The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association
April 2023
Letter from the Guest Editor

Core Engineering Values - the Big Next Thing for ECE Departments?
Badri Roysam
University of Houston
Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,

It was great to see you at the Annual Conference - I found it to be an especially friendly, engaging, productive and memorable experience. I hope your experience was similarly positive. In parallel to the stellar lineup of speakers and panelists, Mother Nature put on quite a show for us with sudden desert snowfalls melting into sunny days. The New Mexico food was delicious. To cap it all, we were treated to an amazing live rodeo performance. Scroll down for some great pictures.

In this issue of the ECEDHA Source, we take on Engineering Values, a topic that has been bubbling under our feet for some time, especially during the pandemic, the post-pandemic chaos, and recently, the attack of AI chatbots. I hope you agree that there is a compelling and urgent need for us to re-examine ECE education from the standpoint of instilling honor, ethics, service, and the many other great engineering values that make our profession rise above the rest. In this regard, we are delighted to feature an article by our colleague Mark McKinney on The Honor Code and the Engineering Code of Ethics as taught at The Citadel - the military college of South Carolina. Granted that the typical ECE department is not so tightly connected with military culture, but I found it to be thought-provoking. Does your department have active initiatives in teaching engineering values? Please contact me. We would love to feature your efforts in the next ECE Conversation podcast.

Meet the Candidates for the 2023 ECEDHA Election!
ECEDHA is pleased to announce our candidates for Secretary in the 2023 election.

ECEDHA department chairs are invited to cast their vote for the candidate of their choosing.
In a few words, can you tell us why you are running for the ECEDHA Secretary position? What do you think you'll bring to the organization if elected?
Mark McKinney
Department Head & Professor, ECE
The Citadel
Mark McKinney: I first recognized the importance of ECEDHA under the mentorship of John Peeples and in my short time as a department head, the value of ECEDHA has become even more evident. I truly believe ECEDHA is essential to help shape the future of electrical and computer engineering education. I would like to be a part of those efforts and I believe having the perspective of a PUI on the board brings a diversity of institutions that is important.



Srinivas Tadigadapa
Department Head & Professor, ECE
Northeastern University
Srinivas Tadigadapa: ECEDHA provides a critical platform for the Chairs of ECE departments across North America to collectively introspect and seek the trends, opportunities, and challenges in ECE research, teaching, diversity and inclusion, and much more. The engagement of chairs throughout the regional groupings provides an excellent opportunity to collaborate and connect to discuss regional opportunities and issues. I have served as the Chair of the ECE Northeast Regional group in 2018-2019 and we had an excellent meeting that enabled us to discuss several topical issues. As secretary and a board member of ECEDHA, I would like to contribute by engaging all of us in examining the future of ECEDHA and how the organization can continue to remain vibrant and to serve the chairs of ECE in a meaningful manner as technology and environmental challenges are rapidly shaping the world.

Featured Articles
Mark McKinney
The Citadel
The Honor Code and Engineering Codes of Ethics

"A cadet shall not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do."

This is the honor code all cadets at The Citadel operate under. As The Citadel was founded on The West Point model, it is unsurprising that it is also the honor code for that institution. The Citadel, however, is one of only a few remaining "single sanction" schools where there is but one punishment for violation of this code: dismissal. It is a harsh system, and it makes both the students and faculty consider honor and integrity very very carefully. When paired with the Citadel's Core Values of "Honor, Duty, and Respect" the two make for a succinct and effective code of ethics.

From a personal perspective, this makes for a spectacular teaching environment. Students do not always make the right decisions, but honor and integrity is part of the everyday conversation; it is never far from anyone's mind. As a result, I can hand out tests to a group of students, walk out of the room and never question for a moment that there is anything dishonest going on. The other aspect I wasn't expecting when I first started teaching at The Citadel was the level of personal responsibility. After a particularly rough exam, the comments lean much more towards "I didn't study enough" than "this professor is terrible."

Mouser's Resource Site for Development Kits and Engineering Tools Helps Jumpstart Product Design

Mouser Electronics, Inc., the New Product Introduction (NPI) leader empowering innovation, provides a wealth of services and tools to help aspiring and professional engineers find the right products for their designs, including a resource site for development kits and a page devoted to the latest engineering tools. The development kits resource site includes many articles, videos, and how-to guides, connecting engineers directly with the products and know-how necessary for developing new products. The engineering tools page offers an up-to-the-minute collection of new evaluation kits, reference designs, and more, allowing engineers to discover the latest products from leading manufacturers.

2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference Photo Highlights
John Janowiak
Executive Director
ECEDHA
As Executive Director of ECEDHA, I would like to thank all of our members that attended our 2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo last month in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. I'm sure you can all agree that it was a truly unique and wonderful experience for all of those that attended.

More importantly, the energy of having our community together once again was unsurpassed. The strength of our membership continues to thrive and continues to be an important resource for collaboration, networking, and education.

We wanted to share a few photo highlights from the program and hope to see you all at the 2024 ECEDHA Annual Conference taking place March 15-18, 2024 at the El Conquistador Tucson in Tucson, Arizona.
Featured Video
We're Connected
This Mouser-sponsored video illustrates how the incredible ingenuity on the part of engineers is fueling innovation worldwide.
Association Announcements
ECEDHA Annual Survey
Now open for data collection!

We are pleased to announce that the ECEDHA Annual Survey is now open for participation!

Information to participate has been sent to each department chair.

Please note that your institution's ECEDHA membership must be in good standing in order to participate.

For more information, or for assistance in accessing the survey, contact Michelle Klein at [email protected].

The survey will remain open until April 28 2023. You must submit your responses by this date in order to gain access to the survey results.
Have an article you would like to share?

Articles of interest to ECEDHA members for the ECEDHA Source are always welcome. Email your article for consideration to [email protected]

A Little Engineering Humor
So an electrical engineering built a house entirely out of resistors. The welcome mat said Ohm Sweet Ohm.
This ECEDHA Source eNewsletter is made possible by the support of our corporate sponsors. As such, by reading selective content, your email address may be shared with our sponsors. If you do not wish for your email address to be shared, please contact [email protected] with the subject "Do not share request."

You are receiving this ECEDHA member communication because your organization is an ECEDHA member. If you wish to unsubscribe from ECEDHA member communications, please use the unsubscribe link below.