MIT Reports to the President 1997-98
During the past several years the Department has completed the implementation of its Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program as the one that is recommended for undergraduate students who wish to pursue a career in engineering. Those who stop at the bachelorís level are well prepared for entry-level engineering positions or for further study leading to careers in a variety of professions such as law, medicine, or public service. Those who continue on to the doctorate are well prepared for a career in research, teaching, scholarship, and other occupations where one has to understand what things are like on the frontiers of knowledge.
The M.Eng. program is a five-year program leading to the simultaneous award of bachelorís and masterís degrees. At this time about two thirds of the Departmentís undergraduates continue to receive the M.Eng. degree. The curriculum is seamless between the traditional disciplines of electrical engineering and computer science, and is also as seamless as possible between undergraduate and graduate study.
Undergraduate enrollment in computer science has grown dramatically in the past few years. Traditionally one third of the EECS undergraduates majored in computer science, and two thirds in electrical engineering. Recently the statistics have shown that more favor CS. However, th emost interesting trend is that now more than half the students elect to pursue a new undergraduate program which retains greater breadth at the junior level, and does not require the student to designate either EE or CS. These trends are expected to continue. The Department must be prepared to shift the balance of its faculty to more closely approximate student interest. We will find this easier than many other universities where EE and CS are in different departments.
Overall enrollment in EECS continues to be high, and the students continue to be extraordinarily well qualified academically.
For the past two decades our computer science faculty and graduate students have had their offices and laboratories in a building that is off campus. This geographical barrier has tended to impede collaboration between CS faculty and those on campus, and has worked against the notion that the fields of EE and CS are really closely related and, indeed, can best be thought of as a single discipline. We are currently raising the money necessary to erect a new complex of buildings on campus, adjacent to one of the laboratories housing many EECS faculty. The computer-science laboratories currently off campus (the Laboratory for Computer Science and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) will move into this complex, along with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. Construction is planned to begin in 1998.
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
Enrollment of undergraduates averaged 1070 in 1997-1998 with about 18 percent in the Electrical Engineering Program, 42 percent in the Computer Science Program, and 40 percent in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Program. From the Class of 2000, 340 students were enrolled in Course VI, down slightly from the preceding year. About 350 students from the Class of 2001 have so far selected Course VI, with only 13 percent choosing 6-1, 50 percent 6-2, and 37 percent 6-3.
The Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program entered its fourth year with 260 students.
The following prizes and awards were won by our students:
The Ernest A. Guillemin Thesis Competition for outstanding performance on a Master of Engineering thesis in Electrical Engineering was won by Everest W. Huang of Cambridge, MA, Qiang Wu of Cambridge, MA, and Anthony J. Accardi of Cambridge, MA.
The David Adler Memorial Prize for outstanding performance on an Undergrduate Thesis in Electrical Engineering was presented to Leaf A. Jiang of Cambridge, MA.
The Charles and Jennifer Johnson Thesis Prize for outstanding performance on Master of Engineering thesis in computer science were awarded to Jonathan R. Santos of Piscataway, NJ.
The Morris Joseph Levin Award-Best MasterWorks Oral Thesis Presentation Prize was awarded to Craig Abler of Cambridge, MA, and Susan Dacy of Cambridge, MA.
The William A. Martin Memorial Thesis Prize for outstanding performance on a Master of Engineering thesis in computer science was presented to Andrew F. Stark of Cambridge, MA.
The George C. Newton Prize for the best undergraduate laboratory project was awarded to Eric Cosman, Jr. of Boston, MA.
The Robert A. Fano UROP Award was given to Dennis J. Evangelista of Cambridge, MA, and Christopher R. Laughman of Cambridge, MA.
The Northern Telecom/BNR Project Awards were made to James M. Montgomery of Boston, MA, John C. Whaley of Boston, MA, and Hur Koser of Cambridge, MA.
The David A. Chanen Writing Award was given to Jonathan P. Pearce of Cambridge, MA.
The Reinhold Rudenberg Memorial Fund Award was given to Holly G. Gates of Tehachapi, CA, and Benjamin Dous of Seven Valley, PA.
GRADUATE PROGRAM
In September, 1997 there were 783 graduate students enrolled in the department. About 26 percent of the total were foreign nationals. The department supported 447 Research Assistants and 112 Teaching Assistants. In addition, there were 144 fellowships including 41 National Science Foundation Fellows, and 27 Department of Defense Fellows. The remaining students had industrial or foreign support or were using their own funds.
During 1996, the department awarded 105 Master of Science degrees, 7 Electrical Engineer degrees and 69 Doctoral degrees.
The department received 1741 applications for the 1996-97 year, a slight decrease from 1995. The applications continue to be generally excellent and 268 were admitted for 1996 (February, June and September), of whom 123 registered in September.
A number of awards were made to graduate students for excellence in teaching. O. Patrick Kreidl of Somerville, MA, received the Carlton E. Tucker Award and Lon E. Sunshine of Framingham, MA, received the Harold L. Hazen Award. The Frederick C. Hennie III Awards for excellence in teaching were presented to James C. Hoe of Cambridge, MA, and Sean C. Warnick of Cambridge, MA. Kathleen E. Wage of Cambridge, MA, Patrick J. LoPresi of Brighton, MA, and Matthew Secor of Cambridge, MA, were promoted to Instructor-G in recognition of their demonstrated teaching ability and service to the department.
VI-A INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
The Department's VI-A Internship Program is now in its 81st year but may now be seeing competition from the on-campus M.Eng. program as evidenced by a decrease in the number of applications. This year 120 students applied during the annual Orientation and Selection process and 58 applicants were selected as members of the incoming VI-A class. To compare, in 1997 147 students applied and 80 were selected while in 1996 161 students applied and 80 were selected. Since the last Report, approximately 17 students have withdrawn from the VI-A Program mainly because these students felt the opportunities with the on-campus M.Eng. program better matched their needs. However, most VI-A students find this program to be a professionally rewarding supplement to their on-campus learning and report great satisfaction with their internship experiences. If enrollment continues to decline in the near future, it may be necessary to decrease the number of participating VI-A companies.
Four new companies have joined the VI-A program this year: Linear Technologies, Milpitas, CA; Motorola Information Systems Group, Mansfield, MA; Sanders--a Lockheed Martin Co., Nashua, NH; and Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, CA. These were four participating companies which did not take new students this year, but will continue with those students selected in previous years.
In June, 42 VI-A students received the M.Eng. degree having completed all their company assignments and Institute degree requirements. There were 32 students who were awarded their bachelor's degree and most of them will continue into the graduate phase of the program.
At the annual Department Awards Reception held in the West Wing of the Museum of Science in Boston, the following VI-A students were honored: Hur Koser and John C. Whaley received the Northern Telecom/BNR Project Award; Susan M. Dacy received a Morris Joseph Levin Award for a Best MasterWorks Oral Thesis Presentation; Leaf A. Jiang received the David Adler memorial Thesis Prize; and Anthony J. Accardi and Qiang Wu were two of the recipients of the Ernst A. Guillemin Thesis Award.
At the 1998 Awards Convocation Joseph B. Irineo received the Admiral Edward L. Cochrane Award which is presented to the male senior who has shown the highest qualities of humility, leadership and inspiration in intercollegiate athletics and Michael M. Bryzek was the recipient of the Priscilla King Gray Award for Public Service.
The Department of Athletics presented the Burton R. Anderson Award to Amy C. Geiffers as the intercollegiate manager of the year.
VI-A students continued their excellence in academic achievements. Forty-nine seniors were elected to MIT's Xi Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and two of the honorees were VI-A students: Hur Koser and Maya R. Said. Of the 114 students from the School of Engineering who were elected to Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honorary, 23 were VI-A's and Eta Kappa Nu, the Course VI Honorary, elected 83 members of who 30 were VI-As.
FACULTY
Five new faculty members jointed the department this year:
David Cliff, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, received his D.Phil. at the University of Sussex.
Daniel N. Jackson, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, received his Ph.D. at MIT.
Leonard McMillan, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, received his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina.
Martin C. Rinard, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, received his Ph.D. at Stanford University.
Madhu Sudan, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, received his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.
Associate Professors Anant Agarwal, Munther A. Dahleh, Martha L. Gray, and Martin A. Schmidt were promoted to Professor. Assistant Professors Anantha P. Chandrakasan, Dennis M. Freeman, David R. Karger, Bernard C. Lesieutre, and Seth J. Teller were promoted to Associate Professor.
Faculty honors and awards:
Associate Professor Akintunde I. Akinwande was named ITT Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering.
Professor Jesus del Alamo received the Department Head's Special Recognition Award for his leadership of the Department's undergraduate and professional programs.
Associate professor Duane S. Boning was named Robert N. Noyce Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. He also received the Ruth and Joel Spira Teaching Award.
Professor Michael L. Dertouzos was awarded the Commander of Merit Award by the President of the Hellenic Republic.
Associate Professor Srinivas Devadas was elected a fellow of the IEEE.
Associate Professor Dennis M. Freeman was named W.M. Keck Career Development Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering.
Professor Jeffrey H. Lang was elected a Fellow of the IEEE.
Assistant Professor Amos Lapidoth was named KDD Career Development Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering.
Associate Professor Steven B. Leeb received the Institute's Edgerton Award for research and teaching.
Professor Thomas L. Magnanti was named an Institute Professor, an honor reserved for no more than 12 faculty members who have "demonstrated exceptional distinction by a combination of leadership, accomplishment and service in the scholarly, educational and general intellectual life of the Institute or wider academic community."
Professor, Emeritus Jerome H. Saltzer was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Associate Professor Seth Teller was named X-Consortium Career Development Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering.
Professor George C. Verghese was elected a Fellow of the IEEE.
Professor Patrick H. Winston was named Ford Professor of Engineering.
Associate Professor Gregory W. Wornell received the Graduate Student Council Award for Excellence in Teaching.
The following faculty were on sabbatical for all or part of the year: Professor Dimitri A. Antoniadis, Associate Professor Munther A. Dahleh, Professor Paul E. Gray, Associate Professor Lynn A. Stein, Professor Peter Szolovits, Associate Professor Mitchell D. Trott, Professor John N. Tsitsiklis, and Professor Thomas F. Weiss.
The department hosted five visiting faculty:
Professor John S. Baras, from the University of Maryland, hosted by Professor Sanjoy K. Mitter.
Professor W. Gerard Hurley, from the University of Galway, hosted by Professor John G. Kassakian.
Assistant Professor Franz X. Kaertner, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, hosted by Professor Erich P. Ippen.
Assistant Professor Kevin T. Kornegay, from Cornell University, hosted by Assistant Professor Anantha P. Chandrakasan.
Associate Professor Vivek Sarkar, from the IBM Academy of Technology and Stanford University, hosted by Professor Arvind.
Professor Charles W. Therrien, from the Naval Postgraduate School, hosted by Professor Alan V. Oppenheim.
The following retired from the faculty this year: Professor Walter E. Morrow and Professor Michael Athans.
Paul Penfield, Jr.