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A Two Year Common Template For Electrical/Computer Engineering And Electrical/Computer Engineering Technology

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Conference

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Austin, Texas

Publication Date

June 14, 2009

Start Date

June 14, 2009

End Date

June 17, 2009

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Tagged Division

Electrical and Computer

Page Count

16

Page Numbers

14.135.1 - 14.135.16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--5651

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/5651

Download Count

424

Paper Authors

biography

Enrique Barbieri University of Houston

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ENRIQUE BARBIERI received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1988. He was on the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department (1988-96) and a tenured Associate Professor and Chair of the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department (1996-98) at Tulane University. In 2002 he joined the University of Houston as Professor & Chair of the Department of Engineering Technology. His research interests are in control systems and applications to electromechanical systems. He is a member of IEEE and ASEE and Chairs the Executive Council of the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center.

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biography

Wajiha Shireen University of Houston

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WAJIHA SHIREEN received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University. She joined the University of Houston in 1993 where she is a full Professor of Engineering Technology and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her research interests are in the area of power electronics in advanced converters for power supplies, power quality issues, active power filter development, utility interface issues, power conditioning systems for fuel cells, wind and solar energy systems. She is an IEEE Senior member and is actively involved in funded research projects while engaged in teaching, research and consulting in the area of power electronics, motor drives, power quality and clean power utility interface issues.

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Farrokh Attarzadeh University of Houston

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FARROKH ATTARZADEH
Dr. Attarzadeh is an associate professor in the Engineering Technology Department, College of Technology at the University of Houston. He teaches software programming, digital logic, and is in charge of the senior project course in the Computer Engineering Program. He is an Associated Editor for student papers of the Journal of Technology Interface (http://engr.nmsu.edu/~etti/). He is a member of ASEE and has been with the University of Houston since 1983.

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Miguel Ramos University of Houston

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MIGUEL RAMOS is the Director of Accreditation and Assessment Services for the College of Technology at the University of Houston. His primary focus has been the practical application of assessment and evaluation strategies to enhance educational quality in the college and university. Prior to joining the University of Houston, Dr. Ramos worked as a researcher for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, and as an Evaluator for Boston Connects. He earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation from Boston College in 2004.

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William Fitzgibbon University of Houston

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WILLIAM FITZGIBBON, III earned his BA and PhD degrees from Vanderbilt University in 1968 and 1972 respectively. He is currently serving as Dean of the College of Technology of University of Houston and holds professorial rank in both the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Engineering Technology. He served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics, co-Head of the Department of Computer Science and President of the University of Houston Faculty Senate. He has held faculty positions at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Bordeaux I and the University of Bordeaux II as well as a research position at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. He has well over 130 research articles plus numerous articles, reviews, and reports and has lectured extensively in North America, Europe and Asia.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

A 2-year Common Template for Electrical/Computer Engineering and Electrical/Computer Engineering Technology

Abstract

A new educational paradigm was recently proposed by the authors that effectively places Engineering and Engineering Technology programs within the Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate (CDIOTM http://www.cdio.org/) professional engineering spectrum. The new model advocates that a TAC/ABET accredited, 4-year B.S. degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) is a logical, viable, and in fact a key component in the student’s path to entering the engineering profession and in earning Electrical/Computer Engineering (ECE) degrees. If the model is adopted, it is envisioned that a new first professional engineering degree can be constructed whereby: (1) All engineering-bound students would first complete 2 years of an ECET program; (2) With proper advising and mentoring, those students interested and skilled to follow the more Conceive-Design side of engineering would transfer to a Department, College or School of Engineering and complete an ECE degree in 2, 3 or 4 additional years; if 4 years, then the Department of Education definition of a first professional degree would be satisfied; and (3) Those students interested and skilled to follow the more applied Implement-Operate side of engineering would opt to complete the BS-ECET degree in 2 additional years. Several benefits include: (1) Enrollment increase in ECE and in ECET as a result of proper advising and mentoring in the early stages of the student’s university experience; (2) Retention rate increase at the upper level of both ECE and ECET; (3) Avoidance of duplication efforts and resource expenses for staffing, equipping and maintaining laboratories needed in the first 2 years; and (4) ECE departments can better focus on advanced/graduate level education with better utilization of professorial staff.

This article examines a 2-year common curriculum template for ECE and ECET programs based on CDIO, and summarizes preliminary assessment results of the proposed educational model collected from industry participants. The template assumes a full-time course of study in 4 semesters (60 hours) after which the student selects to either complete a BS in Engineering Technology in 2 additional years, or transfer to an ECE degree plan which may be 2-, 3-, or 4- years long. Both plans are assumed to be constructed so as to be ABET Accredited by the appropriate Commission. A Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical ET 2-year curriculum template is being presented in a separate article at this conference. A summary of these works is also presented to the Engineering Technology Division as a separate article in this conference. The templates are offered as a starting point to encourage further discussion.

Barbieri, E., & Shireen, W., & Attarzadeh, F., & Ramos, M., & Fitzgibbon, W. (2009, June), A Two Year Common Template For Electrical/Computer Engineering And Electrical/Computer Engineering Technology Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5651

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2009 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015