The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the Baskin School of Engineering recently formed an External Advisory Council (EAC) comprised of four industry and academic leaders who will advise the ECE chair and faculty on long-term strategy for the department’s teaching and research programs.
The EAC will amplify the impactful work of the department’s students and faculty, expand course offerings and research opportunities, and strengthen industry connections.
The EAC’s four founding members:
Olivia (Krzeminski) Oswald is a senior project engineer at Tesla and Baskin Engineering alumna. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2014. During her time at UC Santa Cruz, Oswald was involved in many hands-on engineering projects and internships, allowing her to gain industry experience in different fields of engineering while simultaneously strengthening her problem solving skills. Shortly after graduating, she began working at her dream company, Tesla. Now, as senior project engineer, she’s responsible for managing manufacturing engineering projects in the Drive Unit at Tesla.
Jennifer Gill Roberts is the co-founder and managing partner of Grit Ventures, a venture fund that invests in early-stage robotics, artificial intelligence, and clean energy startups that are driving the clean machine revolution in core industries such as construction, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, and logistics. Roberts received a B.S. in electrical engineering and MBA from Stanford and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Roberts’s decades of leadership experience and entrepreneurial knowledge will play a significant role in helping elevate the ECE Department’s presence in the tech community.
Brian Otis, co-founder of Verily Life Sciences and former associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington, brings both industry and academic experience to the EAC. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences, he joined the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Washington—his undergraduate alma mater. In 2012, Otis co-founded Verily Life Sciences, a research organization that combines the fields of healthcare, data science, and technology to build integrated solutions to improve human health. Otis is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Dennis Derickson brings a mix of industry and academic experience to the EAC. After receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from UC Santa Barbara, Derickson worked in industry for several years at different Bay Area-based tech companies, including Hewlett-Packard and Cierra Photonics. He’s served as Electrical Engineering Department Chair at Cal Poly since 2010. His research interests focus on biomedical applications of semiconductor lasers and wireless communication systems. Derickson is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society, the Society for Optics and Photonics Technology, and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).
Learn more about the Baskin School of Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
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