New advisory board to focus on aggressive vision for electrical, computer engineering

New advisory board to focus on aggressive vision for electrical, computer engineering

BY MARILYN SPARKS
Special to the Rice News

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) welcomes seven distinguished individuals from industry and academia to a newly formed ECE department advisory board. The incoming board members will meet at Rice University next month. 

The first order of business is to outline an aggressive vision that complements the George R. Brown School of Engineering’s strategic plans. In this process, the team will work with ECE on a number of priorities that include research-funding growth, formation of deeper strategic partnerships with industry, faculty career and professional development, enhancement of the graduate and undergraduate experience, and student recruitment and retention.

”The department has a high national ranking, research expenditures are growing, and the faculty is quite active and visible, nationally and internationally,” said Behnaam Aazhang, ECE department chair. ”Our challenge is to break into the upper tier of the top-10 ranking and to position the department for the future growth that President Leebron anticipates for Rice University. The advisory board is an outstanding group of accomplished individuals with a particular affinity for Rice ECE. With the board’s guidance, we can take an already great department to the next level.”

The advisory board members, who will serve for an initial three-year term, through 2009, include: