Clifford Berry with Atanasoff-Berry Computer (Photo courtesy Iowa State University Library/Special Collections Department.)
Throughout the years, the ECpE department has remained committed to research and education excellence. The department’s success has relied on the leadership of its chairpersons, experience of talented faculty, collaborations with industry, and support and success of its students and alumni. Department chairs have provided expert guidance and commitment to the department. Faculty have brought expertise and passion. Industry has supported—and continues to support—research. Students have excelled in their studies and research while at Iowa State, and alumni have helped continue the department’s tradition of excellence in their careers and through support of the department.
Our alumni, students, and faculty have made great contributions to lots of the technology you use today. In particular, individuals from the ECpE department pioneered the following:
Before we had computer engineers or computer scientists to design and build computers, researchers from many disciplines, including physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering, worked to develop the first computing machines. Iowa State University’s role in the modern computing history began in 1937, when a physics professor and an electrical engineering alumnus (then a graduate student in physics) began working to develop the world’s first electronic digital computer.
World’s first electronic digital computer
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was the world’s first electronic digital computer. John Vincent Atanasoff, a former Iowa State professor of physics and mathematics, and Clifford Berry, a former physics graduate student and electrical engineering undergraduate, built the computer at Iowa State University from 1937 to 1942.
In the project’s proposal, Atanasoff had planned to hire an electrical engineering student to assist him in building the computer. He then met an electrical engineering professor, Harold W. Anderson, while walking across campus. Atanasoff told Anderson the type of student he wanted and Anderson replied, “I have your man: Clifford Berry.”
The ABC looked nothing like today’s computers: It was the size of a big desk, weighed 750 pounds, and featured rotating drums for memory, glowing vacuum tubes, and a read/write system that recorded numbers by scorching marks on cards.
But, the machine also was the first to use several innovations that are still a part of today’s computers: a binary system of arithmetic, separate memory and computing functions, regenerative memory, parallel processing, electronic amplifiers as on-off switches, circuits for logical addition and subtraction, clocked control of electronic operations, and a modular design.
The Controversy of the ABC
The ABC’s place in computer history has been the subject of debate and even a federal court case.
When World War II interrupted work on the ABC, Atanasoff and Berry moved on to other jobs and projects. J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, developers of the ENIAC machine at the University of Pennsylvania, were the first to patent an electronic digital computer.
In 1973, however, U.S. District Judge Earl R. Larson overturned the ENIAC patents, writing, “Eckert and Mauchly did not themselves first invent the automatic electronic digital computer, but instead derived that subject matter from one Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff.”
President George Bush awarded Atanasoff the National Medal of Technology on November 13, 1990.
Atanasoff died in 1995. Berry died in 1963, before the patent controversy over the ABC began.
A 1946 Iowa State University electrical engineering alumnus, Marvin Moody, became a patent attorney. During his career, Moody investigated the Mauchly-Eckert patent and the ENIAC for a client who made digital computers. He recalls the following:
“I went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia where Mauchly and Eckert were professors and located the relevant files. The files were stored under the seats of the football stadium where there was an unheated triangular space. It was February and about 32 degrees. I spent a few days going through boxes of the ENIAC wearing my overcoat and gloves. In these files, there was a travel expense to Ames dated well before the ENIAC work was started, which verified that Mauchly and/or Eckert had actually seen the ABC in Ames and talked to Dr. Atanasoff and Berry.”
Atanasoff-Berry Computer Replica
Atanasoff-Berry Computer replica (Photo by Bob Elbert)
As a tribute to the late inventors of the ABC, a replica of the ABC was completed and demonstrated in 1997. It took a team of researchers, engineers, faculty members, retired faculty, and students from Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory four years and $350,000 to build the replica ABC. The original was dismantled during the late 1940s and almost entirely discarded.
The current replica was moved to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, in April 2010. The computer will be on display for 10 years with the possibility of an additional five years. A display about the development and history of the ABC, including replicas of several vacuum tubes and one of the machine’s rotating drums, remains in the Durham Center at Iowa State.
Rebuilding the ABC: A Personal Account
John Gustafson (MS Applied Math ’81; PhD Applied Math ’82) shares his memories, in his own words, about being part of the team that reconstructed the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC):Getting involved
I got involved in the project as someone who had created a special-purpose computer (the FPS-165/MAX) to solve linear equations in my first job at Floating Point Systems. A colleague mentioned how similar our approach was to the Atanasoff-Berry Computer and my eyes went wide when I discovered it was developed at Iowa State. That’s when I vaguely remembered the displays in the Physics building about how Iowa State was where the first electronic digital computer was developed, and at the time I dismissed it as an implausible boast. Then I found out it was true, and wanted to make sure the rest of the world found it out, too!
Joining the team
I joined the reconstruction team when it first formed and was led by Del Bluhm. After the overall physical construction was complete, I was put in charge of the effort to make the ABC reconstruction actually perform as it did in 1942.
Getting it to perform
It had to be completely rewired. For example, the original wiring was done without any checking for correctness. Charles Shorb was the grad student who did almost all of that work, and did it brilliantly and with dedication. He and I were the ones who demonstrated the working replica at the National Press Club at the end of the project. Charles and I are the ones in the YouTube videos that show the ABC in operation. I’ve presented papers at a number of conferences regarding the ABC and recently assisted bestselling author Jane Smiley with her biography of Atanasoff, which comes out from Random House in October 2010.
Importance of the ABC
To me, the ABC represents the cornerstone invention of modern computing. There were many pioneering machines in the late 1930s and 1940s, but the ABC has so many innovations at once that are still used in modern computing, and unlike the secret or obscure machines, the ABC led to the ENIAC and EDVAC, which led to, well, everything. This is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, no question.
Learn more about Atanasoff, Berry and the electronic digital computer
Several individuals have written books on Atanasoff, Berry, and the electronic digital computer. In particular, R. K. Richards, a 1943 Iowa State electrical engineering alumnus, wrote Electronic Digital Systems. Richards’ statement in the book that “the ancestry of all electronic digital systems appear to be traceable to … the Atanasoff-Berry Computer” was cited in the court case that determined who invented the first digital computer.
The following are resources about John Vincent Atanasoff, Clifford Berry, and the history of computing.
Atanasoff, Forgotten Father of the Computer by Clark Mollenhoff
The First Electronic Computer: The Atanasoff Story by Alice R. and Arthur W. Burks
Inventor of the encoding process essential to fax machines
Major and graduation year
Electrical Engineering, BS ’67; MS ’68; PhD ’71
Sparking interest
Alumnus David C. Nicholas had always been interested in science. Before he came to Iowa State in the early 1960s, he had participated in several science fairs and had an interest in ham radio. He thought about majoring in chemistry, pharmacy, or electrical engineering. Luckily for him and office workers everywhere, he chose electrical engineering.
Important fax
As part of his PhD. work, Nicholas developed a filler and synchronization sequence for data-compressing Huffman codes—a process to more efficiently convert text into digital information for the fax machine. “My dissertation involved parsing linear delta-modulated voice at 50 kbps into 7 bit words, and then re-encoding these using a Huffman code to obtain 20 to 40 percent compression in real time with minimal buffering,” Nicholas explained. “So I built a simple computer interface, and I would push my delta modulation and recording equipment on a cart from Coover over to the chemistry building and use their computer for real-time compression. I had 140 microseconds to process a word, which was about 140 instructions, and I wrote code to do it in about 120.”
Prize patent
His work was patented, and by the 1980s, almost every fax machine manufacturer worldwide used Nicholas’ patented method in their fax machines. Iowa State University licensed the technology to 24 fax machine manufacturers, and with approximately $5 billion in fax sales worldwide between 1985 and 1990, this technology generated more than $36 million in income for Iowa State. Nicholas received a portion of the patent proceeds, and the ECpE department also received a portion, which it used to create the endowed David C. Nicholas Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering. The patent is one of Iowa State’s highest earning patents.
Career success
After graduating from Iowa State in 1971, Nicholas worked full-time as an engineer at Rockwell Collins for 38 years. At Rockwell Collins, he worked in the Advanced Technology group and worked on the development of an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system, which he believes was the first commercial digital telephone switching system in the world. He says the system was used by most of the major airlines as an ACD, and by MCI and ITT as a tandem switch. The switch also was used by the Royal Netherlands Air Force in a redundantly connected military system, which was mutually synchronous, a part of which is the subject of U.S. patent no. 4,144,414. He retired from Rockwell Collins in 2009 and passed away in 2021.
Donald Linder
Donald Linder
Developer of the world’s first portable phone
Major and graduation year
Electrical Engineering, BS ’65
Location
Kildeer, Illinois
Choosing the best
After graduating from Iowa State with an electrical engineering degree in 1965, Donald Linder accepted a job with the Applied Research Department of the Communications Division of Motorola, Inc. in Chicago. Linder credits Sputnik and the success of the American space program for the job opportunity he was given after graduation because the country was entraced with science. “Most graduating engineers got as many job offers as they wanted,” he says. “I had about seven different offers before choosing Motorola.”
Leading the design
In 1972, Motorola executives asked Linder and his team to create the world’s first portable phone. Linder was the primary designer leading a team of a dozen engineers. Prior to Linder’s deisgn, mobile phones were large, heavy, and ran on car batteries, but his team was able to make huge reductions in the weight and size of the electronics through new chip designs and other advances. “We built it out of parts already available, some new parts, and two custom integrated circuits not even completed at the time we started the project,” says Linder. “We relied on the talent and experience of the people building each of the pieces to make it work.” Roughly three months after the project’s initiation, the team celebrated their success: the creation of the world’s first portable phone, the DynaTAC Portable.
Continuing cell phone innovation
Linder and his team continued to make size and weight reductions to mobile phones in the following years, and that continuous development helped bring about the cell phone as we know it today. His research group is also credited with the design of the analog portion of the first practical wireless phone. When the original analog system was replaced by a digital system, his team developed specifications and prototypes for digital cell phones. In 1987, Linder was named vice president of the technical staff at Motorola, then director of the Corporate Applied Research Labs in 1990. In 1994, Linder joined the Cellular Subscriber Sector of Motorola to found a research lab, which developed several generations of custom processors for CDMA (code division multiple access) digital signals, pioneered the use of GPS in cell phones, and developed voice recognition technology for hands-free dialing in vehicles.
Global recognition
During Linder’s career, he received both the Motorola Dan Noble Fellow Award (1976) and the Motorola Distinguished Innovator Award (1992), as well as served as a member of Motorola’s Science Advisory Board Associates. While working at Motorola, he received a master’s degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and he has been awarded 13 patents, many of which are incorporated into Motorola’s products. In 2001, Linder retired as vice president and director of Motorola’s cellular subscriber sector research lab. In 2007, Linder and his engineering team were awarded the Great Moments in Engineering Award from GlobalSpec in honor of the 35th anniversary of the creation of the first portable, hand-held telephone. He was inducted into the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame in 2008, as well as a recipient of the ISU Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009.
Gerald J. Posakony
Gerald J. Posakony
Pioneer of medical ultrasound
Major and graduation year
Electrical Engineering, BS ’49
Among the best
Alumnus Gerald J. Posakony recently joined the company of famous inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Orville Wright when he received the American Association of Engineering Societies’ John Fritz Medal—the highest award in the engineering profession for scientific achievement—for his pioneering contributions to the fields of ultrasonics, medical diagnostic ultrasound, and nondestructive evaluation technologies.
An unexpected opportunity
Posakony began his groundbreaking research in the early 1950s after a radiologist from the University of Colorado Medical Center came to the small electronics firm in Denver where he worked and told him that he needed to see soft tissue, and not just the skeleton as X-rays showed. He and a colleague began conducting experiments, and soon after, Posakony left his position and began developing medical diagnostic ultrasound technology full-time as a research engineer at the University of Colorado Medical Center.
A long-lasting vision
While at the University of Colorado Medical Center, Posakony and his research team developed a compound scan technique, a technology that allows radiologists to scan any object from multiple directions, which is still used today in phased-array ultrasonic examinations. Today, organizations in the field widely recognize Posakony for his role as the lead engineer for developing ultrasonic transducers, the so-called “eyes” of an ultrasound system.
Moving ahead
Since his early achievements, Posakony has dedicated much of his career to developing and enhancing nondestructive evaluation technology for medical and other applications at Automation Industries and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). While he is now officially retired from PNNL, Posakony continues to research, develop, and deploy ultrasonic technology, particularly in the area of sonochemistry.
Thomas M. Whitney
Thomas Whitney
Inventor of the world’s first scientific handheld calculator
Major and graduation year
Electrical Engineering, BS ’61; MS ’62; PhD ’64
Calculating efforts
Alumnus Thomas Whitney joined Hewlett Packard in 1967. At Hewlett Packard, Whitney led a team of engineers that invented the world’s first handheld electronic scientific calculator, the HP 35. Named for its 35 buttons, the HP 35 was the first pocket calculator able to perform trigonometric functions. Before the HP 35, handheld calculators were only capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Further innovations
In 1978, Whitney joined Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as one of the earliest employees of Apple Computer. Whitney served as the executive vice president for engineering. Working alongside Jobs and Jef Raskin, Whitney helped to develop the Apple II, the world’s first accessible and highly successful personal computer.
An untimely exit
After his Apple years, Whitney became an entrepreneur himself in 1981, launching several companies in Silicon Valley, California. He was a recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the ISU Alumni Association, as well as a recipient of the Professional Achievement Citation from the Iowa State University College of Engineering. Whitney passed away in 1986 at the age of 47.
Continued legacy
Whitney’s wife, Donna, has become active with Iowa State after her husband’s death. Donna Whitney established the Thomas M. Whitney Professorship of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a program that supports Iowa State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s research, prominently in regards to nondestructive evaluation and solar energy research.
David Carlson
David L. Carlson
Inventor of infant respiratory augmentor
Major and graduation year
Electrical Engineering: MS ’61; PhD ’64
Life-saving innovations
During his time at Iowa State University as a graduate student and later as a faculty member, alumnus David L. Carlson helped to create one of the first infant respiratory augmentors in the world. At the time, there was only one respiratory augmentor on the market, and it was not very effective. Carlson’s invention was the first of its kind capable of keeping premature babies weighing only 1 to 2 pounds alive, far exceeding the capabilities of augmentors already on the market.
Getting recognized
Carlson successfully tested the augmentor on a number of premature babies at Mary Greeley Hospital in Ames, Iowa, and then briefly moved to New York City to further test the device on babies in the city’s neonatal intensive care unit at the children’s hospital. Carlson then patented the technology, and before his patent expired in the mid-1980s, the invention earned Iowa State nearly $500,000. In 1984, Carlson’s invention earned him the Iowa Patent Law Association’s Inventor of the Year Award, as well as a prestigious Faculty Citation award from the Iowa State University Alumni Association.
Continued strives
Even with the success of his infant respirator augmentor, Carlson didn’t stop there—or even in retirement—with developing new biomedical inventions. After he created the augmentor, he worked to develop ultrasound technology for detected pregnancy in livestock, particularly in pigs. He became involved with RenCo Corporation in Minneapolis, and they started manufacturing his product.
A rewarding career
Although Carlson retired over 15 years ago, he has continued working with RenCo and travels around the world demonstrating his livestock ultrasound technology product, which has been in use for over 35 years. Even with all of his research accomplishments—including earning eight patents—Carlson says the biggest joy of his career as a faculty member at Iowa State was working with undergraduate students.
A history of innovations in education and research
Credit: The ECpE Department History was written by Jason B. Chrystal, a postdoctoral associate in the Iowa State University History Department. Many photos were provided by the Iowa State University Parks Library/Special Collections.
The story of Iowa State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering began in 1907, when Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) President Albert B. Storms recommended to the State of Iowa Board of Trustees that a separate Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) be organized with Professor Fred A. Fish as its head. Although the Department of Physics and Illuminating Engineering had offered electrical engineering courses and degrees since 1891, the new, independent EE department formally was approved and construction of the department’s home—the Engineering Annex—began in 1909.
Expand the sections below to read more about the department’s history:
Early Curriculum
In the department’s first year, it enrolled 176 undergraduate students and employed four instructors and staff members. These individuals witnessed an increasing demand for electric power to feed growing cities and machinery proliferating industry and the home. The department’s academic program focused on teaching students fundamental engineering principles and producing graduates for careers in industry.
In 1909, Department Head Fred A. Fish told the university’s President Albert B. Storms: “It is the purpose of the department to train its students that they may become constructive engineers; that they shall not only thoroughly understand the fundamental physical principles which underlie the profession but also realize the relations that exist between engineering as a profession and engineering as a factor in our general purpose.”
Students’ first two years of college laid the groundwork for obtaining their degree. By their senior year, students took a course on alternating current machinery where they were given practical or theoretical problems to solve in the lab. The students reviewed the theory, sketched a preliminary plan for the electrical connections, tested the plan, made the calculations, and recorded the results. They were expected to repeat the process until they achieved the correct results. This course was a precursor to today’s senior design course.
Post-World War I Course Work
After World War I through the 1920s, Department Head Fred A. Fish turned to alumni for input and the department revised its curriculum. The resulting curriculum emphasized the administrative and economic aspects of engineering along with the technical. Electrical engineering students started taking accounting, history of engineering, conservation of natural resources, and public speaking courses and dropped electrical railways, telephony, and illumination classes. This change coincided with a change in the emphasis of general training in lieu of the specialization that dominated the early curricula. According to the course catalog, electrical engineering students now were trained “with the best possible foundation for responsible positions in the profession, from the technical to the administrative.”
World War II and Iowa State EE Education
Mervin S. Coover, the department’s head from 1935 to 1954, led the department through the World War II era. Under his leadership, the department contributed to the war effort, moved into a new building, added electronics education to the curriculum, and expanded graduate study.
World War II brought national recognition to Iowa State’s EE department as the federal government sent 3,100 U.S. Navy men to Ames to enroll in electrical and diesel training courses and 105 women, called Curtiss-Wright Cadettes, to enroll in engineering mechanics and general engineering courses. Iowa State was one of only six electrical engineering schools chosen to conduct this training, and Coover directed the Naval Training School at Iowa State.
According to Iowa State’s the Bomb yearbook, “Because of the extreme importance of engineering ability in modern mechanized warfare, the demand for engineers has almost become a clamor. To meet this demand, the division is supplementing a speeded up general curricula with several 12-week defense courses.” Thus, the EE department began offering several 12-week defense courses, including a course on the radar warning system that trained 60 men every two quarters. In 1942, the department also began a 16-week, 42-credit-hour program consisting of mathematics, electrical theory, tool instruction, and naval instruction courses, as well as electrical and wiring labs. The contract with the Navy to train its men and women ended in 1944.
Similar to after World War I, Iowa State was not prepared for the influx of students after World War II. Many students were denied enrollment because the college lacked space to house them. About 300 students were allowed to enroll and attend classes at Camp Dodge Annex near Des Moines, Iowa. These students occupied accommodations the U.S. Army had used. C. James “Jolly” Triska (BSEE ’50; MSEE ’56, PhDEE ’61), who later became a professor in the department, was one of the individuals who took classes at Camp Dodge. During his career, Triska coauthored two books on microprocessors and was known as a fantastic teacher.
Post World War II Era and Introduction of New Electrical Engineering Subject Areas
Beginning in the 1950s, the department expanded its circuit analysis area and developed its systems area beyond Iowa State’s classic education in power systems, where the department traditionally had been strong. In 1957, the College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Engineering, and EE department initiated the world’s first formal graduate program in biomedical electronics. The program aimed to “design equipment for detecting biological changes, the improvement of present instruments, and the evaluation of results by quantitative methods.” In 1969, master’s and PhD degrees in biomedical electronics were established and the program continued to grow in the 1970s.
In the 1960s, Coover instigated weekly seminars on “affairs in the electrical engineering arts and science or in allied fields” for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students. The seminars acted as a “tutorial service” for students and faculty to help stimulate graduate students’ interest in possible thesis topics. Speakers included faculty, graduate students, and representatives from industry. The department continues to hold weekly seminars today.
Oral History
Arthur V. Pohm
Arthur V. Pohm (MS physics ’53; PhD physics ’54), emeritus professor of electrical engineering at Iowa State University, talks about what it was like to be a student at Iowa State and how the department and research in the ECpE department has changed throughout the years. (40 minutes)
Interview conducted by Cynthia Bennet, graduate student in Iowa State’s History of Technology and Science program, 2008
Globalization of Education
In the early 1960s, then-Department Head Warren B. Boast (PhDEE ’36) thought the EE department should improve its efforts to attract undergraduate and graduate students from developing countries throughout the world. Boast saw this as a means to advance other countries’ technologically for their own sake. By bringing qualified young minds to Iowa State University to study electric power, the students would return to their native lands with electric power knowledge to better their communities.
Boast’s global view of education coincided with a change in the department’s curriculum in the early 1960s. Students’ first year of instruction now consisted of solely basic, generalized engineering education, followed by three years of intense study in an area of specialization. The new curriculum promised to be more flexible and receptive to various needs of incoming students from diverse backgrounds.
In 1996, College of Engineering Dean James L. Melsa (BSEE ’60) encouraged all departments within the college to actively seek partnerships with individuals in other disciplines, universities, businesses, and government organizations across the world. The ECpE department already had instituted an exchange program with Assiut University in Egypt in 1993, allowing electrical and computer engineering students to gain a global perspective. Today, about 20 ECpE students participate in study abroad opportunities each year. The department also offers a special program allowing Birla Institute of Technology and Science students from India and Dubai to study at Iowa State.
Computer Engineering’s Beginnings
The continuing development of electronics and increasing applications of computers in the 1970s profoundly impacted the department. In 1976, the department began offering a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering. The program focused on the physical and mechanical sides of computers. Students were trained to be experts in computer design, architecture, and applications, as well as bring an engineering ethos to solve hardware and software problems.
This new major attracted outside interest from industry, spurring donations of lab equipment and other materials. Throughout the years, the department has received computers, design stations, software, floppy disk drives, and more for students to use. Industry also has provided a semiconductor test system and other lab equipment, as well as funding to support research and help students pay for tuition.
Real-World Training
The department’s focus on research generated expansion in the classroom for graduate and undergraduate students and enhanced traditional instruction. This exposed students to real-world engineering problems and led to the creation of a formal senior design project and portfolio assessment for all undergraduate students in 1999.
In senior design courses, students tackle engineering problems by designing, building, and testing a project and then presenting it to a panel of industry representatives. The courses also help students develop their confidence, discipline, and communication abilities, as well as allow them to experience the sort of teamwork they will experience in industry. The Cybot robot and RADVIS (Radio Auxiliary Detection for the Visually Impaired and Sighted) are just a few of the projects that have come out of the senior design program.
Academic Advising
The increasing number of electrical and computer engineering students in the 1980s and 1990s necessitated the creation of a full-time academic advisor position in 1981. Sheldon Pinsky, the department’s first academic advisor, advised 500 students. Currently, the department’s Student Services Office employs four academic advisors.
In 1984, the department changed its name to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) to address rapidly evolving computer technology, and the next year undergraduate enrollment soared, reaching an all-time high of 1,707 students.
Attracting Top Students
The department always has made a commitment to attract top students and faculty. As part of the commitment to attracting the best graduate students, Professor Vikram L. Dalal participated in the 1991 U.S. Department of Education’s summer internship program to encourage minority engineering students to pursue advanced degrees in microelectronics and photonics. Dalal also has received grants that allow the department to attract the best graduate students internationally.
In the early 2000s, the department’s undergraduate enrollment remained high at about 1,500 students. By 2008, graduate enrollment reached its highest level with 180 PhD and 104 master’s degree students, and graduate enrollment continues to grow.
In 2019, the ECpE department declared a Bachelor of Science degree program in cyber security engineering. The major is new, but Iowa State has been teaching and researching cyber security since 1995, making it one of the oldest programs in the country. Read more about cyber security engineering in ECpE here.
1950s-1970s: First Distance Education Courses
The department offered its first distance education courses in 1954—long before the advent of the Internet. Faculty rode the train to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to deliver lectures to Collins Radio employees. The program initially targeted individuals seeking to obtain their undergraduate degree, but expanded to offer graduate course in the late 1950s.
In 1967, the department created a partnership with Bendix Corporation’s Pioneer Central Division to teach a graduate course in microwaves. Faculty traveled to eastern Iowa to teach this course. Ever since, the department has remained highly involved in distance education.
Thomas C. Baird (MEngEE ’77) says he was the first master’s degree student in Iowa to complete a program entirely via distance education in 1976. He participated in the ECpE department’s early distance education program, which delivered lectures via 9-inch reels and later on VHS tapes.
1980s: Broadcasting Courses
In 1986, Iowa State joined the United States’ National Technological University’s satellite system, allowing electrical and computer engineering courses to be recorded and later broadcast across the United States.
1990s: Live Lectures from a Distance
In 1994, the department and the University of Iowa started a series of shared lectures and graduate courses called Iowa Distinguished Faculty Lectures in Engineering. These lectures were offered “live” via a satellite uplink and closed circuit television.
The department continued its commitment to long-distance learning in 1997 by initiating an undergraduate degree program for students to take all of their engineering classes at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. In 1996, the department joined the Power Systems Engineering Research Center to advance dialogue and work among universities and industry. The department continued offering short courses jointly with Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service and ISU Engineering Extension, providing advanced training for more than 150 power system professionals each year.
2000s: Online Degree Programs
Finally in 2002, the department began offering distance education courses online via state-of-the-art streaming video, allowing students to view classes in “real time” or on demand, and earn their master’s degree online. In 2010, the department introduced three graduate certificate programs: embedded systems, software systems, and computer networking.
Innovative research also has been a top priority for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. Our faculty, graduate students, and alumni have developed or played a role in creating many important technologies such as GPS devices, cell phones, computers, and more.
Early Electrical Engineering Research
The department began improving its equipment and facilities just before the United States entered World War I. College of Engineering Dean Anson Marston explained that the increasing number of telephones across Iowa necessitated the department teach telephone engineering courses and conduct research in this area. In 1915, the department purchased new telephone equipment to augment its instruction in telephony, which became a required course for all electrical engineering students until 1924. Radio instruction was discontinued during World War I, but resumed in 1922.
Electronics and Power Transmission Research
In 1940, then-Department Head Mervin S. Coover authorized new labs in electronics and power transmission, including an improved oscillograph lab and expanded facilities for communications research such as new television equipment.
Warren B Boast and John D. Ryder with AC Network Analyzer
In 1948, Warren B. Boast, John D. “Jack” Ryder, and College of Engineering Dean George R. Town began constructing a network analyzer, a scaled model of an actual electrical generation and distribution system. Instead of using 60 cycles per second (now called Hertz), the AC Network Analyzer used a frequency of 10,000 Hertz. This reduced the size of capacitors and inductors by a factor of approximately 166. After the AC Network Analyzer was completed in 1950, several Iowa and Nebraska power utilities paid Iowa State to use the model until the 1970s. This relationship between the department and industry resulted in Iowa State having more electrical engineering PhDs employed in industry than any other institution during the 1950s. During this time, Coover provided a valuable blueprint to demonstrate that the department and industry could cooperate in a productive way.
In the early 1960s as part of the new biomedical electronics program, David L. Carlson worked with four collaborators to produce an innovative infant respiratory augmentor. The technology was patented in 1967. The patent earned the university nearly $500,000 in revenue.
In 1962, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Arthur V. Pohm (MS physics ‘53; PhD physics ‘54) developed a program to improve electronics research and education in the department. Pohm’s efforts resulted in the Affiliate Program in Solid-State Electronics. Companies interested in advancing research in electronics joined the group for an annual fee. This program established a graduate education and research program in solid-state electronics. The fees supported graduate students’ research assistantships.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, students began gravitating towards studying electronics, computers, and semiconductors, rather than electric power, the department’s traditional focus area. Because of this, the power faculty began to revitalize interest in power systems with industry support.
In 1963, Associate Professor Paul M. Anderson (BSEE ’49; MSEE ’58; PhDEE ’61) and Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Abdel-Aziz Fouad (PhDEE ’56) established the Power Affiliate Research Program (which later became the Electric Power Research Center) to further research and graduate education in electric power systems. Regional power companies joined the group for an annual fee that funded graduate research assistantships.
By the mid-1970s, electric power engineering became multidisciplinary, allowing various engineering disciplines to collaborate to solve increasingly complex and varied power problems. As a result of Anderson and Fouad’s work, power engineering remained a hallmark of the department’s graduate education. The department’s cooperation with industry remains today.
Computer Technology Research
Atanasoff-Berry Computer
Iowa State University has a long tradition of making great innovations in computing. The university is most well known as the birthplace of the electronic digital computer. In 1939, electrical engineering graduate student Clifford Berry helped John Vincent Atanasoff, a physics professor, create the world’s first electronic digital computer.
In 1955, the university’s Working Committee for Improvement of Computational Facilities began discussing the college’s needs for computing technology. The committee addressed this need by renting an IBM 650. Although this machine was deemed “slow,” “with limited memory,” and “adequate only for performing curtailed projects or pilot computations,” it temporarily met some of the university’s demands until a larger, more powerful computer could be acquired.
Cyclone Computer
The department recognized the university’s need for increased computing technology at this time, so in 1956, faculty and students began building the Cyclone Computer to “develop an experienced group in computer engineering and design on campus.” Funding for the computer came from the university’s Alumni Achievement Fund and the National Science Foundation. The computer was completed in 1959 and was used until 1966. The computer stood 10-feet tall, 12-feet long, and 3-feet wide and contained more than 2,700 vacuum tubes with an original memory capacity of 40,960 binary digits (the memory was eventually increased with a random-access magnetic core system). It performed 600,000 mathematical equations a minute and solved 40 equations with 40 unknown numerals in less than four minutes. The Cyclone Computer also required its own internal air conditioning unit to prevent to from over-heating. It provided a powerful tool for the problem-solving and computational needs for all College of Engineering departments, and it inaugurated coursework in computer engineering and computer science.
In the 1960s, the department also acquired a new analog computer. And by the end of the 1960s, the department maintained its status at the forefront of computer research and development. In 1970, the department purchased a large-scale computer system, Symbol IIR, created by Fairchild Camera and Lens. The Symbol IIR eliminated extensive machine instructions with hundreds of commands and replaced it with a simpler set of instructions composed in English. This made programming the Symbol IIR faster, simpler, and more efficient. The Symbol IIR’s design incorporated 20,000 integrated circuits and handled up to 32 terminals and produce compilation rates per terminal of up to 75,000 statements per minute. According to Professor Robert M. Stewart, Jr., the computer was “a collection of hardware processors, each of which is particularized to the function that it is to perform” such as channel control, editing, memory control, memory reclamation, compilation, and job control.
Throughout the years, the department continued to update its computers to stay on the cutting edge. In 2006, the department purchased the IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer for bioinformatics research. The computer was among the top 100 fastest computers in the country at the time it was acquired. In 2008, the department received a new National Science Foundation grant to purchase an even more powerful computer.
Early GPS Research
The U.S. Department of Defense in 1967 created Project Themis, an attempt to create “centers of excellence” among academia by distributing funds to research institutions. Anson Marston Distinguished Professor R. Grover Brown (BSEE ’48; MSEE ’51; PhDEE ’56) proposed research in automatic navigation and control. The program was discontinued at Iowa State in 1973, but not without Brown making significant progress on Doppler satellite systems and the computation of conventional position. Using the Doppler data and processing it directly with a Kalman filter, Brown made contributed significantly to the development of global positioning systems.
New Research Areas
Throughout Warren B. Boast’s tenure as department head, he sought to expand the department’s expertise in systems, including the areas of computers, control and communication, microwaves (antenna, theory, microwave circuits and devices, and propagation), and the direct conversion of heat to electricity. Boast hoped that by expanding the department’s systems area, it would remain innovative and on the cutting edge of research.
As the department’s chair beginning in 2003, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Arun K. Somani brought a multidisciplinary focus for research and communication with him. Today, faculty from multiple traditional research areas collaborate to produce top-quality research in the department’s five strategic research areas: bioengineering; cyber infrastructure; distributed sensing and decision making; energy infrastructure; and materials, devices, and circuits.
Industry Funding of Research Laboratories
In 1975, new Department Chair Julius O. “J.O.” Kopplin oversaw the department through a difficult time of federal and state budget cuts. To continue to attract top faculty, perform cutting-edge research on state-of-the-art lab equipment, and maintain the department’s educational and research excellence, the department began searching more aggressively for funding from outside sources. Several companies and donors came to the department’s aid.
In 1976, ALCOA donated computers, floppy disk drives, and other equipment to the department specifically students to use. Rockwell International Corporation also donated equipment for the Power Electronics Laboratory and Hewlett-Packard’s Corporate Grants Program helped the department upgrade its computers, design stations and software in 1987 and again in 1991. In 1992, Takano Co., based in Nagano, Japan, created an endowment for graduate fellowships in nondestructive evaluation.
In 1999, the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust and industry partners established the Carver Communication Circuits Laboratory. The department hoped this lab would vault it to the forefront of information technology (IT). Texas Instruments and Rocket Chips also supported the department by providing funds to buy equipment for the lab. According to Professor William Black, the research performed at the lab would help ECpE to “serve as a very important resource for large and small Iowa firms.”
By 2002, the department established the Information Infrastructure Institute (iCUBE), an initiative to promote the development of new IT technologies and their applications to solve real-world problems. The university also launched the CyberInnovation Institute in 2007. The CyberInnovation Institute served as an umbrella to unify several smaller IT-related centers on campus, including the ECpE department’s iCUBE and Information Assurance Center, until 2010. This institute brought together interdisciplinary research teams and industrial partners to address real-world IT problems in areas such as biological sciences, agriculture, engineering, and business.
Teradyne and Micron Technologies also have supported the department. In 2003, Teradyne gave the department a semiconductor test system and Micron Technologies Foundation donated $300,000 for research in microelectronics. These donations and grants kept ECpE on the cutting edge of technology and research.
Today, faculty seek and acquire research funding from several sources, including the National Science Foundation, other governmental agencies, and industry partners.
Building of the Electrical Engineering Building
Entrance to Coover Hall, which was built in the 1950s
When the department was formed in 1909, the department was housed in the Engineering Annex. The department outgrew the annex, and in 1943, Department Chair Warren B. Boast and Professor John D. “Jack” Ryder (PhDEE ’44) collaborated with Allen H. Kimball, a professor and head of the architectural engineering department, to design the department’s new home, the Electrical Engineering Building (renamed Coover Hall in 1969). The trio visited new buildings at East Coast schools and worked with architects to make sure the building’s design included “novel ideas, especially those affecting student environment” in the new building in order “to produce a good academic environment for the students.”
According to Ryder, he and Boast “had a wide use of color in the building and a logical layout of laboratory spaces so that you would effectively utilize square footage in a laboratory. The ideal is an infinitely long zero width laboratory because the more wall space you can get, the more services you can supply to your test tables. The test table out in the middle of the square room is worthless because if you do supply services they come through conduits on the floor and you’re forever nailed down to that location. But if you’re supplying your services from the wall you can change things as you wish.”
Ryder also said that “these laboratories were mostly designed in pairs with an instrument room or a storage room between them that, considered both ways, would have equipment in the storage room to supply both laboratories. You might have an elementary circuits lab and an advanced circuits lab or a circuits lab and a transmission line lab with similar types of equipment and you supply both of them out of the same room. So the modular supply circuitry for two labs are about the same.”
The building included a machine laboratory, called the high bay area. One of the architects told Ryder and Boast, “If you are going to have a room that big, it had better be so high.” The new building reflected the continuation of electric power teaching, but had flexibility for other academic pursuits, including electric circuits.
Most of the building was completed in 1950. Due to budget constraints, only the power lab and first and second floors were completed at that time. The third floor and auditorium were completed in 1951 and 1952, respectively.
Transforming the High Bay Area
In the 1990s, the department began upgrading its facilities. In 1999, the department unveiled the Active Learning Complex (ALC), a learning space especially for students, located in the former high bay area of Coover Hall. The ALC space was intended to enhance learning through the facilitation of communication and interaction among students.
Building a New Addition
ECpE Building Addition
In 2006, the department began construction of a $16.5 million addition on the west side of the building. To make room for the addition, the department tore down part of the old Coover Hall. The addition opened in 2008 and added 23,000 square feet for classrooms, research labs, and teaching labs.
Throughout the years, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) has remained committed to research and education excellence. The department’s success largely has relied on the leadership of its chairpersons, who have provided expert guidance and demonstrated commitment to the department.
Department Heads
Fred A. Fish
Department Head: 1909-1930
Fred A. Fish
Fred A. Fish came to Iowa State College in 1905 as an associate professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1907 and then to head the new Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) soon after. As the department’s chair, Fish was reputed to be the “life of the department,” and according to the 1914 Bomb yearbook, “in spite of his ferocious appearance, he is quite lenient and often forgets to give the scheduled exams.” Fish was Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the Society of Engineering Education. He remained with the department until 1951.
In the department’s early days it was known for the practical applications it provided the college: creating “Beat Iowa” signs, acquiring and showing movies for the Engineers’ Campfire, and replacing light bulbs across campus.
Fish held a master’s degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University (1898).
F. Ellis Johnson
Department Head: 1930-1935
F. Ellis Johnson
After working for industry for nearly three years and academia for 18 years, F. Ellis Johnson became Iowa State’s second EE department chair in 1930. Johnson’s main area of expertise was electric power transmission.
Johnson held a bachelor’s of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1906) and had an electrical engineering certificate (1909). Before coming to Iowa State, he worked as a station wireman for the Seattle-Tacoma Power Company in 1909, foreman for the Vancouver Power Company and BC Electric Railway in 1910. He also served an instructor at the Rice Institute from 1912 to 1915, and then instructor at the University of Kansas, where he eventually became its Department of Electrical Engineering chairperson.
After he left Iowa State, he did stints as dean of engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia (1935 to 1938) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (1938 to 1946). Johnson returned to industry to work as educational director at General Electric until he retired in 1950.
Mervin S. Coover Department Head: 1935-1954
Mervin S. Coover
Mervin S. Coover served not only as the EE department’s chair from 1935 to 1954, but also served in many other leadership roles in the College of Engineering. During World War II, Coover oversaw Iowa State’s Electrical Naval Training School. He also was acting head of the Industrial Engineering Department (1955 to 1956), associate dean of the College of Engineering (1956 to 1957), temporary head of the Civil Engineering Department (1957 to 1959), and acting dean for the College of Engineering (1958 to 1959).
Additionally, Coover oversaw Iowa State’s merger of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) into one organization in 1948, and was instrumental in the 1963 national merger of the AIEE and IRE into what’s now the IEEE. He served as a president of AIEE (1956 to 1957) and director of the Iowa Engineering Society. As the AIEE’s president, he organized the first technical conference by the transatlantic cable, which linked scientists and engineers in New York City, Montreal, and London. He actively promoted the AC Network Analyzer, the Computations Center, and participated on a special committee to establish television and FM radio broadcasting stations on campus.
To honor Coover’s service and dedication to the university, the Electrical Engineering Building was renamed Coover Hall in 1969. He also received the Faculty Citation in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Administration and was named Dean Emeritus in 1959.
He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1914) and received an honorary doctorate from that university in 1957. Prior to coming to Iowa State, Coover served in World War I. He worked at New York Central Railroad from 1914 to 1945, Montana Power Company (1915 to 1917), Hutchison Power and Light Company (1917), and Wilson Machine Company (1917), and later became a professor at the University of Colorado from 1919 to 1935. During his summers in Colorado, he worked for General Electric, the City of Denver, and the Public Service Company of Colorado.
According to a newspaper article, Coover’s wife Francis was injured while shopping in New York City on January 26, 1947. She was struck by a falling body from the Empire State Building.
Warren B. Boast Department Head: 1954-1975
Warren B. Boast
Warren B. Boast began his career at Iowa State in 1934 as PhD student in electrical engineering. In 1936, he received his PhD and was hired as an instructor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He eventually was promoted to professor in 1948, later department head, and ultimately Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in 1964.
Boast and Professor John D. “Jack” Ryder (PhDEE ’44) designed and built the first 10-kilohertz AC Network Analyzer in 1949. Boast and Ryder also designed the Electrical Engineering Building (now Coover Hall). Boast authored four books: Illumination Engineering (1942), Principles of Electric and Magnetic Fields (1948), Principles of Electric and Magnetic Circuits (1950), and Vector Fields: A Vector Foundation of Electric and Magnetic Fields (1964).
He received the Faculty Citation from the ISU Alumni Association (1971) and the Anson Marston Medal (1980). He was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) and the Illuminating Engineering Society. Boast also served as a consultant to dozens of Iowa towns and schools concerning lighting, wiring, and electrical circuit specifications, revisions, and upgrades, as well as president of IEEE’s National Electronics Conference (1967), member of the U.S. Delegation to the International Electronics Technology Commission (1964), and a member of the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development and its Education and Accreditation Committee (1958 to 1969).
Boast received his bachelor’s degree (1933) and master’s degree (1934) in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas.
Today, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s undergraduate teaching award is named in Boast’s honor.
Department Chairs
Julius O. ‘J.O.’ Kopplin Department Chair: 1975-1991
Julius O. Kopplin
J.O. Kopplin came to Iowa State in 1975 as an electrical engineering professor and department chair. Kopplin specialized in superconductivity, electric and magnetic properties of materials, and liquid and solid surface phenomena. He led the department during a time of difficult federal and state budget cuts. He encouraged the department to more aggressively seek funding from industry and private sources. He retired in 1991.
Before coming to Iowa State, Kopplin worked in private industry and academia. He was an instructor in electrical engineering at Purdue (1954 to 1958), assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1958 to 1961 and 1962 to 1968), a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1961 to 1962), and electrical engineering professor and department head at the University of Texas-El Paso (1968 to 1975).
Kopplin earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1949), and master’s (1954) and doctorate (1959) degrees from Purdue University.
Randall L. Geiger Department Chair: 1991-1996
Randall L. Geiger
Randall L. Geiger was hired as chair for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s (ECpE) and is now a professor in the department. He currently holds the Willard and Leitha Richardson Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Geiger is past president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Circuits and Systems Society (CAS), past chair of the Transactions Committee of the IEEE Periodicals Council, and past member of the IEEE Publications Board. He has received the IEEE Millennium Medal and the IEEE CAS Society Golden Jubilee Award, and is a Fellow of IEEE.
Geiger’s main research focus areas are analog VLSI design, VLSI testing, and high-speed data converters. He, along with Associate Professor Degang Chen, recently achieved revolutionary success in three key areas of analog and mixed signal research that will enable on-chip testing.
Prior to coming to Iowa State, Geiger taught at Texas A&M University from 1977 to 1990.
Geiger received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (1972) and master’s degree in mathematics (1973) from the University of Nebraska. He later receive his PhD from Colorado State University (1977).
Mani Venkata Department Chair: 1996-2003
Mani Venkata
Subrahmanyam S. “Mani” Venkata joined Iowa State as chair for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering after working for 25 years combined at the University of Washington, West Virginia University, and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
In 1996, he was named the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Power Engineering Society’s Outstanding Power Engineering Educator. In 2003, he was appointed to the Palmer Chair in Electrical Engineering in recognition of his scholarship in power systems. In 2004, Venkata left Iowa State to become dean of Clarkson University’s Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering. He left that position in 2005 to become vice president and executive consultant for KEMA, a world-renowned business and technical consulting firm. He currently serves as president of Venkata Consulting Solutions and a subconsultant for KEMA. In 2008, he joined the faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Venkata is an IEEE Fellow and recipient of IEEE’s Third Millennium Medal (2000). Venkata has conducted research, design, and development for more than 20 power utilities and related industries throughout the past 38 years. Additionally, he has published and/or presented more than 300 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and is coauthor of Introduction to Electric Energy Systems (1987).
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Andhra University in India, master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, and PhD from the University of South Carolina (1971).
Arun K. Somani Department Chair: 2003-2010
Arun K. Somani
Arun K. Somani came to Iowa State in 1997 as the inaugural recipient of the David C. Nicholas Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a position he held until 2003 when he received the department’s first endowed Jerry R. Junkins Chair. A year later, Somani was appointed the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s chair. He is an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor, Association of Computing Machinery Distinguished Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
During his time as department chair, Somani led the department to create five strategic research areas in bioengineering, cyber infrastructure, distributed sensing and decision making, energy infrastructure, and small-scale technology. Somani was instrumental in the development of Iowa State’s software engineering program. He also helped lead an initiative to create a degree program for students from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) in India to study in India for two years and then at Iowa State University for two years to finish their undergraduate degrees.
Somani designed a multicomputer system called Proteus, and authored Survivability and Traffic Grooming in WDM Optical Networks (2006), in addition to more than 250 conference papers and journal articles. Somani’s research interests include optical fiber networking, computer system architecture, dependable computing, and cyber infrastructure. In 2006, he received the Warren B. Boast Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Before coming to Iowa State, Somani was a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle from 1985 to 1997.
He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from BITS-Pilani (1973), master’s degrees in computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (1979) and electrical engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada (1983), and PhD in electrical engineering from McGill University (1985).
David C. Jiles
Department Chair: 2010-2017
David C. Jiles
David C. Jiles began his appointment as the Palmer Endowed Department Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering on October 1, 2010. Previously, Jiles was the director of the Wolfson Centre for Magnetics and a professor of magnetics at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. He is Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering and holds a joint appointment with the ECpE and materials science and engineering departments. He also is a collaborating professor and with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames National Laboratory.
Jiles was elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering, the United Kingdom’s national academy for engineering, in 2014. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Physical Society (APS), the Magnetics Society, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Materials, and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, among others. Jiles served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Magnetics from 2005-11 and has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in America (2001-16), Who’s Who in the World (2001-16), and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering (1998-2016).
His research interests include nonlinear and hysteretic behavior of magnetic materials; magnetoelasticity, magnetostriction, and magnetomechanical effects; development of novel magnetic materials; and applications of magnetic measurements to nondestructive evaluation. He has authored more than 700 scientific papers, has published three books, and holds 21 patents.
Jiles was educated in the United Kingdom and earned a DSc from the University of Birmingham, PhD from the University of Hull, MSc from the University of Birmingham, and BSc from the University of Exeter.
Jiles is the first to hold the Palmer Endowed Department Chair. The endowed chair was created in March 2010 through additional earnings from an endowed faculty position established in 1986 by Iowa State alumni Barbara R. and James R. Palmer (BSEE ’44).
Ashfaq Khokhar
Department Chair: 2017-Present
Ashfaq Khokhar
Ashfaq Khokhar began his appointment as the Palmer Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineeringin January 2017. Khokhar was previously chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology since 2013. Before that, he was a professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Khokhar was named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE) Fellow in 2009.
Khokhar’s research centers on context-aware wireless networks, computational biology, health care data mining, content-based multimedia modeling, retrieval and multimedia communication and high-performance algorithms. He is considered a leading expert in the area of high-performance solutions for multimedia applications, especially those that are data or communication intensive. He has contributed to five edited volumes and co-authored nine book chapters, 53 publications in archival journals, and 158 refereed conference papers. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Army, the Department of Homeland Security and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
Khokhar earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan; his master’s degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University; and his Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Southern California.
The title Palmer Department Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering began as the Palmer Professorship, established in 1986 through a $1 million gift from Barbara and James Palmer who both graduated from Iowa State in the 1940s, with James earning a degree in electrical engineering. In 2010, that professorship was expanded to the chair position with additional earnings from the endowed faculty position.
The following is a timeline of contributions that faculty and alumni from Iowa State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering made to modern computing history.
1937-42
John Vincent Atanasoff, an Iowa State University physics professor, and Clifford Berry, an Iowa State physics graduate student and former electrical engineering undergraduate, build the world’s first electronic digital computer.
1956-59
Iowa State faculty and students build the Cyclone Computer, a computer used on campus and located in the Electrical Engineering Building until 1966. The computer provided a powerful tool for the problem-solving and computational needs for all College of Engineering departments, as well as other departments on campus, and it inaugurated coursework in computer engineering and computer science at Iowa State. Two key faculty who worked on the project include Robert M. Stewart, Jr. (BSEE ’45; PhD physics ’54) and Ralph F. Schauer (BSEE ’52; MSEE ’57; PhDEE ’60).
1960s
Bob O. Evans (BSEE ’49) conceives the first compatible family of commercial computers at IBM. He received a National Medal of Technology for his contributions in 1975.
1980
Alumnus David R. Ditzel (BSEE and BSComS ’78) coauthors the famous paper “The Case for the Reduced Instruction Set Computer.” Ditzel was co-originator of the RISC concept. Later, he also was a designer of high-performance SPARC-based computers for Sun Microsystems
1984
Distinguished Professor Arthur V. Pohm (MS physics ’53; PhD physics ’54) co-invents Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a revolutionary computer memory technology
1997
The working replica of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer is unveiled in Washington, D.C.
2008
Alumnus James M. Daughton (BSEE ’59; MSEE ’61; PhDEE ’63) receives IEEE’s Daniel E. Noble Award for fundamental contributions to the technology that became known as Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a form of memory that is faster, uses less energy, and is more durable than other memory technologies.
ECpE established a Hall of Fame to forever honor its alumni and faculty for their impactful contributions to the profession and society. Since the department’s inception in 1909, our faculty, staff, students, and alumni have pioneered some of the most renowned modern-era technologies and made this world a better place through their leadership, service, and innovation in research and education. Through this Hall of Fame, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering spotlights the impact of these inductees and forever preserves the history of their contributions, letting this stand to inspire future generations of engineering leaders. Thirty-two people were inducted into the inaugural class on Oct. 10, 2019.
2010
Alumnus Gerald J. Posakony wins the American Association of Engineering Societies’ John Fritz Medal—the highest award in the engineering profession for scientific achievement—for his pioneering contributions to the fields of ultrasonics, medical diagnostic ultrasound, and nondestructive evaluation.
U.S. Navy christens new missile range instrumentation ship the USNS Howard O. Lorenzen, which is named after alumnus Howard Otto Lorenzen who was known as the “Father of Electronic Warfare” for his breakthrough work at the Naval Research Laboratory from 1930 to 1973 as a radio engineer and later as the first superintendent of electronic warfare.
2009
Department celebrates 100 Years.
Cystorm supercomputer, which can perform 28.16 trillion calculations per second, is set up on campus.
Alumnus James M. Daughton receives IEEE’s Daniel E. Noble Award for fundamental contributions to the technology that became known as Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a form of memory that is faster, uses less energy, and is more durable than other memory technologies.
Researchers bring CyBlue, an IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer to Iowa State. The computer ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful computers at the time it was acquired.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering breaks ground on its multimillion dollar project to renovate and expand its current facilities.
Alumnus Sehat Sutardja is named Inventor of the Year.
The Charles W. Durham and Marge Henningson Durham Center for Computation and Communication opens. The Durhams are 1939 graduates of Iowa State whose $3 million contribution to expand computer facilities at Iowa State led to the construction of the center. It houses the Computation Center, Telecommunications Office, and ECpE faculty offices and research labs.
Lisa M. (Moklestad) Hining is the first female to receive a Master of Engineering degree in electrical engineering.
Diane (Thiede) Rover, who is now a professor in the department and a former associate dean of the College of Engineering, is the first female to receive a PhD in computer engineering.
Computer engineering master’s and PhD programs begin.
Alumnus Bob O. Evans receives the National Medal of Technology for conceiving the first compatible family of commercial computers at IBM in the 1960s.
Jonathan S. Eckrich, Syed M. Sarwar, and Hah Young Yoo are awarded the first Master of Science degrees in computer engineering.
Vineet Kumar and Mehrdad R. Mehrdad are awarded the first PhD degrees in computer engineering.
Roza Eskandari is the first female to receive a Master of Science degree in computer engineering.
1984
The Department of Electrical Engineering changes its name to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE).
Alumnus Edward R. McCracken begins working for Silicon Graphics and helps company develop 3-D graphics machines that launched the “world of virtual reality”.
Distinguished Professor Arthur V. Pohm co-invents Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), a revolutionary computer memory technology.
1983
James W. Nilsson writes Electric Circuits, one of the nation’s bestselling electric circuits textbooks.
Elham B. Makram is the first female to receive a PhD in electrical engineering.
1980
Alumnus David R. Ditzel coauthors the famous paper “The Case for the Reduced Instruction Set Computer.” Ditzel was co-originator of the RISC concept. Later, he also was a designer of high-performance SPARC-based computers for Sun Microsystems.
1979
Computer engineering program receives ABET accreditation.
Karen L. (Meinert) Murillo is the first female to receive a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering.
1978
The department awards the first bachelor’s degrees in computer engineering to Stephen C. Beilby, Stanley D. Smith, Glenn M. Stark, and Michael A. Warner.
1977
Glynis A. (Fluhr) Hinschberger is the first female to receive a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering.
1976
Computer engineering undergraduate major is created.
1973
Alumnus Donald Linder’s Motorola team develops the world’s first portable phone.
1972
Thomas M. Whitney, alumnus, develops first handheld scientific calculator.
1971
David C. Nicholas, electrical engineering graduate student, invents an encoding process that helps make fax machines a staple in office equipment.
1967
Anson Marston Distinguished Professor R. Grover Brown begins early GPS research.
1964
Professor David L. Carlson creates infant respiratory augmentor.
The high-speed, digital Cyclone Computer is completed.
The first courses in analog and digital computers are offered.
William G. Anderson is awarded the first Master of Engineering degree in electrical engineering.
1958
Alumnus and Professor William L. Hughes develops a new method of recording and reproducing color TV signals using 35 mm black-and-white film.
1957
Biomedical electronics graduate program is initiated.
1950
The Electrical Engineering Building opens on campus. In 1969, it was renamed in honor of Mervin Slyvester Coover, who served as department head from 1935 to 1954.
Tetrode neutralization, invented by Alumnus Warren B. Bruene, is used universally in radio transmitters.
1949
Warren B. Boast and John D. “Jack” Ryder construct the AC Network Analyzer.
1947
U.S. Department of Energy establishes Ames Laboratory (now Ames National Laboratory) at Iowa State University.
1939
The world’s first electronic digital computer is built at Iowa State by John Vincent Atanasoff, a physics professor and alumnus, and Clifford Berry, a physics graduate student and electrical engineering undergraduate student. Learn more about the computer, John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995), and Clifford Berry (1918-1963).
1937
Alice A. (Churchill) Camerlengo is the first female to receive a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Oral A. Brown is awarded the department’s first PhD in electrical engineering.
1927
Ronald J. Rockwell joins Crosley Corporation where he pioneered radio, high-fidelity, and television technologies, as well as designed the first high-resolution TV transmitter in the Midwest.
1925
Edd R. McKee is awarded the department’s first Master of Science degree in electrical engineering.
1922
VEISHEA, the nation’s first and largest student-run festival, is started by combining the festivals celebrated by each division. Electrical Engineering Professor Frank Paine submits the winning name for the new celebration. The letters stand for the first letters of the divisions: V—Veterinary Medicine, E—Engineering, IS—Industrial Science, HE—Home Economics, A—Agriculture.
1921
Department constructs its own radio tower and station; begins broadcasting in 1922.
1916
First courses in radio and telegraphy begin.
1915
The telephone lab is created and first courses in telephony and telephone engineering are offered.
1914
Paul Spencer Clapp, who earned his electrical engineering degree at Iowa State in 1913, is an engineer on the first transcontinental telephone line. Following World War I, he leads efforts to re-establish telephone and telegraph communications in all of central and southeastern Europe and is knighted by the Romanian government for his work.
1913
Claron Hutchison is the first African American graduate of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
1909
The Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering splits into two departments and the Department of Electrical Engineering is established.
The department’s first home, the Engineering Annex, opens.
1891
Iowa State College establishes the Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering, offering both courses in electrical engineering and physical science.
