At NJIT, the undergraduate students of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department recently met to discuss the status of the department and to bring many great new ideas to the table.
On Monday March 10th from 4pm till 6pm, twelve students from the department met at the ECE Conference Room to discuss their views on several issues in the department and to highlight their ideas for improvement. Dr. Boodhoo and Dr. Sosnowski, the underclassman and upperclassman advisors respectively, also stopped by later to address the topics that were discussed and to bring them to the attention of the department. The students who were present not only had the opportunity to voice their concerns and appreciation, but also won several prizes, including two Raspberry Pi computers. Attendees left well fed from pizza and with the knowledge that this department will try to act on its students’ concerns.
One of the more notable concerns brought up was the availability of MultiSim, a circuit simulation software, in more locations around campus. The department mentioned that they will look into the license agreements for this application and others in the future. Other applications that students would like to see included AutoCAD Electrical, PTC ProCable, and Microwave Office.
Students who take the ECE module of FED 101 will soon be able to purchase the required electronics kit online from a company associated with a departmental professor, for an anticipated discount of 30% from the current price of about $180.
All Electrical Engineers are required to take Physics 3 only to relearn major concepts in later courses. Many find that this course is redundant and could be removed from the curriculum. The department was open to this idea and informed the students that they would discuss the possibility with the Physics Department. The department said that they will discuss, additionally, the possibility of changing the content of prerequisite courses to Physics 3 to aid in the proposition of dropping the class from the curriculum. Either way, Electrical Engineering students will still be learning the material required of them at some point.
The students of the department brought up more issues as well as the aforementioned ones. The department was supportive of hearing the concerns and will try to act upon all appropriate issues. Students were appreciative of the opportunity to voice their opinions.
Philip Zurek
