Robert Dick receives Monroe-Brown Foundation Education Excellence Award

Prof. Robert Dick received the 2022 Monroe-Brown Foundation Education Excellence Award from the College of Engineering for his outstanding efforts in undergraduate and graduate education. Dick has made significant contributions across a broad spectrum of educational and advising activities.

In the area of curricular development, Dick co-developed, with Prof. Mingyan Liu and Dr. Armin Sarabi, the successful first-year general engineering course, Drones, Self-driving Cars, and Beyond: An Intro to Electronic Autonomous Systems. This course covers a wide range of topics within the fields of electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics. He also co-designed or designed seven graduate-level courses, including Introduction to Embedded System Research, a core course for embedded systems students at Michigan.

Professor Dick chaired the committee responsible for the undergraduate Computer Engineering program. The committee plays a key role in maintaining and improving the program, now ranked 7th in the country by U.S. News & World Report. He also served for many years as an advisor, and briefly as Chief Program Advisor, for undergraduate Computer Engineering students. He has a history of involving undergraduate students in his research projects and several have co-authored research publications with him. He also chaired a College of Engineering committee that recommended revisions to the College’s undergraduate math curriculum to ensure it best serves students and other stakeholders.

Dick has served as academic advisor for all Embedded Systems graduate students since the area’s founding. His Ph.D. graduates form a high-performance (in terms of publications and citations) and diverse group.

Dick joined the University of Michigan in 2009. He received a departmental Outstanding Achievement Award for teaching and research in 2019, a Best Teacher of the Year award in 2004, an NSF CAREER Award, and several awards for research paper quality and impact. He also received a Computerworld Magazine Horizon Award for high-impact commercial information technology, and co-founded and served as CEO of Stryd, an athletic wearable electronics company.