Examples of E&EE faculty service are summarized below:

 

• Dr. John C. Balachandra

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Balachandra has been the Director of the Applied Research and Design Center (ARDC) in the College for three years. He has established a Center for High Power Electronics to focus on research projects in the area of Power Quality.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Balachandra has been active in IEEE at the Section and Society Levels. He is a past chair of the Power Society of the Sacramento Section of IEEE and served as the Section’s Education Society Coordinator for a year. Dr. Balachandra was active in externally sponsored research grants and contracts at CSUS. His work supported several graduate students (13 students completed thesis projects under his supervision) and led to some of the largest grants in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, generating about $785,000 in external grants and contracts between 1994-1999. Publications resulting from his research contracts were presented at several conferences including the 1996 Power Systems International Conference in Las Vegas, the 1995 IASTED Conference on Modeling and Simulation in Sri Lanka, and the 1998 IEEE International Symposium in Electric Power Engineering in Stockholm. In addition, he successfully organized two major IEEE conferences on Power Quality in 1994 and 1997. Both conferences attracted practical papers from industry experts working in Power Electronics and Power Quality. He made presentations on his Power Quality research program at several universities in the United Kingdom. Dr. Balachandra was selected as the Outstanding Scholar in the College for the 1995-96 academic year in recognition of his achievements.

 

• Dr. Jean Pierre R. Bayard:

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Bayard served in leadership roles on Department, College, and University committees since joining the Department. He was recognized with the 2003 Outstanding Service Award from the College of Engineering and Computer Science for his contributions. He was the Chair of the CSUS Academic Policies Committee (97-99), a Member of the Administrative Council of the College for two consecutive years, and a Member of the CSUS Foundation Board of Directors (95-98). In addition, he served on the CSUS McNair Scholars Program and on the Board of Directors for the Center for Teaching and Learning at CSUS. He served as a reviewer for the IEEE Transactions on Education and also reviewed a textbook entitled, "Fundamentals of Electric Circuits," by Alexander and Sadiku.

 

• Dr. Ronald W. Becker

Contributions to the Institution:   Dr. Becker has served as the Program Coordinator for the Computer Engineering Program since its inception. He is commended for his efforts to continuously update the CpE curriculum and ensuring that our graduates are well prepared for careers in industry. He took a leadership role in preparing the CpE program for the ABET accreditation visit in October 2003. As a faculty advisor, Dr. Becker implemented several innovative ideas to improve the oral and written communication skills of our graduates.

Contributions to the Community:   Dr. Becker played a vital role in establishing the GRAD 2000 program, a scholarship designed to attract high-achieving high school seniors to the School of Engineering & Computer Science. He committed significant time to ensure that the program received adequate support from industry and also worked closely with the scholarship recipients, monitoring their progress and motivating them. Approximately 35 students benefited from this program.

 

• Dr. Cynthia Colinge:

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Colinge served as Graduate Program Coordinator in the E&EE Department until 1998. She also served on several important departmental committees including the Hiring Committee, the Curriculum Committee, and the RTP Committee. She single-handedly established a clean room for the fabrication of microelectronic devices at CSUS.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Colinge is an internationally-acclaimed researcher and scholar in semiconductor materials. Her work has been featured in numerous journals and publications including the Semiconductor Research Consortium (SRC). She served as Conference or Session Chair for national and international conferences in solid-state electronics and semiconductor materials. Her outstanding contributions in the professional community bring visibility to CSUS and our programs.

 

• Dr. Steve de haas

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. de Haas has served on several Department, College and University committees at CSUS. They include the CECS Academic Council, the University Faculty Senate, and the EEE Academic Standards Committee. He volunteered his time to assist with the orientation of incoming E&EE students for the past several years. He served as the coordinator for the circuits course (ENGR 17). Along with Dr. Simes he helped write some of the early experiments in the networks and electronics labs. As a laboratory instructor he, along with Dr. Simes, worked on integrating GPIB in the electronics laboratory in the early 90’s. In addition, he developed modules for use in the circuits and electronics courses using multimedia techniques. He also served as the faculty advisor to the CSUS Ham Radio Club when it was founded.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. de Haas, along with Dr. Ramesh, helped establish ENGR 1, an introductory engineering course for all engineering majors. He taught the campus component of this course since its inception in 1996 as an experimental course. The off-campus component is offered to qualified high school students and has served over 500 students so far. The course is offered through the campus-wide Accelerated College Entrance program and is instrumental in improving students' interest in the field of engineering.

 

• Dr. Turan Gonen:

Contributions to the Community:  Prof. Gonen has been very active in the Sacramento Section of the IEEE, especially in the PES/IAS Chapter. He helped organize numerous technical presentations of value to the practicing engineer. Additionally, he helped organize and offer short courses on topics of contemporary interest.

Contributions to the Institution:   Prof. Gonen served as the Director of the Electric Power Education Institute (EPEI), an industrial advisory board to the Power Engineering Program at CSUS. Other activities include service on the IEEE subcommittee on Power System Harmonics and as a consultant to numerous governmental and private organizations. He served on the Department PSSI Committee as Chair in 1996 and as a member in 1997. Also, he served on the CSUS Honorary Doctorate Committee, CSUS Judicial Review Board, and the Teaching and Learning Academy. He was recognized for his excellence in teaching and leadership in electrical power engineering education with the Outstanding Teaching Award in the College of Engineering and Computer Science in 1996-1997.

 

• Dr. Mahlon D. Heller:

Contributions to the Institution:   Prof. Mahlon Heller enriched the Electrical & Electronic Engineering program and the lives and careers of his students through his active involvement in sponsored research activities over the past decade. Prof. Heller's research activities are focused toward Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). He received approximately $2 million in joint federal and CALTRANS grants. His first project completed in summer 1994 was a four-year feasibility study of several sensor technologies for Vehicle Lateral Guidance. In the summer of 2000, Professor Heller and his team of dedicated students successfully completed Phase III of a project to prototype an Autonomous Shadow Vehicle, a three-year project funded at $650,000. This project culminated in an outstanding demonstration of the Autonomous Shadow Vehicle on the runway at McClellan AFB on June 29, 2000. It is an excellent example of contemporary applied research which made a significant contribution towards improving the safety of CALTRANS workers. Professor Heller successfully incorporated results from his numerous sponsored research projects in the EEE curriculum and developed and offered several courses in the areas of Intelligent Machines, Robotics and Control.

 

• Dr. Preetham Kumar:

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Kumar's contributions on the Curriculum Committee were instrumental in recommended changes to the core and elective courses in communication engineering courses. As a member of the Comprehensive Exam Committee, he assisted with the preparation of the E.E.E.M.S. written exam and establishing standards and grading for student manuscripts. As an active member of the University's Persons with Physical Disabilities Committee, Dr. Kumar reviewed and prioritized campus-wide Minor Capital Outlay Projects and aided in CSUS's implementation of Assembly Bill AB422 relating to university courses in unencrypted electronic form by publishing sources.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Kumar teaches the graduate level wireless communication class (EEE 262) on Cable TV through the CSUS Distributed and Distance Education program. Beginning with the spring 2003 semester, Dr. Kumar offered the course to students at CSU Fresno. These students interact live with Dr. Kumar and his Sacramento class, and the broadcast is accomplished through the 4Cnet program in the CSU system. The Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium (SECC) honored Dr. Kumar with the 2001-2002 Cable Educator Star in 2002. Dr. Kumar is an active member of the IEEE Sacramento Section. He serves on the Section Executive Committee by virtue of his position as the Chair of the Communications Chapter within the Section. He serves as a technical reviewer for several IEEE journals and publications and as a reviewer for McGraw Hill and Harcourt Brace Publishing. Dr. Kumar is an honorary research associate in U.C. Davis's RF and Microwave Laboratory where he collaborates in the areas of Antenna Array Design and RF Passive/Active Device Design for Wireless Communications. He also served on Ph.D. and M.S. Committees at UC Davis by invitation.

Dr. Kumar is an enthusiastic participant in the ACE (Accelerated College Entrance) ENGR 1 course for high school students. For the past few years he has helped develop "hands-on" experiments for these students and hosted students from Center, Cordova, Bella Vista, and Florin High Schools. The experiments in signal processing entitled "Fun with Filters" is a great hit with the high school students and motivates them to study engineering concepts. He personally served as a mentor for students from Center High School advising them on their projects for the nationwide Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Dr. Kumar is a regular contributor during our College Open house events during National Engineers week.

 

• Dr. Miroslav Markovic

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Miroslav Markovic spent a great deal of time organizing the Power Engineering Laboratory at CSUS. He served on the E&EE Equipment Committee for several years. At the College level he served on the committee that drafted the College Strategic Plan in 2001. During the early 80’s, he helped establish the Electric Power Educational Institute (EPEI) an advisory board for the Power Engineering Program.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Markovic published two manuscripts of great interest to the professional power engineering community entitled “Capability curve and excitation current limits of salient pole generators” and “Grounding grid design in Electric Power Systems.” In addition, he offered a PE Review course for practicing engineers and served as an expert consultant on power related litigation. He volunteered his time to coordinate demonstrations in the Power Engineering Laboratory during the annual College Open House during National Engineers Week He also volunteered to serve as a member of the “Adopt a School” program for River Valley School and Sacramento Country Day School, on behalf of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

 

• Dr. Thomas W. Matthews:

Contributions to the Institution:   Dr. Matthews was recognized with the 2003 E&EE Department Outstanding Service Award in recognition of his contributions. Dr. Matthews is supportive of students and has an excellent rapport with them. Annually, he supports student groups that compete in a nationally-recognized NATCAR competition that requires the students to apply electrical engineering design skills. He led the effort to overhaul two key laboratories in the E&EE Department, redesigning and obtaining the required resources to complete their construction. He served on a variety of Departmental and University committees, exhibiting leadership in the area of assessment. Specifically, Dr. Matthews wrote and implemented the EEE 108 and EEE 108L assessment plans and served on the University Advisory Board task force whose report on assessment was presented at a conference of department chairs. Dr. Matthews serves as a liaison between the Department and MOSIS that enables students to fabricate their designs onto an integrated circuit chip. His consulting and research work at INTEL assists in accomplishing the CSUS mission to support the local community. Dr. Matthews continues to perform an important liaison service between Intel and the ECS College. His Intel liaison activity influences curriculum and provides the potential for student scholarships and equipment grants from Intel.

Contributions to the Community:   Dr. Matthews conducted an analog circuit design course for the employees of Intel. Of note is Dr. Matthews' outreach to local high schools. He was a mentor for a Center High School science fair and assisted in installing donated electronics at Sacramento Lutheran High School. He assisted in establishing an articulation agreement between CSUS and Sierra College. He is an active member of IEEE, his professional society. Dr. Matthews continues to support the IEEE students. In particular, he has been a CSUS IEEE student design contest judge. His consulting and research work at INTEL is also a service to the community.

 

• Dr. Charles G. Nelson:

Contributions to the Institution:   Prof. Charles Nelson received the 2001-02 Outstanding Service Award in the Department of Electrical & Engineering. Chuck was nominated for the award for his invaluable contributions to the Department, the University and our students over the past three decades. As a teacher, Chuck has an inimitable teaching style that relates well with our students; and he has the knack for presenting even the most abstract material whether it is in Electromagnetics or Communication Systems, with solid practical examples which students can readily comprehend. A few years ago when we visited HP Folsom, a manufacturer of advanced microwave devices and circuits, several of our alumni commented on how well Prof. Nelson's classes had prepared them for the workplace. In May 1995, he received an Outstanding Faculty Award in EEE from Tau Beta Pi in recognition of his efforts. As a mentor and professional example, he has led the way for many of us in the department. The Outstanding Service Award in 2002 is a small token of appreciation for Chuck's contributions to EEE. He remains an inspiration to all of us!

 

• Dr. John T. Oldenburg:

Contributions to the Institution:   Dr. Oldenburg has served on a wide range of committees at the College, Department and University levels where he provided dedicated service and leadership. This includes RTP, PSI, Faculty Hiring, Associate Dean Search Committee, Academic Council, BME Task Force, ECS 50th Anniversary, Sutter Institute for Medical Research and the College Academic Council. He was appointed Department Graduate Coordinator in 1998 and does a tremendous job in strengthening enrollment and program offerings. As a result the E&EE Graduate Program enrollment grew from an average of approximately 30 FTES/semester to nearly 100 FTES/semester.

 

• Dr. S. K. Ramesh

Contributions to the Institution: Dr. Ramesh made outstanding contributions to the University since joining CSUS. He served as the Department Chair since 1994 and was recently re-elected to serve a three-year term beginning in 2003. Dr. Ramesh has served as the Special Assistant to the CSUS President on Information technology since 2002. He is a regular presenter at the annual CSUS New Department Chair Orientation, making presentations on “Mentoring Faculty,” “Teamwork,” and “Managing Multiple Priorities.” Dr. Ramesh led the College-wide effort in the area of faculty and staff development, that is now an integral part of our Strategic Plan. The Department has since developed and implemented a Workload Plan to guide faculty professional development. The plan underscores a team approach to achieve the Department’s mission while being alert to new opportunities and challenges.

The E&EE department has flourished under his leadership. Evidence of this includes the steady growth in enrollment, a highly acclaimed academic program with strong ties to industry, and a dedicated group of faculty who are committed to the success of our students. He helped establish broad partnerships with industry, governmental agencies, high schools and community colleges. This has resulted in research grants for faculty, scholarships for our students and equipment grants to support our laboratories. The California State University Sacramento-Defense Microelectronics Activity Educational Partnership Agreement that he helped establish in 2000 provided over $1 million worth of optical equipment to CSUS. The Department has a strong Industry Liaison Council that provides valuable feedback. Dr. Ramesh led the program through a successful ABET review in 1997. For the upcoming accreditation visit in 2003, he has lead the Department in defining it’s mission, program educational objectives, and learning outcomes with the contributions and active involvement of all it’s constituencies. Results from ongoing outcomes assessment processes are used to make continuous improvements to the program. Dr. Ramesh served as the Faculty Advisor, CSUS Student Chapter of IEEE since 1990.

Dr. Ramesh advised over a dozen graduate students during the past five years and co-authored numerous publications in conferences and journals with his students. Recent contributions include an invited chapter co-authored with Herb Tanzer of Hewlett Packard in the book, Optical Switching/Networking and Computing in Multimedia Systems (Marcell-Dekker Publishing 2002). Dr. Ramesh’s textbook, Fiber Optic Communications, is anticipated in early 2004 (John Wiley UK).

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Ramesh is an active leader in numerous professional and community organizations, including the IEEE, the Educational Advisory Board of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, and SIGMA XI. He chairs the Central Area of IEEE Region 6 (the largest within Region 6), and is the President of the CSUS SIGMA XI Chapter (the Scientific Research Society). He served as the Chair of the Programming and Technology Committee of Capital Public Radio and on its Board of Directors for six years from 1997-2003. He is the past President (96-97) of the CSUS Omicron Chapter of Phi Beta Delta (Honor Society for International Scholars).

Dr. Ramesh is one of the founding members of Sacramento Engineering and Technology Regional Consortium (SETRC). SETRC is dedicated to building pathways between all levels of engineering educators and industry to effectively prepare students for careers in math, science and engineering/technology. He helped pioneer and offer a teachers' training workshop for high school teachers interested in teaching pre-engineering concepts www.ehs.csus.edu/project/cec that has been recognized nationally www.ieee.og/eab/fcc. As an educator, Dr. Ramesh believes in providing students with a broad holistic education that prepares them to be life-long learners. Thanks to his joint efforts with Dr. de Haas, a thriving outreach program with local high schools allows qualified seniors to enroll in our Introduction to Engineering course. Dr. Ramesh received a number of awards including the MESA Appreciation Award (2002) and the SETRC Person of the Year Award in 2001.

 

• Dr. James G. Simes

Contributions to the Institution:  Dr. Simes served as Department Chair for five years until fall 1991. He served on numerous College, Department and University Committees during his career spanning over three decades at CSUS. As an early pioneer in the use and integration of GPIB in the laboratory, Dr. Simes' efforts are primarily responsible for the excellent condition of our electronics and networks laboratories today. He has received campus awards for lab development, most recently to convert our GPIB lab from BASIC to C. He completely rewrote the laboratory experiments in EEE 117 to take advantage of the remodeled laboratory facilities and new equipment acquired by the E&EE Department in 2001. He was instrumental in helping the department develop and implement course embedded assessment in EEE 117 and EEE 117 Lab.

Contributions to the Community:  Dr. Simes was an active participant in the school's outreach efforts, serving as a host for demos and tours during National Engineers Week in the Electronics Lab. Dr. Simes arranged and cosponsored an NSF supported workshop on GPIB for educators from other universities in 1992.

 

• Dr. Warren D. Smith:

Contributions to the Institution:   Dr. Smith was a member of several important Department, School, and University committees during the review period. They include the CECS Personnel Board, University BME Task Force, Communications Curriculum Sub-Committee, and the Outstanding Scholarly Award Committee. As the EEE 180 Course Coordinator, he implemented appropriate course embedded outcomes assessment measures to ensure compliance with new ABET accreditation criteria.

Contributions to Community:  Dr. Smith established productive relationships with several organizations through his research and scholarly activities. Among the prominent organizations he works with are the UC Davis Medical School, Yale Medical School, Woodside Biomedical, Endosonics, ErgoMed, and Microscan. This has resulted in numerous research, equipment, and monetary grants for Dr. Smith and the scores of students he has supported. Dr. Smith's stature as a researcher and a scholar brings visibility to CSUS and our programs.

 

• Dr. Suresh Vadhva

Contributions to the Institution:  Prof. Suresh Vadhva was the recipient of the 2000-01 Outstanding Service Award in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Prof. Vadhva served on the RTP Committee for over five years, chairing it on several occasions. He also served on the Department Hiring Committee as Chair for the past two years. His input and experience were instrumental in helping the Department develop and implement an outstanding hiring process involving all E&EE faculty members. He made pivotal contributions as the Department developed its workload plan a few years ago. He served as Chair of the E&EE Curriculum Committee from 1994 – 2002. Under his stewardship the E&EE curriculum was entirely redesigned and strengthened, with the addition of elective courses in key areas and a strong junior-level core in electrical engineering. The new curriculum premiered in the fall 1997 semester. He also served on the E&EE Equipment Committee, the College Administrative Council, and the College Academic Council; taking leadership roles in several instances. During his tenure on the Curriculum Committee, Prof. Vadhva did a tremendous job working with faculty, students and staff to establish course embedded assessment processes in core classes and accomplish the Department’s goals and objectives. He is an active proponent of external assessment, taking a leadership role in several industry site visits.

Contributions to the Community: Prof. Vadhva serves the IEEE at several community and professional levels, giving freely of his time and expertise. He advises student teams for the annual Micro Mouse and Design Contest sponsored by Region VI, serves as the Sacramento Section Chair of IEEE (his third tour of duty in this position) and is the Professional Activities (PACE) Chair for the Central Area of IEEE Region VI. He brings visibility and recognition to CSUS through his efforts in IEEE. Service often gets short shrift when it comes to evaluations; without the leadership of faculty members like Prof. Vadhva, the department and the college would be unable to accomplish their primary mission of serving students effectively.

 

• Dr. Salah M. Yousif:

Contributions to the Institution:   Dr. Yousif served as the Director of EPEI during his tenure at CSUS. Prof. Yousif served on an unusually large number of College, Department, and University committees in key areas such as curriculum, academic standards, and curriculum policies.

Contributions to the Community:   Dr. Yousif regularly attended meetings of the IEEE Power Society for the past five years. He served as a member and reviewer on several IEEE PES Committees. In addition, he co-authored a paper presented at the IEEE Power Tech Conference in Budapest, Hungary, in 1999. He published an article on "Electric Power Educational Resources" that appeared in the 1996 IEEE Transactions on Power Systems. Besides serving as a reviewer for IEEE, he also attended an NSF sponsored short course on "Power Electronics" at the University of Minnesota in 1997.