After a nationally competitive search, Purdue University has announced that Milind Kulkarni will assume the role of the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective Monday, February 19. Kulkarni has been a part of the Purdue ECE faculty since 2009 and has been serving as Interim Head since July 3, 2023.

The Purdue Board of Trustees approved naming the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering for the family of alumnus William B. Elmore (BSEE '75, MSEE '76) in recognition of a $25 million gift.

On May 1, Dimitri Peroulis became the next Michael and Katherine Birck Head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. As head of the largest school in the College and one of the largest in the nation, Peroulis will lead more than 100 faculty members and 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students.

In 2017, renovations in the EE building and its Duncan Annex were completed. Included in this project, the ECE's digital systems labs received a complete makeover. The new space is more flexible, with large doors that can open the space to larger class sections, or close it off for smaller ones. There are also fewer walls and additional windows to give the labs a more open feel. The labs have more work stations to accommodate more students, and feature identical equipment across work stations. The addition of a "dirty work space" allows students working on senior design projects to do the necessary physical construction for their project on-site, while keeping the debris this work creates separate from the rest of the lab.

After serving as Interim Head in 2009, Venkataramanan "Ragu" Balakrishnan was appointed as the head in 2010. His research includes numerical methods and optimization for systems and control, control theory, application of systems theory in communication, signal processing, robotics, and VLSI. In 2018, Ragu was named the Dean of Engineering of Case Western Reserve University.

The nanoHUB is NCN's gateway for delivery and hosting of simulation tools, course materials, lectures, seminars, tutorials, user groups, and online meetings for nanotechnology.

The Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) is created. It's mission is to support the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) by designing, constructing, deploying, and operating a cyber-resource for nanotechnology theory, modeling, and simulation. Their mission is embodied in nanoHUB.org and driven by pioneering research, education, outreach, and support for community formation and growth.

Kent Fuchs' research interests focused on computer engineering, particularly dependable computing and failure diagnosis. He served as head from 1996 to 2002.

Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) is created. EPICS is a program in which teams of undergraduates are designing, building, and deploying real systems to solve engineering-based problems for local community service and education organizations.

3M and the Purdue-Brown team announce the first functioning blue-green injection laser diodes

Bernd Hoefflinger's research was on semiconductor devices and microelectronics. He pioneered ion-implanted MOS circuits in 1970 and was co-inventor of the inverted or n-well CMOS technology in 1977. He served as head from 1984 to 1985.

The world's largest defibrillator is created at Purdue. It was used to establish the second law of defibrillation: for a given heart size and a given duration pulse of defibrillating current, the threshold average current required for defibrillation is the same.

Clarence L. Coates emphasized computer education and the development of computer facilities for the School of EE. He recognized the importance of computers in EE education and took steps to create a degree program in computer engineering. He served as head from 1972 to 1983

At LARS, the first digitally driven, interactive image-display system is designed and acquired. It was used until the late 70's when less expensive versions, by then commercially available as off-the-shelf items, were acquired.

The Lab for Applied Industrial Control is created and designed to provide a medium for Purdue faculty and graduate students to carry out research related to the problems of American industry in the fields of industrial control and automation. PLAIC is internationally recognized for contributions in computer control systems for large scale industrial plants and processes, production scheduling and production optimization in steel mills, and computer programming and systems development for aluminum industrial control systems.

Crop identification capability via satellite (Apollo IX) data and machine processing methods demonstrated.

Thomas F. Jones emphasized research, striving for a good balance between traditional EE and electronics. He served as head from 1958 to 1962.

J. Stuart Johnson's major interest was in engineering education, and he continually encouraged the faculty to join the Association for Engineering Education (ASEE). He served as head from 1954 to 1957.

Roscoe George patents television system, method for viewing infrared images, and cathode ray tube.

Old silent movies constituted the first programs. There were probably no more than five receivers in all of Indiana.

In conjunction with Purdue's 50th birthday, a new building for Electrical Engineering was constructed.

Dr. Harding occupied the position (1908-1942) longer than any head before or since. He is seen here in this photo (left) with A.A. Potter (right) laying the cornerstone to the EE building in 1924.

Charles Philo Matthews was acting head of the School of Electrical Engineering under Goldsborough and head from 1904 to 1907. His research was in photometry - the measurement of the light output of enclosed arc lamps.

The telephone was introduced in the late 1870's. After that there was an urgent need for engineers who understood how to expand the telephone system from city to city.

Harold Babbitt Smith is best remembered for his "hedgehog" high-voltage transformer. He was very interested in high-voltage transformers and in electric railways, which were to be important at Purdue for five decades. He served as head from 1893 to 1896

Albert Pruden Carman was the second head of the School of Electrical Engineering. He served as head from 1889 to 1892.

Louis Bell was the first head of the School of Electrical Engineering and was also a professor of Applied Electricity.