Dr. Delores M. Etter

Dr. Delores M. Etter joined the Electrical Engineering faculty at Southern Methodist University (SMU) on June 2, 2008.  She holds the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Engineering Education, and is the Executive Director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education.  The mission of the Caruth Institute is to increase the number of young people considering science and engineering careers.  The Institute is also the only university program to have an innovation partnership with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works program.  Her research interests are in biometric signal processing, with an emphasis on identification using iris recognition. Dr. Etter previously held faculty positions at the United States Naval Academy, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of New Mexico.   She was also a Visiting Professor at Stanford University.

Dr. Etter has held two senior executive positions in the Department of Defense:    Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition from Nov 2005 through Nov 2007,  and as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology from Jun 1998 through Aug 2001.

Dr. Etter is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  She is also a former member of the National Science Board and the Defense Science Board.