Industry Advisory Board

Vision

To bring together leaders in industry, government and academia with UH Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty and students in order to enhance the overall academic and research experience of UH ECE students and to aid the ECE Department in achieving its mission to educate the next-generation of global, world-class engineers.

Message from the Chairman, Doug Verret

To students...

On behalf of the ECE Department Industry Advisory Board it is with pleasure that I cordially invite you make use of this website to establish contact with me and the other Board Members. You are the cornerstone of UH community life and are in the process of laying the foundation for both what you and the University will be in the decades to come. You clearly play a vital role, one which the Board values and wants to nurture. There are many ways Board Members can help, be it for career counseling, course selection, technical advice, project consulting, mentoring, prospects for internships and job openings to simply lending an ear and being your cheerleader. Lastly, we think that we can learn from you and look forward to a free and open sharing of ideas and to sharing experiences which we firmly believe will be of benefit to you, to us and to the University.

To faculty...

I also wish to extend an invitation to the faculty of the ECE Department to engage with Board Members in any way that you feel that industry experience can benefit your courses and the way students experience academic life through you. We are motivated to help you and we expect to benefit from our interactions with you as well. We believe that an open dialog along with an active partnership will be a boon to the University.

Specific activities of IAB Members may include:

Develop and track activities that directly support the ECE Department’s goals, strategic objectives and mission
Engage with key internal and external stakeholders to educate them on the value of graduating hundreds of trained electrical and computer engineers into the city of Houston and the state of Texas each year
Provide feedback on Department programs, strategies, accreditation and curriculum from the perspective of industry and government entities
Bridge the gap between industry needs and university curriculum
Develop and expand financial sponsorship in support of teaching excellence, teaching relevance, research and outreach within the Department to the extent allowed by the ethics rules of the Board member’s employer
Assist the department in constructing and supporting a framework for increasing access to an affordable engineering education and fostering participation by underrepresented groups (based upon industry experience with diversity initiatives)
Connect ECE faculty and students to external networks in industry and government in order to enhance scholarships, internships, business partnerships and post undergraduate and graduate opportunities
Provide technical advice and consulting on student/teacher projects
Facilitate project-based learning among UH ECE students based on the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges
UH ECE's contribution to the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges