Information Technology

Colorado Power Electronics Center (CoPEC)

Undergraduates construct a peak power tracker for a solar power system in the power electronics lab.

The Colorado Power Electronics Center was established in the Depart- ment of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1999 as the only power electronics research center in the state of Colorado. Power electronics has been under study in the college since 1983, and the power electronics group has maintained a tradition of innovative design-oriented and application-driven research.

The center's activities span the range of applications from high-efficiency milliwatt converters for portable battery-operated systems, to hundreds or thousands of watts for computer, aerospace, telecommunications, medical, and automotive power conversion, to hundreds of kilowatts for wind generation systems.

The objectives of the center are to fill the growing need for power electronics technology in the broad range of electronic industries; and to recruit students into the power electronics field.

The research has been supported by numerous industrial partners such as Lockheed Martin, General Motors, General Electric, Storage Technology Corp., Pfizer and IBM; and government agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Coordinators of the center are Dragan Maksimovic, a recent NSF CAREER Award winner, and Robert Erickson, author of the textbook, "Fundamentals of Power Electronics." schof.colorado.edu/~pwrelect

Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Packaging of Microwave, Optical and Digital Electronics (CAMPmode)

CAMPmode is a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center located in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Its mission is to perform interdisciplinary research at the forefront of developing computer-aided designs, packaging, and manufacturing technologies for high-quality, low-cost production of electronic systems.

The center's research is currently organized around area array packaging, RF/mm-wave design methodologies, and RF MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). In area array packaging, the focus is on concurrent electrical, thermal and mechanical modeling of flip-chip, ball grid array and chip scale packaging technologies. In design, our research activities, based on CAD methodology, focus on modeling, analysis, and optimization techniques for efficient design of high-speed digital-microwave modules.

In our recent area of emphasis, RF MEMS, our focus is on complex, state-of-the-art MEMS, which are flip-chip mounted to a RF substrate. MEMS are important new "packaging" elements for tuning circuits, adjusting optical alignment, testing circuits, sensing package performance and reliability, and a host of other applications. The center has been remarkably successful in attracting federal research funds in this area. Since our entry into this area in 1997, CAMPmode has been awarded over $4 million in research grants.

Faculty members from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering participate in the center's activities and research programs. CAMPmode was launched in 1992, and became an official NSF I/UCRC in July 1995. campmode.colorado.edu

Center for Applied Parallel Procesing (CAPP)

The Center for Applied Parallel Processing provides a focus for the diverse application of parallel computing capabilities in such fields as structural dynamics, VLSI design, turbulent flows, climate modeling, astrophysical simulation, and quantum chromodynamics.

The center is active in obtaining state-of-the-art parallel machines and in preparing large-scale collaborative research proposals. The center works to increase the practical use of massively parallel computation and its application to real-world problems. It also works to integrate parallel systems into heterogeneous networks.

Founded in 1988, the center is based in the Computer Science Department. For more information, contact Oliver McBryan, Director, at 303-492-3898. wwwmcb.cs.colorado.edu/home/capp/Home.html

Colorado Center for Information Storage (CCIS)

The information storage industry continues to expand rapidly in the Colorado Front Range. CCIS is an educational and research center that aspires to serve the people who are part of this industrial development.

The center's faculty is engaged in research projects ranging from data recording heads to data management software. CCIS works with college of engineering departments to develop courses and professional certificate programs related to data storage for both on-campus students and practicing industrial engineers. A new certificate program in embedded systems is now offered through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Continuing Education.

This interdisciplinary center, established in 1998 and hosted by Electrical and Computer Engineering, teaches on-campus students through its research projects, two data storage courses offered to seniors and graduate students, and a required industry internship for each of its full-time graduate students. With the Denver Chapter of the IEEE Magnetics Society, it offers monthly seminars by local, national and international speakers that serve as ongoing informal education for practicing engineers, faculty, students and the public.

CCIS' sponsor members include Cirrus Logic, Exabyte, Hewlett-Packard, Intellistor (Fujitsu Computer Products of America), Iomega, Maxtor, Quantum, Seagate, StorageTek, and Texas Instruments. Its director is Renjeng Su, 303-492-2556. ccis.colorado.edu

Center for LifeLong Learning and Design (L3D)

The Center for LifeLong Learning and Design works with industrial and academic partners to investigate and promote learning as a lifelong process that transcends the traditional boundaries of school, home and workplace. Formed in 1995 as part of the Department of Computer Science and the Institute of Cognitive Science, L3D hosts a wide range of interdisciplinary researchers in the areas of computer science, cognitive science, social science, and architecture and planning.

The center's goal is to establish scientific foundations for the construction and use of intelligent systems that amplify human capabilities, such as by expanding human memory, augmenting human reasoning, and facilitating communication and collaboration. L3D's research takes place at both the theoretical and systems level: basic, qualitative theories of human activity are developed and used to guide the design of innovative systems.

Current research themes include providing computational support for new forms of learning, integrating the physical and computational environments, investigating the social and technical barriers to creating learning communities, and understanding and supporting the "new literacies" of the information age such as end-user programming and new models of scholarly discourse, publishing, and knowledge creation.

It is not sufficient simply to build innovative systems: one must discover which systems are worth building. L3D's systems reflect significant technical achievements in computer science, but they also are based on principled analyses of how to best help people learn, work, collaborate, and cope with complex information systems. www.cs.colorado.edu/~l3d.

International Center for Standards Research (ICSR)

The ICSR was founded in July 1998 as part of a Center of Excellence grant awarded by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to the University of Colorado's Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program.

The center's mission is to advance the theory and practice of standardization on a worldwide basis through unbiased, innovative research and education involving the engineering, business, policy, legal, economic, and social aspects of standards-related activities and products. An article by ICSR Director Randy Bloomfield in the July 1999 issue of the ISO Bulletin elaborates on the mission and planned development of the ICSR.

The center supports researchers whose scholarship has been recognized at major conferences and in publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Standards Engineering Society, and International Organization for Standardization.

The ICSR will host the second Conference on Standardization and Innovation in Information Technology (SIIT2001), April 3-5, 2001, at CU-Boulder. For additional information on the conference, visit the SIIT2001 web site, www.SIIT2001.org.

To learn more about ICSR contact the center at 303-492-8475, or visit www.standardsresearch.org.

Optoelectronic Computing Systems Center (OCSC)

OCSC was founded in 1986 to exploit the advantages of optics and optoelectronics (photonics) for computing and signal processing. The center creates an applied science community for students and faculty that integrates teaching and research, and fosters a stimulating sense of community among center members. Although OCSC encompasses a diverse range of academic and research projects dealing with the application of light to the handling and processing of information, major areas of focus are in telecommunications, computing/signal processing, bioengineering, organo-optics, nanotechnology, and the pursuit of terahertz speeds for photonic devices. Students have recently formed a student chapter of the Optical Society of America.

OCSC pursues interactions with industry to strengthen the sense of community, especially within Colorado. The center has been a driving force behind making the Rocky Mountain region an internationally known area for photonics by helping to create a unique environment for photonics businesses. Faculty members work with industrial partners on joint research and development projects. Besides providing companies with photonics engineers that possess a unique multidisciplinary training, OCSC has recently founded the Center for Advanced Photonics Technology through a $4.4 million state Legislature appropriation, and has established the Colorado Photonics Industry Association. The former provides technician training and maintains facilities to help companies prototype new photonics products, while the latter fosters relationships between the region's many photonics companies.

The center is continuing to tread new ground in the field of innovative learning environments. An exciting micro-optoelectronics curriculum is being developed based on experimental interactive multimedia modules and a remote access laboratory concept. The curriculum is being structured to provide an interactive multimedia environment where students design, fabricate, and test their own optoelectronic devices. www-ocs.colorado.edu.