Annual Fund

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University would like to thank the following supporters for their contributions to our Annual Fund. This fund was established for scholarships, recruiting and other items not covered by state or tuition in order to compete for the retention of the finest students and faculty.

2004/2005 Donors

The unrestricted gift categories are shown in the following letter:

Dear Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni:

First, I would like to introduce myself as the new department head for the department, which as of recently has been officially renamed the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. This name-change brings us in line with the majority of EE departments in the US. My predecessor, Dr. Chanan Singh, served the department well for eight years and I am happy to say he is still with us, contributing through his teaching and research.

I wanted to share with you a brief summary of our activities over the past year and in the near future. First and foremost are our efforts to fill 19 new faculty positions, provided to our department through a competitive process. Over the last two years we hired eight new faculty from excellent schools, three of which will be joining us in January of 2006. This spring we will be busy interviewing for six additional new positions we have available this year and we will do the same in the Spring of 2007 for another five new positions. These new faculty additions will significantly strengthen our department in the general areas of information technology, nano technology and bio. Currently our graduate electrical engineering program is ranked 18th in the nation by the US News & World Report, and computer engineering is ranked 23rd. The undergraduate program is ranked 17th in electrical engineering and 20th in computer engineering. We expect that this expansion of the faculty and the enhancement of educational and research programs will help us move even higher in our national visibility. Our main focus in the coming year will be to strengthen and enhance the educational experience of our undergraduate students, while preserving the strength of our graduate program. At the undergraduate level, our new Associate Department Head, Dr. Prasad Enjeti, is undertaking a number of bold initiatives to revamp some of our key undergraduate courses, increase our honors courses and to involve more students in research. Our new Graduate Advisor, Dr. Scott Miller, has a bold plan to solicit industry for funds to create a number of fellowships to help us attract the best and brightest in our graduate program. Finally, I am focusing some of my efforts in creating an industrial affiliates program for the department to enhance our interactions with industry for mutual benefit.

Your support of our annual fundraising campaign has been very helpful to our students in the past. Some of you have already helped our department by endowing scholarships, fellowships or professorships, as well as providing unrestricted gifts. If you have contributed through a gift last year, I would like to thank you and ask you to consider doing so again this year. If you have not contributed in the past and you have the means, please consider doing so. You can help the continued growth of our department and support our students by providing one of the following unrestricted gifts:

The check should be made payable to: The Texas A&M Development Foundation. (In the memo section write "For Electrical & Computer Engineering".) Please complete the enclosed card and return it with your gift to: Texas A&M University, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Attn. Dr. Costas N. Georghiades, TAMU 3128, College Station, TX 77843-3128. You will receive a receipt for your tax records.

Whether you choose to contribute this year or not, we would like to hear from you if you have news to share, or just to stay in touch with your classmates through the newsletter we distribute twice a year. As 2005 comes to a close, I wish you a successful and productive new year. Should you have any suggestions or comments regarding our department, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,



Costas N. Georghiades
Delbert A. Whitaker Chair Professor & Head

PS: Please visit our website at http://www.ece.tamu.edu/ for further information concerning the department.

________________________________________________________