ECSE Faculty Searches

We are recruiting one position in each of these five areas:

• Cyber-physical systems
• Energy systems
• Controls and/or mechatronics
• Robotics
• Bioimaging

We are also recruiting one Constellation Chair, which is in Biocomputation/Computational Biology.

For more information and to apply, please see our Faculty Search page.

RPI Students Launch Unique Weather Balloon

ECSE senior Greg Pitner and the RPI Students for the Exploration and the Development of Space club successfully launched a unique weather balloon 90,000 feet into the atmosphere from the '86 field. The balloon payload contained three high-definition cameras to capture the Earth's entire horizon and some electronics to help the group track the balloon's descent back to earth.

Please visit the club web site at http://seds.union.rpi.edu/

Read local news coverage.
Troy Record, YNN (Video), CBS6Albany (Video)

Analog Devices, Inc. donates $100,000 in support of the Douglas Mercer '77 Laboratory for Student Exploration and Innovation

The Department is pleased to announce that Analog Devices, Inc. has made a very generous $100,000 donation in support of the Douglas Mercer '77 Laboratory for Student Exploration and Innovation. (A previous story on the Mercer Endowment appears below.) This gift from Analog Devices as Founding Corporate Sponsor significantly advances our progress toward bringing this state of the art laboratory for independent student projects and competitions to life. The lab will be built in JEC 6204; the grand opening is planned for the start of Fall Semester 2012. 

ECSE Graduate Dr. B. Jayant Baliga has been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation

On September 27, 2011, President Barack Obama named five inventors as recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and seven eminent researchers as recipients of the National Medal of Science, the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers, and inventors. The recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.

Dr. B. Jayant Baliga received his MS '71 and Ph.D '74 in electrical engineering from RPI. Currently a professor at North Carolina State, he developed the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor which has had an extensive impact in transportation, lighting, medicine, defense, and renewable energy systems.

Read More »»

Sorab (Soli) Ghandhi Receives 2010 IEEE EDS Education Award

SORAB (SOLI) GHANDHI, Professor Emeritus at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), is the recipient of 2010 IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Education award for his pioneering contributions to semiconductor and microelectronics education.

This award is presented annually by EDS to honor an individual(s) who has made distinguished contributions to education within the field of interest of the Electron Devices Society. Read More »»

Doug Mercer '77 to endow "The Douglas Mercer '77 Laboratory for Student Exploration and Innovation"

I am so pleased to tell you that Doug Mercer '77 has signed the documents to endow "The Douglas Mercer '77 Laboratory for Student Exploration and Innovation" at $500,000, together with a $50,000 expendable gift to begin equipping the laboratory.

This facility will support student projects in an open shop environment, allowing students to tinker and move class design projects (or whatever else fires them up) to real, working hardware. But beyond that, the lab will promote competitive innovation and student participation in electronics design competitions (or other competitions that include an electronics design element).

The lab will provide infrastructure and consumable supplies, faculty and staff guidance and referral, external linkages, interface with competition organizers, travel and exhibit transport, publicity, and a diverse array of other activities necessary to compete and win. The visibility gained from participating in some of these competitions can reap significant rewards; winning can vault an institution to national prominence in a given field. Competitions provide a rich medium in which to grow the national and global engineering leaders of the future, leaders we want to come from Rensselaer.

Grainger Scholar Awards Luncheon

On April 14 the Department held its annual celebration of the Grainger Scholar Awards with a luncheon in the Bruggemann Room. Seniors Audrey Newcomb and Gavin Anaya presented their recent work and outlined their interests and future career plans. Following the presentations and a question and answer session, they received their award certificates and checks from Grainger Foundation Director, Adm. William Hayden, USN (Ret.). The title of Audrey's presentation was "From Pearl Street to 14th Street, An EPOW's Experiences" while Gavin's was entitled "My Studies: Lighting the Way to the Future." Both presentations were enlightening, engaging, and very well presented.

The Grainger Foundation of Lake Forest, Illinois was established in 1949 by Mr. & Mrs. William Wallace Grainger. The Foundation provides substantive support to a broad range of organizations including educational institutions, museums, healthcare, and human services. The Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer is extremely grateful for the Grainger Foundation's support over the years of many deserving students interested in the study of energy sources and systems, particularly with respect to electric power systems. The Grainger Foundation is a true "Partner in Excellence."

ECSE Student Benjamin Clough has been named the winner of the 2011 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize

A student in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer, Clough has demonstrated a promising, cost-effective technique that employs sound waves to boost the effective distance of terahertz spectroscopy from a few feet to several meters. For this innovation, Clough has been named the winner of the 2011 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize. He is among the four 2011 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prize winners. Read More»»

Two of this year's three finalists (Tristan Lawry and Ben Clough) are from ECSE.

Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize»»

TWO ECSE alumni win National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Two Rensselaer alumni have become the ninth and 10th graduates to earn national medals. Steven Sasson, ’78, and Dr. Marcian E. “Ted” Hoff, Jr., ’58, were each selected to receive a National Medal of Technology and Innovation. According to an announcement from the White House and the Department of Commerce earlier this week, they will receive their medals at a White House ceremony later this year. Read More »»

Important Curriculum Changes for ECSE

The Electrical Engineering and Computer and Systems Engineering programs have significant changes which take effect in Fall 2011 (pdf).

Students in all class years will be affected by these changes.

It is important to read the Advising section of this site before registering for your fall classes. Read More »»