People – Molnar Group

Dr. Alyosha Molnar

Dr. Alyosha “Al” Molnar is an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. He received his BS in engineering from Swarthmore college in 1997. After spending a season as a deck-hand on a commercial Tuna fishing boat, Al worked for Conexant systems for 3 years designing RFICs. He was co-responsible engineer developing their first-generation direct-conversion receiver for the GSM cellular standard. That chip, and subsequent variants, have sold in excess of 100 million parts (and are still selling), as well as yielding several highly recognized papers.

When he entered graduate school in 2001, Al worked on an early, ultra-low-power radio transceiver for wireless sensor networks while taking multiple classes in neurobiology. Upon receiving his master’s degree, he changed groups and worked on dissecting the structure and function of neural circuits in the mammalian retina, using a combination of electrophysiological, anatomical and pharmacological techniques, as well as analysis techniques drawn from his Circuits background. In 2009, he joined Cornell as an assistant professor focusing on RF integrated circuits, computational imaging, and neural interfaces.

Contact Al: molnar “at” ece “dot” cornell “dot” edu.

Administrative Assistant

Kristin Kurz

Kristin P. Kurz is originally from Point Pleasant, New Jersey. She completed her BA from the University of Southern Maine. Upon graduating she began a nomadic life working for professional theatres around the country- CA, MI, ME, NH, and MA with a brief three year stop in Iowa where she received a MFA from the University of Iowa. Moving to Cornell to work for the Performing and Media Arts Department in 2013 she fell in love with Ithaca and decided to stay in the area. Kristin lived in London, England for a year serving as an Office Assistant for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts’ world center, Pax Lodge. Kristin has been a Girl Scout for 25 years. When she is not in the office Kristin enjoys anything adventurous- traveling , 48 contiguous states and 19 countries …and counting, snowboarding, sailing, camping, reading, volunteering, and hiking.

Please contact Kristin at kk544 “at” cornell “dot” edu, for any scheduling/inquiries regarding the Molnar Group.

Postdoctoral Associate

Dr. Sunwoo Lee

Sunwoo is a postdoctoral researcher in Molnar Group in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University. He received his B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University in 2010. Sunwoo obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University in 2012 and 2016 respectively. During his Ph.D., he had worked on chemical vapor synthesis of high quality graphene, and signal processing and force-sensing based on graphene nano-electro-mechanical systems (GNEMS) resonators. Dr. Lee is currently working with Prof. Molnar to develop heterogeneous systems that combine conventional radio systems with MEMS or NEMS.

Sunwoo has received Outstanding TA Award from Mechanical Engineering Department at Columbia University in 2011, Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship 2012 and 2013 (first to win two years in a row), and Pi-Star Award for Young Researcher Presentation, CARBONHAGEN in 2015.

Contact Sunwoo: sl933 “at” cornell “dot” edu

Ph.D. Students

Hazal Yüksel

Hazal got her B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Minor in Mathematics from Duke University, Durham, NC in 2012. Her research interests include duplexing software defined radios.

E. Rose Agger

Rose graduated from Wesleyan University in 2010 with a B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior and Film Studies, and from the University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2013. Her research interests include CMOS circuit design and packaging for neural recording and imaging devices. Outside of her research, Rose enjoys music, running, film, and working with the Ithaca chapter of Destination Imagination.

Ed Szoka

Robin Ying

Robin graduated from Cornell University in 2014 with a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include extremely low power radio utilizing both electrical and electro-mechanical systems as well has high-frequency radio utilizing novel circuit design techniques. Outside of his research, Robin enjoys playing volleyball and is volunteer staff with Cornell Asian American Intervarsity (AAIV Christian Fellowship).

Mel White

Mel comes to the Molnar group with a background in signal processing. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a BA in International Relations from William & Mary. Her primary research interest is in adaptive signal processing and applied math for communication and sensing devices. Outside of research, she enjoys playing banjo, racquetball, learning languages, and hiking with her dog.

Zach Boynton

Zach graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. His research interests are RF, analog, and mixed-signal circuit design.