Teaching The Next Generation

What does your faculty do for professional development/continuing education to stay current?

We are a top-10 ranked department, which is achieved by the level and quality of the research work the faculty do. That alone ensures that we stay relevant and up to date. It's the strongest reason there is for ensuring resources are made available for the faculty to continue their research, which directly and immediately strengthens the undergraduate and graduate programs and provides the best recruits for U.S. industry. The faculty also publish and present their work at conferences where they can meet and discuss their work with other leaders from around the world.

Do BS graduates get good job offers, or do they have to search long and hard for work?

Our graduates are sought after--not a problem for our graduates!

What is the most critical issue facing your department and other EE departments in the U.S.?

We are facing a number of constraints. Undergraduate enrollments may start to go down as applications drop. We have already seen this in computer science across the country with drops of as much as 50%. We are doing what we can to limit this potential trend in EE. The other issue is the continued push for more administration by faculty to justify their existence and which will limit their creativity and ultimately destroy what they were employed to do in the first place.

Is the U.S.'s technological lead really threatened, and how can education help?

I believe it is! As someone who came to the U.S. 10 years ago from the U.K., I do see the possible seeds of a reduction in technology lead. 9/11 created extra hurdles and barriers for overseas students to come to the U.S. to study. Typically, these students were/are the cream of their countries who had already been educated to bachelor's level in their home nations at a very high level. They then came to the U.S. to study for master's and PhD degrees, enhancing the reputation of the U.S. universities, and then stayed on to work in U.S. industry. The U.S. thus benefited is such an enormous way. It didn't pay for the basic education of these people (their less wealthy home nations did), so the U.S. saved itself billions of dollars in educational costs, and the resultant quality of their work was/is incredible. It is their immigrant labor that has made U.S. industry what it is today, especially in the high-tech fields where U.S. schools cannot provide enough engineers to satisfy the needs of U.S. industry. Reducing the availability of a U.S. research education to overseas students will reduce this lead. Nevertheless, it does highlight the need for us to work with our own citizens and schools to encourage more people to want to do engineering.

If you could make one new change in the curriculum or department, without cost, faculty resistance, or other opposition, what would it be?

A new building, please!