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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.
Congratulations to the more than 150 Electrical and Computer Engineering graduates honored at Reynolds Coliseum on Dec. 11. The Fall 2025 ceremony recognized the dedication, perseverance and achievements of our students as they take the next step in their professional journeys. We are proud to welcome you as NC State ECE alumni and look forward to the impact you will make.
The link to the full photo album is in our bio.
Ishita Pai Raikar has shaped her NC State experience through curiosity, discipline and a commitment to community. Her work spans human-robot interaction, ethics, entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary leadership programs that challenged her to think across systems. Through research in embodied AI and involvement in programs such as GCSP, SIF and Women in ECE, she gained a deeper understanding of how engineering affects people and the world around them.
As she graduates this fall, Ishita reflects the breadth of opportunity available in ECE and the impact students can make when they explore new ideas and engage fully with the NC State community. Learn more about her path and the experiences that guided her.
Read more: http://ncst.at/coUB50XGyzH
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
The NC State Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering proudly celebrated the 2025 ECE Alumni Hall of Fame inductees and the recipient of the Outstanding Early Career Award during a ceremony held at Hunt Library on November 7. Faculty, staff and members of the ECE Advisory Board gathered to honor the achievements of this exceptional group whose leadership and innovation reflect the profound impact of NC State ECE.
Since 2015, the department has recognized 110 alumni whose contributions exemplify excellence in engineering, research and service. We extend our gratitude to the ECE Alumni Hall of Fame Committee for their dedication to advancing and recognizing our alumni community.
Learn more about this year’s honorees and award recipients:
http://ncst.at/b7lR50XrRYc
Congratulations to Ph.D. student Mohammad Riahi on receiving the Graduate Diversity Enrichment Program award sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The award provides $5,000 over two years to support Ph.D. students through enhanced research enrichment opportunities.
Riahi’s research focuses on developing battery-free biomedical devices, including an implantable optical stimulation device that operates using radio waves with only a few milliwatts of energy. His work demonstrates how NC State engineers drive innovation through curiosity, creativity and a commitment to impact. ⚡
Atul Sharma ’21 turned classroom theory into global impact.
As a student of professor Yannis Viniotis in the Department of Computer Engineering, Atul took on one of the toughest challenges in networking, debugging complex protocols, and developed a solution that continues to benefit engineers worldwide.
Collaborating with RFC authors and open-source reviewers, he created a copyrighted Wireshark Dissector for the RFC 8497 standard, introducing a traceable “digital fingerprint” to every Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) session. His work helps providers like Amazon Web Services, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Ericsson track and diagnose network traffic more efficiently, strengthening the reliability of global systems.
Today, Atul is a senior software engineer at Cisco Systems, where he helps design secure, next-generation SD-WAN connectivity for major corporations. His journey reflects how NC State ECE students turn innovation into impact on campus and around the world.
Congratulations, Atul!
At NC State, innovation and creativity go hand in hand. The new Music Technology program gives students the chance to explore both — combining music, sound and engineering in one unique degree experience.
Developed through collaboration between the Department of Performing Arts and Technology and Electrical and Computer Engineering, the program integrates coursework in acoustics, audio electronics and design theory to prepare students for careers at the intersection of art and technology.
ECE faculty helped shape the program’s foundation, ensuring students gain the technical expertise needed to power the future of sound.
Learn more about how NC State is harmonizing engineering and the arts:
http://ncst.at/EJL750XiFwW
Anurag K. Srivastava, Raymond J. Lane Professor and Chairperson of the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University, explains what most people overlook about powering the future of AI. Sustainability is not only about the grid or renewable energy. It begins with how we design chips, transistors, and the data centers that bring it all together.
Full episode now on YouTube
🎧 NC State ECE Podcast
Guest: Anurag K. Srivastava
Host: Ginger Yu
For 40 years, NC State and Nagoya University have built a partnership that advances research, innovation and global learning. Faculty in ECE continue that tradition through collaborations in biotechnology, quantum computing and more.
🔗 http://ncst.at/75LR50XiFrY
Paschalis Gkoupidenis, associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics, received the inaugural Sherwin I. Seligsohn Innovation Award from Universal Display Corporation for his work in organic, brain-inspired electronics.
Read more:
http://ncst.at/Ep1O50XiFJn
NC State researchers uncovered GATEBLEED, a hardware flaw that lets attackers reveal data used to train AI systems. The finding shows how chip design choices can put AI privacy at risk.
http://ncst.at/jfVe50XiFh7
Researchers at NC State have improved wearable health-monitoring technology to more accurately detect coughs — even distinguishing them from speech and other human sounds. The advance could make it easier to track chronic respiratory conditions and predict health risks such as asthma attacks.
By combining sound and motion data from chest-worn monitors, the team developed a more reliable model that reduces false positives and enhances privacy protection in real-world environments.
Learn how this breakthrough is shaping the future of digital health:
http://ncst.at/oL8V50XiF2t