IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2020 - 30

Networking (and sharing pens) at last year's ECEDHA Annual Conference.

osition is talent acquisition. With the
current competitive climate for highquality engineers and with an added
push to recruit engineers from minority
classes, there can be a benefit to corporations' exposure to department heads
because they gain access to top talent.
As for the government's involvement,
the goals are to collaborate so that they
stay competitive and serve the needs of
communities. ECEDHA works closely with
the National Science Foundation and other
agencies on various funding opportunities.
The flagship event for all members is
the ECEDHA annual conference, which
takes place every March. Amid four days
of meetings and two days of the ECExpo, members can attend programming
workshops, observe technology demonstrations, and network. In particular,
ECEDHA highlights Improving the
Diversity of Faculty in Electrical and
Computer Engineering
(iREDEFINE) program,
run by Dr. Agnieszka
Miguel, which is an extensive workshop during
the conference geared
toward women and underrepresented minority
Ph.D. students interested in pursuing faculty
positions at U.S. universities. Now four-years
running, iREDEFINE
connects diverse candiParticipants at the 2019 ECEDHA Annual Conference
and iREDEFINE workshop, held in Tucson, Arizona.
dates with ECE depart-

opportunities not only for department
heads but also for educators and graduate students planning to pursue careers
in academia. There's a communications
platform for ECE educators to interact and network regional breakouts so
members can focus on the issues pertinent to their region; working groups and
workshops that generate discussion and
action on specific topics; awards; and
resources that range from online education to an annual survey on the state of
ECE education, including salaries, budgets, student data, and more.
Corporations also value this programming as a way to support the
education of the next generation of engineers and build lasting relationships.
"It's an old Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard philosophy: provide engineers the
necessary tools in their formative stages,"
explains Janowiak. Another value prop-

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

JUNE 2020

ment chairs to learn about careers
in academia and potential positions.
"iREDEFINE is developing the next
generation of leaders in academia, and
it's critical [that] we have both gender
diversity and minority backgrounds represented to attract the best talent into
our profession," says Janowiak.
"We have a commitment to both gender and ethnic diversity, which are central to the success of engineering and
for our society overall," he continues.
To that end, in 2020, ECEDHA has been
increasing its focus on building diversity
initiatives around engineering and engineering education through expanded
work with minority-serving institutions.
Alongside its diversity efforts, ECEDHA is driving the industry's future in a few
other ways. One is by elevating the priority of more advanced technology research
and education, such as work in artificial
intelligence and quantum computing. As
an industry organization, ECEDHA is in a
great position for making sure innovation
is on the forefront of members' minds
and that any progress is disseminated and
shared across institutions.
Additional initiatives are based on
member feedback. "It's a very vibrant
organization," says Janowiak. "We really
rely upon the goodwill and the intellectual muscle of our members to ensure that
our programs are meeting the needs of
engineering education and its next generation of leaders." If you would like to
join or learn more, visit www.ecedha.org/.
-Leslie Prives

ERRATA
In the article "A Letter to the Future
Women in Engineering," which ap-
peared in the December 2019 issue
of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine, the author's last name was
misspelled. The author is Claudia Lut-
fallah. We apologize for the error.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MWIE.2020.2989495
Date of current version: 5 May 2020

http://www.ecedha.org/

IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - June 2020