Chuck DiMarzio's Homepage

A word on behalf of our sponsor... In one way or another, the majority of the support we receive for research and education comes from the federal government. Over more than 30 years, I have been continually impressed with the honesty, integrity, and dedication of the people who make this happen, and with the enormous return on our investment. For example, as quoted by NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni in a recent article in Science (V314, 17 Nov 2006, Pp.1088-1090) "the estimated total cumulative investment in cardiovascular research at NIH per American over the past 30 years is about $110, or approximately $4 for each American per year over the entire period. In return, we enjoyed a 63% decrease in mortality due to heart disease. The value to Americans of this increase in life expectancy has been estimated at about $1.5 trillion per year over the 1970-90 period [ R. Murphy, K. M. Topel, The Economic Value of Medical Research (Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago, rev. ed., 1999)]." Per person, that is about $100,000 per person for a $110 investment. While we all take great delight in discussing examples of waste and inefficiency in government, let's not lose sight of the fact that "your tax dollars at work," is not always a cynical phrase.

Previous Course Notes:

Spring 2006
ECEG398 Quantum Optics with Prof. Devaney

Fall 2000, Spring 2001, Fall 2007:
ECEU402 (Formerly ECE1341) Introduction to Electronics

Fall 2001, Fall 2003, Fall 2007: ECEG105 (Formerly ECE-3582) Optics for Engineers (grad)

Spring 2005, 6: ECEU646 Optics for Engineers (upper undergrad elective)

Summer II 2005:
ECEU401 Formerly ECE-1240
Intro to ECE Laboratory

Fall 2002,3
GEU110 Engineering Design (Freshman Course)

Winter 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2006.

ECEU692

Introduction to Subsurface Sensing and Imaging

Spring 2004:

ECEG287

Optical Detection (With Prof. Stephen McKnight)

Briefly...

I am the director of the Optical Science Laboratory (OSL) which is affiliated with CenSSIS, the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, at Northeastern University. The Center is a NSF Engineering Research Center, working toward a unified approach to subsurface imaging tasks. Our Laboratory is particularly interested in those imaging techniques which involve optics, especially coherent detection, multi-modal imaging where light is used in combination with another type of wave such as microwaves or ultrasound, or hyperspectral imaging. Our applications include biological and medical imaging, landmine detection, and remote sensing of the environment.

If you want a quick look at some of the research I do, go to the Optical Science Laboratory (OSL) homepage and look for the current research section, where you will find some of the presentation material we have used at conferences.

Here is my weekly schedule for the present quarter:

My normal hours on campus are from 9AM through 6PM, but this varies considerably, and I am usually fully scheduled every day, so the chance of catching me with a free moment is very small. For that reason, I prefer to arrange meeting times in advance. Send an email first, and schedule a meeting time. To the extent possible, I try to keep Friday afternoons from, 3:30 to 5, free for people to visit me in the lab. Often I will stay until about 6, but please don't count on this. This time is open to any students, faculty, staff, friends, visitors, without appointment. It would be nice (but not necessary) to let me know you are coming. Look for me in either 334 or 352 Egan.

My lab, the Optical Science Laboratory (OSL) is located in room 334 of the Egan Engineering and Science Research Center. You can find directions at at http://www.ece.neu.edu/groups/osl/directions.html.

Proofreading marks I use in correcting papers are at http://www.ece.neu.edu/faculty/dimarzio/10436.jpg
Some reminders about reports are located here.

Some Personal Information

I live in Cambridge, with my wife, Sheila, our cat, a large number of plants and assorted tropical fish.

We enjoy travel almost anywhere, attending plays, concerts, and the occasional film.

For outdoor activities, I enjoy running (see Greater Boston Track Club for running information in Boston), bicycling, both for getting around the city (in the good weather at least), and for pleasure (see my page on car-free biking around Boston, http:// http://www.ece.neu.edu/faculty/dimarzio/bike/ ), and skiing (especially Squaw Valley, CA, and Killington, VT).

Here are some pictures from our March 04 trip to Utah

Below is a picture from our annual bike trip from Plymouth to Provincetown (4-5 Aug 06), and our annual mountain biking trip to Mt. Snow, Vermont (24 Jul 06). Thanks to Timon for sharing the photos.

"This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my privilege - my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

--George Bernard Shaw

To Contact Me

You can reach me in any of the following ways. Electronic mail is usually the easiest and fastest.

e-mail: dimarzio @ ece.neu.edu

Phone: +1 617-373-2034

FAX: +1 617-373-8627

Pager: +1 617-236-9107 - The pager doesn't work in the subway, so if I don't answer, try again in 30 minutes.

Mail:

Charles A. DiMarzio

440 Dana Research Center

Northeastern University

360 Huntington Avenue

Boston, MA 02115

Lab Location:

334 Egan Building (see http://www.ece.neu.edu/groups/osl/directions.html)

ABOUT THE BACKGROUND: My favorite winter passtime is skiing. I put this background together from a detail of a photograph taken at Park City, in 2003. There are four copies in different orientations so that the tracks (and more importantly, the brightness levels) line up as the pattern repeats.