EE Connections - School of Electrical, Computer and Energy

EE Connections
Electrical Engineering Alumni Newsletter
Spring 2004 • Volume 1 • Number 2
U.S. Army signs 5-year agreement with ASU
Multi-million dollar project brings innovative flexible-display technology to ASU research community
Imagine having a computer display that
you could roll up and fit into your pocket,
similar to a map. Or a computer that
simply wrapped around your wrist like a
watch.
This is the concept of flexible-display
technology – something that won ASU
its largest federal award, a $43.7 million
agreement on Feb. 10
from the U.S. Army to
We have all the create flexible screens
technology in for troops to carry
during battle.
place.
ASU researchers plan
to design a relatively
- Dr. Frederic
Zenhausern
small, conformal
active matrix emissive
and reflective
display, said Dr. Frederic Zenhausern, a
member of the electrical engineering and
chemical materials research faculty. Dr.
Zenhausern is the director of the Applied
Nanobioscience Center who helped bring
this technology to the Arizona Biodesign
Institute – also known as AZBio.
“We have all the technology in place,”
Zenhausern said.
The fact that AZBio already has ready
lab space at ASU’s Research Park was
one of the deciding factors for the army
to establish the Army Flexible Display
Dr. Frederic Zenhausern and his fellow researchers at AZBio hope to have a prototype of the
flexible-display technology ready within the next year.
Initiative at ASU. The lab, which was
originally a facility used for flat panel
display R&D, is 250,000 square feet with
43,500 square feet of advanced clean room
space and wet and dry labs.
“It’s a world-class, second-to-none
facility,” said Shawn O’Rourke,
Letter from the chair: Let us know how you are doing
Stephen Goodnick,
EE Department Chair
Our last newsletter received quite a response from our
alumni. Thank you for sending us your career updates and
suggestions. We greatly appreciate hearing from you.
The EE department has experienced several exciting
changes this academic year. From the transformation to
the Fulton School of Engineering to the ground-breaking
research emerging from AZBio and the Army Flexible Display
Initiative, this has definitely been a landmark year.
But what makes this year especially extraordinary is getting
back in touch with our alumni. We hope this newsletter
becomes a conduit for you to connect with classmates, faculty
and staff. And to better do this, we would like to share your
memories and career updates with other alumni in our next
edition.
Please send us your story and any suggestions you might have
to eeinfo@asu.edu. Also, keep in touch with our department
at www.fulton.asu.edu/~eee.
engineering manager of the Applied
Nanobioscience Center. “It’s going to
allow a completely new level of research
product development and education that
we haven’t had before.”
The project will also allow researchers
See Flexible display, page 4
Inside this edition
Professor emeritus, friend
remembered ............... 2
Find out more about alumni
online ........ 2
IEEE meet with alumni, faculty
and students ...... 2
Alumni and faculty
updates ...... 3
Keep in touch with EE
Department .......... 4
Spring 2004
Ira. A. Fulton School of Engineering
EE Connections Newsletter
2
Respected professor, friend of EE Department will be greatly missed
Dr. Thomas A. DeMassa
"Tom was a wonderful colleague
and friend. His dedication to
excellence in teaching was an
inspiration to students and
professors alike."
- Joseph Palais
Get in touch with other alums online
Find out the latest online about
engineering alumni. The Fulton School
recently launched the Alumni & Friends
section of its Web site. Go to www.fulton.
asu.edu and click on “Alumni & Friends.”
The site provides alumni with news, ways
to get involved with the school, and other
services.
Alumni can learn about upcoming
events, including information about the
alumni golf tournament, distinguished
lecture series and homecoming plans.
Alums can also read about fellow
classmates and connect with their
academic department.
For more information or to submit
suggestions for the site, e-mail
fultoninfo@asu.edu.
Electrical Engineering would like to extend
its appreciation to those alumni and friends
who contributed to the department this year.
Support from our alumni and friends is critical
to our success. Please accept our sincere
thanks. Contributors include:
David Bolles
Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Marque
Joseph Palais
Kuhn Seo
Please consider making a tax deductible gift
today by calling (480) 965-9646 or e-mailing
fultoninfo@asu.edu and reference the EE
newsletter.
Volume 1 - Number 2
Dr. Thomas A. DeMassa, emeritus
faculty in electrical engineering, passed
away Nov. 14, 2003. Dr. DeMassa began
his career in the electrical engineering
department in 1966 and retired in 1999,
after working at ASU for 33 years. He will
be greatly missed.
A well-respected instructor in electrical
engineering, Dr. DeMassa was widely
known for his research in digital circuits
and systems, and published several papers
and textbooks about his work. His honors
included the School of Engineering
Undergraduate Teaching Excellence
Award, four NTU Outstanding Teacher
Awards, the Detroit Alumni Scholarship,
and the National Defense Act Graduate
Fellowship.
In addition to electrical engineering,
Dr. DeMassa also had another passion:
football. He lettered in football at the
University of Michigan where he received
two masters' degrees and a doctorate. He
was an avid fan of the Sun Devils football
team, as well as the local high school
teams, such as Dobson High School in
Mesa where his son is head coach. His
wife, Joann, worked as a secretary for
ASU football for 25 years.
The lasting impact Dr. DeMassa made
on the department will not be forgotten.
“Tom was a wonderful colleague and
friend. His dedication to excellence in
teaching was an inspiration to students and
professors alike,” said Dr. Joseph Palais, a
long-time colleague.
A scholarship fund has been created in
his memory. Contributions may be sent
to the Business Manager for the DeMassa
Memorial, Arizona State University,
Department of Electrical Engineering, P.O.
Box 875706, Tempe, AZ 85287-5706.
Making connections: IEEE spring mixer attracts major businesses
Alumni, students, faculty
and staff reunited for the
IEEE biannual mixer on
March 5. The event gives
students the opportunity
to connect with major
industries. Businesses that
attended this year included
Agilent Technologies,
Analog Devices, IBM, ON
Semiconductor, Raytheon,
as well as the U.S. Air
Force and Navy. For more
information, visit http://
asuieee.org.
EE Department Update
Two professors leave behind many memorable years of valued instruction
Two electrical engineering faculty
members will retire this academic year
– professors Edwin Greeneich and Walter
Higgins.
Dr. Greeneich joined the faculty in 1982
after spending 11 years in industry. He is
the author of “Analog Integrated Circuits,”
a coauthor of “Ultra Large-Scale Integrated Microelectronics,” and a contributing
author to the “Circuits and Filters Hand-
book” and the “Encyclopedia of Physics.”
He has also published dozens of articles in
technical journals.
Dr. Higgins joined the faculty in 1967.
His primary background is in control
systems with experience in the aerospace
industry, such as guidance, control and
navigation systems. He taught courses in
the areas of controls, circuits, microprocessors and digital design.
Electrical Engineering Department
3
Ira. A. Fulton School of Engineering
EE Connections Newsletter
Spring 2004
Where are they now? Find out about EE classmates
Alum: Steve Puthuff
B.S.E. 1964
Chairman, President
& CEO, Step
Communications
Corporation
Alum: Lesley Polka
B.S.E. 1987; M.S. 1989;
Ph.D.1995
Alum: John
Pokoski
M.S.E 1965
Staff Electrical
Engineer, Intel
Corporation
Professor
Emeritus,
UNH
Prior to founding Step Communications,
Mr. Puthuff founded 10 computer-related
companies in Silicon Valley taking four
public. He holds 11 patents in wireless
communications and quality acoustics
delivery systems. He is also cofounder
of ICE Interactive Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education
reform in the United States as well as in
underdeveloped countries.
After graduating from ASU, Mr. Puthuff
started his career as an engineer at IBM and
served as vice president of engineering for
Memorex Corporation.
Over the course of his career, Mr.
Puthuff served as chairman of the
Technical Advisory Committee for the
U.S. Department of Commerce under the
Carter and Reagan administrations. He was
chairman of the Americans for the Success
of Perestroika, a group of Americans that
worked with the Soviets to establish a
plan for their transformation to a market
economy. Mr. Puthuff was recently named
recipient of the prestigious Priyadarshni
Award of India for his work in education in
underdeveloped countries.
He has been active in real estate
development and has held positions on
many boards and charitable organizations.
He is currently chair of the ASU Advisory
Council’s Committee for Entrepreneurship in
Silicon Valley.
Dr. Polka has been at Intel for almost
10 years and started working there while
finishing her dissertation at ASU. She works
in the Assembly Technology Development
Division, which is the R&D group
responsible for developing next-generation
electronic packaging technology for all
Intel products. She started as an individual
contributor and now manages projects. For
the last two years, she has managed a team
of 10 engineers and technicians working on
high-speed I/O issues related to electronic
packaging.
She has many ASU memories to share.
"What I appreciate most about my many
years in the EE department is how personal
everything was. All my professors were
always available and made the effort to make
ASU seem smaller and less overwhelming. I
have stayed active in IEEE and have worked
with Intel and ASU to develop educational
and research programs in electronic
packaging. I also had the opportunity to
teach an EE class last fall.
ASU feels like an extended family to
me; and the ASU experience has been very
much a family thing. My sister and brother
graduated from ASU and now work at ASU.
My husband, Dustin, got his B.S. and M.S.
degrees in EE. We got married last year and
just welcomed our first child, Emily AudreyAnn, three weeks ago. I hope that she
becomes a Sun Devil too, in about 18 years!"
Alum: Ron Phillips
B.S.E. 1965; M.S. 1967; M.A. 1968;
Ph.D. 1971
research center at UCF in 1984, called
the School of Optics/CREOL. In 1996 he
started a new graduate research center for
UCF at Kennedy Space Center. The center
now has offices, classrooms and labs at the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Dr. Phillips writes, "I’ve followed the
EE Department through my friendship with
Prof. Joe Palais. I met him about the first
day of his work at ASU. I took much of my
graduate work with him. Through most of
the '80s, he and I taught an industry short
course together every year. I know some
great stories about the graduate students and
faculty in the 1960s!"
Director of Florida Space Institute,
University of Central Florida
After finishing the Ph.D. in electrical
engineering, Dr. Phillips took a position at
the University of Central Florida in Orlando
as an assistant professor, and was promoted
to associate professor in 1975 and then to
professor in 1980.
In 1978 he was awarded a NATO Senior
Post-doc Fellowship to conduct research in
England. He established the CREOL optics
Electrical Engineering Department
Dr. Pokoski received a Ph.D. in electrical
engineering from Montana State University
in 1967. From 1967 to 2001 he was a faculty
member of the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the University
of New Hampshire, serving nine years as
department chairman. He is now retired as
professor emeritus. He enjoys fishing, travel
and spending time with his grandchildren.
Dr. Pokoski remembers his time at ASU.
"I recall students Don Harenberg, Bob
Lamb, Jack Shemer, and Sam Liden among
others. Truet Thompson was a good man
as department head," he wrote. "I also
have fond memories of faculty members
Bill Steinmann, John Staudhammer, John
Spragins, Earl Robbins, S. Gupta and Joe
Barkson.
I certainly remember the ASU athletic
teams. Charlie Taylor starred in football and
Joe Caldwell in basketball. Rick Monday
and Sal Bando led the baseball team to the
NCAA championship."
Send your career updates and ASU
memories to eeinfo@asu.edu.
Electrical Engineering Alumni
Newsletter
This publication is written, designed and
produced by the Department of Electrical
Engineering of the Ira A. Fulton School of
Engineering for distribution to alumni, industry
partners and academic friends worldwide.
Department of Electrical Engineering
ASU Box 875706
Tempe, AZ 85287-5706
Phone: (480) 965-3424 E-mail: eeinfo@asu.edu
www.fulton.asu.edu/~eee
Editors: Dr. Joseph Palais, Tiffany White
Photography: Ken Sweat, Tiffany White
Graphics: Mark Weldon
© 2004 Arizona State University. All rights reserved. The
sunburst logo is a registered trademark, and the Arizona
State University word mark is a trademark of Arizona State
University. All other brands, product names, company
names, trademarks and service marks used herein are
the property of their respective owners. Information in this
document is for informational purposes only and is subject
to change without notice.
Volume 1 - Number 2
Keep in touch with EE
Army Flexible Display Initiative in full swing
Flexible display, from page 1
to expand on biotechnology research and bridge the gap
between these two technologies, creating a whole new
avenue of products, O’Rourke added.
The federal agreement is a five-year award with the
possibility of being renewed for an additional five years
for another $50 million, Zenhausern said.
More than 16 companies and several universities,
such as Penn State, University of Southern California,
University of Arizona and Cornell, are involved in the
flexible display initiative, and more prospective partners
are currently in negotiations.
"The center is not really a research center," said Dr.
David Allee, electrical engineering faculty member who
is working with backplane electronics in the initiative.
"It's a collaborative prototype line for flexible displays."
Researchers hope to have a prototype developed
within the next year. Currently, the group is acquiring
equipment and will be moving into the new facility in a
few weeks.
"We are going full speed ahead," Dr. Allee said.
For more information about the Army Flexible
Display Initiative, visit www.azbio.org.
We would like to have you keep in touch and update us as you
progress in your career. Please send us the following information
for our alumni records:
• Name
• Semester/Year Graduated
• Degree
• Company
• Position Title
• Address/E-mail/Phone
• Personal Statement
Please e-mail the above information to eeinfo@asu.edu. An
alumni contact form is also available on our Web site at www.
fulton.asu.edu/~eee/Forms/index.html. We look forward to hearing
from you!
Electrical Engineering Department
Arizona State University Main
Box 875706
Tempe, AZ 85287-5706