The Basics
How many years have you been with your current institution? 20 years
First job? Member of Technical Staff, Lincoln Lab., MIT
Where were you born? Saigon, Vietnam
Where did you grow up? I grew up in Saigon, Vietnam until 15 years old. I escaped Vietnam in 1978 in a small boat (boat people). We spent 4 days in the sea and was rescued by an oil tanker. I was a refugee at a refugee camp in Malaysia for 4 months and immigrated to the US in June 1978 (Racine, Wisconsin).
- Attended 2 years of HS in Racine, Wisconsin
- Move to Orange County in 1980. Attend HS in Placentia, CA.
- Attended UC Irvine for two years (81-83) and then transferred to Caltech in 1983.
- Received BS, MS and PhD at Caltech (85, 86, 89).
Academic Perspective
Why is ECEDHA important to you?
Being a department Chair is challenging with many responsibilities: faculty (evaluation/advancement, hiring, research), undergraduate and graduate (curriculum, teaching schedule, recruitment, ABET), alumni/industry relations (Industry advisory board, recruitment). This is especially true for large department. I have learned a lot from my colleagues at ECEDHA, which helps me to improve our department. I also like the interaction with industry partners, learning about (and give feedback on) their latest equipment/devices that enhance our education mission.
What have you found to have been most rewarding in your experience with ECEDHA and the Board position?
Able to give back to the community. I especially enjoyed the interaction with WECEDHA faculty during the Hands-on workshop at UCSD during the summer 2018, where we presented our hands-on curriculum to the WECEDHA faculty. We also learned from the WECEDHA faculty about their hands-on initiative.
If you had to choose another profession, what would you choose?
Several thoughts:
- K-12 teacher. I enjoyed the interaction with students
- Tennis coach. I love tennis
Was there a defining moment in your life that made you choose ECE as a profession?
I always wanted to be an electrical engineer. The summer research program at Caltech (SURF) during my junior year helps me to decide in choosing DSP as my specialization.
What has been your personal biggest challenge, or most significant achievement since the pandemic?
There are many challenges:
- How to get students to engage in class participation (attendance, question, office hour)? I sense that remote learning is very challenging for our students.
- How to support our students effectively. Before the pandemic, the student organizations (IEEE, HKN, ACM, PiB, etc.) are very effective in providing peer support for our student before the pandemic. It is much more challenging to get our students to participate in student org during the pandemic.
- Lack of social interaction during the pandemic affects the college experience negatively. This will affect future alumni interaction.
- Lack of internship and employment for our students create a challenge for international students who might have to leave the country after their graduation.
Achievements:
- We are successful in creating ECE_AMP (ECE Alumni Mentorship program) with over 100 alum participating. The alum and their mentees are encouraged to meet online every week to discuss any topics that are of interest, including job search, career advices, grad school, resume feedback, mock interview, etc. https://sites.google.com/view/ece-amp
My favorite class to teach is...
Digital Signal Processing. It is an important topic for students to know, as DSP is used in all aspects of ECE. I also enjoy co-teaching ECE5 (Intro to ECE). ECE5 is the hands-on freshmen courses that cover a wide range of topics including embedded programming, DSP, Robotics and Control, Circuits, CAD. It also exposes students to equipment such as oscilloscope, function generator, 3D printer, laser cutter, soldering, etc. ECE5 also covers teamwork: two of the labs require a team of 2 and the Robotics/Control lab requires a team of 4.
Greatest piece of advice I can offer a student is...
Several advices (equally important).
- Do not afraid to ask questions. Many students are reluctant to ask questions and thus fall behind in materials.
- Attend class and office hours. Treat your class as a regular job, meaning that you need to commit at least 8 hours per day for studying.
- Join a student org. Make friends. Your support group comes from these student orgs.
Beyond the Desk
What would you tell your 18-year-old self?
- It is OK to fail the first time. Regroup and try again.
- Stop to smell the rose. Notice others.
Who/what inspires you?
All volunteer organizations such as Doctors Without Borders; Feeding America; ElderHelp.
Philosophy of life in a nutshell?
Have compassion. Help others. Listening more than talking.
Nobody is better than me when it comes to...
persistence and hard work.
If there is one thing I learned in life, it’s...
never too late to say I am sorry.
A problem I have yet to solve:
How to help the bottom 30% of our students. How to motivate my students to do their best. Typically, 30% of my undergraduate students have below average GPA. This means that they will have difficulty in finding internship and employment. Some of them might not practicing ECE, after graduation. I have been working on ways to help them:
- More tutoring resource
- Mentor network with junior/senior standing. Alumni mentor network.
- Hands-on/systems-engineering curriculum
- Software/programming courses
I always wanted to travel to...
space. I am interested in experiencing weightlessness and viewing the earth from space.
You couldn’t pay me enough to…
play computer games.
In my opinion, the greatest invention of all time is...
Agriculture; papermaking process; World Wide Web.
Favorite movie:
Anh Phai Song; Les Miserables