Progress in the New EE Curriculum

by Allen Drake

Last year’s article in Signal and Noise related that the EE curriculum is being revised for several reasons, including to make it more relevant for today’s industrial needs and more flexible for students to broaden themselves or deepen themselves in upper level courses. A side-by-side comparison of the new curriculum versus the old curriculum is shown below.

The plan is to phase in the new curriculum gradually, not all at once, as we develop new courses over the span of four years. Essentially the new curriculum is following the class of 2000 as it makes its way from matriculation in the fall of 1996 to graduation in the spring of 2000. At this point, then, we have been through the freshman year of the new curriculum. The only new freshman course is EE 401 Perspectives in Electrical Engineering, a fall course that gives students a foretaste of what the curriculum and profession are like. Prof. Jennifer Bernhard was in charge of this course, and she pulled in Professors Kraft, Nahin, Chamberlin, Messner, and Glanz to assist her in presenting the three design modules and acquainting students with such tools as MATLAB and Microsoft WORD. It was very well received, and we are hoping it will attract undeclared engineering students into the electrical program.

This past academic year we concentrated on developing the sophomore courses in the new curriculum. While there are many similarities between the old and new versions of EE 541, 543, 548, and 612, EE 647 Random Signals and Noise had to be brought to the sophomore level and expanded from two credits to four.

Academic year 1997-1998 will see us finalize development of Signals & Systems I and II, which will cover some of the material formerly presented in EE 645 (networks), 771 (linear systems), 757(communications), and 772 (control). Also finalized this year will be development of EE 707, a new computer engineering course for juniors.

Any alumni input concerning the new curriculum is welcome and can be directed to Allen Drake in care of the Department.

OLD NEW
Fresh Sem I
MATH 425 Calculus I 4 MATH 425 Calculus I 4
PHYS 407 Gen Phys I 4 PHYS 407 Gen Phys I 4
CHEM 405 Gen Chem 4 EE 401 Perspect. in EE 4
Gen Ed 4 Gen Ed 4
Fresh Sem II
MATH 426 Calculus II 4 MATH 426 Calculus II 4
PHYS 408 Gen Phys II 4 PHYS 408 Gen Phys II 4
CS 410C Intro Progrm 4 CS 410 Intro Progrm 4
Gen Ed: Writing 4 Gen Ed: Writing 4
Soph Sem I
EE 541 Elec Ckts 4 EE 541 Elec Ckts 4
EE 543 Intro to Digit Sys 4 EE 543 Intro to Digit Sys 4
MATH 527 Diff Eqs 4 MATH 527 Diff Eqs 4
Gen Ed 4 CHEM 405 Gen Chem* 4
Soph Sem II
EE 548 Ckts & Elctrnics 4 EE 548 Elctronic Dsgn I 4
EE 544 Engr Analysis 3 EE 612 Computer Org 4
Gen Ed 4 EE 647 Random S & N 4
ME 523 Stat & Dynamics 3 ME 523 Stat & Dynamics 3
Math-Sci Elective 4  
Junior Sem I
EE 617 Jr Lab I 2 EE 617 Jr Lab I 2
EE 651 Adv Elctrnics I 3 EE 651 Elctronic Dsgn II 4
EE 645 Elect Networks 3 EE 633 Sig & Sys I 3
EE 690 Engr Dsgn Prin I 0.5 EE 690 Engr Dsgn Prin I 0.5
Math-Sci Elective 4 EE 544 Engr Analysis 3
EE 612 Comp Org 4 Gen Ed 4
Junior Sem II
EE618 Jr Lab II 2 EE 618 Jr Lab II 2
EE 603 Electromag 3 EE 603 Electromag 3
EE 691 Engr Dsgn Prin II 0.5 EE 691 Engr Dsgn Prin II 0.5
Gen Ed 4 Gen Ed 4
EE 647 Random Proc 2 EE 707 Computer Eng’g 4
EE 657 Elctromech Conv 2 EE 634 Sig & Sys II 4
[EE 652 Adv Elctrnics II 4]  
{CS 610 Op Systems 4}  
Senior Sem I
EE 771 Lin Sys & Contrl 3 Prof Elective** 4
Gen Ed 4  Prof Elective** 4
[EE 757 Communications 4] Gen Ed 4
[Prof Elective 4] Gen Ed 4
{EE 711 Digital Systems 4}  
{EE 757 Communications 4} or {Prof Elective 4}  
Senior Sem II
EE 790 Eng’g Dsgn Exp 0 EE 790 Eng’g Dsgn Exp 0
Gen Ed 4 Prof Elective** 4
Free Elective*** 1 Prof Elective** 4
[EE 772 Control Systems 4] Gen Ed 4
[Prof Elective 4] Free Elective*** 3
{EE 714 Real Tm Com Ap 4}  
{EE 772 Control Systems 4} or {Prof Elective 4}  

[] = Old Systems Eng’g Option; {} = Old Computer Eng’g Option.

*Until there is no longer a conflict between the time of Math 527 and Chem 405, the time of Chem 405 has to be switched with the time of a Gen Ed, preferably in the first semester of the senior year.

** Seven-hundred-level EE courses (no more than one of which can be a project course), unless otherwise specified by an established option or by an alternative plan for an individual student approved by the ECE Undergraduate Committee.

*** Necessary to ensure that total number of credits is no less than 128.