ECE 494 Professional Seminar

University of Massachusetts

Welcome to the 494 Course Home Page! This serves as the syllabus for the course. The URL is: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/vspgroup/burleson/courses/494/

Instructor: Wayne Burleson, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, tel: 413-545-2382, email: burleson@ecs.umass.edu, Burleson's Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 2-3pm or by appt, KEB309C.
Use email for quickest response.

Course Description

This course is an interactive senior-level seminar that synthesizes many of the technical topics from the CSE curriculum and introduces social, ethical, and economic issues to prepare for professional work. Communication skills and critical thinking are emphasized in the form of oral and written presentations on a topic of the student's choice.

Course objectives

1.  Develop  skills in oral, written, and graphical presentation, including web publishing.

2.  Gain an awareness of the impact of technology on society, including economics, ethics, history and legal issues.

3.  Learn how to evaluate and criticize presentations and sources.

4.  Learn how to ask and field questions on a wide variety of technical and non-technical topics in ECE.

Credit : 1 credit

Class Meeting: Tues 1:00-1:50, Marston 220,
note that another section of the class is on Mondays at 1:25 with Prof. Tessier

Grading: Attendance/participation - 30%, Oral presentation - 35%, Final web-site- 35% (5% each for evaluations of other's sites) (Note that this is only a rough guide and that a strong final report can compensate more than linearly for weaknesses in the presentation).
 

Oral Presentation: A 15 minute talk with slides on any technical topic subject to approval by instructor. Multimedia topics are encouraged.  The talk will be evaluated on content and presentation style by the other students and the instructor.  Most students will use Powerpoint and a projector. I will provide laptop and projector.

Final Web-Site: a web page with 1) a text/html abstract, 2) a 2500 word written HTML report and an on-line copy of the revised transparencies used (viewable from the browser, NOT just the .ppt) Abstract, report and slides should be put on a personal web-site for access by the instructor and the other students for final evaluation. This will serve as an archive for future classes and accreditation. This will be due on the last day of classes. Send me an email with the URL. The written report should be in HTML and take advantage of hyperlinking and figures. It should also contain a list of at least 5 Frequently Asked Questions drawn from the questions on the evaluation forms. The written report should extend the presentation with more details but also more criticism. I want you to be able to think critically about your topic as well as your classmates. You will be doing an evaluation of 2 of your classmate's web-sites (see below). 10% of the grade will be based on these evaluations so do a good job.

Details on web-sites including web-site evaluation form

Choosing a Topic:  Choose a topic as soon as possible by sending Burleson a brief email containing the following:

I would like to focus on Multimedia topics since it is a personal interest and an exciting area to which most people can  relate.   Topics include: MPEG4/7, MP3,VRML, Audio coding, Voice-over-IP, Video conferencing,
Graphics, Multimedia apps, Gaming, Multimedianetworks, Intellectual property policy, Watermarking,  etc.
Other ideas include:  Crypto policy, Crypto cracking, SUN Jini, E-commerce, Next Generation Internet, Microprocessors of the Future, Intelligent Vehicles,  DSL vs. Cable, Global Positioning Systems, Molecular Computing, Wireless Communications, choose your favorite buzz-word,...
In case several students choose exactly the same topic, I will give it to the first proposal I receive.  Choose a topic that you are passionate about and teach us!

Presentation Schedule
Date  Class meeting 
Sept 11  class cancelled 
Sept 18  Organization of course, Burleson's show, , Topics, Presentation pointers 
Sept 25 Schedule, work on your proposals/presentations 
Oct 2 no class, work on your proposals/presentations 
Oct 9 no class! 
Oct 16 no class 
Oct 23 Ho, SUN Jini Matt, Internet Multimedia for Baseball DaveP, Ultra Wide-band
Oct 30  Sheri, Collision Avoidance Systems Kenji, Blue Tooth 
Nov 6  Robert, War on Viruses Vicens, Turbo-chargers Charlie, Car Audio Components
Nov 13 Lilian, Biotech Chad, DSL vs. Cable Armindo, High-end Automotive technology
Nov 20  Phil, GPS Mark, Software Piracy Chris, Quantum Computing 
Nov 27  no class
Dec 4  no class
Dec 14  Reports and Slides due on Web. Send URL to burleson@ecs.umass.edu Details on web-sites including web-site evaluation form
Dec 22  Evaluations of Reports and Slides due to authors and burleson via email.

Other information

Presentations/Papers from Fall 2000 (many broken links now)
Date  Class meeting 
Sept 11  Organization of course 
Sept 18  Burleson's show, Schedule, Topics, Presentation pointers 
Sept 25 no class, work on your proposals/presentations 
Oct  2 no class, work on your proposals/presentations 
Oct 11 (Wed)  R.Chirwa Rajeev
Oct 16 MattDan Sean
Oct 23  BrianJon Rich 
Oct 30  Rick Igor, Tuna
Nov 6  Mike Tim R. Lasko
Nov 13 PhuDo Navin John
Nov 20  Stephen LingJake
Nov 27  Pascal PakKwan
Dec 4  no class
Dec 14  Reports and Slides due on Web. Send URL to burleson@ecs.umass.edu Details on web-sites including web-site evaluation form
Dec 22  Evaluations of Reports and Slides due to authors and burleson via email.


 

Presentations/Papers from Fall 1999 (many broken links now)
Oct 11 (Wed)  StarkTraverGiza
Oct 16  Matt CocchiAndre
Oct 23  Leonardo  NyerTarr
Oct 30  Peden  LamontGorr 
Nov 6  Garg  Hayes Aucott
Nov 20  Farzad WolanLuszcz
Nov 27  JaredSyriacVadnais
Dec 4  Sameer  ZhengGennaro
Dec 13   CamDeanRuss Chou


Other links:
burleson@ecs.umass.edu (Last Update: 11/27/00)