Date, Time, and Location
September 5, 2017, 13:00-14:00 CST, ECEB 5070
Attendees
Haitham Al-Hassanieh
Can Bayram
Mohamed Belabbas
Nikita Borisov
Subhonmesh Bose
John Dallesasse
Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia
Peter Dragic
Gary Eden
Liang Gao
Viktor Gruev
Pavan Hanumolu
Kiruba Haran
Mark Hasegawa-Johnson
Yih-Chun Hu
Raluca Ilie
Ravishankar Iyer
Erhan Kudeki
Minjoo Lee
Stephen Levinson
Gang Liu
Steven Lumetta
Joseph Lyding
Jonathan Makela
Idoia Ochoa
Sanjay Patel
Willam Sanders
Jose Schutt-Aine
David Varodayan
Lav Varshney
Shobha Vasudevan
Pramod Viswanath
Lara Waldrop
Jin Zhou
Wenjuan Zhu
Discussion Items
| Time | Item | Who | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15min | Charge to the Committee | Department Head William Sanders | |
| 15min | Proposal to assign a permanent course number to ECE 298JA | Proposer: Jont Allen | [form][syllabus][form v2][syllabus v2] |
| 15min | Proposal to permit CS 498 DL1 as an advanced computing elective | Proposer: Emre Ulusoy | [webpage] |
| 15min | Proposal to permit MUS 499C as a tech elective | Proposer: David Varodayan |
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
- 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: ECE Curriculum Committee supports the application for a permanent course number for ECE 298JA
JA described motivation and content of the course.
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: 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: propose that we should have a Mathematics faculty member come to this committee to discuss the stance of Mathematics w.r.t. ECE 298JA.
SL: extended discussion of this course could imperil continued offering, unless we reset the clock on the 298 course number.
Case study: ECE 493 as taught by ECE covers slightly different material from that which is taught when Mathematics teaches the course.
Content of the course: agreement among discussants that we need complex analysis treated more formally and more extensively in the ECE undergraduate curriculum.
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. Suggest: the CoE is much more likely to approve such a petition if supported by a letter from, e.g., Matt Ando.
Debate about content: does