Dr. Ramaswami “Dan” Dandapani
March 31, 2008 | 
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Associate Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at UCCS
CSR+: How long have you been teaching at the college level? What is your area of expertise and what classes do you teach?
RD: I have been teaching at the college level since 1974. I have been teaching at UCCS since 1986. My areas of expertise are in Computer Engineering, in particular, Testing and Testable Design of integrated circuits.
CSR+: What attracted you to the area of electrical engineering in the first place?
RD:While in high school and when working toward my first degree (Bachelor of Science in Physics, Chemistry, Math), I became interested in applying theory to practical problems. In addition, I was inspired by the lure of going to study at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, a premier institute in the early 1960s, where Dr. C.V. Raman, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930, had served as Director, the equivalent of President.
CSR+:You were the chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for a long time (I forget how may years – from December 1998 to August 2007). Tell us about the accomplishments of the Department.
RD: During my tenure, the Department of ECE at UCCS was able to renew its accreditation from ABET for six years. It is the first time a program at UCCS obtained ABET accreditation for the maximum period of six years. I was also able to recently hire two women faculty members – in fact, the first woman faculty member in ECE ever at UCCS! I directed the National Science Olympiad held at UCCS, USAFA, and the World Arena in 2001. I have been directing, with a group of volunteers, the Southern Colorado Regional Science Olympiad for a number of years. During my tenure, I established working relationships with a number of local companies. Many of these companies have donated equipment, provided instructors, and much more. During this period, a majority of the department faculty worked as a group to obtain an NSF grant to bring new ways of teaching circuits and systems with a lot more hands-on experience in the curriculum.
CSR+: For the past five years, you have been the Associate and then the Acting Dean of Engineering and Applied Science at UCCS. What is your philosophy of academic leadership? What are the main strengths of the College? Where is the College headed in the next few years?
RD: I have been Associate Dean since August 2006. During 2006-07, I was also the Chair of ECE; this year 2007-08 I am performing half of the dean’s job. I am responsible for internal procedures within the College. I like to see the three departments in the College work together as a unit in all aspects of academic life and avoid creating “silos”. My interest is to provide an environment where faculty and staff can contribute to the best of their abilities to the success of the College and the campus. I also want to see the college faculty teach more distance education courses to attract students who would normally not come to UCCS. I want to provide an environment where diversity is valued and the new hires, especially the women faculty, feel at home and succeed. I want to improve the image of the college on campus – for a long time we have been thought of as snobbish and elitist. I want to see the college increase graduate student support and the faculty increase funded research. Other goals include increasing enrollments, especially those of women and minority students.
CSR+:You have been very successful as a parent. Your children went to MIT, Harvard and Carnegie Mellon. Can you tell us what have been your keys to success in raising highly motivated children?
RD: We did not do anything special – our emphasis was the children to learn the basics well in any subject they studied. I give almost all the credit to my wife, especially for maintaining constant communication with the children and for being very patient.
CSR+: You have been very active in holding regional Science Olympiads in Colorado Springs. Please tell us about the Science Olympiad movement. A couple of years ago, you were instrumental in holding the National Science Olympiad on the UCCS campus. Tell us about the experience of holding a national event in Colorado Springs.
RD: Science Olympiad, Inc., is a national organization that has been conducting tournaments since the mid 1980s. It started in Michigan to address the declining interest in science and engineering. Today all 50 states and Canada hold state tournaments to send teams to the Nationals, which is held in a different university each year. The states hold regional tournaments in preparation for the state tournaments. Colorado has two Regionals and some states have several. At the present time, there are 23 science and engineering events that are designed by nationally renowned teachers and others. This year on March 8, we hosted 33 high school and 32 junior high and middle school teams with about 15 students in each team. There were 115 teachers that accompanied the teams.
We hosted the 2001 Nationals, and we did not have the facilities. As a result, we partnered with USAFA, which turned out to be great. The tournament was a great success with the awards ceremony being held at the World Arena.
CSRD+: Congratulations on all this work!
RD: My pleasure.
- J
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