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Lafayette is the only school to have an electrical and computer engineering major receive the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Undergraduate/Pre-Graduate Scholarship from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for four consecutive years.
The internationally competitive grants are given to encourage outstanding students to pursue graduate degrees in microwave engineering. They include a $1,200 scholarship and an additional $1,000 toward travel to an IEEE conference.
Each student has worked with William Jemison ’85, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, including Prashant Poddar ’04 of Ranchi, India, one of nine scholarship recipients this year. Through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, Poddar conducted research with Jemison over the past three summers and a winter break on microwave-photonic techniques that could improve high-speed wireless applications such as telemedicine, multimedia distribution, and advanced satellite and military communications.
In EXCEL, students assist faculty with research while earning a stipend. Lafayette is a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the 180 students who participate in EXCEL each year go on to share their findings at academic conferences and/or in journal articles.
Last year, Poddar presented results from his research with Jemison and Guangxi Wang ’03 — one of just three students to win a Microwave Scholarship in 2002 — at the 16th Annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research. The microwave project is funded by a $124,254 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Poddar is now conducting related yearlong honors thesis research under Jemison’s supervision that involves the development of a microchip laser for fiber radio applications. Jemison expects the work to result in at least one publication, and Poddar will seek to present it at the 2004 IEEE International Microwave Symposium in Ft. Worth, Texas next June.
Wang and the other previous microwave scholarship recipients from Lafayette, Soumya Chandramouli ’02 and Feiyu Wang ’01, have presented their work at the symposium and published papers with Jemison. Each of these graduates is currently enrolled in an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. graduate program that is ranked among the top ten in the nation. Like the previous recipients, Poddar has been featured in the quarterly IEEE MicrowaveMagazine, appearing in last month’s issue.
Jemison notes that his professional colleagues continue to be impressed with the achievements of Lafayette students.
“I have colleagues who actively try to recruit my students into their graduate laboratories,” he says. “The students coming out of my lab are being offered fantastic — and highly competitive — graduate school opportunities by some of the top researchers in my field. For example, Guangxi was offered a Stanford fellowship and spent this summer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before he even started classes at Caltech.”
Jemison says it is a pleasure to work with Poddar, who is president of Lafayette’s student IEEE chapter, a two-time member of the Athletic Gold Roll of Honor as a member of the fencing team, and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi (engineering), and Omicron Delta Epsilon (economics and business) academic honor societies. He also is president of the campus Asian Cultural Association, a head resident adviser, and a writing associate, assisting fellow students with their writing skills. He served last year as chair of events planning for International Students Association’s annual extravaganza and has been active in volunteer and peer tutoring, Lafayette Leadership Education, Investment Club, and Wine Society.
A Dean’s List student every semester, Poddar received the William G. McLean Prize, awarded to a sophomore based on academic performance, campus citizenship, and professional orientation, and the Mid-Atlantic Association of College and Housing Officers’ Academic Excellence Award. He is proficient in four computer programming languages.
“He is personable, outgoing, and well liked and highly respected by both the faculty and his peers,” says Jemison.
Jemsion is a recipient of several National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research grants and three U.S. patents. He has shared his cutting-edge research in more than 50 articles in scientific journals as well as conference presentations, including one at last year’s European Microwave Conference in Milan, Italy. Fifteen of these articles include Lafayette student coauthors. Jemison is a senior member of IEEE and has received multiple Lehigh Valley Section IEEE Outstanding Advisor awards for his work with Lafayette’s student branch. He has over ten years of government and industrial research and development experience with the Naval Air Warfare Center, Lockheed Martin Corp., and Orbit/FR Inc.
“I consider myself fortunate to be able to work with him on such innovative research,” says Poddar. “He is demanding, and yet understanding. Combined with his expertise and resourcefulness, he has been an outstanding mentor.”
Poddar, who also is pursuing an A.B. degree with a major in economics and business, presented his economics research on game theory in March at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. He conducted the research as an EXCEL Scholar with Chris Ruebeck, assistant professor of economics and business.
Game theory uses mathematical analysis to select the best strategy for minimizing losses and maximizing winnings in a game, war or business competition. Economists frequently use it to analyze social interactions and oligopolies, industries dominated by a few firms, leading each to weigh pricing and production decisions carefully. Poddar’s research built upon a model that Ruebeck created for his Ph.D. dissertation involving imitation dynamics, in which unsuccessful game-players attempt to imitate the strategies of successful competitors.
“The model studies social interaction within populations of economic actors to find dominant strategies,” explains Poddar. The pair extended the model to obtain more generalized results and then studied it through analytical and simulative methods.
“Game theory has wide applicability and its high level of abstraction made the work interesting and difficult at the same time,” says the student. “Although the project was within the department of economics and business, it drew heavily from technical skills that I acquired in the electrical and computer engineering department.”
Poddar says Ruebeck was an excellent mentor because he is insightful, encouraging, and supportive. Because Ruebeck has a master’s degree in electrical engineering in addition to his Ph.D. in economics, says Poddar, he has a good understanding of both fields and has provided excellent career guidance.
“It is certainly a great strength of Lafayette to be able to provide such complementary research opportunities to undergraduates,” he says. “The experience is invaluable in choosing a career path.”
Ruebeck describes Poddar as an “intellectually curious” student with valuable computer skills who takes the time to talk about theories and looks ahead to new twists in the research.
“He thought about things that people don’t really understand yet, learning something that lots of people haven’t thought about before,” says Ruebeck.
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Over the past five years, more than 130 Lafayette students have presented research conducted with faculty mentors or under their guidance at the conference.