Events and Programs
Signature Events
Seminars
2026
America's aerospace and defense supply chain is aging, fragmented, and struggling to keep pace with demand. In this talk, Mehdi Hakik will introduce Amca, the fastest-growing aerospace company in the country, and its mission to modernize how critical components are built. Traditional suppliers often separate design, testing, and production into different workflows, resulting in years-long timelines and higher risk. Amca is building a single system that combines rapid prototyping, qualification, and a growing network of AS9100D-certified factories that can develop components in weeks rather than years. Mehdi will discuss Amca's approach to acquiring and modernizing established suppliers such as BC Systems, its rapid growth since launching, and the work it supports across the aerospace and defense industry. The talk will close with a look at the career opportunities this is creating for engineering students and how they can get involved — from internships to full-time roles working hands-on with real hardware at Amca's facilities in California, Iowa, and New York.
Mehdi Hakik is an aerospace and defense executive with over 20 years of experience, including international multi-site operations management and turnaround leadership, supporting major programs for Boeing, Airbus, Dassault, Pratt & Whitney, and GE Aerospace. He currently serves as General Manager of BC Systems, an AMCA flagship factory based in Setauket, NY, that specializes in military power supplies, arming switches, and power control products. Mehdi holds an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University.
Science & Applications of Mid-Infrared Photonics: From Live Cell Imaging with Vibrational Contrast to Laser Nano-Machining
When technological advances in mid-infrared (MIR) light sources and detectors are combined with the breakneck-speed advance in semiconductor fabrication, the outlines of a new and exciting area of MIR photonics clearly emerge. Earlier technological challenges notwithstanding, it has long been known that MIR portion of the optical spectrum has unique properties setting it apart from other electromagnetic frequencies. For example, the extremely high coupling efficiency of MIR light to electrons in metals enables the most advanced extreme-UV lithography. Similarly, the fortuitous overlap of the vibrational frequencies of some of the most important organic and inorganic molecules with the MIR spectrum enables sensitive vibrational spectroscopy, detection, and imaging of pollutants, live matter, and even 2D materials. In this talk, I will describe some of the recent progress made in my group towards harnessing MIR photonics to advance several applications in life- and materials-sciences. As an example of a biomedical application of MIR light, I will describe a novel chemical imaging platform – Metasurface Enabled Epi-illumination Microscopy (MEEM) – where live cells are cultured atop of arrays of metallic nanoantennas and imaged using a rapidly-tunable laser source. The vibrational contrast in the MIR band is used by us to image the proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids in the cells, obtaining images with sub-cellular resolution and monitoring cellular metabolism in real-time [1]. I will also describe novel states of electronic matter in MIR-illuminated semiconductors, whereby electron wave-packets can cross the entire Brillouin zone within a single period of MIR light. Such strongly-driven solids were shown by us to emit high harmonics of MIR light with high efficiency and even organize themselves into deep narrow nano-trenches [2]. Further perspectives on how MIR light can be used to study quantum properties of 2D materials will be discussed at the end of the talk.
Gennady Shvets is a J. Preston Levis Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University. He received his PhD in Physics from MIT in 1995. Before moving to Cornell in 2016, he was a faculty member of the Physics Department of the University of Texas at Austin for 12 years. Shvets and his group pioneered several key concepts in photonics and metamaterials, including: (a) topological photonics, (b) first experimental demonstrations of active metalenses an metasurfaces controlled by a variety of materials, including graphene, polaritonic materials, and liquid crystals, and (c) first applications of plasmonic metasurfaces to studying biological matter – from protein monolayers to living cells. His most research interests, at the intersection of nanotechnologies, photonics, and nonlinear optics include: bio-nano interface, microscopy with vibrational contrast, high-intensity interactions between light and nanostructures, and topological nanophotonics. Shvets is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, and SPIE.
Past Seminars
Walid Redjem, University at Albany
Scalable Quantum and Classical Light Generation in Integrated Photonics
Date: December 4, 2025
Sebin Gracy, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Networked Competitive Bivirus SIS spread with Higher Order Interactions
Date: November 22, 2024
Jan Niewiadomski, Stony Brook University, Intelligent Product Solutions
Ralph Cassara, Stony Brook University, Intelligent Product Solutions
Embedded Systems Design
Date: November 19, 2024
Arnob Ghosh, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Model-free RL for constrained MDP: Theory and Practice
Date: November 9, 2023
Dustin Richmond, UC Santa Cruz
Pentimento: Analog Data Remanence in Cloud FPGAs
Date: September 15, 2023
Qingxue Zhou, Purdue University
AIOT for Precision Medicine
Date: August 18, 2023
Jinjun Liu, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Techniques and Advanced Control Enabling a Fully Autonomous Microgrid Incorporating
DERs
Date: August 11, 2023
Prof. Yuri Saalmann, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Neural basis of consciousness
Date: May 26, 2022
Dr. Vijaysekhar Jayaraman, Praevium Research
Fast, widely tunable MEMS-VCSELs for imaging, metrology, and spectroscopy
Date: May 4, 2022
Dr. Zheyu Zhang, Clemson University
Overview of Power Electronics Research at Clemson University in Charleston
Date: April 22, 2022
Distinguished Lectures
The Distinguished Lecture Series connects classroom learning with the forefront of electrical and computer engineering by featuring talks from leading professors, researchers, and industry experts. These speakers present innovative theories and breakthroughs in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, communications, and semiconductor design, offering insight into how complex ideas are developed into real-world technologies.
Beyond sharing results, the series highlights the research process itself—how problems are identified, experiments are designed, and solutions are refined. This gives the campus community a clearer understanding of real-world engineering practices while exposing students and faculty to emerging trends, career pathways, and opportunities for collaboration.
Engineering Leadership in a World of Accelerating Change
Dr. Tsu-Jae King Liu, President, National Academy of Engineering & Distinguished Professor
Emerita, UC Berkeley
Date: April 24, 2026
Fast and Flexible Multiagent Decision-Making
Dr. Naomi Ehrich Leonard, Chair and Edwin S. Wilsey Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering, Princeton University
Date: April 7, 2023
Research Challenges and Solutions for IOTT/CPS
Dr. John A. Stankovic, BP America Professor Emeritus & Director Emeritus of the Link
Lab, Computer Science Department, University of Virginia
Date: April 26, 2019
Information Theoretic Paths Forward in the Wireless Physical Layer
Dr. H. Vincent Poor, Michael Henry Strater University Professor, Electrical Engineering,
Princeton University
Date: August 24, 2018