Topics: Electrical Engineering+Electronics

Prize-winning grad student James McLurkin built a swarm of robots that he hopes might one day patrol for landmines, rummage through earthquake rubble, or explore other planets. McLurkin, who once kept an ant farm on his desk, designed the robots to mimic the ants' behavior.
Summer 2003

Nature’s Design

Doctoral student James McLurkin has designed a swarm of robots that might one day patrol for landmines and explore other planets.

Prof. Steve Leeb is not only respected for his teaching but also for his research. His invention, Talking Lights, modulates the intensity of an arc of fluorescent light, transmitting signals that can carry useful data. At an airport, for example, it could direct the visually impaired to a specific gate or ticket counter. Photo: Donna Coveney
Spring 2002

Hands-On Learning

Assoc. Prof. Steven Leeb, who believes in learning by doing, is preparing students for real-world engineering.

Central region of the Milky Way. Photo: Courtesy of NASA and F. Baganoff
Spring 2002

Research Briefs

Help for surgeons, generating electricity, and more.

Prof. Jesus del Alamo runs WebLab, one of the first teaching labs in the world where the equipment is real but students' interactions with it are online.
Fall 2001

Online Lab

Prof. Jesus del Alamo runs WebLab, one of the world’s first teaching labs where the equipment is real but students interact with it online.

Saul Simon lost his hearing to a rare disease. Then he got a cochlear implant.
Winter 2001

The Hearing Arts

Saul Simon lost his hearing. Then he got a cochlear implant and can hear again thanks to MIT Research Scientist Donald Eddington.

Research Scientist Mandayam Srinivasan, shown here holding the model of a hand, probes both our sense of touch and robotic systems that take advantage of that sense. Photo: Ed Quinn
Winter 2000

Hands-On Investigator

Research Scientist Mandayam Srinivasan explores our amazing sense of touch.

Fall 1997

Fall 1997

Big Picture

Electrical Engineering Prof. Jae Lim is working to shape the technological future of television.

Spring 1997

Spring 1997

Exploring Hearing

Researcher Dennis Freeman, who makes micro-movies of the auditory system, is searching for solutions to improve hearing aid technologies.