further interdisciplinary and international research.

Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, accurate testing remains a challenge, even more so as the virus has mutated over time, becoming more contagious with symptoms that are hard to tell apart from other illnesses. A new diagnostic device that can differentiate between COVID-19 and the flu, developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, seeks to solve this problem while providing better and more portable care options for people who are without access to medical centers.

A new flexible, wearable medical device could provide a major boost in the fight against heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

A team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has developed an ultrathin, lightweight electronic tattoo, or e-tattoo, that attaches to the chest for continuous, mobile heart monitoring outside of a clinical setting. It includes two sensors that together provide a clear picture of heart health, giving clinicians a better chance to catch red flags for heart disease early.

A new cardiac implant made from graphene, a two-dimensional supermaterial with ultra-strong, lightweight and conductive properties, functions like a classic pacemaker with some major improvements.

Deji Akinwande, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, has been named a 2023 Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS Fellow) for “contributions to the development of wafer-scale monolayer graphene, and the realization of flexible nanosystems.”

Bob Metcalfe, professor emeritus in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, was named the recipient of the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) A.M. Turing Award for the invention, standardization and commercialization of Ethernet.

Texas Engineers are leading a multi-university research team that will build technology and tools to improve measurement of important climate factors by observing atoms in outer space. 

They will focus on the concept of quantum sensing, which use quantum physics principles to potentially collect more precise data and enable unprecedented science measurements.

Today's state-of-the-art optical imaging technologies can help us see biological dynamics occurring at subcellular resolutions. However, this capability is primarily limited to thin biological samples, such as individual cells or thin tissue-sections and falls apart when it comes to capturing high-resolution, three-dimensional images of thicker and more complex biological tissue. This limitation occurs because tissue is composed of heterogeneous arrangements of densely-packed cells, which scatter light and hinder optical imaging. This is especially a challenge in live tissue, where biological dynamics occurring within the tissue further diffuse light and scuttle images.

Cockrell School alumnus, software engineer and Shark Tank finalist Ecleamus Ricks, Jr. has always considered himself a creator. Fascinated with his grandfather’s skills as a carpenter, Ricks knew he wanted to build things using science and numbers.

Four faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin have been named to the National Academy of Inventors’ 2023 class of Senior Members. The honorees include three faculty members from the Cockrell School of Engineering and one from the College of Natural Sciences.

They are Jennifer Maynard, Jason McLellan, Delia Milliron and Sriram Vishwanath.

A pair of Texas Engineers have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society.

Radu Marculescu, professor in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, has been named a Fellow of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) for 2022 for "contributions to low-power and communication-based design of embedded systems." 

Capturing the potential profits and jobs offered by a growing hydrogen industry may need as much innovation in regulatory agencies as it does in the research laboratories, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin. The work highlights the increasing complexity and interconnected nature of energy markets as disparate regulatory agencies push for increased use of clean energy sources.

In the paper, published recently in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, the researchers studied a wind farm in west Texas to find ways wind farm owners can enhance profitability by making hydrogen. They examined various scenarios, including profit points of selling electricity versus hydrogen and storing hydrogen to sell either hydrogen or hydrogen-derived electricity as the markets change.

Our palms tell us a lot about our emotional state, tending to get wet when people are excited or nervous. This reaction is used to measure emotional stress and help people with mental health issues, but the devices to do it now are bulky, unreliable and can perpetuate social stigma by sticking very visible sensors on prominent parts of the body.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have applied emerging electronic tattoo (e-tattoo) technology to this type of monitoring, known as electrodermal activity or EDA sensing. In a new paper published recently in Nature Communications, the researchers created a graphene-based e-tattoo that attaches to the palm, is nearly invisible and connects to a smart watch.

In one of the first studies of its kind, several people with motor disabilities were able to operate a wheelchair that translates their thoughts into movement.

The study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and published today in the journal iScience is an important step forward for brain-machine interfaces — computer systems that turn mind activity into action. The concept of a thought-powered wheelchair has been studied for years, but most projects have used non-disabled subjects or stimuli that leads the device to more or less control the person rather than the other way around.

Wearable medical devices are an important part of the future of medicine and a key focus of researchers around the world. They open the door for long-term continuous monitoring of patients outside of the medical setting to give clinicians an accurate picture of what's happening and a better chance to effectively treat their ailments. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed an electroencefalography (EEG) electrode that patients wear on their head to monitor brain activity. The EEG electrodes system could act as a brain-computer interface (BCI), which can be controlled by brain signals to help repair damage to the brain caused by strokes and other disorders.

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff members, alumni and friends gathered to celebrate a transformative gift resulting in the naming of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. The department will now be named the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Ramesh Yerraballi, a professor of instruction in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, has been named a recipient of the 2022 University of Texas System Board of Regents Outstanding Teaching Award. The award is the Board of Regents’ highest honor and recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated extraordinary classroom performance and innovation in undergraduate instruction.