News & Events
Spring 2015 eNewsletter: Message from the Chair
Dear EE Community: 
The winter quarter has blown by just like a Pacific Northwest windstorm, and it is hard to believe that we have already arrived at spring. But here we are, and the faculty, staff and students are all working with passion in their respective efforts.
The Department prides itself on exceptional talent, and if recent attention is any indication, we are on the right path. Recently hired junior faculty have achieved notable successes: Arka Majumdar was awarded the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program grant and Baosen Zhang was named to Forbes’ 30-Under-30 list. Kai-Mei Fu also was honored with the Cottrell Scholar Award. These are each highly prestigious acknowledgements.
On the research front, the Electrical Engineering Department filed 83 patent applications, was issued 15 patents, developed 49 innovations and started four companies in 2014 alone. Research programs continue to thrive and our success in 2015 should meet or exceed that of last year’s.
Faculty recruiting for 2015 is currently underway and we will continue to position our junior faculty as tomorrow’s leaders by earnestly rooting the department in a collaborative, collegial and diverse culture. Our collaborations with our sister departments have been increasing and adding strength to the overall mission of UW Electrical Engineering.
The UW Electrical Engineering Department was ranked #18 by U.S. News & World Report in its listing of best graduate schools for 2016. Our advising team is building our next class of graduate students and our undergraduate program continues to be extremely competitive.
On a sad note, this past winter the department and college lost a dear friend and colleague in Professor Gaetano Boriello of Computer Science & Engineering, and we also lost a promising young student, Tan Nguyen. Our hearts continue to go out to their families.
While deeply saddened by our losses, we also welcome new additions to the Electrical Engineering family. Professor Miguel Ortega-Vazquez welcomed his first child, Valentina, and Professor Georg Seelig welcomed his second daughter, Camille – congratulations to you both.
Dedication and passion for excellence are at the heart of all the success and continued growth we are experiencing. By coming together and collaborating, we will continue to achieve excellence. I am personally very excited about our direction and look forward to sharing together in all of our future successes. It is my privilege to work with everyone toward the greater success of the UW EE department. Thank you for joining us to build UW EE as a top-tier department in the nation.
Best to all,
Radha Poovendran
Professor and Chair
Department of Electrical Engineering
