Engage Brain Before Pushing Red Button

Two of your brain's mental networks involved in performing cognitive tasks show measurable changes when you're about to make an error, according to ECE Professor Vince Calhoun and his co-authors on an article published April 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sometimes our brain is in a passive resting mode and sometimes it's in a focus mode. Problem is, the brain sometimes slips into resting mode, referred to as default mode, just before we perform a cognitive task. When such momentary lapses of attention happen, we're likely to make an error.

Calhoun's team has found a way to measure the error-predicting changes about 30 seconds before the error occurs. [more]

MIND Research on Display Thursday

Visit Dominci Hall on Thursday between noon and 2 p.m. and you'll get to see some of the groundbreaking brain-imaging research currently underway at the Mind Research Network here on campus.

Researchers' posters from recent and upcoming conferences will be displayed, and you'll have a chance to talk directly with the researchers. Pizza and beverages will be served.

To get a glimpse of ECE Professor Vince Calhoun's current work at MIND, see Monday's story in the New York Times.

The Mind Research Network is located in Pete and Nancy Dominici Hall, 1101 Yale Blvd. NE, which is in UNM's north campus.

Students' Solar Solutions on View Wednesday

Fifty students in two of UNM's schools are for the first time pooling their talents in a solar-house design competition sponsored by the New Mexico Solar Energy Association.

Contestants include students in ECE 495/595, Special Topics in Photovoltaics, taught by ECE Adjunct Assistant Professor Olga Lavrova. One of the contest judges is also with ECE: Visiting Professor/Lecturer Ed Graham.

ECE Student Earns Entree to Power Conference

Graduate student Marvin Roybal has been awarded a merit-based student travel grant by the 2008 IEEE International Power Modulator Conference. He will attend the conference next month in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Roybal's graduate studies focus on the design of a fast risetime pulsed-power accelerator for high-power microwave research under the guidance of Professor Edl Schamiloglu. He was notified about the award earlier this month by the chairman of the conference's Student Awards Committee, Dr. Frank Hegeler of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.

Marvin Roybal stands next to the Marx generator in ECE's Pulsed Power, Beams and Microwaves Laboratory.

Congratulations, Marvin!

Prof. Krishna To Receive MBE Award

ECE Professor Sanjay Krishna has just been selected to receive the 2007 Young Investigator Award that is presented by the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE) Advisory Board.

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Dr. Krishna was selected for his "contributions to the MBE growth and development of mid-infrared focal plane arrays using self-assembled quantum dots in a well (DWELL) design."

Rankings Show Increased Awareness of ECE's Strengths

The Electrical & Computer Engineering Department is pleased to report that its Electrical Engineering graduate program has once again moved up in U.S. News & World Report's rankings, which were just published for 2009.

The EE program is ranked #32 among public universities, which is #55 among all U.S. universities that were ranked for their electrical engineering program. This ranking is two levels higher than the previous year's, which was an increase of four levels over 2007, which was in turn three levels over the 2006 ranking. Academics across the country are clearly beginning to see what is unique about this program and its impressive faculty.

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Nominate an Outstanding Student or Professor

Now is the time to nominate candidates for the IEEE Albuquerque Section's annual awards for Outstanding Undergraduate Student, Graduate Student, and Engineering Educator.

Nominations are due April 10; please submit them to Professor Christodoulou. Click here for a PDF of the nomination forms. It's simple; just fill in the form and attach endorsements from two additional individuals. Help someone who deserves some credit get it!

Nominate an Engineer for Technical, Service or Entrepreneurial Excellence

Nominations are open for the IEEE Albuquerque Section's annual awards for technical, service, and entrepreneurial excellence.

Nominations are due April 10 to Professor Christodoulou.

Do you know someone who would appreciate this recognition? Click here for a PDF of the nomination forms. It's simple; just fill in the form and attach endorsements from two additional individuals.

Here are general guidelines for the IEEE Albuquerque Section's award nominations.

Prof. Pattichis Chairs Image Analysis Symposium

The 2008 IEEE Southwest Symposium on Image Analysis and Interpretation is being held March 24-26 at La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe.

The topics include stereo image/video analysis, biomedical image analysis, color image analysis, remote sensing, segmentation, content-based image retrieval, features and invariants, automated inspection, boundary detection, real-time image analysis, multiscale analysis applications, multidimensional analysis, multispectral analysis, andcompressed domain processing.

The conference is chaired by ECE Prof. Marios Pattichis. For information, see http://www.ssiai.org/.

Prof. Krishna Receives Early Career Award

SPIE, the international society of scientists and engineers who work with optics and photonics, this month honored ECE Professor Sanjay Krishna with its Early Career Achievement Award.

Given for the first time in 2008, it was conferred on Dr. Krishna "in recognition of his tremendous contributions to the development of mid-infrared focal plane arrays using self-assembled quantum dots in a well design."

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Dr. Simpson's Photonic Nanojet Work Highlighted

"The best of science news" is selected daily for Physics Today's online blogs, and in December it featured a paper about photonic nanojets that was co-authored by ECE Professor Jamesina Simpson.

The paper had been published in the December 10, 2007, issue of Optics Express, the peer-reviewed journal of the Optical Society of America. The issue was focused on microresonators. [more]

ECE Students on Local TV

ECE/CS 433 students who presented their newly created video games during the fall course's daylong gaming extravaganza on December 6 caught the camera's eye at KRQE Channel 13, as did some of the students who came by to have a little fun and test-play the games. The TV station aired a two-minute report that evening.

To watch the newscast, here is a 7.5 MB .wmv clip: KRQE news clip.

The story, reported by KRQE's Mike Paluska, aired later the same evening on affiliate KASA Channel 2.

A 2:30-minute videotaped report about the event was also produced by UNM Communications & Marketing for YouTube and can be seen on UNM's site here or on YouTube:

For more information about the event, go here.

Computer Engineering Faculty Opening

ECE invites applications for a full-time faculty appointment in all areas of computer engineering at the assistant professor level in a status leading to a tenure decision within the department to begin in fall 2008. Click here for a PDF of the job announcement.

Game On! -- Thursday in the ECE Atrium

The public is invited to play-test some never-before-seen video games developed by this semester's students in the Introduction to Computer Graphics class. For some gaming fun, drop by the ECE atrium Thursday, Dec. 6, between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Albuquerque Tribune has posted a story about the event, which is available online here and will be printed in the paper's Wednesday, Dec. 5 evening edition.

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