Message from the chair

Christopher L. DeMarco (18K JPG)

The 2002-2003 academic year is shaping up to be a dynamic time for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. It is a year of considerable change for me personally, as my colleagues elected me to the post of department chair effective July 1, 2002. The learning process associated with leading the department is an exciting one, and my short tenure in the chair's position has been very gratifying, marked by a number of wonderful developments that will enhance this department's future.

High among ECE's priorities for the 2001-'02 academic year was a concerted effort in faculty recruiting. Thanks to the hard work of all of my colleagues, this department is fortunate to have attracted seven outstanding new faculty members who have arrived Fall 2002, or will begin their posts during the coming year. I encourage readers to review the excellent qualifications and exciting range of research and teaching interests of this group reported in this newsletter.

Attracting great faculty and students, and equipping them with state-of-the-art research tools and educational facilities, is the lifeblood of any leading department. It is an increasingly expensive proposition in a technology driven field. We are fortunate to have several generous gifts that have contributed greatly to faculty recruitment and retention over the past year. In this regard, I would like to acknowledge both the Grainger Foundation and Peter R. Schneider for their support of faculty development in ECE.

Many recent achievements of ECE's faculty are highlighted throughout this newsletter. However, I would be remiss if I did not complement the news of our new colleagues with a sampling of the outstanding accomplishments of existing faculty members. Among these are: Franco Cerrina was named to a UW-Madison McFarland-Bascom Professorship; Dan van der Weide was selected for UW-Madison's Vilas Associate award; Barry Van Veen was elected Fellow of the IEEE for "contributions to the development of subspace signal processing algorithms;" Charlie Chung-Ping Chen was recipient of an Association for Computing Machinery's Outstanding New Faculty Award; Professor Susan Hagness was featured in MIT's Technology Review Magazine annual profile of the world's 100 most influential technologists under the age of 35.

The Spring ECE Open House resulted in 17 of the 46 attendees enrolling in the UW-Madison ECE Graduate Program in Fall 2002. All of these top students received multiple-year financial packages that included fellowships, research assistant or teaching assistant posisions. (35K JPG)

A great department depends on a continuous influx of great students, and to this end ECE has been working hard to enhance our efforts in recruiting excellent students, and acknowledging and supporting the accomplishments of current students. For our MS and PhD programs, we continue to build on the success of our annual Prospective Graduate Student Open House, which each spring brings to UW-Madison a group of the most promising applicants to our program. This open house provides a great chance for prospective students to learn more about the opportunities that ECE offers, and for faculty to get acquainted with high-achieving students whom they might advise and welcome into research programs. We also feel that such a visit creates a cohort among attendees, and for those who join UW-Madison, lays the foundation for future friendships and collaborations that will serve them throughout their education and careers.

To enhance our efforts in recruiting graduate students, we are asking for help from our graduate program alumni around the nation and the world. We envision a network of e-mail contacts for prospective graduate students interested in an informal perspective on our program from its alumni. I would invite any of our MS or PhD graduates to contact me if they are interested in serving in this capacity.

For our undergraduates, we are pleased that the generosity of many donors makes possible many scholarship awards that recognize achievement and help support students' education. Of particular note is the generous gift from the estate of Claude and Dora Richardson, which has greatly expanded the number of scholarships ECE is able to award to deserving students. At this year's Sept. 18 ceremony, more than 80 awards were made. This was a wonderful event for the department, providing an opportunity for donors, faculty, friends and family to publicly recognize the great efforts of our undergraduate students.

A key resource on which the department relies in evaluating our performance and planning our future is the ECE Visiting Committee, a group of advisors from industry, national labs, and peer academic institutions that meets on campus annually. This year's meeting, held in conjunction with Engineers' Day on Oct. 18, 2002, welcomed many new members to the committee. As a newcomer to the chair's post, I am particularly grateful for their insights; my colleagues and I offer our sincere thanks to continuing Visiting Committee members.

Among the sage advice past Visiting Committees have offered was a strong impetus towards the establishment of computer engineering as a degree program in our department. This new program was established in January 2000, upgrading computer engineering from its previous status as an option under the Electrical Engineering degree. I'm happy to report the unsurprising news that this new degree is tremendously popular with our students and prospective employers. The program continued its evolution with its accreditation report (June 2002) and on-site visit (October 2002) from the Accreditation Board of Engineering & Technology (ABET). A formal accreditation vote awaits ABET's summer 2003 meeting, and will be retroactive for past graduates through the program's start, but feedback on the quality of the program during the on-site visit was extremely positive. I'm very proud of the hard work by faculty and staff in assembling a world-class computer engineering degree program, and in demonstrating its quality to ABET.

Engineering Centers Building (31K JPG)

This year's Engineers' Day was marked by the dedication of the Engineering Centers Building. This is a truly beautiful new building (pictured on this page), and we look forward to the benefits our students will gain from its excellent educational and laboratory space, and to the research advances that will accrue from the building's interdisciplinary focus. Of particular interest to ECE are the new clean room and semiconductor fabrication facilities. ECE faculty and students are excited at the prospects for a quantum leap in micro and nanostructure fabrication capabilities in the coming year, when the Wisconsin Center for Advanced Microelectronics will make its new home in the Engineering Centers Building.

To close, I will share again the satisfaction and excitement I feel in my new position as ECE department chair, as I look forward to an extraordinarily promising year. Despite the economic downturn in technology sectors of the economy, ECE at UW-Madison has put in place a great group of faculty, staff, and students, with excellent new resources to facilitate their continued accomplishment and growth. I am honored to be a part of this team.

Christopher L. DeMarco
2416 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1691

Tel: 608/262-5546
Fax: 608/262-1267
E-mail: demarco@engr.wisc.edu