Ian F. Blake Lecture

Join ECE for this year’s Ian F. Blake Lectureship speaker, Professor Vahid Tarokh from Duke University, on Wednesday, May 10th at 11am PDT, online.

Tarokh’s lecture “Hypothesis Testing and Quickest Change Detection for Unnormalized Models” presents a fresh take on likelihood-based hypothesis testing, reflecting on first experiences with this topic from his graduate Digital Communications course taught by Ian Blake.

The celebrated Neyman-Pearson Lemma proves that this test is Universally Most Powerful for testing a null hypothesis versus an alternative one. Similarly, the CUSUM change detection is based on log-likelihood ratio and its optimality has been proved by Moustakides. In order to apply these optimal tests, we need to know the exact pdfs for both null and alternative (respectively pre and post change) distributions. These pdfs are not unfortunately easy to obtain in high dimensional data-driven scenarios. Recent research has demonstrated that energy, score-based and diffusion methods produce state of the art models in high-dimensional setting. Additionally, these models are extremely robust to potential noises in the collected data. Unfortunately, these models are unnormalized. Calculating the partition functions required for their normalization is a notoriously difficult problem. This limits their applicability to log-likelihood based tests.

This motivates our work where we have developed Fisher-inspired methods for hypothesis testing, quickest change detection, and their robust versions (when the hypotheses or pre- and post-change distributions may not be exactly known) for unnormalized models. We will discuss our results and demonstrate their applications to various scenarios including out of distribution detection.

About the speaker:
Vahid Tarokh received the PhD degree from the University of Waterloo in 1995 under the supervision of Ian F. Blake. He worked at AT&T Labs-Research until 2000. From 2000-2002, he was an Associate Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2002, he joined Harvard University as a Hammond Vinton Hayes Senior Fellow of Electrical Engineering and Perkins Professor of Applied Mathematics. He joined Duke University in Jan 2018, as the Rhodes Family Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was also a Gordon Moore Distinguished Research Fellow at CALTECH in 2018. Between Jan 2019-Dec 2021, he was also a Microsoft Data Science Investigator at Duke University.

Please RSVP to attend and receive the Zoom link: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_b3m9cLPhD7Pdbgi

Design and Innovation Day 2023: Winners, Projects, and Photos

Thank you to everyone who attended Design and Innovation Day! Congratulations to all of the groups on your hardwork and effort for this year’s capstone projects!

The capstone design project is a major component of the ECE engineering curriculum where students work in teams of four to six students to design a product/service of significance and to solve an open-ended problem in electrical and computer engineering.

Best Video Winners

The best video awards recognize our teams’ exceptional ability to communicate their technical design challenge and project’s impact to a general audience. A short list of videos is selected by the Capstone students with the final winners selected by a panel of judges representing diverse perspectives.

First Prize: Industrial IoT RF Proximity Detection System for Underground Mining Application

Project Client: Minto Metals

Our client is a mining company that needs to prevent vehicle-to-person collisions inside tunnels by letting vehicle drivers know how many people are around them within a 15-meter radius.

For this purpose, we created wireless devices that could determine the distance between people and vehicles and count the number of people nearby. We also made it possible for these devices to alert drivers when people are within a 15-meter range. Additionally, we made sure that the devices were simple to set up and operate for the convenience of the client.

If you’re interested in our team or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to hear from you!

Yuqi Fu

Lena Kim

Justin Chang

Nestor Brito Naveda

Daniel Nadeem

Second Prize: Building Secret Support Services for UBC Library

Project Client: UBC Library – Chapman Learning Commons

Our team has collaborated with UBC’s own CLC (Chapman Learning Commons) from the Iriving K. Barber to develop a device for librarians and student staff to feel safer whilst on shift. Our project is described as a “secret support service” to allow for discreet communication to a supervisor or other staff in situations that may be stressful or overwhelming to a student staff member. In times that a staff member may land themselves in an encounter or confrontation with a difficult customer in the library, and require extra support from another person. To achieve this we created a portable and rechargeable device that can attach to a lanyard or be stored in a pocket capable of communicating to the necessary personnel at the push of a button. Throughout anywhere in the library, a staff member can use the device to contact a supervisor, a staff member, or if the situation calls for it, UBC security, informing them of their situation, all whilst maintaining their attention towards the customer. The recipients, contents of the phone call/text, or contact schedule are all configurable through the device using computer peripherals, and once set it will use the information to notify the respective personnel. The corresponding recipient will receive a phone call or text describing that a staff member from the CLC is in need of aid, and the recipient can now respond accordingly.

Ross Mojgani

Victor Parangue

Azwad Sadman

Daniel Lee

Jordan Lee

Third Prize: Wine health monitor

Project Client: Rampart Detection Systems Ltd

Approximately 31.7 billion bottles of wine are produced around the world each year. In BC alone this contributes $3.75 billion annually to BC’s economy. Of all that, roughly 1% percent of it spoils and will be wasted. In BC, this contributes to nearly $30 million dollars lost annually for one of our premier industries. If these bottles could be found to be spoiled before the bottle was opened/contaminated, then that would save a lot of hassle on the point of restaurants and would allow it to be put to other use such as making vinegar or dyes and would save product and money.

Our client, Rampart Detection Systems is a company that specializes in non-contact electrometers. In the past they have used their technology for IED detection and analyzing mining conveyor belts for microcracks or other wear before they are visible to the eye. We, in cooperation with Rampart, are applying their technology to creating a device that will detect if wine has spoiled without opening the bottle. The audience for this device includes but is not limited to: Wineries, Restaurants, Bars, Liquor Stores, Wine Merchants, Bottle Distribution Centers, Distilleries, and Importers.

Detecting if wine has spoiled involves detecting very trace amounts of chemicals. The chemicals in question are acetic acid and 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA). In order to detect these trace chemicals we needed out sensor to be as close to an ideal electrometer as possible. We needed to have a sensor that would be incredibly sensitive. We used our own implementation of Rampart’s floating electric potential sensor (FEPS) to get the sensitivity we were looking for. Another challenge is eliminating electrical noise, keeping the quality of the signal as high as possible. We’ve designed the enclosure for the device to minimize noise and we’ve added a control loop to keep the signal within desired parameters. Finally, there is the issue of interpreting the data to tell if the wine is spoiled. The relationship between whether the wine is spoiled and the data gained may not be obvious to the human eye. We’ve implemented machine learning to interpret the data and give a result of the wine being spoiled or not.

Madison Maurice

James Pan

John Forssander-Song

Sanid Singhal

Jasmine Radu

Explore the 2023 Capstone Projects

Facilitate Our Personal and Community Connection

Enhance How We Do Things

Improve How We Make Things

Leverage Data to Help Us Make Decisions

Design and Innovation Day Photo Gallery

2023 Capstone Design & Innovation Day

Welcome to Electrical and Computer Engineering Design and Innovation Day!

We are excited to share the projects our students have worked on over the final year of their undergraduate program! The capstone design project is a major component of the ECE engineering curriculum where students work in teams of four to six to design a product/service of significance and to solve an open-ended problem in electrical and computer engineering.

April 11th, 2:00-5:00pm

Fred Kaiser Building – 2332 Main Mall, UBC Campus – Atrium and Kaiser 2020/2030

https://design-innovation.apsc.ubc.ca/

Browse through our ECE projects and abstracts featured at Design + Innovation Day!

Facilitate Our Personal and Community Connection

Enhance How We Do Things

Improve How We Make Things

Leverage Data to Help Us Make Decisions

Map

Projects

Team Name	Title	Company
AI-15	2-D Vibration Detection of Guitar Strings Using Piezo Sensors	Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc
AI-18	Dynamic Parking Signage V3	UBC Parking Services
AI-24	Smart outdoor sports equipment tracker	CabinPals
AI-26	Avionics Integration Test Bench	KF Aerospace
CG-42	3D Mapping Smart Glasses for people with vision loss	Seleste Innovations Inc
CG-49	Cost-Effective Control System and GUI for Portable All-in-one Automated Microfluidics	UBC SoC Lab and BioMEMS Lab
CG-65	Cost-Effective Automated Testing System based on Modified 3D Printer for Optimizing Assistive Switch Designs	Neil Squire
CG-71	Wine health monitor	Rampart Detection Systems Ltd
HA-33	Battery Monitoring System for Small Drones	University of Victoria Centre for Aerospace Research
HA-43	Energy management system for Harbour Air electric aircraft fleet	Harbour Air Aerospace Services
HA-58	Nimba IoT Platform	Hedgehog Technologies Inc.
HA-75	DC Non-Contact voltmeter	Rampart Detection Systems Ltd
HA-79	Transmission Line Ultimate Stage Fault Level Calculation Tool	BC Hydro
JY-05	6-DOF Robotic Arm	Synovus Solutions
JY-07	‘PhysViz’: Gamification of a mobile application for physiotherapy	UBC Tendon Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Research Group
JY-16	Wearable Device for Automated Cardiac Arrest Detection	Canadians Saving Cardiac Arrest Victims Everywhere (CANSAVE)
JY-41	Modular Phone App for Cardiac Arrest Detection	Canadians Saving Cardiac Arrest Victims Everywhere (CANSAVE)
PB-06	Building Secret Support Services for UBC Library	UBC Library – Chapman Learning Commons
PB-17	Logic Model to Drive Patient Treatment	Human Motion Biomechanics Laboratory
PB-19	UBC Parking – Data Visualization and Dashboard Development	UBC Parking Services
PB-30	Chat Bot & Recommendation Engine	UBC Cloud Innovation Centre
PB-57	Trace-based Debugging for Java Development Environments	UBC ECE, ReSeSS Research Lab, PI: Prof. Julia Rubin.
PL-55	VR/AR interface for Delta Controls multi-sensor O3 Edge device	Delta Controls Inc.
PL-66	Testbed Management Centre for the AURORA Smart Transportation Testbed	University of British Columbia
PL-68	Designing Window Sensors to Advance Bird- Friendly and Energy Saving Building Design Strategies on UBC Vancouver Campus	UBC, Campus and Community Planning
PN-13	Gesture Controlled Drone Vlogging Assistant	Huawei Technologies Canada Inc.
PN-32	Innovation Connections – Knowledge Graph	UBC Cloud Innovation Centre
PN-44	Efficient HW Implementation of Super Resolution DNN for real time video scaling	NETINT Technologies
SF-39	Software Platform for Surgical Dental Implants	Prisman Research Laboratory, Department of Surgery, UBC
SF-60	Neesh－An LGBTQ2+ Community Mobile Application	Qrated Studio Inc.
SF-64	Remote mobility monitoring system	UBC Cloud Innovation Centre
SF-70	Machine learning models for protein design and drug discovery	Gandeeva Therapeutics
SF-78	Towards Security Analysis in Microservice-Based Spring Applications	The ReSeSS Research Lab, UBC. PI: Prof. Julia Rubin.
TL-08	Industrial IoT RF Proximity Detection System for Underground Mining Application	Minto Metals
TL-34	Monitoring Nature with LiDAR Software Platform	Korotu Technology Inc.
TL-63	Noise Detector and Classifier	Breeze Labs Inc.

2021-2022 Capstone Design and Innovation Day

Design and Innovation Day 2022: Winners, Projects, and Photos

2023 Three Minute Thesis ECE Participants

Get ready for ECE’s Three Minute Competition Heat, happening Wednesday, March 8 at 12pm in room MCLD 3038! RSVP your spot as an audience member here: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7PZqyeHX3PFl7T0

To get an idea of the presentations, take a look at some of the topics for this year’s heat!

Faculty Perspective – Professor Karthik Pattabiraman Named a Distinguished Contributor of the IEEE Computer Society Class of 2022!

Dr. Karthik Pattabiraman is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia, focusing on the research areas of dependable computer systems, computer security, cyber-physical systems and software engineering. He was recently named a distinguished contributor of the IEEE Computer Society class of 2022.

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to the advancement of technology, and the IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor Recognition Program recognizes members who have made technical contributions to the Computing Profession, Computer Community, and Humanity. Karthik was one of 19 members chosen worldwide to receive this recognition.

Continue on to read about Karthik, his thoughts on being named a distinguished contributor of the IEEE Computer Society, his recent works, and his current research focus!

Congratulations on being named a distinguished contributor of the IEEE Computer Society, class of 2022! How do you feel about this recognition?

Thank you, I’m honoured to be recognized by the IEEE Computer Society, which is the largest society of the IEEE, which in turn is the world’s largest organization of technical professionals. I owe this to all my students, colleagues and collaborators over the years at UBC and elsewhere.

Can you explain the process of selection for this recognition program (ex. timeline, process of applying)?

I filled in an online form on the IEEE computer society website (in October) with a list of publications, awards won etc., and the application was evaluated by a committee of experts.

What were some of your recent works that contributed to you being named as a distinguished contributor?

I believe the research work that led to my receiving this honour is what I call the “good enough dependability” paradigm, which my group has been pursuing since I joined UBC. To give you a short overview, my research is in the area of dependable and secure computer systems, and in particular, to build computer systems that are resilient to both faults and security attacks. This is a challenging problem as building such resilient computer systems is very expensive, and in the past, such systems were confined to domains such as aerospace or medicine. In contrast, my research aims to achieve high reliability and security at low costs by carefully choosing the parts of the system to protect. We have demonstrated this paradigm in a variety of systems and most recently in the Internet of Things (IoT), where cost and energy are at a premium.

What does your current research look like?

My current research involves understanding and improving the reliability and security of autonomous systems. These are systems that require little to no human intervention, e.g., robots, autonomous cars. However, many autonomous systems also deploy Machine Learning (ML), and it is well known that ML algorithms are highly susceptible to both faults and security attacks. This has serious consequences when these ML algorithms are deployed in systems such as autonomous cars. Hence, my research aims to make these systems reliable and secure.

What’s something people wouldn’t expect about your research topic?

Most people think that once you apply ML to a system, and it seems to be correct for the common cases, then you can blindly trust the results. The recent case of ChatGPT is an example. However, many of these systems today need constant human supervision and double checking, and cannot yet be trusted with tasks that can potentially endanger human lives such as autonomous vehicles and robotic surgery. Unfortunately, humans are known to be notoriously bad at supervising automated tasks, especially when the automation seems to be reliable for the most part. This is a dilemma that we are yet to resolve; we want to build autonomous systems to take over boring or hazardous tasks from humans – yet we need humans to supervise these systems, which is not something we (as humans) are good at doing.

What interests you most about your research/what draws you to this topic? What aspects of this research do you find most exciting?

I believe autonomous systems are going to define the future, as they have tremendous potential to improve the quality of our lives and save lives by avoiding accidents in the case of self-driving cars. Unfortunately, we still need a lot of work to ensure that these systems are indeed dependable so we can entrust our lives to them. This is what motivates me to work on this topic. One aspect of this research that I really enjoy is that it is totally uncharted territory, and nobody quite knows how we will solve this problem yet. So we end up learning different areas and trying different techniques to attempt to solve the problem, which is quite exciting!

What are some of the main current issues in your research area that you and your team try to tackle?

There are four main areas of focus in our research group. First, we’re trying to build robust ML systems that are able to tolerate both faults and attacks and still provide trustworthy outputs. Second, we’re looking at the algorithms used in the control and navigation of robotic vehicles and making them secure and reliable. Thirdly, we are working on edge computing, which is a technology to execute software on small, embedded devices close to where data is gathered. Autonomous systems of the future will rely heavily on edge computing for latency and security. Finally, we are working on making blockchains more secure, as future autonomous systems will need to negotiate between themselves, and blockchain is one way to enable these negotiations.

Thinking back to earlier years, why did you choose your research topic/ area of focus?

As a kid, I liked to take apart things and often break them (much to the chagrin of my parents!). Later, I liked to try corner cases with software and find out where they break, especially in video games (to unlock hidden features). These experiences drew me to find both faults and security vulnerabilities in computer systems, and later to work on improving their resilience to faults and attacks. I often tell my students that the most important thing to cultivate in this area is a sense of play, or asking oneself questions like “what happens if I try this really crazy thing?”.

What is one thing you like to do for fun outside of your role in ECE and IEEE?

I like reading and listening to (south Indian) classical music. I also enjoy going on long walks.

To learn more about Karthik, his faculty profile page can be found here: https://ece.ubc.ca/karthik-pattabiraman/

ECE/UBC Researchers Are Changing Pressure Sensors and Their Potential Applications

Through the hard work and determination carried out by members of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering, we are seeing advances in the use of pressure microsensors with remarkable performance, enabling a whole new range of application opportunities.

Congratulations Nabil Shalabi, Kyle Searles, and Kenichi Takahata, who have recently had their article “Switch Mode Capacitive Pressure Sensors” published in Nature Microsystems and Nanoengineering!

This article examines a new class of pressure sensor enabled by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) that has high sensitivity in measuring small changes in pressure. Through this work, we are seeing transformations in the way sensors are used.

As explained by the authors, in many cases the response or sensitivity to pressure of existing sensors are not high enough, preventing proper detection of pressure changes. Additionally, noise further challenges the readings of small signals.

The exciting development of this groundbreaking pressure sensor is that it is microfabricated to convert the pressure being detected to mechanically switching capacitance. The sensor transforms analog pressure signals to digital signals, and has a high sensitivity to changes in pressure and the ability to overcome background noise to prevent the unreliable reading of small signals. Further, the new sensor developed through a novel surface micromachining approach has a pressure-sensitive gold membrane and the use of electro-mechanical relay circuits that allows for the sensor to have greater response to applied pressure.

The advancement of this new type of pressure microsensor has the promising ability to alter the application of healthcare devices, robotics, industrial control, and environmental monitoring. Specifically, the team will be looking to innovate smart implants.

With the research performed by this team, the possibilities of change in a vast range of fields have significantly improved! Congratulations again to the team for their accomplishments, and we look forward to following more of their work in the future!

Read the full published article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41378-022-00469-w

ECE Alumni Perspective- From Electrical, to Software, to Microsoft!

Yasaman Gharib graduated from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UBC in November 2012, with a Bachelors Degree in the Electrical area. After working in her field for a year, she decided to switch to become a software developer. Currently she works as a software engineer at Microsoft and is working on a product called “YAMMER”.

Yasaman tells us that studying in ECE prepared her to work hard and tackle anything that comes her way and she notes she will forever be grateful for the exceptional faculty, the amazing training, and most importantly the friendships she built during her time at UBC.

Yasaman also tells us, “I love technology and computers and have a great passion for the outdoors, especially hiking and biking. So, whenever I’m not at my computer you can find me in the BC mountains.”

Read on to hear more about our interview with Yasaman, her work at Microsoft, and what she is up to these days!

So what does your career look like at the moment? What are you working on these days?

I’m currently working as a Software Engineer at Microsoft on a product called YAMMER.

How did you find your current job (through interviewing, networking, etc.)? What was the process of getting the job like?

Mostly networking. It was difficult at the beginning to find a job in my own field, so I started exploring my options in software. Since in our program in ECE we also learned programming, I had a good base to start the transition.

Thinking back on your time with ECE, what was your favorite thing about your program?

My favourite thing was the projects that I had to build for various assignments. These projects helped me demonstrate my knowledge and put it towards something that was practical and fun to build.

If you could go back in time and meet yourself at the start of your undergrad degree in ECE, what is some advice you would give your past self?

If I could go back, I would highly suggest going through the co-op program. I always regret not taking part in that.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for a student interested in entering the industry in your field?

Yes. Definitely go through your co-op program or do internships. Learning and going to school is great but co-op and internships prepare you for situations that are not covered in the classroom.

Studying and working in engineering can get intense – what’s your go-to stress relief method?

I always think work-life balance is a must. Whenever I feel stressed, I take a step back and gather my thoughts, and I try to decompress by doing something totally unrelated to work such as yoga, running or hiking.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Nothing is too hard. Be persistent, be patient and you can do anything you set your mind to.

What are you looking forward to in the future?

Grow in my career so that I can make a difference and be a helpful source to students who are also going through the same path as I did.

As you mentioned the importance of networking, how might someone who is interested in your work connect with you?

Best source would be my LinkedIn, I’m always available to connect and chat and learn about different people’s stories.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminegharib/

AI-ready Healthcare Podcast – A Conversation with Dr. Purang Abolmaesumi

Dr. Purang Abolmaesumi, a professor in the ECE Department, has been featured on the AI Ready Healthcare Podcast, a podcast that invites fellow researchers to talk about the translational aspects of AI research into clinical care.

In this episode, Dr. Abomaesumi highlights the journey that he has gone through over the last two decades to build towards a UBC-partnered Intelligent Network for Pont-of-Care Ultrasound – IN-PoCUS, serving rural regions and First Nations communities in British Columbia.

Tune in to listen to the episode here!

You can find additional information on IN-PoCUS here: https://www.digitalsupercluster.ca/projects/intelligent-network-for-point-of-care-ultrasound/

Rui Xi – Alumni Perspectives

Rui Xi is a current PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UBC. He has previously earned a B.Eng in Software Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University, as well as an MASc in ECE at UBC. Much of his Master’s research focused on the security of blockchain applications and finding ways apps can be made safer for users. For this reason Rui developed GoHigh, a fully-automated tool that replaces low-level functions in smart contracts to prevent users from having their money stolen by hackers.

ECE has had the opportunity to interview Rui about his work and his experience in ECE! Keep reading to learn more!

Congratulations on completing your Master’s! Can you tell us a bit about the research topic you chose?

My research focuses on the security of blockchain applications. Every time I talk about my research topic with new friends, they always ask the same questions: How do I earn money from blockchain? Which crypto should I invest in? My answer is a smile. Just a smile. Investing money in the blockchain is really a gamble that needs courage. First, the crypto price goes up and down; second, you don’t know whether and when your life savings are gone due to a bug in your crypto wallet application. This kind of application, together with blockchain gaming applications, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), and Decentralized Finance Exchanges (DEXs), has a universal name, called “smart contracts”.

My work is about finding bugs in smart contracts and fixing them. However, this is a tough job since hundreds of thousands of contracts have been deployed to the Ethereum blockchain after it was created in 2016 and the number is still increasing by 10,000 daily. To relieve this burden, I designed and implemented an automated tool, GoHigh , to do the bug-fixing jobs with very little human effort.

What are some possible future impacts of this research?

The blockchain world is like the wild west – scams, Ponzi schemes, rug pulls, and hacks happen every day. My research (and hopefully, along with my future research) is bringing order to it. The tool, GoHigh, is my very first step. It fixes a specific category of smart contract vulnerability (termed low-level functions) and thus prevents hackers from exploiting this vulnerability to steal your money.

A safer blockchain world also attracts new users. Just imagine that you can exchange your Canadian Dollar for U.S. Dollars almost instantly without paying any bank processing fees. Blockchain is a good platform to do this. With GoHigh and other security work on blockchain, it is promising that it will become a safe, convenient, and globally-recognized payment method.

How did you get started studying this topic?

It dates back to my undergrad study. I took a blockchain 101 course at that time and soon, I was amazed by how powerful the Bitcoin blockchain is. Almost at the same time, the Ethereum blockchain was released and it allowed everyone to publish their own smart contracts, which greatly extended the use cases of the blockchain. However, the more I learn about it the more problems I find with the Ethereum blockchain, especially in its security. And so I started working on this topic.

If you could go back in time and meet yourself at the start of your Master’s, what is some advice you would give your past self?

Plan For the Worst, Hope For the Best. We all faced a global pandemic of COVID over the last few years. I faced all kinds of difficulties like many of us did: waiting for months to get a travel visa, booking a flight that might cancel randomly, earning a living with a limited source of funds while paying the tuition fees, etc. I was not prepared at that time and so I pulled through a tough time.

Now I learned the importance of discipline. Plan for both research and spending ahead of time, don’t rush to submit a paper at the last second of the deadline, and don’t spend every cent on your credit card. Most importantly, never give up hope. A quote I find inspiring is: “Until the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words — ‘Wait and hope. ‘”

Why did you choose ECE?

ECE has an incredible faculty and a diverse environment. My professors are always willing to help, no matter the coursework or the research they are doing outside of the classroom. Even though some of the professors you may have are not in your area of research, they can still provide valuable advice from their own experience. Just don’t hesitate to reach out!

What do you like to do outside of work and research?

I make cocktails. I picked up bartending during my quarantine time. My favorite is a Negroni, a strong cocktail made with gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari. It tastes like herbs and licorice in the beginning, but the sweet and fruitful notes spark immediately if you overcome the bitterness.

What do you hope to accomplish after your PhD program? Where do you hope to be in 10 years time?

Your question reminded me of when I was writing my personal statement for the application to UBC. I wrote that my future work could push the boundary of human knowledge and I would keep working on this after my PhD program. I regret it now. Any technology, without being used to help people, is meaningless to human beings. I hope that, in 10 years after my graduation, at least 1% of the population worldwide can benefit from my work directly or indirectly.

To learn more about Rui’s work or to get in touch with him, feel free to reach out at xirui801@ece.ubc.ca.

2022 UBC Applied Science Dean’s Faculty Awards for Service – Carol Jaeger

We are excited to announce that ECE faculty member Dr. Carol Jaeger is being honoured with a Dean’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Service for her exceptional contributions to the UBC Applied Science community! Please join us in congratulating Dr. Jaeger on this wonderful accomplishment!

Exemplifying the Faculty’s commitments to lead by example, embrace ambiguity and act with intention, Prof. Jaeger is a tireless advocate for high quality education and a champion of excellence in engineering in particular. Serving as an ECE Professor of Teaching, and as the Applied Science Associate Dean, Academic —as well as various UBC Vancouver Senate roles—she has overseen curriculum design, active learning methods, engineering accreditation, and delivery of first-year engineering programs.

She has also been instrumental in advancing ECE’s academic mission, including strong support for accreditation and recruiting educational leadership faculty members.

Highly regarded as a policy and practice expert, mentor and role model across the university community, Prof. Jaeger’s contributions have greatly benefitted the ECE and APSC community —including her exceptional efforts to create support systems for faculty to pivot into virtual learning environments and optimize students’ learning experience during the pandemic.

For the full story on all of the 2022 Dean’s Faculty Awards for Service, please visit: https://apsc.ubc.ca/news/2022/2022-ubc-applied-science-deans-faculty-awards-for-service