2016-09-22 Meeting Notes

Date

Sep 22, 2016

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 (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

Guests: Negar Kiyavash

Discussion Items

Minutes

• Called to order at 2:04pm.
• Minutes from Sep 15, 2016 were approved.
• Gao described the proposed ECE498LG course.
  • The committee discussed whether the three proposed prerequisites were appropriate, or if ECE 350 should replace or be added to the list. The concern was one of limiting the potential student pool able to satisfy the prerequisites.  Gao described that a basic knowledge of light and Fourier topics was required.  It was suggested that the prerequisite list be modified to just require ECE 350 and that the syllabus of topics covered be slightly modified to account for this.
  • The committee discussed the lab component.  Gao described the labs as a mixture of design (in ZEMAX) and implementation (using basic lens elements).  The committee requested a listing of the specific lab topics, which was lacking in the initial proposal.
  • Suggestions were also made as to the timing of the course offerings and the course description, to make it more in line with typical offerings.
• The committee deferred voting on ECE498LG until a revised syllabus and information on the lab component are provided.
• Kiyavash described the proposed ECE498NK course.
  • The committee asked what were the practical applications of the proposed course.  Kiyavash pointed to applications in computer neurosciences, the financial domain, and social networks.
  • The committee asked about the level the material would be presented at.  Kiyavash answered that it would be a bit lower than if this were a graduate-student only course (i.e., there would not be as significant of a probabilistic approach in the current offering). Graduate students would be required to do some additional reading for the fourth credit hour.
  • The committee asked about potential cross listings in other departments.  Although the current offering would not be cross listed, Kiyavash mentioned there would be interest from several other departments, including CS, Stats, and IES.
• The committee approved the proposed ECE498NK.
• The committee discussed the proposed list of Advanced Computing Electives for the CE major. 
  • A request was made to verify that two specific courses should be on the list (CS 498MP and ECE 428). NOTE: Makela verified with Mitra after the meeting that the material in these two courses satisfied the CE faculty as being advanced and technical in nature and should be included on the list.
• The committee approved the Advanced Computing Electives listing.
• The meeting adjourned at 2:48pm.

Action Items