Issue 5
05
2017
THE
SOURCE NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
message from the chair PREPARING TO MEET FUTURE DEMAND FOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
The nation’s focus on increasing STEM enrollments and growing
that broadly covers EE fundamentals, while others effectively
the high tech-ready workforce is making progress. This is evident
counter in support of a much smaller core. But this discussion
in the enrollment in the USF College of Engineering, which has
is also about exciting and motivating students to engage in
grown nearly 50% in just the past 4 years. Similar expansion in
their education process, to better understand what engineering
engineering colleges is occurring across the country. At the
is about in order to become better engineers. With the new
same time, high profile applications that include the Internet
curriculum students can gain depth of knowledge in selected
of Things, 5G wireless communications, and autonomous and
specialties of interest and consequently have more opportunities
connected vehicles promise many exciting challenges and career
to tackle real-world challenges in their courses. For example,
opportunities for electrical engineers. So this is a time of great
a student interested in microwave engineering will be able to
visibility for STEM majors in general, and rapidly growing demand
take several courses in this area and complete a tape-out ready
for EEs in particular.
integrated circuit design before completing the BSEE program. This is the type of experience that allows a student to stretch the
It has also been an appropriate time to look closely at our
boundaries of their skills and knowledge that has been difficult to
curriculum and make sure we are doing the best job possible
provide with the previous curriculum.
preparing students for an increasingly diverse profession. Today, electrical engineers are leading the way in areas that
I’d like to close with some numbers that reflect the growing
span development of new electronic materials for additive
impact of our department. In the last five years our faculty and
manufacturing to statistical learning algorithms that will help keep
students have submitted 113 invention disclosures and been
the power grid secure. This clearly is not the EE profession of
awarded 61 U.S. patents. These patents have in turn produced
40 years ago! Consequently, a modernized curriculum is needed
28 license or option agreements, and been tied to four start-up
that will prepare our students to compete successfully in the
companies. And the department is now ranked by U.S. News and
job market. And after three years of careful planning, we are
World Report in the top 50 of all EE/ECE departments among
very excited to launch a completely revamped BSEE curriculum
public institutions in the U.S. I hope you enjoy this issue of the
in fall 2017 that aims to meet this need. Details about the new
USF EE newsletter and reading about the exciting events and
curriculum are included within, but in short, our undergraduate
milestones of the last few months.
students will now have more than double the number of technical electives and the core required curriculum has been dramatically reduced.
TOM WELLER, Ph.D. Department Chair
This curriculum change has sparked a healthy “breadth versus depth” discussion. Some argue the importance of a large core
The SOURCE
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