The Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Graduate Student Organization (GSO) in collaboration with the ECE Student Advisory Council (SAC) held the first ECE Research Rally on April 1. 

The event brought together current graduate students to present their research to undergraduates with the goal of starting industry conversations and sparking future research collaboration. 

Six ECE graduate students from across several ECE technical interest groups (TIGs) presented their research on varying topics including intelligent networks to equitable residential electricity rate design. The two judges, Lakshmi Raju, Director of ECE Student Engagement and Well-Being and academic professional, and Reza Zandehshahvar, an ECE Ph.D. alumni and postdoctoral research fellow in the Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE), decided which presenter would receive the $1,000 prize in conference support from the ECE Office of Student Engagement and Well-Being. 

“Ph.D. students were able to take this opportunity to practice distilling their technical information for a wider audience,” said Raju. “This skill is especially important for engineers, and undergraduate students were able to learn about current research occurring in ECE, opening them up to new interests and fields.” 

“The event was a major success,” said Richard Asiamah, GSO president and ECE Ph.D. student. “The presentations were great, and more importantly, the excitement of the undergraduate students was evident in the questions asked and the follow-up conversations.” 

Biswadeep Chakraborty, an ECE Ph.D. candidate advised by Professor Saibal Mukhopadhyay at the GREEN Lab, was named the winner of the inaugural Research Rally. 

“My research focuses on leveraging Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) to advance Artificial Intelligence,” said Chakraborty. “By harnessing SNNs' temporal processing capabilities, I aim to develop next-generation AI technologies with improved performance, robustness, and cost-efficiency.” 

The organizers hope to host the Research Rally once a semester or annually in the Spring, using it as an avenue to spur undergraduate research.  

“Some of the attendees suggested having a monthly series where graduate students can present their research to the university," said Yash Kulkarni, SAC President. “There have also been discussions to organize an event next semester where graduate students can discuss graduate school opportunities with undergraduates.” 

 The ECE Office of Student Engagement and Well-Being, ECE GSO, and ECE SACE will continue to support this event to further the academic interests and experiences of ECE students.