Different Strategies for Preparing Students to Tackle the RF Engineering Challenges of Tomorrow: a Panel Discussion

Erica Messinger; Kathleen L. Melde; Jonathan Chisum; Julio Urbina; Jing Wang; Stephen E. Ralph

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: Electrical and Computer Division Technical Session 7
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer
Page Count: 13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--30334
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/30334
Download Count: 745

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Paper Authors

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Erica Messinger Keysight Technologies

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Erica Messinger is the Keysight Technologies Director Worldwide University Program providing strategic vision and leadership for the company’s multi-tiered engagements with Universities and Academic/Research Institutions. She works collaboratively across various touch points throughout Keysight and with academic institutions to unify and optimize engagements in the “education ecosystem.” This includes equipping Universities with the right solutions in the research and teaching labs, connecting research collaboration opportunities, inspiring the next generation of engineers, helping academia prepare industry-ready engineers, and mapping out potential career paths for students.
Erica has been with Hewlett Packard/Agilent Technologies/Keysight Technologies for 19 years holding various roles including sales channel management, business development, applications engineering, product support, and program management, most recently in Keysight’s Power and Energy business. She has brought numerous products to the marketplace meeting customer needs, and ensured sales channel readiness and alignment with customer buying processes to facilitate business growth.
She currently serves on the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) Corporate Advisory Council, as the Treasurer/Secretary for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Corporate Member Council, and as a long-time member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Corporate Partnership Council. She has partnered with SWE on large programs targeting K-12 outreach to inspire youth to pursue STEM fields, on developing leadership attributes with collegiate members, and retention strategies for professional women engineers. Past board experience includes serving on the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Advisory Board 2006-2009 and the Nevei Kodesh Board of Directors 2010-2014. Erica mentors at all levels both inside and outside of her organization, is an avid supporter and advocate for the next generation, and has a deep commitment for empowering women in engineering.
She has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with an International Minor in Japanese Studies from the University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado and has helped recruit from both of these schools. Erica loves reading food blogs, volunteering in the community, dancing with her partner, and spending time with their two young children.

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JULIO V. URBINA, Ph.D is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Penn State. His educational research interests include effective teaching techniques for enhancing engineering education, global engineering and international perspectives, thinking and working in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary ways, cyberlearning and cyber-environments, service and experiential learning, teaming and collaborative learning.

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Jing Wang University of South Florida orcid.org/0000-0002-9380-4467

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Stephen E. Ralph Georgia Institute of Technology

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Abstract

The trend is clear, technology innovations will increase at even faster rates in the future. This has been particularly true in communications as RF technology becomes ubiquitous in daily life. The IoT explosion and 5G revolution are driving increased demand for RF engineers posing a challenge to how schools keep up with that demand, and best prepare the next generation of RF engineers.

This session will be a panel discussion bringing together voices from multiple universities sharing how they are each innovating their RF curriculum and helping prepare engineering students ready to tackle tomorrow’s RF challenges. More specifically, we will learn about how 4 universities are taking advantage of partnerships with industry to accelerate their impact.

These universities have collaborated with XXXXX to align curricula with industry needs. The students from these programs demonstrate RF technical knowledge, design expertise, and hands-on measurement proficiency. The students learn more effectively through the hands-on experience, they find the curricula and labs more meaningful, and the students are taught with the latest software tools and instruments used in industry today. The universities participating in the YYYYY Industry-Ready Student Certification Program provide engineers demonstrating immediate value to their prospective employers while helping to ensure student academic as well as career success. The panel will highlight what strategies each of these universities have adopted leveraging XXXX RF and Microwave Industry-Ready Student Certification Program to develop RF industry-ready engineers. These include partnering with other third-party companies, use of particular resources, etc. Attendees will be inspired with ideas of what they too might be able to leverage to help prepare the next generation of RF engineers to start contributing to the abundant RF technology opportunities.

Citation
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Messinger, E., & Melde, K. L., & Chisum, J., & Urbina, J., & Wang, J., & Ralph, S. E. (2018, June), Different Strategies for Preparing Students to Tackle the RF Engineering Challenges of Tomorrow: a Panel Discussion Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30334