Professor Edwin Chong has been named head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University. He will begin his new role on July 1.
“Edwin brings extensive experience and knowledge to this position,” said David McLean, dean of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. “I look forward to working with him in his new capacity. I also want to thank Tony Maciejewski for his 19 years of dedicated service and leadership as ECE head.”
Since joining the ECE department in 2001, Chong has held a range of leadership positions. Most recently, he served as associate head of the ECE department. He also chaired the ECE promotion and tenure committee for nearly a decade, led the graduate committee from 2001-2005, and served as acting department head for three semesters. For the past nine years, Chong was the director of CSU’s Information, Science, and Technology Center, or ISTeC. He also served as president of the IEEE Control Systems Society.
Chong succeeds Professor Tony Maciejewski, who concludes his fourth and final term as department head June 30.
Looking forward, giving back
“The faculty and staff are the closest thing to family outside of my family,” said Chong. “Tony positioned our department as a leader. I am motivated to serve the people of ECE by continuing our upward trajectory.”
Chong aims to grow undergraduate and graduate enrollments, improve retention rates, and increase funding for research. He is also passionate about building on the department’s multicultural strengths to foster a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. He plans to hire more faculty, with the goal of increasing the number of tenure-track women in ECE.
“We need more faculty to achieve our goals and keep pace with our rapidly evolving field,” said Chong. “We are the drivers of innovation. The future relies on our expertise to solve challenges related to society, technology, and the environment.”
Chong holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Mathematics at CSU, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association. His research interests are in the areas of control, optimization, and modeling, with applications to computer and communication networks, sensor networks, and wireless systems.
Chong earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, in 1987, graduating top of his class. He received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 1989 and 1991, respectively, from Princeton University, where he held an IBM Graduate Fellowship. Prior to joining CSU, he served on the faculty in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University.
