Faculty ProjectsIntroductory Workshops for Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project Manager
David Zaretsky, Assistant Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Amount Requested
$30,000
Summary
We are witnessing a new wave of innovation in emerging industries, such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, sustainable energy, and quantum computing. In a world where electronic devices are ubiquitous and integrated in our everyday lives, the fields of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) have become the foundation of the fourth industrial revolution. These new technologies are fueling the demand for multi-disciplinary engineers in the fields of Electrical & Computer engineering. While there is a substantial interested in education and research in these fields, a recent survey of students at Northwestern expressed that they lacked the experience, preparedness, and confidence to pursue these degrees in EE and CE. Meanwhile a recent ECE hands-on workshop led by peers demonstrated great interest by students to pursue further education in these fields. The goal of this program is to develop entry-level workshops in the fields of Electrical & Computer Engineering for first and second year undergraduate students to gain exposure to these fields. Through hands on experience in working with circuits, IoT, cloud computing, computer vision and other areas of interest, we believe we can build greater demand for the fields of EE and CE in the McCormick School of Engineering.
Planned Activities/Investments
We will hold a series of 4-5 workshops (1 each week for 4 weeks) each quarter for 3 quarters. The series of workshops will focus on basic circuit design, Internet-of-things, sensors, and cloud computing. The following are preliminary workshops labs, which will feature take-home development board packages:
- Introduction to basic circuits, microprocessors, and basic programming, focusing on controlling LEDs
- Introduction to sensors, focusing on reading temperature & humidity
- Introduction to IoT and Cloud Connectivity, focusing on pushing sensor data to and from the cloud
- Introduction to smart devices, focusing on building a smart doorbell with cloud-based connections
- Introduction to low-power Bluetooth (BLE), Near Field Communication (NFC), energy harvesting, and connectivity
Impact
The outcome of these workshops is to build awareness, interest, and confidence early on with first and second year engineering students, and to increase demand for EE and CE degrees. We will measure the impact by assessing if there is an increase in declarations of EE and CE degrees from year over year.
Sustainability
We expect that these workshops could be easily maintained from year to year as we bring in more students to run the programs. We would look towards additional funding internally and external opportunities to invest in purchasing new boards each year in order to sustain the program.
Deliverables
The deliverables would be:
- Workshops and lab tutorials on the topics listed above
- Three scheduled workshop series, each 4-5 workshops in Fall, Winter and Spring quarters.
- Questionnaires reporting student feedback on their experience and perception after the workshops
- Assessment of number of declared majors in EE and CE year over year
Budget Overview
Based on previous workshops held, we expect to attract about 50 students each term, for a total of 150 students over the academic year. The boards would be given to students to keep so they may continue working with them. There would be 5 workshops per series (Fall, Winter Spring), for a total of 15 workshops during the academic year. Each workshop would include pizza + drinks
Cost breakdown:
- $15,000: 150 Particle IoT Development Kits (50 per quarter x 3 quarters) @ $100/unit.
- $12,000: 15 Workshop Events (5 workshops x 3 series) @ $800 pizza + drinks.
- $3,000: Development time to build and manage the labs.
Total: $30,00
Matching Funds
TBD