Electrical engineering is shockingly good – a tour of charge, plasma and lightening bolts!
Join Prof Ricketts to explore the amazing world of high-voltage science, discovering the secrets behind powerful machinery, including spark generators, ion-powered motors, and even aircraft.
Prof. Ricketts will use incredible demonstrations to explore this fascinating field of science. You’ll see everything from simple sparks, up to a huge 100,000 Volt display.
We’ll explore the wonders of elusive plasma toroids and the magical Gassiot Fountain, often used as the grand finale of Victorian high-voltage science demonstrations. Of course, no high-voltage talk would be complete without (several) Tesla coils! You’ll see metre-long sparks illuminating the lecture hall, as they arc and dance to the musical beat of David’s Tesla coil orchestra.
In the tradition of Michael Faraday, this talk will be 100% demonstration and amazement – no slides here!
Dr. David Ricketts
Professor, NC State University on January 16, 2026 at 10:15 AM in Hunt Auditorium (1103)
David S. Ricketts received the PhD from Harvard University and is a Professor of ECE at NC State University. Before joining academia, Prof. Ricketts several years in industry developing over 40 integrated circuits in mixed‐signal, RF and power management applications. Prof. Ricketts' research crosses the fields of device physics, material science and circuit design. His work has appeared in Nature, Proc. IEEE and over 150 journal and conference papers and he has authored two books: Electrical Solitons: Theory, Design and Applications and The Designer’s Guide to Jitter in Ring Oscillators. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award and the George Tallman Ladd research award at Carnegie Mellon, and the William F. Lane Outstanding Teaching Award at NC State.
This lecture series features exciting and dynamic visiting and virtual speakers from across the range of ECE disciplines. Take some time every Friday morning to be inspired by these great scientists and engineers before heading into the weekend!