Carnegie Mellon University

Gary Fedder

Gary Fedder

Howard M. Wilkoff Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Co-Director, MEMS
Affiliated Faculty, DSSC

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  • 249 Roberts Engineering Hall
  • 412-268-8443
Address 5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

Dr. Fedder arrived at the university in 1994 with a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and The Robotics Institute. He currently is the Vice Provost of Research, Howard M. Wilkoff Professor in ECE, professor in Robotics and has courtesy faculty appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. He previously served in administrative roles as Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems (2006-2013, now known as the Engineering Research Accelerator), as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering (2013-2015) and as Interim Chief Executive Officer for the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute (2/2017-1/2018).

Dr. Fedder earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in EECS(6.1) from MIT in 1982 and 1984, respectively. From 1984 to 1989, he worked at the Hewlett-Packard Company on circuit design and printed-circuit modeling. In 1994, he obtained the Ph.D. degree in EECS from the University of California at Berkeley, where his research resulted in the first demonstration of multimode control of an underdamped surface-micromachined inertial device. His research interests include design and modeling of microsensors and microactuators, fabrication of integrated MEMS with electronic circuits using conventional CMOS processing, and implantable microsystems. In 2007, he was elevated to IEEE Fellow for contributions to integrated micro-electro-mechanical-system processes and design methodologies. His awards include the 1993 AIME Electronic Materials Society Ross Tucker Award, the 1996 Carnegie Institute of Technology George Tallman Ladd Research Award, and a 1996 NSF CAREER Award.

Currently, he serves on the executive editorial board for the IoP Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, on the editorial board of IET Micro & Nano Letters, and as co-editor of the Wiley-VCH Advanced Micro- and Nanosystems book series. He served on the editorial board of the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems from 2001 to 2013 and on the editorial board of SPIE Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS from 2010 to 2013. He served as the 2015 Transducers Conference regional program chair for the Americas, as general chair of the 2010 IEEE Sensors Conference, and as general co-chair of the 2005 IEEE MEMS Conference. Professor Fedder has contributed to over 290 research publications and holds16 patents in the MEMS area.

From 2011 to 2012, Dr. Fedder served as a technical co-lead in the U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Partnership where he worked with industry, academia and government to generate recommendations that motivated the launch of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). He co-led the proposal that landed the $70M pilot institute for the NNMI, America Makes , and served on its Executive Committee from 2012 to 2016. In 2016`, Dr.Fedder co-led with Professor Howie Choset a successful proposal to the Department of Defense to launch the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, which became an institute in the national network of Manufacturing USA Institutes on January 9, 2017. As founding president of the ARM Institute and Interim CEO through its first year, Dr. Fedder built the organization and grew its consortium membership to more than 100 industry, academic and non-profit organizations.

Education

Ph.D., 1994 
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 
University of California, Berkeley

M.S., 1984 
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S., 1982 
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research

Professor Fedder's research interests are in the multidisciplinary area of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and focus primarily on design, fabrication, and control aspects of sensor- and actuator-based systems. In MEMS, micron- to millimeter-size systems with sophisticated abilities to interact with their environment are manufactured through the use of VLSI-based photolithographic batch fabrication methods. Current research activities include micro-sensor and microactuator design; microrobotic control and manipulation; embedded microinstruments; nanometer-scale, probe-based data storage; and structured design methodologies for MEMS. Professor Fedder's group is designing a variety of MEMS, including microaccelerometers, gyroscopes, resonant sensors, and x-y-z microservos, using a unique process that combines foundry CMOS with thin film microstructures. Research in MEMS computer-aided design aims to develop structured design tools and a top-down synthesis flow. Continuing research will study control of large systems of microsensors and actuators, and broaden the manufacturing capabilities of integrated MEMS.

Keywords

  • Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
  • CMOS MEMS
  • Microfabrication
  • Microsensors
  • Microsystems
  • Nanomanufacturing
  • RF MEMS
  • Inertial sesors
  • Accelerometers
  • Gyroscopes
  • High-g accelerometers
  • Bias drift compensation
  • MEMS CAD/design/simulation
  • Micro-robotics
  • Integration of MEMS with electronic circuits
  • Bio/chemical sensors
  • Parylene neural probes
  • Vagus nerve stimulation for cancer therapy;
  • Low-power RF detection
  • Wearable stretchable sensors
  • Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
  • Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of nanolaminates

Related news

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Unprecedented Resolution

Researchers begin human testing of noninvasive neural interfaces that can be used as a wearable device.
Thursday, June 13, 2019

Singularity Hub features ECE/BME joint DARPA project

Singularity Hub featured BME and ECE researchers’ project recently funded by DARPA.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Mill 19 opening signals new era of manufacturing

Carnegie Mellon University researchers and robots will soon occupy a state-of-the-art facility at the newly constructed Mill 19 building on the 178-acre site known as Hazelwood Green.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Wearable system to sense and stimulate the brain

A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon is starting a project to design and implement a high-resolution, noninvasive neural interface that can be used as a wearable device.
Monday, June 18, 2018

Bettinger and Fedder create soft hydrogel brain implants

BME/MSE’s Christopher Bettinger and ECE’s Gary Fedder are part of a team that created a new soft hydrogel material for use in developing non-invasive brain implants.
Tuesday, January 09, 2018

ARM announces new CEO

The Board of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute has appointed Byron C. Clayton, an experienced leader in public-private partnerships and technology commercialization, as chief executive officer. Clayton will succeed Gary Fedder, who has held the interim CEO role since early 2017.
Tuesday, November 07, 2017

Fedder discusses robotics hub at Hazelwood Green steel mill

Gary Fedder is in the process of turning Hazelwood Green steel mill into a CMU robotics hub. With the space available, Fedder intends to focus more on manufacturing than on just one type of product.
Monday, May 09, 2016

BrainHUB announces recipients of ProSEED funding

Carnegie Mellon University has funded four new interdisciplinary neuroscience projects through its ProSEED grant program. The projects aim to create new tools and techniques to vastly improve how scientists study the brain and leverage the university’s strengths in biology, computer science, machine learning, psychology and engineering.
Friday, April 01, 2016

CMU joins national network for manufacturing innovation to support research on functional fabrics

The U.S. Department of Defense has tapped Carnegie Mellon University as a partner in a $75 million national research institute that will support American textile manufacturers in bringing sophisticated new materials and textiles to the marketplace.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Fedder and colleagues published in Advanced Materials

Vice Provost for Research and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Gary Fedder, along with Professor of Mechanical Engineering Philip LeDuc, and Ph.D. student Naser Naserifar, published "Material gradients in stretchable substrates toward integrated electronic functionality" in Advanced Materials.