Gift from alumnae creates new named professorship for Purdue Prof. Philip Pare
A gift to Purdue University’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering has established an early career professorship to support leadership in discovery, excellence in learning, and engagement around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the School. Philip E. Paré was chosen for the Rita Lane and Norma Fries Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Rita Lane (MSEE ’91) and Norma Fries are longtime supporters of Purdue ECE. Lane says they made this gift to continue to improve the ability for all students to thrive.
“We believe creating opportunity for all to have the ability to achieve will continue to drive innovation and excellence; instilling the sense of all things are possible,” says Lane. “We hope this professorship will make all students feel like they have something to contribute, no matter their background or circumstance, by seeing diversity as a benefit, not an obstacle.”
Dimitrios Peroulis, Michael and Katherine Birck Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, says this professorship further solidifies ECE’s commitment to identify problems and develop solutions within the unique context of the School.
"This is a first-of-its-kind gift and we are very grateful to Rita Lane and Norma Fries for their leadership and generosity," said Peroulis.
Paré says he is grateful for the distinction.
"I look forward to continuing to honor Rita Lane's and Norma Fries' legacy of hard work, excellence, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion," says Paré.
Paré is a member of the Automatic Control area where his research focuses on modeling and control of networked systems, namely bridging the gap between theory and application for epidemic processes. He is a 2023 NSF CAREER Award winner for his project titled "Learning, Estimation, and Control of Networked Epidemic Processes." He has developed and taught a new graduate course on spreading processes, the only of its kind, in addition to teaching several undergraduate courses in control and data science.
Paré is also a member of the PIECE (Project for Inclusion in ECE) Committee, which brings together stakeholders from across the ECE community to identify and design solutions for problems of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the department. In this role, he led the first school-wide DEI interviews for every faculty candidate in the 2021-2022 hiring cycle. Pare launched a new discussion group for ECE faculty and staff that meets monthly to promote learning and growth with respect to DEI and to help build more of a sense of community in the School. He hopes to expand this effort to include students as the initiative grows and to continue to launch new initiatives that improve the culture and climate in ECE and create an environment where students from all backgrounds can thrive.
About Rita Lane
Rita (MSEE ’91) is advising start-up companies in management and supply chain operations. She also serves on the boards of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX), a provider of aerospace and defense technology-based solutions; Sanmina (NASDAQ: SANM), a provider of integrated manufacturing solutions; and Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), a world leader in lighting products and Amphenol Corporation (NYSE: APH).
Lane retired from her position as Vice President of Operations for iPad, Mac desktop, and Mac accessories at Apple Inc. in January 2014. In this position, which she had held since 2008, she oversaw the rapid growth of the iPad product. Before joining Apple, Lane was employed as Senior Vice President of integrated supply chain operations at Motorola. Prior to that, she was vice president and brand advocate for the X Series and Storage supply chain operations at IBM. Before joining IBM, Lane served as an officer in the United States Air Force.
Lane received Purdue University’s Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineer Award in 2011 and the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 2014.
About Norma Fries
Norma spent 29 years in information technology at IBM, in software engineering and programming. She is now applying her technical and creative skills to photography and jewelry making.