Electrical engineering and computer engineering seniors worked together as teams on their senior capstone design projects. Each team built a working physical prototype and demonstrated their design, key components and technology to their classmates and faculty. Since teams were not allowed to present their designs to the public due to COVID-19 precautions, here are videos of the 2021 team presentations.

Train Driven Wind Turbine (Emerson Iannone, Miguel Gomez, Nick Fazzone, Ketan Dubey)

Smart Cup Holder (Brendan Ciarlone, Alex Cramer, Nick Mohan, Ian Dickerson)

Ride Along Autonomous Vehicle (Trevonne Davis, Han Gyul Kwon, Mrinal Mathur, Matthew Storozum)

Smart Home (Chongfang Xu, Shu Wang, Yifei Che, Guoliang Chen)

Etch-A-Sketch Control (Vincent Camarena, Andrew Kelsey, John Garcia)

Solar Tracking Panel (Isaiah Plummer, Daniah Alzubaidi, Roberto Salazar, Ryan Kane)

A research collaboration between electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) researchers and colleagues at Upstate Medical University on detecting Alzheimer’s disease won notable award at an artificial intelligence conference. Professors Asif Salekin and Senem Velipasalar, EECS graduate students Fatih Altay and Guillermo Ramon Sánchez along with doctors Yanli James and Stephen V. Faraone from Upstate Medical University won the IAAI-21 Deployed Application Award at the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence.

The team’s research centers on early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. The most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include problems with communicating and abstract thinking, as well as disorientation. Early detection of the disease can help improve cognitive functioning with medication and training. The research paper from the Syracuse University/ Upstate Medical University team proposes two machine learning approaches for detecting Alzheimer’s disease from MRI images to help early detection efforts at a preclinical stage before symptoms have appeared.

In their paper the team described the impact their research could have. “Recent reports on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suggest that change in the brain may be evident 20 years before dementia symptoms, typically when the disease gets diagnosed. But substantial neuronal loss happens during that latent period of the disease. The early-stage intervention of AD can significantly impact the neuronal degeneration process and treatment of symptoms that would expand the patients’ life expectancy and quality of life. Hence, accurate detection or indication of preclinical AD is a major interest in the medical community. Our research is the first to develop an effective machine learning approach that can identify the latent patterns due to preclinical AD from MRI brain scans, which can significantly improve AD patients’ intervention and treatment.”

The use of facial recognition technology has been controversial and it has been criticized as being prone to misuse and reinforcing existing biases. Cities across the United States have been banning the use of facial recognition software and in the past year, companies like IBM, Microsoft and Amazon decided to suspend selling facial recognition software to police.  Electrical engineering and computer science professor Vir Phoha says he agrees with taking a deep look at the use of facial recognition technology and holding it back until proper safeguards to prevent unintentional misuse are found  but still believes it can be beneficial.

On the suspension of selling face recognition technology to police by Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft, he says “My first reaction was that they did the right thing. At the same time, once I thought about it, it is a very good technology. It has a lot of potential but it is a double edge sword. You use it properly and it can do great things and if you don’t use it properly, it can hurt you.”

Phoha has done extensive research on artificial intelligence, machine learning and security. He says a lot of questions about facial recognition should start with the humans who built them.

“There are many ways to do face recognition, one is geometric. So you look at the points, for example the distance between eyes, the length of the nose – that is geometric,” said Phoha. “There are multiple other ways such as making a base model, looking at variations, and storing the variations as a template for a user.  There are methods that involve learning and associating specific face types to specific gender or history, or behaviors. There is a learning involved. If you use machine learning or artificial intelligence, any learning can be biased by the people who build those algorithms. Unconsciously, people who build those algorithms may be bringing their own biases in regard to gender, race and age.”

An algorithm that reflects biases can have destructive effects. Numerous studies have shown it misidentifies Black and Brown faces at a much higher rate. A Commerce Department test of facial recognition software found that error rates for African men and women were twice as high as they were for Eastern Europeans. Errors can lead to wrongful arrests.

“If you say 10% more of a specific racial group have been convicted of a crime compared to a majority race, then a random person from that racial group who is completely innocent – their chance of being labeled as a criminal could be 10% higher just due to this underlying statistic being part of the algorithm,” said Phoha.

Phoha says it will be an ongoing fight to combat inherent biases in algorithms.

“It is good technology but we must make sure there are safeguards. Enough science should be there to make sure the algorithms that are built are impartial,” said Phoha. “In replicating human capabilities, humans have bias.”

Software that attempts to identify people based on their facial structure can easily be misconfigured.

“Facial structure can be very different for differing ethnicities,” said Phoha. “People who are biased without knowing they are biased, implicit bias that will be translated into data.”

If the technology is going to move forward, Phoha and many other experts believe it is an area where sociology, psychology, machine learning, computer science, artificial intelligence need to come together.

“The science will be a mess if we don’t consider all these factors. We want an equitable society,” said Phoha. “The potential of misuse is very high. Social justice, empathy and equity should be part of research in this area. We do not want a group where any groups are marginalized for any reason.”

Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool) and the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) have been recognized as No. 11 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs for Veterans and No. 25 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs by U.S. News & World Report for 2021.

The full rankings, released earlier today, are available on the U.S. News & World Report website.

The College of Engineering and Computer Science offers online master’s degree programs in cybersecurity, computer science and computer engineering.

The iSchool offers M.S. degree programs in applied data science, information management, information management for executives and library and information science online.

“This ranking reflects the outstanding work our faculty have put in to make Syracuse University a leader in online education. The online computing master’s programs offered by the College of Engineering and Computer Science allow students to take classes on a schedule that is right for them and it can be an opportunity to advance their career while still working full time,” said Jae C. Oh, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the David G. Edelstein Professor for Broadening Participation.

“The iSchool is pleased to receive this recognition of our high-quality online programs from U.S. News and World Report,” says Victoria Williams, director of online education and post traditional education at the iSchool. “For over 25 years, our online programs have attracted working professionals from around the world. The iSchool’s interdisciplinary and applied-learning approach allows students to customize a degree to gain the skills needed to meet their career goals and immediately apply what they’re learning in the classroom to their professional roles. We’re proud that our programs remain highly ranked for Information Technology and Info Tech for Veterans as the field continues to be competitive.”

“Our online programs are an outstanding option for people having a diverse array of educational and personal backgrounds. We have been intentional in designing a high-quality, rigorous online educational program while also giving students the flexibility they need,” said College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “It is gratifying to see our Syracuse University programs in the top 25 of the national rankings.”

iSchool Dean Raj Dewan adds, “There is a long history of groundbreaking work being done at Syracuse University’s iSchool. This 2021 ranking underscores that standing as well as the school’s ongoing commitment to innovation in the digital age. The iSchool is exceptional at offering today’s students and professionals the kinds of education and experiences they will need for successful careers in a wide range of fields, and our graduates are highly sought-after for their skills in information technology and management, cloud computing, data analytics, machine learning, library science, and more.”

When Ed Swallow ’80 first visited the Syracuse University campus, he was not certain what engineering major he would pursue with his Air Force ROTC scholarship. Following a meeting with the electrical engineering program director, Swallow learned something he thought made electrical engineers unique and he knew what he wanted to do.

“Electrical engineers learn problem solving,” said Swallow. There isn’t one answer. In electrical engineering there are dozens or hundreds of ways of accomplishing the same thing.”

His initial Syracuse experience had an immediate and lasting impact.

“My advisor was really good about trying to get me to broaden my horizons. It was good the University allowed me to engage in a variety of experiences. It’s the multi-disciplinary education that my advisor helped me get that was the greatest takeaway,” said Swallow. “Knowing that I was Air Force ROTC and I was going to become an officer, my advisor basically said recognize you are not going to do a lot of engineering, you’re going to lead engineers and being a generalist is going to be better for your entire career. He was incredibly right about that. More than anything else, that one conversation made a big university feel very personal to me.”

That meeting formed the foundation of what would become the theme of his career. Swallow went on active duty in August of 1980 and started in satellite operations.

“I was very interested in image processing. I focused on infrared image processing by the time I graduated and that’s what ended up having the Air Force send me out to California to fill an electrical engineering slot,” said Swallow. “Back then it was highly classified, but I worked on the Gambit and Hexagon film return reconnaissance spacecraft and I heavily used my Syracuse background.”

While on active duty, Swallow went into space operations and helped on the front-end building first of their kind space systems. He gained leadership experience as an acting commander while stationed at Thule Air Force base in Greenland. Before entering the reserves in 1985, Swallow gained his first experience with NASA working as one of the payload communicators on space shuttle STS-4. From there things moved rapidly. Swallow took a job with a company named Ultrasystems Defense and Space, which through a series of mergers and acquisitions eventually became part of Logicon.

“I went from an individual contributor, to task manager, to assistant program manager, to deputy program manager, to program manager to director of programs for the entire Silicon Valley office. A lot of that was because I understood the customers and how to solve problems for them as a generalist, which helped me grow the business. I went to work for a company called Space Applications Corporation as tech director, but quickly moved to division general manager, and in 1997 I became the vice president of business development. Not long after that, they promoted me to the equivalent of COO,” said Swallow. “By 2001 we sold the company to L3 Communications, so I went to work at Northrop Grumman.”

Following the events of September 11^th in 2001, Swallow’s work had him building relationships with the Department of Homeland Security and he helped deploy the homeland secure data network. He would then go on to play critical roles in some of the largest IT projects in the country, including the New York City secure broadband wireless system for first responders and the first cloud deployment for the federal government. Swallow’s team even helped bring together the opening sequence of the 2008 Academy Award winning film “The Hurt Locker.”

“If you look carefully, that robot had a Northrop Grumman logo on it and I was the one that signed the deal that allowed them to use the robot for the film,” said Swallow. “They did not actually blow it up. Thank goodness.”

Like his Syracuse University advisor had told him, being a generalist had become the primary thread in his career. Following a brief retirement from Northrop in 2014, Swallow accepted his current position as senior vice president, Civil Systems Group at The Aerospace Corporation.

“It is the best job on the planet. I get to work with senior leaders in the space world, help advise them on policy and help them find solutions to deep technical problems,” said Swallow.

His current position has put him at the heart of the human exploration system. Recently, he co-chaired the program status assessment for Artemis, the mission to put the next man and first woman on the moon by 2024. He oversees a team building a next-generation space suit and he has people managing the extravehicular activity of astronauts.

Swallow has ten simple rules for success he shares with students and young professionals. One of them is invest your time, don’t just put in the hours. This is a reminder to always think about what you are going to take away from working on a project. It’s a habit that helped him begin developing critical soft skills his last semester at Syracuse University when ROTC made him the cadet corps commander and he had to give weekly addresses.

“I sought leadership positions and it was that leadership training I received through the ROTC that I think was incredibly important,” said Swallow.

Now, as an industry leader, Swallow has some ideas about the next big growth areas for aerospace and electrical engineering.

“In aerospace engineering, where things are headed very quickly is hypersonics [pun intended]. High-speed point to point transportation. On the electrical engineering side, building trust into autonomous systems is the big thing,” said Swallow. Building trusted AI systems that always have a predictable outcome is really a tough nut to crack and if somebody figures that out at the graduate level, they’re going to find a job just about anywhere.”

Ed Swallow’s ten simple rules for success:

1. Invest your time, don’t just put in the hours
2. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have
3. Trying to show how smart you are usually backfires
4. W.A.I.T: Why Am I Talking?
5. There are no “gut courses” in business — always do your best
6. Build a brand, internally and externally, and honor that brand
7. Verbs matter: Take blame; accept credit
8. Make your boss a hero, help her get promoted, never surprise them
9. Don’t confuse activity with results
10. Integrity, honesty, and strong ethics outweigh all else

Electrical engineering and computer science Professors Cenk Gursoy and Qinru Qiu received 2020 IEEE Region 1 Technological Innovation (Academic) Awards. Both were nominated by Distinguished Professor Pramod Varshney.

Qiu was recognized for her pioneering contributions in stochastic power management and brain-inspired architectures to achieve energy efficient computing.

“I want to thank Dr. Varshney for the nomination, and thank my colleagues, friends and students for their support,” said Qiu. “I’m honored to be recognized by this award and also encouraged to further my research in the area of energy efficient and brain-inspired neuromorphic computing.”

Gursoy was recognized for his significant contributions in wireless communications and networking.

“In my research group, we have been working to solve the challenges in the design of 5G wireless networks. More recently, we have started to analyze next-generation 6G wireless systems by incorporating machine learning into the network design. It is a great honor to have these efforts and contributions recognized with the IEEE Technological Innovation (Academic) Award,” said Gursoy. “I also would like extend my sincere thanks to Prof. Varshney for nominating me for this award.”