The Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) is the largest academic unit at Purdue University College of Engineering. The School of ECE offers both undergraduate

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree as well as

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

graduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. The school enrolls over 1,900 undergraduates (sophomores through seniors) and over 1,300 graduate students. '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranks Purdue's Electrical Engineering 9th and Computer Engineering 10th at the Undergraduate level merica's Best Colleges 2023 The Graduate programs in both Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering are ranked 9th merica's Best Graduate Schools 2023ref name="Rankings"> The online MS program in Electrical Engineering is ranked #1 in the nation (U.S. News & World Report, 2023).

History

The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) was established in 1888 with Louis Bell, Professor of Applied Electricity, as the head. At this time the first Electrical Engineering building was located opposite of Stanley Coulter Hall on the site of the present-day Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. Railroad tracks came alongside the building to provide a berth for the Purdue University Interurban Test Car. Purdue_University_-_The_Electrical_Laboratory_-_Cassier%27s_1892-08

Purdue_University_-_The_Electrical_Laboratory_-_Cassier%27s_1892-08

In 1901, Telephone Engineering became part of ECE to accommodate the urgent need for engineers who understood how to expand telephone systems from city to city.

WBAA WBAA (920 AM) and WBAA-FM (101.3 FM) are two non-commercial educational radio stations licensed to West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, both serving the Lafayette metro area with public radio formats. WBAA's format is exclusively news- ...

, Indiana’s first radio station, was started in Purdue ECE in 1922. In 1924, a new Electrical Engineering building was constructed to celebrate Purdue’s 50th birthday. Additions to the building were added in 1932 and 1940 made possible by Thomas Duncan, a Scottish immigrant who owned the nearby, highly successful Duncan Electric Company. Purdue ECE played an important role in the early TV technology with Professor Roscoe George's many inventions including the first all-electronic television receiver. The Lab for Applied Industrial Control was created in 1966. The Materials and Electrical Engineering Building was built in 1988. In 1996, the School of Electrical Engineering is officially renamed the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In August 2021, the school was renamed as the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as a recognition of a $25M gift by venture capitalist Bill Elmore (BSEE75, MSEE76).

School Heads

Only non-interim heads are listed below. * Dimitrios Peroulis, 2019- * Ragu Balakrishnan, 2010-2018 * Mark J. T. Smith, 2003-2009 *

Kent Fuchs Wesley Kent Fuchs (; born 1954) is an American university professor and academic administrator. He is the current president of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Upon taking office on January 1, 2015, he became the university's tw ...

, 1996-2002 * Richard Schwartz, 1985-1995 * Bernd Hoefflinger, 1984-1985 * Clarence Coates, 1972-1983 * John Hancock, 1965-1972 * William Hayt, 1962-1965 * Thomas Jones, 1958-1962 * Paul Chenea, 1957-1958 * J. Stuart Johnson, 1954-1957 * Dressel Ewing, 1942-1954 * Charles Francis Harding, 1908-1942 * Charles Matthews, 1904-1907 * Winder Goldsborough, 1896-1904 * Harold Smith, 1893-1896 * Reginald Fessenden, 1892-1893 * Albert Carman, 1889-1892 * Louis Bell, 1888-1889

Student organizations

Eta Kappa Nu Eta Kappa Nu () or IEEE-HKN is the international honor society of the Computer Science and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). "The organization promotes excellence in the profession and in education through an emphasis ...

, Beta Chapter (ΗΚΝ) - International Honor Society for Electrical Engineers *

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

- Student Chapter * Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF) *

National Society of Black Engineers The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a society that was founded in 1975 at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is one of the largest student-run organizations in the United States, with core activities centered o ...

(NSBE) *

Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists MAES: Latinos in Science and Engineering, Inc. (MAES), originally the Mexican American Engineering Society, was founded in 1974. It organizes an annual symposium and Job fair, career fair. History MAES was founded in Los Angeles in 1974 to incre ...

(MAES) *

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1974 by a group of engineers employed by the city of Los Angeles. Their objective was to form a national organization of professional engineers to serv ...

(SHPE) *

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

(SWE) *

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

- National Engineering Honor Society * Purdue Engineering Student Council (PESC) * ECE Student Society (ECESS)

Notable alumni

Fernley H. Banbury Fernley Hope Banbury (22 December 1881 – 26 May 1963) was an English scientist and engineer. He invented the Banbury mixer, which is used to mix or blend a wide range of materials used in different industries including the food, chemical, pha ...

, inventor *

Rashid Bashir Rashid Bashir is Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering, Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was the Executive Associate Dean and Chief Diversity ...

, dean of the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

Grainger College of Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering is the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was established in 1868 and is considered one of the original units of the school. Every engineering program in the college is ...

* Arthur J. Bond, dean of engineering at

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshal ...

, co-founder of

NSBE The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a society that was founded in 1975 at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is one of the largest student-run organizations in the United States, with core activities centered o ...

Michael Birck Michael J. Birck (January 25, 1938 – July 6, 2015) was a co-founder and chairman of Tellabs Inc. He began his career at Bell Telephone Laboratories, and helped found Tellabs in 1975. He served as the CEO of the company from 2002 to 2004. He was ...

, founder, former CEO, and chairman of

Tellabs Tellabs, Inc. is a global network technology provider that providing services to both private and governmental agencies. History Tellabs traces its roots to a meeting in 1974 over a kitchen table in suburban Chicago. According to company founder ...

* Eugene Cernan, NASA astronaut who walked on the moon *

Clarence Cory Clarence Linus Cory (September 4, 1872 – August 2, 1937) was an American engineer and educator who is known as the father of Electrical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley. Early life Cory was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to Thomas ...

, father of Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley * John Costas, inventor *

David Crosthwait David N. Crosthwait Jr. (May 27, 1898 – February 25, 1976) was an African-American mechanical and electrical engineer, inventor, and writer. Crosthwait's expertise was on air ventilation, central air conditioning, and heat transfer systems. ...

, inventor who redefined the technology of indoor climate control * Reginald Fessenden, former head, arranged first radio broadcast *

George H. Goble George H. Goble is a staff member at the Purdue University Engineering Computer Network and a 1996 Ig Nobel Prize winner. Goble is commonly known as "ghg" since he has used that as a login id, and signature in digital communications, since the 1 ...

, 1996 Ig Nobel Prize winner *

Lila Ibrahim Lila Ibrahim is the Chief Operating Officer of DeepMind, co-founder and chair of Team4Tech, and a member of the UK AI Council. Her previous roles include Chief Operations Officer at Coursera, Senior Operating Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield ...

, COO at

DeepMind DeepMind Technologies is a British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and research laboratory founded in 2010. DeepMind was List of mergers and acquisitions by Google, acquired by Google in 2014 and became a wholly owned subsid ...

Marwan Muasher Marwan al-Muasher ( ar, مروان المعشر) (born 1956) is a Jordanian diplomat and politician who was Jordan's foreign minister from 2002 to 2004 and its deputy prime minister during 2004 and 2005. He currently serves as vice president f ...

, Jordanian ambassador to the U.S. * Edward Purcell, Nobel Laureate for Nuclear Magnetism (MRI) * George Mueller, director of NASA Apollo Moon landing project, father of Space Shuttle * Valerie Taylor, computer scientist * Don Thompson, Former President and CEO of

McDonald’s McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger st ...

Blake Ragsdale Van Leer Blake Ragsdale Van Leer (August 16, 1893 – January 23, 1956) was an engineer and university professor who served as the fifth president of Georgia Institute of Technology from 1944 until his death in 1956. Early life and education Van Leer was ...

, 5th President of

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

Theodore Rappaport Theodore (Ted) Scott Rappaport (born November 26, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American electrical engineer and the David Lee/Ernst Weber Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New York University Tandon School of Engineering an ...

, a pioneer in wireless communication technology * William L. Wearly, CEO of

Ingersoll-Rand Ingersoll Rand is an American multinational company that provides flow creation and industrial products. The company was formed in February 2020 through the spinoff of the industrial segment of Ingersoll-Randplc (now known as Trane Technologies) ...

* David Wolf, NASA astronaut

Notable faculty

* Jan Allebach *

Alexandra Boltasseva Alexandra Boltasseva is Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, and editor-in-chief for The Optical Society's ''Optical Materials Express'' journal. Her research focuses on plasmonic me ...

Carla Brodley Carla E. Brodley is a computer scientist specializing in machine learning. Brodley is a Fellow of the ACM, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ...

, 1994-2004 *

Mung Chiang Mung Chiang (born 1977) is a Chinese-American engineering researcher, educator, technology entrepreneur, foreign policy official, and 13th President of Purdue University. Starting January 1, 2023, Chiang is President of Purdue University. He i ...

Leon O. Chua Leon Ong Chua (; ; born June 28, 1936) is an American electrical engineer and computer scientist. He is a professor in the electrical engineering and computer sciences department at the University of California, Berkeley, which he joined in 1971. ...

, 1964-1970 * Clarence Coates, 1973-1988 *

Supriyo Datta Supriyo Datta (born 1954) is an Indian born American researcher and author. A leading figure in the modeling and understanding of nano-scale electronic conduction, he has been called "one of the most original thinkers in the field of nanoscale ...

* Reginald Fessenden, invented radio telephony *

King-Sun Fu King-Sun Fu (; October 2, 1930 – April 29, 1985) was a Chinese-born American computer scientist. He was a Goss Distinguished Professor at Purdue University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in West Lafayette, Indiana. He was instru ...

, 1960-1985 *

, 1996-2002 * Keinosuke Fukunaga *

Thomas Huang Thomas Shi-Tao Huang (, June 26, 1936 – April 25, 2020) was a Chinese-born American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and writer. He was a researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). H ...

, 1973-1980 * Linda Katehi, 2002-2006 * Gerhard Klimeck *

Leah Jamieson Leah H. Jamieson (born August 27, 1949, in Trenton, NJ, USA) is an American engineering educator, currently the Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. Jamieson was a founder of the Engineer ...

Mark Lundstrom Mark S. Lundstrom is an American electrical engineering researcher, educator, and author. He is known for contributions to the theory, modeling, and understanding of semiconductor devices, especially nanoscale transistors, and as the creator of th ...

* Dimitrios Peroulis * Vladimir Shalaev * Mark Smith, 2003-2017 *

Andrew M. Weiner Andrew Marc Weiner OSA NAE NAI (Born July 25, 1958-2024) was an American electrical engineer, educator and researcher known for contributions to the fields of ultrafast optics and optical signal processing. He was the Scifres Family Distinguish ...

Jerry Woodall Jerry M. Woodall is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Davis who is widely known for his revolutionary work on LEDs and semiconductors. Over the course of his career, he has published close to 400 s ...

, 2005-2012 * Peide Ye

References

External links

Purdue School of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Purdue University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Purdue University School Of Electrical And Computer Engineering Educational institutions established in 1888 Engineering schools and colleges in the United States Engineering universities and colleges in Indiana 1888 establishments in Indiana