Free ticketed event
We will discuss how low-cost, student-owned hardware can be used to teach not only the fundamentals of analog and digital circuits, but also system design and integration. We will describe how hands-on experiments can lead to a better understanding of STEM concepts incorporated into the exercises. Examples of will be given on how these experiments can be introduced into courses outside of electrical and computer engineering. Finally, because student-owned equipment untethers students from traditional labs, the ways in which students at remote locations can engage in laboratory courses will be presented.
This event is free and sponsored by Digilent, Inc. Attendees should bring a computer with a Windows operating system to the workshop. Participants will leave the workshop with example instructional materials so that they can easily adopt this innovative instruction technique in their own courses.
Kathleen Meehan earned her B.S. in electrical engineering from Manhattan College and her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois under the supervision of Prof. Nick Holonyak, Jr. She worked as a member of technical staff at Lytel, Inc., following graduation. At Polaroid, she was appointed a Senior Research Group Leader, responsible for the design of laser diodes and arrays. After leaving Polaroid, she was employed at Biocontrol Technology. She moved into academia full-time in 1997 and worked at the University of Denver, West Virginia University, and Virginia Tech. She is currently the director of the University of Glasgow-University of Electronic Science and Technology of China Electronics and Electrical Engineering programme. While at Virginia Tech, she collaborated with Dr. Robert W. Hendricks, with assistance of a number of undergraduate students, to develop an instructional platform known as Lab-in-a-Box, which is used in a number of courses within the Virginia Tech B.S.E.E. program. She continues to be actively involved in the development of mobile hands-on pedagogy as well as research on other topics in STEM education, the synthesis and characterization of nanoscale optical materials, and fermentation processes.