April 2021
Letter from the Editor
By Michael Devetsikiotis, University of New Mexico
Dear ECEDHA family and friends,
Happy April! We have almost made it to the end of the semester and summer is approaching.
With vaccinations increasing and the pandemic outlook improving, re-opening plans are coming back to the center of attention for the Fall semester. Our ECE departments, like our home institutions, are right in the middle of the plan to bring back students, faculty and staff, to open common areas, remove restrictions from sports events and to allow gatherings for arts and entertainment.
As some of the largest and most extroverted departments at our universities, these matters concern us a lot. Also, because of our emphasis on technology, we find ourselves on both sides, as recipients but also as innovators. Not only in the short and mid-term big return, but in the longer-term post-covid brave new world, where technology and remote instruction will play a crucial and strategic role.
In ECEDHA we believe that as an organization and a coalition of our departments, we can play an important role in leading in this area, for awareness, preparation and innovation. All the diverse aspects of our business and our constituencies are important here: students as well as alumni and industry; inclusivity and respect to difference; remote and in-person; academics and entrepreneurship.
ECEDHA and the Board are continuing to push forward to get Project RECET, in order to study ECE materials and pedagogy for the hybrid future. We just had another installment of the iREDEFINE interview workshop for minority PhD candidates. And we are working with UTD to promote and support the annual ExCellence in Senior Design event coming up in May. In addition to several online workshops and events, culminating hopefully, next year with the return to an in-person annual conference.
In this issue of the Source, we share perspectives on the impact of diversity and inclusion from the Society of Women Engineers at the University of New Mexico. We also have a timely piece on innovation in hands-on learning at Iowa State University. Additionally, we're pleased to continue the series "A Conversation with our Board Members," where we highlight current ECEDHA leadership, including Board Member, Truong Nguyen (UC San Diego) and Corporate Advisory Council Member, Cornelia Stegmann (Renesas). Finally, if you have not already done so, I encourage you to tune in to the ECE TECH TALKS podcast, as the first two episodes are highlighted in this issue - with a new episode coming later this month.
Have a great month and please get stay healthy!
Michael Devetsikiotis
Professor and Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of New Mexico
Email: mdevets@unm.edu