ECBE News
News Archive
2024
Summer 2024
Mr. Michael Abba joins School of ECBE
Mr. Abba has joined the School of ECBE starting in the Fall 2024 semester. Mr. Abba received his BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1989 and 1990, respectfully. He then received his Masters in Business Administration from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 1994. He brings over 33 years of industrial experience in the power industry to the school.
Spring 2024
Dr. Mehdi Ghasemiraghi joins School of ECBE
Dr. Ghasemirahaghi has joined the School of ECBE starting in the Spring 2023 semester. Dr. Ghasemirahaghi received his BS in Computer Engineering from Ferdowsi University of Mashad in 2010, his MS in Computer Engineering from Shahid Beheshti University in 2012, and his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Arizona State University in 2024. Dr. Ghasemirahaghi's lab focuses on Internet of Things, energy-aware computing, and computation offloading at the edge.
2023
Fall 2023
Dr. Steven Blair joins School of ECBE
Dr. Blair has joined the School of ECBE starting in the Fall 2023 semester. Dr. Blair received his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 2016 and his MS and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2018 and 2022, respectively. Dr. Blair's lab focuses on research inimage-guided cancer surgery, biomedical optical imaging, spectral imaging, fluorescence imaging and label-free imaging.
Dr. Justin Pol joins School of ECBE
Dr. Pol also joined the School of ECBE in the Fall 2023 semester. Dr. Pol received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Kentucky-Paducah in 2019, and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2023 from University of Kentucky-Lexington. Dr. Pol's research interest include biomechanics and rehabilitation engineering. He will primarily support the Biomedical Engineering program.
Spring 2023
Dr. Roohallah Khatami joins School of ECBE
Dr. Khatami joins the school of ECBE starting in the Spring of 2023 from the University of British Columbia where he did his post doc. Dr. Khatami received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 2019 in the power system domain. He will primarily support the Electrical Engineering program.
Dr. Ahmed receives an award from KBR
On May 19, 2023, Dr. Ahmed will receive an award from KBR to model advanced field effects of transistors.
New members in the Consortium for Embedded Systems at SIUC
Dr. Tragoudas established the Consortium for Embedded Systems at SIUC in the summer of 2022. This center has been approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. By May 2023, AMD, Ameren, and Collins Aerospace have joined the consortium and funded research activities in the area of embedded computing systems. View current members.
Dr. Asrari - NSF recommendation for funding
On April 19, 2023, the Director of the Energy, Power, Control, and Networks program at the National Science Foundation, recommended funding Dr. Asrari’s Engineering Research Initiation proposal on remedial actions against cyberattacks on the power grid. The focus of the project is to address the following research question: “How to react to cyberattacks on load tap changing (LTC) mechanism of autotransformers within power distribution systems to tackle the intended voltage collapse”. Within this scope, the research's first objective is to investigate LTCs' vulnerability to cyberattacks targeting voltage collapse in distribution systems. Obtaining this objective as a prerequisite for distribution system operator will result in a sophisticated attack model, that bypasses state estimation-based bad data detection, based on which realistic remedial actions can be developed. The second objective is to design primary/backup reaction mechanisms to mitigate the voltage collapse caused by the attacked LTCs. To obtain this objective, several algorithms will be created to design a primary remediation technique based on distribution network reconfiguration customized by a deep learning framework. The primary reaction scheme will be supported by a backup electricity market-based mechanism, where distributed synchronous generators will optimally contribute to the mitigation of cyberattacks in the regions of the system not fully alleviated by the network reconfiguration. Finally, the third objective of this research is to perform hardware-in-the-loop experimental validation of the proposed remedial actions on a lab-scale smart microgrid.
NSF awards a new research center at SIUC in the area of IoT
On March 15, 2023, the National Science Foundation established a new Industry-University Cooperative Research Center. It is entitled Center for Intelligent, Distributed, Embedded, Applications, and Systems (IDEAS). The participating universities are Arizona State University (lead), Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and the University of Southern California. Dr. Tragoudas will be the site director at SIUC.
Dr. Anagnostopoulos – co-PI in a Workforce Development Grant
On the 12th of January, 2023, a team of SIUC faculty, among them Dr. Anagnostopoulos from the school of ECBE, received a grant from the University of North Texas on a workforce development grant using deep learning.
Dr. Bae- NSF recommendation for funding
On January 9, 2023, the Director of the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology program in the Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation Division at the National Science Foundation, recommended funding Dr. Chilman Bae’s Engineering Research Initiation proposal to investigate the role of a channel modulator in inflammations. Piezo (Piezo1 and Piezo2) mechanosensitive channels play important roles in diverse physiological processes, including hearing, touching, and inflammation. This project aims to investigate the roles of the new Piezo1 modulator on inflammation. This aim will be achieved by: i) identifying and characterizing a novel Piezo1 activator, which will generate a fundamental platform for future mechanosensitive channel studies; ii) developing a capacitance clamp technique that is critical to study the biomechanical properties of mechanosensitive channels and providing an electrophysiological platform for studying ion channels; iii) developing a cultured astrocyte cell model for inflammation studies; and iv) providing the underlying mechanism of inflammation. The major outcome of this project will be the discovery of a novel therapeutic strategy for treating inflammation by targeting Piezo1. This project will promote research and education in neuroscience, developmental biology, and immunology.
2022
Fall 2022
Dr Hui Li joins the School of ECBE
Dr. Li joins the School of ECBE starting in the Fall of 2022 from John's Hopkins University where he did his postdoc. Dr. Li received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Penn State in 2019. Click here for more information on his research.
Research Grants for 2022
This year our faculty received three new research grants from NASA, U.S. Department of Labor and KBR/FFT Air Force Research Laboratory for their studies. The receipients of these awards are Dr. Lu and Dr. Ahmed. For futher details on these awards see our recent research grants page.
Dr. Baduge joined an IEEE Transactions Editorial Board as an Associate Editor
In July 2022, Dr. Baduge joined the Editorial Board of the IEEE Transactions on Communications as an Associate Editor.
2021
January 14, 2021
ECBE Alumni receives Black Engineer of Year Award
James Stewart, an ECBE alumni, member of the Industrial Advisory Council (IAC) for the school of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering (ECBE), and a Department Chief Scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Crane, will soon be awarded a Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) in the Modern-Day Technology Leader category. https://intouch.ccgmag.com/mpage/beya-award-winners/ BEY awardees are selected by the Engineering Deans of 15 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). https://www.blackengineer.com/article/modern-day-tech-leaders-through-the-years/ James is a co-inventor of a pilot geolocation device whose location cannot be easily detected by adversaries, and one of his US patents protects the Navy’s intellectual property for that invention. https://techlinkcenter.org/news/air-force-vet-signs-deal-for-navy-tech-that-covertly-locates-downed-pilots/ After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Southern Illinois University, James joined the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Crane as a research engineer.
May 13, 2021
Energy expert's interview with KSAT-TV in San Antonio, TX
Dr. Asrari had an interview with KSAT-TV in San Antonio, TX with regard to the recent power outage in Texas.
Professors Arash Asrari (School of ECBE at SIUC) and Ed Hirs (University of Houston) provide expert opinions on the outage.
June 12, 2021
Dr. Chowdhury receives NIH Grant
NIH will be funding a $442,500 research grant at SIUC Engineering
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will be funding a biomedical research grant at SIUC Engineering. Dr. Farhan Chowdhury, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, will receive an NIH AREA R15 grant for conducting research on regulating stem cell fate decisions. Stem cells are the source of unlimited cell supply for tissue engineering applications. However, how to engineer and control stem cell fate in a laboratory setting remains a big question. By leveraging novel tissue engineering approaches, the group will focus on engineering functional body cells that can be used for regenerative medicine purposes in the future. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in this research. The 3-year grant is renewable through a competitive process.
2020
May 19, 2020
Allison McMinn was named 2020 Lincoln Laureate
In Spring 2020, ECBE senior Allison McMinn was named the 2020 Lincoln Laureate. Lincoln Laureates are outstanding seniors from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois and in the fall of each year receive the Student Lincoln Academy Medallion and become Student Laureates of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Ceremonies include congratulatory statements from the governor who presents the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Medallion along with a challenge coin, a certificate, and a monetary award. Highlights are included below from Allison's nomination package:
Allison McMinn more than fulfills the requirements for excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities, maintaining a 4.0 GPA while serving as a leader in various extracurricular activities and service engagements. During her freshman year, she conducted research alongside Dr. Hatziadoniu on how photovoltaic cells work and how this technology can be incorporated into contemporary medicine. More recently, she has collaborated with Dr. Ying Chen to conduct research on reconstruction algorithms for 3D tomosynthesis, with applications in early breast cancer detection. Allison received an SIUC REACH grant (2018-2019) and an NSF REU grant (Summer 2019) to continue her research at Duke University. Due to her impressive academic achievement, Allison was inducted into Tau Beta Pi (national engineering honors society), as a junior member. She has presented her work at various research symposiums around the nation and is presently a finalist for this year’s SWE National Collegiate Competition in Anaheim, California.
She has been a very active member of the SIU robotics team in which she has been the secretary, vice president, and team leader for a “robo” brawl team. She is the President of the SIUC chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and has by her example and outreach enhanced a supportive environment for women engineers. She also volunteers at events such as Expanding Your Horizons that help motivate young girls to pursue careers in the STEM fields.
July 22, 2020
Dr. Komaee receives prestigious NSF Career Award
In Spring 2020, Dr. Arash Komaee received the prestigious NSF CAREER award for his research in the design, optimization, and feedback control. He proposes revolutionary research in the development of non-contact manipulators with medical, biomedical and nanotechnology applications. Details are listed below.
Development of Noncontact Magnetic Manipulators for Medical, Biomedical, and Nanotechnology Applications
Many medical procedures are invasive in nature when the physicians need to access internal organs of a patient. Since these procedures are usually inconvenient, painful, and costly, significant research efforts are being conducted on development of noninvasive medical tools and techniques. Any effort in this direction has to answer a fundamental question: how to operate a medical tool without actually touching it? A viable answer to this question is the use of magnets: magnetized tools can be safely operated inside a patient's body using sufficiently strong magnets located outside the body. For example, one can imagine a painless, anesthesia-free gastrointestinal endoscopy procedure that utilizes a miniaturized camera carried by a magnetized tiny capsule, and the capsule is navigated inside the gastrointestinal tract by a set of external magnets. This set of magnets, together with the machinery controlling them, is generically called noncontact magnetic manipulator.
The purpose of this project is to establish a technical foundation for design, implementation, and evaluation of noncontact magnetic manipulators suited for a wide range of surgical, medical imaging, and diagnostic applications. The results of this research will support the efforts of many researchers, engineers, physicians, and private companies currently working on design and development of noninvasive medical devices, and therefore, will contribute to a broader effort in development of novel medical techniques which improve the quality of care, patient safety, and access to affordable health care. Furthermore, this project will advance the development of miniaturized noncontact magnetic manipulators, which are essential for actuation and control of micro- and nano-scale systems widely used in biomedical and nanotechnology applications.
Noncontact magnetic manipulators utilize arrays of multiple magnets to generate and precisely control magnetic fields, which interact with magnetic objects or fluids in their region of influence in order to manipulate them from a distance without direct mechanical contact. Since magnetic fields propagate unchanged through nonmagnetic barriers, noncontact magnetic manipulators provide a unique capability to control magnetic objects in the regions behind such physical barriers, which are otherwise inaccessible. The focus of this project will be on permanent magnet manipulators in which magnetic fields are controlled by mechanical movement of permanent magnets, rather than the conventional approach relying on electromagnets and easy control of their terminal voltages. This conventional approach has been the focus of much of the existing literature on magnetic manipulators. However, permanent magnets produce much stronger magnetic fields than electromagnets of the same size, weight, and cost. This key advantage advocates a technological paradigm shift toward permanent magnets as a necessary step in development of compact, effective, and inexpensive magnetic manipulators for medical applications which often require larger magnetic forces at further distances. The existing literature on permanent magnet manipulators is still at an early stage and inadequate to support the development of cutting-edge technologies for a broad range of novel applications. The proposed research is aimed at filling this void by establishing a framework for design, analysis, optimization, and feedback control of permanent magnet manipulators.
This framework consists of mathematical modeling tools supported by experiment, real-time optimization methods, and feedback control techniques for several scenarios of practical importance. These scenarios include path tracking of single or multiple magnetic particles, multi-degree-of-freedom motion control of magnetic rigid bodies, and transport of magnetic fluids. This coherent set of analytical and numerical tools will promote advancements in design and manufacturing of precise, reliable, compact, and cost-effective magnetic manipulators suitable for integration into new generations of medical devices, as well as micro- and nano-scale systems.
2014
October 31, 2014
Best Paper Award
Haibo Wang and Ram Harshvardhan Radhakrishnan received best paper award for “An Accelerated Successive Approximation Technique for Analog to Digital Converter Design,” at the 27th IEEE International System on Chip Conference, Las Vegas, NV, 2014.
October 28, 2014
Best Paper Award
Feixiang Zhang and Dr. Zhou receive the Best Paper Award for "Radio Propagation Prediction in Restricted Spaces" in IEEE Int. Conf. Wireless Commun. and Signal Processing (WCSP) 2014.
October 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Dr. Xiangwei Zhou receives $50,000 from Huawei Technologies Corporation.
October 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Drs. Jun Qin and Haibo Wang receive a $100,000 from Illinois Clean Coal Institute.
September 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Dr Spyros Tragoudas receives $40,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF I/UCRC for Embedded Systems).
September 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Drs Spyros Tragoudas and Themistoklis Haniotakis receive a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
July 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Dr. Shaikh Ahmed receives a $16,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (REU).
July 01, 2014
External Research Grants
Dr. Spyros Tragoudas receives a $40,000 grant from the US Navy (NAVSEA Crane).
2013
October 15, 2013
External Research Grants
External research grants were awarded to ECE faculty this fall, primarily from the NSF. The NSF research grants include one new award and one continuing NSF. In particular, Dr. Xiangwei Zhou received $896,629 for efficient temporal-spatial spectrum sharing through voluntary exchange, and Dr. Spyros Tragoudas received $250,000 for the Consortium for Embedded Systems.
Such prestigious awards are indicative of the quality of research conducted by the ECE faculty. Details are listed below:
Efficient Temporal-Spatial Spectrum Sharing Through Voluntary Exchange, Lead PI Xiangwei Zhou (ECE), co-PI Alison Watts (Economics), National Science Foundation, $896,629.00.
Consortium for Embedded Systems, Affiliates Program, Spyros Tragoudas, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Various Industries, $250,000.
October 07, 2013
New ECE Graduate Advisor
Dr. Zargazadeh will serve as the ECE Graduate advisor for non-thesis MS students in the Department.
August 31, 2013
Cornell Cup
A team of five undergraduates from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale recently returned from the second annual Cornell Cup with an Honorable Mention. Sponsored by Intel and organized by Cornell University, the Cornell Cup is an embedded design competition that asks teams of three to five college students to research a real problem and propose a solution that involves the innovative application of embedded technology – computer systems designed to control specific mechanical or electrical systems.
The team of Daniel Olsen, Steven Blair, Chase Cooley, Jessica Suda, and Nick Turner first became interested in the competition after discussing the need for a method accessible to businesses, organizations, and researchers alike to cheaply and efficiently gather large amounts of data in a variety of water sources. Seeking a device that could be used for such diverse purposes as monitoring the health of aquatic ecosystems, ensuring the quality of water in municipal reservoirs, and checking for the presence of contraband on seafaring ship hulls, the team imagined an autonomous underwater vehicle that could enable prolonged, difficult, and monotonous missions by removing the need for human interaction. Powered by batteries, the vehicle would resemble a submarine while underwater and be capable of self-navigation between preset waypoints using global positioning satellites and a variety of sensors. When low on power, the vehicle would be capable of flipping up like a buoy at the surface of the water and charging by the use of flexible solar panels mounted on the side.
Fleshing out their idea in an application that required critical analysis of both the industry needs that had to be satisfied by a successful product and the industry practices that would best accomplish those requirements, the team submitted a report judged against others from universities across the nation by representatives from top technology companies. Taking on the name of the “Salty Dawgs,” the team from Southern Illinois University was one of thirty teams to survive the final cut on the basis of the novelty and practicality of their challenge and solution and received the funding and materials from Intel, the College of Engineering at SIUC, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at SIUC needed to transform their dream into a reality.
Throughout the following year the students committed to an undertaking guided by Dr. Ning Weng and graduate student Luke Pierce that led them from the detailed design of the solution through implementation, testing, and revision of the final product. The students’ work culminated in a two-day summit held at Walt Disney World on May 3 and 4 where teams presented their work for final judging, met industry leaders, and participated in seminars and educational meetings. The team’s dedication was represented in paper, poster, and slideshow presentations with hope directed to taking home the grand prizes of $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500 that were distributed to the top three teams. Competition included the likes of the University of Pennsylvania which brought an upper body exoskeleton that could be used in rehabilitation, Worcester Polytechnic Institute which presented a wheelchair equipped with sensors capable of reading brain waves that could be controlled by those suffering from full-body paralysis, and the University of Colorado Denver which developed an inexpensive system of networked cell phone antennas that could be used to extend local reception.
In the end the team from Southern Illinois University was presented with an Honorable Mention at the award ceremony held in the American Heritage Gallery at Epcot that capped off a year in which five students received invaluable practical experience in the entire engineering process and paved the way for future students to get involved in the competition. Even more importantly, though, the team demonstrated just how supportive the members of both the university and the community are. Without funding from Intel, the College of Engineering at SIUC, and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at SIUC none of it would have been possible, and without the patience and assistance of Dr. Spyros Tragoudas, Dr. Ning Weng, Luke Pierce, Laura Anz, Gladys Hounsinou, Dr. Bruce DeRuntz, Tim Baxter, and Jack and Jane Childers none of it would have been successful. For that reason, the team is thankful for everyone involved in taking the project from little more than a concept to an invaluable and unforgettable experience.
July 31, 2013
Industrial Advisory Council
The ECE Industrial Advisory Council include members from Ameren, Boeing, Intel, Qualcomm, Rockwell Collins, General Dynamics, Seagate, Caterpillar, and several other companies.
April 18, 2013
Boeing challenges students to design new cockpit - Andrea Hahn
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Twenty-two engineering students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have spent all of this academic year preparing for the year 2040: Boeing challenges students to design new cockpit
2012
July 31, 2012
External Research Grants
Several external research grants were awarded to ECE faculty in June and July, primarily from the NSF. The NSF research grants include two new awards and one continuing NSF. In particular, Dr. Ahmed received $149,921 for the study and design of nano-enabled thermoelectric devices, Dr. Ramaprasad was awarded the last portion of a continuing grant for timing considerations in multi-core environments, and Drs. Tragoudas and Wang received a new grant on the design of threshold logic circuits.
Such prestigious awards are indicative of the quality of research conducted by the ECE faculty. Details are listed below.
Externally funded grants processed June 2012:
Embedded Thermoelectric Cooling of High-Performance ICs Using Bi2Te3 Nanowires: A Computational Study, S. Ahmed, Electrical and Computer Engineering, NSF, $149,921.
Consortium for Embedded Systems, Affiliates Program, S. Tragoudas, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Various Industries, $150,000.
Externally funded grants processed July 2012:
CSR: Medium: Collaborative Research: Providing Predictable Timing for Task Migration in Embedded Multi-Core Environments (TiME-ME), H. Ramaprasad, Electrical and Computer Engineering, NSF, $76,250.
Collaborative Research: Synthesis and Design of Robust Threshold Logic Circuits, S. Tragoudas and H.Wang, Electrical and Computer Engineering, NSF, $100,000.
May 10, 2012
Cornell Cup
A team of Electrical and Computer Engineering students participated in the Cornell Cup, a national competition conducted by Intel. Our team named "Hot Dawgs" made the final field of 24, which competed for the top honors on May 4 and 5 in Orlando, Florida.
The SIU team presented the design of an intelligent energy-efficient heating and cooking system for residential houses. The basic idea for energy saving is to intelligently use programmable thermostats to regulate each room temperature depending on the usage of the space. The implementation of the scheme is based on a sensor network to monitor the temperature and a processor to compute and control vent position for each room. The team has successfully prototyped a smart zoning HVAC system and successfully demonstrated the concept, its functionality and potential.
The team members are Todd Peterson, Lisa Dohn, Nick Musick and, Kathy Grimes. The faculty advisors are Drs. Ning Weng and Haibo Wang. Our team has been selected for honorable mention as one of the top teams ahead of teams from leading research universities such as U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Diego, Columbia and Purdue.
2010
July 31, 2010
Center for Embedded Systems
The Consortium for Embedded Systems NSF Industry/University Cooperation Center is a nationally recognized center for research and development in the emerging area of embedded computing system technologies. The consortium was established in 2009 and is funded by the National Science Foundation as a partnership between Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Arizona State University, and industrial members as well as Federal Agencies that fund research projects through the center.
EMAC, Intel, NAVSEA (a US Navy division), Qualcomm, Raytheon, Toyota, Wildlife Materials have recently joined the center, and more companies are expected to join it in 2010.
This is a unique opportunity for students to be involved in projects of current interest to leading industry in this demanding field. Several SIUC faculty, graduate and undergraduate students are already participating in projects through the center. Some undergraduate students are funded directly from the National Science Foundation through the consortium. The center director at Southern Illinois University is Professor Spyros Tragoudas.
July 22, 2010
High Performance Computing
High-performance computing (HPC) refers to the use of supercomputers and/or computer clusters to accelerate the solution of fundamental problems in science, engineering and business that have broad scientific and economic impact. With a generous support from NSF (Award No. 0855221), SIUC has developed an HPC center (SIHPSI: Southern Illinois HPC Infrastructure), a facility first-of-its-kind not only within the campus but in the greater Southern Illinois region also. SIHPCI initially consists of 106 dual quad-core Dell PowerEdge R410 compute nodes running Red Hat Enterprise Linux and has been fully operational since Spring 2010. Each node has 8 (eight) 64-bit Intel Xeon 2.23 GHz E5520 CPUs and 8 GB of RAM and is connected with Gigabit Ethernet and supported by appropriate hardware. 90 TB of storage is installed behind the Master Node. The machine offers access to scratch space.
SIHPSI is expected to expand the scope and quality of research at SIUC in two broad areas: (1)Computational nanoscience and engineering (CNE): Projects include quantum simulations of nanoscale devices with tens of millions of complex degrees of freedom; computational design of catalysts at the molecular level; large scale computations of multiphase flows such as solidification of binary alloys, dynamics of red and white blood cells in arteries, boiling phenomena in energy generation and electronic cooling, and enhancement of heat and mass transfer by bubble columns in bioprocesses; molecular dynamics studies of polymer morphology at interfaces; fundamental studies of the non-equilibrium states of matter; and quantum information processing exploring new properties of atomic nuclei. (2) Geographic Information Science (GIS): Involves strategic research to investigate new algorithms for representation and transformation of massive dynamic data allowing a cognitive and visual interpretation for analysts by exploiting invariant geometric properties. New representations of the large-scale datasets have the potential to change the way people utilize the data for knowledge discovery.
Computational research in the nanoscience area will support experimental sciences in the pursuit of scientific discovery and technical innovation and is expected to have significant impact in a wide range of technological applications including low-power and fast transistors, coatings, lithography, adhesives to light emitting diodes and sensors, various smart and functionalized materials, and quantum computation. While the GIS research will facilitate efficient data streaming, crime and health studies, medical imaging, and genome mapping. SIHPCI, as the first community HPC infrastructure at SIUC, will serve as a nucleation center for further purchase/addition of HPC resources. The facility would offer new faculty members a much quicker time frame (1-2 weeks) to be up and start computing as compared to a custom cluster configuration which usually takes about 6 months from start to production.
SIHPCI will be closely tied to major educational activities within the campus, and will have a significant impact on SIUC's curriculum development at both undergraduate and graduate levels. SIHPCI is expected to address the needs of more than 20 faculty members (including the SIHPCI investigators Shaikh Ahmed, Mesfin Tsige, Mark Byrd, Tonny Oyana, and Qiang Cheng) spanning over 7 departments. Also, in accordance with SIUC's long tradition of service to its community and region, SIHPCI will play an outstanding role in the greater Southern Illinois area through training a diverse community of college teachers/instructors as well as K-12 students in the field of parallel computing and data analysis and thus will support the overall economic vitality and sustainability of the region.
Earlier in 2009, SIHPSI principal investigator Shaikh Ahmed, an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering, was one of four researchers nationwide included in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's first High-Performance Computing Grants Competition that allowed his research group access to ORNL's Jaguar supercomputer and other top-end computing platforms and staff housed at the site in Tennessee. Ahmed's group uses the massive computing power to conduct research in petascale modeling and designing of nanoscale devices for use in harsh-environments.