October 19-20 Eleven members of the ECE Advisory Council participated in their annual fall semester meeting in association with advisory council meetings held throughout the College of Engineering. Two primary topics were at the forefront for this year’s meeting: budget and research funding.
On the budget, the College of Engineering received a $1.6 million cut this fall semester due to internal cuts at the university. This has caused faculty searches across the college to be cancelled, including two positions in ECE. The ECE council is taking an important role in communicating to university leadership the criticality of increased university funding for ECE and the College of Engineering.
In research funding, strategies for increasing new grant funds in a period of funding uncertainty from federal agencies. The department will explore opportunities to further diversify research funding across government, industry, and non-profit sources. We will also reach out to other similar sized programs for current best practices.