Ahmed Tewfik

Ahmed H. Tewfik
Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin
Assumed office
October 10, 2010
Preceded by Anthony Ambler
Personal details
Born (1960-10-21) October 21, 1960
Cairo, Egypt
Residence Austin, Texas
Alma mater Cairo University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Profession Electrical Engineer, Academic
Website www.ece.utexas.edu/people/faculty/ahmed-tewfik

Ahmed H. Tewfik is an Egyptian-American electrical engineer, professor and college administrator who currently serves as the chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin since October 1, 2010.[1][2] He holds the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering #1 at UT Austin. For his research and contributions to the field of Signal Processing he was awarded the 2017 IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award as well as the IEEE Third Millennium Award in 2000.[3] He is the 2018–2019 IEEE Signal Processing Society President-Elect.[4]

Early life and career

Tewfik spent his childhood in Egypt and Lebanon. He received his B.S.E.E. from Cairo University in 1982 and both a M.S.E.E. in 1984 and Sc.D. in 1987 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alan S. Willsky and Bernard Levy were his dissertation advisers.

After briefly working at Alphatech, he began his educational career as an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 1987. He became the endowed E. F. Johnson professor of Electronic Communications in 1993.[5] From August 1997 to August 2001 he took a partial leave of absence to co-found and become president and CEO of Cognicity, Inc., an entertainment marketing software tools publisher that helped music companies prevent piracy of material downloaded from the Web.[6]

He received the NSF Research Initiation Award in 1990 and the Taylor Faculty Development Award from the Taylor Foundation in 1992. He was elected an IEEE Fellow in 1996 and was a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Signal Processing Society from 1997 to 1999.[7] For his research and contributions to the field of Signal Processing he was awarded the IEEE Third Millennium Award in 2000 and the IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award in 2017.[8]

Tewfik has been extremely active in the IEEE Signal Processing Society serving on the Board of Governors from 2006-2008 and as the 2010-2012 SPS Vice President-Technical Directions.[9] He is the 2018–2019 IEEE Signal Processing Society President-Elect.[10]

In 2010, he was selected to succeed Anthony Ambler as chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.[11]

Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Austin

Under Tewfik's tenure the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has moved up in the U.S. News and World Report Rankings and has consistently ranked in the top ten nationally.[12] He has launched several new programs within the ECE department including an integrated bachelors / masters program and an online executive masters program.[13][14]

One of Tewfik's key priorities has been to expand diversity at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Under his leadership the percentage of female students in the entering class has increased from less than 14% in the fall of 2013 to a little over 18% in the fall of 2016.[15] Similarly first-year retention rates have increased from 78% in 2011 to 92% in 2015 for the ECE student population at large, and from 59% to 87% for the underrepresented minority population.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr. Ahmed Tewfik Named New Chair for Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering".
  2. ↑ "Faculty of UT ECE: Ahmed Tewfik".
  3. ↑ "Prof. Ahmed Tewfik Receives 2017 IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award, Named President-Elect".
  4. ↑ "IEEE SPS New Society Officers Elected for 2018".
  5. ↑ "UMN ECE People: Ahmed Tewfik".
  6. ↑ "Does the University of Minnesota "Get It?"".
  7. ↑ "Faculty of ECE: Ahmed Tewfik".
  8. ↑ "Prof. Ahmed Tewfik Receives 2017 IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award, Named President-Elect".
  9. ↑ "Inside Signal Processing E-Newsletter".
  10. ↑ "IEEE SPS New Society Officers Elected for 2018".
  11. ↑ "Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Chair Named at The University of Texas at Austin".
  12. ↑ "UT ECE Rankings".
  13. ↑ "UT ECE BSEE/MSE Integrated Program".
  14. ↑ "Executive Masters in ECE at UT Austin".
  15. ↑ "2016-2017 ECE Impact Report" (PDF).
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