(Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)
Petru Andrei, Ph.D., a professor in the FAMU–FSU College of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) since 2004, has been named the department’s new chair, Dean Suvranu De recently announced.
He succeeds Sastry V. Pamidi, Ph.D., MBA, who led the department since 2018. Andrei begins his new role July 1.
His appointment comes after a months-long national search conducted by a faculty search committee chaired by Professor Rodney Roberts.
Andrei’s research spans the modeling and simulation of power semiconductor devices, energy storage systems including lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, magnetic materials, and computational electromagnetics. He is a member of IEEE and the American Physical Society and has served in leadership roles for several major international conferences in magnetics and semiconductor simulation.
As chair, Andrei has outlined an ambitious but focused agenda—one that builds on ECE’s established strengths while advancing into areas of national priority. He sees artificial intelligence, quantum engineering, microelectronics, power systems resilience, and clean energy as core pillars of the department’s next chapter, with a particular emphasis on developing a new graduate program in computer engineering to meet rapidly growing workforce demand.
“My goal is to guide our growth in a strategic and cohesive manner,” Andrei said, “aligning our efforts with emerging technological areas while ensuring that faculty, staff, and students feel connected, supported, and part of a unified community.”
Andrei also points to ECE’s dual-university identity as a defining competitive strength.
“The partnership between Florida A&M University and Florida State University provides a unique and powerful platform that combines diversity, talent, and opportunity,” he said.
In the near term, Andrei plans to improve undergraduate retention and graduation rates, strengthen the undergraduate-to-graduate pipeline, expand external fellowship support, and deepen faculty mentoring and departmental communication.
Pamidi, who joined the COE in 2015 and led ECE since 2018, returns to full-time faculty and his research group at the FSU Center for Advanced Power Systems, where he focuses on superconducting power devices and applied cryogenics. During his tenure, the department grew significantly in faculty, research activity, and doctoral production.
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