Workshop of ECE Department Heads "Combating Climate Change: Can it also help the ECE Renaissance?". To be held at the University of Minnesota. April 19-20, 2019.

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The goal of this project is to conduct a workshop of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department Heads sponsored by NSF and National Academy of Engineers (NAE) on the topic of "Combating Climate Change: Can it also help the ECE Renaissance?" on April 19-20, 2019 in Minneapolis, MN. The proposed workshop program includes presentations by experts on climate change, opportunities to increase female enrollments in ECE courses, an introductory course on climate change and electrical engineering suitable for freshmen as well as high school students, and breakout sessions to prepare an action plan. The proposed workshop is a positive step towards understanding the linkages between climate change and electrical engineering. Follow on actions could lead to attracting larger number of high school students including women and minorities towards ECE.Climate change is happening rapidly, and it poses a great threat to the humanity. Some of the solutions to combat climate change are using renewable energy to generate electricity, electrifying transportation and increasing system efficiencies, which require the knowledge of electrical engineering. Many young people don't see the relationship between these solutions and ECE. This proposal addresses promoting this relationship and provides an avenue to leverage combating climate change for increasing the pipeline of talented high school students opting for power/energy as well as other related fields within ECE, which could reverse the trend of declining enrollments in ECE programs nationwide.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.