Afroditi V. Filippas, Ph.D.

Professor, Graduate Program Director and VIP Director | Electrical and Computer Engineering

Richmond, VA, UNITED STATES

Professor Filippas is VCU’s representative to CCAM. Her research focuses on Smart Manufacturing, Data Analytics, and Modeling.

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Biography

Professor Filippas earned her Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the University of Patras in Greece and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin (1993). After working as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications, Professor Filippas worked in the microwave and rf simulation and design software industry for a number of years; in 2004, she joined the VCU College of Engineerin, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2008, she was named Associate Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and in 2010 as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies for the VCU College of Engineering. During this time, Professor Filippas developed and fostered unique undergraduate experiences, such as the da Vinci program and VIP (Vertically Integrated Projects). She also served as mentor to a number of student organizations, and continues to serve as the faculty advisor to the VCU Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and HKN. In 2019, Professor Filippas also took on the role of joint chapter chair of the IEEE Education Society, Richmond and Northern Virginia Chapters. Professor Filippas is currently (since 2019) the VCU College of Engineering's representative to the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM - https://ccam-va.com/). Her research focuses on Smart Manufacturing, Data Analytics, and Modeling. Dr. Filippas is also very highly engaged in teaching and educational research. Current projects include the NSF-funded SUMMIT-P: A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships (https://www.summit-p.com/). This is a consortium of eleven institutions collaborating to revise and improve the curriculum for lower division undergraduate mathematics courses. Dr. Filippas’ research background in Microwave and RF component analysis and design has informed her innovative approach to teaching electromagnetics; emphasis is placed on simulating real-world situations and developing images and animations that help students immerse themselves in the study of this fascinating topic.

Industry Expertise (2)

Education/Learning

Research

Areas of Expertise (6)

Electromagnetic Device Modeling

Data Analytics

Higher Order Statistical Analysis

Multimodal Data Analytics

Experimental Design

Smart Manufacturing

Education (3)

University of Patras: Diploma, Electrical Engineering 1986

University of Texas: M.S.E., Electrical Engineering 1989

University of Texas: Ph.D., Electrical Engineering 1993

Affiliations (1)

IEEE : Senior Member

Media Appearances (3)

CCAM Welcomes Data Analytics Fellow

CCAM online

2019-06-17

The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) is pleased to welcome Afroditi V. Filippas, Ph.D. as the Data Analytics CCAM Fellow effective June 6, 2019. She will support and guide the development of CCAM’s projects related to signal processing and nonlinear statistical analysis techniques to ensure CCAM meets the goals of its members.

VCU and VUU to offer dual degrees in physics and engineering or chemistry and engineering this fall

VCU College of Engineering online

2019-01-18

(From left) Deborah Noble-Triplett, Ph.D., senior vice president for academic affairs at VCU; Mary Gordon, vice president for Altria Client Services; Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering; Tamika Murrell (EE '05), staff engineer with Altria Client Services; Afroditi V. Filippas, Ph.D., associate dean for undergraduate studies, VCU College of Engineering; Gail Hackett, Ph.D., VCU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs; Jamie Cooper, Ph.D., assistant vice provost for academic programs at VCU

More women are seeking STEM-related degrees at VCU, university says

The Commonwealth Times online

2018-09-17

Engineering departments at VCU have seen increases in female participation across the board. For the 2017-18 academic year, women hold the majority of seats in the biomedical engineering program. The ratio runs 50/50 for chemical and life sciences, said Afroditi Filippas, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies.

Research Focus (1)

Multiple Fundamental Frequency Pitch Detection for Real Time MIDI Applications(Link)

2010-08-01

- Convert electrical guitar signal with multiple fundamental frequencies to MIDI control signals - Uses neural network binary trees to extract pitch features from a signal - Operates in real-time with low latency on a embedded platform

Research Grants (1)

Collaborative Research: A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-Institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships (SUMMIT-P)

co-PI, NSF 1525122 $330k

8/15/16 – 8/15/20

Selected Articles (7)

AI Augmentation for Trustworthy AI: Augmented Robot Teleoperation

2020 13th International Conference on Human System Interaction (HSI)

2020 Despite the performance of state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, some sectors hesitate to adopt AI because of a lack of trust in these systems. This attitude is prevalent among high-risk areas, where there is a reluctance to remove humans entirely from the loop. In these scenarios, Augmentation provides a preferred alternative over complete Automation. Instead of replacing humans, AI Augmentation uses AI to improve and support human operations, creating an environment where humans work side by side with AI systems. In this paper, we discuss how AI Augmentation can provide a path for building Trustworthy AI. We exemplify this approach using Robot Teleoperation. We lay out design guidelines and motivations for the development of AI Augmentation for Robot Teleoperation. Finally, we discuss the design of a Robot Teleoperation testbed for the development of AI Augmentation systems.

Work in Progress: Sustainable Collaborations Between Math and Engineering

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

2020 The work described in this paper is part of a larger, collaborative NSF grant. The focus of the grant is to study faculty attitudes, culture, and protocols needed to establish successful cross-campus connections between mathematics faculty and partner disciplines. The Math department at our institution teaches an average of 20 sections of Differential Equations per year. The majority of the students in the course are majors in Engineering or Sciences. Anecdotally, students do not do a good job of transferring knowledge content or acquired skills from the math course into courses within their majors. In order to improve knowledge and skill retention, we have worked to establish systematic collaborations between Mathematics and the partner disciplines, primarily Engineering. In addition, we communicate regularly with our cohorts at the other institutions on the collaborative grant to review different collaboration paradigms and determine a qualitative process or list of best practices for setting up similar collaborations in diverse settings.

https://doi.org/10.25891/1z36-ks38

The Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

2020 A National Consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships project (SUMMIT-P) is a collaboration of institutions focused on revising first- and second-year mathematics courses with the help of partner disciplines with prerequisite mathematics courses. This paper describes the fishbowl discussion technique used by the consortium members to encourage interdisciplinary conversation. Vignettes describing the results of conversations that occurred at several consortium member institutions are provided by the co-authors.

One-step 3D-printing process for microwave patch antenna via conductive and dielectric filaments

Microwave and Optical Technology Letters

2018 3D printing is becoming increasingly popular due to its convenience, ease of use, and low cost. Companies such as Ford, General Electric Aviation, and many others are using 3D printing for rapid prototyping before investing time and money in volume manufacturing. However, development in 3D-printed microwave antennas has remained limited. In this study, a parametric analysis of solely (one step process) 3D-printed 5.8 GHz patch antennas using commercially available conductive and dielectric materials is presented. Effects of tool path and layer resolution on the substrate material's complex permittivity and radiative material's conductivity are explored. These antennas will utilize commercially available conductive PLA filament (Black Magic) based on graphene as the material for the radiating elements and ground plane. Dielectric PLA will be used in place of the substrate.

Signal Processing of Electroencephalogram for the Detection of Attentiveness towards Short Training Videos

Thesis for: Ph.D.

2013 This research has developed a novel method which uses an easy to deploy single dry electrode wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) collection device as an input to an automated system that measures indicators of a participant's attentiveness while they are watching a short training video. The results are promising, including 85% or better accuracy in identifying whether a participant is watching a segment of video from a boring scene or lecture, versus a segment of video from an attentiveness inducing active lesson or memory quiz. In addition, the final system produces an ensemble average of attentiveness across many participants, pinpointing areas in the training videos that induce peak attentiveness...

The S-band transmitter design for the Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications racetrack microtron

Particle Accelerator Conference

1999 A high-power CW (continuous-wave) source, at 2380 MHz, for the IASA (Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications), (Athens, Greece), Microtron is based on the CPI (Communications and Power Industries) type VKS-8270 multi-cavity klystron. The high-level DC power conditioning for the klystron uses an existing high-voltage transformer-rectifier (HVPS) and variable-voltage transformer (VVT), designed to operate from 60 Hz power, whereas the local power is at 50 Hz...

Mode Matching Analysis of the Coplanar Microstripline on a Layered Dielectric Substrate

The University of Texas at Austin

1989 In this project, mode matching was used to calculate the propagation constant and the characteristic impedance of a coplanar coupled microstrip line. The Striplines are considered to be perfect electric conductors of negligible thickness, and are separated from the ground plane by three layers of dielectric material. The layer with the higher dielectric constant is sandwiched between two layers of lower dielectric constants, such that the field is confined to this middle layer, which is called the 'conducting layer' of the microstrip line. By confining the field to this layer, losses at the metal conductor are minimized.