Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Chris Chu, assistant professor, received the College of Engineering’s Young Engineering Faculty Research Award. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated the ability to conduct original research, contribute to scholarly literature, and introduce new and/or improved laboratory techniques and instrumentation. It also recognizes faculty whose research has had an impact outside the university.

Doug Jacobson was promoted to university professor. Jacobson is an education and technology innovator who is widely respected for his collaborative approach to learning and problem-solving. He has led the computer engineering curriculum for more than 20 years, was an early adopter of the learning community approach and Project LEA/RN, and led the creation of the interdisciplinary MS degree and certificate program in information assurance. He also founded and served as the first director of the Information Assurance Center. His Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment (ISEAGE) facility has multi-million dollar support from numerous sources. He also is leading the development of information technology clubs in high schools, and has organized numerous cyber camps, activities, and competitions for high school students, including IT-Adventures. He has received two R&D 100 Awards for computer security technologies, and founded Palisade Systems to commercialize the technologies.

Jim McCalley was named the Murray J. and Ruth M. Harpole Professor in
Electrical Engineering. McCalley's work has helped make Iowa State University a national leader in power system research and education. He is recognized widely for his work in developing methods to evaluate electric power systems and transmission line reliability, and his research has helped power companies improve the generation capacity, efficiency, and reliability of electric power. He leads the Systems Branch of the Electric Power Systems Engineering Research Center, a consortium of 13 universities and 34 private industries. An award-winning teacher, he has developed several undergraduate and graduate courses in power systems.

Tien Nguyen, assistant professor, was awarded the Litton Industries Professorship. The professorship supports young faculty who exhibit a potential for leadership in electrical or computer engineering research, have a recognized commitment to excellence in teaching, and share his or her talents by collaborating with industry. Nguyen has research interests in software engineering, version control and configuration management, software maintenance and evolution, Web engineering, Web security, Web information retrieval and visualization, hypermedia systems, software architecture and traceability.

Arun K. Somani, ECpE department chair, received the Iowa State University Departmental Leadership Award, which recognizes a department chair who has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities in advancing the faculty, staff, students, and programs in his/her department. Somani's contributions as chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, one of the largest departments at Iowa State, include improving and expanding the undergraduate curricula, raising graduate admissions standards, recruiting many high-quality faculty members, mentoring and effective career development counseling for new faculty, and overseeing a major facilities expansion and renovation effort, all while continuing his classroom teaching and active research program. His leadership has resulted in a new integrated strategic planning process for the department that promotes interdisciplinary research and education, a new undergraduate major in software engineering jointly administered with the Department of Computer Science, and significant success fund-raising to support facility improvements, faculty positions, and scholarships.