The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) recognized their 2026 award recipients earlier this spring, and among them was Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor Badri Roysam, Fellow IEEE, Fellow AIMBE, who served as the Cullen College of Engineering’s Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department Chair from 2010 to 2024.
Roysam was awarded the Robert M. Janowiak Outstanding Leadership & Service Award, which recognizes “a sustained record of leadership and service to ECEDHA and to electrical and computer engineering” as a discipline. Having been engaged with ECEDHA as both a member and a Board Member for over a decade, he has served the association in “a variety of roles.” He cites serving as editor of the monthly ECEDHA newsletter, The Source, as his “most remembered contribution.”
“I was amazed at how many colleagues remembered and appreciated my editorials,” Roysam said.
“ECEDHA is truly unique among professional organizations,” he said. “[Members] all face very similar situations in our work as department Chairs, and we have much to learn from each other. ECEDHA brings us together in engaging ways.”
Renowned in the field of multi-dimensional image informatics, Roysam’s research occurs “at the confluence of multi-dimensional signal processing, machine learning, big-data bioinformatics, high-performance computing and biomedicine.” He has been named as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for pioneering contributions to image analysis algorithms for biological microscopy.
In short, his professional resume is anything but short, and both his leadership in ECEDHA and his contributions to its component fields uphold his receipt of this award.
“I was deeply moved by the recognition and the sheer amount of goodwill in my peer community,” Roysam said. “My philosophy when it comes to leadership is based on fostering a positive environment that is powered by goodwill, friendship, and mutual support. Once you have this foundation in place, it becomes possible to embark on big initiatives that advance the organization in a big way.”