Wavelinks - Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Wavelinks

The official magazine of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

A letter from our head

As we enter the post-pandemic era, we’re thrilled to share some of our most impactful moves since 2020. It’s been a challenging period, for sure. The COVID-19 pandemic shook our world, but also provided opportunities for us to innovate across all fronts. I’m proud to say Purdue ECE is coming through this experience even stronger than before.

The first thing you’ll notice is we have a new name! Thanks to a $25-million gift from alumnus Bill Elmore, we are now the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. We’re so thankful and excited about the possibilities this naming brings, including the initiation of research and education centers alongside retention and recruitment support for faculty and students. You can read more about that in this issue. Other highlights include our new on-campus and online degrees and credentials; Purdue’s comprehensive new Semiconductor Degrees Program; our renewed diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts; the most significant increase in our faculty in our recent history; participation in two NSF Engineering Research Centers; a record number of undergraduate, graduate and online students; record-high research expenditures, and much more.

The future of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is bright! You can keep up with current happenings on our website (just search Purdue ECE), and through our social media. I would like to invite you to engage with our faculty, staff, and students as we take our next giant leap!

Happy reading and Boiler Up!

Dimitrios Peroulis
Michael and Katherine Birck Head and
Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Named Professorships

These professors have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments and leadership in research, teaching, and engagement.

Peter Bermel
Elmore Associate Professor

Stanley Chan
Elmore Associate Professor

Sumeet Gupta
Elmore Associate Professor

Zubin Jacob
Elmore Associate Professor

Dan Jiao
Synopsys Professor

Growing Faculty

Faculty excellence is the foundation of Purdue ECE’s success. Whether they are mentoring students, inspiring students in classes, leading research centers, collaborating with industry, or creating startups with their innovations, our faculty have a major impact on the world.

The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering currently has 120 faculty, which is among the largest ECE faculty in the nation. Our faculty strive to be the first, best, and only in everything they do. Six of our faculty members are National Academy of Inventors Fellows. Forty are IEEE Fellows. Six are National Academy of Engineering Fellows, and Purdue ECE also has a Gordon Award Winner on faculty.

ECE participating in two NSF-funded ERCS

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) program supports convergent research, education, and technology translation at U.S. universities that will lead to strong societal impacts. Purdue ECE’s involvement in NSF ERC’s continues to grow.

Purdue ECE will participate in two NSF-funded Engineering Research Centers. Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) are NSF’s flagship engineering program for convergent research to address large-scale societal challenges.

Leading Research

Purdue ECE faculty lead many of the University’s leading research centers and initiatives. From programming languages to AI to autonomous systems, microelectronics, and much more, Purdue ECE is collaborating with partners in academia and industry to come up with innovative solutions to the world’s grand challenges.

Center for Programming Principles and Software

Facts & Figures

Striving to the first, best, and only in everything we do.

Alumnus makes gift to ECE

Alumnus William B. Elmore was honored in two events on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus for his $25-million gift to name the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. To maximize the impact of the gift, the School will distribute funds to address both short- and long-term needs and opportunities including the initiation of research and education centers alongside retention and recruitment support for faculty and students. Elmore was recognized at a luncheon sponsored by the School and at the 2021 Engineering Alumni Association Awards.

Dimitrios Peroulis, Michael and Katherine Birck Head and Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, says the impact of the gift will be transformational for Purdue ECE. “The funds will help with, among other things, the initiation of research and education centers, recruitment and retention efforts for faculty and students, and the creation of a new minor in artificial intelligence/machine learning” he said.

Purdue’s Electrical Engineering Building gets new name after generous gift to school

A gift from alumnus Max W Brown and his family aims to transform the Electrical Engineering Building

A Purdue building housing the university’s largest academic unit has a new name, thanks to a generous gift from an alumnus.

Purdue’s Board of Trustees on Friday (Dec. 3) approved the naming of the Electrical Engineering Building on campus as the Max W & Maileen Brown Family Hall. The naming is in recognition of a generous gift to

Purdue’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The gift is from Max W and Maileen Brown, and their children Max G and Ash. Max W Brown is a 1970 Purdue graduate in electrical engineering. Max G and Ash also received degrees from Purdue.

PIECE: Project for Inclusion in ECE

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) as a discipline struggles to recruit and retain women and underrepresented minorities. Diversity and inclusion in ECE is a complex problem with many contributing factors, and the solutions are not often straightforward. To address this issue, Purdue ECE launched PIECE: Project for Inclusion in ECE.

PIECE evolved from a study group that was funded by NSF grant #1636446: Understanding the Professional Formation of Engineers through the Lens of Design Thinking: Unpacking the Problem of Diversity and Inclusion. The grant was part of the NSF’s Research in the Formation of Engineers program.

This project acknowledges three interrelated problems currently recognized in the professional formation of engineers: the gap between school experiences and practice, the perception of engineering as solely technical, and the lack of diversity and inclusion in engineering. The ECE DEI Committee is approaching these not as separate problems, but as issues that are linked and deeply connected to engineering culture, curriculum and practice, and require a processual, contextual and integrative approach to solve.

Read more: PIECE: Project for Inclusion
in ECE

Purdue ECE partners with TaskHuman to provide additional wellness support

TaskHuman is a wellness app that gives ECE students, faculty and staff FREE 24/7 access to one-on-one coaching for everything from stress management to home workouts to better sleep, and more.

The first-of-its-kind partnership between the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering provides students, faculty, and staff with another option for support, along with the wellness programs already available through Purdue. Purdue ECE launched a pilot program in Fall 2020 with TaskHuman to offer free one-on-one video coaching with wellness professionals in a variety of areas, including physical fitness, mental well-being, academic support, financial wellness, and more. In Spring 2021, the program was expanded to include all staff, students, and faculty in Purdue’s College of Engineering.

Growth of Project Track & Online MS

Purdue ECE has been developing ways for students to earn an MSECE in nontraditional ways. The online MSECE and the Project-Track Masters are two programs that do just that.

Online Track Master’s

The online affordable MSECE ‘degree-at-scale’ was launched in January 2020. It offers the same degree with the same courses and the same instructors as the on-campus one but at a fraction of the price. Each plan of study can be customized to include a number of unique one-credit-hour courses that help students gain the desired specialization within their chosen technical field and get the appropriate breadth in others. The online MSECE tops the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the Best Online Programs for electrical engineering.

Read more: Growth of Project Track & Online MS

Purdue launches nation’s first comprehensive Semiconductor Degrees Program

U.S. economic security critically depends on developing talent pipeline in this vital field

In the next five years, a minimum of 50,000 trained semiconductor engineers will be needed in the United States to meet the overwhelming and rapidly growing demand. Purdue University has answered that call, becoming the first in the country to launch a comprehensive set of innovative, interdisciplinary degrees and credentials in semiconductors and microelectronics.

Semiconductor Degrees Program (SDP), the suite of innovative Purdue degrees and credentials, will educate both graduate and undergraduate students, enabling a quick ramp-up of skilled talent and creating the next-generation of semiconductor workforce to reassert American preeminence in this critical industry.

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