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Fall 2018 ECE Colloquium Lecture Series

Title: A Respiratory Infection Monitor for Developing Countries
Guest Lecturer: Dr. M.B. Srinivas, BML Munjal University, Delhi, NCR, India
Date: Friday, November 2, 2018
Time: 2:00-2:50 pm
Location: RMB 323

Abstract: Infant mortality rate in developing countries is much higher than that in developed countries. A significant contibuting factor to this mortality is respiratory infection leading to pneumonia. In this talk the speaker will present the work carried out by his team in collaboration with medical doctors in developing the device to address this problem. Some of the challenges faced in practical development of the device will also be described. The speaker sees an opportunity for collaboration with the University of Kentucky through Indo-US bilateral funding agencies.

Biography: Dr. M.B. Srinivas is the Dean, School of Engineering at BML Munjal University, India. He is a recipient of AIF/Stanford Medicine "Med-Tech Innovation Award" in 2016 and Microsoft Research Digital Inclusion Award in 2006. He guided teams of students that won Inaugural Intel India Research Challenge in 2007, Cadence Design Contest in 2008 and Intel Scholar Program in 2009. His research interests include multivalued logic circuit design, Mixed signal deisng and development of ICT solutions for healthcare. He has more than 150 publications, in journals as well as conferences. He has been an active IEEE volunteer having held several positions in India.


Spring 2018 ECE Colloquium Lecture Series

Title: Bridging the Gap between Secondary and Postsecondary Engineering Education
Guest Lecturer: Doug Klein, Project Lead The Way Director, UK College of Engineering
Date: Friday, January 19, 2018
Time: 2:00-2:50 pm
Location: RMB 323

Abstract: With the increased needs for higher levels of student retention and success in engineering at the post-secondary level, it is important for universities to understand how to influence the education of students in secondary classrooms.  Taking a proactive approach toward student preparation at the secondary level will ease the transition for students to the university.  It will also develop a higher level of commitment and self-efficacy among first year university students.

In this presentation, we will discuss the structures in place and policies that influence secondary engineering education.  We will look at methods that professors and the university can implement to influence curriculum and increase the relationships between their content and the secondary classroom.   We will then identify resources that can be further developed or supplemented to allow for higher levels of equity and quality instruction in engineering education at the secondary level.

Biography: Since 2014 Doug has been the Director for the Project Lead the Way Affiliate at the University of Kentucky.  Under his leadership, this program has doubled in size expanding to over 300 engineering, computer science and biomedical programs in K-12 schools across Kentucky.  Each year this program reaches more than 30,000 students in the commonwealth.   During this time, his team has trained over 900 K-12 educators on technical content and how to effectively teach STEM education courses, amounting to over 50,000 hours of educator professional development.  This program has also develop the High School Posters at the Capital program, which has allowed hundreds of students to present research topics to legislators in Frankfort.

Doug began teaching with in the First-Year Engineering program at the University of Kentucky in 2016, where he currently teaches EGR 102 Foundations of Engineering Computing and EGR 103 Engineering Exploration II.  Other activities that Doug has been involved in during this time has been setting up a makerspace for the College of Engineering and developing an outreach ambassador scholarship program for undergraduates.  He was recently appointed by Governor Bevin to the Kentucky Board of Engineers and Land Surveyors.  In 2011, Doug hosted the first vex robotics program in Kentucky with 14 teams.  Through his role at the university, he has been able to help grow this program to over 200 teams and more than 20 competitive events across the commonwealth.


Fall 2017 William and Patricia Stacy Ethics Lecture

Title: Humans and Humility in the Age of Sophisticated Machines

Guest Lecturer: Dr. Keith Miller, Orthwein Endowed Professor for Lifelong Learning in the Sciences at the University of Missouri – St. Louis

Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Time: 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Location: James Hardymon Theater, Davis Marksbury Building

Abstract: Machines of many sorts are becoming increasingly sophisticated. From webbots that figure out our buying habits to automated pets, artificial intelligences are changing what machines are, and changing our view of what machines may become in the near future. In this presentation we will focus what these machines are revealing about us humans, including our views about personhood, safety, and equity.

Biography: Keith W. Miller is the Orthwein Endowed Professor for Lifelong Learning in the Sciences at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. His research interests include computer ethics, software testing, and online learning. Google Scholar lists over 5000 citations to his scholarship (https://scholar.google.co.jp/citations?user=egfNDGwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao ). Prof. Miller’s curriculum vita is available at http://learnserver.net/faculty/keithmiller/curriculum-vitae/

Fall 2017 ECE Colloquium Lecture Series


Title: Visualization of Tubular Objects: Theory and Applications in CT Colonoscopy

Guest Speaker: Aly A. Farag, PhD., Fellow IEEE and IAPR, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Director, Computer Vision and Image Processing Laboratory

Date: Friday, October 27, 2017

Time: 2:00-2:50 pm

Location: RMB 323 (Robotics Building)

Abstract: Tubular-like objects are abundant in the human anatomy, underground infrastructure of water supplies and waste management, air ducts in buildings and various other applications. Assuming that a mesh representation for a tubular object is available – how to best visualize its internal surface? The optimum datum for visualization of such object is the medial axis (centerline). Visualization (by human or automatic) can be performed by virtual camera(s) with optical axes constrained by the medial axes. This talk will examine a scenario of tubular objects resulting from segmentation and 3D reconstruction of the human colon from abdominal computed tomography (CT). Visualization of the colon representation is known as Virtual Colonoscopy or CT Colonoscopy (CTC), which aims to diagnose the human colon from an abdominal CT scan using the same prep in optical colonoscopy (OC). Proper coordination of CTC and OC provides best scenario for early detection and removal of colonic polyps, thus preventing/treating of colon cancer. We derive a variational level sets representation for medial axis generation in the form of Eikonal Equation, which can be solved by fast marching, multi-stencil and other methods. With the medial axis in place, visualization can be performed using various topologies for the virtual cameras. We shall consider three scenarios: i) fly-through, which uses a single camera with its optical axes parallel to the medial axis; ii) fly-over, which slices the 3D colon, piece-wise around the medial axis, and two virtual cameras are used for visualization, one per half with optical axis perpendicular to the media axes; iii) fly-within which performs fly-over without slicing, by adaptive adjustment of the visualization frustum of multiple virtual cameras with optical center on the medial axis. The CTC process is a computer vision problem, in which computational geometry and graphics algorithms are invoked to carryout the visualization. We demonstrate a front-end system for CTC, designed to work in concert with OC for detection and classification of colonic polyps, as a tool for early detection and treatment of colon cancer; which is a very curable disease if caught at early stage.


Speaker Biography: Aly A. Farag, Ph.D, Fellow IEEE and IAPR received the bachelor degree from Cairo University, Egypt and the PhD degree from Purdue University in Electrical Engineering. He joined the University of Louisville in August 1990, where he is currently a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. At the University of Louisville, he founded the Computer Vision and Image Processing Laboratory (CVIP Lab) which focuses on imaging science, computer vision and biomedical imaging. Dr. Farag’s main research focus is scene analysis, object reconstruction from multimodality imaging, statistical and variational methods for object modeling, and facial biometrics. He has authored over 350 technical papers, edited two volumes on Deformable Models for Biomedical Applications (Springer 2007). He is the author of the text book “Biomedical Image Analysis: Variational and Statistical Approaches” – Cambridge University Press, 2014. During the past two decades, Dr. Farag has been the principal investigator of a number of major projects funded by the NSF, DoD, NIH and various federal and industrial organizations in the United States. He graduated 34 MS and 26 PhD students, and mentored over 20 postdoctoral researchers. He holds several US patents on object modeling, computer-aided diagnosis, and visualization. Dr. Farag is a regular reviewer for the NSF and NIH, and various technical journals and international conferences. He was associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing (2000—2004) and presently associate editor of the IET-CV British Journal. He was guest editor of IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security Special Issue on Facial Biometrics in the Wild, December 2014. He was co-general chair of the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP’2009). He received various University of Louisville awards: research award in 1999, the ECE Department teaching award in 2008, university scholar designation in 2002 and the University Trustees Award in 2015. He was elected Fellow of the IEEE and IAPR for his contribution to the theory and applications of object modeling.


All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 


Distinguished Lecture on Cybersecurity Series

Title: Security of the Internet of Things: Are We Paranoid Enough?

Speaker: Swarup Bhunia, Professor and Steven Yatauro Faculty Fellow, Electrical and Computer Eng., University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Date: Monday, October 9

Time: 4:00-4:50pm

Location: Davis Marksbury Building, James F. Hardymon Theater

Abstract: Security has become a critical design challenge for modern electronic hardware. With the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) regime that promises exciting new applications from smart cities to connected autonomous vehicles, security has come to the forefront of the system design process. Recent discoveries and reports on numerous security attacks on microchips and circuits violate the well-regarded concept of hardware trust anchors. It has prompted system designers to develop wide array of design-for-security and test/validation solutions to achieve high security assurance for electronic hardware, which supports the software stack. At the same time, emerging security issues and countermeasures have also led to interesting interplay between security, verification, and interoperability. Verification of hardware for security and trust at different levels of abstraction is rapidly becoming an integral part of the system design flow. The global economic trend that promotes outsourcing of design and fabrication process to untrusted facilities coupled with the prevalent practice of system on chip design using untrusted 3rd party intellectual property blocks (IPs), has given rise to the critical need of trust verification of IPs, system-on-chip design, and fabricated chips. The talk will also cover spectrum of security challenges for IoTs and describe emerging solutions in creating secure trustworthy hardware that can enable IoT security for the mass.

Speaker Biography: Swarup Bhunia is a preeminence professor of cybersecurity and Steven Yatauro endowed faculty fellow of Computer Engineering at University of Florida, FL, USA. Earlier he was appointed as the T. and A. Schroeder associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. He has over twenty years of research and development experience with 250+ publications in peer-reviewed journals and premier conferences and six authored/edited books. His research interests include hardware security and trust, adaptive nanocomputing and novel test methodologies. Dr. Bhunia received IBM Faculty Award (2013), National Science Foundation career development award (2011), Semiconductor Research Corporation Inventor Recognition Award (2009), and SRC technical excellence award (2005) as a team member, and several best paper awards/nominations. He is co-founding editor-in-chief of a Springer journal on hardware and systems security. He has been serving as an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on CAD, IEEE Transactions on Multi-Scale Computing Systems, ACM Journal of Emerging Technologies, and Journal of Low Power Electronics; served as guest editor of IEEE Design & Test of Computers (2010, 2013) and IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems (2014). He has served as co-program chair of IEEE IMS3TW 2011, IEEE NANOARCH 2013, IEEE VDAT 2014, and IEEE HOST 2015, and in the program committee of several IEEE/ACM conferences. Dr.Bhunia received his PhD from Purdue University on energy-efficient and robust electronics. He is a senior member of IEEE.


All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 


Fall 2017 ECE Colloquium Lecture Series

Title: As Time Goes By

Guest Speaker: Dr. Hank Dietz, James F. Hardymon Chair in Networking and Professor,University of Kentucky Electrical and Computer Engineering

Date: Friday, September 29, 2017

Time: 2:00-2:50 pm

Location: RMB 323

Abstract: Using film, there wasn’t much choice but to capture and display visual data as either a static image or a time sequence of such images — frames. However, some things change quickly with the passage of time while others do not. Why not take advantage of this property by using frameless computational rendering and image capture?  This talk will discuss some of the basic concepts, advantages, and implementation methods. Several examples will be given of things TDCI (Time Domain Continuous Imaging) can do that conventional imaging cannot.


All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 

 

Spring 2017 ECE Colloquium Lecture Series

Title: From Zero Hertz to Terahertz: Modern Challenges in Computational Electromagnetics

Guest Speaker: Dr. John Young, Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky Electrical and Computer Engineering

Date: Friday, February 17, 2017

Time: 2:00-2:50 pm

Location: Gatton College of Business & Economics room 283
 

Abstract: Computational methods are used to simulate electromagnetic problems across the frequency band ranging from dc into the terahertz band.  Electromagnetic simulation can drastically cut analysis and design time as well as mitigate the need for expensive and difficult physical experiments and measurements.  Computational electromagnetics, however, presents wide-ranging challenges to the software designer.  Not only are they faced with a wide-variety of computational methods to choose from but they also must choose one suitable for the problem at hand while simultaneously devising techniques to prevent the rapid growth in computation time and memory as the problem size grows.  Furthermore, the need for multi-physics simulation software that incorporates more than just electromagnetic physics is ever growing.  A variety of challenges in computational electromagnetics as well as solutions developed at the University of Kentucky will be discussed.  Applications presented include quasi-magnetostatic modeling of hysteretic materials, techniques for efficiently modeling extremely large-scale problems, and terahertz-band antenna analysis.

Speaker Biography: John C. Young received the B.E.E. degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University in 1997, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University in 2000, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering also from Clemson University in 2002.  From January 2003 to April 2003 he served as a post-doctoral researcher at Clemson University, and from 2003 to 2005, he served as a post-doctoral researcher at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. From 2005 to 2008 he worked at Japan Radio Co.  From 2008 to 2014 he was a research assistant professor and since 2014 an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.  Dr. Young’s research interests include integral equation methods, finite element methods, electromagnetic theory, waveguides, array antennas, and magnetic signature modeling of hysteretic materials.  He is a member of the IEEE, URSI Commission B, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu.


All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 


Title: Assessing the Security Strengths and Vulnerabilities of
Emerging Nanoelectronic Computing Systems


Guest Speaker: Garrett S. Rose, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Date:Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Time: 2:00-2:50 pm

Location: Davis Marksbury Theater

Abstract: As a case study for security in emerging nanoelectronic computing, this talk will focus on memristor based systems. Given their low power operation and small footprint, memristors have emerged as excellent candidates for future memory and logic. However, the non-volatility of memristors presents certain security challenges whereby sensitive data may be vulnerable. At the same time, memristors also show promise for effective security primitives such as physical unclonable functions and random number generators. In this talk we will consider the security pros and cons of nanoelectronic systems and also discuss design techniques that best balance security concerns with performance needs.

Speaker Biography: Garrett S. Rose received the B.S. degree in computer engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, in 2001 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. His Ph.D. dissertation was on the topic of circuit design methodologies for molecular electronic circuits and computing architectures.

Presently, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where his work is focused on research in the areas of nanoelectronic circuit design, neuromorphic computing and hardware security. Prior to that, from June 2011 to July 2014, he was with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate, Rome, NY. From August 2006 to May 2011, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Brooklyn, NY. From May 2004 to August 2005 he was with the MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA, involved in the design and simulation of nanoscale circuits and systems. His research interests include low-power circuits, system-on-chip design, trusted hardware, and developing VLSI design methodologies for novel nanoelectronic technologies.


Parking: http://www.uky.edu/pts/parking-info_lots-and-structures_parking-structure-5

Walking Directions from Parking Structure 5 to Davis Marksbury building: https://maps.uky.edu/campusmap/?Route=0202%20-%200633&Map=Perspective

All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 


Spring 2017 Electrical and Computer Engineering Speaker

Title: Vehicle Cyber Security: Where the Rubber Meets the Code

Guest Speaker: Dr. Stacy Prowell, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Vehicle Security Center

Date: Monday, January 23, 2017

Time: 1:00-1:50 pm

Location: Whitehall Classroom Building room 122

Abstract: Modern vehicles include an average of 100 million lines of code and 60 control units.  With automotive manufacturers adding an increasing array of safety, entertainment, navigation, and autonomous driving features, the potential threat vectors for vehicle cyber attacks are rapidly expanding.  In this talk, Dr. Stacy Prowell, Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Vehicle Security Center, will discuss the current state of security, the issues to be addressed, and some of the work being done to address these issues.

Speaker Biography: Dr. Stacy Prowell serves as the Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Vehicle Security Center. Dr. Prowell is also the laboratory’s Chief Cyber Security Research Scientist, leads the Cyber Warfare Research Team, and is the Program Manager for the lab’s Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems program. Dr. Prowell’s research focuses on exploiting physical sensors and properties to detect and prevent intrusion, and on deep semantic analysis of compiled software. Dr. Prowell’s work on a system for deep analysis of compiled software led to the Hyperion system, which received a 2015 R&D 100 award and two awards for technology transfer. Previously, Dr. Prowell worked in the CERT Program of the Software Engineering Institute on automated analysis of malware. Dr. Prowell is an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the Transportation Electrification Community. In his spare time Dr. Prowell is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee, and is a member of Sigma Xi and a senior member of the IEEE.


All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 

Fall 2016 Ethics Lecture

William and Patricia Stacy Endowed Ethics Lecture

Guest Speaker: Dr. Clinton Andrews, Professor and Associate Dean for Planning and New Initiatives, Rutgers University

When: Thursday, November 11, 2016

Where: James Hardymon Theater, Davis Marksbury Building

Time: 3:30-4:30 pm


Title: How do Society and the Internet of Things Interact?

Demographic, economic, and sociotechnical trends will influence the context of IoT deployments in the short and long run. Especially relevant will be continued population growth, the aging of the population and workforce, increased urbanization, continuing high rates of international migration, high rates of workforce disruption requiring retraining, jobs that are less tethered to particular locations, more leisure time, persistent income inequality, and continued concerns about security and personal safety.

IoT will influence society by facilitating the untethering of work from workplaces, increasing the potential for migration without losing touch with family and friends, making physical environments more user-friendly for old people, and improving personal security through surveillance. It will also bring negative consequences including exposure of formerly private personal behaviors, loss of privacy and trade secrets, and vulnerability to serious cyber-disruptions. There will be unintended consequences that we cannot yet foresee, requiring adaptive responses by courts, public policymakers, enterprises, and individuals. Standards and regulations will often lag perceived need, placing significant responsibility on individuals to protect themselves. New insurance products, contracting norms, and litigation opportunities will help individuals and enterprises manage these risks.


Fall 2016 PEIK Seminars


Please note: Due to construction on campus, the locations of our PEIK Seminars may vary. All locations will be listed under the Seminar date, with a map link provided for participants interested in attending.

*Each seminar is worth one Professional Development Hour (PDH) for industry and professional participants. Participants wanting to receive certificates for Professional Development Hours should sign in on the request form at the seminar.

Monday, October 24, 2016


Seminar Title: “The Impacts of the US Shale Revolution”
Speaker: Greg Harper, President, Gas Pipelines & Processing, Enbridge, INC.

When: 2:00-2:50 pm

Where: UKAA Auditorium, W.T. Young Library

Biography: Mr. Harper, appointed President of Gas Pipelines and Processing on Jan. 30, 2014, has spent his entire career in the energy sector. As the head of Enbridge’s natural gas business, Mr. Harper brings deep and proven operational, commercial, and developmental experience, thanks to an extensive background in the natural gas industry. Based in Houston, Mr. Harper joined Enbridge from Southwest Energy, where he served as Senior Vice President, Midstream, and also held senior leadership positions with CenterPoint Energy, Spectra Energy and Duke Energy. In 2013, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).
A native of Owensboro, Ky., Mr. Harper is actively involved in community service, including educational, industry, professional, and arts organizations; he serves on the Board of the University of Houston’s Bauer School of Business and is also immediate past Chairman of the board of directors of Theatre Under the Stars. He holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky, as well as a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Houston.

Parking: Parking Structure #5 on South Limestone (http://www.uky.edu/pts/parking-info_lots-and-structures_parking-structure-5 )

Walking Map from Parking Structure #5 to W.T. Young Library: (http://maps.uky.edu/campusmap/?Route=0202%20-%200456&Map=Perspective)

All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend. 


Friday, September 16, 2016


Seminar Title: “From Solar Cars to the Industrial Development of Axial Flux Electric Motor Technology”

Speaker: Dr. Greg Heins, Head of Research and Development, Regal Beloit Corporation, Asia Pacific

When: 2:00-3:00 pm

Where: Chemical and Physics Building, Room 153

Biography: Dr. Greg Heins is currently the Head of Research and Development for Regal Beloit Corporation, Asia Pacific. He received the B.Eng. (Hons.) degree in mechanical engineering and the University Medal from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, in 2000 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia, in 2008. Earlier in his career he worked as a Manufacturing Engineer with Robert Bosch Australia and as faculty at Charles Darwin University. In 2011 he was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. He is the holder of six patents with many other applications pending.

Parking: Parking Structure #5 on South Limestone (http://www.uky.edu/pts/parking-info_lots-and-structures_parking-structure-5 )

Walking Map from Parking Structure #5 to Chem Phys building: (http://maps.uky.edu/campusmap/?Route=0202%20-%200055&Map=Perspective)

PEIK Seminar Heins Sept 16 2016 Flyer can be found here: http://www.engr.uky.edu/ece/files/2011/04/PEIK-Seminar-Heins-Sept-16-2016.pdf

All faculty, staff, students, and visitors are invited to attend.   


This seminar is presented in partnership with the IEEE Power and Energy Society, Lexington Chapter.


Spring 2016 PEIK Seminars

Please note: Due to construction on campus, the locations of our PEIK Seminars may vary. All locations will be listed under the Seminar date, with a map link provided for participants interested in attending.

*Each seminar is worth one Professional Development Hour (PDH) for industry and professional participants. Participants wanting to receive certificates for Professional Development Hours should sign in on the request form at the seminar.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Seminar Title: “The Dawn of Infotricity:  Combining Electric Power and Information”

Speaker:  William (Billy) Ray, P.E., CEO, Glasgow Electric Plant Board 

Biography: WILLIAM J. RAY, P.E. – Billy serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the Glasgow Electric Plant Board. He is closely involved in all areas of the municipally owned utility, including the implementation of radical changes to it. Under his direction, the Glasgow EPB, starting in 1988, constructed a ubiquitous broadband network throughout the community that incorporates the provision of cable television, telephone, utility telemetry, and high-speed Internet access into a new “Infotricity Utility” for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. This project has won many awards including the Energy Innovator Award from the American Public Power Association, the “Innovations in State and Local Government” award from the Ford Foundation in conjunction with Harvard University; the James H. McGraw Award from the McGraw-Hill publishing company; and once tied with Insight Communications for most innovative cable company in the annual Interop Infrastructure Awards Program from Interactive Week magazine.

In 2015 Glasgow EPB was awarded a Smart Energy Technology Grant by TVA, which has Billy and his team installing the latest array of technology available today in the hope of proving that his “infotricity” theories will indeed demonstrate that daily energy takings can be reshaped to match the output of the most efficient generation sources.

Billy has provided expert testimony before the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. House of Representatives Telecommunications Subcommittee, the United States Senate Communications Subcommittee, the Commerce Department and others on the subjects of municipal ownership of broadband communications systems, competition in telecommunications services, and the concept of combining electric power and broadband to produce “infotricity”.


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Title: Half a Century of UK and UPT Contributions to the Theory and Technology of Electric Machines and Drives – A Summary of Professors S. A. Nasar (UK) and I. Boldea (UPT) Groups’ Collaboration

Speaker: Ion Boldea, Professor at University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania

Biography: Ion Boldea is a Professor at University Politehnica of Timisoara, Romania, a member of the Romanian Academy, and a Life Fellow of IEEE. Since 1973, when he was a Senior Fullbright Scholar at University of Kentucky, he has returned to Lexington 15 times as a Visiting Professor and spent here more than 5 years altogether. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Oregon State University, UMIST and University of Glasgow in Britain, and Alborg University in Denmark.

In 1977, Professor Boldea was part of the original team who established at UK under the leadership of Professor Nasar the Electric Power Components and Systems Journal, now part of the Taylor and Francis collection. He is the director and founder since 2001 of the internet-only international “Journal of Electrical Engineering”, www.jee.ro, and served as General Chairman of the biannual IEEE sponsored International Conference OPTIM in between 1996 and 2010, www.info-optim.ro.

Professor Boldea published extensively in linear and rotary motion electric machines design and controls, more than 200 papers, including 6 that received IEEE best paper awards, and 18 books in USA and the United Kingdom. He has been consulting, lecturing, giving keynote addresses, and holding intensive courses in USA, Europe and Asia for the last 25 years. He has been an IEEE-IAS Distinguished Lecturer since 2008 and lectured in this capacity in USA, Denmark, Italy, and Brasil. He is the recipient of the IEEE 2015 Nikola Tesla Award.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Title: “The Future Grid and the Integration of Renewables”

Speaker: Ben Kroposki, Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colorado

Biography: Dr. Ben Kroposki is the Director of the Power Systems Engineering Center, where he leads NREL’s strategic research in the planning and operations of electrical power systems. His expertise is in the design testing and integration of renewable and distributed power systems, and he has more than 100 publications in these areas. As an IEEE Fellow, Dr. Kroposki was recognized for his leadership in renewable and distributed energy systems integration. He has served on a number of IEEE technical standards working groups and chaired IEEE 1547.4, the first international standard on microgrid design and operation. He has also served as an editor for IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, and IEEE Power & Energy Magazine. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. from the Colorado School of Mines.


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Title: “The Clean Power Plan and its Effect on Kentucky”

Speaker: Tom FitzGerald, Kentucky Resources Council

Biography: Tom FitzGerald is an environmental attorney and is Director of the Kentucky Resources Council, a nonprofit organization focused on Kentucky’s environment and natural resources. As Director of the KRC, he informs the public about environmental issues and lobbies the Kentucky legislature. He has won several awards, including the Heinz award, the Kentucky Environmental Quality Commission “Lifetime of Service Award”, the Biological Diversity Protection Award, and the “Cleaning Air Award” from the American Lung Association. In 2014 he was appointed by President Obama to serve on ORSANCO, the commission that establishes water quality standards for the Ohio River. He is an alumnus of the UK College of Law.


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Title: “Fracking in Kentucky”

Speaker: Brandon C. Nuttall, Geologist, Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky

Biography: Brandon Nuttall received a BS in Geology from Eastern Kentucky University in 1975. He joined the Kentucky Geological Survey 34 years ago where he concentrates on oil and natural gas resources, activity and development, database and GIS, and related research.