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November 15, 2007
Lalita Udpa Named an IEEE Fellow
Lalita Udpa, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been selected as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.(IEEE), effective January 1, 2008. She received this prestigious honor in recognition of her contributions to the development of forward and inverse electromagnetic nondestructive evaluation methodologies.
She is also fellow of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). ASNT serves the NDT professions and promotes NDT technologies through publishing, certification, research, and conferencing.
Udpa works primarily in the broad areas of nondestructive evaluation (NDE), signal and image processing, inverse problems, and biomedical applications. Her research involves the use of electromagnetic methods for assessing the structural integrity of components in critical structures such as aircraft and nuclear power plants. This work entails both the development of computational models of the underlying physics and the development of signal processing techniques for interpreting the measurements.
Automated signal interpretation modules developed by her group are used by several industries for rapid analysis of large volumes of data. These modules have been integrated with commercial systems and employed by Honeywell for engine disk inspection in commercial aircraft, by the Electric Power Research Institute for analyzing eddy current signals from steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants, and by the Navy for analysis of signals from the inspection of submarine hull welds.
She is also involved in the development of computational models for solving a variety of forward problems in NDE. Her three-dimensional computational models based on finite element analysis are used by Boeing for optimizing the design of GMR sensors and systems for more accurately detecting smaller defects embedded in multilayer structures.
Her research team’s work on computational modeling and real-time image processing for “Turbo Magneto-Optic Imaging for Inspection of Alodine Fasteners” was commended in 2005 by the Federal Aviation Administration through its “Better Way” award, which recognizes “a government/industry team that has worked together to develop and apply a technology . . . to advance inspection or testing of aircraft structure, aircraft components, or aircraft systems.” Udpa’s team helped develop a more sensitive system to detect surface and sub-surface cracks in the lower row of rivets in aircraft lap splices. Air Transport Association President and CEO James C. May said, “This outstanding team’s . . . innovative efforts will have industry-wide applicability and a lasting impact on the aviation industry.” The model is used extensively by industry for sensor optimization.
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