Dr. Belle Wei is a strong advocate and education leader, committed to defining and directing the course of global competitiveness and innovativeness issues and the role of U .S. science and technology education in maintaining and enhancing future U.S. leadership. As Dean of the College of Engineering at San Jose State University (SJSU), Wei has demonstrated assertive and inspired oversight in shaping academic engineering programs that are rigorous and agile so that new technologies and the demands of a rapidly-changing global marketplace can be quickly incorporated.

As the first Asian American woman college dean, Wei is one of fewer than 20 women holding a deanship of 345 engineering schools in the U.S. Recognizing the need to motivate underrepresented students to study engineering, she has created effective community outreach programs to address this issue. Through her relationships with industry executives in Silicon Valley, and regional and national government leaders, Wei has created a vibrant and dynamic educational environment at SJSU that prepares engineering professionals and future entrepreneurs for the global market. Wei is an active and outspoken figure of higher education in the national policy arena as well as in engineering research and professional forums.

In January 2006, Wei addressed the House Democrats in Washington D.C., at the behest of the House of Representatives Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi. Serving as the authority on engineering education at the "Innovation Forum: A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America Number One,” Wei spoke forcefully of the "burning crisis...that challenges our nation's leadership in technology." Wei elaborated on this point, stating that "what is missing in American engineering education, is drive and motivation…and…a much needed awakening of the students to the new world of globalization." Wei offered, as an example solution to the Innovation Forum attendees, the College's Global Technology Initiative (GTI), a pioneer program that takes the top 25 SJSU engineering students on a two-week externally-sponsored study-tour to China and Taiwan. The GTI exposes these students to the realities of the competition they face: That their future global competitors take more rigorous courses of study, and are dedicated to their own education as a means for personal success and national technology leadership.

At an engineering conference in early February 2006, Wei spoke on the state of engineering education to industry executives and venture capitalists. She elaborated on the comparison between the engineering students in U.S. and China. Chinese students not only take an average of six or seven classes a semester (vs. the American students’ average of four), but also plan on getting at least one master degree in order to better compete in the global job market (whereas American students are eager to join the workforce immediately after earning their bachelor's degree.) Wei sees the need to articulate these trends and their consequences as a means to call for solutions from national and industry leaders who can enact policies to encourage the change. As Dean of the College, Wei has established strong strategic partnerships with the College's key stakeholders such as Silicon Valley industry. These partnerships have been instrumental in providing the financial and intellectual support for the College's curricular development and faculty research, as well as student scholarships and internship programs.

During her tenure, externally-funded grants and contract awards for faculty research and curricular development have increased by 145%. Wei demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the College's students and their futures as engineers. By actively recruiting scholarship sponsors, the College is better able to support a student body of diverse backgrounds. In 2005, the College offered $240,000 in student scholarships sponsored by Silicon Valley companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Applied Materials. The College's MEP program offers specifically-designated scholarships to underrepresented minority students. The MEP supports its students through their college careers with mentoring that has resulted in a 76% retention rate that is significantly higher than that of the SJSU’s university-wide retention rate. In addition to her relentless efforts to make the College a premier institution for engineering education, Wei’s continuing endeavor in research and publication is impressive, in light of her intensive administrative and national advisory responsibilities. In particular, during 2001 – 2005, a series of papers were published that showcased her work in developing new protocols and scheduling algorithms which optimize the performance of a variety of networks, i.e., 1) least energy consumption and maximal network lifetime for sensor networks; 2) higher load level and better delay/jitter performance for various traffic types of the Differentiated Services and MPLS routers.