It's an exciting time at Oregon State University! We are optimistically moving forward in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. As we do this, we are emphasizing quality in education and research by building community, creating platforms for learning, and through targeted research excellence. We have initiated an industry partners program where companies can participate in research and educational programs, providing needed input and resources while impacting student training and strengthening research relationships with faculty.

To better our students' education, we are actively building community by recruiting top faculty. In addition we are striving to develop incentives that promote longer lasting faculty retention. We are also fostering a teamwork environment both for the faculty and our students by building labs that foster a collaborative learning atmosphere.

We are enhancing our undergraduate programs by creating platforms for learning where the students apply their knowledge from EECS classes to a common platform. We are expanding our freshmen "build your own robot" experience throughout our four-year programs with the TekBots™ program. This will enable students to apply their knowledge in each class by adding an innovation to their robot. By the time they are seniors, our students will be able to develop Internet-controlled wireless robots!

We are targeting research excellence by recognizing our research strengths and building on them. We will be enhancing our research programs in e-commerce, optical materials and devices, and mixed-signal and RF integrated circuits for communications applications. In these areas, we will build internationally recognized research programs by hiring and retaining top faculty, by engaging the highest caliber of graduate and undergraduate research students, and by creating one-of-a-kind research facilities.

As part of the School's emphasis on quality education, alumni contributions are being focused on improving and equipping undergraduate labs.

It's a great time to be a Beaver! We are excited about building the future and our alumni and friends are an integral part of creating that future. Thank you for all of your help in the past and we look forward to connecting with you as we move forward!