Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Definition of Terms:

Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values, and worldviews that arise from differences of culture and circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. 

Equity is the guarantee of fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all students, faculty, and staff, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of marginalized groups.

Inclusion is the act of creating environments in which any individual or group can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued.

Check the  UCSD ECE DEI webpage to learn more about our ongoing departmental-level DEI efforts and events.

Prof. Koushanfar's contributions to DEI  are very significant and remain an integral part of her research efforts. In her faculty role, she has graduated an equal number of women and men PhD students (an unlikely ratio for an ECE faculty due to the much lower number of women in the field). While Prof. Koushanfar is equally proud of all her PhD alumni, she is grateful that a diverse group of students has been able to work, collaborate, and thrive in her lab. Prof. Koushanfar's research group has produced several rising and shining young talents in academia and industry (see her alumni by following the "Lab members" tabs above).

As a junior faculty, Prof. Koushanfar founded Rice University Electrical (XOR) Computer Engineering Leaders (Women ExCEL), a group of women graduate students focused on mentorship and changing the climate of the department. Alumni from Women ExCEL have since resumed key positions in academia and industry, at top institutions including UT Austin, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Google DeepMind, and NVIDIA AI. Upon joining UCSD, Prof. Koushanfar co-founded the Women in ECE (WECE) group together with other ECE women faculty in her department. WECE has been organizing various activities, including inviting motivational speakers from industry and academia, hosting informative sessions about career options, and providing mentorship and support to women in the department, as well as reaching out to younger students. 

Under the leadership of its two women founding co-directors, Professors Javidi and Koushanfar, the UCSD MICS Research Center has made a significant contribution to the diversity in the field. With about 50% women and minority faculty, it's noteworthy that MICS is likely the most gender-balanced top engineering research center in the United States, if not worldwide. 

In 2023, Building on their success story, the MICS co-directors initiated the innovative Hypatia Stars Women Fellowship Program. The program's goal is to recognize and advance outstanding women graduate students, placing them in a new three-year hierarchical mentorship program. So far, they have successfully secured funding for the inaugural class of fellows, thanks to a generous donation to the endowment funds from Qualcomm, which was further augmented with a 50% matching contribution from the Chancellor's office. More information about the Hypatia Fellows program can be found on the program page.

In addition, Prof. Koushanfar has been an active member of the diversity committee in the ECE department and at the university level at UCSD. She regularly collaborates on research papers with multiple women colleagues in the Jacobs School of Engineering and beyond. Notably, she had the privilege of leading an all-women Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI) team, marking a historic first in the approximately 25-year history of the DoD MURI program. 

Beyond UCSD, Prof. Koushanfar has been involved in several IEEE and ACM DEI community activities, has mentored several diversity faculty at other institutions, has given multiple keynote talks about her DEI efforts, and is considered a prominent figure and mentor for DEI activities worldwide.