USU Names Todd Moon Electrical Computer Engineering Department Head

Todd K. Moon has been named department head for Utah State University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. His appointment begins May 1. Moon has served as interim department head since fall 2007.

Moon’s area of expertise is in digital communications and signal processing, where he has done research in the areas of speech recognition, data compression, error correction coding, cryptography, blind source separation and multiagent coordination. Most recently he has investigated low-density parity check codes and other iteratively decoded codes. He is the author of “Mathematical Methods and Algorithms for Signal Processing.”

 

“The electrical and computer engineering program is in a state of change and growth,” said Moon. “The technology we use changes at a fast pace, and the composition of the faculty is also changing. We have a young, dynamic department, with many of the faculty at the start of their careers who are building their research programs.”

 

Moon said that as the research programs in the department builds, so will the department. He said there are studies happening in microelectronic machines, in space instrument design, space weather, communications and homeland security. The new faculty the department is hiring brings new energy and breadth to the program, and one of Moon’s major focuses will be to work with the new faculty.

 

“Dr. Moon’s leadership skills and vision will help move the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department into national prominence,” said Scott Hinton, dean of the College of Engineering.

 

Moon received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University, with a double undergraduate major in electrical engineering and mathematics. He received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Utah in 1991. He began his career as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at USU in 1991.

 

“USU is a great school because of the balance of research and teaching,” Moon said. “I met recently with graduating seniors to talk with them about their time here and asked them how they felt about research opportunities. They all felt very positive about the experience they had at USU and for the opportunities that their professors’ research had opened up for them. But even as we work to push toward new, useful knowledge in the area of research, we still care about what happens in the classroom. ”

 

Moon believes the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department does a great job at bringing hands-on learning to laboratories, and this something he hopes to strengthen even more.   

 

“USU has great students who are bright, hardworking and enthusiastic, and a faculty committed to helping them reach their full potential,” Moon said.

 

For more information on USU’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, visit its Web site.