April 2024
Letter from the Guest Editor
Title
By: Badri Roysam, University of Houston
Dear Colleagues,
I hope your Spring semester went well, and your students are excited about their upcoming Summer Internships and new jobs. Notwithstanding the turmoil in the Technology sector, the economy continues to be on a roll, with more openings than applicants. As a result, ECE students are receiving excellent starting salaries and, in many cases, sign-up bonuses as well. The market for graduates with data science, machine learning, robotics, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI) backgrounds is extremely competitive, to say the least. The Manufacturing and Defense sectors are starting to come alive as well. All these megatrends are behind the enrollment turnaround that we are witnessing.
It was great meeting you at the 2024 ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo, in beautiful Tucson, Arizona. In this issue of Source, we are pleased to spotlight two highlights from the conference, one regarding the CHIPS and Science Act, and its direct ramifications to workforce development at ECE/EECS departments, and one on Quantum communication and computation Technologies.
Even as we are barely done processing travel reimbursements from our Tucson visit, the 2025 conference is on the Association’s mind. We're seeking enthusiastic ECEDHA members to join the Program Committee for our 2025 ECEDHA Annual Conference & ECExpo! If you're interested in participating, please contact Elizabeth Hibbler at ehibbler@ecedha.org
This is the time of year to vote. Yes, I am talking about the 2024-2025 ECEDHA Secretary Election. Before casting your vote, you may wish to watch the candidate interviews hosted by Barry Sullivan.
This past year has also seen several ECE leadership changes. This month, we are delighted to spotlight Professor Aleksandar Milenkovic, the new Chair at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. We are equally delighted to spotlight IEC 2to4 Scholar Dre’Von Taylor at San Jacinto Community College, not far from my workplace. Interestingly, both Huntsville and Houston are hotspots for aerospace engineering, and Dre’Von seems very interested in entering this rapidly growing industry.
My ECEDHA colleagues and I join together in wishing you a Happy and Restful Summer 2024.
ECE Conversations
Do you have an initiative in your department worth sharing? We would love to feature your efforts in the next ECE Source newsletter. Increasingly, our articles are in the form of the ECE Conversations video podcast. It is friendly, authentic, personal, and natural.
Do you have interesting initiatives in progress at your department? We would love to feature your efforts in the next ECE Source newsletter. Increasingly, our articles are in the form of the ECE Conversations video podcast. It is friendly, authentic, personal, and natural. At the conference, we plan to record a series of in-person ECE Conversations in a podcast style. Would you be interested in participating? See you there!
Here are some of the topics of current interest for future ECE Conversations:
- The impacts of AI on ECE education and research;
- Strategies and Experiences in meeting the semiconductor re-shoring challenge;
- The growing footprint of healthcare-related research in ECE departments;
- Growing the workforce for the future electronics-intensive defense industry;
- The new ECE Chair experience, the ups, and the downs;
- Teaching engineering values; and
- Strategies and best practices for developing future ECE faculty.
As always, we welcome short articles from ECE department heads & faculty on topics of broad interest to our community.
Wishing you a happy new Spring Semester,
Badri Roysam, D.Sc., Fellow IEEE, Fellow AIMBE
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor
Chair, Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
University of Houston
Houston, Texas 77204-4005
Phone: 713-743-1773
Email: broysam@uh.edu