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Spotlight on Black Engineers

ECE celebrates our many incredible Black faculty, students, and alumni. The impact of these gifted individuals spans many fields and industries. While far from comprehensive, included in the list is the first Black woman to earn a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering and the first Black faculty member in the College of Engineering.

Faculty

Herbert Winful

Herbert Winful

Prof. Winful has made fundamental contributions to nonlinear fiber optics, nonlinear optics in periodic structures, the nonlinear dynamics of laser arrays, the propagation of single-cycle pulses, and the physics of tunneling. His awards include the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship, the Amoco/University Teaching Award, the State of Michigan Teaching Award, the College of Engineering Teaching Excellence and Service Excellence Awards, and two EECS Professor of the Year Awards.

Leo McAfee

Leo McAfee

Prof. Leo McAfee, the first black professor hired by the College of Engineering in 1971, served the EECS department for 40 years before his retirement in 2010. McAfee conducted research in the area of numerical and circuit modeling of integrated circuits, networks for automated semiconductor manufacturing, and computer network devices. As Education Thrust Leader for the Center for Wireless Integrated MicroSystems (WIMS), he influenced the lives of hundreds of future engineers during his tenure.

Alumni

Garlin Gilchrist

Lieutenant Governor of the State of Michigan

Iverson Bell, III

Iverson Bell, III

PhD EE 2015
Senior Principal Cyber System Engineer at Northrop Grumman specializing in space propulsion and satellite design.

Todd Coleman

Todd Coleman

BSE EE and CE 2000
A Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California – San Diego (UCSD) who specializes in the use of flexible and miniaturized electronics for human health monitoring.

Douglas Densmore

Douglas Densmore

BSE CE 2001
Associate Professor of ECE and Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. Focuses on synthetic biology, which explores ways to manipulate biological organisms and tissues as though they were programmable computers.

Rhonda Franklin

Rhonda Franklin

MS PhD 1990 1995
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. She teaches applied electromagnetics and microwave circuits.

Linda Guillory in front of her video game collection

Linda Guillory

BSE EE 1992
Holds two world record titles for vintage video game collections. She is an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments.

Angelique Johnson

Angelique Johnson

MSE PhD EE 2007 2011
Uses microfabrication to significantly reduce the cost of one of the most expensive parts of cochlear implants.

Dr. Willie Hobbs Moore

First African American woman at U-M to earn
a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering (’58 and ’61).

Isaac Porche

Isaac Porche

PhD EE:S 1998
Director of Acquisition and Development Program, Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, RAND Corporation.

Robert Scott

Robert Scott

BSE CE 1975
After a 32-year career of leadership at Procter&Gamble, he returned to Michigan where he founded the Center for Engineering Diversity & Outreach.

Adrienne Stiff-Roberts

MSE EE 2011; PhD Applied Physics 2004
Jeffrey N. Vinik Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, where she is also the Director of Graduate Studies for the University Program in Materials Science and Engineering.

David Tarver

David Tarver

BSE MSE EE 1975 1976
Currently serves as a lecturer in the U-M Center for Entrepreneurship in Ann Arbor. He is also founder and board president of the Urban Entrepreneurship Initiative and author of “Proving Ground: A Memoir.”

Clarence Wardell III

Clarence Wardell III

BSE CE 2004
Currently serves as the Director for What Works Cities, a national organization that provides resources to assist local governments in determining how they can best address key issue areas and serve those who need them most.

Doctoral Students

Christopher Boyd

Christopher Boyd

Boyd specializes in chip design and control for MEMS inertial sensors.

Demba Komma

Demba Komma

Komma is working to develop robust low powered localization technology for Artificial Intelligence enabled Internet of Things in locations where GPS is limited or blocked.

Kwesi Rutledge

Kwesi Rutledge

Rutledge specializes in correct by construction control and is an active member of the ECE community.