Thursday, April 26 found ECE Florida hosting its External Advisory Board. This group of industry leaders, ECE alumni and ECE faculty comes together annually to provide real-world advice and feedback regarding ECE Florida’s program, direction, and future.
ECE welcomed two new members to the board: Travis Escoffery (from National Instruments) and Amir Rubin (a serial entrepreneur and current founder and CEO of Paracosm). Both are proud ECE grads and excited about using their knowledge and experience to give back to the department.
This year’s attendees were:
Rear L-R
- Fred Martin, ARM
- Rahul Razdan, Ocoos
- William Greenleaf, Rockwell Collins
- Alan Hastings, Texas Instruments
- Dennis Wilt, FIU
- Blake Conner, Rockwell Collins
Front L-R
- Leon Couch, Retired UF ECE
- Christina Lopez, Florida Power & Light
- Gator Handley, Retired Allied Systems
- Amir Rubin, Paracosm
- Donna Wilt, College of Aeronautics, FIT
Also in attendance, but having too much fun to make it into the group photo was Travis Escoffery, of National Instruments.
The day’s activities included: an update from Dean Cammy Abernathy; ECE’s ‘Grand Challenges and Objectives’ from department chair John Harris; an examination of both the EE and CpE curricula; an introduction to the Nelms Institute for the Connected World from Sandip Ray and Yier Jin; a luncheon with Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering (WECE); an update from Development Director Sarah Johnson; and lots and lots of discussion. The Board also participated in the Senior Design Expo, serving as judges for the final five projects.
ECE Florida is extremely grateful for the support, advice, and guidance that the Board provides as they help shape the future of ECE Florida.