A Message from The Chair of the ECE Department

Dear Colleagues, Students, Alumni and Supporters of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,

With the start of a new year, I would like to extend thanks to all who have worked with and supported the department in 2016.

The hard work of our faculty and students resulted in a banner year for the department, which continues to move forward in terms of research, scholarship and, of course, educating the next generation of electrical and computer engineers.

Of the 24 faculty within the department, 20 are tenure-track professors. Among them three are State University of New York Distinguished Professors and two IEEE Fellows. With four tenure-track faculty searches currently underway, we hope to see the faculty grow even more in 2017.

The department welcomed Professor John Bay to the ECE faculty in June 2016. Dr. Bay formerly served as Chief Scientist of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate; Sr. Vice President and Chief Scientist at Assured Information Security (AIS); and Executive Director of the Cyber Research Institute (CRI). Dr. Bay is the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies for the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

While I could list many accomplishments by our faculty and students, a few stand out.

Steve Zahorian received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service in recognition of his nine years of transformative service to the department and the university.

Our faculty received research funding from the National Science Foundation, Keystone Automation Incorporated, Imperial Machine and Tool Company, US Navy Office of Naval Research, US Air Force Research Laboratory, US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Rome Research Corporation, Analog Devices, Smart Modular Technologies Inc, Nano‐Bio Manufacturing Consortium, National Transportation Safety Board, Minerva Systems and Technologies LLC, VentureWell and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We are humbled by the support and grateful to these fine partners. The funds will support students and allow faculty to continue to pursue academic and scientific excellence.

One of the most challenging tasks all faculty are faced with is securing external funding to support research projects. The ECE department is very proud that the work of two of its assistant professors has been recognized by major research grants. Dr. Zhanpeng Jin is leading a project to assess the psychological and computational vulnerabilities in brain-based biometrics that received $1.2 million of support from the National Science Foundation. This multi-year, collaborative project is based on his brain hacking research.

Dr. Matthias Kirchner and Dr. Jessica Fridrich have been awarded a four-year, $1.2M grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to study how digitally altered images can be identified.

Seokheun “Sean” Choi’s work on paper bio-batteries and biosolar cells received funding from the National Science Foundation and was featured in several media outlets.

Professor David Klotzkin organized a program that brought Binghamtom Middle School students to campus to participate in hands-on STEM activities as outreach to encourage K-12 students into STEM fields. This program was so successful that over 400 students are expected to participate this Spring.

Our student enrollments are growing.

We have about 360 undergraduate majors in our electrical engineering and computer engineering programs. While this number is much larger than past enrollments, the department plans to concentrate growth at the graduate level in the next few years. There are about 130 students in the Master’s program and our PhD enrollments have increased to over 70.

I am looking forward to continued success and growth in electrical and computer engineering here at Binghamton. We have a strong department, brilliant faculty, dedicated students, and the support of the Watson School and Binghamton University overall.

2017 will be even better than 2016.

Wishing you health and happiness this year,

Doug

Doug Summerville, PhD

Professor and Department Chair

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering