ECE Industrial Advisory Board
Who we are:
The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) is made up of graduates and friends of the ECE department here at Texas Tech University. IAB members are successful engineers, business people, and entrepreneurs representing a broad range of industries and disciplines. Past and present members work in the defense, power, semi-conductor, computer, instrumentation, and telecom industries, just to name a few. Companies represented on the IAB range from some of the world’s largest corporations to research labs to start-ups to family-owned businesses.
IAB members travel to Texas Tech from across the country to attend semi-annual board meetings. We meet on the Friday before the football homecoming game in the Fall, and usually in early to mid-April in the Spring.
What the IAB does:
The IAB provides a friendly forum and sounding board in support of the ECE department, its students, faculty and staff. Some examples of current and recent efforts are:
- Worked with faculty on curriculum upgrades. These include establishment of a non-thesis Master’s degree, post-graduate certificate programs, and revamping the Computer Engineering curriculum.
- Promote an ongoing dialog among students, faculty, and staff in order to best advise the administration. We meet annually each Fall with IEEE and other interested ECE students for an open forum discussion. We have recently instituted open meetings with ECE faculty and staff.
- We provide inputs and work with faculty on accreditation reviews. These reviews help to ensure that ECE’s programs meet quality standards set by the profession.
- We encourage ECE student groups to propose projects aimed at improving the experience and enhancing the success of ECE students. We then provide funding to help student groups implement their proposals.
- We work with ECE faculty to identify and promote new academic and research areas. Recently, IAB members have been actively involved in “smart grid” developments.