Dennis Sylvester named Interim Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dennis Sylvester, Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been named Interim Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering effective June 1, 2023, pending Regental approval. Sylvester has served as Senior Associate Chair for ECE since 2018. He succeeds Mingyan Liu, who was named Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Engineering. 

Sylvester is an internationally recognized leader in the area of ultra-low power integrated circuit design. His research has resulted in more than 50 U.S. patents in the area of semiconductor integrated circuit design, and he co-founded two companies, Ambiq and Cubeworks. His former students have founded additional companies.

Cubeworks is commercializing the Michigan Micro Mote (M³) platform, also known as the world’s smallest computer. The M³ was developed by a team of faculty led by Sylvester and longtime collaborator David Blaauw.

In his role as Senior Associate Chair, Sylvester chaired the ECE strategic planning committee and focused on increasing instructional support for faculty in the classroom using a range of approaches. Prior to that, he was the founding director of the Michigan Integrated Circuits Laboratory (MICL) and led faculty search efforts for several years within ECE, successfully recruiting over a dozen faculty in that capacity.

Sylvester is the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, and a former member of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Administrative Committee. He has served as General Chair or principal organizer of numerous professional workshops and conferences, and has served as a consultant to many major semiconductor companies. 

He has taught five different courses in the areas of digital integrated circuits and VLSI Design, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, and co-authored the book Statistical Analysis and Optimization for VLSI: Timing and Power.

Sylvester has received numerous honors and awards. In addition to several Best Paper awards, these include the College of Engineering Education Excellence Award, the 1938E Award, and the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teaching Award, as well as the University of Michigan Faculty Recognition Award and Henry Russel Award. He received an NSF CAREER Award,  a SIGDA Outstanding New Faculty Award, and is an IEEE Fellow. He received the U-M Distinguished University Innovator Award, and he is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.