Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering Department News - March 24, 2025

There will be no department meeting this week. We hope you take some time to relax and recharge over Spring Break. Enjoy the break!

Join us for the ECEE Awards Event to celebrate the achievements of our outstanding students, faculty and staff!

📅 Date: April 25, 2025
⏰ Time: 6:30 p.m.
📍 Location: WillVill Multipurpose Room

Please RSVP here to attend and don’t forget to submit your nominations using the ECEE Awards Nomination Form!

Awards Dinner RSVP

Our ECEE Undergraduate Brochure has earned a GOLD award rating from the 2025 Educational Advertising Awards. Judges consisted of a national panel of higher education marketers and creative directors. In partnership with the ECEE Marketing & Outreach Committee, the college marketing and communications team developed the brochure to showcase the impact that electrical, computer and energy engineers have on science and society. Targeted to prospective undergraduate students, the brochure was distributed at events such as the recent 2025 Denver Metro Science Fair. The collaboration included all aspects of the planning, creative and development process. 

Congrats to the ECEE Marketing & Outreach Committee! If you'd like copies of the undergraduate brochure and/or want to get involved in future outreach events, please reach out to Melinda Piket-May! 

ECEE Graduation Ceremony & Reception

• Thursday, May 8, 2025 from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
• CU Boulder East Campus -  J.S. Caruthers Biotechnology Building (BIOT) - West Lawn
  Reception to follow ceremony in same location.

If you are planning to attend the ECEE Graduation Recognition Ceremony, you will likely want regalia. We don’t require regalia for our event, but most participants do choose to wear it. Note that University Commencement requires regalia; other dept/program events may vary.

If you need to order regalia for rental or purchase, please take action by March 25th at 12:00pm. Your options and the needed next steps are below, based on the following conditions:

• You already own your regalia
  • You’re good to go! Please fill out this quick form to confirm your attendance at our ceremony.
• You would like us to rent regalia for you
  • The department will order and pay for the rental. Please complete this quick form by Friday, March 26, to tell me what you’ll need so I can place the order for the department.
  • The rental items will be shipped to the Dept office and we’ll let you know when you can pick up your order. We will ship them back after the event.
• You would like to buy regalia and never again fill out a rental order form
  • If you regularly attend graduation it is worth considering purchasing a set of regalia. If you have startup funds, you may use them for this expense. Otherwise, the cost will be out of pocket.
  • Two routes for purchasing regalia:
    • You can purchase the regalia that our graduates will wear for ~$40-70 depending on degree level.
    • You can purchase custom Fine Quality Regalia for a deluxe made-to-order experience, in the $300-800 range.
  • In both cases, you place your order directly through Jostens using the link. If using startup funds, you will need to pay out of pocket and submit a PV for reimbursement along with the itemized receipt showing what was purchased and proof of payment. Contact ECEE Team for questions about purchasing or reimbursement.
  • Order for purchase by 11:59PM, March 26.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to Kim MacGregor.   

Student employment updates for summer are due no later than April 7, 2025. 

• If you currently employ undergrad or hourly students, you should have received an email with a link to the Summer 2025 Appointment Updates spreadsheet.  The link was not included in this newsletter to keep the information secure. 

If you plan to hire an incoming (Fall) PhD student during the summer, please email Patty Sue directly.

As announced in the Department Meeting on Thursday, February 6, the Department, at the recommendation of the Graduate School, must implement the following changes for PhD advising:

• All students currently advised by a faculty member with a primary appointment outside of ECEE, an entity outside of CU Boulder, or an emeritus faculty within or outside ECEE must also secure a departmental titular co-advisor by the end of Spring 2025.
• The titular faculty advisor serves as the co-chair of committees with the core advisor, helps to make sure the student is on track with departmental requirements toward achieving a PhD, and provides signing authority to comply with Graduate School rules/forms.
• The titular faculty advisor does not have funding responsibility toward the student; that lies with the core advisor.
• All incoming students for Fall 2025 and future semesters that receive offer letters should also include an ECEE titular co-advisor.
• Please begin to consider who may be a good choice of titular advisor for any of your affected students. A titular co-advisor must be found for all students by the end of Spring 2025. A PhD defense committee requires three tenure-track CU Boulder faculty members; it may be best to source someone to this role who would already serve on the student's committee. 

Please let Bri or Lori know if you need any assistance so I can enlist the help of the Graduate Studies Committee where needed. 
Additionally, please be aware of this change on first semester funding for incoming PhD students:

• Only tenure-track faculty and research faculty with primary appointments in ECEE will be eligible for 1st semester funding beginning in Fall 2025. 

IT Support

• Teaching Labs (Capstone, Embedded Systems, Power Lab, Optics, RF, Highspeed Measurements, Circuits) IT Support: http://itll.link/servicedesk
• Research Labs License Server Support: support@craftypenguins.net
• Research Computing: https://www.colorado.edu/rc/
• Research License Server (ecee-flexlm-2.colorado.edu): Submit a request to: support@craftypenguins.net
• Conference Rooms ECEE 1B55 & 1B45: Send an email to ECEE IT support:  http://itll.link/servicedesk
• IT Service Center: Contact the IT Service Center (303-735-4357 or help@colorado.edu) for help with all OIT services including email and IdentiKey, Internet connectivity and other technology-related questions.
• Buff Techs Desktop Support: OIT provides no-cost software support for laptop and desktop workstations to faculty, staff, and students. You can also register your laptop to aid in recovery in case it is lost or stolen.
• Dedicated Desktop Support: Departmental IT Support customized for your needs.
• Network Troubleshooting: Submit this form to report network connectivity issues on campus.
• Classroom Technology Problem Reporting form: Submit this form to report an issue with technology malfunctioning in a classroom (except for the ECEE classrooms – contact Bret.Moreland@colorado or 303-503-7939 for support)
• Self-Service Help Request: Submit a request directly to the ITSC using ServiceNow
• Lightboard: Contact  Andy Garcia, Andrew.Garcia-3@colorado.edu, in the Mechanical Engineering department for scheduling and technical assistance
• OIT Website https://oit.colorado.edu/support

All other issues, contact Robin.McClanahan@colorado.edu or 303-492-6736.