Head of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering at Purdue University is seeking the next Michael and Katherine Birck Head and Professor of the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Programs in the School are ranked among the best in the U.S. In particular, the Electrical Engineering (EE) graduate, undergraduate and online programs rank 8th, 9th and 1st in the U.S., respectively, and the Computer Engineering (CompE) graduate and undergraduate programs both rank 10th in the U.S. (source: U.S. News & World Report (USNWR)). The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is the largest school at Purdue University and one of the largest ECE schools in the nation, with nearly 2,000 undergraduates, 1,000+ graduate students, and 110+ faculty.

Candidates must hold a PhD in electrical and computer engineering or a closely related discipline, and must meet the qualifications for appointment at the full professor level with tenure, based on a substantial record of independent and peer-reviewed research, scholarly work, teaching, and professional service.

Applicants must possess a distinguished record of accomplishments portraying understanding of the current needs and future directions of the electrical and computer engineering profession.

ECE is seeking a dynamic, innovative, collaborative Head during rapid growth and transformation as it pursues primacy in connecting the virtual and physical worlds of electrical and computer engineering. A priority will be to leverage unique opportunities to advance University-wide initiatives to foster computing, artificial intelligence, and semiconductor advances, and to leverage opportunities afforded by Purdue’s new, fully integrated extension of its flagship West Lafayette, Indiana campus in downtown Indianapolis.

The successful candidate will provide vision and leadership to a diverse group of students, faculty, and staff; teach and lead research as appropriate; and have a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion, and collaborative environments. The Head also will possess superior communication and conflict resolution skills; experience in administration and resource management; and a talent for developing strong stakeholder relations, particularly with other units within the College of Engineering and across the University, as well as with alumni/alumnae and industry partners.

Interested candidates are asked to submit applications with:

Review of applications will begin October 1, 2023, and continue until the position is filled. Questions about the position can be addressed to Professor Eckhard A. Groll, co-chair, Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Search Committee, at [email protected] . Nominations are encouraged and should be submitted at this link .

Purdue is an ADVANCE institution. Purdue University's College of Engineering and the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are committed to advancing diversity in all areas of faculty effort, including discovery, instruction and engagement. Candidates should address at least one of these areas in a their diversity, equity and inclusion statement, indicating their past experiences, current interests and/or activities, and/or future goals to promote a climate that values diversity, equity and inclusion.

Purdue University, the College of Engineering, and the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are committed to free and open inquiry in all matters. Candidates are encouraged to address in their application documents how they are prepared to contribute to a climate that values free inquiry and academic freedom.

Purdue’s main campus is in West Lafayette, Indiana, a welcoming and diverse community with a wide variety of cultural activities, events and industries. Purdue and the College of Engineering have a Concierge Program to assist new faculty and facilitate their relocation.

The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Purdue University bridges physical and virtual domains. Physical strengths in power engineering, microelectronics, nanotechnology, fields and optics, and control and autonomous systems impact every aspect of our society, in partnership with virtual strengths in computer engineering, VLSI, communications, networking, software systems, AI/machine learning, and signal and image processing. Novel paradigms in the design and architecture of hardware, software and algorithms, enabled by advances in physical, quantum, nano and micro technologies, form interdisciplinary solutions to scientific, engineering and societal challenges. Internationally recognized centers and thrusts in semiconductors and microelectronics , brain-inspired and neuromorphic computing , spintronics and quantum information processing , and integrated imaging are examples of Purdue ECE’s rising preeminence.

• 134-year history; one of the first schools of electrical engineering in the country
• Largest school at Purdue University, with 3,000+ graduate and undergraduate students
• 110+ faculty
• $54 million+ annual research expenditures
• Graduate programs in EE and CompE ranked #8 and #10, respectively, in the nation (source: USNWR)
• #1 online graduate EE program in the nation (source: USNWR)
• Undergraduate programs in EE and CompE ranked #9 and #10, respectively, in the nation (source: USNWR)
• More than 2,400 applicants to graduate program annually
• More than 23,000 living alumni/alumnae
• Birthplace of National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)
• Birthplace of EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service)
• Former head, Reginald Fessenden, widely recognized as the inventor of radio telephony

ECE faculty are noted for their contributions to all major areas of electrical and computer engineering, including the physical areas of automatic control, fields and optics, microelectronics and nanotechnology, and power and energy systems, as well as the virtual areas of communications, networking, signal and image processing, computer engineering, and VLSI and circuit design.

• 42 IEEE fellows and a former IEEE president
• 7 NAE members, a Gordon Prize winner, and 12 Frontiers of Engineering alumni/alumnae
• 39 NSF CAREER Award recipients
• 3 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, 3 NSF Young Investigator Award recipients
• 13 other Federal Agency Young Investigator Award recipients (AFOSR, ONR, DARPA, DoE)
• 14 American Physical Society fellows
• 12 Optical Society of America fellows
• 5 AAAS fellows
• 8 National Academy of Inventors fellows

• Highest research expenditures among all Purdue schools and departments
• Crucial to Purdue’s leadership in restoring U.S. semiconductor industry preeminence through groundbreaking research, workforce development, and economic development. Initiatives include the nation’s first large-scale comprehensive semiconductor degrees program, the Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement Microelectronics Workforce Development program (SCALE), the Center for Secure Microelectronics Ecosystem (CSME), and numerous major government and industry partnerships. In 2023, semiconductor advances won Purdue the #16 listing among Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies (as the only university). Read more: Semiconductors@Purdue
• Home of nanoHUB, a premier cyber-community for computational nanotechnology research, education, and collaboration serving over 2 million visitors in 172 countries annually
• Recent representative SRC awards: Center for Brain-inspired Computing Enabling Autonomous Intelligence (C-BRIC); NEW materials for LogIc, Memory and InTerconnectS (NEW LIMITS) center; Computing Advances by Probabilistic Spin Logic (CAPSL) center; and Center for Heterogeneous Integration Research in Packaging (CHIRP)
• Recent representative NSF ERCs: Center for Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification (ASPIRE) and Center for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (IoT4Ag)
• Recent representative DoD awards: Adaptive Wireless Networks for Spectrally Efficient Communication; Media Forensics Integrity Analytics; NEPTUNE Power and Energy Research; Field-Enhanced Mass Transport in Ceramics; Network-Aware Distributed Machine Learning and Sensor Fusion for Spectrum System Intelligence; TSUNOMI: Threat and Situational Understanding with Networked-Online Machine Intelligence; and Assured Autonomy Innovation Institute (A2I2)

• Robert Batts, Inventor of police radio
• Michael Birck, Co-founder and former Chairman and CEO, Tellabs
• Max Brown, Creator of some of the earliest metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) single-chip integrated circuits
• Eugene Cernan, NASA astronaut who walked on the Moon most recently, during the Apollo XVII mission
• John Chiminski, Executive Chair and former CEO, Catalent
• Bill Elmore, Co-Founder and Emeritus Partner, Foundation Capital
• Thomas Engibous, Chairman and former CEO, Texas Instruments
• Roscoe George, Inventor of all-electronic TV receiver
• Lila Ibrahim, COO, DeepMind
• Akshay Kothari, former International Head, LinkedIn
• Peter Lambertus, Founder and former President and CEO, Charles River Development
• Rita Lane, former Vice President of Operations, Apple
• Edward Purcell, Recipient of Nobel Prize and National Medal of Science
• Steve Schwartz, President and CEO, Azenta Life Sciences (formerly Brooks Automation)
• Ed Schweitzer, Founder, President and Chief Technology Officer, SEL
• Kirk Skaugen, Executive Vice President, Lenovo
• Paul Stahura, Co-founder, Donuts Inc.
• Don Thompson, former President and CEO, McDonald’s

As the largest-ever top 5 USNWR-ranked Engineering College, Purdue Engineering is a national and global leader in world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. The College is accelerating its upward trajectory to maximize impact and become the most consequential engineering college in the nation. Purdue Engineering is on track to become the incubator of the largest, best-prepared, and most diverse engineering talent pool. The College aims to lead the nation in research impact with initiatives in engineering and medicine, autonomous and connected systems, space engineering, manufacturing and operations, semiconductors, and energy transition and by leveraging University initiatives in artificial intelligence, national security and technology, computing, and the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business. Purdue Engineering strives to advance the state and nation through economic and workforce development. It is an engine of growth for innovation, contributing to 66 percent of Purdue’s record-breaking number of utility patents and helping to make it the top U.S. public university for utility patents in 2022.

Undergraduate students

11,142

Graduate students

4,992

Faculty

494

• USNWR #4 ranked in research/graduate engineering program in the nation
• Largest USNWR top 10 engineering undergraduate program in the U.S.
• #2 U.S. online master’s engineering programs overall and #4 in such programs for veterans
• The “Cradle of Astronauts”: 27 astronaut alums
• 37 past and present NAE members
• 4 past and present recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, or Science
• 14 National Academy of Inventors fellows
• #2 program in the nation for the highest number of international students
• #3 producer of undergraduate female engineers nationwide
• Purdue University West Lafayette is ranked 5th among universities in the world by USPTO for utility patents. Engineering has received 950+ U.S. patents to date, and the College accounted for 66 percent of U.S. patents issued to the University in 2022.

• 1st person on the Moon: alumnus Neil Armstrong
• 1st female commercial astronaut: alumna Beth Moses
• 1st female NAE member: Purdue professor and “First Lady of Engineering” Lillian Gilbreth
• 1st female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean: faculty member Amelia Earhart
• 1st department (now school) dedicated to engineering education (2004)
• 1st U.S. university with a Women in Engineering Program
• 1st large-scale comprehensive semiconductor degrees program in the U.S.
• 1st Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel in the world
• 1st fully-digitized nuclear reactor in the U.S.
• #1 U.S. online grad program in EE, IE and ME
• #1 ABE program in the nation
• #2 for total doctoral degrees awarded by any U.S. public research university

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities (Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal and QS), with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States (USNWR), Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Innovates, at https://stories.purdue.edu .

Purdue University Fast Facts

Majors
200+

Graduate programs
80+

Student-to-faculty ratio
13:1

Total enrollment (Fall 2022)
50,884

Undergraduate enrollment (Fall 2022)
37,949

Graduate/professional enrollment (Fall 2022)
12,935

Total international students (Fall 2022)
9,395

International undergraduate students (Fall 2022)
4,212

International graduate and professional students (Fall 2022)
5,153

Study abroad opportunities in 60 countries
400+

Countries represented in student population (Fall 2022)
135

Alumni/alumnae around the globe
450,000+
(including 105,000+ Purdue Engineers)

• #7 most innovative school in the U.S. (source: USNWR, September 2022)
• Only university and #1 in Education among World’s Most Innovative Companies. (source: Fast Company, which cited semiconductor advances, March 2023)
• #7 in co-ops/internships (source: USNWR, September 2022)
• #10 among public universities in the U.S. (source: QS World University Rankings, June 2023)
• #1 destination for international students in STEM disciplines (source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2016)
• #4 international student enrollment among U.S. public institutions (source: Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report, November 2016)

Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Purdue College of Engineering

Purdue College of Engineering Dean's Message

Purdue College of Engineering News

ENGINEERING IMPACT magazine

Concierge Program

Eckhard A. Groll, Co-Chair ([email protected])
Steve Schwartz, Co-Chair ([email protected])
Santiago Torres Arias ([email protected])
Chris Brinton ([email protected])
Zhihong Chen ([email protected])
Sammie Chergo ([email protected])
Jing Gao ([email protected])
Zubin Jacob ([email protected])
Irith Pomeranz ([email protected])
Sanjay Rao ([email protected])
Scott Sudhoff ([email protected])
Shreyas Sundaram ([email protected])

A background check is a requirement for this position.

Purdue University is an EOE/AA employer. All individuals, including minorities, women, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply.