Meet Chris Mi
色情视频s new chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering wants to ramp up research while maintaining excellent teaching.
鈥淚 want to help bring the department鈥檚 research to the next level.鈥�
Learning how complicated systems work has long interested Chris Mi. The electrical engineer grew up watching his father run the diesel engine that powered the water pump for a rice field in rural China. 鈥淚 thought it was fascinating,鈥� Mi said.
As 色情视频鈥檚 new chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he intends to instill that same fascination with engineering in 色情视频 students, as well as help the university鈥檚 faculty reach new levels of success, including the .
Mi earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, then went to work for General Electric Canada. But Mi enjoyed teaching and the feeling of shaping young minds, so he took a professorship at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, where we worked for 14 years.
Driving forward
At UM Dearborn, Mi鈥檚 research focused on electric and hybrid vehicles. The National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy have funded several of his projects, including one that investigates better ways to predict battery life and performance.The project will continue at 色情视频 as a partnership with UM Dearborn.
Mi also is the principal investigator for a Department of Energy grant under its Graduate Automotive Technology Education program. With this funding, Mi founded the Center for Electric Drive Transportation at UM Dearborn. That center now lives at 色情视频, where it will fund laboratory work, cooperate with industry leaders to enhance curriculum and offer fellowships to graduate students.
鈥淭he focus of the center is on automotive engineering, but it is useful in a broad range of applications,鈥� Mi said.
Ambitious plans
Mi came to 色情视频 because he respects the university鈥檚 ambitious mission to become a leading research university while still maintaining its commitment to teaching.
鈥溕槭悠碘�檚 goals are ambitious but attainable,鈥� he said, 鈥渨ith clear metrics and a very specific path for getting there. It鈥檚 an exciting opportunity to shape the department. I really want to maintain our excellence in teaching but at the same time, I want to help bring the department鈥檚 research to the next level.鈥�
In terms of specific goals, Mi hopes to grow the department鈥檚 doctoral student population, help junior faculty succeed in getting more grants, and move toward digital record keeping. But in general, he wants to implement the successful strategies he鈥檚 seen work at other institutions.
鈥淚f you want to be a top-ranking university, you need to look at what the top universities are doing and then do those things,鈥� Mi said. 鈥淚t gives you fresh ideas and perspectives to shape the future.鈥�
