“It is so wonderful that our students here will have access to such state of the art technology, that is one of a kind in the U.S. Universities nation wide.”

Dr. Magda El-Shenawee

UPCOMING EVENTS

Electrical Engineering

Volume 7, Issue 1 Spring 2013

Dr. Magda El-Shenawee has many

accomplishments of which to be proud.

Her latest accomplishment began back

in 2012 when Dr. El-Shenawee was

awarded an NSF grant of $400,000 for

support for the project “MRI:

Acquisition of a Terahertz System for

Medical and Biological Imaging and

Nanomaterial Characterization Research

at the University of Arkansas”. This

spring, a new Terahertz Imaging and

Spectroscopy System has been delivered

complete with testing and training.

This new system, actually costing more

than half a million dollars, will be used

to conduct cutting edge research at the

University of Arkansas. “The objective

of this research is to support non-

destructive, non-hazardous and non-

invasive imaging applications in

engineering, medical, and biological

sciences.

This approach is based on pulsed

terahertz spectroscopy and imaging that

has a spectra range from 0.06 to 3

terahertz with high resolution up to 80

micrometer”.

This acquired terahertz equipment is

the only system in US capable of

imaging and characterizing materials at

both low and high

temperatures with

imaging areas from few

centimeters to much

more. This state-of-the

-art equipment means

that Dr. El-Shenawee

and her collaborators

and students will have

the facilities to utilize

terahertz imaging and

s p e c t r o s c o p y

technology in a wide

v a r i e t y o f

applications. In particular, El-

Shenawee’s research involves imaging

breast tumor margins to help reduce

cancer recurrence; understanding and

monitoring thermal ablation for cancer

therapy, non-destructive evaluation of

semiconductor materials for developing

terahertz devices and antennas and

arrays for radar systems.

Dr. Magda El-Shenawee’s Terahertz Imaging and

Spectroscopy System first one in United States

April 11th Dr. Wu welcomes Dr. David Matolak from USC to deliver a seminar.

April 12th, AAEE Annual Banquet

April 24th, ELEG Student Society Banquet

May 11th, College of Engineering Graduation Luncheon

May 11th, College of Engineering Commencement

July 8th—11th, Power Electronics for Distributed Generation Systems Symposium

July 14th—17th, Workshop on Bismuth Containing Semiconductors

Dr. Magda El-Shenawee and the Terahertz

Imaging Spectroscopy System.

Dear ELEG Members,

Alumni and Friends,

It is my privilege and honor to share some news about your department with

you. The support for the department from alumni and friends continues to be strong. In December 2012, Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Kathy Sanders gave a one million dollar ($1M) gift to the department. Mr. and Mrs. Sanders are exploring the best options to use their generous gift to support the educational activities in the department. Long-term investments in the department are among their options. Examples include establishing an endowed chair, faculty and student fellowships and research endowment. The Department wishes to express its gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Sanders for

their generous gift.

One more piece of good news, Mr. Jack Jacobs, President of L.A. King Corporation in Tulsa, established a $1M planned gift in late December to benefit the Depar tment o f E lec t r i ca l Engineering. This future gift will be used to establish a memorial scholarship for his son, Dana Jacobs, who was heavily engaged in the electrical supply industry

and died at the young age of 50.

Jack has chosen to support students working towards a degree in electrical engineering as he worries that there are not enough students selecting and continuing in this challenging field. During his long and successful career, Jack hired a lot of engineers in his company and knows that more electrical engineers are needed. The department thanks Jack for his generous gift and vision to support educating electrical engineers to meet

the 21st century challenges.

Mr. Kirk and Mrs. Nancy Pond have made another gift commitment to establish the Pond Family Access Arkansas Scholarship. Their gift of $50K will provide financial assistance to a student majoring in electrical engineering, who could not otherwise

attend the University.

These gifts mean a lot to us, much more than the financial impact. Our alumni and friends believing in the excellent work our department is doing in educating and training the next generation of engineers and future leaders is the vote of confidence we very much appreciate. In the above mentioned examples, the magnitude of the gift conveyed this message loud and clear which strongly motivates our team of faculty and

staff to seek new levels of excellence.

The added financial resources certainly inspire them to explore new approaches to educate and train the best electrical

engineers possible.

On the faculty side, Distinguished Professor Vasundara Varadan has expressed her intention to retire effective April 3, 2013. Immediately prior to her retirement, Dr. Varadan had been active in teaching, had served as a membe r and cha i r ed se ve ra l committees, and had directed an active research program with external funding. Dr. Varadan was also an active and productive faculty member before joining the University of Arkansas. She has about 35 years of service in

academe.

I hope that you enjoy reading the spARKs. In the future, please consider sharing your success story with us. You may send your contribution to Mrs. Kelli Nixon, knixon@uark.edu, and we will

publish it in future spARKs.

Samir El-Ghazaly

Distinguished Professor, and

Department Head

spARKs from Arkansas

College of Engineering

Chooses New Dean

John English has

been named the

ninth dean of the

Univers i ty of

Arkansas College

of Engineering.

English, currently

dean of the

C o l l e g e o f

Engineering at Kansas State

University, will also hold the Irma F.

and Raymond F. Giffels Endowed

Chair in Engineering. His term will

begin July 1, 2013.

English received his bachelor’s degree

in electrical engineering and a

master’s degree in operations

research from the University of

Arkansas. He holds a doctorate in

industrial engineering and management

from Oklahoma State University. English

was a U of A faculty member in the

Industrial Engineering Department from

1991 to 2007 as well as head of the

department from 2000-2007, increasing

the reputation of the department. From

2000 to 2005, English was the founding

director for the Center for Excellence in

Logistics and Distribution, a NSF

Industry and University Cooperative

research Center and much more.

English said “ It is exciting to return to

my alma mater as the dean of

engineering.”

Alumni Association Partnership

The Electrical Engineering Department

will be partnering with the Alumni Asso-

ciation on future mailing of spARKs. If

the association has an email address on

file for you, future newsletter will be

sent by email. If you do not wish to re-

ceive the newsletter electronically,

please let us know. We encourage you

to connect with the Alumni Association

and keep them up to date on events in

your life. www.arkansasalumni.org

In the News

Chris Farnell is the new NCREPT Test

Engineer. Chris accepted this position

at the Arkansas Research and

Technology Park in February. Mr.

Farnell has his BS in Electrical

Engineering and is currently finishing

work on his PhD in Electrical

Engineering.

This summer, several of the Electrical

Engineering faculty members will be

hosting not one but two International

events. Dr. Alan Mantooth, Dr. Juan

Balda, Dr. Simon Ang and Dr. Roy

McCann are working together to bring

the IEEE 4th International Symposium on

Power Electronics for Distributed

Generation Systems. This summer marks

the first year that the symposium will

take place in the United States. The

event is scheduled to take place July 8-

11, 2013 in the John Q Hammons Center

in Rogers, Arkansas. The symposium

offers tutorials and “three days of

technical sessions highlighting the work

of some of the leading talent in the area

of distributed generation technology.”

Sponsored by the GRid-connected

a c t i v i t i e s e p i t a x i a l g r o w t h ,

characterization (optical, electrical and

structural) and device performance of

interest to both academic and industrial

researchers.”

This year’s events are to be held in the

Chancellor Hotel with a welcome

reception for registered guest in the

hotel on July 14th. Technical programs,

University of Arkansas research facility

tours and a closing banquet at Bordino’s

will keep participants busy during their

stay. Registration deadline is June 15,

2013. For more information go the

eleg.uark.edu home page and click on

the conference link in the bottom right

hand corner.

Decision Day 2013 Every year this day comes in the

Spring. The day we ask the Freshman,

“What kind of engineer do you want

to be when you grow up?”

This year’s Decision Day proved to be

the largest in the College of

Engineering’s history. With over 775

students registered in the hugely

successful Freshman Engineering

Program (FEP), the choices of the

engineering programs to choose a

major from are numerous. The

College of Engineering boasts

programs in 8 fields of study

including; Biological and Agricultural,

B iomedica l , Chemica l , C iv i l ,

Computer Science and Computer

Engineering, Electrical, Industrial and

Mechanical. This year’s students are

an academically impressive group

with a total of 48 students choosing

Electrical Engineering as their field of

study. Dr. Roy McCann, Dr. Juan Balda

and Mrs. Kelli Nixon welcomed the

students and spent some time getting

to know the freshman class of 2013.

Decision Day activities began with the

official announcement of the

student’s choice of program and a

short but highly competitive

construction challenge for the

students to complete in a timed

competition. With some quick

thinking and some ingenuity, the

electrical engineering students won

their fair share of the contest and

some bragging rights among their

peers.

Congratulations to the newest group

of incoming Electrical Engineering

students. We wish you luck in your

upcoming endeavors.

Advanced Power Electronics Systems

(GRAPES), will be hosting the

conference and providing tours of their

facilities. In addition to the tours at the

Arkansas Research and Technology Park

and industry leading keynote speakers,

the conference attendees will also be

treated to a private reception at Crystal

Bridges Museum. Discounted registration

is open until May 1st. Late registration

begins after May 1, 2013. For more

information go to www.PEDG 2013.org

The 4th International Workshop on

Bismuth Containing Semiconductors is

scheduled for July 14th – 17th 2013.

Dr. Shui-Qing (Fisher) Yu and Dr. Greg

Salamo are organizing this conference

with topics focusing on a “theoretical

Preparations are Underway for Two International Events:

IEEE PEDG 2013 & Workshop on Bismuth Containing Semiconductors

RECENT VISITORS

Dr. Radek Roucka Germanium-Tin alloys – journey from visions to the light

at the end of the tunnel

Dr. Stephen Sweeney Pushing the boundaries of III-Vs: Exploiting Bismide alloys for near- and mid-infrared

photonics

Dr. Greg Kittilson “Solid State Drives” &

“Your First Engineering Job”

Dr. Mohamed Henini "III-V semiconductor Nanostructures:

Fabrications and Applications"

(Dr. Yu, Dr. Henini & Dr. Naseem) Graduate Education Week

University of Arkansas Graduate students were honored

this spring during Graduate Education Week. The students

were recognized for their dedication to research and

continuing education with a week of programs and

seminars. The Electrical Engineering department

celebrated their contributions with a catered lunch from

Noodles Italian Restaurant. The students enjoyed

visiting with fellow graduate students as well as faculty

members.

University of Arkansas

Electrical Engineering Department

1 University of Arkansas

3217 Bell Engineering Center

Fayetteville, AR 72701

Phone: 479-575-3008

Fax: 479-575-7967

www.eleg.uark.edu

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University-of-Arkansas-Electrical-Engineering-

Department/118495124839713

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