UK ECE Summer Newsletter 2019
Himanshu Thapliyal Receives NSF CAREER Award
Himanshu Thapliyal, ECE Assistant Professor, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for $568,000. Thapliyal’s project is titled “CAREER: Utilizing Principles of Energy Recovery Computing for
Low-Energy and DPA-Resistant IoT Devices” and focuses on designing efficient, secure IoT Devices.
ECE Launches Online Power Systems Graduate Program
The ECE Department has just launched our first fully online certificate program, Graduate Certificate in Power Systems . This new online certificate welcomes professionals in government, private industry and academia to build expertise with the latest technologies in analysis, modeling, control, optimization, and integration of renewable energies.
Alumni News
Reese S. Terry Jr. Receives Honorary Doctorate
Reese S. Terry Jr. (BSEE 1964; MSEE 1966) received an honorary doctorate at the May 2019 Commencement ceremony. Terry is internationally known for his work in biomedical devices. He co-developed the first programmable dual chamber pacer in 1980, and later helped develop Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy for treatment of epilepsy and treatment-resistant depression.
Allen Waugerman Named Lexmark CEO
Lexmark recently announced that they have selected UK ECE alumnus Allen Waugerman (BSEE 1984) as Lexmark president and chief executive officer. Waugerman joined Lexmark at its inception in 1991 and has served since 2016 as senior vice president and chief technology officer. He is a former ECE Advisory Board member and current Dean's Advisory Council member for the UK College of Engineering.
Lonnie Bellar Inducted into Hall of Distinction
In April the College of Engineering inducted ECE alumnus Lonnie Bellar (BSEE 1987) as one of six new members in the alumni Hall of Distinction. As chief operating officer of LG&E and KU, Bellar is responsible for ensuring the company provides safe, affordable and reliable natural gas, electricity and customer service to 1.3 million customers in Kentucky and Virginia. Bellar has led the company to be among the top performers in safety, customer service and reliability.
Want more ECE alumni news? Send your news to [email protected]
Upcoming ECE Alumni Events

ECE Fall Welcome Back Picnic Thursday September 5, 2019 at 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Engineering Courtyard!

NEW! College of Engineering Football Tailgates at ALL UK Home Football games!
ECE-sponsored CoE Tailgate Date November 9, 2019 vs. Tennessee.
Please join us! Time and location to be announced in the Fall!

Fall Senior Design Day Friday December 13, 2019, 9:00 am-12:00 pm on 4th floor of F. Paul Anderson Tower

Alumni Engagement Opportunities

Alumni Mentorship Program

Root Beer with an Engineer through the Living Learning Program
Contact LLP Director Jimmie Martin:

Career Development Events

UK Engineering Alumni Association
Student News
ECE Launches Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program
ECE recently launched a new Undergraduate Research Fellowship (URF) program . Under this program, students receive $5,000 awards to pursue a research project with a faculty mentor. Projects are sponsored by industry, the department, and faculty research sponsors. This year five URF awards were made, including one industry supported award from Schneider Electric. If your company would like to support an URF student,
please contact [email protected] !
Five Senior Design Teams awarded Reese Terry Capstone Funds
The 2018-2019 school year was the first year for Reese Terry Capstone Design Awards supporting capstone projects related to medical and health applications. Of the eight awards granted, five went to senior design teams in ECE. These projects included a baby seat temperature monitor, motion capture for athletic performance, a portable solar battery system, sound volume monitoring glasses for social cues, and a personal electrocardiogram system.
KORA Competes at NASA Robotics Mining Competition
A multidisciplinary team of students competed in the NASA Mining Robot competition in Tuscaloosa in April 2019. The team is a part of a new robotics-focused student organization, the Kentucky Organization of Robotics and Automation (KORA) .
Faculty News
Jiangbiao He joins ECE Faculty as Pigman Faculty Fellow
Assistant Professor Dr. Jiangbiao He joined ECE in January 2019 as the first recipient of the L. Stanley Pigman Faculty Fellowship in electric power. Dr. He was previously a Lead Engineer at GE Global Research focusing on high-performance power electronic systems for aviation and renewable energy. Dr. He’s research interests include high performance power electronic systems, electric motor drives, and renewable energies. He has published more than 50 technical journal and conference papers in power and energy, and has more than 10 patent applications. 
Professor Janet Lumpp Wins Sarah Bennett Holmes Award
ECE Professor Dr. Janet Lumpp was awarded the 2019 Sarah Bennett Holmes Award for her service to ECE and STEM outreach for women and her contributions as the first director of the First Year Engineering program. This prestigious award recognizes one female faculty member and one female staff member who promote growth and well-being of women at the university and across Kentucky. The staff recipient was Micaha Hughes, also from the College of Engineering.
Dr. Bill Smith and Dr. Alexandre Martin receive NASA Grant
ECE Professor Dr. Bill Smith and ME Professor Dr. Alexandre Martin were recently awarded three grants from NASA totalling $385,000 for The Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System (KRUPS). KRUPS is a series of ongoing projects to test thermal protection system (TPS) materials and instrumentation for space applications. The overall objective is to launch a KRUPS capsule from the International Space Station to obtain orbital re-entry data for TPS model validation. Dr. Martin is the lead investigator for the projects and recently brought ECE's Dr. Smith onboard to support the KRUPS electrical and communications systems.
PEIK Collaborates on DOE Solar Project
The new research project with collaboration from the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) researchers is part of the US Department of Energy DOE-1740 program that will help the industry develop new technology to improve the devices that serve as the critical link between solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays and the electric grid. 
University of Kentucky
Electrical and Computer Engineering
453 F. Paul Anderson Tower, 
512 Administration Drive
Lexington, KY 40506-0046
(859) 257-8042