Events Listing

Need a headshot for LinkedIn, Handshake or another reason? CSE Career Services is offering free professional headshots to CSE undergrads. Sign up for a half-hour time slot: z.umn.edu/CSEHeadshots. Friday, April 21, 11am-3pm, Lind Hall, floor 4.

The Origin And Evolution of X-Ray Computed Tomography at Mayo Clinic, 1960-1980

The advent of X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) in the 1970s is commonly attributed to a now-defunct British company. In fact, the earliest work on X-ray CT began at Mayo Clinic in the early 1960s with a long series of engineering developments carried out by a staff of 50 individuals, which continued until the late 1970s. A significant number of technical “firsts” occurred during those years, virtually all of which appear in modern rotating-gantry machines. This two-decade history, with a review of some of these breakthroughs, will be described in this seminar, by one of the engineers (BKG) who contributed to the successful development of the prototype first-article demonstrator.

About Prof. Barry Gilbert

Barry Gilbert is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Special-Purpose Processor Development Group at Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, an AIMBE Fellow and an IEEE Life Fellow. He received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of  Minnesota and Mayo Clinic. Since 1970 his research interests have been in the design of hardware for specialized supercomputers. His team has designed more than 450 integrated circuits, and has contributed to the development of more than two dozen special purpose computers, from chip-sized processors to cabinet-size supercomputers.

Recommended for all ages

Spotlight Science is a regular program connecting you to current science conducted at the University of Minnesota and in our community. Join researchers, students, and special guests for conversations and unique interactive experiences.

Explore the many ways tiny microbes have a big influence on Planet Earth. Meet students from Dr. Cara Santelli’s geomicrobiology class, and learn how microbes shape and change both essential nutrients and pollutants—in the air, in the water, and on the land. Check out interactive demonstrations that show biogeochemical processes that make Earth thrive. 

More information on the event.

Leaving the Marconi Era and Entering the Directive Communications and Sensors Era for 5G/6G and SATCOM

Affordable phased-arrays, built using low-cost silicon, have become an essential technology for high data-rate terrestrial (5G) and satellite (SATCOM) systems to their high gain, electronically steerable patterns, narrow beamwidths, high tolerance to interference and adaptive nulling capabilities. They have also become the backbone of all LEO and MEO satellites both at the payload level and at the user-terminal. High EIRP, high-performance systems at X-band to W-band with analog and digital beamforming capabilities and with multiple beams, are now available at low-cost. These advances are reshaping our communication and sensor systems, as we work to change our world from the Marconi-Era driven by low-gain antenna systems to the Directive Communications era where every antenna, every beam, every sensor is electronically steered. This talk summarizes our work in this area, present some amazing/unbelievable systems, and conclude with future 5G-Advanced and 6G where every device will be connected at Gbps speeds.

About Prof. Gabriel Rebeiz

Prof. Gabriel M. Rebeiz is Member of the National Academy (elected for his work on phased-arrays) and is a Distinguished Professor and the Wireless Communications Industry Endowed Chair at the University of California, San Diego. He is an IEEE Fellow, and is the recipient of the IEEE MTT Microwave Prize (2000, 2014, 2020) all for phased-arrays. His 2x2 and 4x4 RF-beamforming architectures are now used by Renesas, ADI, NXP, Infineon, Sivers, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, Boeing and others, and most companies developing communication and radar systems. All SATCOM affordable phased-arrays are based on his work and architectures. He has published 900 IEEE papers with an H-index of 100 and has graduated 122 PhD students including the former CEO of Qualcomm and several VPs in the communications and defense industry.

The Never Expanding Roles of Tech Leaders and the Opportunities It Creates

Speaker: Khalid Kark, Managing Director, Deloitte CIO Program

Technically Speaking is a free lively series of discussions that explores the intersection of technology and business. Each of our speakers plays a leadership role in the tech sector: they share their career journeys, what they've learned along the way, and how they believe new innovation will reshape their industries. Networking time before and after the talk as well as an extended Q&A makes this a unique and dynamic opportunity for technology students who want to learn more about the business of tech.

Register for the event

Unveiling the realm of quantum materials with nano-optics

Toolsets wielded by condensed matter researchers over the past century have expanded meteorically into frontiers of the ultra-small and ultra-fast. Nevertheless, resolving condensed matter through optical spectroscopies has remained largely arrested by the diffraction limit since the 19th century. In this talk, I review and celebrate the the marriage of “conventional” optics with scanning probes to circumvent the diffraction limit, particularly into regimes of low temperature for fundamental studies of quantum materials. I showcase investigations of collective excitations in 2-dimensional media like graphene, electronic phase competition in correlated electron solids, and on-demand control of optical properties in strongly interacting materials. I will share my ambitious perspectives for the future of nano-optical probes for quantum materials, a future that is simultaneously ultra-bright and ultra-small, and fundamentally transformative for optical spectroscopies of complex matter.

About Prof. Alex McLeod:

Professor Alexander S. McLeod has pioneered the application of optical nano-probes and multi-messenger nano-imaging to explore inhomogeneous quantum matter, including correlated electron systems and van der Waals materials. His recent interests include harnessing hybrid excitations of light and matter – so-called polaritons – as real-space probes of electronic structure, and tailoring nano-scale light-matter interactions to realize new states of matter. Previously, McLeod was a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow with the Columbia Nano Initiative at Columbia University (2017-2021). He holds a BA in Physics and Astrophysics (2009) from the University of California Berkeley and a PhD in Physics (2017) from the University of California San Diego.

Machine Learning for Power Systems with Physics-Informed Methods

The electric utility industry is being swamped by petabytes of data coming from various sources such as smart meters, phasor measurement units, SCADA systems, geographical information systems, and customer management systems. The primary and secondary value imbedded in the complex and heterogeneous data sets from power systems is immense. However, algorithms and applications for unlocking the potential of big data in power systems are at an early stage of development. Although off-the-shelf machine learning algorithms could improve the efficiency, reliability and resiliency of power systems, their potential is limited by the lack of physical-domain knowledge. This talk covers how to synergistically combine machine-learning models with physical models of power system. The applications of physics-informed machine learning methods in both power distribution system and transmission systems with large-scale real world data will be presented in detail.

About Prof. Nanpeng Yu

Nanpeng Yu received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2006 and Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University in 2010. He is an associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Yu is the recipient of the Regents Faculty Development award from University of California. He received multiple best paper and prize paper awards from the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meetings and PES Technical Committee. Yu is the director of Energy, Economics, and Environment Research Center at UC Riverside. He is also a cooperating faculty member of department of computer science and engineering and department of Statistics. He currently serves as the chair of the distribution system operation and planning subcommittee of IEEE Power and Energy Society. Yu currently serves as the associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy.

From the Bell Museum's website

As more focus is put on climate science, there is a need for each of us to learn how we can change our habits in our home, communities, and government to help mitigate the existential threat of climate change. Join us for the launch of UMN climate scientist Dr. Heidi Roop’s new book, The Climate Action Handbook. This visually stunning guide addresses climate change using easy-to-understand language and infographics and offers ideas, options, a roadmap for action – and more importantly, hope.

During a talk followed by Q&A, Dr. Roop will lay out the issues facing our planet and offer important actions that we can take right now in our daily lives to help slow the adverse effects of climate change.

Doors open at 6p and include an opportunity to visit Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact, an interactive exhibition about the nature and wonder of snow and the impact of climate change on our snowy planet. Dr. Roop’s talk will begin at 7p, followed by Q&A and book signing.

Books will be available for purchase on-site starting at 6p.

To participate, register on Eventbrite. This is an in-person event at the Bell Museum.

Tau mislocalization to dendritic spines is a common mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases including AD and PD

Progressively more research suggests that diverse neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) share common pathological hallmarks and cellular mechanisms. One such mechanism involves the redistribution of microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) from the axon into the somatodendritic compartments of neurons, leading to loss of tau polarity. Under normal physiological conditions, the distribution of tau proteins is polar. Tau is enriched in axons and has low presence in postsynaptic structures including the soma, dendrites and dendritic spines. In our recent studies, we found that the tau polarity is lost or reversed in neurodegenerative diseases. The loss of polarity is followed by mislocalization of tau into dendritic spines, the postsynaptic structures found in most excitatory glutamatergic synapses, and subsequent postsynaptic deficits and cognitive impairments. The clarification of the signaling steps that lead to tau-mediated synaptic deficits and cognitive impairments will shed new mechanistic insight on the pathogenesis of AD and PD. It may also uncover novel drug targets for treating and preventing these diseases. The combination of live imaging technique and spintronic technology will allow us to longitudinally monitor tau trafficking and electrophysiological activities at multiple time points and will be a powerful tool for mechanistic studies of tau mislocalization.

Professor Dezhi Liao is with the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota

Event registration

Driving Automotive ICs into Advanced CMOS

Automotive processors have become a multi-billion dollar market with ever growing demand for advanced silicon. Cars today are increasingly featured with better safety/autonomy, electrification, and connectivity. In this talk, we will cover how automotive electronics is evolving towards domain and zonal topologies to integrate more functionality, and provide a brief overview of NXP's portfolio to enable this evolution. We will discuss the opportunities and challenges that accompany the migration of these very cost-sensitive products to advanced CMOS nodes incorporating the fully depleted finFET. We will also summarize the key process technology elements that have enabled the advanced finFET CMOS nodes, highlighting the resulting device technology characteristics and challenges impacting design.

About Alvin Loke

Alvin Loke is a Fellow at NXP Semiconductors in San Diego. He has worked on CMOS nodes from 250nm to 2nm. A PhDEE graduate from Stanford, he spent several years in CMOS process integration and since 2001 has worked on analog/mixed-signal design focusing on a variety of wireline links, design/model/technology interface, and design methodologies. Alvin has been an active IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) volunteer since 2003, having served in roles including Distinguished Lecturer, AdCom member, CICC Committee Member, Webinar Chair, and JSSC/SSCL Guest Editor. He currently serves in the VLSI Symposium committee and as SSCS Chapters Chair. Alvin has authored over 60 publications including the CICC 2018 Best Paper and invited short courses at ISSCC, VLSI Symposium, and BCICTS. He holds 29 US patents.