Dimitrios Peroulis, Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Senior Vice President for Purdue University Online. (Purdue University photo/Christine Petkov)

Reflecting on achievements and shaping the future of the University's largest academic department

Dimitrios Peroulis is reflecting on his time as the Michael and Katherine Birck Head of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. After five years leading the department, he left in July 2023 to become the senior vice president for Purdue University Online.

Peroulis has a long history with Purdue ECE, starting in 2003 as an assistant professor. From 2014-2017, he served as the director of graduate admissions for ECE as well as the deputy director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center. He also has been the College of Engineering’s academic lead for online learning since January 2018. Despite taking the position with Purdue University Online, Peroulis will continue in the school as is the Reilly Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Peroulis says it is rare to be part of a community with world-wide impact in innovation, research, learning, and entrepreneurship.

“I am very thankful for the opportunity to have served our incredible current and former students as well as our world-renowned faculty and committed staff,” he says. “I have also appreciated the constant encouragement and ceaseless energy within our School and University. Our School is in a very strong position, and I am even more excited than ever about our future. I am confident that our community will continue to lead in critical areas such as computing, semiconductors and physical AI.”

Under Peroulis’ leadership, the School has become the nation’s largest ECE program with 120 faculty members and over 3,400 students, while achieving its strongest combined undergraduate, graduate and online rankings. Peroulis recruited more than 30 tenure-track/tenured faculty members and grew externally funded ECE expenditures by 31% to a record $54 million. 

During his tenure, Peroulis helped secure funding to name the School, the Electrical Engineering building, and a new state-of-the-art collaborative research area. The $25-million gift from alumnus William B. Elmore to name the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2021 has been structured to address both the immediate needs of the School as well as to ensure its long-term impact. A gift from alumnus Max W Brown led to the EE building being named the Max W & Maileen Brown Family Hall (BHEE). The naming has been structured to empower instructional innovation and research growth. The Chiminski Family Collaborative Research Hub was made possible by a gift from alumnus John R. Chiminski and his wife Laura A. Chiminski. This space, located on the second floor of the Materials and Electrical Engineering Building (MSEE), includes high quality, flexible work space for graduate students in multiple disciplines of ECE to work together. The facility improvements will continue after Peroulis’ tenure, as renovations to BHEE are already underway.

Dimitrios Peroulis gives remarks at an event honoring Max W Brown and his family for his contributions to the School at the dedication of the Max W and Maileen Brown Family Hall of Electrical Engineering on September 12, 2022. (Purdue University photo/Dave Mason)

Peroulis also strengthened the School’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) efforts. He created a new ECE leadership team, achieving 40% female representation. Peroulis also organized and scaled-up DIB initiatives within the Project for Inclusion in ECE (PIECE) committee including: the first College-wide training program for all undergraduate and graduate TAs (2019); the first formal DIB ECE interview plan with specific feedback to the Head for all prospective faculty (2021); and the first departmental broadening participation plan with measurable success metrics (2022-2023).

Six new ECE-led interdisciplinary Centers/Institutes were launched under Peroulis’ leadership, including three Elmore Emerging Frontiers Centers. 

As the academic lead for online learning in the College of Engineering, he launched six new online graduate programs for the college, numerous credentials, and increased online enrollment by roughly 2.5 times. At the same time, he improved the College’s U.S. News & World Report online program ranking from #5 (2018) to #2 (2023). Purdue online master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Management all rank No. 1 for 2023, as they did in 2022. The online Civil Engineering master’s is No. 2, also the same as in 2022. Purdue’s online master’s program in electrical and computer engineering has been ranked No. 1 for three consecutive years, while increasing enrollment from 37 (Spring 2020) to 512 (Spring 2023).

Peroulis managed to achieve these milestones during what was a challenging time for higher education — the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the disruption to traditional semesters, the School sustained enrollment and academic success, fully implementing Purdue University’s plan to offer both in-person and online classes. Besides creating the necessary structures to achieve this, the School also focused on supporting individuals with urgent needs, including raising more than $74,000 to support 81 students with immediate financial struggles.

While the university launches an international search for a new leader of ECE, Milind Kulkarni has been appointed the interim head. Peroulis says he is confident Kulkarni will keep the School on the right track.

“He’s someone who knows the school really well,” says Peroulis. “ I know he will be great at aligning the School with everything we need to do university-wide and at the College level.”