The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association
May 2020
  • What new things have we learned during the Spring 2020 semester?
  • What worked, and what didn’t?
  • Is there a set of best practices that we can all adopt?

We have created a new topic “The Future of Academic Integrity” on the ECEDHA forum. Click here for instructions on how to access this forum, and click here for a YouTube tutorial that walks you through the basics. Just remember to log in first, using the button on the upper-left corner of the ECEDHA website .

ECE in the News
Hai Xiao Named Interim Chair of Clemson University's Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Hai Xiao is the new interim chair of Clemson University’s Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Since joining Clemson in 2013, Xiao has earned a reputation for bringing together multidisciplinary teams to work on big research projects. Several of those projects have helped Clemson stake a claim as a national leader in developing new technology for extreme environments, including sensors that can withstand the intense heat of gas turbines and the extreme pressure at the bottom of hydraulic-fracturing wells.

Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center inspect a component for the James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA Goddard/Chris Gunn).
The Value of Accreditation: How ABET Helps STEM Programs Adapt to Industry's Evolving Needs

Research has shown that more engagement between academia and industry is needed to equip students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs with the skills today’s employers require. Sitting at the nexus of industry and academia, ABET bridges this gap to ensure that STEM graduates are prepared with the knowledge, skills and aptitudes to meet workforce demand. With several feedback channels from industry, ABET continues to support STEM programs in adapting program content and delivery as markets and professions evolve.

This issue brief explores the value of ABET accreditation from the perspective of industry stakeholders and underscores the important role of industry experts in the accreditation process, through participation in the ABET Industry Advisory Council (IAC), representation of professional societies and involvement as Program Evaluators.

ECE Community Forums: Join, Learn, and Share

During this challenging time, we are relying on each other more than ever to share knowledge and drive our institutions forward. Our ECE community is faced with many unique challenges due to COVID-19, whether rapidly transitioning to online education and virtual labs, or addressing departmental budget concerns.. New to ECEDHA, the ECE Community Forums, have been created to help members connect and share their experiences.

I encourage you to visit the ECE Community Forums today to view current discussions on the impacts, resources, and solutions for:

  • Department Budgets
  • Senior Design Projects
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Curriculum
  • Assessment and Evaluation Tools
  • Hands-on Learning/Virtual Labs

The ECEDHA team has created a video tutorial on how to access and participate in the forums, as well as a convenient step-by-step guide . If you have difficulty or questions regarding the forums, please feel free to reach out to Claire Seifert at cseifert@ecedha.org

We look forward to seeing you on the forums. When we join together to share our solutions, we ensure the strongest community resource possible.

Brought to you by:
ECEDHA Member and Partner News
Save the Date! ESD Showcase Set for May 22, 2020

The Excellence in Senior Design (ESD) Showcase was established in 2019 by the Southwest Region to (1) provide an opportunity for ECE students to showcase their design and problem-solving skills in a friendly competition, and (2) to connect faculty members at participating schools in meaningful ways.
 
The focus this year will be on senior design faculty, bringing together best practices and resources to facilitate virtual learning. Now, more than ever, our faculty/staff are committed to benefitting the entire ECE senior design community. The student showcase portion of the event will be postponed to May 2021. 
 
Join the Southwest Region, along with a few of our corporate partners, for a half-day online mini-workshop the morning of May 22 (8:00am - 1:00pm CT). Details will be posted on ece.utdallas.edu/sdshowcase/ . You may also contact us at sdshowcase@utdallas.edu .

Workshop on Combating Climate Crisis: Can it also help the ECE Renaissance?

You are invited to attend the online NSF-sponsored workshop on Combating Climate Crisis taking place  Friday, June 5th . Registration is free-of-charge and open to ECE Department Heads and ECE faculty.

Reasons to attend:

  1. Combating Climate Crisis: It is an existential threat, and education is the first step in combating it by informing students of its seriousness and the solutions to combat it. We will share all the material from our course “Combating Climate Crisis: Implementing Solutions” that we have been teaching for several years.
  2. Increasing ECE Enrollments: Many of the solutions, such as energy from renewables, electrifying transportation, etc. are ECE-oriented. A course on this topic could increase enrollments in the EE part of ECE that, according to ASEE, are declining nationwide. It can be promoted in high schools, creating a pipeline of students under the dual credit program, as we are doing.
  3. Bringing Revenue to the Department: There is enormous potential to draw students from the entire university. This has become even more important in the shadow of Covid-19.
  4. Increasing female enrollments: This course is an excellent opportunity to do so. In our course last Fall, out of 111 students registered, 65 were women compared to the departmental average of only 18 percent.

The agenda of this workshop can be found at https://deptheadjune52020.eventbrite.com .
Registration Deadline: June 1, 2020.
Special Announcements
ECEDHA Election Results

We are pleased to share the results of the 2020 ECEDHA Election for Secretary.

ECEDHA welcomes the following officers to the ECEDHA Board of Directors:
Magnus Egerstedt
Secretary
ECE Dept. Chair and Professor
Georgia Institute of Technology

Michael Devetsikiotis
Member-at-Large
ECE Department Chair
University of New Mexico
Congratulations to our new officers! We look forward to a continued strong leadership for the association.
Partner Products
University Professor Cuts Lab Setup and Configuration Time by 75 Percent
A tenured professor who had worked in the department for many years, found himself overwhelmed by the task of per-configuring and managing his lab for his EE students. Using Keysight's BenchVue Lab Management Solutions, he sped his process drastically and was able to devote more time time to his students.)

Mouser
Analog Devices Inc. ADALM-PLUTO Active Learning Module
Analog Devices ADALM-PLUTO SDR Active Learning Module (PlutoSDR) introduces the fundamentals of software-defined radio (SDR), radio frequency (RF), and wireless communications to electrical engineering students. Designed for all levels and backgrounds, students can use this self-contained, portable RF lab in an instructor-led or self-led setting.

Free Starter Kits and Course Materials to Make Educators' Lives Easier
The Renesas University Program is based on the Renesas Synergy Platform, a comprehensive qualified and supported platform that integrates a feature rich, commercial-grade software suite; a scalable famiy of Arm Cortex-M Series MCUs; and a complete integrated solution development environment.

Ready-to-use content - all free of charge!
  • Graduate and undergraduate level lecture materials
  • Lab exercises
  • Course books
  • 10 Renesas Synergy S7G2 Starter Kits
  • Free access to the Synergy Software Package (SSP)

TI-RSLK MAX low cost robotics system learning kit for university students and engineers
The TI Robotics System Lab kit MAX (TI-RSLK MAX) accelerates the learning and building of robotics systems, leading students to explore real-world applications. The TI-RSLK MAX is the fast track to getting students up and running with their own solderless robotic kit, providing hardware and curriculum that help students learn how to design their own electronic system. Details on the kit and curriculum available on  ti.com/rslk .
Practical Engineering Education Through a Web Browser: An Internet of Engineering Lab Things
Learn how  the Open University, a 100% distance-learning institution, provided undergraduate engineering students remote access to genuine engineering hardware to complete their laboratory assignments.
 
Giving the situation we are facing, the world and the way we teach has changed, but what hasn’t changed is NI’s passion to help educators tackle the biggest challenges to prepare the next generation of engineers who will solve the world’s grandest challenges like the one we are facing – we need them to be ready now more than ever. At NI, we care deeply about your students. We are doing everything we can to make sure you have tools and resources available. Check out this webinar on  Innovating Hands-On Learning
zyBooks for online, in-person, or hybrid courses, and switching back-and-forth too
zyBooks were made for both online and in-person classes. zyBooks solve the problem of students reading outside class, replacing textbooks by interactive online content that engages. zyBooks integrate auto-graded homework problems throughout. An instructor's role is elevated to adding value -- answering questions, doing examples, facilitating group work -- whether online or in-person. Hundreds of instructors switched to zyBooks due to COVID-19, joining the thousands already teaching with zyBooks in-person or online. This article introduces zyBooks to the ECE community for classes that are online, in-person, hybrid, or that may change mid-semester.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with These Popular Online Training Courses
Cadence plays a valuable role in training the next generation of innovators by providing Online Training courses to the members of the Cadence Academic Network. These Online Training courses cover all Cadence technology areas and are available at no additional cost to all Cadence University Program members worldwide. Members can take advantage of these benefits anytime and anywhere. Explore the most popular courses among professors and students, there’s something for everyone!
Keep Teaching Through Distance Learning
With the transition to distance learning, it is vital for educators to think carefully about how to adapt their approach to effectively deliver key learning outcomes for students in an online setting. In this post on Loren Shure’s blog, we share some of the resources and approaches MathWorks has to offer to support distance learning. These also address some of the common challenges that we have heard about from educators around the world so far.

Helping to transition your engineering courses: A scalable way to give students credible lab experiences off-campus.
By: Peter Martin, Quanser
We are living in unprecedented times. As we are practicing social distancing and are not able to physically come together, academic institutions are struggling to find a way to continue teaching. While serving lectures can be quite challenging, it's even more so for the labs. For many engineering departments, hands-on teaching with real hardware is almost impossible.

Read more about the technology behind the Quanser Interactive Labs and see the demos of mobile and desktop experiences, as well as examples of integration of the platform in lectures, alongside physical systems.

The New TBS2000B Digital Storage Oscilloscope
Whether you're in an industry design and debug environment or university teaching lab, you'll be able to build a better bench with the new features offered by the Tektronix TBS2000B oscilloscope.

Helping Universities Deliver Quality Education to Students Dispersed Across the Nation
The Digi-Key Academic Program has been busy in the past few months adapting to the ever-changing situation. We are virtualizing. We held a variety of engineering themed webinars for student organizations across the country to keep students engaged. We are also taking the lead in identifying best practices and methodologies in implementing online coursework and virtualization of lab hardware. You can expect to see lots of activities from us on this topic soon.

24/7 Remote Access Experiments for Electrical Engineering Lab Programs
Emona offers a range of unique hardware platforms that will enable you to remotely deliver Electronics Circuits and Telecoms labs with one piece of equipment in the lab for Electronics experiments and another for Telecoms experiments.

  • Enhance student learning with real hardware, hands-on experiments across the Internet
  • Hands-on, Remote controlled experiments, controlled via web browser
  • One hardware unit serving more than 30 students, at the same time!

The RF Arduino Transmitter - A Dual Purpose Device
One of the benefits of the nRF24 is that the board can act as a dual-purpose device, turning an Arduino into both a transmitter and receiver, opening up the possibility of projects due to the flexibility of the board. Circuit Specialists wants to change the norm of expensive communication hardware, providing low cost and easy access.
 
This Wireless Communication Network Developer (WCND) kit provides Makers with everything needed to build a low-cost communication network for DIY projects. This kit allows you to control or retreat data from a weather station. Special Offer: Use code “Circuit5” to receive 5% off your net order.
Fluke Calibration Education Hub and Online Certificate Courses
We know virtual training is more important now than it’s been before. Check out our latest and FREE resources to safely train the next generation of workers including the new Fluke Calibration Education Hub and online, certificate courses featuring topics such as Electrical Measurement Safety and Electrical Power Explained. These training aids are great content for course curriculums.
Over the past few weeks we’ve seen an increase in activity from our customers both online and in our support centers. If you’re looking for information on specific products, virtual demonstrations, remote consultations or have questions about product availability our experts are here to help. We look forward to supporting our customers as they continue their essential work around the globe to keep the world up and running. Learn more about solutions we provide for educators here: www.fluke.com/educators
Debugging IOT Connected Electronics Webinar Series
With almost 50 Billion connected devices worldwide the challenges confronting IOT designers to deliver differentiated products, integrate RF technologies, manage power consumption and miniaturization have never been greater.

Everyone Misses the Lab. How can we deliver the next best experience?
The lab experience is the most formative aspect of an ECE student's academic journey. It allows them to apply what they've learned from theory, textbooks, and lectures and bring it to life in the real world. COVID-19 has thrown students, universities, and partners into a new paradigm. Hopefully this will soon pass so we can continue hands-on approaches to learning, but the past few months have made remote education a reality, limiting access to lab experiments and tutorials.

Corporate Features
ECEDHA Welcomes New Corporate Member
ECEDHA is pleased to welcome its newest corporate member, Liquid Instruments.





Doug Phillips
Vice President, Marketing
Liquid Instruments
ECE Insights
ECE Insights offer in-depth interviews with leading industry executives.


Wilson Lee
Sr. Technical Marketing Manager
Tektronix