Q&A with John M. M. Anderson

The University of Virginia School of Engineering has an established reputation for preparing alumni and faculty for leadership roles at other U.S. engineering schools. Eleven alumni and two recent faculty members serve as deans or associate deans at other institutions.

The most recent UVA alumnus to earn a leadership post is John M. M. Anderson, a 1992 Ph.D. graduate of the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who is the newly appointed dean of Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture.

Anderson joined Howard in 2002 as an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, progressing to positions of increasing responsibility within the college.

As Howard was also in the national spotlight following the election of alumna Kamala Harris as U.S. vice president, UVA Engineering connected with John to discuss his UVA experience and career.

Do you recall when you first caught the engineering bug?

Absolutely, I think most of us do. I was fortunate in three ways. My father, who was a Howard undergrad, went on to medical school and practiced medicine for many years. But for some reason, he had an interest in building electrical circuits from laboratory kits that were sent from a correspondence school. He passed away when I was 7 years old, so I never had a chance to ask him about his interest in electrical circuits. I would just see these kits lying around with the course and lab number. It was interesting to bump into these things as a child.

As I got older, I was in a neighborhood funk band, and the father of one of my good friends was an audiophile. He always had the latest speakers and amplifiers. This was a time when audio was not just simply a headphone; you couldn’t listen from a mobile phone. You would sit down in your space, with these speakers, in a whole audiophile scene. It was mesmerizing to hear a completely different sound compared to that produced by the cheap equipment most of us had at home. It was amazing what he had, the exposure to all this interesting technology. So that was also a part of it.

The last piece: I was fortunate that my high school, Catonsville High School in Catonsville, Maryland, had an electronics course, which was very unusual during that time; I graduated in ‘81. The instructor really gave us a good feel for the practical side of electrical engineering. We would build circuits and counters and little amplifiers and things like that.

Collectively, those experiences all led me in a direction towards engineering, and electrical engineering in particular.

What brought you to UVA?

I completed my undergrad at Brown University and my master’s at Georgia Tech. When I was senior at Brown, Dr. Howard Adams, who at the time was executive director of GEM—the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science—spoke at a National Society of Black Engineers meeting to promote the benefits of a graduate education and the GEM program as a means for pursuing a master’s degree. Later, he encouraged me to consider UVA for my doctoral program. So did Dr. Ron Simmons, who was the director of minority programs for the School of Engineering at UVA.

After I visited the school and met DR. STEPHEN WILSON as well as some other faculty, I decided to come to UVA. I felt like it was a place where I wouldn’t be lost. People would know me, and I would know them.

I met members of the School’s Black graduate student organization. To have that kind of organization just for engineering was not that common. Leland Melvin, retired NASA astronaut who served as a mission specialist on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis on two missions, was part of that group, Sonya Smith, who is a professor of mechanical engineering at Howard University, and Stephanie Adams, the dean at UT Dallas. Many individuals from that group have gone on and done wonderful things in their profession. Meeting them, feeling that they would really be a support group, and that UVA was a great place to study, were all big influences.

Steve Wilson Shares a Memory

John's memories of our initial encounter long ago trigger my own.  I do recall our first visit during a recruiting visit to Grounds, where he seemed very self-assured and clear in his objectives for graduate school. I saw John frequently in the hallways, heard his seminar talks, and observed his leadership among our graduate students. John is broadly educated; he introduced me to the poetry of Langston Hughes and the writing of James Baldwin, among the pantheon of African-American writers. It’s gratifying that UVA helped launch John’s stellar career at the University of Florida and Howard University. He has truly become a fine academic role model.

Tell us more about your Ph.D. research.

I first worked with Dr. Steven Wilson. We met when I first visited the school. He was well-respected in his field. He was interested and invested in developing me and his other students as individuals.

As I proceeded in my academic career at UVA, my interests changed. I later worked with DR. GEORGIOS “YORGOS” GIANNAKIS. I was very fortunate to have two great advisors. Due to the nature of my completing my degree with Dr. Giannakis, his impact was clearly profound.

One of the appealing aspects about Yorgos was that he was an accomplished and energetic junior faculty member at UVA. I was just always impressed with his students, their knowledge, their interests, and their enthusiasm. As I got to know more of them, and as my research interests began to change from communications to signal and image processing, it was very appealing to be a part of a group of individuals whose company I enjoyed, and who seemed to be in on a new research area at that time. Together we were able to make an impact in an emerging area under his guidance.

Georgios Giannakis Offers Congratulations and Gratitude to His Advisee

I remember John’s hard-work ethic, sharp mind on scientific subjects and leadership skills with calmness and a sense of humor. He used sports as a team-builder, getting international members of my research group to the gym and showing them how to use all the equipment, and then organizing them to watch the NBA playoffs and NCAA games during March Madness. I will never forget our road trip to Toronto for John’s first International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing. He familiarized me first-hand with racial issues in the U.S. during the drive. We enjoy a true friendship with deep roots in mutual respect and admiration.

One of the things that impressed me about Dr. Giannakis was that his group was very diverse organically, in my view. I think that's a real testament to him and his character, that he saw the talent regardless of personal background, ethnicity and/or country of origin. It takes just a little bit of an open mind to be a thoughtful leader. The fact that he saw value in different people, and that we all benefit from one another, that's really what it takes. You have to get down to that level. Not everyone is able to, not everyone is naturally inclined in that direction, but I think that's the ultimate goal.

So, for me, it was akin to observing the group from afar, and then eventually having an opportunity to become part of that group. Yorgos always stood out, from my perspective, for spending a lot of hands-on time with students to help them get to where they needed to be to actively participate in the research that he was pursuing.

John M. M. Anderson (top left) and fellow members of Georgios Giannakis’ research group, at a function outside Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991.

What inspired you to pursue a career in academe?

When I was at Brown University, there were several key professors who really encouraged me, who helped me better see the abilities that I had. Sometimes a faculty member can do small things that have a very big impact. So that was what appealed to me, the opportunity to provide future students the kind of support, encouragement and investment, if you will, that would really help them in the same ways that faculty along my journey helped me.

So that was part of the motivation for me, the potential student impact. Another motivator was just the idea of working on technical problems, potentially to come up with new ways to do things. I enjoy thinking about problems and trying to come up with solutions, wanting to be part of the process that will lead to new knowledge. I know you can do it in industry as well, but for me I felt that academe was the place that I wanted to do that.

Thinking through your move to Howard, could you offer your insights on diversity and inclusion and the role of historically Black colleges and universities in engineering?

I did not go to an HCBU; my father did. I was at the University of Florida as a faculty member for 10 years. I don't know if I even fully appreciated the contributions and the multiple benefits of going to an HBCU, as well as the contributions to society that these institutions make. I would have had a better understanding and appreciation for the impact of HBCUs had my father lived longer. I was 7 when he passed away.

I always share the story of my father coming from Jamaica, looking for opportunities in the United States, like so many have done during his time, before him, and after, and coming to Howard university for his undergraduate education and then going to medical school. He met a young nurse during his residency at Provident Hospital in Baltimore, which was founded by African-American physicians. They had six kids, and one of them became the Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture at his father’s alma mater.

Howard University, and HBCUs in general, have been at the intersection of so many African-American lives for more than 150 years. Hopefully there will be continued interest in allowing these institutions to flourish to the greatest degree possible. I think it's really a benefit for all, and hopefully people will see that and believe their society can be improved, that they can be better. And they can provide the kind of place that you want your kids to grow up in and have great lives.

At this moment in time there's great interest in trying to do better as a society. It’s certainly encouraging. The hope is that this general current will continue. Because if it does, then I do think there are real possibilities, whether it's UVA faculty connecting with students, or companies that have reached out to partner with Howard and other HBCUs to help them accomplish their goals. A significant percentage of engineers from underrepresented groups graduate from HBCUs. So if you're trying to make an impact, then it makes a lot of sense to invest and partner with HBCUs.

You just have to stick with it, and that's the hard part. Once there are no longer or there are less violent images on our screens, are we still going to be motivated to make the type of changes that will help our society? Do we actually see it as mutually beneficial, or do we see it as something that we're just doing for someone else? If we see it as mutually beneficial, then it's going to be a much more sustainable effort.