UMEE NEWSLETTER

A Publication of the Department of Electrical Engineering at The University of Mississippi

Fall/Winter 1996/97, Volume 6, Number 1

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

The 1996-97 Fall Semester began with news of an 18.3% increase in enrollment in the School of Engineering, that has resulted in the largest engineering student body in 10 years and a 40% increase in the engineering freshmen class at Ole Miss. Dean Allie Smith attributes this increase to aggressive recruiting, scholarship opportunities, and a central recruiting coordinator, Mr. R. B. Privett, who has worked very hard to increase enrollments over the past three years. Enrollment in electrical engineering increased this year by 26%; that includes a 50% increase in freshman enrollment over last year. Graduate enrollment remains about the same level as last year. These increases also reflect a more robust job market with increased salaries, soaring stock options, and restoration of the United States to technological leadership, as recently reported by EE Times. Electrical Engineering graduates with good computer and RF circuit skills are in high demand.

This is going to be an exciting year for the Department of Electrical Engineering with the completion of the renovation of the Engineering Science Building for EE research and the installation of network analyzer capability for measurements up to 75GHz. Dr. Tew is on sabbatical leave this year working on a set of computer-aided tutorials for El.E. 341 - Theory of Fields, El. E. 441 - Electromagnetic Theory I, and El. E. 525 - Introduction to Antennas. Dr. C. Ray Smith is visiting professor in the department and has taught a course on Signal Detection, Identification, and Parameter Estimation. Two of our faculty received teaching awards last year, and our students received many awards for scholarships, including a Taylor Medal. We continue to make progress in developing quality EE programs at The University based on the hard work and contributions of our faculty and students.

We were saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Robert A. Herring, former Professor and chairman of Electrical Engineering, last summer, and I am sure many alumni and former students remember him as a teacher and advisor, and join us in expressing our sympathy to his family on their loss. Also, you will be interested to know that Mr. Damon Wall, long-time Assistant Dean and Associate Professor, has formally announced his retirement after 30 years service with The School of Engineering and the Department. We will all miss his many contributions to our program and we wish him well.

Best wishes and Happy New Year! Hope to hear from some of you soon!

Charles E. Smith, Professor and Chair

FORMER EE CHAIRMAN DIES

Robert Alexander Herring, former chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department, died of prostate cancer on July 21 at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, MD. He was 80.

Herring was born in Louisville, Ky., and grew up in Greensboro, N.C., before moving with his family to Washington, D.C. at age 12. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and moved to Oxford in 1957 to found Ole Miss' electrical engineering department. He retired from Ole Miss in 1973 where his contributions and service will be long remembered.

RENOVATION OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE BUILDING UPDATE

The Department of Electrical Engineering has continued planning and working on the renovation of the Engineering Science Building with support from a National Science Foundation grant. The committee received bids on July 17, 1996. Cooke Douglas Farr Lemmons/LTD, and Physical Plant representatives reviewed bids and recommended the contract be awarded to the low bidder, Mast Construction, Inc. of Tupelo. The approval of the total project cost of $545,000 was approved by the IHL at its August 1996 meeting. Construction began soon after the award approval of the project with completion sometime in the first quarter of 1997.

ALUMNI NEWS

George Flinn (BSEE '65) is President of Flinn Broadcasting with stations WHBQ; WFBI-TV; WNWZ; and KMZN in Memphis, TN, KDRE in Little Rock, AK, WCCL-TV in New Orleans, LA, and KDEN-TV in Denver, as well as stations in Reno, NV. and Chicago, IL.

Ron Godwin (BSEE '66) is currently with Walt Disney World where he holds the envious position of steam train Engineer and Conductor. He retired from the U. S. Navy Submarine Service in 1977 and then worked for the Newport News Shipyard as Senior Test Engineer until his second retirement. Along the way he obtained a Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering at The University of Nebraska in 1976. He currently lives in Saint Cloud, FL.

Dwight A. Johnson (BSEE '68 and MD '74) is in General Practice of Medicine in Booneville, MS. His wife Brenda is an R. N. and she works with him at their office. They have four children. Other interests include amateur radio, computers, and serving as team physician for the Booneville High School Football team.

Edward J. "Jim" Crow, Jr. (BSEE '73) visited in the Department recently. Jim is a Project Engineer with Tenncco Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va.

John E. Dilley (BSEE '80) is a part-time instructor in Electrical Engineering at The University of Mississippi. He teaches our Electric Circuits Laboratories (ENGR 361).

Dr. Thomas D. Allen, MD, (BSEE '83) is a physician/anesthesiologist with Coastal Anesthesia, P.C. at Providence Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. Dr. Allen is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and serves on the American Board for Anesthesiology. He and his wife, Brenda, and their son, Zachary Thomas (born April '93), live in Mobile.

Danny C. Whittington (BSEE '85) is a Senior Electrical Systems Engineer with McDonnell Douglas and Defense Systems at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. and serves as the Communications and Avionics Lead with the International Space Station Program. He also is a Captain in the Florida Air National Guard with the Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. He and his wife are the proud parents of a daughter (Anna, 10) and a son (Ben, 7). His wife Annette (MA, '84), is a case worker for the mentally disabled.

Mohammad Reza Zunoubi (BSEE '89 and MS '91) received his Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering at Mississippi State University at the end of the 1996 Spring Semester.

Man-Chun Yu (MS '89) is currently taking courses in Computer Science at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA.

Henry Walker (BSEE '76) visited in the Department recently while on campus for The University of Mississippi Black Alumni Spring Reunion. Henry is with International Paper in Natchez, MS. He indicated that Cedric Davis (BSEE '74) is employed with NASA in Huntsville, AL.

Joseph James (MS '84) is vice president of Consulting Services for Sky Blue Systems of Troy, NY.

John B. Denley IV (BSEE '95) married Trena Nichole Goggans (BA '95) in late August. After their honeymoon the couple will reside in Houston, TX where John is a Project Management Specialist with Brown and Root, Inc.

Lynn Michelletti (BSEE '95) is an Avionics Engineer with J.F. Taylor, a DOD contractor at the Patuaxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. Lynn is working on the design of flight simulation cockpits for pilots training, including navigation systems, display, and data acquisition. The Center currently has cockpits for the F-18A/B, F-18 C/D, F-18 E/F, F-14, and the Cobra and V22 Helicopters; Lynn is working on the V-22 troop helicopter.

HONORS DAY FOR EE's

Mr. James Allen Edmonds received a Taylor Memorial Medal for meritorious scholarship and deportment during the 1996 Honors Day award ceremonies on April 11, 1996 in Fulton Chapel.

Mr. Thomas Thurston Bodine was also recognized as the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student.

MES SELECTS EE AS OUTSTANDING SENIOR

Winn Elliott Hutchcraft was selected as the Mississippi Engineering Society (MES) Outstanding Senior in Engineering at The University of Mississippi. Elliott received his award at the MES Annual Awards Meeting in Jackson, MS on February, 1996.

Elliott is from Paris, Kentucky and graduated in May 1996. He is attending graduate school at The University of Mississippi.

ROBERSON SELECTED AS MCNAIR SCHOLAR

The University of Mississippi recently received a five-year grant through the US Department of Education for the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. One of only 99 McNair programs funded nationwide, it has the unique distinction of serving students from three additional institutions: Alcorn State University, Rust College, and Tougaloo College. The program is a graduate school preparatory program that focuses on students who are traditionally under-represented in graduate studies.

Cleve Roberson, a junior in electrical engineering at Ole Miss from Winona, MS, was selected as a McNair Scholar for the 1996 six week summer program that includes studies with emphasis on oral and written communication and electrical engineering research. Cleve pursued research on numerical analysis of electric and magnetic static fields using moment methods. His research has continued during the 1996-97 academic year. Dr. Charles E. Smith, Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering, is his mentor for this program.

PHI KAPPA PHI TAPS EE's

Phi Kappa Phi selected Mr. Thomas Thurston Bodine, a junior electrical engineering student from Decatur, AL, and Dr. Ahmed A. Kishk, Professor of Electrical Engineering, for membership this past semester, and they were initiated at the 1996 Spring Meeting of Phi Kappa Phi on April 11, 1996.

OUTSTANDING FACULTY AWARDS

Two faculty members of the Electrical Engineering Department received awards for their teaching and research this spring.

Dr. Allen W. Glisson, Jr., Professor of Electrical Engineering, was selected as the 1995-96 Outstanding Engineering Faculty Member of the Year by the Engineering Alumni Chapter of the University of Mississippi Alumni Association. Dr. Glisson received all his degrees at Ole Miss and this is the second time (1986 and 1996) he has been selected as Outstanding Faculty Member during his career here. Dr. Glisson has taught extensively in both undergraduate and graduate courses, and he has shown significant and meritorious achievement in teaching, in research, and in professional scholarship. This award is truly meaningful because the award is not only based on peer recommendations but by student evaluation.

Dr. Atef Z. Elsherbeni was chosen as the 1996 Outstanding Engineering Educator of the IEEE Memphis Section for contributions in excellence in teaching electromagnetics using computer visualization and research in characterization of microwave and millimeter wave circuits using numerical methods.

Dr. Elsherbeni joined our faculty in 1987 after completing his Doctor of Philosophy Degree at the University of Manitoba. Since coming to the University, he has demonstrated the initiative, capability, and desire to excel in scholarly activities through dedicated research endeavors. The quality and number of papers published, papers presented, and/or submitted are truly outstanding for an associate professor. In addition, he has been involved in teaching a wide variety of both undergraduate and graduate courses during his tenure here. His work in developing multimedia and visualization software for enhancing electromagnetics instruction is a major contribution in education, which was, in part, the basis for his nomination for this award.

The department is fortunate to have these outstanding faculty members, and we congratulate them on these achievements.

PROMOTION AND TENURE

Dr. Richard K. Gordon, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, was promoted to Associate Professor effective July 1, 1996. Also, Dr. Gordon and Dr. Paul M. Goggans, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, were both granted tenure beginning with the new year. Dr. Gordon has just completed 6 years with the Department and Dr. Goggans has completed 6 1/2 years.

VISITING PROFESSOR

Dr. C. Ray Smith is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering for the 1996-97 academic year. Dr. Smith is teaching a graduate course on "Signal Detection, Identification, and Parameter Estimation," and consulting with faculty related to research in this area. Dr. Smith received his B.A. (magna cum laude) and M.S. in Physics from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He has long term teaching experience at the University of Wyoming and joins our staff after retirement as a Physicist, GS-15, with the Radar Technology Branch of the Advanced Sensors Directorate, Research, Development, and Engineering Center at the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. Dr. Smith's research interests include theoretical physics, applied mathematics, probability theory applied to signal analysis, and target identification.

RECENT THESES AND DISSERTATIONS

Chen, Fang, "Resonant Frequency and Q-Factor Computation for Multi-Region Dielectric Resonators," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisors: Drs. A. Glisson and A. Kishk

Chen, Jing Y., "Moment Method Analysis of Conducting and Dielectric Objects Embedded in uniaxial Methological Medium," Ph.D. in Engineering Science, Advisors: Drs. A. Kishk and A. Glisson

Fortenberry, David, "Parallel Implementation of FDTD Method for Determination of Cutoff Frequencies of Two-Dimensional Waveguides," M.S. in CES, Advisors: Dr. R.K. Gordon

Hajaj, Ibrahim, "Interactive Design of Cascaded Microwave Two-Ports Using Personal Computers," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisor: Dr. D. Kajfez

Harrison, Andrew L., "Finite Element Analysis of One -Dimensional Elliptic Problems Using Wavelet-like Basis Functions," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisor: Dr. R.K. Gordon

Huang, C. W., "The Application of Two-Dimensional Cylindrical Finite Difference Time Domain Method to Waveguides and Scattering Problems," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisors: Drs. A.Z. Elsherbeni and C.E. Smith

Rodriguez-Pereyra, Vince, "Analysis of Slot-Coupled Microstrip Lines Using FDTD Technique," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisors: Drs. A.Z. Elsherbeni and C.E. Smith

Xu, Liang, "Analysis of a Two-Dimensional Cylinder Using Finite Difference Time Domain Methods in the Cartesian Coordinate System," M.S. in Engineering Science, Advisors: Drs. A.Z. Elsherbeni and M.D. Tew

Yang, Wenhai, "Numerical and Experimental Study of Ground-Coupling Radar," M.S. in Engineering Science, Adivsors: Drs. P. Goggans and C.E. Smith