Content Comparison

...

Attendees

AY 2016-2017 Members: Michael Bailey, Can Bayram, Mohamed Ali Belabbas, Subhonmesh Bose, Weng Chew, John Dallesasse, Peter Dragic, James Eden, Liang Gao, Bruce Hajek, Pavan Kumar Hanumolu, Kiruba Haran, Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, Yih-Chun Hu, Seth Hutchinson, Ravishankar Iyer, Erhan Kudeki Kudeki (Ex-Officio), Minjoo Lee, Stephen Levinson, Steven Lumetta, Jonathan Makela (Chair), Sanjay Patel, Maxim Raginsky, William Sanders (Ex-Officio), Christopher Schmitz, Jose Schutt-Aine, David Varodayan, Lara Waldrop, Zhizhen Zhao, Hao Zhu, Wenjuan Zhu

Discussion Items

Minutes

• Called to order at 2:04pm.
• Minutes from Sep 22, 2016 were approved with the correction of "ECE498NG" to "ECE498NK".
• Gao described the revised ECE498LG course.
  • The course prerequisite was changed to ECE 350, as was requested during the previous curriculum committee meeting
  • The laboratory component of the course was removed from the proposed course.  Instead optical design, through using ZEMAX, would be introduced through several homework assignments. Kudeki asked about the cost of ZEMAX.  Gao responded that it could be purchased for a nominal fee for educational use. It is a industry standard software package, although Dragic pointed out that other options (such as Mathematica's Optica) existed. Gao will need to coordinate with EWS to make sure the software is available for students to use.
• The committee approved ECE498LG.
• The committee discussed the three proposed Theatre courses for inclusion on the departmental approved technical elective list.
  • There were several questions about the courses, based on the material presented in the provided syllabi and seemingly contradictory information on the official Illinois course catalog:
    • In the course catalog, THEA 453 is listed as being only for theatre majors. THEA 459 has THEA 453 as a prerequisite, which would make it only available to theatre majors.
    • There were confusing differences in names between the two sources.
  • Based on the prior inclusion of MUS 407/409 in the list of approved electives, THEA591 seemed to be in line with an acceptable course for the list, but it is a graduate level course.
  • It is difficult to assess the technical content of THEA453 given the provided information. THEA459 looks more technical, but if it is a rotating topics course (as indicated), it would not be appropriate for the technical electives list.  More detail is needed from THEA and/or a sub-group of ECE faculty should be asked to look at the syllabus. Kudeki suggested Levinson, Haken, Hasegawa-Johnson, and Smaragdis.
• The committee deferred action on the three THEA courses until more information could be obtained.
• The committee discussed the inclusion CS 498 HS for the technical elective list and the advanced computing elective (ACE) list.
  • Makela indicated the Mitra had been consulted about the inclusion of the course on the ACE list and it had Mitra's support.
  • There was concern raised by several committee members that the material appeared to be presented at too basic of a level. However, given that the course had the support for being included on the ACE, it was deemed acceptable for the technical elective list.
  • The committee would reassess this decision if/when the course is proposed for a permanent course number.
• The committee approved the inclusion of CS 498HS for technical elective credit and inclusion on the ACE list.
• The committee discussed undertaking a project through the Promoting Undergraduate Research in Engineering (PURE) program as a way to obtain ECE elective credit.
  • Makela described the impetus for the current discussion being that the PURE program was expanding to the college.  A new course rubric, ENG199PUR, was being used as a way for students participating in PURE to gain credit for doing so. In the past (and currently), ECE students taking part in PURE had enrolled in ECE 297 under the faculty advisor for their graduate student mentor and had received ECE elective credit.  From the standpoint of the PURE program, they are asking for clarity on whether our department wants to continue to offer ECE elective credit for participating in PURE (this is unique to the ECE department) and whether we would accept ENG199PUR as a substitute.
  • There was a broad discussion about the specifics of the PURE program and how it is implemented, how much of a time commitment it is on the part of the student, and the types of projects that are undertaken. While there was some concern that the "technical" level of what could be undertaken through this program might fall short when compared to our 400-level courses, it was also pointed out that there was a lack of options for technical elective credit early on in our curriculum.
  • There was significant concern raised that ECE technical credit should not be given to a course not overseen by ECE faculty (i.e., ENG199PUR). Thus, if technical elective credit were to be given to ECE students in PURE, it would have to be through ECE297 for a project undertaken under the guidance of an ECE faculty member.
• No action was taken on this matter. Makela will provide more information on the PURE program to committee members prior to the next meeting, at which time a decision will be made.
• The meeting adjourned at 3:01pm.

Action Items