New Chair Spotlight - Pamela Cosman

September 2024

New Department Chair Spotlight 

Pamela Cosman

Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Distinguished University Professor

Life story in 47 words: Raised in LA, French school, Caltech undergrad, Stanford PhD, Minnesota postdoc (brr, cold!), 29 years on ECE faculty at UC San Diego (warm, yay!), 1 husband, 4 sons, research in video compression, signal processing, plus some social science side projects on gender in engineering, now Chair, yikes!

Q. What inspired you to take on the role of department chair?

A. I’m interested in the challenge, and I thought I’d be good at it because I’ve had other administrative roles on campus.  I absorbed a number of Student Affairs issues as Associate Dean for Students and as ECE Vice Chair.  And three years on the campus-wide Committee on  Academic Personnel showed I could parse the convolutions of the Policy and Procedure Manual while writing clear prose which avoids them.  And, let’s face it, I also received some… gentle encouragement… from colleagues carrying truncheons.

Q. In your role as department chair, what did you find to be the most surprising or unexpected?

A. I’ve only been in the role two months, so I’m sure more surprising things will pop up.  But what I found surprising so far is that people expect you to instantly be an expert on the department—the people, operations, budget, space, etc.  Of course I’ve heard there are training sessions distributed throughout the first year, but that is cold comfort on the first day when ten things land on your desk that you’ve never seen before.  So there have been some brisk learning opportunities.

Q. What are your immediate priorities and goals for your department?

A. Two months in, I’m in listening and learning mode, trying to figure out the real priorities while running the day-to-day machinery and stamping out small brushfires.  But I think some of the priorities will be assisting my faculty as they look to create research centers, and finding more ways to support our students from varied backgrounds.  I expect to also engage in philanthropic fundraising to be able to attract the best faculty and to expand certain types of student programs, such as hands-on programs and summer bridge opportunities.

Q. What do you believe is the most essential trait for a department chair to possess, and how do you plan to cultivate that trait? 

A. In one week it seemed like organization and efficiency were most important, but in another week it was empathic listening and diplomacy, as I met with a student and a faculty member with deep concerns.  Currently I’m worried that visionary leadership is the most important trait, and I will have to do a lot of wide reading and listening to faculty and students and industry leaders to try to cultivate that.  So, how many things am I allowed to list?

Q. What do you most look forwared to in participating as an ECEDHA member?

A. This is a hard question, can I come back to this one later?  (A week goes by… the deadline looms!).  Well, anything that would help me become a great Department Chair!

Q. What is a fun fact about yourself? 

A. I’ve had two children’s STEM fiction books published, and I like gardening and salsa dancing, so I have a couple of fallback options if this whole engineering professor thing doesn’t work out.