We are very fortunate that after an extensive search, Professor Dan Reed has been appointed by the Dean of Engineering as Department Head beginning May 21. Dan got his PhD from Purdue University and joined this department in 1984 after brief stays at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and IBM Watson Research Laboratory. Dan's research activities revolve around massively parallel systems. Looking back over my six years as head, I think the activity that I will always remember is the involvement of our alumni. Once we got our alumni group organized, things really started moving.
Many people think our primary interest in alumni is in their monetary contributions.
In fact, the more valuable contribution is in the form of advice and feedback. For example, the extensive survey our alumni group did of our graduates has had a significant impact on our undergraduate programs. The results of this survey were covered in a previous newsletter, but suffice to say, the results have had and will continue to have a positive impact on our curriculum for a long time to come. As I write this, another survey is under way, this time of our MS and PhD graduates, and we have an ongoing mentoring program that links our undergraduates with alumni, helping present students understand more about the world beyond academia. It is alumni activities like this that will help us to maintain our standards of excellence in the future.