Stanford University

EE125 Stories

2019 marked the Department of Electrical Engineering's 125th anniversary. To commemorate this unique occasion, we invited the EE community to submit their memories of EE.

Those story submissions are below.

In addition, the department invited distinguished faculty and alumni speakers to share their perspectives on the past, present, and future of Stanford Electrical Engineering Department. Their video presentations are available on the department's YouTube channel, youtube.com/@EEStanford, EE125 Playlist.

1997 ISL Bay to Breakers centipede - faculty, staff & students pictured — 1997 ISL Bay to Breakers centipede - faculty, staff & students pictured... recognize anyone?

1996 EE Commencement: Erik Ordentlich, Tom Cover and Elza Erkip — 1996 EE Commencement: Erik Ordentlich, Tom Cover and Elza Erkip

Sketch of Professor Tom Cover (circa 1977) by then PhD candidate, Abbas El Gamal — Sketch of Professor Tom Cover (circa 1977) by then PhD candidate, Abbas El Gamal

Martin Hellman in his glider ~1992 — Martin Hellman in his glider ~1992

~ left to right: unknown, John Newkirk, Jim Plummer, Irene Kennedy nee Miller, Dick Swanson — ~ left to right: unknown, John Newkirk, Jim Plummer, Irene Kennedy nee Miller, Dick Swanson

ISL Band circa 1996: Jim Hwang, Rick VanderKam, Coroy Modlin, Yiannis Kontoyiannis, Buno Pati, Rick Norgren and Bruce Woodley — ISL Band circa 1996: Jim Hwang, Rick VanderKam, Coroy Modlin, Yiannis Kontoyiannis, Buno Pati, Rick Norgren and Bruce Woodley

Irene's going away party, 1983: Irene Kennedy née Miller and John Linvill — Irene's going away party, 1983: Irene Kennedy née Miller and John Linvill

ISL softball team, circa 1995. Back row: Paul Voois, Jeff Stribling, Norm, Krista Jacobsen, Joe Lauer, Barry, Rick; Front row: Rich, Jimmy, Susan — ISL softball team, circa 1995.Back row: Paul Voois, Jeff Stribling, Norm, Krista Jacobsen, Joe Lauer, Barry, Rick; Front row: Rich, Jimmy, Susan

~ 1983 EE Commencement ~ — ~ 1983 EE Commencement ~

Marianne Marx at EE Commencement early 2000s — Marianne Marx at EE Commencement early 2000s

1983 EE Commencement: Rob Mathews, John Newkirk, Patti Plummer nee Philips, Irene Kennedy née Miller, Jim Plummer — 1983 EE Commencement: Rob Mathews, John Newkirk, Patti Plummer nee Philips, Irene Kennedy née Miller, Jim Plummer

1983, Professor Robert White, Chair of EE, maintaining order

Edwin Basart, MS '79 — I loved the weekly guest seminar (can't recall course number, was it EE 401?). It was the Pantheon of computer Gods - each week. I can still hear Seymour Cray's voice proudly describing the Cray 2 (I think) I was sitting next to a young EE professor - John Hennessy. We compared notes on my computer - Ridge Computers and his computer (later became MIPS).

It appears from a brief web search that the pre-PC and pre-iPhone era has now been forgotten. Back in my day, one could invent a new computer architecture, hardware and software. There were no x86 clones and no Unix yet.
~ Edwin Basart, MS '79

Katie Wilson (PhD '94) — I loved the camaraderie of my fellow grad students. I was so lucky to work with them. The ISL professors were encouraging and accessible. Graduate school was an uplifting and transformative experience in many ways. I also remember the administrative staff in ISL were wonderful.

~ Katie Wilson (PhD '94)

Andre Turati (BS '21) and Joaquin Borggio (BS '21) — Celebrating the culmination of EE 101A, the notorious undergraduate circuits class. It certainly rewired how our brains think!
~ Andre Turati (BS '21) and Joaquin Borggio (BS '21)

Shan Wang, professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering, and graduate student Richard Gaster — Shan Wang, professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering, and graduate student Richard Gaster demonstrate nanosensing technology for cancer diagnostics. "Matrix-insensitive protein assays push the limits of biosensors in medicine" was published in Nature Medicine, 11 October 2009.
(Courtesy of Andy Myers. Photo by Linda A. Cicero.)

Jason Ginsberg ('19), Jonathan Mak ('19), and Eldrick Millares ('19) — Jason Ginsberg ('19), Jonathan Mak ('19), and Eldrick Millares ('19) mimic fully connected ensemble after finishing their CS231N Final Project, Grouped Unique Contextually-Classified Inpainting GAN (GUCCI GAN).
~ Jonathan Jia-An Mak, BS '19

Jonathan Mak ('19), Eldrick Millares ('19), and Alec Preciado ('19) — Jonathan Mak ('19), Eldrick Millares ('19), and Alec Preciado ('19) ponder the intricacies of Discrete Fourier Transform, hoping to decode all the mixed signals in their life.
~ Jonathan Jia-An Mak, BS '19

Lights of EE" ~ Sina Semnani, PhD 2022 — Lights of EE"
~ Sina Semnani, PhD 2022

Linda Banh, MS '19 — Meeting all the amazing, smart, talented people in EE! Not only are people so kind here but there's an overwhelming sense of wanting to do good for the world and that feeling is very contagious and inspiring. I'm so grateful to be able to go to school here and to be able to work for my current lab, where we are innovating and improving the way doctors diagnosis cancer patients through biomedical data science and radiology-pathology fusion.
~ Linda Banh, MS '19

photo credit Peter McMahon, M.S. '10, Ph.D. '14 — Prof. Erwin Hahn (1921-2016; UC Berkeley) visiting the lab of Prof. Yoshihisa Yamamoto in the old Ginzton Lab building on 14 November 2009. Hahn was the inventor of the "Hahn echo" in 1950, which was first realized with microwave pulses, and had recently been implemented in the Yamamoto Lab using ultrafast optical pulses, almost 60 years after Hahn's original discovery.
~ Peter McMahon, M.S. '10, Ph.D. '14

Working as a summer REU intern with Daniel O' Shea, Darren Mei, and Hannah Leou.Team marmoset all the way!
~ James N. Pillot IV, B.S. 2020

Sadegh Ebrahimi, PhD 2019 — It was a cold winter evening when I came upon this scene at Packard's second floor lobby. A group of fellow EE grad students were pouring vodka and invited me to join them. Even though I barely knew them, we had something important in common. We had just finished taking our quals and that called for celebration indeed!
~ Sadegh Ebrahimi, PhD 2019

Ireena, Brian and Iliana Bray, EE alum — Stanford EE is Life-Changing
Stanford's EE Department has made a huge impact on me. First and foremost, Stanford is where I had the great fortune to meet my husband (my best friend, soulmate and fellow PhD student). Stanford is also where I discovered many wonderful things about my chosen field, about many other interests and about life; it inspired me to continually grow and strive. I am very thankful for the continued, long-lasting friendships with my amazing professors, other students and their spouses. Stanford EE continues to beneficially impact our family: our wonderful daughter, Iliana, graduated with her BSEE in 2017 and is currently pursuing her PhD, all in the Stanford EE Department. I am sure Stanford EE will continue to change many more lives.
~Ireena, Ph.D. 1993; Brian Ph.D. 1993; Iliana, BS '17, PhD Candidate

We're not always in Packard. [Viennese Ball, 2019]
~ Perry Alagappan, BS '19; Neal Patel, BS '19, MS '20; Vinh Quang Nguyen, BS '19; Sarah Woodward, MS '20; Andrea Ramirez, BS '19; Meera Radhakrishnan, BS '19, MS '20; Nidhi Manoj, CS BS '19 MS '20.