The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association
December 2022
Letter from the Guest Editor
This Holiday Season, May the AI be with you!

Dear ECEDHA Members, Industry Partners, and Colleagues,

As we enter the holiday season, may I please add "May the AI be with you!" to our customary holiday wishes to you and your family? Read on and you will see why this may be appropriate after all.

A few weeks ago, the new AI tool called "ChatGPT" was released by OpenAI, a company backed by Microsoft. It is a freely available generative AI tool. It is an impressive polymath that can carry on surprisingly in-depth human-like conversations on a wide range of subjects including engineering and mathematics, computer science, history, biology, and economics, calculate signal transforms given a plan English sentence question, write code in a variety of programming languages, debug computer programs, summarize books, and formulate differential equations. It added nearly a million users in its first week of existence.

The field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has always teased and fascinated us since the seventies. It has stunned us on many occasions as AI-based systems beat the reigning human champions of difficult games like Chess and Go. The field of general-purpose AI has remained the holy grail of the field and has made progress within its own cloistered community. The release of tools like ChatGPT to the general public suddenly brings general-purpose AI into our offices and classrooms. We have to deal with it.

Calendar of Events
January 25, 2023
ECEDHA Virtual Summit: The CHIPS Act and You: Continued

January 26, 2023
Planning for the 2023-24 ABET Accreditation Cycle

March 17-20, 2023
2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference & ECExpo - Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico

New Programs added daily!
Check the calendar for updates.
Featured Articles
Badri Roysam
University of Houston
AI: The Unsettling Knock on the Door
By: Badri Roysam, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor and Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, University of Houston

As we enter the holiday season, may I please add "May the AI be with you" to our customary holiday wishes to you and your family? As a test, I typed in the phrase "colorfully lit Christmas tree with electronics board theme" into the image generation AI named DALL-E (https://labs.openai.com/), and it produced the following images, within a minute, and importantly, without any artistic ability or effort on my part:
Here is another example generated form the phrase "furry robot hand reaching out to a human hand blue background"
I can imagine using this system to generate illustrations for my presentation slides even though my artistic skills are sorely limited.

Interestingly, DALL-E is a companion system to ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/chat), and it is already common for graphic experimenters to use ChatGPT to create optimal queries to Dall-E that generate remarkably detailed illustrations. I was able to easily generate an image of a white tiger walking on a purple tightrope against a yellow background.
John R. Janowiak
ECEDHA
2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo: Sneak Preview
By: John R. Janowiak, Executive Director, ECEDHA

The ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo is rapidly approaching, and we are looking forward to gathering the ECEDHA community March 17-20, 2023 at the Hyatt Tamaya Resort and Spa in beautiful Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

The property is situated on the Native American Santa Ana Pueblo, ancient lands with over one thousand years of rich history and culture. It is nestled between the Sandia Mountains and the Rio Grande River. The program offers a truly special setting for our community to come together for a retreat style gathering.

The ECEDHA Program Committee has been hard at work developing a first-class educational program feature some of our most impressive speakers to date.
Sponsored Article: Measurement Excellence in Education: Test and Measurement Equipment Challenges and Solutions at University and College Engineering Labs
The engineers and technicians of tomorrow must be trained with the best test and measurement equipment of today. Employers expect graduates to be familiar with the tools and techniques used in the industry to hit the bench running with mastery of the most popular equipment.

Gap Wireless strongly believes in supporting educational institutions and the students they serve by working closely with them to help their labs meet industry needs and get their students ready for the workforce. By using better tools, students can learn to be the best engineers and technicians they possibly can be.

In this report, we'll look at benchtop and RF test equipment, fiber optics equipment, and courseware challenges at university and college labs from coast to coast, and the solutions we proposed and successfully implemented. In some cases, we've even provided students and educators with hands-on training for their new equipment so that they can maximize the time they spend doing what's most important: learning, teaching, and developing the skills needed to stay ahead in a fast-paced and increasingly vital industry.
 
ECE Student Spotlights
Yasaman Majd
University of Central Florida
Spotlight on Yasaman Majd, University of Central Florida

Meet Yasaman Majd, University of Central Florida student and participant in the 2022 iREDEFINE program. The goal of the iREDEFINE program is to diversify the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) faculty by motivating and preparing PhD students who are women or from underrepresented minorities to pursue faculty positions at US universities.

How did you get interested in ECE?
It really came from my childhood. When I was in high school, I was really interested in physics projects where I could build something using electronics or electricity. So it's all my background in high school in this area.
Now Available on Demand!
ECEDHA Summit Series: The CHIPS Act and You: Challenges and Opportunities for the ECE Community

The CHIPS and Science Act has become a focal point for conversations on the future of science and technology in the US. On Tuesday, November 15, ECEDHA members convened with a distinguished group of academic and industry leaders to address opportunities for the ECE community stemming from the Act. We are pleased to present the recording of this engaging Summit.
Association Announcements
Save the Date!

2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo
Conference: March 17-20, 2023
ECExpo: March 18-19, 2023
Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico

The ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo is the only meeting of its kind bringing together the largest concentration of ECE academia and industry throughout the United States and Canada.

This year's Annual Conference is one of the strongest programs to date with innovative programming in a truly unique destination.

This premier annual gathering features:

  • An intensive conference program of Keynotes, Plenary Panels, and Breakout Sessions

  • CHIPS and Science Act Roundtable Session

  • Plenary Panel: Future Challenges/Direction of the Internet

  • National Laboratories Plenary Panel

  • Deans' Perspective: Keys to Success in Transitioning from ECE Chair to Dean

  • ECExpo technology exhibition

  • Full-day Workshops

  • Ample opportunity for networking
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 mklein@ecedha.org.

The survey will remain open until January 27, 2023. You must submit your responses by this date in order to gain access to the survey results.
Now Renewing:
2022-2023 ECEDHA Academic Membership

Renew your membership today to continue receiving ECEDHA member benefits, including:

  • Access to the 2022 ECEDHA Summit Series, a virtual program
  • The opportunity to attend the 2023 ECEDHA Annual Conference & ECExpo
  • The opportunity to participate in the ECEDHA Annual Survey, a valuable tool in benchmarking data.
  • Complimentary job posting service via the ECEDHA website
  • And much more!

Looking for your membership packet? Please contact
Sinais Alvarado at salvarado@ecedha.org
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 information@ecedha.org. 

On-Demand Webinars
Previously recorded webinars are now available for your on-demand viewing!

Sponsored by Tektronix

Sponsored by Digi-Key Electronics

A Little Engineering Humor
Why do electrical engineers love power naps?
You can build up a charge with them.
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