Events Listing

All About Graduate School in Europe -- With a Spotlight on Germany

Session Overview:
Europe has traditionally been and continues to be one of the top destinations for graduate study. Every year, nearly two million international students pursue a short- or long-term study mobility in Europe. And for good reasons: low or no tuition fees, high-quality academic experiences, excellent institutional reputations, and good student life support. But each country has its own customs and culture around international student mobility and international study programs, making choosing a destination, institution, and/or program feel like an insurmountable task. In this session, you will learn about the graduate school opportunities and options available, how to navigate the graduate school search, and which factors to consider when choosing a program and destination. Then, using Germany as an example, you will learn about the aspects for consideration to align your graduate school plans with your future career aspirations that you may not have even thought about. By the end of this crash course in all things graduate school in Europe, you will feel more informed about whether or not you want to pursue a program in Europe and if so, what your next steps should be.

This event is supported by College of Liberal Arts Career Services, Career Services Administration, and the Learning Abroad Center, and is open to all UMN students and recent alumni.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Jane, UMN International Career Consultant: sitt0036@umn.edu
Holly, CLA Career Coach: hutch358@umn.edu

Your Instructor:
Jessica Schueller is an international career services consultant focused on Europe and Germany. Her European work and study experience spans 8 countries and several years in the areas of international career services, international program and project management, international student and scholar advising, and higher education research. She holds a joint master’s degree from universities in Austria and Finland as well as an MBA from a university in Germany.

Register here: Handshake // Zoom

Dr. Sarah Seguin at ECE Fall 2023 Colloquium

Antenna Design Considerations for Efficient Spectrum Usage

The electromagnetic spectrum is becoming increasingly congested with the advent of new wireless, IoT, 5G, 6G, and beyond. The focused-use static frequency method of allocation is swiftly becoming antiquated. This is making way for a new paradigm of dynamic frequency allocation and a “sharing” regime. The amount of usable spectrum for both consumer and military applications is diminishing, and the increasing congestion presents unique problems related to both quantifying and sharing spectrum. There is no single solution for acute spectral crowding. Instead, it needs to be addressed via several multifaceted solutions. One approach for addressing spectral crowding is waveform adaptation and optimization that requires accurate knowledge of hardware induced distortions. Combined antenna characterization techniques are presented to better understand antenna effects that could increase the ability of systems to directionally share spectrum and to compensate for antenna hardware distortion.

Brief Bio of Dr. Seguin

Dr. Sarah Seguin is a senior project engineer at The Aerospace Corporation. She was formerly the Executive Vice President of Operations and still remains a co-owner of Third Iron, a software development company focused on academic research information systems. She has worked as a researcher and faculty-in-resident at a number of notable institutions such as Baylor University, the Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Kansas, Apple Computer, and Boston Scientific. All three of her degrees are in Electrical Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, culminating in a PhD. She is currently the chair of the Spectrum Engineering Technical Committee 6 (TC6) of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society. Her research areas include spectrum engineering, Electromagnetic Compatibility, Electromagnetic Modeling, Antenna Design, Radar, and Electromagnetics.

Prof. Mark Lundstrom at ECE Fall 2023 Colloquium

Essential Physics of the Modern MOSFET

Since the demonstration of the silicon MOSFET in 1959, engineers have made the channel lengths shorter and shorter, and to understand and model transistors, a deeper and deeper understanding of charge carrier transport was needed. In the 1960’s, square law MOSFETs could be treated with drift-diffusion equations. As channel lengths approached one micron in the late 1970’s, high-field velocity saturation became important, and in the 1980’s, velocity overshoot in sub-micron MOSFETs came into play. In the 1990’s, we entered the deep sub-micron era where quasi-ballistic and even ballistic transport became important, and, as channel lengths shrunk to the nanoscale in the 2000’s, quantum transport came into play. Modern nanoscale transistors operate differently than micron scale transistors. The details are complicated, but the essential physics is not. My goal in this talk is to discuss the operation of these devices in a simple but physically sound way.

Brief Bio of Professor Lundstrom

Mark Lundstrom is the Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and currently serves as Senior Advisor to the President and as Purdue’s Chief Semiconductor Officer.

Lundstrom earned his BEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1973 and 1974 and his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 1980. He began his career working on integrated circuit process development and manufacturing. At Purdue, his research and teaching have focused on the physics, modeling, and simulation of semiconductor devices. Lundstrom also founded nanoHUB, which for 25 years has offered online access to semiconductor simulation tools and open-content educational resources to a global community of more than one million annually.

Lundstrom has been recognized by IEEE and other organizations for his contributions to research, education, and outreach and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

Professor Chris Palmstrøm at ECE Fall 2023 Colloquium

Superconductor/Semiconductor Heterostructures for Quantum Computing Applications

Superconductor/semiconductor heterostructures have theoretically been predicted to have unique applications in quantum information systems. Coupling superconductivity to near surface quantum wells (QW) and nanowires of high spin-orbit semiconductors have allowed the observation of zero bias peaks, which can be a signature of, but not proof of, Majorana Zero Modes, a key ingredient for topological quantum computing. Although the Majorana Zero Modes have not been experimentally confirmed, induced superconductivity is observed and paves the way for lithographically defined complex superconductor/semiconductor nanostructured networks necessary for quantum computing.

Our efforts have focused on developing high mobility of near surface quantum wells of the high spin-orbit semiconductors InAs, InSb and InAsySb1-y. Rather than just relying on post growth lithography and top down etching to form semiconductor nanostructures, we have also investigated the development of shadow superconductor growth on atomic hydrogen cleaned MOVPE-grown vapor-liquid-solid InSb nanostructures and in-vacuum chemical and molecular beam epitaxy selective area grown InAs nanostructures. We have identified Sn as an alternative for Al for use as superconductor contacts to InSb vapor-liquid-solid nanowires, demonstrating a hard superconducting gap, with superconductivity persisting in magnetic field up to 4 Tesla. Further, a small island of Sn-InSb exhibits the two-electron charging effect, a clear indication of a supercurrent.

Lateral superconductor/semiconductor/superconductor structures allow for selective control of conductance modes in planar lateral multi-terminal Josephson Junctions. Vertical superconductor/semiconductor/superconductor heterostructures have the potential for combining the capacitor and Josephson Junction in a superconducting transmon qubit device into a single device, a merged element transmon, resulting in orders of magnitude reduction in size.
In this presentation, my group’s progress in developing superconductor/semiconductor heterostructures for quantum computing applications will be presented. This will include progress in in-situ patterning and selective area growth, multi-terminal Josephson Junctions and the recent progress towards developing a Si fin based merged element transmon – the FinMET.

Brief Bio of Professor Palmstrøm

Chris Palmstrøm is a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Materials Departments at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research involves atomic level control and interface formation during molecular beam and chemical beam epitaxial growth of metallic compounds, metal oxides and compound semiconductors. He received his B.Sc. in physics and electronic engineering and Ph.D. in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Leeds. After being a Lecturer in Norway and a Research Associate at Cornell, he joined Bellcore as a Member of Technical Staff in 1985. From 1994-2007 he was a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. In 2007 he joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has pioneered dissimilar materials epitaxial growth studies using a combination of molecular beam epitaxial growth with in-situ surface science probes, and ex-situ structural and electronic characterization. He is a member of the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship class of 2015 and is a Fellow of the AVS, APS, MRS and AAAS. He has received the North American MBE Innovator Award (2015) and the APS Adler Award (2018) and was made an Honorary Doctor at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), Lund University (2018).

Professional & Academic Email Writing Workshop

Student English Language Support (SELS) and Career Services are collaborating to help international students successfully navigate professional & academic email writing. In this interactive workshop, you will learn about professional email etiquette, appropriate language to use in professional/academic emails, and how to concisely write all parts of a professional or academic email.

This workshop will be available in-person (Bruininks Hall room 518/520) and over Zoom. Please register and indicate which option you are interested in here.

Please email Jane, UMN International Career Consultant, with any questions about this event: sitt0036@umn.edu

Quantum Computing Workshop - IEEE UMN Student Branch

IEEE UMN Student Branch will be hosting a quantum computing workshop as a Qiskit Fall Fest Extension Event next week.

Come learn about the possibilities of quantum computing with host Onri Jay Benally. Co-hosts will be Ali from MQA (UMN Quantum Computing Club) and Mural (IEEE).

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition

Please join us for the College of Science and Engineering's (CSE) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. CSE graduate students will have exactly three minutes to explain their research in an engaging and easy-to-understand format.

A panel of judges will choose the top two winning presentations and there will also be a "People's Choice" award. The first place winner will advance to the University-wide competition on Nov. 10.

This will be an exciting display of the diversity of research in CSE today, with topics ranging from energy and the environment to robotic systems and human health. The purpose of the competition is to celebrate the innovative research conducted by our graduate students and to cultivate their academic, presentation, and research communications skills.

If you have questions, please contact csegrad@umn.edu.

Professor Saptarshi Das at ECE Fall 2023 Colloquium

3D Integration of 2D Devices for Advanced Memory, Logic, and Bio-inspired Computing

In this presentation, I will delve into the exciting realm of monolithic 3D integration, where emerging 2D FETs take center stage, empowering advanced memory, and logic devices. Furthermore, I will also discuss our work on bio-inspired neuromorphic computing.

Brief Bio of Dr. Saptarshi Das

Dr. Das received his B.Eng. degree (2007) in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Jadavpur University, India, and his Ph.D. degree (2013) in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. He was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar (2013-2015) and Assistant Research Scientist (2015-2016) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Dr. Das joined the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) at Penn State University in January 2016. Dr. Das was the recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research in 2017 and the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 2021. Das Research Group at Penn State leads a new multidisciplinary area of science, namely biomimetic sensing, neuromorphic computing, and hardware security based on 2D materials and devices.

Quantum Computing Workshop - IEEE UMN Student Branch

IEEE UMN Student Branch will be hosting a quantum computing workshop as a Qiskit Fall Fest Extension Event next week.

Come learn about the possibilities of quantum computing with host Onri Jay Benally. Co-hosts will be Ali from MQA (UMN Quantum Computing Club) and Mural (IEEE).

Professor Abhijit Chatterjee at ECE Fall 2023 Colloquium

Error Resilient AI Systems: Addressing Soft Errors, Security Threats and Manufacturing Variability Effects

In this talk, we study the problem of designing error-resilient neuromorphic systems where errors can stem from: (a) soft errors in computation of matrix-vector multiplications and neuron activations, (b) malicious trojan and adversarial security attacks and (c) effects of manufacturing process variations on analog crossbar arrays that can affect DNN accuracy. The core principle of error detection and correction relies on the use of embedded neuron checks using invariants derived from the statistics of nominal neuron activation patterns as well as algorithmic encoding techniques. Errors are corrected using probabilistic methods due to difficulties involved in exact error diagnosis. The effects of manufacturing process variations are handled through the use of compact tests from which DNN performance can be assessed using learning techniques. Experimental results on a variety of neuromorphic test systems: DNNs, spiking networks, transformers and reinforcement learning are presented.

Brief bio of Professor Abhijit Chatterjee

Abhijit Chatterjee is a Professor in the School of ECE at Georgia Tech and a Fellow of the IEEE. He received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990. He has received seven Best Paper Awards. His work on selfhealing chips was cited by the Wall Street Journal in 1992. In 1995, he was named a Collaborating Partner in NASA’s New Millennium project. He has received awards for Outstanding Research and Technology Transfer from the Georgia Tech Packaging Research Center. In 2007, his group received the Margarida Jacome Award for work on adaptive RF systems from the Berkeley Gigascale Research Center. Chatterjee has authored over 450 papers, has 22 patents and supervised over 50 Ph.D dissertations. He co-founded Ardext Technologies Inc., a mixed-signal test solutions company and served as chief scientist from 2000-2002. His research interests include trustworthy machine learning and adaptive realtime mixed-signal systems.

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