There are some important changes in
the beginning electrical engineering sequence that will affect new EE and CE BS
students as well as some students in other departmental programs. These changes
have recently been approved by the College
of Engineering Curriculum Committee
and will go into effect this fall (F06).
EE Class and Program changes:
-
EECS
215 will be modified to become the 1st class in the EE
sequence.
EECS 206
will be eliminated and replaced with 216 as the 2nd class in
the EE sequence. EECS 206 will not be taught this fall or in the future.
-
The
new EECS 215 will have Math 116 and Eng 101 as enforced prerequisites. It
will have Phys 240 or 260 as a department enforced co-requisite. The class
will be largely the same as in the past though it will also introduce
transistors and diodes and reduce coverage in other areas.
-
The
new 216 will start with analog signal processing approaches. It will
include some coverage of material removed from the new 215. The new 216
will have EECS 215 as an enforced prerequisite and Math 216 as a
department enforced co-requisite.
-
Beginning
EE students should take 215 then 216. CE students who were planning to
take 206 next semester should instead take 215.
-
Students
"in-system" who have taken 206 should continue on their normal
path. If you are interested, you should take 306 this fall (its last
planned offering). If you have not taken 215 yet, you will have to take
the new version.
-
Students
that have not yet passed 206 (C or better) should start in the new
sequence.
-
There
are a string of prerequisite modifications. For students who have already
passed 206, the best thing is to take 306 this fall if you are interested
in future classes in the signal processing, communication, or controls.
-
Details
on other prerequisite changes will be announced later and will only affect
students in the new beginning path. One of the more important ones is that
230 will now have 215 as a prerequisite not as a co-req.
Why are we doing this?
This is an attempt to address concerns raised by our
students. A significant number of both past students and our faculty feel that
teaching circuits first provides a concrete physical example for later courses
including the first systems class. Not all EE’s are circuit designers. There
are lots of applications of the techniques of signal and systems besides
electronic circuits. Nonetheless, having some background in both basic circuits
and basic systems methods are important for all EE’s. By starting with
circuits, the systems class can and will make use of circuits as an important
physical example. Other examples of these techniques will also be used, but the
availability of hardware examples should make the topic less abstract and more
accessible to most students.
A second important motivation for the changes in 215 is to
include some material on transistor circuits. This will not replace the need
for a 300 level circuits class for “real” circuits
engineers, but will make the material more modern and interesting for most
students. Students will be better prepared for EECS 320 after the new 215. To
make room for this material and to reduce the required math, the coverage of
transient responses of RLC circuits will be somewhat reduced in the new 215.
Also, the number of labs in 215 will be reduced to lower the total time
required from the students. Some of the labs will be redesigned to flow into
the planned labs for 216.
The new 216 will start with analog signal processing
approaches (Fourier series, transforms, and Laplace
transforms). It will include some coverage of Laplace
methods for RLC transient analysis to fill in the compromised topic in the
shift from the old 215. It will progress to some discrete time material but
obviously will have much less discrete time material than the old 206. Students
who are interested in digital signal processing will need to continue into
other classes (currently 451).
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