Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
This academic year, as the department now known as Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) celebrates its 100th anniversary, we "look back to the future." As such, we reflect on 100 years of history and progress and speculate our further evolution.
Our strategic plan has been two-fold: looking for innovative ways to use technology, including working across departmental lines, and continuing to hire and retain the best faculty possible. This includes hiring faculty jointly with other units at MIT.
Within this plan, the department is committed to increasing the number of women in our faculty and student ranks. As one means to that end, this year saw the inauguration of a new summer program, Women's Technology Program (WTP) under the direction of Douglas Ricket, a graduate student at MIT. Over 220 applications were received from high school students around the country to fill only 25 spots. For four weeks, these young women explored topics in electrical engineering and computer science, focusing on engaging hands-on experiments and projects interspersed with lectures in electrical engineering, computer science, and math. They also took advantage of the opportunity to explore the MIT community and the surrounding areas in their free time. It was apparent at the final banquet that the program was an enormous success and that these students surprised not only themselves, but also their instructors, with their accomplishments.
Progress continues on the construction of the Stata Center and our excitement builds daily as we grow nearer to the completion date in the fall of 2003. A "Topping Off" ceremony was held on June 24, 2002. This ceremony is traditionally held whenever a building's final steel element is put into place. The beam is generally autographed by all project team members and labor trades before being hoisted into place: a celebration follows to honor the hard work of the workers. Our ceremony differed in that the Stata Center is a concrete structure, so instead of a steel beam, a concrete bucket was lifted to signify that the final concrete tower has been placed. In keeping with traditional topping off customs, the bucket was decorated with an American flag and evergreen tree and workers autographed a commemorative sign (in lieu of the beam), which will later be featured on the construction site.
For 100 years the members of this department have strived for and often reached greatness. What does the next 100 years hold for EECS? Only time will tell. However, we know that our faculty, students, and staff are certainly up to the challenge.
Undergraduate Program
Enrollment of undergraduates averaged 815 in 2001–2002, close to that of 2000-2001, with 13 percent in the Electrical Engineering Program (6-1), 31 percent in the Computer Science Program (6-3), and 56 percent in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Program (6-2). From the Class of 2004, 320 students were enrolled in Course VI. About 279 students from the Class of 2005 have so far selected Course VI, with 17 percent choosing 6-1, 50 percent choosing 6-2, and 33 percent choosing 6-3.
The Master of Engineering (MEng) program entered its eighth year with 185 students.
The following prizes and awards were won by our students. The David A. Chanen writing award was awarded to Marion Jones. The Robert A. Fano UROP award was given to Eric Hsieh and Prasad Ramanan. The George C. Newton prizes for the best undergraduate laboratory projects were awarded to Sourav Dey and Manu Seth. The Northern Telecom/BNR project awards were made to Nathan Fitzgerald, Andrew Lamb, Christopher Lyon, David Milliner, Yonathan Nutam and Edward Hill. The Nylander award for an advanced undergraduate project was awarded to Yoan Anguiet and Matthew Mishrikey, with honorable mentions going to Winston Chang, Aneal Krishnan, Andrew Lamb, and Peter Russo. The Ann Pogosyants Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award was given to Christopher Luhrs.
In September 2001, there were 853 graduate students enrolled in the department. About 26 percent of the total were foreign nationals. The department supported 537 research assistants and 110 teaching assistants. In addition, there were 163 fellowships including 27 National Science Foundation fellows and 12 Department of Defense fellows. The remaining students had industrial or foreign support or were using their own funds.
During 2001, the department awarded 87 master of science degrees, two electrical engineer degrees and 84 doctoral degrees.
The department received 2243 applications for the 2001–2002 year, a slight decrease from 2000. The applications continue to be generally excellent and 276 were admitted for 2001, February, June, and September, of whom 137 registered in September.
A number of awards were made to graduate students for excellence in teaching. Benjamin Vandiver received the Carlton E. Tucker award and Watjana Lilaonitkul received the Harold L. Hazen award. The Frederick C. Hennie III awards for excellence in teaching were presented to Brian Dean, David Dunmeyer, and Kazutaka Takahashi. The David Adler memorial thesis prize was shared by Eko Lisuwndi and Esa Masood, with honorable mention going to Rajul Shah. The Ernest A. Guillemin thesis competition for outstanding performance on a master of engineering thesis in electrical engineering was won by Petros Boufounos and Joseph Levine, with an honorable mention to Chi Yu Liang. The Charles and Jennifer Johnson theses prizes for outstanding performance on master of engineering thesis in computer science were awarded to Jeremy Nimmer and Heidi Pan. The Morris Joseph Levin awards for best masterworks oral theses presentations were awarded to Todd Coleman, Lillian Dai, Joseph Levine, Ari Libarikian, Michael Mills, Allen Miu, Delphine Nain, Adam Rosenthal, and David D. Wentzloff. The William A. Martin Memorial thesis prize for outstanding performance on a master of engineering thesis in computer science was presented to Frank Dabek and Delphine Nain, with honorable mentions going to Andrej Bogdanov, Alex Park, and William Thies. The George M. Sprowls awards for outstanding research contributions in the field of electronic computer and investigation research were presented to Miguel Castro '01 (Microsoft Research Ltd.), Edward Kohler '01, and Matthew Antone '01.
Departmental special recognition awards were presented to Maya Said and Sanjay Rao.
VI-A Internship Program
The department's VI-A internship program is in its 85th year. Last year substantial changes to the VI-A requirements were made to maximize flexibility for students by allowing easy entrance and exit at any time. In addition, there was a new fall VI-A recruitment for seniors who wanted to do an industry-based master of engineering thesis. However, this fall recruitment process resulted in only one new student joining the program. This year, 144 students applied during the annual orientation and selection process and 26 were selected as members of the incoming VI-A class. To compare, in 2001, 108 students applied and 42 were selected, while in 2000, 73 students applied and 41 were selected. Since the last report, approximately 14 students have withdrawn from the VI-A internship program as they felt their needs were better matched with opportunities available on-campus. However, most VI-A students find this program professionally rewarding and a source of satisfaction. Emphasis is made to ensure that the participating companies continue to offer challenging and well-supervised assignments.
No new companies joined VI-A this year and due to the poor economy, many companies did not participate in the annual orientation and selection process. However, these companies are continuing with the students already in the program and many of them have indicted an interest in resuming their active participation in the future.
In June, 22 VI-A students received the MEng degree having completed all their company assignments and Institute degree requirements. There were 24 VI-A students who were awarded their bachelor's degree and most of them will continue into the graduate phase of the program.
Many honors and awards continue to be bestowed on VI-A students. Eko Lisuwandi (Linear Technology Corp.) was selected a Siebel scholar which recognizes students who have demonstrated academic and leadership excellence.
Bradley P. Ginsburg (Analog Devices) was the recipient of the second prize for the best undergraduate essay by the history faculty.
This year marked the first year of the IDEAS competition, a design competition targeted at innovations that help the community. Two VI-A students, Arthur Musah (Texas Instruments) and Regina Sam (IBM Corporation) were among the recipients of the IDEAS Prize.
At the annual department social and awards ceremony held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the following VI-A students were honored: Sean Lie (Silicon Graphics) received a George C. Newton undergraduate laboratory prize for the best 6.111 project; Eko Lisuwandi (Linear Technology Corporation) won the David Adler memorial thesis prize for the best master's thesis in electrical engineering; and Rajul Shah (IBM Corporation) won an honorable mention.
Academic excellence ranks high in the VI-A program as 12 students were initiated into Eta Kappa Nu, the Electrical Engineering National Honor Society, and 11 students were initiated into Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honorary Society.
Most significantly, long-time VI-A administrator Lydia O. Wereminski received the College of Engineering Infinite Mile award for excellence in April, 2002 for her 45 years of excellent service to EECS, including the VI-A program since 1969. In addition, effective July, 2002, Lydia will begin her well-deserved retirement from MIT. We wish her the best.
Faculty Notes
Eight new faculty joined the department this year:
- Victor W. Zue, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his ScD from MIT
- William T. Freeman, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from MIT
- Frans X. Kaertner, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from Technical University of Munich
- Bruce Tidor, associate professor of chemistry and biological engineering, who received his PhD from Harvard University
- Marc A. Baldo, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from Princeton University
- Erik D. Demaine, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from the University of Waterloo
- David J. Perreault, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, who received his PhD from MIT
- Michael H. Perrot, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from MIT
- Jovan Popovic, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, who received his PhD from Carnegie Mellon University
There were three promotions in the department. Associate Professors Frans Kaertner and Bruce Tidor, and Professor Victor Zue were all granted tenure.
Professor Arvind, Professor Munther Dahleh, Professor Clifford Fonstad, Professor Shafrira Goldwasser, Professor Berthold Horn, Professor Erich Ippen, Professor M. Frans Kaashoek, Professor Silvio Micali, Professor John Tsitsiklis, Professor George Verghese, Professor Jacob White, Associate Professor Duane Boning, Associate Professor Anantha Chandrakasan, Associate Professor Peter Hagelstein, and Associate Professor David Karger were on sabbatical for all or part of the year.
There were three administrative appointments this year: Professor Eric Grimson was appointed education officer; Professor Barbara Liskov was appointed associate department head replacing Professor Tomás Lozano-Pérez; and Professor Victor Zue was appointed director, LCS.
The department hosted three visiting faculty this year: Professor Katrin Kneipp, Associate Professor Kenneth O, and Professor of the Practice Gregory Papadopoulos.
Professors Fred Hennie, Steven Senturia and Arthur Smith retired from the faculty. Associate Professors Julie Dorsey and Vahid Tarokh resigned from the faculty. We are saddened by the passing of Professor Peter Elias and Professor Michael L. Dertouzos.
Faculty Awards and Honors 2001–2002
Professor Dimitri Antoniadis received the 2002 IEEE Andrew S. Grove award. Professor Arvind was honored with the distinguished alumnus award from the University of Minnesota. Professor Krste Asanovic was appointed the Jamieson career development professorship. Professor Hari Balakrishnan received the Junior Bose award for excellence in teaching. He was also awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship. Senior Research Scientist David Clark was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Jesus del Alamo received the Bose award for excellence in teaching. Professor Mildred Dresselhaus was honored with the medal of achievement in carbon science and technology from the American Carbon Society. Professor James Fujimoto was one of the co-recipients of the 2002 Rank prize in opto-electronics. Professor Paul Gray received the MLK faculty achievement award. Professor Berthold Horn was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Professor Piotr Indyk received the National Science Foundation Career award 2001. Professor James Kirtley was awarded the 2002 IEEE Nikola Tesla award. He was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Richard Larson was awarded the Sir Edward Youde memorial fund visiting professorship. Professor Tomás Lozano-Pérez was appointed to the TIBCO founder's chair. Professor Muriel Médard was appointed to the Edgerton career development chair. Professor Joel Moses was named chancellor's distinguished lecturer at Louisiana State University. Professor David Perreault received the ONR young investigator award. Professor Rajeev Ram was appointed to the ITT professorship. He was also awarded the Ruth and Joel Spira award for distinguished teaching. Professor Rahul Sarpeshkar received the 2001 Packard fellow award in science and engineering. Professor Gerald Jay Sussman was elected to the IEEE. Professor Vahid Tarokh was recognized as one of the "Top 100 Inventors of the Year" by Technology Review magazine. Professor John Tucker received the distinguished service award for 2000 presented by the Eta Kappa Nu Association.
More information about the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science can be found on the web at http://www.eecs.mit.edu/.