James M. Conrad, Ph.D. – 2020 President, IEEE-USA

James Conrad HeadshotProfessor
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

James Conrad is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte and Associate Department Chair for the Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering. His career experience is divided between industry and academia. He previously served as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas and as an instructor at North Carolina State University. He has also worked for IBM, Ericsson/Sony Ericsson, and two start-up companies. He teaches and conducts research in the areas of embedded systems, robotics, parallel processing, artificial intelligence, and engineering education. He has published eight books in the field of embedded systems and robotics. Dr. Conrad received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and his master’s and doctorate degrees in computer engineering from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Conrad represents IEEE as an ABET Program Evaluator, and serves on the Board of Directors for FIRST North Carolina, the state organization supporting the FIRST Robotics program.

IEEE Accomplishments & Activities (S’85-M’92-SM’97)

Committees/Boards:

  • IEEE-USA Board of Directors 2016-2017, 2019-2021
  • IEEE-HKN Board of Governors 2018
  • IEEE Board of Directors, Region 3 Director/Delegate 2016-2017 (IEEE Director-Elect 2014-2015), 2020
  • IEEE Board of Directors Liaison to the IEEE Foundation, 2016-2017
  • IEEE MGA FinCom 2016
  • IEEE MGA OpCom 2017

Regions:

  • IEEE MOVE Project Charter Volunteer, 2014-present
  • IEEE Region 3, Conferences Committee Vice-Chair, 2011-2013
  • IEEE, NC Council, Chair 2008-2009

Sections/Chapters:

  • IEEE Education Society, Charlotte Chapter, Chair 2007-present
  • IEEE, Charlotte Section, Chair, 2006-2007
  • IEEE Eastern NC Section Volunteer, 2001-2003
  • IEEE Computer Society, Charlotte Chapter, Chair 2005

Student Branches:

  • Advisor, UNC Charlotte Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch, 2008-present
  • Counselor, UNC Charlotte IEEE Student Chapter, 2004-2009

Societies:

  • IEEE Computer Society, Press Operations Committee, 2002-2009
  • IEEE Computer Society, Membership Activities Board, Student Activities Committee, 1993–1995
  • Associate Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Computing Futures Magazine, 1990-1991

Conferences:

  • General Chair, 2010 IEEE SoutheastCon
  • Co-Program Chair, 2009 IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems
  • Technical Program Committee member for many IEEE sponsored conferences