Advanced Hand Tools
2020-01-30 11:15 - 11:45, 2020-02-06 11:15 - 11:45 (America/New_York) | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the arbor press, tap and die kit, and ultrasonic cutter. Learn how to use each tool effectively
Sign up using this link!
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Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Nader Sehatbakhsh
2020-01-30 11:45
Abstract:
This decade has already seen a significant surge in the number of cyber-attacks. With the exponential growth of computers in numbers, due to the rise of cyberphysical systems (CPS) and internet-of-things (IoT) devices, and their ever-increasing importance in controlling critical tasks, it is expected that cybersecurity and data privacy become even more serious problems in the next decade. To this end, I will present our methods and findings in designing secure computing systems using two main themes: 1) by discovering, modeling, and mitigating side-channels, and 2) by leveraging side-channels for useful purposes such as debugging and security monitoring. Specifically, in this talk, I will first present our novel method on debugging and securing resource-limited devices such as embedded systems, CPSs, and IoTs by externally monitoring these devices using analog side-channels (e.g., electromagnetic emanations, power fluctuations, etc.) that are unintentionally created by these devices. I will describe how analog side-channel signals can be also leveraged for profiling, intrusion detection, and establishing a trusted execution environment (TEE) on resource constrained devices without incurring any overhead or requiring any hardware support on the monitored device and/or any intrusion to its functionality. In the second part of the talk, I will demonstrate how we can mitigate information leakage vulnerabilities by accurately modeling analog side-channels. I will discuss our approach in designing an open-source microarchitectural simulator which can accurately simulate analog side-channel signals (electromagnetic and power side-channels) in a variety of low-end processors. I will conclude my talk by describing future directions toward secure, private, and remote computing systems.
Bio:
Nader Sehatbakhsh is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interest is on the broad area of Security and Privacy and Computer Architecture with emphasis on hardware security, side-channels, hardware-support for security and privacy, and embedded system security. His work has been published in top venues such as MICRO, ISCA, and HPCA, and has been recognized with several awards and honors including the MICRO-49 Best Paper Award and Micro Top-Picks Honorable Mention.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Hoda Naghibijouybari
2020-01-30 11:45 - 12:45
Abstract:
Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are integral components to most modern computing devices, used to optimize the performance of today’s graphics and multi-media heavy workloads. They are also increasingly integrated on heterogeneous computing servers to accelerate a broad range of applications. Meanwhile, recent trends in security show attacks on modern systems that originate in hardware and are exploitable by software. Given the growing use of GPUs in safety-critical applications, understanding their security properties will become a first-class design objective.
In this talk, I will present my research on covert and side channel attacks and defenses in modern GPUs. I show that it is possible to construct high bandwidth covert channels, superior in bandwidth and quality to those on CPUs. Furthermore, I demonstrate several variants of practical side channel attacks targeting both graphics and computational workloads. The talk will also present architectural mitigations to prevent the discovered attacks. Finally, I will conclude the talk by my planned research at the intersection of emerging architectures and security.
Bio:
Hoda Naghibijouybari is currently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Her research interests include architectural support for security, GPU security, computer architecture and heterogeneous computing. Her research has resulted in the discovery of new attacks that have been disclosed to AMD, and Nvidia companies, and received coverage from technical news outlets. Her paper on GPU Side Channels was one of 11 papers selected for Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security, 2019 (identifying best papers in those areas in 2013-2018

Basic Soldering
2020-01-30 13:45 - 14:15, 2020-02-05 13:00 - 13:30 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to soldering. Learn how to solder two wires together and apply heat-shrink tubing using a Weller soldering station and an SMD Rework station
Sign up using this link!
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

2020 Boston Area Computer Architecture Workshop
2020-01-31 08:00 - 16:00 | Raytheon Amphitheater (240 Egan), 360 Huntington Ave, 240 Egan, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
BARC 2020
January 31, 2020
8:30am – 4:00 pm
Raytheon Amphitheater
Northeastern University
Boston, MA
BARC 2020 registration is open on the BARC website.
Please register soon. We ask students to provide the name of their research advisor. We are pleased to be able to provide free registration this year, due to the generous support of AMD and SiFive. Dr. Shubu Mukherjee, Chief SOC Architect at SiFive, will be our keynote to kick off the workshop.
Please register by Sunday, January 26th.
Dave Kaeli and Yanzhi Wang
BARC2020 Organizers

Team Leadership Step-by-Step: Structure Your Team
2020-01-31 13:00 - 13:30 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
20 minute lessons at 1 pm (almost) every Friday, open to all!
Questions? Contact Ted at ted.johnson@northeastern.edu

7th Annual Resume Lightning Round
2020-01-31 17:00 - 20:00 | Curry Student Center, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, United States
If you are beginning your job search, or are looking to apply to internships, or if you need to get your CV or resume up to date, this event is for you!
We will have faculty and industry professionals available to help review and improve your resume, as well as the opportunity to practice your interviewing skills in our Lightning Rounds.
The event is open to all graduate students. If you are able to join us, please upload an updated version of your resume when you RSVP, in order to take better advantage of the event.

Curry Student Center McLeod Suites
Hosted by Northeastern GWISE

Call for submissions for Research: Art or Science? Exhibition!
2020-02-03 - 2020-03-05
Submit an image of your research to the third annual Research: Art or Science? Exhibition for a unique opportunity to have your work displayed on campus and win a cash prize! Visit Art or Science? for more information and to submit.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Alper Ozgurluk
2020-02-03 11:00 - 12:00
138 ISEC
High-Q Strong Coupling Capacitive-Gap Transduced RF Micromechanical Resonators
Abstract:
This talk presents a hierarchical, intuitive, and technology agnostic procedure for designing RF channel-select filters, followed by an actual demonstration that consists of 96 mechanically coupled capacitive-gap-transduced polysilicon disk resonators, centered at 224MHz with only 0.1% (9kHz) bandwidth, all while attaining 2.7dB insertion loss and more than 50dB out-of-channel stopband rejection, solidly confirming the validity of the design method. Two distinct methods then follow that aim to increase the resonator electromechanical coupling coefficient (kt2), which substantially improves the functionality of the demonstrated filter for future applications, e.g., ones that require higher-order with sharper roll-off characteristics and less passband ripple. Specifically, single-digit-nanometer electrode-to-resonator gaps have enabled 200-MHz radial-contour mode polysilicon disk resonators with motional resistance Rx as low as 144Ohm while still posting Q’s exceeding 10,000, all with only 2.5V dc-bias. The demonstrated gap spacings down to 7.98nm are the smallest to date for upper-VHF micromechanical resonators and fully capitalize on the fourth power dependence of motional resistance on gap spacing. The scale here is perhaps best conveyed with the recognition that this gap corresponds to only 16 SiO2 molecules!
High device yield and ease of measurement debunk popular prognosticated pitfalls often associated with tiny gaps, e.g., tunneling, Casimir forces, low yield, none of which appear. The tiny motional resistance, together with kt2’s up to 1% at 4.7V dc-bias and kt2-Q products exceeding 100, propel polysilicon capacitive-gap transduced resonator technology to the forefront of MEMS resonator applications that put a premium on noise performance, such as radar oscillators. To increase functionality even further, the rest of this talk introduces a fabrication and post-processing method using CMOS-compatible ruthenium metal that allows integration of micromechanical devices, such as the aforementioned RF filters, atop CMOS. To this end, the introduction of tensile stress via localized Joule heating has yielded some of the highest metal MEMS resonator Q’s measured to date, as high as 48,919 for a 12-MHz ruthenium micromechanical clamped-clamped beam, defying the common belief that metal Q cannot compete with conventional micro machinable materials. The low-temperature ruthenium metal process, with highest temperature of 450°C and paths to an even lower ceiling of 200°C, further allows for MEMS post-processing directly over finished foundry CMOS wafers, thereby offering a promising route towards fully monolithic realization of CMOS-MEMS circuits, such as needed in communication transceivers. This, together with its higher Q, may eventually make ruthenium metal preferable over polysilicon in some applications.
Bio:
Alper Ozgurluk received the B.S. degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2012 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, in 2019. The first part of his Ph.D. research focused on the design, fabrication, and testing of medium-scale micromechanical circuits using capacitive-gap transduced disk resonators as building blocks to demonstrate RF channel filters for ultra-low power radio applications. During his Ph.D., he also worked on design and fabrication methods to shrink the gaps of capacitive-gap resonators to single-digit-nanometers transforming the performance of such devices. The last part of his Ph.D. mainly focused on CMOS-compatible resonator materials and post-processing techniques that could provide decent performance much needed for CMOS-MEMS integration. In 2019, he joined Apple Inc. as a Display Exploration Engineer.

Levers for early career success in STEM: an interactive session
2020-02-03 18:00 - 20:00
GWiSE and Khoury College have partnered to empower you with an interactive session by Dr. Rati Thanawala.
The seminar will discuss the levers for early career success in tech firms and how can women prepare while still in school.
Women of underrepresented backgrounds are especially encouraged to attend.

Please RSVP at bit.ly/305ei7f
121 Snell Library

Desktop CNC Mill
2020-02-04 15:30 - 16:00 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the desktop CNC mill
Sign up using this link!
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

Co-op and Cupcakes
2020-02-04 18:00 - 19:00 | 008C Hayden Hall, 008C Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Interested in Sherman Center funding and resources to launch your very own venture? Join us for a panel discussion featuring some of our current co-ops, and enjoy Georgetown Cupcakes!
Sign Up Using This Link!

3D Printing Prusa
2020-02-05 10:30 - 11:00, 2020-02-07 15:30 - 16:00 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the Prusa 3D printer. Learn how to load filament, start a print job, and remove prints from the print bed
Sign up using this link!
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

3D Printing Form 2
2020-02-05 11:15 - 11:45 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the Form 2 3D printer. Learn how to start, wash, and cure a print job
Sign up using this link!
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

COE Study Abroad Info Session
2020-02-05 12:00 - 13:00
Broaden your universe and learn about global opportunities during The Study Abroad Info Session. Listen to students as they talk of past experiences. Representatives from both COE Undergraduate Academic Advising and Global Experience Office will be on hand to provide the details you need for this exciting opportunity. This event will be in 300 RI on Wednesday, Feb. 5th at 12:00pm.

SWE Product Development Workshop
2020-02-05 20:00 - 21:00 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Lead by Generate members where SWE members will be broken into teams and tasked through the product development cycle. Ending in a discussion.
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

Power Tools
2020-02-06 10:30 - 11:00 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the hand drill, impact driver, and dremel rotary tool. Learn how to drill pilot holes, drive screws, and sand wood
Sign up using this link!
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Vacuum Degassing Chamber
2020-02-06 13:00 - 13:30 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This workshop is an introduction to the vacuum degassing chamber. Learn how to operate the vacuum pump and hold the chamber at a particular pressure
Sign up using this link!
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

Global Health in a Changing World: People, Planet, and Technology
2020-02-07 07:30 - 2020-02-08 18:30 | East Village, 17th floor, 360 Huntington Ave, East Village 17th floor, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
GHCW: People, Planet, and Technology is a joint venture that spans across the Northeastern University Global Campus. We invite anyone from any campus, organization, age, and discipline to attend the conference for free.
The face of global health is undeniably changing. GHCW is a seamlessly integrated research and experiential learning forum that explores this changing landscape in a nuanced, multifaceted way. Attendees will develop new research and industry relationships, learn how to advocate for change on a local, national, and international level, and ultimately be prepared to take meaningful steps in their own lives.
Join us for plentary pillars, poster sessions, research sessions, tech talks, networking sessions, and workshops. View full schedule and live stream.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Fan Zhang
2020-02-07 11:00 | 140 ISEC, 360 Huntington Ave, 140 ISEC, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Location: ISEC 140
Persistent Fault Attacks in Practice
Abstract:
Persistent fault analysis (PFA) was proposed at CHES 2018 as a novel fault analysis technique. It was shown to completely defeat standard redundancy based countermeasure against fault analysis. The original PFA was demonstrated with rowhammer-based fault injections. However whether such an analysis can be applied to traditional microcontrollers, together with its attack difficulty in practice, has not been investigated. In this talk, for the first time, a persistent fault attack is conducted on an unprotected AES algorithm implemented on ATmega163L microcontroller. Several critical challenges are coped with our new improvements. This talk will introduce the PFA at both theoretical and practical levels.
Bio:
Dr. Fan Zhang graduated from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, USA. He is currently an associate professor in the College of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, China. He was a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore and currently he is a visiting professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design. His major research interest is the general cybersecurity which includes hardware security, system security, network security and more. His special expertise lies in the domain of side-channel attacks (SCA) and countermeasures, fault attacks, cryptography, and computer architecture. He is the Program Chair of PROOFS, TPC member of DAC, AsiaCCS, AsianHOST, ASHES, COSADE, FDTC, Inscrypt, and the Associate Editor of IEEE Access, Cybersecurity. He has more than 60 publications in international conferences and journals such as CHES, DATE, COSADE, FDTC, TIFS, TPDS.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Kris Dorsey
2020-02-07 11:00 - 12:00
Location: ISEC 136
It’s a bit of a stretch: selective, flexible mechanical sensors towards VR, healthcare, and robotics applications
Abstract:
In this talk, Kris Dorsey will discuss work related to mechanically “programming” soft sensors to respond to a particular mechanical deformation. Advances in 3D-printing, soft polymer fabrication, and other rapid fabrication processes have made the vision of conformal and stretchable mechanical sensors for wearable devices and soft robotics possible. One limitation of these sensors is their low selectivity between different modes of mechanical deformation, such as strain, torsion, and bending.
She will present recent work in enhancing the selectivity of stretchable sensors. By using non-planar sensor morphology to bias the sensor towards a particular deformation mode, the selectivity of the sensor can be enhanced. She will discuss projects including designing a sensor with electrically-tunable sensitivity and the fabrication origami-patterned, deformation-selective flexible sensors.

Bio:
Kris Dorsey is an assistant professor of engineering in the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College. She was a President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Diego. Dr. Dorsey graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and earned her Bachelors of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Olin College.
She founded The MicroSMITHie Lab at Smith College to investigate micro- and miniature-scale sensor design and to prepare undergraduates for graduate study in engineering. Her current research interests include strain-stable, hyperelastic components, novel morphology soft sensors, and sensors for soft robots and wearable devices.
Dr. Dorsey has co-authored several publications on hyperelastic strain sensors, novel soft lithography processes, and the stability of gas chemical sensors. In 2019, she received the NSF CAREER award.

Team Leadership Step-by-Step: Hire the Right People
2020-02-07 13:00 - 13:30 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
20 minute lessons at 1 pm (almost) every Friday, open to all!
Questions? Contact Ted at ted.johnson@northeastern.edu
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Webinar (MIE)
2020-02-10 10:00 - 11:00
The webinar will feature a talk by Program Director Marilyn Minus, who will present information on the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) program at Northeastern University. The MIE Department offers comprehensive research and educational programs for MS and PhD students in traditional mechanical and industrial engineering disciplines, as well as applied programs. Our cutting-edge and vibrant Doctoral Programs (PhD) include Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Interdisciplinary Engineering. Our Masters Programs (MS) consists of Mechanical Engineering with concentrations in Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanics and Design, Mechatronic, and Thermofluids Engineering, Energy Systems, Engineering Management, as well as Industrial Engineering with a concentration in Operations Research. Recently added to the department are Robotics, Energy Systems (including Academic Link), and Engineering Management. We offer a leading professional MS program in Engineering Management. This concentration allows for a degree that meets a wide variety of personal needs and industry goals.
WEBINAR DETAILS
Topic: Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Date: Monday, February 10
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 AM EST
From these 60-minute info sessions, you’ll walk away with an understanding of:

The Mechanical & Industrial Engineering program in general, including electives, core courses, and program options
Specific parameters for admissions
How to pursue a paid 4-8 month industry co-op as part of your degree plan

WEBINAR INSTRUCTIONS: Visit to register and to get oriented to the webinar software, otherwise, login 10 minutes before the session begins.
RSVP and let us know if you will attend.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar: Xiaolin Xu
2020-02-10 11:00 - 12:00
Location: ISEC 138
Ensuring Hardware Cybersecurity from a Cross-Layer Perspective
Abstract:
The rapid development of the semiconductor industry has significantly increased the number, complexity, and applicability of commercial electronics over the past few decades. As a result, the security and assurance of hardware are playing a critical role in the cyberscape of modern society, such as national defense, healthcare, transportation, and finances. Hardware has been assumed to be trustworthy and reliable “by default.” However, this assumption is no longer true, with an increasing number of attacks reported on the hardware. In practice, the globalization of semiconductor business poses grave risks from untrusted fabrication and distribution, where Trojans insertion, IP cloning, and counterfeits may happen. In this talk, I will present our research efforts dedicated to the hardware-oriented cybersecurity from a cross-layer perspective. Specifically, I will introduce two frameworks that we built to address these problems in the supply chain and embedded system layers. I will first present an identification technique based on the physical disorder of integrated circuitry that enables the authentication of electronic devices. Then, I will present a hardware IP protection framework based on logic locking and circuit editing, which can effectively mitigate the vulnerabilities from untrusted off-shore foundries and supply chains. At the end of the talk, I will briefly present our scientific achievements in advancing the hardware security in the system and architecture layers, as well as proposing a future research agenda of this emerging area.
Bio:
Dr. Xiaolin Xu is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Prior to joining UIC, he spent two years at Post-doc Fellow at the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity (FICS) research center at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2016 after he got the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2008 and 2011, respectively. His research interests span hardware security and trust, FPGA, IoT security, VLSI, computer architecture, embedded system, and hardware-software co-design for modern computing systems. He is also interested in developing IoT devices and cloud-computing infrastructures with particular emphasis on security, high-performance, privacy protection.

Intro to Manufacturing
2020-02-10 19:00 - 20:30 | 010 Hayden Hall, 010 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Design for Manufacturing workshop lead by M4
View the Sherman Center Calendar for more events!

Networking @ Night 2020: BU NSBE x SHPE
2020-02-10 19:00 - 21:00
BU’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the BU’s National Society of Black Engineers are co-hosting this upcoming Spring: Networking at Night 2020. Recruiters, that include those from Northeastern and students from various industry partners, graduate schools, and research groups, will come together for an encouraging and informative evening for our membership. The event is open to the greater engineering community, and attendees will also have the opportunity to network with a broad talent pool. The event will take place at Boston University’s Howard Thurman Center.
Register Now

Electrical and Computer Engineering Webinar
2020-02-11 10:00 - 11:00
The webinar will feature a talk by Program Director Masoud Salehi, who will present information on the Electrical and Computer Engineering program (ECE) at Northeastern University. Located in the booming technology, medical, and research hub of Boston, Northeastern ‘s Department of ECE provides excellent research and learning opportunities for its students and alumni. The ECE faculty and graduate students conduct world-class research in the field. With over 65 full-time and affiliated faculty members, ECE is home to experts in a variety of disciplines, including but not limited to information infrastructure and security, health and biomedical applications of electrical engineering, brain-computer interface, nanotechnology, and nanomaterials.
WEBINAR DETAILS:
Topic: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Date: Tuesday, February 11
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 AM EST
WEBINAR INSTRUCTIONS
RSVP and let us know if you will attend.
