Schedule

ECEDHA hosts a special workshop prior to the Annual Conference and ECExpo to assist universities in preparing for ABET reviews of their electrical engineering and computer engineering programs.

Workshop attendees have reported significantly better review outcomes for their programs:
— Programs that participate in the workshop have an average of 0 deficiencies and 0.29 weaknesses.
— Programs that participate at least a year before their visit year experience better results than those that wait until the visit year.

If your department is up for review within the next three years, take advantage of this opportunity to learn from experienced reviewers before beginning your preparations. The workshop is open to all electrical and computer engineering department heads and faculty.

ABET Workshop registration is separate from the ECEDHA Annual Conference registration and must be completed in advance. Participants are encouraged to bring any materials they have prepared thus far for discussion and evaluation.

Facilitators:

Mark Law
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Director of Honors Program
University of Florida

Mark Law is the Director of the University of Florida Honors Program. Previously, he has been Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering (2009-14) and chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering (2003-09). He received his B.S. from Iowa State University in 1981, his M.S. from Stanford University in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in 1988. His current research interests are in integrated circuit devices and reliability.

Dr. Law was named an IEEE Fellow in 1998 for his contributions to integrated circuit process modeling and simulation. He has won several national and international awards based on this work including a 1992 NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow, 1993 SRC Technical Excellence Award, the 2006 SRC Aristotle Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Advising, the 2010 IEEE EDS J.J. Ebers Award, the 2013 SIA University Research Award, and the 2013 SEMI North America award. At UF, he has been named the College of Engineering Teacher of the Year in 1996-97 and a UF Research Fellow in 1998.

He is a member of the IEEE Faculty and Department Development Committee. He was a member of the ABET commission. He was editor-in-chief of the IEEE Journal on Technology Computer Aided Design from 1997-2002, and has served as an editor of IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing. He was the vice-president for technical activities of the IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS) from 2003-2006. He chaired the 1997 Simulation of Semiconductor Process and Devices Meeting, the 1999, 2002, and 2008 silicon front-end processing symposium of the Materials Research Society, the 2005 Ultra-Shallow Junctions workshop and chaired the 2000 International Electron Devices Meeting. He has served on technical committees for several other conferences.

Dr. Law has written over 200 papers in the area of process and device modeling and has advised 25 Ph.D. students. He has been involved in more than $20 million of funding during his career. He is an IEEE EDS distinguished lecturer. He is a member of the Electrochemical Society, American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, and American Society for Engineering Education.

Stephen M. Phillips, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor, Electrical Engineering Department
Director, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering
Arizona State University

Stephen M. Phillips currently serves as Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. He earned the BS degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University and the MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. From 1988 to 2002, he was a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University. From 1995 to 2002, he also served as director of the Center for Automation and Intelligent System Research, an industry-university-government collaborative at Case. In 2002, he joined the faculty of Arizona State University as professor of electrical engineering and was appointed department chair in 2005. He currently leads the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering as its first director. 

He has held visiting positions at the NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center and the University of Washington. He is a professional engineer registered in Ohio and has serves as a program evaluator for ABET Inc. He has served as the elected president of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association and the ABET Board of Delegates and the IEEE Educational Activities Board. His teaching and research interests include applications and integration of control systems, microsystems and microelectromechanical systems as well as the assessment and improvement of novel delivery methods for accredited degree programs.

Sarah A. Rajala
Dean Emerita, College of Engineering
Iowa State University

Sarah Rajala served as the 12th dean of the College of Engineering at Iowa State University from 2013 - 2019. She led the largest college on campus with responsibility for more than 9,500 students, 500 faculty and staff, 12 academic majors, multiple research centers and programs, and 11 buildings that comprise the engineering complex. Rajala’s previous leadership positions were at Mississippi State University as dean of engineering from 2008-13, and chair of the electrical and computer engineering department prior to being named dean. She also served at North Carolina State University as associate dean for research and graduate programs and associate dean for academic affairs in the college of engineering. She had a distinguished career as a professor and center director prior to moving into administrative positions.

Rajala is an internationally known leader who has served on many academic and association boards. She is a past president of the American Society for Engineering Education and past chair of the Global Engineering Deans Council. In 2016 she was awarded national engineer of the year award by the American Association of Engineering Societies; and received the 2015 national Harriett B. Rigas Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Education Society honoring outstanding female faculty. She has consistently broken new ground for women in engineering and serves as a role model for young women. She is passionate about diversity of thought and culture, especially as it relates to the college environment. Rajala earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University and master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ABET, American Society for Engineering Education and IEEE.

This informal session is intended to highlight the position of department chair (head) and its relationship to upper administration, faculty, staff, students and alumni. The afternoon is intended to elicit discussion and sharing of best practices that may be of particular interest to new department chairs/heads. The discussion will be led by John Papapolymerou who currently serves as Chair of the ECE Department at Michigan State, and Art Lizotte who currently serves as the Director Emeritus of University Development for Keysight Technologies, based on their combined experience of more than 20 years in leading and managing their respective departments in academia and industry.

Facilitators:

John Papapolymerou
Chair
Michigan State University

Information technology has evolved significantly over the past couple of decades. New kinds of computers, with new kinds of processors, storage, and input / output systems are evolving rapidly. In this talk we explore some of the new opportunities, from the lens of the evolution of new computing and information systems at Microsoft. We look into new computing, storage, and communication approaches, which are driving new designs for cloud-bases computing systems. These new capabilities are in big part driven by the needs and opportunities of processing vast amounts of data with new artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. We look into new scenarios where the combination of AI, cloud computing, and Internet of Things are leading to significant disruptions in traditional business. These new opportunities for business impact need tighter integration of many capabilities within ECE areas, leading to interesting new opportunities for career profiles and curriculum evolution for ECE programs. We look into specific examples in new data storage systems, new capabilities in healthcare, and new interfaces for accessibility.

Rico Malvar
Distinguished Engineer and Chief Scientist  
Microsoft

Rico Malvar is a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer and the Chief Scientist for Microsoft Research. He joined Microsoft Research in 1997, founding the signal processing group, which developed new technologies such as new media compression formats used in Windows, Xbox, and Office, and audio technologies used in Windows, Xbox, Kinect, and HoloLens. Currently he also heads the MSR NExT Enable group, which develops technologies for people with disabilities. Rico was a key architect for the WMA and JPEG XR formats and made key contributions to the H.264 video format, used by most Web video services. Prior to Microsoft, Rico was Vice President for Research at PictureTel Corp. Rico received a Ph.D. from MIT (1986) and is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the Brazilian Academies of Science and Engineering. He has over 120 issued US patents and over 160 publications. He is an IEEE Fellow and has received many awards, including a Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society.

Innovative business models and massive new industries are being created around and within complex ecosystems that aggregate different technologies and platforms, collect-crunch-digest massive amounts of data, and use federated/distributed intelligence through ubiquitous sensing, connectivity and computing. The distributed interactive autonomy required to support those cyber-physical systems brings new challenges and opportunities for novel computing architectures, trusted/secured microelectronics, low-latency/reliable communications, real-time machine learning, human-machine symbiosis tools and virtualized services, among others. The role of the ECE discipline is key for overcoming these challenges and finding the corresponding novel solutions; a new generation of engineering professionals (with emphasis on ECE) will be required to design, develop, install, operate and maintain complex “systems of systems” that are part of larger ecosystems where multiple actors participate and success results from the collaborative effort between them. Innovative engineering education programs and translational research will help to prepare the future engineering professionals that will respond to these and other challenges. Given the complexity of the potential solutions, we explore different pathways and approaches that could help to accelerate the development of those solutions with an active participation of academia, including faculty, students and the larger engineering community.

Speaker:

Igor Alvarado
Academic Business Development Manager
National Instruments

Igor Alvarado is the Academic Research Manager at National Instruments (www.ni.com) where he develops collaborations and strategic partnerships with leading universities in the U.S. in such areas Cyber-Physical Systems, Energy, Medical Imaging/Devices and RF/Wireless Communications to improve engineering education, advance scientific research and accelerate innovation with support from NSF, DoD, DoE, NIH and other funding agencies. Mr. Alvarado holds A.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas State University and has been with NI since 1999. He is a NSF Innovation- Corps mentor and has more than 30 years of practical experience in successfully developing and growing markets for high-technology products and services in the U.S. and Latin America. He has led the design, development and deployment of real-time, measurement and intelligent control systems that involve advanced numerical methods and algorithms using high-performance embedded computing platforms. He is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the International Society of Automation (ISA), the American Physical Society (APS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP). Mr. Alvarado has published technical papers and has taught courses to engineers and scientists on instrumentation, control and automation applications in industry and academia; he has also been an invited keynote speaker at leading at national/international meetings, and has served as a consultant and advisory board member for academic institutions, corporations and research laboratories. In 2017, Mr. Alvarado received the prestigious Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association’s (ECEDHA) Industry Award for his contributions to the ECE discipline and to engineering education.

The iREDEFINE workshop capitalizes on the unique environment provided by the ECEDHA conference to create a mechanism to motivate and prepare women and underrepresented minority (URM) students PhD students for pursuing faculty positions in US Universities. The unique opportunity arises due to the high concentration of ECE department chairs attending the event, most of whom are investing great efforts in increasing the diversity of their faculty. The workshop format will balance the effective aspects of the previous three years with feedback received from the participants. In particular, ECE PhD students will have significantly more opportunities to interact with department chairs to learn about their programs, potential faculty positions, and expectations of new faculty. 

The iREDEFINE Fellows will also have the opportunity to present their research projects and participate in dedicated programming including sessions on negotiation strategies, writing successful proposals, effective teaching methods, and navigating the academic job search including CV review and mock interviews. The iREDEFINE workshop will prepare women and URM PhD students for rewarding academic careers and provide them with a professional network of peers and mentors.

To learn more about this workshop and how to apply, please visit the iREDEFINE Workshop page 

If you or your colleagues have an interest in working with ECE faculty from Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) in joint research projects, the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) is developing a new type of teaming process to enable successful collaborations. All ECEDHA attendees are encouraged to participate in this workshop where we will explore how best to form and sustain research collaborations between R1 research-intensive universities and the member universities of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium. This workshop is a key step in testing out ideas developed within the Consortium to more fully and productively engage joint cross-institutional teams in the US education and research enterprise. 

The Inclusive Engineering Consortium is a novel collaboration among the 15 ABET accredited Electrical and Computer Engineering programs at the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities and 2 Hispanic Serving Institutions. The majority of Consortium members have participated in the National Science Foundation-funded Experimental Centric Pedagogy project. Through this experience, Consortium member institutions have developed a culture of collaboration with effective methods of implementation. The Consortium is now addressing how best to build a different type of team structure with research-intensive (R1) universities, industry, and other external constituencies. Preparation for the workshop has included defining and refining a process and set of tools for successful collaboration with each type of partner, especially R1 universities. The workshop activities are structured to test the collaboration process and tools for R1 universities by actively engaging Consortium partner faculty with ECE department heads from R1 universities and other faculty attending the ECEDHA conference. These activities will help create the organizational support structure and activities necessary to realize the Consortium’s grand vision of graduating more and better prepared minority engineers; increasing efficiency and productivity at minority-serving institutions; and developing a sustainable and effective infrastructure to support minority students, faculty and staff at all universities.

To learn more about this workshop please visit the IEC Workshop page 

This workshop will consist of general sessions and two separate breakout sessions: 

AI, Machine Learning and Data-Driven Decision Making: Modern sensing and communication infrastructure has revolutionized the collection, transmission, storage, access, and utilization of data. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science are emerging fields where powerful tools are being developed to understand and exploit the information embedded in the big data that arrive with greater variety, increasing volumes, and ever-higher velocity. One of the fundamental challenges is to move AI, machine learning and data science techniques beyond pattern recognition and their incorporation into real-time decision making to address data-driven control and optimization problems of dynamical engineering systems ranging from medical devices, to energy systems, and to transportation network. This workshop aims at bringing together top experts from relevant fields, exploring research and educational opportunities for ECE departments, and developing a common understanding on technical challenges, research trends, and workforce development needs. 

Engineering Quantum Devices and Systems: It is clear that while foundational advances in quantum are constantly emerging, the time has come to transition quantum from a basic science (deeply rooted in physics) to an engineering discipline (deeply rooted in ECE departments). As a result of rapid advances in quantum computing, communications, and sensing, these technologies are approaching readiness for deployment. Quantum computing is anticipated to enable calculations that are simply not possible on classical computers, while the deployment of quantum communications would lead to transformative improvements in cybersecurity, and advances in quantum sensors promise devices with record sensitivity. Further, as these technology segments grow, there will be a critical need for talent with relevant expertise. This workshop will bring together experts in these topics to discuss opportunities in research and education for ECE Departments. The goal of these discussions will be to develop an understanding of the technical challenges, research trends, and workforce development needs.

Organizers:

George Pappas
Professor and Chair
University of Pennsylvania

George J. Pappas is the UPS Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Departments of Computer and Information Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He is member of the GRASP Lab and the PRECISE Center. He has previously served as the Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on control theory and in particular, hybrid systems, embedded systems, hierarchical and distributed control systems, with applications to unmanned aerial vehicles, distributed robotics, green buildings, and biomolecular networks. He is a Fellow of IEEE, and has received various awards such as the Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize, the George S. Axelby Award, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award, the National Science Foundation PECASE, and the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Excellence Award.

Daniel Stancil
Alcoa Distinguished Professor and Head
North Carolina State University

Daniel D. Stancil is the Alcoa Distinguished Professor and Head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at North Carolina State University. His early interest in radios and electronics launched an engineering career that has been--and continues to be--fun and rewarding. Along the way he picked up engineering degrees from Tennessee Tech (B.S.E.E.) and MIT (S.M., E.E. and Ph.D.). He has spent many years as a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at both Carnegie Mellon University and NC State. While at CMU he served as Associate Head of the ECE Department, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering. He has been Department Head at NC State since 2009. In 2019 he became the Executive Director of the IBM Q Hub at NC State, a collaboration with IBM on quantum computing.

Note: The ECEDHA-C workshop is included in the Full Conference Registration Price. Please email Claire Seifert at cseifert@ecedha.org if you plan on participating so we can accommodate for your participation.

If you only plan on attending this workshop, registration is required at the $495 rate. Travel grants are available for qualifying participants attending only this workshop. Please see below for grant application instructions.

Grant Application Process Participants are asked to submit the following materials to Claire Seifert, cseifert@ecedha.org: 

1) The candidate's CV or short bio 
2) A paragraph statement by the candidate with a description of why they would like to participate in this workshop, how it fits with their personal goals, and how it will help advance their departmental goals. 

All nominations will be reviewed by the ECEDHA-C committee. Accepted individuals will receive a professional development award in the form of: 1.) travel expenses reimbursement up to $600, 2.) two nights of lodging at group rate, and 3.) complimentary registration to the ECEDHA-C workshops.  

To learn more about the ECEDHA-C Workshop and how to participate, please visit the ECEDHA-C Workshop page. 

In this session, the focus will be upon the emergence of ECE makerspaces and how their growth in popularity has begun to be a transformative engine for curriculum reform. These so-called design studios are being utilized to introduce hands-on curriculum in traditional universities, enable students to work on meaningful projects, and create an avenue for industry to participate in the educational experiences of undergrads. In mostly a roundtable setting, we will explore best practices, what it means for a lab to be an ECE Makerspace, and how to align our respective spaces for more synergistic endeavors in the future.

For more information on the ECE Technology Program please see the ECE Technology Program Page

Speakers:

Ramsin Khoshabeh
Director, ECE Makerspaces
University of California San Diego

Ramsin Khoshabeh received his PhD from the ECE department at UC San Diego in 2012, specializing in computer vision and machine learning for medical applications. He currently serves as the Director of the ECE Makerspace at UC San Diego. In addition to overseeing the operations of the lab, Ramsin also teaches numerous experientially-focused courses covering topics such as basic electronics and prototyping, wearable sensors, Python programming, full-stack web development, real-time signal processing, machine learning and vision, human-centered product engineering, and even agile business planning. Prior to entering the workforce at UC San Diego, Ramsin was part of several tech/biotech startups and consulted with a number of local companies on computer vision and machine learning solutions.

Mark Liu
Assistant Director ECE Makerspace
University of California, San Diego

Mark Liu current manages UC San Diego’s ECE Makerspace, where students are taught how to use the latest in digital prototyping equipment in a large variety of hands on engineering classes. He comes from a background of working at hardware startups where he spent most of his time designing and building functional prototypes as fast as possible. Taking that experience, he now helps students do the same, as well as providing support to researchers and other projects on campus.

Truong Nguyen
Professor
University of California San Diego

Truong Nguyen came to the Jacobs School in 2001. He manages the Video Processing Group, and teaches courses associated with the Signal Image Processing Program (SIP). He is a 1995 recipient of an NSF career award and is co-author of a popular book: Wavelets and Filter Banks, and author of several matlab-based toolboxes on image compression, electrocardiagram compression, and filter bank design. He also holds a patent on an efficient design method for wavelets and filter banks and several patents on wavelet applications including compression and signal analysis. He received his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1989.

Organizer:

Aaron Hawkins
Department Chair
Brigham Young University

Aaron Hawkins has served as the chair of the ECE Department at Brigham Young University since 2018. Aaron has been with his department since 2002 and before that he worked at Intel and with a start-up company he co-founded during his graduate studies. He received his B.S. from Caltech and Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Fellow of IEEE and OSA and currently the VP for Publications for the IEEE Photonics Society.

Panelists:

John Harris
Professor and Chair
University of Florida

John Harris is Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida. Faculty hiring has been a major focus for Dr. Harris since starting as chair in August 2011. Under his leadership, the department has grown from 38 to 54 tenured/tenure-track faculty members, doubled research expenditures, and increased faculty diversity. The department has targeted several strategic areas including Cyber-Security, Internet of Things, Neuro-Engineering, machine learning and power systems.
For his research, Dr. Harris leads the Hybrid Signal Processing Group in studying biologically inspired circuits, architectures and algorithms for signal processing. He has published over 200 research papers and patents in this area. Dr. Harris received his BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT in 1983 and 1986. He earned his PhD from Caltech in the first graduating class of the interdisciplinary Computation and Neural Systems program in 1991. After a two-year postdoc at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, he joined the faculty at the University of Florida in 1993.

Agnieszka Miguel
Department Chair
Seattle University

Agnieszka Miguel received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2001 from the University of Washington, and MSEE and BSEE from Florida Atlantic University in 1996 and 1994. Dr. Miguel's professional interests involve image processing, machine learning, and engineering education especially active learning, diversity, retention, and recruitment. Her teaching interests include MATLAB, circuits, linear systems, and digital image processing. She is a member of the IEEE, ASEE, SWE, and Tau Beta Pi. Currently, Dr. Miguel is the Chair of the ASEE Professional Interest Council I, a position that gives her a seat on the ASEE Board of Directors. She is also the ASEE Pacific Northwest (PNW) Section Chair (2015 - 2017). Dr. Miguel has held several other officer positions across the ASEE including: Division Chair and Program Chair of the ECE and New Engineering Educators Divisions, and ASEE Campus Representative. Dr. Miguel is also a member-at-large of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) Board of Directors. She has been a member of the ECEDHA Annual Conference Program Committee since 2013 and is serving on the Editorial Board for the ECEDHA Source monthly newsletter.

Marco Rolandi
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering
University of California, Santa Cruz

Marco Rolandi, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He started his independent academic career as an Assistant (2008-2014) and Associate Professor (2014-2015) of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is also the scientific founder of KitoTech Medical (2012-) and an Associate Editor for RSC Advances (2015-). He was born and raised in Savona, Italy. After graduating from Italian Liceo Scientifico, he moved to the UK to study for an MSci in Physics at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London (now Queen Mary University of London) where he started performing research in the laboratories of Professor E. Guy Wilson. He then moved to the US and joined the research group of Professor Hongjie Dai while pursuing a PhD in Applied Physics at Stanford University. In 2005, he became a postdoctoral fellow in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley working in the laboratories of Professor Jean M.J Fréchet. 

His research focuses on micro- and nano- biological and bioinspired structures, their integration in biocompatible devices, and their translational applications. His work on bioprotonic transistors was highlighted in The New York Times, New Scientist, MRS 360, IEEE Spectrum, Materials Views, Engadget, Popular Science, and several other sites. His work on microneedles for TB testing was highlighted on BBC Horizons and Komo News. He is also interested in visual communication in science and engineering and his essay on how to prepare scientific figures was the most downloaded article in Advanced Materials during the fall of 2011 (> 10,000 times). He received a Strazzabosco Award for Young Engineers (2015), an Innovator Award from the College of Engineering (2014), an NSF-CAREER award (2012), a 3M Untenured Faculty Award (2010) and he was selected as one of the TR-35 GI by the MIT Technology Review (Italy, 2012). He was also voted “Faculty of the Year” by his department’s junior undergraduate students (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015).

Makerspaces often attract students with a strong interest in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) related topics, including embedded systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and electronics. Although many makers self-identify as having interests related to ECE, university and community college makerspaces often focus primarily on mechanical fabrication tools such as 3-D printers and laser cutters. 

This interactive workshop will: 1) explore how making and makerspaces can help departments attract and retain students in ECE, 2) show how student learning can change by their involvement with makerspaces, and 3) provide individuals considering whether to create makerspaces methods to do so more effectively. This workshop is designed for chairs, faculty, instructors, and lab staff from universities and community colleges along with industry, researchers, and others with an interest in making and makerspaces. Workshop sessions will include a keynote from a thought leader in the maker movement; a panel on the current state of making in ECE; an opportunity to do hands-on ECE-related making over lunch; how to design, build, and sustain inclusive ECE makerspaces; and making action plans to continue collaborating within a making in ECE community of practice. Speakers and workshop facilitators include thought leaders from the Nation of Makers, Cypress Semiconductor, Digi-Key, Arizona State, Bucknell, Georgia Tech, University of Illinois, and Virginia Tech. A limited number of travel grants are available thanks to support from the National Science Foundation (EEC-1853158). 

For more information on this workshop, please see the Makerspaces Workshop Page.

Organizers:

Shawn Jordan
Associate Professor, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University

Shawn Jordan, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He teaches context-centered electrical engineering and embedded systems design courses, and studies the use of context and storytelling in both K-12 and undergraduate engineering design education. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Education (2010) and M.S./B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University. Dr. Jordan is PI on several NSF-funded projects related to design, including an NSF Early CAREER Award entitled “CAREER: Engineering Design Across Navajo Culture, Community, and Society” and “Might Young Makers be the Engineers of the Future?,” and is a Co-PI on the NSF Revolutionizing Engineering Departments grant “Additive Innovation: An Educational Ecosystem of Making and Risk Taking.” He was named one of ASEE PRISM’s “20 Faculty Under 40” in 2014, and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Obama in 2017.

Alan Cheville
Professor and Department Chair
Bucknell University

R. Alan Cheville received degrees in electrical engineering at Rice University, specializing in ultrafast optical spectroscopy. After postdoctoral work in ultrafast optoelectronics, he joined the faculty of Oklahoma State University in 1998. He continued his work on high speed THz optoelectronics—supported by funding from the Department of Energy, the Army Research Office, and the National Science Foundation including a CAREER award—in areas such as THz time domain spectroscopy of molecular vapors and flames, pulsed ranging, and optical tunneling. During his time at Oklahoma State University he slowly transitioned his research interests from optoelectronics to engineering education, with an initial focus on effectively integrating research-based pedagogies into engineering curricula in the areas of photonics and electromagnetics. He led a five year, $1.2M NSF-sponsored department-level reform project at OSU that sought to integrate relevant design experiences and mathematical competencies across the curriculum. Following the conclusion of this project, he served for two and a half years as the program director for engineering education in the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Directorate. During this time he developed several funding programs, served as NSF liaison to a Federal working group on games, as well as on several internal working groups. He was recognized by the Director’s Award for Program Management Excellence. He currently serves as chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering at Bucknell University, an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Education and the Journal of Engineering Education, and on several advisory boards. He is currently interested in engineering design education, engineering education policy, and the epistemology of engineering.

Casey Smith
Senior Instructional Lab Coordinator
University of Illinois Urbana-Chapaign

Casey Smith is the Senior Instructional Lab Coordinator in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He manages 20 instructional labs spanning the ECE department curriculum including the ECE Open Lab, a creative makerspace for students across campus. Prior to joining the department in 2014 he was the Senior Design Engineer at Opal Kelly Inc. and a Research Engineer at the University of Chicago Engineering Center. Casey has a BS and MS from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.