Composing a new ECE program: the first five years

Schmalzel, John; Mandayam, Shreekanth; Ramachandran, Ravi P.; Krchnavek, Robert R.; Head, Linda; Ordóñez, Raúl; Polikar, Robi; Jansson, Peter Mark; Tracey, J.H.

doi:10.1109/fie.2001.963729

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Teaching new BME concepts primarily in a laboratory setting fits naturally to Rowan's ECE program 17 , the key attributes of which include the following techniques to prepare students for a rapidly changing and highly competitive career market. The experiments proposed for the proof-of-concept are described below, along with the class for which they are designed, and the targeted ECE and BME concepts to be learned.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomedical Engineering For All Electrical Engineers: A Model For Integrating Novel Content Into Existing Curriculum

Polikar¹,

Tahamont²,

Ramachandran³

et al.

2004 Annual Conference Proceedings

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Biomedical engineering (BME) is one of the fastest growing industries, with an expected job growth rate that is twice that of the overall job growth rate in the US. However, ABET lists only 28 schools offering accredited undergraduate degrees in BME, and particularly under current economic conditions, most schools do not have the resources to offer new degree programs. The resulting gap between the demand for qualified BME professionals and the programs for educating them constitutes a significant, yet unmet, national need. Our goal is to develop a new educational paradigm to help reduce this gap. This paradigm is based on introducing novel multidisciplinary content into core engineering curriculum, and it consists of integration of content specific laboratory experiments into core courses to provide essential background, followed by an elective providing topical depth. BME is used as the novel content and ECE as the core curriculum. The method is versatile, as it can be easily modified to integrate other novel multidisciplinary content into any engineering program. We have two specific objectives: (1) to provide ECE students with fundamental and contemporary BME knowledge for future career and graduate study opportunities; and (2) to improve students' interest in and comprehension of ECE concepts by acquainting them with engineering solutions to real world problems in medicine. These objectives are achieved by integrating a set of experiments-designed to demonstrate a wide spectrum of BME concepts-into core ECE courses, along with a new elective providing a comprehensive BME overview. Expected outcome of this project is a learning paradigm, serving as a model for integrating novel content into core engineering curriculum. If proven successful, the full development of this approach can serve as a building block for future undergraduate minor / concentration programs in a variety of novel content areas, such as biomedical engineering. In this paper, we present the paradigm, its implementation, and some preliminary results on early, yet limited implementation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomedical Engineering For All Electrical Engineers: A Model For Integrating Novel Content Into Existing Curriculum

Polikar¹,

Tahamont²,

Ramachandran³

et al.

2004 Annual Conference Proceedings

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“…Approximately 120 students are accepted each fall into the College, typically 35 to 40 of them declare a major in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). We have developed a unique program that emphasizes design and entrepreneurship throughout the curriculum but especially in our eight semesters of Engineering Clinic [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating EDA into the Rowan ECE curriculum

Head

Proceedings 2003 IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Systems Education. MSE'03

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“…While we all can agree there is no panacea for the solution of these disparate issues, increasingly institutions are revising their curricula or creating new approaches in attempts to keep current [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13]. Continuous improvement of curricula is surely a desired outcome sought by ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 [14] and it is hopeful that such revision is proactive and anticipatory of technology change [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These transformative changes are discussed as desirable in most of the papers of future visions of ECE curriculum [1][2][3][4][5] but are actually being provided today in programs that incorporate clinics or project based learning in a significant way [8][9][10][11][12][13]. This paper will review the need for continuously responsive curricula and successful attempts to revise it described in the literature, provide a brief overview of the methods widely believed to be Page 11.1329.3 most effective in engaging and educating today's engineering students, and close with a discussion of how various programs (large and small) across the U.S. are using project or clinic based strategies as a pedagogical structure to successfully satisfy the pressing need to remain relevant to real world issues, technology and challenges (agile curriculum)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role Of The Engineering Clinic In Promoting An Agile Ece Learning Environment

Jansson¹,

Tang²,

Ramachandran³

et al.

2006 Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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To keep up with rapidly advancing technology, numerous innovations to the ECE curriculum, learning methods and pedagogy have been tested, implemented and envisioned. It is safe to say that no single approach will work for all of the diverse ECE technologies and every type of learner. However, a few key innovations appear useful in keeping undergraduate students motivated to learn, resilient to technology evolution and oriented amidst the overload of new information and ECE applications. Engineering clinics, similar to their medical clinic counterparts, provide project-based experiences within the core of an ECE education that enable transformation of the entire curriculum toward an outcomes-oriented, student centered, total quality environment. Clinics and project based learning approaches build skills within the individuals that give them confidence and motivation to continuously self-learn and adapt as the technologies around them give way to new, more effective paradigms. Perhaps more importantly engineering clinic experiences provide numerous opportunities for students to experience the holism of true engineering problem solving approaches and ranges of potential technology solutions. This paper reviews many of the innovations that will enable ECE education to become more effective in the midst of our present plethora of information and technology. Specific benefits from published and unpublished findings from engineering clinic and project-based learning experiences in actual use (Olin, Harvey Mudd, FIT, Drexel, Rose-Holman and Rowan) are summarized and discussed. This paper concludes that creating agile learning environments to graduate engineers that can be rapidly productive in the professional and research worlds is at least enhanced by some degree of clinic and/or project based learning experiences in the ECE curriculum.

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Composing a new ECE program: the first five years

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Biomedical Engineering For All Electrical Engineers: A Model For Integrating Novel Content Into Existing Curriculum

Biomedical Engineering For All Electrical Engineers: A Model For Integrating Novel Content Into Existing Curriculum

Incorporating EDA into the Rowan ECE curriculum

The Role Of The Engineering Clinic In Promoting An Agile Ece Learning Environment

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