Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John McLellan, Freescale; Andy Mastronardi, Freescale

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Page 14.541.4autonomous high speed Smart Car is far from simple. During the design and construction phaseof the challenge students must tackle several Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math(STEM) related issues such as embedded microcontroller programming, closed loop controlcalculation, modeling and implementation, as well as overall vehicle dynamics (physics).Soft skills are likewise emphasized through team collaboration, design documentation, andproject management.Creating a high-speed race car is the apex of the challenge. High speed control coupled with theunpredictable track design creates some spectacular problems to solve and just as common somespectacular crashes. For example, in 2007, many teams came prepared for a flat fast

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arun Ravindran, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Patricia Tolley, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Arindam Mukherjee, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

knowledge of pre-requisite topics, and five questions testing topics covered in the course. Page 14.807.7Four additional items related to “soft skills” were included on the test. Students are asked to ratetheir level of confidence in their ability to: (1) design and implement projects to satisfyperformance expectations; (2) design and implement projects on time; and (3) make professionalpresentations. The last question asked students if their most recent team experience in anothercourse was a positive one. These “soft skill” questions are included on the pre/post tests so thatthe project team could determine if the students needed additional

Conference Session

Innovations in ECE Education III

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suryaprasad Jayadevappa, PES School of Engineering; Ravi Shankar, Florida Atlantic University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

, relationship, etc) using UML and sequence diagrams then suitable tools can be developed (currently some are available) to implement the design in an object oriented language like C++. ≠ Year 4: In the graduation year a student is expected to complete the capstone project with results that can be demonstrated. Additionally the student is expected to take an addition of 4 more courses at level L4. Level4 courses provides the students with greater detailing with respect to the implementation and help fine tune the developed module and system.To get the proposed 200+ credits for a degree in CSE a student has to supplement with courseson soft-skills such as Communications, Leadership, and Ethics, and courses on

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; Wajiha Shireen, University of Houston; Farrokh Attarzadeh, University of Houston; Miguel Ramos, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

; learning. A common thread in the 14 Grand Challenges lies in ensuring that theeducational system equips engineers with the skills needed to tackle these grand technicalproblems. At the recent March 2-3, 2009 NAE Summit in Durham, North Carolina, several ofthese challenges were discussed, and the imperative of having strong math and scientificfoundations, a knowledge of business and entrepreneurship, an awareness of the globalenvironment, and soft-skills development in engineering education was made clear. However, inthe authors’ opinion, it has also become clear that out of the typical 4-year plan, the roughly 2 ½years worth of engineering courses are not sufficient to do justice to both the theory and thepractice of engineering, let alone all the

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Neelam Soundarajan, Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

discipline may be required to meet. In this paper, we will focus attention on thecommon (3.a) through (3.k) outcomes since these apply to all engineering programs. These elevenoutcomes may be classified into two groups. The first group, consisting of (3.a), (3.b), (3.c), (3.e),and (3.k) are technical outcomes; for example, outcome (3.a) is an ability to apply knowledgeof mathematics, science, and engineering. The second group consists of the remaining outcomes,(3.d), (3.f), (3.g), (3.h), (3.i), and (3.j), are related to what might be called professional skills 20 (alsooccasionally referred to as soft skills), as well as those related to societal issues. Thus outcome(3.d), related to a professional skill, is an ability to function on multi