About the Department - Overview

Founded in 1970 as the Department of Systems Engineering, the Department rapidly embraced the emerging field of computer engineering and became the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering (SC) in 1976. As its scope broadened further over the years, it became the Department of Electrical, Computers, and Systems Engineering (ECS) in 1981. Interest in the undergraduate Systems program subsequently declined, and the name of the Department was changed again in 1996 to the current name, ECE (A Ph.D. degree in systems is currently offered at the College level).

The Department grew substantially in the mid 1980s under the leadership of Dean Louis Padulo, and as undergraduate enrollment soared, the size of the faculty doubled, from 16 to 32, in 5 years. This period also witnessed the creation of a popular corporate classroom program, which reached a peak enrollment of more than 700 and lasted for a decade.

During the administration of Dean Charles DeLisi in the 1990s, a strong research focus emerged, and a new Department Chair, Bahaa Saleh, was appointed in 1994. Saleh has continued the effort to expand research in targeted areas, and the Department gradually matured from a primarily undergraduate teaching program in previous decades to a Research-I department with high quality undergraduate and graduate instruction, a substantial research program, and an increasingly distinguished faculty. The number of faculty increased to the current number of 43.5 FTE and external research grants and contracts increased from $2.0-2.5M in the early 1990s to $9M in FY2004-05. The relocation of the Department to the new Photonics Building in the Spring of 1997 has provided faculty and students with excellent research and instructional facilities. The Department now attracts outstanding students and faculty, leads and participates in major research centers, and is gradually gaining an excellent reputation in the professional community.