2017-09-05 Meeting Minutes

Date, Time, and Location

September 5, 2017, 13:00-14:00 CST, ECEB 5070

Attendees

Haitham Al-Hassanieh, Can Bayram, Nikita Borisov, Subhonmesh Bose, John Dallesasse, Gary Eden, Liang Gao, Viktor Gruev, Kiruba Haran, Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, Yih-Chun Hu, Raluca Ilie, Ravishankar Iyer, Erhan Kudeki, Minjoo Lee, Stephen Levinson, Steve Lumetta, Joseph Lyding, Jonathan Makela, Willam Sanders, David Varodayan, Jin Zhou

Discussion Items

Topic for discussion, possibly at the next meeting: should there be an ECE 497, similar to ECE 397, but available to be taken by graduate students?

Minutes

1. Charge to the Committee
   ABET review committees have complimented this committee in several consecutive ABET reviews.  Among top ECE departments, this department cares more about undergraduate curriculum than most.
   Thank you to Jonathan for chairing this committee last year, and thanks to all members for being part of it.
   A. Think about whether there are axes that represent themes in our two undergraduate majors that should be emphasized but are not.  "I'm an ECE student but I've become very interested in X, therefore I need to move to department Y" – in what cases is that not true.  Areas in which we teach at the undergraduate level, but are not aligned with traditional academic area committees.   What is the proper language to describe our curriculum in a way that students will understand, key into.  Communicate course content to someone who's not already a domain expert.  For example this information could go into interviews in which we explain options to incoming students: roadmap.
   B. The next ABET review will be either 2019 or 2020.
   C. We have made major strides in delivering our curriculum in other places.  Zhejiang Campus: we have a full cohort this fall (44 CEs, 34 EEs).  (1) How will our curriculum change because of local circumstances, and/or by using that campus as a testbed for innovation? (2) City Scholars program: undergraduates will spend a semester in Chicago, as if in an internship while taking classes.  Two courses planned in Chicago in spring: 422 security, and WMH's architectures.  Can multiple delivery in this way push innovation in those courses?

2. Moved that ECE forward, to CoE, application for a 200-level permanent course number for ECE 298JA

JA described motivation and content of the course.

A. Involvement or relationship between this course and the Department of Mathematics.  JM said that the main concern expressed last semester was: what is the role of Mathematics in this course?  Will they support application for a permanent course number?  JA related that this course has been proposed to Matt Ando, former Dept. Head.  He agrees that this is a fantastic idea, presenting material by way of historical context.  He expressed frustration that Mathematics is unable to teach in this way because of the volume of students taking the regular calculus courses annually.  Cross-listing would be complicated. Other Math faculty have helped in development of the course in its current form.  Associate Dean of CoE has helped to promote this course by way of internal grant; expressed doubt about cross-listing because goals of this course are not goals expressed currently by Math Curriculum Committee.  EK proposed that we should have a Mathematics faculty member come to this committee to discuss the stance of Mathematics w.r.t. ECE 298JA.  SL observed that extended discussion of this course could imperil continued offering, unless we reset the clock on the 298 course number.  Commented that ECE 493 as taught by ECE covers slightly different material from that which is taught when Mathematics teaches the course.  Point of order: cross-listing is a completely separate issue.  The motion on the floor is to propose, to CoE, that this course should have a permanent course number at the 200 level.  It was suggested that, though cross-listing is not at issue, support from the Mathematics Department would be useful: the CoE is much more likely to approve a permanent course number for this course if supported by a letter from the Mathematics Department.

B. Content of the course: confirm that this committee needs to determine whether the course should be approved for a permanent course number with its current content.  On the subject of complex analysis, all discussants expressed strong support for the course in its current form, and for the need in the ECE curriculum for a course of this kind.  Two other topics were raised on which there is not yet consensus: (1) Should the course contain the diversity of topics it currently contains, or should it be focused on a smaller list of topics, and (2) Should the course be designed for students who have a lot of AP credit and have therefore not taken regular calculus classes at Illinois (perhaps 40 students/year currently), or should it be designed to teach complex analysis more broadly and deeply to all incoming ECE students (and therefore should it be designed to be a course that all ECE students take).

The meeting ended without any action taken on this motion.

3. Moved that ECE permit CS 498 DL1 as an advanced computing elective

Borisov and Lumetta will ask the Computer Engineering area committee for feedback on this point, and bring a report to the committee next week.

4. Moved that ECE permit MUS 499C as a tech elective

The meeting ended without any action taken on this motion.