ECE Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes for April 29, 2014
Members AY 2013-14: Tangul Basar, Mohamed Ali Belabbas, Deming Chen, John Dallesasse, Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia, Bruce Hajek (Chair), Pavan Kumar Hanumolu, Erhan Kudeki (Ex-Officio), Rakesh Kumar, Stephen Levinson, Daniel Liberzon, Yi Lu, Steven Lumetta, Jonathan Makela, Sayan Mitra, Michael Oelze, Maxim Raginsky, Elyse Rosenbaum, William Sanders (Ex-Officio), Chris Schmitz, Paris Smaragdis, Venu Veeravalli, Daniel Wasserman, Hao Zhu
Attendees: Basar, Belabbas, Dallesasse, Hajek, Kudeki, Kumar, Levinson, Mitra, Oelze, Schmitz, and guests: Sarah Robinson, John D'Angelo, Jont Allen
1. The minutes of April 15 were approved.
2. Erhan Kudeki reported that some small spaces for additional workstations have been identified in the new building.
3. The bulk of the meeting was spent on a discussion of undergraduate mathematics courses. There is considerable interest among the ECE faculty in having students gain basic proficiency with the three topics: complex functions, linear algebra, and vector calculus, by around the time they get to ECE 210. (Currently, the differential equations course, Math 286, is a co-requisite of ECE 210.) While the course ECE 493 covers these topics, it comes too late. John suggested that a possible place to introduce ECE/Engineering students to these topics would be in Calc II. He mentioned a vision of the three semester calculus sequence is that Calc I covers functions of one variable, Calc II covers functions of two variables (including some complex analysis and 2x2 matrix algebra), and Calc III covers three or more dimensions.
There seemed to be a consensus that it is worth investigating the possibility of having a two semester sequence (Calc II plus III) for ECE/Engineering students along the above lines, and with a strengthening of the concepts of complex functions and linear algebra, and getting into Fourier series, in Math 286 (Differential Equations Plus). Illinois has an opportunity to play a leadership role in leading mathematics education for engineers out from under the shadow of the Stewart version of calculus prevalent across the USA.
With enough background in linear algebra from this sequence, it would be possible to utilize, in ECE 210, standard matrix methods to solve the linear circuit equations constructed using the KLV and KCL circuit laws.
The ECE Department can help encourage/support development of such a new Calc II+III sequence by collecting a list of concepts it would like to be covered. For example, where do the topics of Lagrange multipliers, or convergence of sequences, stand among the list of priorities for ECE students, in the eyes of the ECE faculty?
In addition, ECE, possibly with College assistance, should provide statistics on how many ECE students take calculus II at the university. (Note: One data point I happen to have is that in 1995 and 1996, out of over 1000 freshman in engineering, 45% started with Calc I, 35% started with Calc II, and 20% started with Calc III. ---BH)
Jont Allen said he would welcome a serious course on the history of mathematics.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 pm.
These minutes drafted by B. Hajek, April 29, 2014.