RICHARDSON, Texas (Jan. 29, 2004) — The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, the second largest of The University of Texas at Dallas' seven schools, will hold an Education and Research Forum and Advisory Council Review on campus Feb. 12 to 14 to help chart its future direction.

Dean Bob Helms, who joined UTD 10 months ago and immediately set as one of his goals that the Jonsson School, which didn't even exist 20 years ago, would be ranked among the top 50 engineering schools in the nation within five years, said that the "interactive" forum would focus on technology research and education and would bring together leaders from industry and academia to learn about recent developments and "to help plan the future direction of research and education" at the school.  

"The Jonsson School and U. T. Dallas are poised to make major strides in both the quantity and quality of research and education in engineering and related fields over the next several years, based in large part on a $300-million initiative involving the State of Texas, the University of Texas System and Texas Instruments (TI)," Dr. Helms said.

"To help direct this growth as we take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity, we are continuing to restructure and realign our various advisory councils at both the school and department/program levels."

Helms said the three-day event would include research presentations by students and faculty, tours of the Jonsson School's facilities and laboratory visits as well as in-depth discussions of new directions and initiatives.

Before joining UTD last year, Helms was president and chief executive officer of International SEMATECH (ISMT), the Austin, Texas-based consortium of semiconductor manufacturers whose member companies include AMD, Intel, IBM, Motorola and TI, representing 40 percent of the worldwide market share in computer chips.   Prior to that, he was corporate vice president and director of silicon technology research at TI in Dallas.   Helms also served for 20 years as a professor at Stanford University, his alma mater, where he led research efforts in semiconductor processing and new materials, with a focus on environmentally benign manufacturing.

Helms has been one of the key players in putting together a much-publicized agreement, originally known as "Project Emmitt," that involves TI, the State of Texas and the U. T. System and makes UTD a major beneficiary of TI's decision to locate a new $3-billion semiconductor manufacturing and R&D facility in North Texas.

About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls about 13,700 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university's web site at www.utdallas.edu.