Leah Jamieson

Leah Jamieson is an American engineer and educator renowned for her transformative work in service-learning and engineering education. She is the Ransburg Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and former John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University. Jamieson co-founded the internationally recognized Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, which integrates community-based design into the engineering curriculum, profoundly impacting how engineering students connect technical skills with societal needs.

Early life and education

Jamieson pursued her undergraduate studies in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1972. She then earned both her master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University, completing her Ph.D. in 1977. Her doctoral research focused on digital signal processing, a field that was gaining significant prominence with advances in integrated circuit technology. Her academic training at these prestigious institutions provided a strong foundation in both theoretical and applied aspects of electrical engineering.

Career and research

Jamieson began her academic career at Purdue University in 1976, where she has remained a central figure. Her early research contributions were in the areas of parallel processing, speech analysis, and the design of digital signal processing algorithms. A pivotal shift in her career occurred in 1995 when, alongside colleagues including William Oakes and Edward Coyle, she co-founded the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program. This initiative partners undergraduate students with local and global non-profit organizations to address human, community, and environmental needs through long-term, multi-disciplinary design projects. The EPICS model has been adopted by over 50 universities worldwide, including Arizona State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her scholarship has extensively documented the impact of service-learning on student development, professional ethics, and retention in STEM fields.

Awards and honors

Jamieson's innovative contributions to engineering education have been recognized with numerous national awards. In 2005, she, along with William Oakes and Edward Coyle, received the prestigious Bernard M. Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering for the creation and dissemination of the EPICS program. She is a fellow of several major professional societies, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). In 2016, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for her "development and dissemination of engineering education through community engagement programs." She has also received the IEEE Education Society's Hewlett-Packard/Harriett B. Rigas Award and the ASEE's Chester F. Carlson Award.

Professional service and leadership

Jamieson has held significant leadership roles that have shaped the national engineering landscape. She served as the 2007 President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organization, where she championed initiatives on engineering for community development and global public policy. At Purdue University, she served as the Dean of the College of Engineering from 2006 to 2017, overseeing a period of substantial growth in research expenditures, student enrollment, and facility expansion, including the development of the Gateways Project. She has served on the National Science Board and on advisory committees for the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Personal life

Jamieson is married to John A. Edwardson, a distinguished alumnus and benefactor of Purdue University for whom the engineering dean's position is named. She maintains an active role in promoting women in engineering and has been a mentor to countless students and faculty throughout her career. Her personal and professional ethos is deeply connected to the belief that engineering is fundamentally a helping profession dedicated to improving the human condition.

Category:American electrical engineers Category:Purdue University faculty Category:National Academy of Engineering members Category:IEEE Fellows