Congratulations to NC State ECE assistant professors Amay Bandodkar, Yuan Liu and Vijay Shah on being named 2025–26 Goodnight Early Career Innovators.

This competitive university-wide program recognizes rising faculty leaders in STEM and STEM education. Each awardee receives $22,000 per year for three years to support research, scholarship and student mentorship.

Their work spans wearable biomedical devices, quantum computing and next-generation wireless networks, advancing innovation while creating hands-on learning opportunities for students.

Learn more about their research and impact: http://ncst.at/67er50Y52Fk
Five NC State graduate students spent their summer applying data science and artificial intelligence to real-world agricultural challenges through the USDA-ARS Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence internship.

Working alongside USDA scientists, the students tackled projects in computer vision that ranged from predicting soil erosion and improving precision crop monitoring to detecting prion disease in livestock and building tools to quantify destructive plant diseases.

These experiences not only strengthened their technical skills in machine learning and high-performance computing but also demonstrated how AI can help farmers increase productivity, reduce costs, and make agriculture more sustainable.

Learn more about their work and the internship program:
http://ncst.at/ppYa50XYcs8
NC State is leading a new effort to turn crop leftovers into opportunity.

Through the REFRAME project, researchers are building an AI-enabled, open-source platform that can help farmers, processing plants and policymakers identify new business opportunities in agricultural biomass — from misshapen sweet potatoes to discarded green tops.

Led by assistant professor Daniela Jones, the four-year project aims to support a more circular bioeconomy by reducing waste and creating new value from existing resources.

Read the full story — link in bio.
The ECE Mentor Program is open for spring sign-ups.

Connect with ECE alumni for career guidance, industry insight and professional advice.

Apply by Jan. 27. Link in bio.
Congratulations to NC State ECE Ph.D. student Yifan Wu on winning the Best Presentation Award at the 2025 Animal-Computer Interaction International Conference.

Wu’s research uses wearable sensors and machine learning to help veterinarians better detect pain in dogs with early osteoarthritis — and to support more effective guide dog training.

His work bridges animal health and artificial intelligence, giving technology a new role in understanding and improving animal well-being.

Read the full story — link in bio.
North Carolina State University and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering recognize the life and legacy of former North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt Jr., a proud NC State alumnus who passed away at the age of 88.

Governor Hunt championed public education and helped position North Carolina as a leader in technology and innovation. His belief in collaboration between universities, industry and government helped shape NC State’s role in research and economic development.

One of his most lasting contributions to NC State was his support for the creation of Centennial Campus. Designed as a place where academic research and industry partners work side by side, Centennial Campus continues to advance engineering, technology and workforce development across the state.

His legacy lives on through NC State’s land grant mission and the work of the Electrical and Computer Engineering community.
Celebrate our Fall 2025 NC State ECE graduates 🎓
📅 Thursday, December 11
⏰ 11 a.m.
📍 Reynolds Coliseum
🔗 ece.ncsu.edu/graduation

Join us as we recognize the dedication and achievements of our graduating students.
We are proud to introduce Ben Patton as the student speaker for the NC State ECE Fall 2025 Commencement Ceremony. Ben’s story reflects the strength of the ECE community, a journey shaped by resilience, leadership and the support of family, friends and faculty.

His remarks at graduation will honor the shared experiences of the Class of 2025 and the communities that helped them reach this milestone.

The Fall 2025 ceremony will be held on Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. in Reynolds Coliseum. Learn more at http://ncst.at/fpRq50XCYUx.
Researchers unveil first defense against cryptanalytic attacks on AI

“AI systems are valuable intellectual property, and cryptanalytic parameter-extraction attacks are the most efficient, effective, and accurate way to steal that intellectual property,” says Ashley Kurian, first author of the study and Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering at NC State.

NC State ECE researchers have developed the first functional defense capable of protecting AI models from cryptanalytic attacks that attempt to extract and reconstruct model parameters. The new approach trains neural networks to reduce differences between neurons in the same layer, forming a barrier that prevents extraction while maintaining accuracy with less than 1 percent change.

The paper, Train to Defend: First Defense Against Cryptanalytic Neural Network Parameter Extraction Attacks, will be presented at NeurIPS 2025 in San Diego.

Read the full story:
http://ncst.at/18zO50XvTbV
The Department of Energy has renewed funding through 2030 for the Quantum Science Center, allocating $125 million to establish a fault-tolerant, quantum-accelerated high-performance computing ecosystem.

NC State is a key partner in this initiative. In 2024, the university received up to $10 million for a five-year project advancing hybrid quantum computing architectures. Researchers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Physics are collaborating to explore quantum harmonic oscillators and qubits at NC State’s IBM Quantum Innovation Center.

This investment underscores NC State’s commitment to advancing quantum science and compounding its national leadership in transformative computing systems.

Read more: http://ncst.at/hr0O50XrSO0