UCSC CE and EE Departments' fulfillment of ABET Outcome C

Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.

These courses help fulfill this ABET outcome:

1. CE12 via all core lab exercises
2. CE100 via Skills 4 through 10 and 12, Core Topics 4 though 9 and 13, and Core Labs 1 through 4
3. CE110 via all core topics
4. CE113 via Core Lab Exercises 1-3
5. CE117 via Skills 2 through 5 and Core Topics 1 through 15
6. CE118 via all Core topics and all Core Labs (this is the essence of the class teaches).
7. CE121 via Skills 1 through 6, and Lab Exercises 1 through 4
8. CE123 via Skills 1 and 2
9. CE125 via Skill 1, Core Topics 1, 5, 7, and Core Lab Exercises 1 thorugh 3
10. CE150 via Skill 3
11. CE151 via Core Topic 7
12. CE152 via Core Topics 4 and 5
13. CE154 via Skill 2
14. CE155 via Skill 1
15. CS12a via Skills 3 and 6
16. CS12b via Skills 4, 7, 8, Core Topics 7, 8 and Core Lab Exercises 2 and 3
17. CS13 via Skills 3, 6, 8, 9, 15 and Language-Independent Core Topic 16
18. CS101 via Core Topic 6
19. CS104a via Skills 1c, 1d, 2b, Topics 1d, 2, 4, and all labs
20. CS104b via all skills, core topics, and labs
21. CS111 via Core Lab Exercises 1 though 4
22. CS115 via Core Topics 1, 2, 4, and 5
23. CS116 via all Core Topics
24. EE70 via Skills 3, 9, Core Lab Exercises 4 and 5
25. EE103 via Skill 3, 7, 11, 13
26. EE125 via Skill 1 and Core Topic 1
27. EE126 via Skills 1 and Core Topic 1
28. EE127 via Skills 1, 2, 3, 5, and Core Topic 1
29. EE128 via Skills 1, 2, and Core Topics 1, 2, and 4.
30. EE130 via Core Topics 5 and 8 (and to a lesser extent, 6 and 7)
31. EE145 via Skills 47 through 70
32. EE151 via Core Topics 1 through 4
33. EE153 via Skills 13 through 16 and Core Topics 4 through 6
34. EE154 via Skill 6, and Core Topic 16
35. EE178 c via Skill 2

In the following section, representatives from each department talk about how their students fulfill this component, how it is monitored, and what the feedback loops are.

1. The CE department on monitoring and feedback
   1. The initial take (as written by Joel Ferguson)
      Outcome c (an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs) is one of the most obvious and important outcomes for a strong engineering education. As such, there are at least 10 required courses in the CE curriculum that help satisfy it and 25 additional courses that can serve as an elective on the list. For brevity we will discuss the required courses only. In the software side of the curriculum the first 4 courses, CS 12a, CS 12b, CE 12c and CS101, provide the foundation for design with a significant component of design itself. Then CS 111, operating systems, has a very large design portion consisting of almost all lab work and programs. In the hardware side of the curriculum the majority of CE100 and much of EE 70 specifically deals with designing a circuit that meets specific properties or needs. Finally there are two required classes that provide design experiences that typically include software/hardware codesign -- CE 121 and the capstone class (CE 123).

      Medium term feedback in this sequence of preparing-for-design and design courses consists of the required prerequisite chain -- with few exceptions, the software classes must be taken in order and most of the hardware and software/hardware codesign classes must be taken in order. The core exam is a medium to long term feedback mechanism to determine how well each student has learned the design and science components of the curriculum and is used to modify how we teach the courses. Long term feedback is provided, on a somewhat more subjective basis, by our exit and alumni surveys.

   2. Final metric and feedback as determined by the Oversight committee

      Our three metrics are:

      1. Quantitative: The SOE Alumni and Industrial collaborators at the CE123B design contest must give an average of 4 for criteria C to all design teams containing CE members.
      2. Quantitative:The Senior Portfolio: Students passing 123b receive an average of 4 out of 5 on the Major Design Experience component of the Senior Portfolio evaluation.
      3. Subjective:The exit survey results on Question 4: An average of 4 out of 5 must be maintained.
      If any of the three of these is not met, the oversight committee must propose changes to the faculty and the advisory counsil.
2. The EE department's monitoring and feedback (as written by Ali Shakouri)
   The EE department is trying to introduce the concept of design to meet specific needs from the beginning in its required core courses ( EE70, EE103, EE145 and EE171), and in elective courses. Based on students' feedback, labs for the core course: Introduction to Electronics EE70, were completely rewritten in summer 2002. Fill-in-the-blank and just data-taking sections were eliminated and new design-oriented questions were added to the labs. Medium term monitoring and feedback is provided by capstone project courses EE125 & EE126 and EE127 & EE128 with strong emaphsis on design. Long term feedback is provided, on a somewhat more subjective basis, by our exit exit and alumni surveys.