It is with great shock and sadness that I inform you that Professor Eric Furgason passed away suddenly, on May 31.

Born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1946, Professor Furgason earned all his degrees from Purdue (BSEE 1969, MSEE 1970, PhD 1974), and joined our faculty ranks soon after.  Over the years, Professor Furgason taught almost all of our EE undergraduate courses.  His specialty was ECE 255, Introduction to Electronic Circuit Analysis and Design.  He was at his best in the Electrical Engineering Design Projects (Senior Design for EEs).  In this course, he worked closely with students to develop their design and analysis skills.  He would always challenge the students to do their best. And, with his wry sense of humor, get them to figure out what they needed to do to get to their best.

Professor Furgason was also greatly appreciated and much recognized for his contributions to engagement, winning the College of Engineering Engagement/Service Excellence Award in 2012.   He was a key faculty member of the Technical Assistance Program at Purdue, providing technical help to over 280 clients over 22 years to Indiana companies.  Each client needed serious technical help, requiring Professor Furgason to become familiar with the problem, to figure it out, and try to arrive at a practical solution suitable to the client. That feat requires time, effort, and considerable skill in many engineering disciplines.  Professor Furgason continued to work with TAP until the present.

Professor Furgason was a beloved contributor to our Minority Engineering Program helping for over 34 years more than 6,000 minority students and more than 17,000 small-group student-contact-hours for MEP.   In the summer of 1978, then Assistant Professor Furgason taught high school students in both the "Summer Engineering Seminars" and the "Minority Introduction to Engineering" programs. Every summer since, he has taught 2, mostly 3, and often 4 programs for MEP. An impressive figure that does not show up in the 17,000 contact-hours mentioned above is the hundreds of hours he has spent advising and organizing other MEP activities.  Professor Furgason continued to teach in the MEP summer program through the summer of 2015.

Professor Furgason will be missed.

The family has planned a private service.  We will share additional details on honoring and celebrating Professor Furgason's life as they become available.

Sincerely,

V. Ragu Balakrishnan
Michael and Katherine Birck Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering