
State of the ECE Department Andreas C. Cangellaris, Head May 4, 2012
University of Illinois President Michael Hogan Resigns • President Hogan’s term ends on July 1, 2012 • Robert Easter, appointed as the next UI President • Easter serves currently as President-Designate • His term as President starts on July 1, 2012
Excellence in Academic Scholarship • Top-notch ECE Curricula – Latest US News Ranking • Undergraduate EE is 5th; Graduate EE is 3rd; • Undergraduate CE is 5th; Graduate CE is 5th • Distinguished faculty, internationally recognized for innovative contributions and professional leadership • Over 50% of ECE faculty are IEEE fellows • 7 American Physical Society (APS) fellows • 7 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) fellows • 10 American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows • 9 faculty, 9 emeritus faculty members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
Enrollments Are Up • AY 2011-12 • 408 accepts • Over 80 transfer students • ~1737 undergraduates • AY 2012-13 • ~500 accepts • Split equally between EE and CE
1737 Undergraduate Students 33% International ~48% Out of State
ECE faculty graduate advisees include students from CS, BioE, Physics, MatSE,…
Groundbreaking for New ECE building • On October 7, a ceremony was held to break ground for the new ECE building • Among the dignitaries were Illinois Governor Quinn, U of I President Michael Hogan, Chancellor Phyllis Wise, and College of Engineering Dean Ilesanmi Adesida • The facility is targeted for completion in summer 2014
Coordinated Science Laboratory celebrates 60 years of science • The 60th anniversary celebration culminated with special events on October 27 and 28 and a Symposium on “Building Interdisciplinary Excellence with Societal Impact” • More than 200 alums, former faculty, and friends joined us for the celebration • CSL is home to several centers and institutes that work on: • Information trust & cybersecurity • Parallel computing • Wireless networks • Advanced digital sciences • Engineering ethics • Communications infrastructure & policy
New Faculty Members Catrina Bryce Semiconductor Lasers and Photonic Integrated Circuits John Dallesasse Materials for Opto-electronic d Devices and Photonic Integrated Circuits Max Raginsky Communications Robert Pilawa Power and Energy Systems
Coleman elected to National Academy of Engineering • ECE Professor James Coleman was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. • He was recognized for his work in semiconductor lasers and photonic materials. • His research led to the development of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, a growth method widely used to make semiconductor devices.
Liu receives Presidential Early Career Award • Logan Liu was named a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). • PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their careers. • Liu specializes in using nano-engineering methods to understand and control molecular and cellular systems.
Holonyak inducted into Engineering and Science Hall of Fame • Nick Holonyak Jr. was one of three inductees into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame on November 3. • He was recognized for the invention of the visible LED. • The Engineering and Science Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring national and international achievements in science and engineering.
Makela receives Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award • ECE Associate Professor Jonathan Makela was the 2011 recipient of the IEEE Education Society's Mac Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award. • The Award recognizes young faculty who have made outstanding contributions to teaching unusually early in their professional careers.
Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia recipient of the 2012 IEEE PES Outstanding Young Engineer Award • This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the leadership of technical activities
Power and Energy Conference at Illinois • Third annual Power and Energy Conference at Illinois was held in February • Planned and executed by ECE students • Participants came from around the world
ECE Pulse • Student-run technical conference brought in a number of major companies to give tech talks • Keynote speaker was Michael Callahan, the first recipient of the Lemelson-Illinois student prize • Held in February, this was the first of what is planned to be annual event
Outstanding Graduate Students • C. Chen, X. Jiang: Best Student Paper Award at the recent 2011 North American Power Symposium • Feng Xiong: Gold medal for the TSMC Outstanding Student Research Award and the Best in Session Award at SRC TECHCON 2011 • Joseph Sloan, RamiAbdallah: Best in Session Awards at the SRC TECHCON 2011 • Katherine Kim: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship • Pradeep Shenoy: Recipient of the 2010 Illinois International Graduate Achievement Award • JayanandAsok Kumar: Silver medal at the Design Automation Conference • Nathan Jack, VrashankShukla: Best student paper award at the latest EOS/ESD Symposium • David Estrada: Best paper award at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; best poster award at the Great Minds in STEM conference • …
Watkins develops product that could improve AIDS treatment • ECE grad student Nicholas Watkins received the Baxter Young Investigator Award • He is developing a portable CD4 counter, which can be used to treat HIV patients in underdeveloped countries • The device counts the number of Helper T cells in the blood, providing a snapshot of a patient's immune system
Organized by the: January 8 - 13 • 5-day technology entrepreneurship workshop and visits with startups and leading technology companies • 25 students attended • Notable outcomes: • Five students had interviews with Portfolio companies • One student going to work at SpaceX • TEC to help Azumio build user groups on campus for data collection and testing • Strengthening Founders Fund engagement with Illinois With generous support by the:
ECE Illinois: Lighting up the future