Faculty Bios

Professor Ryan Kastner:

Ryan is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. He received a PhD in Computer Science at UCLA, a masters degree (MS) in engineering and bachelor degrees (BS) in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, all from Northwestern University. He is the co-director of the Wireless Embedded Systems Master of Advanced Studies Program. He also co-directs the Engineers for Exploration Program. His current research interests reside in three areas: hardware acceleration, hardware security, and remote sensing. View website.

Project Development Engineer Curt Schurgers:
Curt Schurgers received his Ph.D. from UCLA in integrated circuits andsystems, and his MS in EE from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (KUL). Before coming to UCSD in 2002, he was a lecturer at UCLA in VLSI System Design and a postdoctural associate at MIT. He also held research assistantships at UCLA Networked & Embedded Systems Lab and the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) in Belgium. From 2004 until 2010, he was an Assistant Professor at the ECE Department at UCSD, leading the Wireless Information Systems Lab. Since December 2010, he has been appointed as a Project Development Engineer at Calit2, leading a large NSF program on underwater networked systems.

Teacher Fellow Shirley Miranda:

Shirley earned her B.S. in Computer Engineering at UCSD then worked as a software development engineer. Her continued volunteer work with high school students through the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF) inspired her to go into teaching. At the University of San Diego, she earned her M.Ed. focusing on technology in education. She currently teaches Statistics 1-2, AP Statistics, Robotics and AP Computer Science at Morse High School in San Diego. This is her ninth summer as a Teacher Fellow at UCSD COSMOS where she developed the Science Communication curriculum. She serves as the Director of the GSDSEF, is a member of the COSMOS Advisory Board and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair’s Advisory Council. Recently, she was recognized with the 2014 National Council of Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Educator Award for her contributions to the computer science educational community. Additionally, her school district named her the 2015 Teacher of the Year Runner-Up for high schools. Shirley spends her free time writing and visiting the San Diego Zoo with her husband and 19-month old daughter. She has published four books Falling, Winter Solstice, Wintering, and Springing of her Bits and Pieces series. She is currently writing her fifth book.  shirleymiranda.com