Erhan Kudeki presented revised outlines for ECE 329 and ECE 350,
which he, Andreas Cangellaris, Jonathan Makela, and the area faculty
have developed.
Erhan stated that the new organization offers many improvements over
the existing courses.
The new ECE 329, which is in the required core for both of our curricula,
will now include transmission lines and many aspects of wave propagation
and radiation, which were relegated to the advanced EE core in ECE 450.
ECE 350 has a stronger focus on more advanced concepts, including in
particular topics relevant to antennas, so it will serve as a better
prerequisite for the elective courses in the electromagnetics area.
Erhan noted that the new outlines take better advantage of the content
and emphasis of ECE 210 (particularly Fourier/frequency and systems concepts),
thereby improving both the curricular continuity and the efficiency of learning
for students.
The new outlines generally received very favorable comments.
Various committee members questioned whether certain topics listed in the outlines
are truly essential for all students;
Prof. Kudeki's explanations as to what is intended by the descriptions
convinced the Committee that they are indeed appropriate.
In a few cases, he said that certain topics, representing perhaps a week
of material, are optional and deliberately included to allow adjustments
to the individual class's progress; the Committee asked him to denote those
in italics as was done in the new ECE 342 outline.