The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at DigiPen Institute of Technology aims to educate the future generation of computer engineers and computer scientists and advance the state of the art needed to solve problems relevant to society. Foundational courses are offered on topics such as electronics and analog and digital circuits. Intermediate courses focus on areas such as embedded systems, operating systems, programmable logic, signal processing, and control systems. Project courses are offered to each cohort allowing students to conceive, design, build, and test software and hardware systems. Faculty bring wide-ranging experience and conduct theoretical and applied research with undergraduate students in embedded systems, programmable logic, robotics, remote sensing, and signal processing.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Directory
Department Faculty
Lorena Villarreal, Ph.D.
Department Chair
Associate Professor
B. Lorena Villarreal graduated with honors from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering in 2008, and her Ph.D in Robotics and Intelligent Systems in 2014. She also took courses in automotive engineering and design at the Fachhochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbütel in Wolfsburg, Germany, and courses in Lean Manufacturing endorsed by the Institute of Industrial Engineers.
B. Lorena Villarreal graduated with honors from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering in 2008, and her Ph.D in Robotics and Intelligent Systems in 2014. She also took courses in automotive engineering and design at the Fachhochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbütel in Wolfsburg, Germany, and courses in Lean Manufacturing endorsed by the Institute of Industrial Engineers. In 2013, she was invited as a visiting researcher to collaborate with the EVOVision Group at the computer department of CICESE in Baja California.
In 2014, Dr. Villarreal earned a nomination on MIT Technology Review’s “Innovators under 35 Mexico” (TR35) list for her work on the development of an artificial olfactory system for odor-source tracking and localization using rescue robots.
In 2015, Dr. Villarreal was awarded through a program between INFOTEC, CONACYT, the Newton Fund, and the Mexican Secretariat of Economy, with the opportunity to participate in a training course on technology commercialization as part of the Leaders in Innovation Fellowship program offered by the Royal Academy of Engineering in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Isis Enterprise.
Previously, Dr. Villarreal was a Research Specialist at the Center of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at Tec de Monterrey, and a Professor and Researcher of robotics and embedded systems at Universidad de Monterrey, where she remains an affiliate fellow. She has authored eight peer-reviewed publications and has taught different courses in advanced robotics, mechatronics, signal analysis, computer environment, embedded systems, electric circuits, and control systems.
Dr. Villarreal’s research interests include both mobile robotics and artificial intelligence systems. Because technology is constantly changing, she always advocates for research in the use of new technologies. She believes that professors should be able to evolve as well, providing students with up-to-date theoretical background, experience, and practical knowledge, all of which will help them to develop an ability to translate that knowledge into analysis, interpretation, and designs of their own. She encourages students to take part in her research into bio-inspired rescue robots during the summer — an opportunity whereby students can learn more about embedded systems and communication protocols, participate in conferences, and publish peer-reviewed papers.
Charles Duba, Ph.D.
Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Strategic Initiatives
Professor
Charles Duba earned a BS in Physics from UC San Diego, and an MS and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Washington at the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. His dissertation project was on electronics for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, where he helped prove the solution to the long-standing “Solar Neutrino Problem.” He continues to work on neutrino detection experiments, currently with HALO, a long-term supernova neutrino detector at the SNO lab in Sudbury.
Charles Duba earned a BS in Physics from UC San Diego, and an MS and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Washington at the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. His dissertation project was on electronics for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, where he helped prove the solution to the long-standing “Solar Neutrino Problem.” (See “Solving the Mystery of the Missing Neutrinos.”) He continues to work on neutrino detection experiments, currently with HALO, a long-term supernova neutrino detector at the SNO lab in Sudbury.
Dr. Duba’s research interests are in weak-interaction physics, physics instrumentation, physics simulation, augmented reality, and hardware design.
Selected Publications
- Duba, C. A., Duncan F., Farine J., Habig A., Hime A., Robertson R. G. H., Scholberg K., Shantz T., Virtue C. J., Wilkerson J. F., Yen S., “HALO -The Helium and Lead Observatory for Supernova Neutrinos,” Journal of Physics, Conference Series, Volume 136 (2008).
- Duba, C. A.,”Electronics for the Neutral Current Detection Array at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Washington, 277 pp (2006).
- Duba, C. A., et al, T. D., “Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Neutral Current Detectors Signal Readout System,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, v 51, n 5, pp 2227-30 (2004).
- Duba, C. A., et al, “Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory,” Physical Review Letters, Volume 89, Issue 1; 746 citations (2002).
- Duba, C. A., et al, “Measurement of the Rate of ne + d -> p + p + e- Interactions Produced by 8B Solar Neutrinos at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory,” Physical Review Letters, Volume 87, Issue 7; 831 citations (2001).
- Duba, C. A., et al, “Low Background 3He Proportional Counter for Use in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Volume 46, Issue 4 (1999).
- Duba, C., et al, “Solar Fusion Cross Sections,” Reviews of Modern Physics, Volume 70, Issue 4; 437 citations (1998).