The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association
January 2022
Interestingly, just like the pandemic is increasingly shifting towards an endemic, many of these ECE innovations are in increasingly becoming a part of our long-term institutional toolkit and our infrastructure itself. Our editorial team is extremely interested in hearing from you about your experience and your thoughts about the future of ECE teaching and research. Please share your best practices and innovations that could be of broader benefit to the ECEDHA community. After all, such knowledge sharing is what ECEDHA is for.
Special Announcement
Research. Technology. The Future of ECE.
Stream the new podcast series now!
Join us for the ECE TECH TALKS Podcast Series!

Throughout this series, host Barry Sullivan sits down for casual conversations with thought leaders in ECE – across both academia and industry – to hear their perspectives on the latest in research, technology, and their vision of the future of ECE.

Featured Articles
What is an effective strategy for crafting winning large proposals?
By: Srinivas Tadigadapa, Northeastern University

The ability to compete for and win large multi-year grants from NSF and other agencies is a high priority for ECE Departments. A strategy that has been highly effective is to take the dual top down and bottom-up approach based on the 3-plane chart strategy that NSF advocates for its ERC programs. Furthermore, planning these well ahead of time and having the relevant team players and external collaborators in place is almost as necessary as having a grand vision. Having support from the University’s upper administration through extensive grant writing team and review support is vital. At Northeastern we have had some success in this arena having won an ERC grant along with an NSF INCLUDES Alliance grant and several major Center of Excellence grants from NIEHS and DHS.
Senior Design: Showcase vs Competition vs Conference
By: Lawrence Overzet, The University of Texas at Dallas

This is now the third article about the ExCEllence in Senior Design Showcase (ESD Showcase). The first article described the great encouragement which resulted from the inaugural event. (https://www.ecedha.org/ECE-Resources/ECE-Source-eNewsletter/August-2019/Inaugural-ExCEllence-in-Senior-Design-Showcase) We have even established multi-institution senior design projects out of that event. The second article described our pivot in April 2020 from an in-person showcase to a mini-workshop for reasons that unfortunately remain all too obvious. (https://www.ecedha.org/ECE-Resources/ECE-Source-eNewsletter/September-2020/ExCEllence-in-Senior-Design-Mini-Workshop) We organized a fully remote ESD Showcase in May of 2021. It went very well even though everyone wished it could have been in-person. In this article, I am hoping to pique your interest in what benefits your programs could reap from this event and stoke your desire to join in.

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View a short video description here:https://youtu.be/436dLQMy9UM
 
 Learn More
ECE Faculty Spotlights
B.S.Manjunath
Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science
University of California, Santa Barbara
I would like to begin by thanking the ECEDHA team for giving me the opportunity to share my experiences as the Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at UC Santa Barbara.
 
This is my second year as Chair. When I accepted this opportunity in spring 2020, I did not anticipate that 18 months later we would still be battling this rapidly evolving virus. Fortunately, I have had great support from the departmental staff and my faculty colleagues in navigating through the many challenges the department has faced.
 
Providing a high-quality learning environment despite these unprecedented circumstances was a challenge for everyone at the University. Students had to adapt quickly to remote instruction, and normal departmental activities, including instruction delivery, faculty recruitment, merits and promotions, all had to safely continue.
 
Athina Petropulu
Distinguished Professor, ECE
Rutgers the State University of New Jersey
Q. Why is ECEDHA important to you?

A. I am very happy to interact again with the ECEDHA members, and would like to send all my best wishes for the New Year! I was involved with ECEDHA during my terms as chair of the ECE Department at Rutgers and was honored to be ECEDHA President in 2015. ECEDHA is an organization that brings the leaders of ECE departments together to exchange views, compare best practices, learn about cutting edge research and teaching trends, interact with industry and network with their peers. As ECE chair, I felt very fortunate to have access to the inclusive, supportive and resourceful ECEDHA ecosystem.

Q. What have you found to have been most rewarding in your experience with ECEDHA?
A. I really enjoyed the interactions with the other chairs and learned a lot from them. I also appreciated the panel discussions on branding and the visibility of the ECE field. I took back to my department at Rutgers our ECEDHA discussions on how to make ECE more attractive to women and underrepresented minorities, and with my colleagues, we created a new interpretation of ECE as “Experience Creative Engineering. This indeed was very effective in helping us to almost double the percentage of females in our department, and also made ECE by far the largest department in the Rutgers School of Engineering...

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:





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.
A Little Engineering Humor
Client: "How do you estimate how long a project will take?"

Engineer: "I add the time needed for each activity, then multiply by pi."

Client: "Why multiply by pi?"

Engineer: "It explains why my estimates are always irrational."
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