Symposium:Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Community Planning Grant

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this grant is to plan and lay the groundwork for a new Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Research Community organization. Over the past eighteen months consensus and critical mass have developed around the need for a stronger collective voice to advance the national agenda in research and innovation in areas of importance to ECE Departments. This national discussion was led by ECEDHA, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association, which represents more than 300 ECE departments and more than 7,000 faculty in the nation. The goal of this project is to develop an organization that will continuously bring the ECE research community together and develop visioning activities that align the research frontier with national priorities. The intellectual merit of this proposal is the collective development of a strategic vision and a compelling scientific and technological agenda that will impact research and education in all electrical and computer engineering departments across the nation. This project will also support a workshop where the ECE community will deliberate on future grand challenges that align with national priorities, and will define the research frontier of ECE departments. The investigators will also set the roadmap for a fiscally sustainable ECE Research Community Organization that will ensure solutions, which are required to meet to grand challenges and for which the ECE community is a major and essential player, will continue to be found through wise investments from a scientific and technological perspective. This effort is expected to have an enormous impact as the intellectual capital of ECE departments is collectively steered toward 21st century grand challenges for the nation. Through coordination with ongoing efforts on curriculum reform and branding of the discipline, this project will also address tremendous workforce development issues to support a larger and more diverse ECE workforce, which is now facing stronger competition from other fields.