The Lamond Effect: Growing ECE’s Educational Foundations

4/23/26 Student Experience 6 min read

The naming of the Pierre R. Lamond Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will have a big impact on students at all levels.

Three robots moving in circles — The Lamond Effect: Growing ECE’s Educational Foundations

In early 2026, Duke Engineering announced a transformational gift. David Lamond ’97, J.D.’06 and Kelsey Lamond ’06, Pierre and Christine Lamond, and the Lamond Family Foundation named the ECE department after the family’s patriarch, making it the Pierre R. Lamond Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The gift also establishes the Pierre R. Lamond Presidential Distinguished Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a professorship focused on advancing research in semiconductors, nanoelectronics, and computer engineering. Together with donor challenges that will endow seven new faculty chairs and seven Ph.D. fellowships, this commitment represents $57 million in total investment, $30 million of which comes from the Lamond Family.

The gift strengthens Duke’s ability to shape the next era of computing technologies and fuels the department’s rapid rise in research and academic distinction.

“I am thrilled that the Lamond family has chosen to make this extraordinary investment in the Pratt School of Engineering,” said Duke University President Vincent E. Price. “Their visionary gift will enable current and future generations of Duke scholars to advance technologies that are vital to society while also supporting excellence in computing across the entire university.”

A student points on their poster as four people observe

Beyond recruiting new exceptional faculty members and supporting visionary research, the gift will undoubtedly have an impact on students at all levels within the department. While plans are still being made and much is yet to be decided, it isn’t difficult to see the potential impact.

“Engineering education is more important and relevant than ever,” said Pierre Lamond. “I’m proud to support a dynamic university that is equipping engineers with the problem-solving and technological skill to be leaders addressing the major opportunities and challenges of our time.”

At the undergraduate level, the gift will undoubtedly provide an increased ability to teach innovative new courses in semiconductors and computing hardware. Besides providing funding for more faculty experts in these areas who can then teach more courses in them, the influx should create an increased potential for independent study opportunities.

Engineering education is more important and relevant than ever. I’m proud to support a dynamic university that is equipping engineers with the problem-solving and technological skill to be leaders addressing the major opportunities and challenges of our time.
Pierre Lamond Silicon Valley Pioneer and Investor

Besides the time and expertise of faculty, independent studies also require research projects and poster sessions that require funding to complete. This gives students hands-on experience both in their field of study and in presenting their findings.

Another area of further support and expansion will likely be in hands-on courses that require hardware kits. One prime example is the very popular “ECE 655: Full-Stack IoT Systems” course taught by Tingjun Chen, assistant professor of ECE. The class teaches students about each layer of an Internet of Things device and how they’re connected while giving students a chance to build an actual working device.

For example, an herbarium that monitors temperature, humidity and pH level, sending alerts to a user’s phone when any factor goes out of the ideal range for growing lettuce while also controlling growth lights. Another is a smart pillbox for managing medications that can confirm pills were taken, control temperature and humidity conditions to help pills last longer, and sound buzzers and LEDs when reminders are needed. One of the more ambitious final projects taken on by a group was creating an LED display for their dorm room window.

“This class and others like it are always extremely popular,” said Daniel Sorin, professor and associate chair of ECE. “The Lamond gift will help us expand these types of offerings.”

Fitzpatrick atrium — From opportunities to present research to state-of-the-art fabrication machinery to learn the ins and outs of semiconductors, the Pierre R. Lamond naming gift will bring many benefits for Duke ECE undergraduates.

Other ideas being pursued include revamped versions of introductory courses to microelectronics and semiconductor devices, a potential high-level design challenge for students, and greater funding for some undergraduate student clubs.

On the graduate level, the effects of the gift will be swift and felt deeply. Again, hiring new faculty members with high levels of expertise in semiconductors and microelectronics will expand opportunities for research and collaboration. The gift also explicitly carves out funding for endowing seven PhD fellowships—a first for Duke Engineering and a significant development for the school’s graduate program.

“A number of our peers have significant endowed PhD support, but that is something that has not yet been prioritized at Duke,” said Michael Gehm, professor and director of graduate studies of ECE. “This is an extremely exciting development for our graduate program.”

Besides helping to recruit top talent to these PhD fellowships, they also help ease the burden of funding them that typically falls on the faculty advisors. While the first five years of a student’s PhD journey is guaranteed to be funded as long as they are making progress toward graduating, securing and managing the grants required to support them ultimately falls on faculty.

Having these named PhD fellowships will help support junior faculty members who might not have as large of a grant portfolio and provide flexibility for faculty building out their research group.

The department will also look into better supporting graduate students by potentially expanding their retreat where students get experience presenting their research in a low-stress environment while networking with peers. The goal is to also include potential employers, providing students a way to make connections outside of the time constraints and pressures of a traditional recruitment event.

Student representing Duke Robotics club with their robot — *The Pierre R. Lamond naming gift will create more opportunities for student clubs such as Duke Robotics, which builds autonomous submarines every year.*

This extends beyond PhD students to master’s students as well. With the Lamond family’s background and connections in the semiconductor industry, the department hopes to strengthen their own connections to bring students and industry employers together.

Last but not least, the Lamond gift will provide stronger support for all research activities across the department, which is also essential for graduate student success.

“In a constantly evolving funding environment, it is important for the department to empower faculty to pursue transformative, high-risk, high-reward research,” said Miroslav Pajic, professor and director of master’s studies in ECE. “Continuous support is critical, and this gift will give everyone a much firmer foundation on which to build.”

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