Q&A with Dennis Sylvester: New Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan

Dennis Sylvester, Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), has been named the Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective July 1, 2025.

He will be the 16th Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), continuing a history that offered its first program in electrical engineering in 1889, and named its first chair in 1905.

We offer here a few insights into Sylvester’s thoughts as he prepares to set the tone for the future of ECE at Michigan, which is regularly acknowledged as one of the top Electrical and Computer Engineering programs in the country.

What made you interested in the position of Chair?

During my year as Interim Chair, I became aware of the positive impact a Chair can have on the lives of faculty, students, and staff. I was able to create new programs designed to solve specific pain points that the ECE community let me know they were experiencing.

One example is the Program for Undergraduate REsearch in ECE (PURE-ECE), launched in 2024. Many of our undergraduate students want to experience the unique adventure of research, and this year-long program allows them to work directly with faculty research groups. 

I also enjoyed meeting and working with our alumni. Engaging with them was fun and I learned a lot.

What are some of your goals as Chair?

These are exciting times for ECE, because our enrollment numbers are going up in both computer engineering and electrical engineering. We are looking to expand our online educational programs, which I see as being a huge opportunity. This will allow us to open up our program to even more students while increasing the support we’ll be able to provide to our in-person students.

I want to make sure our faculty stay motivated to pursue grants, because this helps educate our students and ensures that the United States stays competitive internationally. 

I outlined many more plans and goals during my talk to the ECE community when I applied for the position, and I look forward to seeing many of them implemented.

What are some of the major opportunities in ECE?

ECE has always been at the forefront of technological advancements, and that hasn’t changed. Quantum information science is a major area of focus. One of our faculty co-directs the U-M Quantum Research Institute, and we’ve introduced several new quantum courses at the undergraduate level.

We are now seeing a similar trend in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Our faculty are creating new courses that go from 1st year undergraduate courses to advanced graduate courses, and expanding their research in these areas.

It’s important for specialists in a great variety of fields to understand both quantum and AI/ML tools. Students throughout the university recognize this and many are taking advantage of our courses. 

In industry, the success of hardware companies like NVIDIA, one of the biggest companies in the world, show the current opportunities in electrical and computer engineering for our graduates.

And as I’ve talked about in the past, the revitalization of semiconductors through the CHIPS Act is an opportunity that sits right in the center of ECE. 

What are some of the major challenges in the ECE discipline?

One challenge we have had at the graduate level is attracting more domestic students to the program. We need more students coming up through our country’s K-12 programs saying, ‘I want to be an engineer,’ or even better, ‘I want to be an electrical or computer engineer.’

We also need to show our undergraduate students how cool the field is. We created a number of courses designed especially for 1st year undergraduate students interested in ECE topics. Among the newer ones are “Computational Machine Learning for scientists and engineers” and “Next Generation Computing Hardware.” These are being added to existing courses in “Autonomous Electronic Systems,” “Solar Energy and Self-Powered Wireless Systems,” and “Music Signal Processing,” all of which have been popular with students. 

And of course the next thing is to keep these students here a little bit longer to get their master’s or Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

What is special about ECE, and about ECE at Michigan?

ECE technology penetrates the everyday life of every person in modern society. Smartphones are a good example: they communicate through a network, they have computer hardware, sensors, power systems, antennas, displays, as well as audio and camera systems; and a remarkable amount of data is processed in the apps. Electrical and computer engineers contribute to all these systems.

At Michigan, ECE research ranges from semiconductors and physics all the way to algorithms and theory. Across campus, the University of Michigan has top 10-ranked programs in about 100 different fields. We are fortunate to have a large, excellent medical school, law school, and business school – along with engineering. 

Our faculty are among the most collaborative individuals I’ve ever seen. Just look at the papers written with multiple faculty members; it shows how we work together across departments, colleges, and institutions. 

And ECE produces more intellectual property than any other single unit throughout the university. That’s saying a lot because this is a highly innovative university. 

What would you consider to be an essential trait for a chair?

Listening. That was one of the surprising things I learned as Interim Chair, and I’m going to try to cultivate my skills as an effective listener. Then comes the problem solving.

Tell us about your sabbatical and why it was so important?

My sabbatical was delayed when I took on the Associate Chair position, and then again when I became Interim Chair. I stepped down as Interim Chair before the search process was completed because I needed to take the sabbatical.

I spent the first part of the year in Dallas, and I collaborated with the University of Texas at Dallas’s ECE Department in a couple ways. One project was to advise them on their strategic planning process, which I had overseen here at Michigan just a few years earlier. Another was to work with a circuits colleague to help envision their research center’s 10-year plan.

But what initially brought me to Dallas was my son. He was recruited to play soccer for FC Dallas’s MLS Academy. My son wants to be a professional soccer player, and this is where players come to be seen by recruiters from the best teams in the country. He graduated high school early and is currently playing soccer for Notre Dame. It’s possible he could go pro at any time, depending on how things go.

Will you continue your research as Chair?

I am definitely continuing my research in low-power integrated circuits, including related topics like machine learning accelerators and cryo-temperature CMOS to support quantum computing. I am actively recruiting Ph.D. students to my group.

To help make this possible, I recently bought a book on time management.  (Now I just need to find the time to read it!)

What’s a fun fact about yourself?

As an undergraduate student, I used to work at the Eta Kappa Nu donut stand with Larry Page. We sold lots of donuts!