The ECEDHA conference (Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads) is the first and largest event where Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Academia and Industry come together to discuss the best way to prepare new graduates for their careers. Industry presents the trends in what skills they need to be competitive, and Academia presents the trends in teaching to prepare their students to enter the working world. There is great alignment, and much debate. It is attended by schools and companies both large and small, and it's happening in 2026, this third weekend of March. If you are working with ECE and are not attending, you have to ask yourself: "Why?"

In this episode of Embedded Insiders, Marilyn C. Wolf, professor of Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, joins the podcast to discuss the importance of students understanding scope, having a balanced understanding of both hardware and software, and the needs of today’s engineering workforce. 

Watch the segment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Cl1JBwiRQ

Does the academic world do a good job at getting its students ready to work in the real world? Is it even possible to do that now, given the pace AI is forcing industry to move at, and knowing that academia doesn’t typically move that quickly?

Fill a room with university professors and industry people, and the conversation quickly finds its way to ?Why can?t academia better prepare their students for industry??