ieee research report format

Structure Your Article

Learn about the elements that organize a typical IEEE journal article and how to compose your work to help communicate your ideas more clearly.

The article’s title should be specific, concise, and descriptive to help readers decide if they should read the full article.  Use keywords and short phrases to describe the article’s content in as few words as possible.  Avoid terms such as “new” or “novel” since the reader already knows that your research is new and worthy of publication.

Follow the IEEE authorship guidelines when determining who belongs on the author list. 

You may publish your name in your native language, alongside the English version of your name, in the author list if you wish.  The guidelines below are for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. All other native language names should be submitted via Unicode characters. In your article’s cover letter, indicate that the article includes author names in native languages.

Be sure to carefully check the rendering of your name in your article during the proof stage before article publication.

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters

The following font styles will be used when rendering Chinese, Japanese, or Korean characters in the final publication. Use the appropriate font for your native language to avoid potential errors.

• Simplified Chinese: SongMT
• Traditional Chinese: SungMT
• Japanese: MS Mincho
• Korean: Batang

Use Microsoft Word’s Insert Symbols feature to add the correct characters in parentheses after the name of each author who would like to have their name shown in their native language. Use the standard font listed above to ensure accuracy.

When writing in LaTeX, provide the CJK Ascii Unicode for Chinese (traditional or simplified), Japanese, or Korean.

Your abstract should provide a brief summary of the research conducted, the conclusions reached, and the potential implications of those conclusions.

A strong abstract will also:

• Consist of a single paragraph up to 250 words, with correct grammar and unambiguous terminology
• Be self-contained; without abbreviations, footnotes, references, or mathematical equations
• Highlight what is novel in your work
• Include 3-5 keywords or phrases that describe the research, with any abbreviations clearly defined, to help readers find your article

Most authors write the abstract last and edit it multiple times before article publication to ensure it accurately captures the entire article.

IEEE recommends that you do not include mathematical symbols in your article title or abstract because they may not display properly.

Using the right keywords in your article can make your article more easily and reliably discoverable—which leads to a broader readership for your article. For best results, define any abbreviations and, where possible, strive to use standardized keywords. Using the IEEE Thesaurus  can help you find the best standardized keywords to fit your article. Use the  thesaurus access request form  for free access to the  IEEE Thesaurus .   

Back to Top

First Footnote

The first footnote is not numbered. All other footnotes in the article are numbered consecutively. Do not use asterisks or daggers. The first footnote (or the author affiliation paragraph) is made up of at least three paragraphs.   

First paragraph

The first paragraph consists of:

• all IEEE-provided received, revised, and accepted dates of the article, as well as the two additional online published dates (i.e., first and final publication dates)
• author-provided name(s) of the corresponding author(s) (as well as names of equally contributed authors or co-first authors, if applicable)
• author-provided full financial support for the work in the article (listed here and not in the Acknowledgment)
• author-provided   information of full or partial prior presentation of an article (referred to as a “paper”) at a conference, including the DOI of the prior presentation, which links to the conference version and not a preprint; if an article is a thesis or part of a thesis or dissertation, this should be noted in the last sentence of the first paragraph
• Articles That Are Reporting on Human/Animal Research and Have Review Board Approval: This work involved human subjects or animals in its research. Approval of all ethical and experimental procedures and protocols was granted by (Name of Review Board or Committee) (if provided under Application No. xx, and performed in line with the (Name of Specific Declaration (if applicable/provided)).
• Articles That Are Reporting on Human/Animal Research and Are Exempt From Review Board Approval: This work involved human subjects or animals in its research. The author(s) confirm(s) that all human/animal subject research procedures and protocols are exempt from review board approval.

Refer to the IEEE’s policy on Research on Human and Animal Subjects .

Second paragraph

The second paragraph consists of author affiliations, including author-provided department, university or corporation, city, state, province or prefecture (if provided), postal code, and country for each author. Note that the country and corresponding author’s e-mail address must be included. All authors may include their e-mail addresses, which would be separated by semicolons.

See IEEE Editorial Style Manual for Authors for detailed examples of author affiliation types for two or more authors, changed affiliation, retired author, deceased author, and consultant.

Third paragraph

The third paragraph consists of an IEEE-provided notice if the article has supplementary materials and/or color figures in the online version.

Introduction

The introduction section includes a review of the existing literature to position your research within the broader scientific field and to show the novelty of your work.  The introduction should also describe the question you’re trying to answer with your research and why that question is important to the field.

Methodology

The methodology section is a straightforward description of what you did in your research and how you did it.  A detailed methodology section will make your article reproducible by other researchers, which helps others trust and build upon your work.

Ensure your mathematical equations and formulas display correctly in your published article by following either the IEEE Math Typesetting Guide for LaTeX Users or the IEEE Math Typesetting Guide for MS Word Users .

The results section describes the results you obtained in your research.  Include figures and tables as appropriate to illustrate your results. Figures can show data trends or other visual information. Tables are best to use when the exact values are important.

In the discussion section, describe what your results mean and how they are an important contribution to the research field.

The conclusion section can highlight potential broader implications of your work and areas that need further study.  Be careful not to inflate your findings.

The reference section is important because all scientific and technical research builds upon previous work. References help give proper credit and attribution to that preceding body of work.  References also support and validate your hypothesis.  Be sure to only cite references that directly support your work. Inflating citations by adding unnecessary references is considered a breach of publishing ethics.

Acknowledgments

The acknowledgments section is where you can recognize and thank those who have helped you publish this article. Here you can thank your funder, someone who supported you during the research project, or the anonymous reviewers who evaluated the article.  The Acknowledgements section is optional but quite common.

Refining the Use of English in Your Article

Communicate your work clearly. If you are not fully proficient in English, consider using an English language editing service before submitting your article. An expert editing service can help you refine the use of English in your article, so you can communicate your work more effectively.

The use of an editing service is paid for by the author. It does not guarantee acceptance in an IEEE publication.

IEEE authors are eligible for discounts at the following language editing services:

• American Journal Experts : 10% discount
• Enago : 30% discount ( review Enago’s services for authors in Chinese )

Authoring Tools and Templates

Creating your conference paper for IEEE should be seamless. Save time and effort with authoring tools and templates that will help you write, prepare, and share your research better.

Use   IEEE conference templates   in Word or LaTeX to easily format your paper for publication. Write collaboratively with your co-authors in   Overleaf , an authoring tool for LaTeX and rich text documents. Overleaf is preloaded with IEEE templates for your convenience. Overleaf and LaTeX resources are available online for both beginners and advanced users. Choose from a variety of quick guides, tutorials, webinars, and detailed documentation based upon your individual needs and level of expertise.

Get your paper ready for publication with IEEE Author Tools. Find the right conference   for your paper. Validate your   references  and   LaTeX   files. Claim your unique   ORCID identifier   to get full credit for your work.

Share your data and code with other researchers through the data repository   IEEE DataPort ™ and the executable code platform   Code Ocean .

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IEEE Overview

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This page will introduce you to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) style for formatting research papers and citing sources. IEEE – pronounced “I-triple-E” – is a style widely used among all branches of engineering, computer science, and other technological fields.

Though the OWL’s section on IEEE is sufficient for quick reference, if you are writing a lengthy manuscript or dissertation, or if you have detailed questions, you should consult the IEEE Editorial Style Manual, available as a PDF through the organization’s website . Alternately, if you are formatting a paper for submission to a specific organization, publication, or event, refer to the formatting guidelines provided by said organization / publication / event and privilege those guidelines over any found here.

The IEEE section contains the following pages:

General Format

• Basic formatting and page layout
• Abstracts, index terms, and other front matter
• Section headings, appendix headings, and similar
• Appendices, acknowledgements and other back matter

In-Text Citation

• Formatting in-text citations
• Citing within a reference
• Citing multiple references at once

Reference List

• Formatting reference page entries
• General principles for formatting references
• Specific instructions for formatting references to various media

Tables, Figures, and Equations

• Distinguishing between tables, figures, and equations
• Formatting tables appropriately
• Formatting labels, titles, captions, etc. appropriately
• Referring to tables, figures, and equations in text.

Write Your Paper

IEEE offers guidance to help you write your paper , display equations correctly , improve your graphics , and meet the   IEEE   Xplore ® Digital Library requirements .  Tools and templates will help you as you get your research ready for publication.

IEEE Style Guide

• General Style Guidelines
• IEEE Standard Abbreviations
• Citation Style Overview
• Using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
• Audiovisual Resources
• Conferences
• Reports and Technical Reports
• Theses and Dissertations

IEEE Resources

• IEEE Citation Guidelines Give information on "How to Cite References: IEEE Documentation Style"
• IEEE Editorial Style Manual This style manual provides general editing guidelines for IEEE Transactions, Journals, and Letters. Updated 2016.
• CAS Source Index (CASSI) Search Tool Another tool to find bibliographic information for journals and abbreviated journal titles.
• The IEEE Communications Society Publications Department Style Guide Updated 2018.

Thank you to the librarians of  Monash  University  and the  American University of  Sharja  for allowing us to reuse and remix content from their IEEE guides.

Citing Reports and Technical Reports in IEEE

Reports (print)

  Online report with a URL

Report from USA where the Country is omitted 

Country not required for this report, as the convention requires only city and state but not country if from USA.

Technical  Reports

• << Previous: Patents
• Next: Theses and Dissertations >>
• Last Updated: Dec 7, 2023 9:19 AM
• URL: https://libguides.uwf.edu/ieee

The IEEE is pleased to provide comprehensive LaTeX support to it's authors and members in partnership with Overleaf.

Overleaf is an online LaTeX and Rich Text collaborative writing and publishing tool that makes the whole process of writing, editing and producing scientific documents much quicker and easier for both authors and publishers.

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Additional Resources

• A free online  Introduction to LaTeX   course is provided by Dr John Lees-Miller of Overleaf.
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• The  IEEE Author Digital Toolbox , which includes a   graphics checker tool  and   IEEE reference preparation assistant.

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As a professional engineer, you have myriad experiences solving problems. Your reports, both formal and informal, help your client, supervisor, or other stakeholders make actionable decisions about those problems. Explore these resources to learn how to write more effective reports for greater project and career success:

• How do I write an effective report?

How do I use Microsoft Word to my advantage?

• Where can I find more information about writing reports?

Whether formal or informal, interim or final, your report is an essential part of the problem-solving process. Begin by analyzing your communication situation (note: link to Communication Situation) and reviewing communication basics?? (note: link to Communication Basics), then find out how to structure and format your report as effectively as possible:

What elements should my report contain?

What is the best way to present those elements.

Whether you’re writing for a client, your supervisor, or some other project stakeholder, your audience will likely want to know [adapted from P.V. Anderson’s Technical Communication (1)]:

• What will we gain?
• Are your facts reliable?
• What do you know that is useful to us?
• How do you interpret those facts from our point of view?
• How are those facts significant to us?
• What do you think we should do?

An effective report will be structured to answer these questions clearly and specifically. Depending on its level of formality, your report structure will include all or some of these elements [adapted from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (2)]:

• Front matter This report element includes the title or cover page, letter of transmittal, acknowledgments, table of contents, and lists of figures and tables.
• Executive summary and abstract These report elements provide an overview of what you’ll discuss in the body of the report.
• Body This report element includes the introduction, summary/background, methods/procedures, results, discussion of results, conclusion, and recommendations.
• Back matter This report element includes references, appendices, and attachments.

Front matter refers to the preliminary, supporting components of a report. It appears where you might expect: at the front of the report. You will typically attend to this element last and in conjunction with back matter, after you have written the body and executive summary and abstract.

Your report’s front matter includes [adapted from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (3)]:

• Title or cover page Include a title, the name of the person authorizing the report, your name, your company’s name and contact information, and the date you submit the report.
• Letter of transmittal Describe the problem you’re solving for, the purpose of the work you’ve done, the time period for the work, and your results and recommendations.
• Acknowledgments Credit anyone who contributed substantially to the project, and include any permissions for copyrighted materials use.
• Table of contents Provide a guide that includes every report element and the page on which it occurs. Page number front matter with lower-case Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, etc.); page number the rest of the report with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.). You can use Word to automatically generate your table of contents.
• Lists of figures and tables Provide a separate guide, like a secondary table of contents, that includes the name and page location of every figure in your report, and another for tables.

Formal reports include every component listed above; an informal report may only include some of them. In some cases, your company may specify which of these components to use and how.

Executive summary and abstract

Your engineering report may include both an executive summary and an abstract, or it may only include one or the other. These elements appear between the front matter and the report body. Write these after you have written and revised the report body.

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is an overview of the key points in your report. It should summarize the purpose and scope of your work, the methods you used, and your key findings, conclusions, and recommendations [4].

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a short but specific summary of the details you cover in the report’s body. It should briefly mention the purpose and scope of your work, the methods you used, and your key findings, conclusions, and recommendations [5].

What’s the difference between the two?

The difference lies primarily in their purpose and length. The abstract provides a preview of the report’s content meant to entice readers to read the entire report. It is typically less than a page long. The executive summary, on the other hand, provides enough information to allow stakeholders to make a decision without reading the full report. It is typically as long as 10% of the full report [6].

The body of your report is where you provide the details of your work. It is the longest part of your report and falls after the front matter and executive summary and abstract. You will produce the body before any other element of your report, with the possible exception of graphics, like figures and tables.

Your report’s body includes [1] [7]:

• Introduction Summarize your major conclusions and recommendations. Also describe the organization of your report and its scope.
• Summary/background Describe the existing research or activity you relied on to guide your work.
• Methods/procedures Describe what you did and how you did it. Include the equipment you used.
• Results Reveal your research findings. This report component may be combined with the discussion of results.
• Discussion of results Describe what your results demonstrate and why that is important to your audience. Highlight notable trends the results reveal, as well as the limitations and assumptions in your work. This report component may be combined with the results.
• Conclusion Make meaningful statements based on the discussion of results. This report component may be combined with the recommendations.
• Recommendations Provide actionable recommendations based on your conclusions. This report component may be combined with the conclusion.

Back matter

The back matter of a report is its succeeding, supporting components. As its name implies, it appears at the back of the report. You will typically attend to this element last and in conjunction with front matter , after you have written the body and executive summary and abstract .

Your report’s back matter includes [1]:

• References List the references you cited throughout your report. Use your company’s or engineering field’s style guide (note: link to What is a style guide? Which one should I use?) to determine the appropriate format for your reference list.
• Appendices Present detailed information related, but not essential, to your report in the appendices. Some examples of materials appropriate for the appendices, includes data, analysis methods, and equipment details [3]. In some cases, you’ll include all your tables and figures here rather than in the body of the report. Put the appendices in order by their mention in the body of the report.
• Attachments Attach materials appropriate for the appendices that are too large in size to fit the report format. For instance, you may have oversize blueprints that would be unreadable if reduced to the typical 8.5×11 size of a report.

According to Paul Anderson in his book Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach , “Good [formatting] helps readers understand your information, locate information, and notice highly important content” [8]. A successful report is formatted well.

What components should I consider while formatting?

When formatting your report, pay attention to these common components [8]:

• Body text Sentences and paragraphs
• Headings Titles, headings, subheadings
• Headers and footers Recurring components at the top and/or bottom of every page, like page numbers and report title
• Graphics Tables, figures, photos
• Space Empty areas between headers, paragraphs, graphics, and captions

How do I format those components?

Consider these basic principles adapted from graphic design theory when formatting your report [9]. Scroll to the bottom of this page for a rough example of these principles applied to the above components:

• Contrast Use contrasting size, weight, and typeface to establish focus and hierarchy on your pages. For instance, set your top-level headings in a bold, sans-serif, 14 point typeface like Arial; set your body text in a regular weight, serif, 10 to 12 point typeface like Times New Roman.
• Repetition Use the same formatting for every page and similar components on that page. For instance, include page numbers in the same place, with the same formatting on every page (10 point, bold, Arial, at the bottom, center of the pages, for example). Style your body text and headings the same throughout the report (Microsoft Word styles can help you do this easily).
• Alignment Connect every component on a page with a strong visual alignment. For instance, place graphics, like tables or figures, on the left side of the page in alignment with the left edge of the text. Align headings to the left like the body text.
• Proximity Use space to group related items together and separate unrelated items. For instance, place graphics near their mention in the body text. Put less space between a subhead and its related body text; put more space between the bottom of body text and the next, unrelated subhead.

Reference Report examples

Your company likely has numerous examples of reports that include some or all of these elements and their individual components. In addition, examples of formal reports abound in professional journals in your field.

Microsoft Word includes numerous tools and functions that will save you time and hassle, and allow you to consistently format your reports. Visit the links from Where can I find more information about writing effective reports? to learn how to use these time-saving tools and functions:

• Styles Rather than manually styling text, use styles to change the formatting of the same type of text (body, headings, captions, etc.) from one formatting dialog at one time.
• Page numbering and sectioning Instead of manually numbering your pages one at a time, use automatic page numbering and sectioning to organize your report.
• Table of contents creation Instead of manually creating and numbering your report’s table of contents, use automatic table of contents creation to provide access to the organization and contents of your report.
• Graphics Place and resize graphics from programs like Excel or from other text documents to fit your report’s format.

Where can I find more information about writing effective reports?

The IEEE Professional Communication Society’s site provides you with a basic understanding of writing effective reports. Explore other resources to gain more knowledge about this topic.

• Writing an executive summary for engineering reports (vidcast) Watch this 6-minute video that demonstrates how to write an effective executive summary for an engineering report.
• Writing a title page for engineering reports (vidcast) Watch this 4-minute video that demonstrates how to put together an effective title page for engineering reports.
• Report checklist Use this checklist to make sure you’ve addressed every element in your engineering report.
• How to use styles in Microsoft Word to save a lot of work Read this resource that teaches you how to use styles in Word to make your report formatting consistent and efficient.
• Create an automatic table of contents in Word (video) Watch this 4-minute video to learn how to generate an automatic table of contents using styles in Word.
• How to create a table of contents in Microsoft Word Read this thorough resource that shows you how to automatically create a table of contents in Word.
• Table of Contents tips Consult this source that points out some fine points of creating and modifying tables of contents in Word.
• Add page numbers to documents in Word 2007 and 2010 Read this resource that shows you how to add page numbers in both Word 2007 and 2010.
• Word 2003 page numbers Watch this 3-minute video to learn how to insert page numbers in Word 2003.
• How to insert page numbers in Microsoft Word 2003 Read this quick set of instructions for inserting page numbers in Word 2003.
• How to restart page numbers in a Word document section Read this quick set of instructions for sectioning Word documents and page numbering each section differently.
• How to copy a chart from Excel into a Word document Consult this resource to learn how to place and modify Excel charts in Word documents.
• Move Excel graph to Word tutorial (video) Watch this 13-minute tutorial to learn how to place and modify Excel charts in Word documents.
• How to crop and resize an image in Word 2010 (video) Watch this 2-minute video to learn how to crop and resize images in Word.
• Insert and position graphics in Word documents Read this resource to learn how to insert and position graphics in Word.

[1] P.V. Anderson, “Writing reader-centered reports,” in Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007, pp. 539-556.

[2] E. Cember, A. Heavilon, M. Seip, L. Shi, and A. Brizee. Sections of reports. Purdue Online Writing Lab. [Online]. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/05

[3] E. Cember, A. Heavilon, M. Seip, L. Shi, and A. Brizee. Mechanical elements of reports.  Purdue Online Writing Lab.  [Online]. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/0 8

[4] Processes for writing an executive summary.  Writing at Colorado State University.  [Online]. Available: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/page.cfm?pageid=1508

[5] E. Cember, A. Heavilon, M. Seip, L. Shi, and A. Brizee. The report abstract and executive summary.  Purdue Online Writing Lab . [Online]. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/07

[6] K. Khan. (2008, Sept. 19). Difference between executive summary, abstract and synopsis. University of Balochistan. [Online]. Available: http://www.scribd.com/doc/55954574/Difference-Between-Executive-Summary-Abstract-and-Synopsis

[7] E. Cember, A. Heavilon, M. Seip, L. Shi, and A. Brizee. The report body.  Purdue Online Writing Lab.  [Online]. Available: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/726/06

[8] P.V. Anderson, “Designing reader-centered pages and documents,” in  Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach.  Boston, MA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007, pp. 372-398.

[9] R. Williams,  The Non-Designer’s Design Book.  Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2004.

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Spotted: ‘death star’ black holes in action.

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A team of astronomers have studied 16  supermassive black holes  that are firing powerful beams into space, to track where these beams, or jets, are pointing now and where they were aimed in the past, as reported in our  latest press release . Using  NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory  and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Radio Astronomical Observatory’s (NRAO) Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA), they found that some of the beams have changed directions by large amounts.

These two Chandra images show hot gas in the middle of the  galaxy cluster  Abell 478 (left) and the galaxy group NGC 5044 (right). The center of each image contains one of the sixteen black holes firing beams outwards. Each black hole is in the center of a  galaxy  embedded in the hot gas.

In the images below, labels and the  radio  images appear. Ellipses show a pair of cavities in the hot gas for Abell 478 (left) and ellipses show two pairs of cavities for NGC 5044 (right). These cavities were carved out by the beams millions of years ago, giving the directions of the beams in the past. An X shows the location of each supermassive black hole.

The VLBA images are shown as insets, which reveal where the beams are currently pointing, as seen from Earth. The radio images are both much smaller than the  X-ray  images. For Abell 478 the radio image is about 3% of the width of the Chandra image and for NGC 5044 the radio image is about 4% of the Chandra image’s width.

A comparison between the Chandra and VLBA images shows that the beams for Abell 478 changed direction by about 35 degrees and the beams for NGC 5044 changed direction by about 70 degrees.

Across the entire sample the researchers found that about a third of the 16 galaxies have beams that are pointing in completely different directions than they were before. Some have changed directions by nearly 90 degrees in some cases, and over timescales between one million years and a few tens of millions of years. Given that the black holes are of the order of 10 billion years old, this represents a relatively rapid change for these galaxies.

Black holes generate beams when material falls onto them via a spinning disk of matter and some of it then gets redirected outward. The direction of the beams from each of these giant black holes, which are likely spinning, is thought to align with the rotation axis of the black hole, meaning that the beams point along a line connecting the poles.

These beams are thought to be perpendicular to the disk. If material falls towards the black holes at a different angle that is not parallel to the disk, it could affect the direction of the black hole’s rotation axes, changing the direction of the beams.

Scientists think that beams from black holes and the cavities they carve out play an important role in how many  stars  form in their galaxies. The beams pump energy into the hot gas in and around the galaxy, preventing it from cooling down enough to form huge numbers of new stars. If the beams change directions by large amounts, they can tamp down star formation across much larger areas of the galaxy.

The paper describing these results was published in the January 20th, 2024 issue of The Astrophysical Journal, and is  available here . The authors are Francesco Ubertosi (University of Bologna in Italy), Gerritt Schellenberger (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Ewan O’Sullivan (CfA), Jan Vrtilek (CfA), Simona Giacintucci (Naval Research Laboratory), Laurence David (CfA), William Forman (CfA), Myriam Gitti (University of Bologna), Tiziana Venturi (National Institute of Astrophysics—Institute of Radio Astronomy in Italy), Christine Jones (CfA), and Fabrizio Brighenti (University of Bologna).

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

Read more from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/chandra-x-ray-observatory/

This image contains two X-ray images presented side by side, separated by a thin, gray line. On the left is an image of galaxy cluster Abell 478, and on the right is an image of galaxy group NGC 5044.

The X-ray image of Abell 478 resembles a gooey, blue substance that has been spilled on a black canvas. Most of the image is covered in this blue goo texture, which is hot gas in X-ray light, however there are cavities where no blue texture is present. At the center of the image is a bright, white region. Within the white region, too small to identify, exists Abell 478’s supermassive black hole.

The X-ray image of NGC 5044, on our right, is more pixelated than the image of Abell 478. It resembles blue television static or noise, that is present on a television when no transmission signal is detected. Most of the image is covered in this blue static, however there are cavities where no blue static is present. At the center of the image is a bright, white region. Within the white region, too small to identify, exists NGC 5044’s supermassive black hole.

Megan Watzke Chandra X-ray Center Cambridge, Mass. 617-496-7998

Jonathan Deal Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala. 256-544-0034

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of engineering, zheng wins best paper award for advanced packaging technologies.

The ECE Ph.D. alumni won the award for his research on fused-silica stitch-chip technology for RF/mm-wave multichiplet modules.

Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering graduate Ting Zheng won an IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (TCPMT) Best Paper Award, from the Advanced Packaging Category, for his research on fused-silica stitch-chip technology.

TCPMT is the flagship journal of the IEEE Electronics Packaging Society (EPS).

He was recognized for the paper he co-authored prior to his graduation, “Benchmarking and Demonstration of Low-Loss Fused-Silica Stitch-Chips with Compressible Microinterconnects for RF/mm-Wave Chiplet-Based Modules.”

It proposes and benchmarks ‘fused-silica stitch-chips’  as an interconnect technology between neighboring RF/mm-wave chiplets. Compared to conventional advanced packaging technologies, the stitch-chips enable low-loss and broadband interconnection, provide built-in mechanical deformation capability to compensate for differing chiplets heights, and provide a path towards package size scaling for large-scale multichiplet integration.

He was advised by ECE Professor and 3D Systems Packaging Research Center Director Muhannad Bakir.

Zheng is the second student from Bakir’s Integrated 3D Systems Lab to have their research recognized. Shengtao Yu won the Intel Outstanding Student Paper Award for this paper on co-packaged optics and fiber-chiplet-connectors at the 2023 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), which is the flagship conference of IEEE EPS.

It is a rare honor for the same research group to win paper awards in the same year from both ECTC and TCPMT.

At the end of May, Zheng, Yu and Bakir will all attend ECTC 2024 in Denver, CO to receive the ECTC and TCPMT paper awards.   

Zack Winiecki

[email protected]

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Available downloads, related records.

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• 09 May 2024

Cubic millimetre of brain mapped in spectacular detail

• Carissa Wong

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Rendering based on electron-microscope data, showing the positions of neurons in a fragment of the brain cortex. Neurons are coloured according to size. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University)

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Researchers have mapped a tiny piece of the human brain in astonishing detail. The resulting cell atlas, which was described today in Science 1 and is available online , reveals new patterns of connections between brain cells called neurons, as well as cells that wrap around themselves to form knots, and pairs of neurons that are almost mirror images of each other.

The 3D map covers a volume of about one cubic millimetre, one-millionth of a whole brain, and contains roughly 57,000 cells and 150 million synapses — the connections between neurons. It incorporates a colossal 1.4 petabytes of data. “It’s a little bit humbling,” says Viren Jain, a neuroscientist at Google in Mountain View, California, and a co-author of the paper. “How are we ever going to really come to terms with all this complexity?”

Slivers of brain

The brain fragment was taken from a 45-year-old woman when she underwent surgery to treat her epilepsy. It came from the cortex, a part of the brain involved in learning, problem-solving and processing sensory signals. The sample was immersed in preservatives and stained with heavy metals to make the cells easier to see. Neuroscientist Jeff Lichtman at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues then cut the sample into around 5,000 slices — each just 34 nanometres thick — that could be imaged using electron microscopes.

Jain’s team then built artificial-intelligence models that were able to stitch the microscope images together to reconstruct the whole sample in 3D. “I remember this moment, going into the map and looking at one individual synapse from this woman’s brain, and then zooming out into these other millions of pixels,” says Jain. “It felt sort of spiritual.”

A single neuron (white) shown with 5,600 of the axons (blue) that connect to it. The synapses that make these connections are shown in green. Credit: Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University)

When examining the model in detail, the researchers discovered unconventional neurons, including some that made up to 50 connections with each other. “In general, you would find a couple of connections at most between two neurons,” says Jain. Elsewhere, the model showed neurons with tendrils that formed knots around themselves. “Nobody had seen anything like this before,” Jain adds.

The team also found pairs of neurons that were near-perfect mirror images of each other. “We found two groups that would send their dendrites in two different directions, and sometimes there was a kind of mirror symmetry,” Jain says. It is unclear what role these features have in the brain.

Proofreaders needed

The map is so large that most of it has yet to be manually checked, and it could still contain errors created by the process of stitching so many images together. “Hundreds of cells have been ‘proofread’, but that’s obviously a few per cent of the 50,000 cells in there,” says Jain. He hopes that others will help to proofread parts of the map they are interested in. The team plans to produce similar maps of brain samples from other people — but a map of the entire brain is unlikely in the next few decades, he says.

“This paper is really the tour de force creation of a human cortex data set,” says Hongkui Zeng, director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. The vast amount of data that has been made freely accessible will “allow the community to look deeper into the micro-circuitry in the human cortex”, she adds.

Gaining a deeper understanding of how the cortex works could offer clues about how to treat some psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. “This map provides unprecedented details that can unveil new rules of neural connections and help to decipher the inner working of the human brain,” says Yongsoo Kim, a neuroscientist at Pennsylvania State University in Hershey.

Nature 629 , 739-740 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01387-9

Shapson-Coe, A. et al. Science 384 , eadk4858 (2024).

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