UK Electrical and Computer Engineering
Winter Newsletter 2019
ECE Welcomes Four New Faculty Members for Fall 2019
As part of the largest faculty hiring initiative in the College of Engineering's history, UK Electrical and Computer Engineering welcomed four new faculty this year. These faculty include Dr. Jihye Bae (Neural Interfaces and Machine Learning), Dr. Luis Sanchez Giraldo (Machine Learning and Signal Processing), Dr. Peng Wang (Smart Manufacturing) and Dr. Biyun Xie (Robotics).
ECE Receives $600,000 GAANN for PhD Fellowships
Electrical and Computer Engineering has been awarded a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) grant from the U.S. Department of Education of $600,000. The GAANN grant will provide funds to support U.S. graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees in ECE core research areas . 
Alumni News
Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch Featured in TV Segment
UK ECE Alum Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch , Senior Vice President for Government Strategy & Policy at Immarsat, was recently featured on an episode of Government Matters, a Thought Leadership Program. The program focused on the need for accelerating development of a "defendable space" and integrated satellite communications (SATCOM) architectures for resilient, robust, and secure communications.
Michael Bowling Named President DIRECTV Latin America
UK ECE Alum Michael Bowling has been named President, DIRECTV Latin America by Vrio, an AT&T Latin America Company and a leading digital entertainment provider.
Want more ECE alumni news? Send your news to ukece@uky.edu ! 
Upcoming ECE Alumni Events

ECE Student Research Symposium Wednesday April 15, 2020

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
SpaceLex becomes newest Student Organization
Students from ECE and other programs within the College of Engineering recently founded the new Student Organization SpaceLex, a diverse team of engineers developing large sounding rockets to compete internationally at the annual IREC competition. The team is currently building a rocket known as Lookout, named after the 1893 Kentucky Derby winner. This rocket will achieve supersonic flight through a fully hand-layed composite airframe, and completely student-made solid motor. In addition, the team plans to build the first ever student-built rocket plane, Whirlaway, named after the 1941 Triple Crown winner. The team's long-term goal is to be the first ever student group to send a rocket past the Karman Line for the SPACESHOT challenge. 
Sarah K. Lami Wins Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Image Contest Award
Sarah K. Lami , a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, won the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure image contest in the Most Unique Capability category.
Solar Car Team Finishes Third, Breaks Fastest Lap Record
This past summer, the University of Kentucky Solar Car Team competed in the Formula Sun Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The team finished third overall in the event, and shattered the single-lap track record for the solar-powered vehicles. This was the team’s best finish since placing second in 2009.  
Faculty and Research News
Jiangbiao He receives 2019 IEEE IAS Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award
Jiangbiao He received the 2019 IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS) AWS Outstanding Young Member Achievement Award, during the 2019 IEEE IAS Annual Meeting and ECCE-2019 International Conference in Baltimore, MD, on Oct. 3, 2019. Only one awardee who is less than 35 years of age is selected every year from the large international IEEE IAS community that has approximately 14,000 members.
YuMing Zhang awarded Grant from National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP)
ECE faculty member Dr. YuMing Zhang was recently awarded a $147,750 research award from the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) for his research project titled "Miniature Torch Speed Sensor Based Adaptive Manual Arc Welding" .   
Samson Cheung Co-Investigator on $3.5 Million NIH Grant Through UC Davis
Sen-Ching “Samson” Cheung , Blazie Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, is co-investigator on a $3.5 million NIH grant for five years to develop novel video-based approaches for detection of autism risk in the first year of life. Dr. Cheung was also recently elevated to an IEEE Fellow, one of the highest levels of professional achievement for a faculty member.
New Research Project on Virtual Power Plants for Electric Distribution Systems Sponsored by TVA
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has awarded a new research project to UK PEIK Institute and SPARK Laboratory researchers to study virtual power plants for the distributed energy resources aggregation and demand response optimal controls.
NSF Grant for Research on Human Behavior, Energy Efficiency, Storage and Management in Buildings
PEIK researchers, Dr. Simone Silvestri, CS Assistant Professor, and Dr. Dan M. Ionel, ECE Professor, L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power and PEIK Director, will serve as PI and co-PI, respectively, on a new collaborative NSF grant: “Crosslayer Optimization of Energy and Cost through Unified Modeling of User Behavior and Storage in Multiple Buildings”.
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Electrical and Computer Engineering
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