The electronics world is undergoing a transformation in the underlying technologies used to create new products for the world’s consumers. The movement to reconfigurable digital systems using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and microcontrollers is sweeping the electronics world in the rush to create smaller, faster, and more flexible consumer and industrial devices. The Community College has put together a team of educational partners spanning the country with the background and skills necessary to create a vibrant virtual center. Team members include colleges and universities with a history of reaching out to minority and under-served student populations. Partners on this project have years of successful National Science Foundation project implementations educating and training hundreds of instructors and introducing thousands of students to advanced technologies. The goal of this project is to offer an unprecedented opportunity to bring America’s technicians directly to this cutting edge of reconfigurable electronics technology. This project will substantially update digital logic courses by providing the tools and curricular materials needed to replace the now outdated materials most commonly used. The updated curriculum will greatly enhance competitiveness for community college graduates seeking to enter the job market or undergraduate engineering programs. Secondly, the project will provide colleges with educational equipment up-to-date with current technological solutions. Most importantly, the project will bring new excitement to education by introducing reconfigurable electronics with a new world of possibilities for student projects, such as robot competitions, video game design, embedded systems and more. Finally, the project will develop industry, K-12 and university partnerships to facilitate pathways to careers in the exciting field of reconfigurable electronics for first-generation, minority and other under-served populations, including veterans.
The paper will address the comprehensive three-year project activities including the Faculty Professional Development workshop on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and ARM-based microcontrollers, assessment results and lessons learned, the summer outreach activity happened at partner institutions, and finally, the undergraduate research experience.
Dr. Alaraje is a Professor and Program Chair of Electrical Engineering Technology in the School of Technology at Michigan Tech. Prior to his faculty appointment, he was employed by Lucent Technologies as a hardware design engineer, from 1997- 2002, and by vLogix as chief hardware design engineer, from 2002-2004. Dr. Alaraje’s research interests focus on processor architecture, System-on-Chip design methodology, Field-Programmable Logic Array (FPGA) architecture and design methodology, Engineering Technology Education, and hardware description language modeling. Dr. Alaraje is a 2013-2014 Fulbright scholarship recipient at Qatar University, where he taught courses on Embedded Systems. Additionally, Dr. Alaraje is a recipient of an NSF award for a digital logic design curriculum revision in collaboration with the College of Lake County in Illinois, and a NSF award in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, Drake State Technical College, and Chandler-Gilbert Community College. The award focused on expanding outreach activities to increase the awareness of potential college students about career opportunities in electronics technologies. Dr. Alaraje is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), a member of the ASEE Electrical and Computer Engineering Division, a member of the ASEE Engineering Technology Division, a senior member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Department Heads Association (ECETDHA).
Aleksandr Sergeyev is currently a
Professor in the Electrical Engineering
Technology program in the
School of Technology at Michigan Technological
University. Dr. Aleksandr
Sergeyev earned his bachelor degree in
Electrical Engineering at Moscow Univ
Bassam Matar started his career at Glendale Community College (GCC) teaching engineering, electronics and semiconductor classes. Through his eleven years teaching at GCC, Bassam developed a variety of courses in these fields. He served on several committees, such as budget, computer technology, advanced technology partnership and industry advisory. Also, he served as assistant chair for the last five years before transferring to Gilbert-Chandler Community College (GCCC). He implemented GCCC’s engineering program in Fall 2001 and is responsible for its success. He has served as a PI or Co-PI on seven NSF-funded grants. Mr. Matar is also a lecturer faculty for the Electrical Engineering Department at Arizona State University. Bassam Matar, has taught for more than 27 years. Mr. Matar received the following awards:(Summer 1999) Motorola Educator of the Year award; (Spring 2000) National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development award; (Fall 2009) Gilbert Community Excellence Awards; (Spring 2010) Electronic Engineering Times (EE Times)-- Educator of the Year Award. Mr. Matar is a member of Engineering Articulation Task Force, and the American Association of Engineering Education. Mr. Matar has been teaching for the past 28 years.
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