(WSUToday) — Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced $3.4 billion in grants to improve the efficiency of the electric power grid through Smart Grid technology. A group of WSU researchers in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are taking a leading role in developing new communication and control paradigms that will make the smart electric power grid a reality.

Amid the government-funded rush to upgrade America’s aging electric system to a smart grid comes a strange confluence of press releases this week by the White House and the University of Illinois.

Tuesday morning, President Obama, speaking at Florida Power and Light (FPL) facilities, announced $3.4 billion in grants to utility companies, municipal districts and manufacturers to spur a nationwide transition to smart-grid technologies and fund other energy-saving initiatives as part of the economic stimulus package.

FPL will receive $200 million to install 2.6 million smart meters and other technologies that promise to reduce energy costs for customers. CenterPoint Energy in Houston, Texas, gets $200 million to install 2.2 million smart meters (.pdf) and more than 550 sensors and automated switches. Baltimore Gas and Electric in Maryland is another $200-million recipient.

Below are some highlights from the 2009 EECS Student Forum, held at the CUB Jr. Ballroom.  The students who attended were informed about EECS news while enjoying a free meal.  Dr. Shirazi gave an update on the state of the school, professors gave an overview of each discipline, and student clubs and organizations gave a short description of their group. 

There were also prizes.  First place winner was Theodore Storms, who won a 16 GB Ipod Nano.  Second place winner was Michael Turi who won an 8 GB Ipod Nano. And third place winner was Yiming Chen who won an 8GB Zune digital media player.

Faculty, staff and students had a great time, eating, relaxing, networking, and getting to know more about what the School of EECS has to offer. 

By Pratik Joshi, Tri City Herald staff writer

Richland's Joe Langevin is trying to take Twitter to a new level.
The ultra popular microblogging and social networking service that allows people to send out short messages generates mounds of information. And the 2008 Richland High grad plans to help marketers and consumers make sense of it by customizing the data in simple categories. His idea is to sort the content of individuals' tweets as quickly as people send out the messages. So users can quickly find topics and reactions they're specifically looking for.

Here are some pictures of the senior design poster session at the Industry Advisory Board annual meeting.  The IAB exists to foster relationships and engagement between the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and industry while assisting EECS to be more efficient and strategic in academic offerings to our undergraduate and graduate students.

Meeting once a year (typically in the Fall), IAB members have an opportunity to directly interact with the School director and faculty, while sharing their thoughts and input both as a collective group and individually. Participation of our IAB members is vital to our success and will keep us striving for excellence.

Bryan Minor will graduate from WSU in the fall of 2010, but with his undergraduate degree he will also leave the Palouse with a depth of research experience few have before graduate school. Minor heard about the NSF-sponsored program Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in the spring of 2008 and was immediately intrigued.

“I’ve always liked computers and the thought of designing an embedded system that can make people’s lives easier is really interesting,” he said, “So I met with Diane Cook and applied to the program—luckily I got in.”

In August 2009, the World Health Organization reported more than 182,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu (H1N1) in some 30 countries around the world. At least 1,799 people have died from the disease. Since the first cases emerged in spring 2009, H1N1 has become a pandemic. With the northern hemisphere heading into flu season this fall, some researchers are concerned H1N1 may be similar to the virus behind a 1957 pandemic that killed two million people worldwide.

PULLMAN, Wash. – Approximately 60 new doctoral students will receive support at Washington State University over the next five years to conduct cutting-edge research in critical research areas in the environment and health as part of two prestigious National Science Foundation grants.

The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program, NSF’s flagship interdisciplinary training program, will provide $6 million to WSU to develop two multi-disciplinary doctoral programs.

"These IGERTS are an immense step forward in meeting the strategic goals of the Graduate School and Washington State University,’’ said Howard Grimes, vice president for Research and dean of the Graduate School. “Having three active NSF-funded IGERTs puts us in an elite position in the US.”