July 2015

Letter from the Editor
Pritpal Singh,
Villanova University
Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,

Welcome to the July 2015 issue of the The ECE Source. I hope that you are enjoying some time to relax and catch up on your research and other activities this summer as well as starting to plan for the new academic year.

This issue of the Source is focused on Power Engineering Education.  There are two feature articles focused on an effort pioneered by the group from the University of Minnesota in transforming power engineering curricula, and a laboratory facility at Syracuse University to teach students about the Smart Grid.

Current Views
Barry Sullivan
Barry Sullivan,
ECEDHA
Tracking the News

 

Scanning the news for articles of interest to the electrical and computer engineering community has become a daily ritual for me.  Finding good articles is not difficult, given how electricity, electronics, and computing pervade all aspects of everyday life.  As ECE educators, we can take pride in the role our disciplines have played in creating our technology-rich world, although it's sometimes hard to tell if we are leading mainstream adoption of technology or paddling hard to keep up.

>> Read more

Featured Articles
Smart Grid Laboratory

By Syracuse University

Most people only think about the electricity that powers our homes and gadgets when it isn't there.  When the power is flowing, we tend to take it for granted.  The trouble is, the network that delivers the electricity to keep our lights on, known as the grid, is sometimes pushed to its limits and that pushing to its limits is becoming more and more a concern in modern times.  High demand can lead to blackouts and increased operational costs.  At the same time, the grid is being asked to do more than just distribute power in today's interconnected world.  The grid is being transformed to operate a "smart grid" that incorporates renewable energy sources, advances in control systems, communications, signal processing and cybersecurity. The College of engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University has taken up the charge to educate and prepare the smart grid workforce for the future.


CUSP - A Curriculum for Electric Energy Systems

By Ned Mohan and Bruce F. Wollenberg

Electric power is the oldest and most mature field in Electrical Engineering.  The interest in this field had been declining for a long time.  But with the awareness of climate change and sustainability, there is a renewed interest in generating electricity using renewables sources such as wind and solar, in delivering it reliably and in using it efficiently.  To realize this, the first thing necessary is to provide a first-rate education in this field with an emphasis on sustainability and to graduate students in large numbers.  The challenge in doing so is that no single university has either the number of faculty required to develop these courses, or the critical number of students to take them.  In developing this curriculum, it is also important to take a holistic view of electric power with a sustainability focus: how it is generated, how it is transmitted, and wherever this power is used.



Sponsored Article: Gain Insight with the Latest Technology for Engineering Educators and Researchers
By Keysight

Keysight's Education Program is dedicated to meaningful collaboration with researchers and educators to enable new breakthroughs in science and technology. This year's DVD has been updated with over 300 new items in 17 technical categories relevant to key areas of interest in education and research. You will find timely articles, value application notes, links to technical webcasts, informative videos, and much more on this DVD.

>> Read more

 
ECE in the News
How Maker Faires Are Inspiring Young 'Makers' All Over the World
By Tim Bajarin (May 18, 2015, Time.com)

One of the truly bright lights in tech education is the Maker Faire.  The granddaddy of the Maker Faires celebrated its tenth anniversary this weekend at the San Mateo, California Events Center, drawing around 150,000 kids and their parents who went to explore the world of making things.
Maker Movement Turns 10
By Rick Merritt (May 18, 2015, EETimes.com)
 

Maker Faire celebrated its tenth anniversary with familiar celebrities and top chip companies, its youthful energy and do-it-yourself values intact.  The gathering on the doorstep of Silicon Valley will spread to nearly 200 events attracting as many as a million people this year.

>> Read more

Renewable Minigrids Should Be the End Goal for Rural Poor
By Peter Fairley (May 22, 2015, IEEE Spectrum)

Distributed energy solutions, such as rooftop solar, should be the electrification solution for the 1.1 billion people who are not plugged into a national power grid, not just a stopgap measure.  That is the message from a new global industry group, Power for All, launched in New York City this week amidst the latest gathering of the United Nations' universal energy access program.
This is Why Girls Aren't Taking Engineering Classes
By Muriel Kolker (June 9, 2015, ECNMag.com)
 

As a second career educator, I teach physics to 9th graders and Principles of Engineering to upperclassmen.  In the first three years we ran the engineering course, I was rooting for girls to sign up.  Every year I'd wait to get my roster, to see the numbers of girls flocking to an engineering course taught by a woman engineer.  The first year we had six girls.  The next year we had two.  Last year we had one girl. One. Girl.

>> Read more

STEM High School Will Admit Students Directly to Purdue University
By Purdue (June 29, 2015, ECNMag.com)
 

Purdue Polytechnic Indianapolis High School, an educational experience designed to provide a bridge for inner-city students and others to succeed in high school and to be admitted directly to Purdue University, will open in August 2017.
>> Read more

 

Special Announcements
ECEDHA 2015-2016 Election Results

The 2015-2016 Election has officially concluded.  We are pleased to announce the results of our election for Secretary-Treasurer.

ECEDHA welcomes the following officers to the ECEDHA Board of Directors:


2015-2016 Secretary-Treasurer

Dan Stancil
Professor and Department Head
North Carolina State University



2015-2016 Editorial Member-at-Large

Badri Roysam

Cullen College of Engineering Chair
University of Houston

Congratulations to our new officers.  We look forward to a continued strong leadership for the association.

Corporate Features
ECE Spotlights

ECE Spotlight Sessions offer the opportunity to view short corporate presentations and to learn more about what these companies can offer you.

Featured ECE Spotlight:


Mike McLane, Global Sales Operations and Channel
The ECEDHA Foundation

The ECEDHA Foundation was announced at the 2015 ECEDHA Annual Conference this past March in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  Executive Director, John Janowiak commented, "We're pleased that the ECEDHA leadership has established the Foundation to ensure the success of the organization for future generations."

Since then, the Foundation has received strong support from the ECEDHA members in the initial Founder's Circle campaign, which concluded on June 30th.

The Foundation has been established to guide, support, and fund significant educational programming activities to advance electrical and computer engineering education.  In addition, the creation of an ECEDHA Endowment Fund will ensure the long-term viability of the Association and its academic services, as well as provide a stable source of program funding beyond the current activities of the Association.

 

Produced by: 

ECEDHA
  
In This Issue
Calendar of Events
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by COMSOL
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by Quanser
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by ANSYS
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by Piazza
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by Quanser
On Demand Webinar
Sponsored by COMSOL


ECEDHA News
Renew Your 2015 Membership Today!

2015 ECEDHA membership renewal for ECEDHA department heads is underway.  Membership runs on a calendar year beginning January 1st through December 31st.

Renew your membership today to keep receiving ECEDHA membership benefits, including:
  • Complimentary registration for ECEDHA's ECE Webinars
  • 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
  • And much more!

For questions, please contact Megan Bekolay at mbekolay@ecedha.org or 312.559.3724

 

Save the Date!

 

2016 ECEDHA Annual Conference
and ECExpo

 

March 18-22, 2016

Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines

La Jolla, California
ECEDHA Member and
Partner News
2015 African Engineering Deans Council Annual Conference

September 17-18, 2015 in  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Hosted by the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology 

IEEE International Conference on Complex Systems Engineering 2015

November 9-11, 2015 in  Storrs, CT, USA
Hosted by the University of Connecticut