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Electrical Engineering

Dr. Fred Lacy

  • Dr. Fred Lacy
  • Entergy Corporation Endowed Professor and Chair
  • Electrical Engineering Department
  • E-mail: fred_lacy@subr.edu
  • Phone: (225) 771-2541
  • Office: Pinchback, Room 411

Dr. Fred Lacy earned his Ph.D. focused in Electrical Engineering from Howard University in 1993.  Subsequently, he joined the Bioengineering Department at University of California, San Diego from 1994 – 1998 as a postdoctoral fellow.  After completing his postdoctoral research, Dr. Lacy held a position as a medical device reviewer at the Food and Drug Administration.  Dr. Lacy joined the faculty at Southern University in 2002 and has been chair of the Electrical Engineering Department since 2014. Dr. Lacy specializes in developing, manufacturing, and characterizing electronic microsensors and biomedical sensors.  He has researched and developed such devices for various applications (such as temperature sensing and oxygen-free radical measurements) using integrated circuit fabrication and processing technology. He has also developed machine learning algorithms to process data from these sensors.  These algorithms are capable of detecting sensor signals in noisy environments.  Dr. Lacy has received millions of dollars in research grant funding.  He has presented his research findings at numerous conferences and his major results are published in various refereed journals and book chapters.

 

Fall 2019 Classes:

Please press HERE for more information.

 
Office Hours:

Please contact Dr. Lacy for office hours.

 

Syllabi:

Please press HERE for more information about SU undergraduate catalog 2017-2020.

 

Research Interests:

Dr. Lacy’s research involves multidisciplinary projects that apply his knowledge and skills in electrical engineering to biology, chemistry, agriculture, physics, and computer science.  His research interests are in developing, manufacturing, and characterizing electronics-based sensors.  He has researched and developed such devices for various applications such as temperature sensing, chemical detection and reaction analysis, and biological measurements.  He also develops theoretical models to characterize sensors and materials.  This research has included using computers to model temperature sensors and creating models to understand the physics of charge transport in these devices as well as in materials such as superconductors.  Dr. Lacy is also interested in developing machine learning algorithms for signal processing.  He has conducted research to process images and videos for applications such as agriculture analysis and he has developed algorithms to analyze low signal-to-noise ratio data from sensors.

Biomedical

  • Developed electrochemical system to characterize oxygen radicals in hypertension
  • Fabricated microelectrodes to measure electrical properties of white blood cells

Chemical

  • Analyzed magnetoelastic sensor for detecting volatile gaseous chemicals
  • Utilized an electrochemical system to characterize reactive oxygen species production
  • Characterized metal oxide thin films for ammonia detection

Agricultural

  • Developed a sensor network system to monitor plant health after applying various stimuli

Physics

  • Created computational and theoretical models to characterize temperature sensors
  • Developed theoretical models to explain charge transport in conductors and superconductors

Nanotechnology

  • Fabricated and characterized nanometer films for temperature sensors (RTDs and thermistors)
  • Analysis of nanomaterial toxicity due to environmental factors

Machine Learning

  • Developed algorithm for accurately detecting signals in noisy environments
  • Evaluated algorithm for detecting and alerting drowsy drivers
  • Algorithm development and analysis for prostate cancer classification
  • Algorithm assessment for object detection from video surveillance

Engineering Education

  • Application of STEM projects and experiments for undergraduates and pre-college students
  • Analysis of electrical engineering curriculums and energy engineering courses

 

Please press HERE for more information (a condensed CV) about Dr. Fred Lacy.

Please press HERE for more information (a detailed CV) about Dr. Fred Lacy.