Three faculty members in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University have received the prestigious  Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF).

Dr. Ulisses Braga-Neto, Dr. Greg Huff and Dr. Haiyan Wang, all assistant professors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the prestigious award, which was established to support junior faculty within the context of their overall career development, combining in a single program the support of research and education of the highest quality and in the broadest sense. Through this program, the NSF emphasizes the importance on the early development of academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning.

Braga-Neto received his CAREER award for his proposal, “Theory and Application of Small-Sample Error Estimation in Genomic Signal Processing.”

He joined the Biomedical Imaging and Genomic Signal Processing group of the department in January 2007. He was previously an assistant researcher with the Aggeu Magalhães Research Center from 2004-2006 and from 2002-2004 he was a post-doctoral researcher with the Section of Clinical Cancer Genetics of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Braga-Neto received his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in 2002, and M.S.E. degrees in electrical and computer engineering and mathematical sciences, also from The Johns Hopkins University, in 1998. He received an M.S. degree from the State University of Campinas (Brazil) in 1994 and his B.S. degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil) in 1992. Honors include being awarded the Abel Wolman Fellowship from The Johns Hopkins University in 1996. Braga-Neto’s research interests include genomic signal processing and statistical pattern recognition, with applications in the study of cancer and infectious diseases. He is particularly interested in the design and analysis of statistical methods of small-sample classification and error estimation for genomics and proteomics applications.

Huff received his CAREER award for his proposal, “Biologically Inspired Concepts for Reconfigurable Antennas and Multifunctional Smart Skins.”

He joined the Electromagnetics and Microwaves group in the department in September 2006. He received his Ph.D., M.S. and B.S., all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006, 2003 and 2000 respectively. Recent honors include receiving a Young Scientist Award from L’Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale (URSI, the International Union of Radio Science) presented at their General Assemblies meeting in 2008.

Huff’s research interests include: biologically inspired mechanisms and dynamic material systems (microfluidics, nanoparticles, etc.) for electromagnetic, acoustic, and IR agility; the theory, design and application of reconfigurable antennas and circuits (sensors, phase shifters, filters, etc.); multifunctional (structural, electromagnetic, etc.) RF, microwave and millimeter-wave radiating systems and smart skins; studying the role of reconfigurable/multifunctional antennas in spread spectrum digital communication techniques; multiple antenna techniques; and the placement and electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues arising from the conformal integration high speed devices and radiators into host chassis.

Wang received the award for her proposal, “Novel Ceramic Nanocomposites with Smart Interface Design.” She plans to examine the nanoscale interfaces in multifunctional ceramic thin films.

She joined the electrical and computer engineering department in January 2006. Before coming to Texas A&M, Wang was on the staff of the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a director-funded post-doctoral fellow and a permanent staff member. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Nanchang University (China) and a master’s degree from the Institute of Metal Research (China). She received the Ph.D. degree from North Carolina State University in December 2002. Other honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2008, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2008 and the Air Force Research Office’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) in 2007.

Her research interests lie in the area of functional oxide and nitride thin films for microelectronics, optoelectronics, high-temperature superconductors, solid oxide fuel cells, solar cells and advanced nuclear reactors. Her expertise is thin-film growth and characterizations.

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