The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association

February 2022

Letter from the Guest Editor Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,   I hope that you have registered for the 2022 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo in New Orleans by now. Let us all (finally!) emerge from our defensive cocoons and interact with each other in person, safely! I also hope that your Associate Chair and/or Lab manager(s) are also on track to attend so we can discover the best ways to enhance our service to students. The topic of expensive, heavy, and frequently updated college textbooks is as old as the hills. As noted by professor Ulaby at the University of Michigan, the cost of college textbooks skyrocketed nearly 800% between 1990 and 2020 – this is also roughly the duration of my own faculty career.

Calendar of Events March 25-28, 2022 2022 ECEDHA Annual Conference & ECExpo - New Orleans, LA New Programs added daily! Check the calendar for updates.

What if ECE textbooks were of the highest quality, available in PDF format so one could read it from an iPad (or equivalent gadget), updated often to represent the best pedagogy, come with a rich set of student and instructor resources, offer opportunities for affordable commercial supplements, and best of all, be free of cost to students? As an active user of Professor Ulaby’s textbook on Signals and Systems, and the accompanying product from Zybooks, I can personally attest to the power of his Free Textbook Initiative. A key question is whether free textbooks can also offer faculty members compensation for writing them. For the answer, read Dr. Ulaby’s article below. In this issue of Source, I have tried to speculate on what may come after Free Textbooks. One intriguing possibility is that free textbooks may spawn entire “ecosystems” of learning resources ranging from virtual reality and multimedia to tutoring and advanced study tools. We are also delighted to spotlight a few aspects of the upcoming ECEDHA conference, an article from Craig Scott talking about the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) concept of a “super department” that brings together minority-serving institutions, a description of the “pico scope” (have I piqued your curiosity?), and a spotlight of Stephen Bayne, the recently appointed ECE Chair at Texas Tech University. > Read more

Annual Conference

Letter from ECEDHA Executive Director, John Janowiak Dear ECEDHA Colleagues,   Happy February! I hope the second half of the academic year is going smoothly for all. As our highly anticipated ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo approaches, I encourage you all to register and book your lodging as soon as possible. ECEDHA is committed to hosting and facilitating a safe and healthy conference and experience. If you have any questions or concerns, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 webpage for more information.   We are excited to offer a program like no other this year. As we reunite this March, ECEDHA is happy to honor 2019 and 2021 Award Winners, along with a new special edition award, The ‘Rising to the Challenge Award’. With the passion and participation of our members, we are happy to honor 11 award recipients for their dedication to the ECE Community! While the past two years have raised many challenges, we have stayed strong and connected by the work of these recipients. We look forward to honoring you all during our ECEDHA Awards Reception. > Read more

Annual Conference Preview By:  Agnieszka Miguel, ECEDHA Vice President, Program Committee Chair, Seattle University I hope that you are as excited as I am about our upcoming ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo. I have enjoyed keeping up with the ECE community through our frequent online events, but nothing can substitute meeting face-to-face. And I cannot think of a better place to celebrate our return to in-person ECEDHA events than New Orleans! Bringin’ it back Big Easy style! We will gather in New Orleans from Friday, March 25 through Monday, March 28. Before I talk about the conference schedule, I want to assure you that the ECEDHA staff is working diligently to make this experience safe for everybody by following all state and federal guidelines regarding COVID-19. All attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test within 72 hours to participate in the program. > Read more

The Inclusive Engineering Consortium: Building Equitable Partnerships By: Craig Scott, President, IEC and Professor and Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Morgan State University The Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) is a collaboration of minority-serving institutions dedicated to advancing students from underrepresented populations and addressing the critical need for a more diversified ECE workforce.   The IEC brings together Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to form a unique “Super Department” that provides an opportunity for industry, academia, and government to engage with many diverse ECE students and faculty in an efficient and effective way.   The IEC is looking forward to joining our colleagues at this year’s ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo where we plan to present several dedicated sessions that focus on forging equitable partnerships between minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and predominantly white institutions (PWIs). > Read more

Featured Articles

Expanding The Free ECE textbook initiative By:  Fawwaz Ulaby, University of Michigan  Cost of Textbooks is Skyrocketing Between 1990 and 2020: The Consumer Price Index ( for all goods and services) increased: 259% The CPI for College textbooks increased: 796% !!   Over the past 30 years, the cost of higher education has skyrocketed, burdening students and parents with huge student loans. One of the ways students have attempted to mitigate costs is by reselling their textbooks, which created a used-book market. Consequently, a copy of one book was getting used by three to four students instead of only one, prompting the publishers to increase their prices even more. The most recent manifestation of the cost spiral is the introduction of PDFs for rent. For $60-$100, a student can “rent” the use of a book’s PDF, hosted on the publisher’s website, for a specific duration. Conclusion: textbooks have become highly expensive and out of line with almost everything else. > Read more

Sponsored Video: Learning Electrical Engineering with PicoScope – A video series for students

Here is the first of several videos produced by Roger Berry, Teaching Fellow at the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, to help prepare his students for distance-learning lab courses.   These videos cover the basics of using a laboratory oscilloscope, the PicoScope 2204A, explaining typical connections, terms, and settings while also providing a good introduction to probes. Viewers will get a sense of how valuable this more personalized, self-paced lab experience proved to be with included student comments and insights the instructor makes along the way.    Check out some of the other videos in the series here!

ECE Faculty Spotlight

Stephen B. Bayne, Ph.D., P.E.,  Texas Tech University

I was very honored to be selected as the Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Texas Tech University (TTU). TTU is recognized by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a Tier One, very high research-active university. I will bring several years of teaching, research, and leadership experience to the position. I received my Ph.D., M.S, and B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from TTU. After completing my doctoral studies, I joined the Naval Research Lab (NRL), where I was an Electronics Engineer designing advanced power electronics systems for space power applications. After two and half years at NRL, I transferred to the Army Research Lab (ARL), where I developed a high-temperature Silicon Carbide power electronics research program. I was promoted to Team Leader, where I led the power components team, which consisted of five engineers.    > Read more

Association Announcements

ECEDHA 2022 Annual Conference Checklist The 2022 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana! Get ready to reboot, reset and REUNITE because ECEDHA is bringing' it back Big Easy Style. In order to attend this year's highly anticipated conference. please ensure you complete the following items: Renew your 2021-2022 ECEDHA Membership to stay connected and take advantage of the benefits of being an ECEDHA Member. Register for the 2022 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo to receive the early bird discount!  Reserve your hotel room as the block fills up fast! ECEDHA looks forward to gathering safely in person and will adhere to all state and federal guidelines regarding COVID-19 related restrictions and practices. For any questions and concerns about COVID-19, please visit the ECEDHA website.

On-Demand Webinars Previously recorded webinars are now available for your on-demand viewing! Pico Technology in Education; Why Pico’s Products are Ideal for Academic Use Sponsored by Pico Technology Industry-Ready Courseware Toolkits Expose Your Students to Emerging Technologies Sponsored by Keysight Technologies Digital Transformation for your Curriculum Using Industry-Ready Hybrid Solutions Sponsored by Keysight Technologies View More

ECEDHA Member and Partner News

The 2022 IEEE Texas Symposium on Wireless and Microwave Circuits and Systems (TSWMCS) will be held in a hybrid format on 19-20 April, 2022, at the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) building on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, TX. This event is technically co-sponsored by the IEEE AP and MTT Societies, and is devoted to a wide variety of topical areas. Participants will have the opportunity to interact and discuss the latest developments in devices, modeling, spectrum management and wireless areas.  For more information about the symposium, please visit the symposium website at www.TexasSymposium.org. Papers accepted for publication and presented at the conference will be submitted to IEEE Xplore.

A Little Engineering Humor

Despite being an electrical engineer, my son couldn't fix the circuit So I grounded him

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