January 14, 2009
Purdue's electrical and computer engineering head to lead grad school
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
Smith's appointment will be effective Feb. 17 and is subject to ratification by the board of trustees. Woodson said Smith also will continue to serve as the Michael J. and Katherine Birck Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"Mark Smith is ideally suited for this position," Woodson said. "Mark is a tremendous leader and passionate about graduate education. He has led the largest school at Purdue and will work with deans and faculty to enhance Purdue's global reach as a leader in graduate education."
John Contreni, chairman of the Graduate School search committee and the Justin S. Morrill Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said the committee lauded Smith's work with graduate students in electrical and computer engineering.
"Dr. Smith stood out among a group of excellent candidates," Contreni said. "The committee was impressed by his active involvement in graduate education in his own school, his passion for students and his strength as a gifted administrator with a system-wide vision."
Smith said he is looking forward to continuing and expanding to the other colleges the work he has done with graduate students in electrical and computer engineering.
"I've had the opportunity to brainstorm with a lot of terrific colleagues, and in that process many ideas have been developed with respect to graduate education," Smith said. "It has been a tremendous pleasure for me as head of ECE, working with students and colleagues to promote graduate student success, enhance collaborative cross-disciplinary research, encourage innovation in education, and recruit talented and diverse students. I'm looking forward to working in the Graduate School and feel honored to have the opportunity to serve Purdue at a campus-wide level."
Smith came to Purdue in 2003 after serving as executive assistant to the president of Georgia Tech. He served as the 2007-08 president of the national Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc. and is a former IEEE distinguished lecturer in signal processing. He was the 2005 recipient of the SPIE-International Society of Optical Engineers Wavelet Pioneer Award.
He became the first African-American to head a Purdue engineering school when he was hired in 2003. While at Georgia Tech, Smith led the formation of a university coalition called EMERGE, or Empowering Minority Engineers-Scientists to Reach for Graduate Education. The program used technology and outreach to encourage minority students to pursue graduate degrees in engineering and science.
He is the author of numerous publications in the area of speech and image processing, filter banks and wavelets, including two introductory books on signal processing, a textbook on image processing, and an edited book on filter banks and wavelets.
Smith received his bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. He joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1984.
Smith fills the position formerly held by Contreni. During the search, Jon Story, associate dean of the Graduate School and professor in the Department of Foods and Nutrition, and Cindy Nakatsu, professor of agronomy, served as interim deans.
Since its inception in 1929, the Graduate School has conferred more than 58,000 master's degrees and more than 20,000 doctoral degrees in more than 70 areas, including 10 interdisciplinary programs. Purdue has 7,427 graduate students on its West Lafayette campus, which is nearly 19 percent of its 40,090 enrollment. Purdue graduate programs in the colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts and Science; the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and the Krannert School of Management were ranked among the nation's best in the March 2008 U.S.News &World Report rankings.
The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with more than 1,500 students and 85 faculty members, is the largest academic school at Purdue and one of the largest in the nation. The school has the highest volume of research among all the university's schools and departments. It is the birthplace of the national Engineering Projects in Community Services program (EPICS) and the Birck Nanotechnology Center. The school also is a parent of electronic television and wireless telephony.
Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu
Sources: Randy Woodson, woodson@purdue.edu
Mark J.T. Smith, (765) 494-3539, mjts@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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