Minutes 10/10/2022

Date

Oct 10, 2022

Attendees

C. Bayram, M.A. Belabbas, U. Bhowmik, S. Bogdanov, Z. Cheng, P. Dragic, R. Iyer, N. Kani, E. Kudeki, J. Kim, S. Lumetta, O. Mironenko,  U. Ravaioli.  Guest: A. Banerjee.

Minutes

The committee discussed two courses proposed for temporary offering.  The first course was ECE 498AB "Power Electronics Control" submitted by Arijit Banerjee as a first time offering.  The course proposal had already received approval (communicated via email message) from the power and energy systems area committee.  Arijit joined the meeting to introduce his submission.  He explained that the creation of this new course was prompted by feedback from industry recruiters and alumni, as well as industry partners of the NSF POETS ERC at Illinois, who have indicated the need for more advanced instruction in power electronics design.    There was some discussion on prerequisites because of the control aspects since ECE 486 "Control Systems" is only recommended.  The proposed course syllabus includes a basic introduction to the specific concepts on controls needed, so that it can be accessible to students who have not taken a formal course.  There was also a brief discussion on the fact that the proposed course credits are three hours for both undergraduate and graduate students, since in general it is better to have an option for graduate students to receive four hours.  This may be introduced in future offerings if the proposed pilot offering is successful.  The course was approved with unanimous consent and no objections by the committee.

Next, the committee discussed ECE398GG "Electric Vehicles" submitted by George Gross as second time offering.  The course proposal had already received approval from the power area committee via signature on the form.  Olga Mironenko, who is also one the listed guest lecturers, gave an introduction to the the course and a brief report on the previous offering.  Also this course has a strong connection with the POETS ERC and, together with the previously discussed offering is part of the educational ecosystem being developed around the energy topics of the center.   The future of this new course was also discussed in view of George Gross' retirement.  The course is already a tight collaboration between members of the power and energy systems area and Olga Mironenko herself may become the course coordinator after it becomes permanent.  Also this proposed offering was approved with unanimous consent and no objections by the committee.