The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association                                                   August  2016
Letter from the Editor
Badri Roysam,
University of Houston
Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,

Welcome to the August issue of the Source!

ECEDHA is increasingly stepping up to play a strategic role in shaping the future of our discipline. It is increasingly clear that the organization itself needs to be reshaped to accomplish this visionary role. Inspired by the continued success of the NSF funded CCC Computing Community Consortium ( www.cra.org/ccc ), ECEDHA is embarking on new initiatives aimed at establishing a community based approach to identifying and articulating future research priorities for the ECE Community.  Notably, this initiative is distinct from the ECE Branding initiative.  This will require the development of new resources and new ways of engagement, challenging tasks to say the least.

>>  Read more
A Message from the Guest Editor
Agnieszka Miguel,
Seattle University
As I stand among the engineering and computer science department chairs from the College of Science and Engineering during Seattle University's Fall Preview Day, I try to hide my disappointment.  All of my colleagues get to talk to prospective students. One after another, prospective students and their parents trickle down, look up at the signs hanging above our heads, and pick Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, or Civil and Environmental Engineering.  I stand alone, waiting for that one student I could talk to.  I have only one student in a span of one hour... Chairs of the other engineering and CS departments talk to about 10 students each during the same time period.

Featured Articles
The ECE Research Community: Moving Forward!
By  Stella Batalama, Ashlee Gardner, Sheila Hemami, John Janowiak, Clem Karl, Steve McLaughlin, Chika Nwankpa, George Pappas, William Sanders, Daniel Stancil

An earlier article in the ECE Source (February 2016) has discussed a major movement going on within the ECE academic community, including a strategic workshop which took place January 20-21, 2016 that was focused on the future of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) as a discipline.  The workshop was extremely successful and energized all 50 department heads in attendance. 
That workshop lead to a major follow-up at the annual ECE Conference & ECE Expo, which, in 2016, had a record attendance of more than 300 ECE leaders.  The January workshop was summarized (based on the NSF workshop report) and disseminated to all ECE leaders before the annual conference in order to provide appropriate context for the conference discussions.
Talent Supply Initiative Recently Completed by the ECEDHA Corporate Advisory Council
By  Keysight Technologies

Over the last year ECEDHA's Corporate Advisory Council dedicated effort toward an ECE "Talent Supply" Project.  The intention was to deliver to ECE department heads and students a guide to what employers in the industry need and want.  What are the skills and abilities required?
As an association, ECEDHA recognized the valuable partnership with Industry. Think about it: the talent that will be hired into industry a couple of years from now is being shaped in the classroom TODAY.
This document created by the Corporate Advisory Council is titled "Where to from Here?" and is useful to faculty mentors takling with undergraduates about the requirements from industry for ECE talent - at a broad stroke.
>> Read more

ECE in the News
Purdue University Honored for Innovative Program in Electrical and Computer Engineering at ECEDHA 2016

Purdue University was honored with the Innovative Program Award at the 2016 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo in La Jolla, California this past March.

The award is given to individuals or departments that have created, implemented, and sustained the implementation of a successful innovative program and possibly assisted in the implementation of that program at other institutions.  A successful program is one that has stood the test of time and has produced measurable improvements in the quality of the electrical and computer education received by a significant number of students at one or more institutions.

Purdue University has accomplished just that with their E-Mentoring Program.  The program was born in the School of ECE at Purdue in 2008.  Due to its success, it was expanded and administered by the Purdue Graduate School in the fall of 2014.

E-Mentoring is a first-semester peer mentoring program where incoming graduate students are paired with experienced graduate students who serve as mentors. Mentors and mentees are paired based on a personality trait assessment. Further data shows that the quality of these relationships is much higher than if students were paired randomly.  The E-Mentoring program is helping to assure that all incoming graduate students are being actively coached by trained peer mentors and faculty, are receiving guidance in securing an advisor and funding, are being counseled on courses and research options above and beyond the normal departmental advising, and are being prepared for success.  More interesting, 85% of the mentors and mentees said they would continue to meet after the program was over, which is a tremendous indicator of the high value students have placed on their newly formed mentoring relationships.
Special Announcements
Corporate Feature

 

Produced by: 

ECEDHA
  
In This Issue
Calendar of Events
March 17, 2017
ABET Workshop
Presented at the ECEDHA Annual Conference
Hilton Sandestin - Miramar Beach, FL
March 17-21, 2017
ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECE xpo
Hilton Sandestin - Miramar Beach, FL
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by National Instruments
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by COMSOL
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by ConRes/Tektronix
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by National Instruments
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by Quanser
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by COMSOL
ECEDHA News
Reminder: Finalize Your
2016 ECEDHA Membership!

2016 ECEDHA membership renewal for ECEDHA department heads is currently underway. 

Membership runs on a calendar year beginning January 1st through December 31st.

Renew your membership today to keep receiving ECEDHA membership benefits, including:
  • The opportunity to participate in the ECEDHA Annual Survey, a valuable tool in benchmarking your organization in lab and office space, faculty and department head salaries, research budgets, student retention, graduation rates, and much more.
  • Complimentary job posting service via the ECEDHA website
  • Complimentary registration for ECEDHA's ECE Webinars
  • And much more!

For questions, please contact Megan Bekolay at mbekolay@ecedha.org or 312.559.3724
Ideas/Comments/Suggestions?

We're interested in hearing from you!

We welcome all feedback - drop us a line at:
ECEDHA Member and
Partner News
2016 IEEE Virtual Conference on Applications of Commercial Sensors

To submit a presentation and paper, or register for the conference, please visit:

Submission Deadline: December 15, 2016

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At the ECE Source, we strive to cover topics that are relevant and timely to ECE  department heads.  We welcome your comments, feedback, and suggestions of topics t o cover in our next issue.  Thank you.