Electrical & Computer Engineering Department - Colorado State University

Meet Mckenna Guidice, this year’s president of the IEEE student chapter!

We sat down with Mckenna to discuss her new role and experiences in and out of the classroom.

🔗 Read her Q&A: https://engr.source.colostate.edu/student-spotlight-five-questions-with-ece-senior-mckenna-guidice/.

CSU senior new IEEE chapter president Colorado State University senior Mckenna Guidice is this year’s president of the IEEE student chapter as a senior in electrical engineering.

ECE alumni Lisa and Desi Rhoden were front and center at last weekend's football game!

We are immensely grateful to the Rhodens for their support of our students, faculty, facilities, and programs. Their dedication to ECE continues to make a lasting impact, inspiring current and future generations and showing what’s possible with an ECE degree!

Are our water systems safe from cyberattacks?

ECE Professor Sudeep Pasricha is among the CSU engineering experts weighing in on this important question.

He explains how these attacks are happening and what can be done to better protect the nation's water infrastructure.

Read more:

Protecting our water Colorado State University engineers explain how we can better protect the nation’s water systems after a recent series of cyberattacks.

We're beyond proud of University Distinguished Professor Carmen Menoni for earning the 2026 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in Photonics!

She received the award from SPIE – the international society for optics and photonics – for outstanding achievements in photonics and innovative technology development. Menoni was presented the honor at an awards ceremony in San Diego last month.

Join us in congratulating Prof. Menoni! Her work is advancing the fields of lasers, optics, and photonics while elevating CSU's global reputation in light-based science and technology.

What can a raindrop reveal?

For ECE Professor “Chandra” V. Chandrasekar, it was the beginning of a career dedicated to transforming how we see inside storms, from photographing raindrops to pioneering radar technology now used around the world to assist weather forecasting.

Learn more about Chandra’s journey in The Art of Research, featuring University Distinguished Professors and the work that shaped their careers.

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The Art of Research: “Chandra” V. Chandrasekar “Chandra” V. Chandrasekar started his illustrious career as a radar scientist by flying into storms to take photographs of raindrops. He wanted to understand their exact shape – not teardrops, as it turns out, but little spherical blobs.

Meet Salvador Castañeda, an optical engineering junior at the University of Rochester who recently participated in CSU’s undergraduate research program in laser science and fusion energy.

This summer, Salvador fabricated nanowires for characterization of angular ion acceleration in relativistic laser-nanowire interactions in the context of inertial fusion energy, or IFE.

⚡️Why research?

“This was my second summer doing IFE research, and I was really looking for a hands-on, in-lab experience, which I definitely got to see firsthand,” said Salvador. “The chance to work with the ALEPH laser system also really appealed to me, so everything came together nicely.”

😎 Coolest experience this summer?

“The process of making nanowires could be long, without even considering the time it takes to initially develop the right ‘recipe’ for making them. That, however, made it all the more rewarding to be able to shoot them on the ALEPH laser, and present that data as well!”

⭐️ Fun fact: Salvador is excited to start an optics design/build competition club at the University of Rochester this year with two of his optics classmates.

Meet Macy Green, an electrical engineering junior at CSU who just wrapped up an action-packed summer of undergraduate research.

Macy helped develop low-density materials and ablation layer coatings for inertial confinement fusion targets.

⚡️Why research?
“I wanted the opportunity to apply my degree to real engineering problems and learn hands-on skills," said Macy. "I also just really love the lasers and optics field, and CSU has an amazing research community who genuinely believe in the students and make it an exciting space to learn.”

😎 Coolest experience this summer?
“I learned how to design and print microstructures and use scanning electron and atomic force microscopes. And I'll get to present my research at the IFE-SURE symposium this summer in Washington D.C!

🚴Outside the lab, Macy enjoys cooking, swimming, cycling, and racing through the Dune book series before the next movie comes out.

There is no denying that summer is fun, but we miss seeing our creative students on campus!

Haonan Chen, ECE associate professor, and his team have published new research that could improve the accuracy of precipitation forecasts up to two weeks in advance.

The research was recently published in Nature Partner Journals. It introduces a new AI framework that both improves precipitation forecast accuracy and helps researchers better quantify uncertainty.

More reliable precipitation forecasts could support decision-making in areas such as agriculture, water resource management, emergency preparedness, and disaster response.

🔗 Read more:

ECE professor develops AI-driven method to improve forecasts weeks in advance Haonan Chen, a CSU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his team have published new research that could improve the accuracy of precipitation forecasts up to two weeks in advance.

Carmen Menoni has added another prestigious honor to her already stellar portfolio.

The CSU Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering has received the Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society.

The global society brings together more than 100,000 engineers, scientists, and students working on light-based innovations to benefit humanity.

Menoni received the honor for pioneering and sustained contributions to publications, conferences and leadership within the Photonics Society and IEEE broadly.

“My service to the profession is one of the most rewarding aspects of my career,” she said.

➡️ Learn more: https://lnkd.in/exnsJ6mm

CSU's Menoni honored for pioneering contributions to international technical community Carmen Menoni, Colorado State University Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received the Distinguished Service Award from the IEEE Photonics Society.