Electrical Engineering

Power electronics researchers awarded $1.5M to advance energy technologies

Charles Ferrer — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 20:18:29 +0000

Power electronics researchers awarded $1.5M to advance energy technologies Charles Ferrer Thu, 09/11/2025 - 14:18

Luca Corradini, associate professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, is advancing energy technologies at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ thanks to a $1.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

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New bioimaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection

Charles Ferrer — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 16:22:57 +0000

New bioimaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection Charles Ferrer Wed, 08/13/2025 - 10:22

Researchers at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ have developed a new bioimaging device that can operate with significantly lower power and in an entirely non-mechanical way. It could one day improve detecting eye and even heart conditions.

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Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering welcomes new faculty for fall 2025

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:55:32 +0000

Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering welcomes new faculty for fall 2025 Charles Ferrer Mon, 08/11/2025 - 09:55

The Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering Department at the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ is welcoming four new faculty members. Meet our new faculty and see why we're excited about these talented individuals!

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Narayanswamy shapes the future of imaging, one lens at a time

Charles Ferrer — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 19:25:36 +0000

Narayanswamy shapes the future of imaging, one lens at a time Charles Ferrer Wed, 07/09/2025 - 13:25

��ƷSM��ӰƬ alumnus Ram Narayanswamy is revolutionizing imaging technology through innovations in meta-optics and ultra-compact camera systems. His 30-year career spans NASA, Intel and now NIL Technology, where he's helping shape the future of how imaging and people see the world.

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Quantum Scholar’s journey into the future of computing

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:20:41 +0000

Quantum Scholar’s journey into the future of computing Charles Ferrer Mon, 06/09/2025 - 11:20

Arjun Dalwadi, a third-year electrical and computer engineering student, is immersing himself in all things quantum through the Quantum Scholars program and as an undergraduate researcher in the Gyenis Lab. Dalwadi is on the journey to make an impact for quantum computing.

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Alumni Entrepreneurs

Michelle Wiese — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:31:13 +0000

Alumni Entrepreneurs Michelle Wiese Fri, 06/06/2025 - 11:31

Jesse Petersen

In 2024, 35 startups were launched out of labs and research projects at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, putting the university second only to Stanford University in the number of new ventures. Twenty-two of those were affiliated with CU Engineering, solidifying our role as a leader in innovation on campus.

We’re taking the opportunity to highlight two of our alumni-run startups: Mana Battery, founded in 2023 as a spinout of Chunmei Ban’s laboratory in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Manifest Technologies, founded as Vitro3D in 2020 by PhD students in electrical engineer and materials scientist Bob McLeod’s lab.

“We’re doing a new form of volumetric additive manufacturing where we create an entire 3D part all at once.”

Camila Uzcategui
(MMatSci’18; PhDMatSci’21), Manifest Technologies

“We’re developing next-generation materials and batteries in order to support low-cost energy storage.”

Tyler Evans
(PhDMechEngr’15; PhDMatSci’15), Mana Battery Inc.

Hear from our alumni entrepreneurs

Alumni founders from Mana Battery and Manifest Technologies talk about why they chose CU Engineering as the place to launch their startup.

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Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students

Michelle Wiese — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 15:45:18 +0000

Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students Michelle Wiese Mon, 04/21/2025 - 09:45

On Friday, April 25 at the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, engineering students will present their capstone design projects at the annual Engineering Projects Expo. This year's event will feature projects from mechanical engineering; computer science; electrical, computer and energy engineering; biomedical engineering; and civil, environmental and architectural engineering.

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As AI explosion threatens progress on climate change, these researchers are seeking solutions

Susan Glairon — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 22:31:53 +0000

As AI explosion threatens progress on climate change, these researchers are seeking solutions Susan Glairon Fri, 04/18/2025 - 16:31

Kyri Baker, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, and her colleague, Bri-Mathias Hodge, professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering, suggest that if future data centers are placed in the right location and equipped with energy storage technologies, they can run on 100 percent clean energy.

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��ƷSM��ӰƬ leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:15:44 +0000

��ƷSM��ӰƬ leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project Jeff Zehnder Thu, 04/10/2025 - 15:15

Jeff Zehnder

Eric Frew is heading a major project to improve drone communications in anticipation of a future when autonomous aircraft regularly whizz overhead for everything from product deliveries to emergency response.

A professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, Frew is the principal investigator of an $8 million, four-year NASA University Leadership Initiative grant to ensure safe and assured operation of commercial autonomous aircraft in populated areas.

“These are complex scenarios -- a drone flying from Denver International Airport to Boulder to drop off a package or using drones to monitor wildfires. Consider the benefit if the Boulder Fire Department could dispatch a drone the moment there’s an incident t so it gets there before police or fire crews,” Frew said.

Communications with consumer-grade quad copters are fairly standardized, but Frew’s team will be studying a much more complex problem – drones that navigate miles from their operator across challenging terrain where line-of-sight communication with a base station is no longer possible.

In such cases, cellular networks are the most likely solution for controlling the drone, but that presents unique challenges.

“Wireless communication is hard,” Frew said. “We’ve all had cell phone signals drop out. That’s fine on the phone with a family member. But if you’re commanding a flying drone, that’s a problem.”

The project team comprises some of the best minds in drones, radio signaling and computer science across 10 universities and colleges; the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing research partnership; Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences; and the nonprofit Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

Ismail Guvenc is a partner on the project. An electrical engineering professor at North Carolina State University, he leads a major aerial experimentation laboratory that will offer the team opportunities to develop and test uncrewed aerial system concepts in a real-world outdoor testbed.

“This is advancing the state of the art in an area of critical and timely significance for the United States. We’ll be modeling the behavior of agents, interference, and data in hybrid airborne-terrestrial networks and their impact on the overall performance of the communication network. We will also be supporting real-world experiments and testing needs of project partners at Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW),” Guvenc said.

Part of the research will focus on designing flight corridors that ensure continued communication. In the case of a trip from DIA to Boulder, that could mean designing a pathway that stays close to cell towers, rather than following the most direct route. Another possibility is using multiple drones as a mesh relay network.

“The transmission would multi-hop back through each drone. We can’t control the ground communications, but we can exploit our own,” Frew said.

Relay networks will be particularly important in sparsely populated areas with fewer cell towers, like during wildfire response in the Rocky Mountains.

This is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society. The goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.” - Eric Frew

“How do we organize stakeholders in that environment? We want to be able to manage team formations, routing and planning so we can work in a hybrid communications system that alternates between air-to-air and air-to-ground communications seamlessly,” Frew said.

Managing that complex interplay will be an area of study for multiple partners on the project, including Philip Brown, an assistant professor in computer science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His work focuses on using game theory to inform the design of networked control systems.

“My lab studies the way that network structure impacts team performance for loosely connected teams, which is what a group of drones are in this case. We’re evaluating and predicting the performance of network structures, and also using network structures to inform the decisions made by individual autonomous aircraft,” Brown said.

A key objective of the project is technology transfer to industry. While some grants focus more on early stage research, Frew emphasized their plan to develop software and data to assist business and government going forward.

“This is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society,” Frew said. “The goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.”

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Electrical and computer engineers spark STEM curiosity at 2025 Denver Metro Science Fair

Charles Ferrer — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:10:34 +0000

Electrical and computer engineers spark STEM curiosity at 2025 Denver Metro Science Fair Charles Ferrer Mon, 03/10/2025 - 09:10

Faculty and students from the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering volunteered at the 2025 Denver Metro Science Fair and engaged with middle and high school students with hands-on activities such as building paper circuits and changing LED colors. The event sparked curiosity and excitement, inspiring young aspiring engineers.

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Electrical Engineering

Power electronics researchers awarded $1.5M to advance energy technologies

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New bioimaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection

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Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering welcomes new faculty for fall 2025

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Narayanswamy shapes the future of imaging, one lens at a time

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Quantum Scholar’s journey into the future of computing

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Alumni Entrepreneurs

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Engineering Projects Expo 2025: Explore new inventions and technologies created by CU Engineering students

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As AI explosion threatens progress on climate change, these researchers are seeking solutions

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��ƷSM����ӰƬ leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project

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Electrical and computer engineers spark STEM curiosity at 2025 Denver Metro Science Fair

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��ƷSM��ӰƬ leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project