Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Homeland Security Scholar Is Working On Technology That Offers Flexibility In Hostile Situations

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 10:39:24 -0400

Homeland Security Scholar Is Working On Technology That Offers Flexibility In
Hostile Situations ; `I Began Reflecting On My
Obligation'
Source: Seattle Post - Intelligencer
Publication date: 2003-08-26
Arrival time: 2003-08-27

Graduate student Mitchell Myjak has made significant headway on
designing high-performance reconfigurable hardware for digital signal
processing.

Yeah, well, the Department of Homeland Security knows what that is and
has given the Washington State University student a fellowship package
worth $100,000 to develop it because that technology may one day help
protect the nation.

This is the first year that the Department of Homeland Security has
awarded money from its Homeland Security Scholars and Fellows
Program. It handed out about $2 million for this school year. Out of 2,500
applications, 51 undergraduates and 51 graduate students in 34 states
and 79 different universities won awards.

The scholarships are designed to "support the growth and mentoring of the
next generation of scientists as they study ways to prevent terrorist
attacks within the U.S., reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism,"
department literature explains.

Myjak is from Kennewick and returns to class today as WSU's 2003- 2004
school year begins.

While he is grateful for the money and the other scholarships he has
received throughout his college career, he is especially grateful now for the
chance to help protect the nation from terrorists, something he has been
craving to do since the 9/11 attacks.

"In the aftermath of the terror attacks," Myjak said, "I began reflecting on
my obligation both as a citizen and engineer. Since I had already received
so much from the public, I had determined that I had to offer my talents in
return to help protect the nation from terrorist attacks."

And, according to the professor leading Myjak's research team - Jose
Delgado-Frias, WSU's Boeing Endowed Chair in computer engineering -
the department picked a dedicated, hard-working problem-solver who
"probably even works while he sleeps."

In short, the WSU researchers are exploring ways to make a piece of
hardware that performs digital signal processing - such as what a chip in a
cell phone does when it converts your voice into a digital signal and sends
it out to the wireless link - that can be reconfigured for different
applications. The radical difference here is that instead of reprogramming
the software in a piece of equipment or replacing the hardware, you'll be
able to use the chip or hardware for a new purpose.

"Instead of a custom chip for each application," Myjak said, "you can use
the devices we created and program them to do what you want."

He applied for the fellowship once he "realized that many of the devices
that perform digital processing are used in homeland security, such as
handheld radiation monitors and airborne detection systems."

Delgado-Frias said reconfiguring the way a piece of hardware in a system
works can be very important on the battlefield or in space when a piece of
that hardware or equipment has failed or been broken.

"In a hostile environment," he said, "if a soldier is in a place that can't
change the damaged hardware, you can reset the remaining hardware."

"The research has been very successful," Myjak said. The team has built
its first rough prototype of the new device and it works.

"He's very dedicated and has a great sense of research, of how it is done,"
said Delgado-Frias. "He knows that he had to solve the deep problems. He
takes the initiative, and that's what we want the student researchers to do,
to take a look at problems and find a much better solution."

Myjak said these solutions sometimes come from hours of sketching out
hundreds of pages of potential prototypes of what the revolutionary digital
processors might look like as well as pages of math - he said he has a
stack of about 700 of these pages cluttering his desk at home.

"There are two good ways to think," he said. "One of them is to try not to
think at all." When you take a break and suddenly the solution strikes
you, he said, "your unconscious mind has evidently been working on the
problem."

However, he said, this method is a little unpredictable.

"What often happens is you're stuck and take a break, take a shower and
get out and find you're no closer to a solution," he said. "The other way is
to start with a piece of paper and start doodling."

When asked what he had done for recreation over the summer, Myjak was
hard-pressed to come up with a list. He said he's been riding his bike
around Pullman and to the lab now to make sure he doesn't spend every
minute of his day in front of a computer.

And, model railroading is still a hobby, one he picked up from his older
brother - who along with his father are electrical engineers - back when
they would build railroad tracks all the way around their rambler-style
home in Kennewick.

"You could build your own routes," he said of model railroading, "and
decide where the trains go, and then run the trains however you like. Plus
they run on electricity and give you an introduction into the principles of
electrical engineering."

But he said, in explanation of the absence of a wide range of
extracurricular activities, he loves his work.

"I found out that I enjoy designing digital systems that have to operate
under a specific set of conditions," he said. "It's hard to explain. It's like
why do some people enjoy solving puzzles or doing crosswords. It's very
analytical in nature."

Now that he has won the fellowship and will have internship opportunities
as well as possible future employment in government agencies tied to
homeland security, Myjak said, "it feels like I'm accomplishing something
productive in my life. I feel satisfied that I'll be able to return the support
the public has given me."

P-I reporter Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8346 or
[email-masked]
http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=41146143&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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