John of Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Modern sensors, wireless links, and embedded systems all depend on high-performance analog-to-digital converters (ADCs)—but pushing ADCs to be faster, more accurate, and lower-power is increasingly limited by analog nonidealities in deep submicron CMOS processes. In this talk, Professor John McNeill will describe techniques for digitally assisted calibration: a powerful set of tools that use smart digital algorithms to improve ADC performance in real silicon. We’ll explore how these methods work and why they’ve become valuable in cutting-edge mixed-signal chips.

Biography:

John A. McNeill joined WPI in 1994 after nearly a decade in industry, and recently returned to the ECE department after serving in the Dean of Engineering office from 2018 to 2025.  He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Council for Undergraduate Research.

McNeill’s research interests include biomedical sensing, jitter (noise) in integrated oscillators, and digitally assisted calibration of analog-to-digital converters used in low-power sensor systems. Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (including a 1997 CAREER Award, the NSF’s most prestigious award for young faculty), other federal agencies, and industry, his research has resulted in seven patents and over 70 peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations.

In 1999, McNeill received the WPI Board of Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Teaching and he has won the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Electrical Engineering Professor Award three times (in 2000, 2008, and 2013). In 1995 he received the Joseph S. Satin Distinguished Fellowship in Electrical Engineering at WPI. In 2007 he was one of the two inaugural recipients of WPI’s Chairman’s Exemplary Faculty Prize, which honors outstanding faculty members for excellence “in all relevant areas of faculty performance.”

McNeill has served as a research and project advisor to numerous graduate and undergraduate students, often emphasizing design of cutting-edge mixed (analog + digital) integrated circuits and systems.

Email:

Address:100 INSTITUTE RD WPI BOX # 4179, , Worcester, Massachusetts, United States, 01609-2280