EECS News Archive

How a Million Dollar AI Company Grew from a Howard Student's Drive and Mentor's Vision

It all started with a chance encounter on Howard University’s campus. Just after finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in 2018, DeMarcus Edwards (M.S. ’20, Ph.D. ’24) was spending time at one of his favorite places to unwind when he struck up a spontaneous conversation with a faculty member.

Category: Alumni, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University and Google Research Enhance A.I. Speech Recognition of African American English

Howard University and Google researchers release dataset of over 600 hours of African American English dialects to improve AI speech recognition

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University CEA Researchers Honored at Inaugural Research and Leadership Awards

The President’s 1867 Award, Howard’s highest honor for research, was presented to Sonya Smith, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering and executive director of the Research Institute for Tactical Autonomy (RITA). Danda B. Rawat, Ph.D., and Nea Maloo, FAIA, NOMA, LEED AP, ICC, were also honored at the awards ceremony with the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Awards and Su Yan, Ph.D., was honored with the Up and Coming Researcher of the Year award.

Category: Alumni, Architecture, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering

Howard NSBE Wins Region II Large Chapter Award

The Howard University chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (Howard NSBE) was presented the 2024-2025 Large Chapter of the Year Award by the NSBE Region II Executive Board at the annual national convention earlier this month.

Category: Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Charles Kim: The Innovator Behind Howard’s First Commercialized Patent, the "Brownout Detector"

Charles Kim, Ph.D. is the inventor behind Howard’s very first commercialized patent—a groundbreaking device that has the potential to transform how cities prepare for and prevent electrical brownouts. Kim, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is a trailblazer in innovation and exemplifies Howard's forward-thinking research.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Engineering Professor Su Yan Receives Prestigious DOE Early Career Award

Howard University electrical engineering associate professor and director of graduate studies Su Yan, Ph.D. was recently announced as a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Award recipient for his research on randomized algorithms for solving large-scale and multiscale problems in electromagnetics and multiphysics. The $875,000 award will span over the course of five years.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Engineering Students Named NSBE 50 Student Competition Winners

Howard University engineering students were named student competition winners at the National Society of Black Engineer’s 50th annual convention. Chemical engineering rising sophomore Oluchi Emenike and electrical engineering rising sophomore Nathaniel Crosse won first place in the Let’s Debate: Generative AI Competition in which they debated the pros and cons of generative AI. 

Category: Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

The Howard University Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Opens its New Silicon Design and Validation Laboratory

The Howard University Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science recently opened its state-of-the-art Silicon Design and Validation Lab. This cutting-edge facility, funded primarily with Apple’s generous $1.3M Innovation Grant, is designed to foster innovation and excellence in the fields of semiconductor design, testing, and validation. Electrical engineering professor and department chair Ahmed Rubaai, Ph.D., is serving as the principal investigator and lab director to further expand silicon and hardware engineering at Howard University.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Sixth Annual EECS Day

A message from the department chair, Ahmed Rubaai, Ph.D.

Category: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Computer Science Students Named a Winning Team at 8th Annual Black Enterprise Smart Hackathon

Howard University computer science juniors Myles D. Block, Matthew A. Getachew, Malik Y. Stewart, Brandon Clarke and Ryan Taylor were named a winning team at the 8th Annual Black Enterprise Smart Hackathon. Anietie Andy, Ph.D. (MSc ’09; Ph.D. ’17), assistant professor of computer science, served as faculty advisor for the team. 

Category: College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Researchers Awarded NIH AIM-AHEAD Grant To Help Mitigate Harmful Biases in National Health Data

Howard University computer science assistant professor Anietie Andy, PhD (MSc ’09; PhD ’17), recently received a $500K grant from the National Institutes of Health Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) to build the Howard University Integrated Clinical Data Repository (CDR). Anietie Andy and Abiodun Otolorin, MD, MS, FAAFP, assistant professor of community and family medicine, were named PIs on the project in collaboration with MedStar Health.

Category: Alumni, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Amazon and Howard University Announce Inaugural Fellowship and Gift Project Awards

As part of a collaboration that was announced and then subsequently expanded earlier this year, Amazon and Howard University have announced the 2023 recipients of their gift project awards and doctoral fellowship. These accolades recognize individuals whose proposed projects fulfill the collaboration’s mission to bring differentiated research to the forefront.

Category: Research, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Welcomes Expert Engineer for Google In Residence Program

Tenth anniversary cohort includes 14 Googlers in Residence and 14 partnering institutions across the country. Announcement marks the tenth cohort of the Google in Residence program, which has reached more than 8,000 HBCUs.

Category: College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Meet Our 2023 CEA Awards and Recognition Ceremony Student Speakers

This year three outstanding College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA) graduates will be presenting at our Spring 2023 CEA Awards and Recognition Ceremony, Olabisi Bello (BSChE ’23), Myles Bostic (BSCS ‘23) and Marie-Chantal Nyirahategekimana (BSChE ‘23).

Category: Alumni, Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Amazon and Howard University Announce Expansion of Academic Collaboration

Expansion includes the creation of interdisciplinary robotics courses and RoboLab, where students will engage in prototype development and feasibility testing.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Electrical Engineering Professor Su Yan Receives NSF CAREER Award for RF and Microwave Reconfigurable Device Modeling and Optimization Research

Howard University electrical engineering assistant professor Su Yan recently received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development award, known as the NSF CAREER award, for his research on the modeling and optimization of radiofrequency (RF) and microwave reconfigurable devices.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Amazon and Howard University Announce Academic Collaboration

In an ongoing effort to create enduring pipelines of diverse science talent and differentiated research, Amazon today announced a collaboration with Howard University, a historically Black college or university (HBCU) located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1867, Howard is a research university comprised of 14 schools and colleges. As part of the collaboration, which will be housed in the College of Engineering and Architecture, Amazon will fund faculty research projects with an initial focus on machine learning and natural language processing.

Category: Research, Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Engineering Associate Dean Danda B. Rawat to Lead $90M DoD-Funded Research Center

Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick, M.D., MBA, hosted U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, and U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall to announce that Howard will serve as the 15th University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). With this announcement, Howard makes history as the first HBCU to lead a UARC and the first center to be funded by the Air Force. 

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Engineering Students Awarded Prestigious Tau Beta Pi Scholarships

Howard University chemical engineering senior Olabisi Bello, mechanical engineering senior Yaman Siwakoti and computer science senior Deante Taylor recently received prestigious Tau Beta Pi scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year. Scholarships are awarded annually by Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, to junior members on a competitive basis of high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and promise of future contributions to the engineering profession.

Category: Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering

Howard University Engineering Students Launch NASA Payload

Howard University computer engineering junior Ayron Fears, mechanical engineering senior Khari Fletcher, electrical engineering Ph.D. student Cameron Lewis (BSEE 2019), and electrical engineering sophomore David Toler launched their RockOn!2022 educational payload experiment on the Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility in Greenbelt, Maryland this past summer.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering

Microsoft Gift Supports Integrated Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence Research at Howard University

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Electrical Engineering Alumna Renetta Garrison Tull Receives ECEDHA Diversity Award as UC Davis Vice Chancellor of DEI

Alumna Renetta Garrison Tull, Ph.D. (BSEE ‘91) recently received the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head Association’s (ECEDHA) Diversity Award. According to the ECEDHA website, this award is given to department(s) or individual(s) in recognition of proactive efforts to increase cultural, ethnic, and gender diversity within the ECE student body and among ECE faculty, that go well above and beyond the normal institutional recruiting practices. ECEDHA membership comprises over 250 ECE department heads or chairs from across the US and Canada.

Category: Alumni, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Computer Science Professor Legand Burge Leads $15M NIH Initiative to Promote Diversity in AI and Machine Learning Fields

Howard University has been selected to lead the $15 million data science training core of the National Institutes of Health-backed consortium that seeks to close diversity gaps in the artificial intelligence and machine learning fields. Howard computer scientist Legand Burge III, Ph.D., will participate as principal investigator of the data science training aspects of the initiative.  

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Computer Science Students Win First Place at CCSC Eastern's 37th Annual Regional Conference

Howard University computer science sophomores Surakshya Aryal and Taiwo Oriowo and graduate student Mikel Kengni recently won first place for their poster at the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) Eastern’s 37th Annual Regional Conference. The winning poster was titled "Predicting Racial & Gender Microaggressions Using Support Vector Machines (SVMs)". Computer engineering sophomores Anu Upadhyaya and Anu Soneye also participated.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

New Research from Karat and Howard University Sheds Light on Access Challenges Facing Black Software Engineers

Researchers from Howard University and Karat, the world’s leader in technical interviewing, today released new research exploring key factors that can help more Black software engineers enter the tech industry and excel in their careers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black engineers comprised just 6 percent of all computer programmers in the U.S. in 2020, and this research shines a light on the challenges and opportunities that exist to improve representation.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Ph.D. Students Receive IEEE CSCloud 2021 Best Student Paper Award

Recent computer science Ph.D. graduate Naveen Naik Sapavath and Ph.D. candidate Eric Muhati received the IEEE CSCloud 2021 Best Student Paper Award at the 8th IEEE International Conference on Cyber Security and Cloud Computing.

Category: Alumni, Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Howard University Receives Apple Innovation Grant to Expand Silicon and Hardware Engineering

Howard University today announced it is one of four recipients of Apple’s new Innovation Grant, designed to support colleges of engineering in historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to develop their silicon and hardware engineering curriculum in partnership with Apple’s experts. The grant was announced this year as part of Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.

Category: Research, College of Engineering and Architecture, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Electrical Engineering Lecturer Fadel Lashhab Receives 2021 IEEE IEMTRONICS Best Paper Award

Electrical Engineering Lecturer Fadel Lashhab, Ph.D. recently received the 2021 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), International IoT, Electronics and Mechatronics (IEMTRONICS) Best Paper Award in the Mobile Communication track for his paper titled "Water Level Control System Using a Programmable Logic Controller PLC: Rujban Water Supply System". IEEE IEMTRONICS is a multidisciplinary, international conference that aims to bring together scholars from different backgrounds to recognize current research in the fields of IoT, Electronics, and Mechatronics. Research paper submissions describing original works are invited in five tracks: IoT and Data Science, Electronics, Information Technology, Mobile Communication, and Mechatronics. The paper was co-authored by Abdulbasit Alaribi, Ph.D., Yousef Ali, Ph.D., and Omar A. Zargelin, Ph.D., researchers from Al Zintan University, Libya.

Category: Research, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Computer Science Faculty Named Recipients of 2020 Amazon Research Awards

Computer Science Professor Legand Burge and Assistant Professor Gloria Washington have been named recipients of the 2020 Amazon Research Awards. Last week, Amazon announced the 101 award recipients who represent 59 universities in 13 countries. The award recipients’ proposals were selected from a record number of submissions in any of the five areas of AI for Information Security, Alexa Fairness in AI, AWS AI, AWS Automated Reasoning, and Robotics. Each award is intended to support the work of one to two graduate students or postdoctoral students for one year, under the supervision of a faculty member.

Category: Research, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Assistant Professor Su Yan Receives $400K Grant from U.S. Department of Energy for Fossil Fuel Conversion

Electrical Engineering Assistant Professor Su Yan, Ph.D., recently received a $400K grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) for his research on “Multiphysics and Multiscale Simulation Methods for Electromagnetic Energy Assisted Fossil Fuel to Hydrogen Conversion.” Dr. Yan is working with Howard University colleague Tao Wei, Ph.D., associate professor of chemical engineering, who will serve as his co-PI. Their team will also include researchers at the University of Houston.

Category: Research, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science