Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Samuel P. Kozaitis, Ph.D., Head

Degree Programs

Professors
Samuel P. Kozaitis, Ph.D., automated feature extraction, image processing.

Brian A. Lail, Ph.D., antenna-coupled sensors, computational and applied electromagnetics, EMI, EMC.

Syed H. Murshid, Ph.D., photonics, fiber-optic sensors, acoustic and fiber-optic communications, power electronics, instrumentation.

Associate Professors
Georgios C. Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D., machine learning, pattern recognition.

Susan K. Earles, Ph.D., semiconductor modeling, processing and fabrication, microelectronics, solid-state device physics.

Veton Z. Këpuska, Ph.D., human–machine interaction and communication, speech recognition.

Ivica Kostanic, Ph.D., telecommunications, wireless telecommunications.

Carlos E. Otero, Ph.D., computer systems, wireless ad-hoc and sensor networks, performance evaluation and optimization of systems.

Josko Zec, Ph.D., wireless communications.

Assistant Professors
Chul-Ho Lee, Ph.D., wireless networks.

Fareena Saqib, Ph.D., computer architecture, efficiency/effectiveness in telecommunications.

Anthony Smith, Ph.D., high-performance computing, cloud computing, machine learning, data analytics, computer vision.

Professors Emeriti
Rufus H. Cofer, Ph.D.; Raghvendra Deshmukh, Ph.D., P.E.; John Hadjilogiou, Ph.D., P.E.; Fredric M. Ham, Ph.D.; Andrew W. Revay Jr., Ph.D.; Thomas J. Sanders, Ph.D.; M. Mehdi Shahsavari, Ph.D.; Robert L. Sullivan, Ph.D.; Lynn E. Weaver, Ph.D.; H.P. Weber, D.Sc.

Student Coordinator
Cheryl Mitravich

Mission Statement

The mission of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is to prepare students to become successful professionals in a dynamic global environment. By fostering a desire for lifelong learning through a broad-based interdisciplinary core education, both electrical and computer engineering programs provide opportunities for undergraduate research that reflects the expanding world around us and gives students the tools to advance the state-of-the-art in a chosen specialization area.

Research

Current areas of research include image processing, electromagnetics, computer vision, neural networks, speech processing, wireless communications and pattern recognition. These activities are being carried out in relation to the following general areas of research interest.

Computer engineering: Research in computer engineering focuses on areas related to hardware/software systems including embedded systems, machine intelligence, speech processing, scientific high-performance computing, and wireless communications and networks. Students are involved in research projects dealing with hardware security, wireless sensor networks, algorithm development for intelligent and data-intensive systems, analysis and design of computer communications and networks, and development of large-scale, secure and dependable computer systems.

Electromagnetics: Applied and computational research is conducted in order to understand and manipulate electromagnetic fields. We are interested in the interaction between fields and matter, specifically the coupling of infrared and optical fields with other resonant responses such as polaritons, periodic structures and molecules. The ability to model electromagnetic properties of complex structures requires full-wave analysis with finite element, method of moments or finite difference techniques. Antennas, waveguides, metamaterials and bandgap structures are designed and analyzed using computational tools, then tested for validation. Applications include sensing, imaging, photonic-integrated circuits and communications.

Photonics: This specialization deals with recent advances in photonic devices and systems. Research in this area is complemented by the Optronics Laboratory that is dedicated to advancements in the field of optical systems such as optical communications and sensors. Recent Optronics lab activities in communications span the development of state-of-the-art, multi-Tb/s hybrid optical transmission architectures. Sensing activities include design and development of cryogenic instrumentation for the space program as well as 2D and 3D strain measurement for structural health monitoring, material failure and environmental parameters. The laboratory has added two new degrees of photon freedom to optical fiber multiplexing techniques; spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photon-based multiplexing. These techniques are orthogonal to other popular multiplexing techniques and allow for multidimensional increase in channel capacity. The laboratory is equipped with the necessary lasers, optics, electronics and computational tools and provides research facilities to faculty and students.

Signal processing: Research is performed in image processing, pattern recognition, and speech processing and recognition. Algorithms have been developed for near-real-time detection and classification for several applications such as communications, noise reduction and speaker identification. Projects include the analysis and classification of signals and the development of pattern and speech recognizers.

Wireless Center of Excellence (WICE): Research within WICE focuses on areas related to wireless communication, wireless multimedia communications, wireless sensor systems and remote sensing. Students are involved in research projects evaluating propagation of radio waves, planning and optimization of voice and data services in cellular systems, various aspects associated with wireless sensor networks, satellite and airborne remote sensing systems and topics addressing challenges in providing multimedia communication over wireless links. WICE cooperates with the University of Central Florida and Florida Polytechnic University, and is well connected with several industry partners that help in selection of relevant research topics and provide the center with state-of-the-art design tools and CAD software. In recent years the center has been involved in the hurricane research program sponsored by the National Science Foundation and RapidScat data processing sponsored by NASA (see also “Research” in the Institution Overview  section).