The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association                                                                             October  2018
Letter from the Editor
Badri Roysam,
University of Houston
Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,

What exactly is Data Science, and what does it mean for ECE Departments? Many questions come to mind. Should we treat it as a serious long-term endeavor that can transform ECE departments, or is it just another fleeting trend? Aren't we doing this already? How is this different from statistics or signal processing? What's new here? Is this even a "real science" with any rigor to it?
 
In this issue of the Source, we explore the topic of Data Science, from the standpoint of ECE department heads, whose disciplinary roots can be diverse. We are delighted to feature contributions from ECE Chair Susan Hagness at the University of Wisconsin, and ECE Chair Mingyan Liu and ECE Communicator Catharine June from the University of Michigan on this topic. I have taken the liberty of penning some additional notes from my own explorations of this topic in the spirit of "Data Science 101 for ECE Chairs."

A Message from the Past President
On Hurricane Florence
Daniel Stancil,
North Carolina State University

Dear ECEDHA Colleagues,
 
Students and faculty in areas impacted by hurricane Florence are appreciative to colleagues across the country who have expressed concern. Fortunately, the campuses with ECE programs in North Carolina (Duke, NC A&T, NC State, and UNC-Charlotte) did not have major damage or impact. However, a significant number of our students and their families have been affected. At NC State it has been estimated that about 3,400 of our students & families have been impacted by the storm, or about 10% of our student body.
 
One of the campuses hardest-hit was UNC-Wilmington. Although they do not have an engineering college, several departments at NC State (including ECE) have 2+2 programs with them and provide video links for some of our courses. Owing to significant damage to the campus, they only just resumed classes on Monday, Oct. 8. Among the challenges they now face is how to complete the semester with so many classes missed.
 
A number of you have reached out to express concern over the past weeks, and I believe I can speak for my colleagues in the region to say that the support of our ECEDHA colleagues has meant a lot.
A Message from the Executive Director
Expanded ECEDHA Member Benefits
John Janowiak,
Executive Director,
ECEDHA

Dear ECEDHA Colleagues,
 
In recent years, ECEDHA has become a destination for the field of ECE - addressing opportunities and innovations in education for faculty and administrators alike.  Although led by department heads, the scope of ECEDHA has expanded to Deans, Associate Chairs, Lab Professionals, ECE Communicators, as well as Graduate Students.

Our focused initiatives in Branding, Community, Diversity, Makerspaces, Robotics, New Chairs/Leadership, Curriculum, and ECE Communications present unique opportunities for each member institution to become involved.  Over the last few years, we've implemented diversity focused workshops, established a dedicated branding effort to raise the visibility of the ECE field to prospective students as well as the public, and helped to develop a network of communications professionals within ECE departments across the nation.  Working Groups meet throughout the year via conference call to ensure the initiative is continually progressing, with special activities and reports provided at the ECEDHA Annual Conference each March.  Additionally, some groups such as Makerspaces and Robotics have dedicated areas on the ECExpo floor to share the latest trends and innovations with colleagues. We believe the sustained efforts represented by the Working Groups will enable a degree of impact by ECEDHA not previously possible.

We encourage all members to take full advantage of the expanded services and benefits now offered to several representatives from your department, as ECEDHA's strength lies in its active membership.

ECE in the News
Research and Graduate Education in Machine Learning at UW-Madison
Po-Ling Loh,
University of Wisconsin
Barry Van Veen, University of Wisconsin


Susan Hagness, University of Wisconsin
At UW-Madison we have recently launched a new Master of Science (MS) in Electrical Engineering degree program in Signal Processing and Machine Learning (SPML). 
This MS-SPML program is intended for students looking for rapid entry into a career in data science and engineering, with a passion for quantitative thinking, practical problem solving, computer programming, and applications to a variety of domains.  The combined focus on the mathematical foundations of data science and engineering and their application to real-world problems prepares graduates to immediately contribute to the workforce and solve even the most challenging data science and engineering questions.  MS-SPML is a rigorous, accelerated program designed to be completed over two semesters and a summer session.  The fall and spring semesters involve selections of signal processing and machine learning courses.  During summer the students enroll in a practicum that gives students hands-on experience with real-world datasets under the direction of faculty and PhD student mentors.
E CE and Data Science: A Natural Connection

Mingyan Liu,
University of Michigan

At the invitation of ECEDHA  Source Editor Badri Roysam, I am going to describe some of the major programs and activities in data science happening at Michigan, including institutional programs, new courses, and individual research. I look forward to learning more about your programs at the next ECEDHA meeting in March.


Catharine June, University of Michigan
Institutional Programs
At Michigan, as at many of your institutions, faculty have access to massive data sets in areas as diverse as public health and personalized medicine, transportation and connected vehicles, brain sciences, environmental and earth science, astronomy, materials science, genomics and proteomics, computational social science, business analytics, learning analytics, computational finance, information forensics, and national defense.

In 2015, we were fortunate to have University leadership heed the call of researchers across these many disciplines to provide a focal point for activities in data science. That focal point is the 
Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS ), launched with a $100M investment from U-M as part of its  Data Science Initiative .

Special Announcements
Now Renewing 2018-2019 Membership!

Renew your membership today to continue 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.
  • The opportunity to attend the 2019 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo
  • Complimentary job posting service via the ECEDHA website
  • Complimentary registration for ECEDHA's ECE Webinars
  • And much more!
Looking for your membership packet?  Pl ease contact Megan Bekolay at  [email protected]  or 312.559.3724
Keysight Technologies' Greg Peters Receives ECEDHA Outstanding Leadership Award

SANTA ROSA, Calif., October 1, 2018 - Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS), a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers, and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, today announced that Greg Peters, vice president of Corporate Development, was honored with the Electronic and Computer Engineering Department Chairs Association (ECEDHA) Outstanding Leadership Award.

ECEDHA is the leading academic association comprised of nearly 300 ABET accredited (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) university department heads and chairs from across the United States and Canada. Keysight is a corporate member of ECEDHA and a partner of ECEDHA's Annual Conference.

The ECEDHA Outstanding Leadership Award is given to an individual with a sustained record of leadership and service to ECEDHA, and to electrical and computer engineering.

"It was a pleasure to present this award to Greg," said John Janowaik, executive director of ECEDHA. "It is relationships with industry leaders like Greg that enable us to advance our mission of inspiring and creating awareness within the engineering field for the next generation."


Above (from left to right): 
John Janowiak, ECEDHA Executive Director, and Greg Peters, Keysight Technologies

Greg Peters previously served as the Chairperson of ECEDHA's Corporate Advisory Council and was instrumental in leading ECEDHA's Talent Supply Initiative, developing the criteria and program outline for universities focused on attracting young talent for EE and CPE positions.

"Keysight is committed to fostering the next generation of engineers and has long-established strong ties with universities around the globe," said Greg Peters, vice president of Corporate Development at Keysight. "ECEDHA shares this commitment and we look forward to continuing our work with them as we usher in a new wave of engineers."

About Keysight Technologies
Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) is a leading technology company that helps enterprises, service providers, and governments accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight's solutions optimize networks and bring electronic products to market faster and at a lower cost with offerings from design simulation, to prototype validation, to manufacturing test, to optimization in networks and cloud environments. Customers span the worldwide communications ecosystem, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics end markets. Keysight generated revenues of $3.2B in fiscal year 2017. In April 2017, Keysight acquired Ixia, a leader in network test, visibility, and security. More information is available at www.keysight.com

Now Accepting Nominations for the 2018 ECEDHA Awards!

ECEDHA is now accepting nominations for its 2018 Awards. Nominations are due by October 26, 2018 and will be presented at the ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo in March. View more details.

Outstanding Leadership and Service Award
  
Innovative Program Award

Diversity Award

Industry Award
Conference Corner
Corporate Features
ECE Insights

ECE Insights offer in-depth interviews with leading industry executives.

Featured ECE Insights:
In This Issue
Calendar of Events
October 21-22 2018
Central States Regional Meeting
Missouri S&T University - Rolla, MO
October 25, 2018
ECE Webinar: A Case Study on Connected Maintenance Reliability
Sponsored by Fluke Corporation
October 25-26, 2018
Southeast Regional Meeting
University of Florida - Gainesville, FL
November 9-10, 2018
Western Regional Meeting
University of Washington - Seattle, WA
November 9-10, 2018
Northeast Regional Meeting
Northeastern University - Boston, MA
December 1, 2018
Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting
George Washington University - Washington DC
March 22-26, 2019
ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECE xpo
Hilton Tucson El Conquistador - Tucson, AZ
On Demand Webinar
Rethinking Electronics Fundamentals
Sponsored by National Instruments
ECEDHA Member and Partner News
National Renewable Energy Laboratory: ESIF Visiting Scholars User Call

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has recently announced its Visiting Scholars User Call.  The Visiting Scholars User Call allows faculty and students to conduct research in state-of-the-art laboratories in the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). The ESIF contains a collection of interconnected laboratories that can accommodate megawatt-scale R&D at full power. By immersing visiting researchers into the ESIF ecosystem, the hope is that they will carry valuable insights and new capabilities back to their home institutions.

Applications for the ESIF Visiting Scholars User Call are accepted throughout the year. Meritorious applications will be granted on a rolling basis. More information and application requirements can be found at the link below.

>> Learn more

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.