Project and Thesis Guidelines

Our department is determined to help you complete the best work possible for your Project or Thesis. We've provided guidelines for the structure of your Proposal and your Project Report or Thesis.

We also want to help you find the research that best suits your interests. Head to the bottom of this page to see what projects each professor is currently working on and learn how you can join their research.

Master Project/Thesis Proposal Guidelines

This information applies to both EE 297A and EE 299A. A Proposal should have eight components: Title and Signature page, Abstract, Objectives, Introduction, Proposed Work, Summary and Conclusion, Proposed Schedule, and References. Find the guidelines for preparing these components below:

Title and Signature Page

Make sure to use the title pages provided in the PDF below when creating your Master Project/Thesis Proposal. Use the template on page two for the project and on page three for thesis

Download the Proposal Cover Pages [pdf]

Note: The file contains one title page for Projects and one for Theses. Make sure you use the template on page two for the Project and on page three for Thesis

Abstract

Write one or two paragraphs on each of these points: the motivation, tasks, significance of the project, and expected results. The abstract should not exceed 150 words.

Objectives

Present what the proposed work plans to accomplish.

Introduction

Discuss the motivation and the need for the proposed work. Present background information on the proposed work and describe current research in the subject area.

Proposed Work

Present specifics about the proposed work and what approaches you plan to investigate or implement. Give enough technical details to show that you have thought out your proposed work well.

Summary and Conclusion

Summarize the need for the proposed work and the tasks needed to complete it. Discuss the significance and impact of the work you're presenting for your project or thesis. It is also helpful to discuss the possibilities of extending the proposed work.

Proposed Schedule

Break your proposed work into several tasks and provide a timeline for the completion of each part. The final task will be the Master Project/Thesis Presentation and Report.

References

List sources cited in the body of the Proposal. In the Proposal, number your references consecutively and enclose the reference number in square brackets, e.g., “Pekmestzi [14] suggested using complex binary digit.”

The reference sources cited in this section should be in IEEE reference format, e.g., K. Z. Pekmestzi and G. D. Papadopoulos, “Cellular Two's Complement Serial-parallel Pipeline Multiplier,” Radio and Electronic Engineering, Vol. 49, pp. 575-580, 1979.

Guideline for Writing M.S. Project Report

You must follow the guidelines below when preparing your master project reports (unless your project advisor requires you to use a different style.) The style used should be generally similar to that of technical papers in the IEEE Transactions on Computers.

The text should be double-spaced, on 8.5x11 paper size, with page margins of 1 inch for top, bottom, right, and 1.25 inches for left. The volume should be bound professionally.

Title and Signature Page (Cover Page)

You must use the cover page provided below for your project report; otherwise, the department will reject your project.

Download the Project Report Cover Page [pdf]

Abstract

The abstract should not exceed 150 words and briefly include the project's motivation, tasks, significance, and results.

Acknowledgement (if required)

If you received significant assistance from someone, you could mention their name here.

If you received funds that allowed you to carry out your work, mention the source's name. For example: “The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Directorate of Information Sciences sponsored the research work described in this report under Grant AF-AFORS-24-92.”

Introduction

Lead readers into the subject. Discuss the motivation and need for the project and the objective of your work—present background information on the project and review previous and current research in the subject area.

Report Contents

Describe the actual work you have done. Break your report into major sections, each with its own heading to better organize your research. Present enough details so that readers can continue your work if necessary. Give derivations, design flow charts, algorithms, or schematics. Describe significant simulations and experiments.

If the project involves extensive software coding, present the design hierarchy by highlighting code segments or using pseudo code. Note that some derivations, complete software code, simulation data, or experimental data are best put in the appendices to prevent cluttering of the report.

Summary and Conclusion

Carefully review what you have done and what your results have been. In particular, restate the significance of your work. Discuss how others could continue the research you have done for your project.

References

The reference sources cited in this section should be in IEEE reference format. For example:

[1] K. Z. Pekmestzi and G. D. Papadopoulos, “Cellular Two's Complement Serial-parallel Pipeline Multiplier,” Radio and Electronic Engineering, Vol. 49, pp. 575-580, 1979.

Report Format

Use 8.5x11 size paper. Ensure you set 1-inch margin space for the top, bottom, right, and 1.25 inches for the left margin.

The order of the Sections is Title and Signature, Abstract, Acknowledgement (if any), Table of Contents, Introduction, Report Contents, Summary and Conclusion, and References. 

Each of the eight sections must start a new page.

The main report's page number starts from the “Introduction” section. Pages are then continuously numbered through the References section.

Number pages separately for the Appendices (A1, A2 ……for Appendix A, B1, B2… for Appendix B…...)

You must place the page numbers at the bottom center of the page and in 10-point font.

Use “Time New Roman” or an equivalent font in size 12 for the report body, starting from the Abstract page. Exceptions exist for equations, the command script files, and outputs from the software tools and computers.

Use Courier New or an equivalent font in size 10 for the command script files, outputs from the software tools/computers.

Except for the Title and Signature page, all text in the report must be fully justified and double-spaced.

The abstract is to be in fully justified italicized text.

All printed material, including text, illustrations, and charts, must be kept within the print area of the page. Do not let your content extend into the margins on any side of the page.

Start each paragraph with TAB.

Figures and tables must be numbered separately and capitalize only the first letter of the first word of each. For example: “Figure 1. Hardware block”, “Table 1. Input test pattern”.

Center figure captions are below their respective figures. Similarly, center table titles are to above the appropriate tables.

First-order headings (e.g., “1. Introduction”) must be boldface, initially capitalized, and flush left. Use a period after the heading number, not a colon.

You must underline, capitalize, and flush left the second-order headings (e.g., “2.1 Features”). Follow the same rule for third-order and fourth-order headings. Note: Using more than second-order headings is discouraged.

Use footnotes sparingly and place them at the bottom of the page which they reference. Use “Times New Roman” or an equivalent font in 10-point size, single-spaced.

Master Thesis Guidelines

You can find all guideline information about the Graduate Thesis by visiting the College of Graduate Studies’ University’s Master Thesis Guidelines webpage.

Faculty Research Projects

Dr. Chang Choo

Research Interests: FPGA Design of Deep Learning Accelerator, Al Edge Computing, Computer Vision, Image Processing, Sensor Fusion for Autonomous Vehicles.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Please contact me in your second semester at SJSU.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Optimization of FPGA Based DNN Inference Engine
    • Research Area: FPGA Deep Learning
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 275 and/or EE 278

  2. Acoustic Noise Cancellation on Deep Neural Network
    • Research Area: Machine Learning
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 258 and/or EE 259

Dr. Sotoudeh Hamedi-Hagh

Research Interests: Design of RF, Analog, and Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits for Wireless and Wireline Communication System

Looking for: Graduate students with high academic standing and motivation
Contact Notes: Contact me as soon as you officially register at SJSU. The earlier you start working on EE 297/299, the more you will learn and achieve.

Current Research Projects:

  1. High Performance Opamps, Variable Gain Amplifiers, Comparators, Switched Capacitor and Latched Circuits, Bandgap, Precision Voltage and Current references in CMOS Technologies
    • Research Area: Analog IC Design
    • Prerequisite(s): Send me your resume for an interview.

  2. PLL, SAR, Pipelined, Flash, Sigma-Delta A/D and D/A Converters, Equalizers, SerDes in CMOS Technologies
    • Research Area: Mixed-Signal IC Design
    • Prerequisite(s): Send me your resume for an interview.

  3. LNA, Mixer, VCO, PA, Phase Shifter, Wideband Matching, Antenna, Transmitter and Receiver for BLE, WiFi, 5G, Radar and Satellite Wireless Communication in CMOS Technologies
    • Research Area: RF IC Design
    • Prerequisite(s): Send me your resume for an interview

Dr. Lili He

Research Interests: Semiconductor Device and Materials, Nano-electronics and Nanotechnology, Solar Cell, and System.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Contact me when ready for research.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Computer simulation of resistance change memory and /or phase change memory
    • Research Area: Nanoelectronics
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 221

  2. High performance high efficiency solar system
    • Research Area: Solar cell and system
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 221

Dr. Binh Le

Research Interests: Digital and Embedded Systems, System on Chip, Domain-Specific Computer Architecture, Energy-Efficient Nanosystems, Neural Networks and Applications, Carbon Nanotube, Brain-Machine Interface Systems.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Contact me when ready for research.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Computer simulation of resistance change memory and /or phase change memory
    • Research Area: Nanoelectronics
    • Prerequisite(s): Send me your resume for an interview.

  2. IP-Core Based SoC Design and Verification
    • Research Area: IP-Core Based SoC Design and Verification
    • Prerequisite(s): Send me your resume for an interview.

Dr. Thuy T. Le

Research Interests: Design and Verification of Arithmetic Circuits, ASIC, System on Chip, Embedded Systems, High-Performance Systems, Quantum Computer, Computational Engineering.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Contact me at the beginning of your second semester at SJSU.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Hardware accelerators for compute-intensive applications, including Machine Learning and Deep Learning
    • Research Area: 
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 271 and/or EE 287

  2. IP-Core Based SoC Design and Verification
    • Research Area: 
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 272 and/or EE 279

Dr. Robert Morelos-Zaragoza

Research Interests: Error Correcting Coding(ECC) Techniques, Digital Signal Processing, Software-Defined Radio, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems.

Looking for: Graduate Students with strong mathematical background.
Contact Notes: Contact me as soon as you decide to work on a research project.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Coding and Modulation. Wireless Sensor Networks
    • Research Area: Wireless Communications, Signal Processing
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 251, EE 265

  2. Design of polar codes and related codes
    • Research Area: Error Correcting Coding
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 251

Dr. Birsen Sirkeci

Research Interests: Wireless Communication, Sensor Networks, Cognitive Radios, Statistical Signal Processing, and Applications of Machine Learning in Cognitive Radios & Communications.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Please contact me in your second semester at SJSU.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Cognitive Radios, Spectrum Sensing, and 
    Cooperative Communication
    • Research Area: Communications, Signal Processing
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 250, EE 251 and/or EE 265

  2. Deep Learning Applications in Communications and Signals
    • Research Area: Machine Learning
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 258 and/or EE 257

Dr. Hiu-Yung Wong

Research Interests: Quantum Computing, Device Physics and Simulation, Cryogenic Electronics, Machine Learning, Analog and Power (WBG) Electronics, Neuromorphic Computing.

Looking for: Undergraduate or Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Contact me when ready for research.

Current Research Projects:

  1. TCAD/Simulation-Augmented Machine Learning
    • Research Area: TCAD / Simulation
    • Prerequisite(s): Interest in ML

  2. TCAD simulation for novel devices, power device, 2D material or cryogenic electronics
    • Research Area: Advanced Device Physics
    • Prerequisite(s): Taking/taken EE128 or EE 221 or equivalent

  3. Compact model and layout
    • Research Area: Analog Circuits and Neuromorphic computing
    • Prerequisite(s): Taking/taken EE124 or EE223 or equivalent

  4. Quantum computer noise modeling and algorithm
    • Research Area: Quantum Computing
    • Prerequisite(s): Taking/taken EE225 or equivalent or have a strong interest in this area

  5. Semiconductor chip measurement

    * Research Area: Semiconductor
    * Prerequisite(s): None

Dr. Juzi Zhao

Research Interests: Optical Network, Network Security, IoT, Data Center Architecture and Networks, Cloud Computing, and Networking.

Looking for: Graduate Students
Contact Notes: Contact me when ready for research.

Current Research Projects:

  1. Network Security
    • Research Area: Network Security
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 209

  2. Resource Allocation, Routing, Reliability
    • Research Area: Optical Networks
    • Prerequisite(s): EE 281