Lecture Series Archive

Abstract – The rise of the Information Technology has revolutionized every facet of our existence. At the heart of this upheaval is the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web technology. The Internet was introduced as a tool of freedom, freeing its users from any physical limitation, a challenge to media monopoly through enabling the free flow of information, and thus a new realm in which the power of institutions over people would be eroded. In this discussion we explore contradictions of the Internet and the Web, both in the ways we use them and the ways they operate. Undoubtedly, these technologies offer tremendous convenience and innovative ways connecting people together. Yet, as we point out, they are increasingly being embraced as instruments of control, monitoring, and oppression by powerful institutions and governments. In fact, the Internet and the Web, similar to any other technology, are far from neutral and their power can only be understood within the existing socio-economic forces.

Dr. Farid Farahmand is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Science at Sonoma State University. He is also the director of Advanced Internet Technology in the Interests of Society Laboratory. Prior to this position, Dr. Farahmand worked as the research scientist at Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Research and was involved in development of terabit optical routers. Dr. Farahmand holds multiple international patents, numerous reference conference articles and journal publications, and several book chapters, on the subjects of wireless communications, optical networking, green networking, and delay tolerant networks. He has also authored many educational papers focusing on eLearning and Active Learning in classrooms. Farid is actively involved in organizing many conferences and serves as the reviewer and co-editor to a number of technical conferences and journals. He is a member of IEEE, ASEE, and Engineers Without Borders- USA.

Abstract – Implantable medical devices are a rapidly growing area of technology. Invivo monitoring and treatment of key biological parameters can greatly assist in managing health and preventing disease. This talk will focus on innovative solutions to deliver power wirelessly to a greater range of implanted devices including choice of optimal frequency, adaptive matching, high efficiency rectifier design and implant location estimation. We will also discuss innovations in ADC design for implantable devices to minimize power consumption including dynamic resolution adaptation and capacitor array reconfiguration to overcome mismatch limitations. Application to neural sensing will be also discussed.

Dr. Stephen O'Driscoll is a professor at UC Davis and a Visiting Scientist at Google[x]. He received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering in 2001 from University College Cork, Ireland and the M.S. and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering in 2005 and 2009 from Stanford University. He was an Analog IC Designer at Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose from 2001 to 2003 where he worked on clock and data recovery PLLs. During 1999 and 2000 he worked as microwave circuit designer at Farran Technology, Ireland. His research focuses on low power analog and RF IC design with emphasis on biomedical applications.