Date: May 08, 2012

Senior Receives Three Year Grant from National Science Foundation

Steven Miller Named to Graduate Research Fellowship Program

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – Steven Miller, a senior in the Department of Engineering and Honors College student at Hofstra, was recently awarded a three-year graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation.  The grant is an annual stipend of  $30,000.  This fall, Miller will enter the PhD program in Electrical Engineering at Cornell University, where he has received a full academic scholarship.

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Miller’s honors thesis, called “Trellis Demodulation of Two-Level Read-Solomon-Modulated FH-CDMA Wireless Communication Systems”, was written under the guidance of Dr. Wing C. Kwong, professor of Engineering.  The research involved improving the sending and receiving of data - for example, the encoding of your voice during a cell phone call and the decoding of it on the receiver’s end.  By improving the transmission of these messages, the speed and quality of reception is strengthened.  “The project involved formulating an improved method of sending and receiving of codes in a two-level wireless communication system, with the ultimate goal of simplifying and improving the speed of the processes,” Miller said.  

His research was published in IEEE Xplore, the magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and will also be featured at the IEEE Long Island Systems, Applications, and Technologies 2012 Conference.  “I feel very honored to receive this award. It is an amazing opportunity for me to make my own contribution to advancing science and technology,” Miller said. “I am excited by nanotechnology and photonics and the huge potential to positively impact society in many fields, from telecommunications to energy and health.”

An East Meadow resident, Miller will graduate in May with his B.S. in Electrical Engineering.  He is an involved member of campus, serving as President of the Hofstra’s student chapter of IEEE and plays principal trumpet in the Hofstra Symphony Orchestra.  Miller has taken part for the last two summers in the Research Experience for Undergraduates in the Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and Environment at Princeton University.  In 2010, he travelled to Denmark where he took part in the LoCal Renewable Energy Summer Program.

The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) seeks to ensure the diversity of science and engineering professionals in the United States.  The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.  National Science Foundation Fellows are anticipated to become knowledgeable experts who can contribute significantly to research, teaching, and innovations in science and engineering. 

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from about 140 undergraduate and more than 150 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business; engineering; communication; education, health and human services; and honors studies, as well as a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

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