EE494/5 & 496/7 : Engineering Physics Design Projects

In the first term:

In the second term:

Students will normally work individually on projects, with the advice & support of a professor or researcher (the advisor/sponsor) in a university laboratory or in industry. Projects are usually performed within the departments of ECE, MechE, ChemE, Physics, Biomedical Engineering, or within relevant industries. Projects will normally involve hands-on experimental work. The work MUST be novel and include aspects of design, building, testing and analysis.

We will need to keep in touch - we will have to make many arrangements in the near future. I will want:

If you wish, you may hand in this information on a separate sheet of paper.

None

None

I have the occasional meeting during the week but am almost always in or nearby, generally with students. I try and use Wednesdays for review, reading, writing and library work - and am often not in my office. The other days I am almost always in at least from 9am to 5pm. Kathleen at reception (780-492-3332) will know if I am ill. I'll get feedback from students about their availability as the term gets underway, but my starting point for office hours is below. The intent here is to have some overlap with everyone... but this is always a challenge! If you let me know you are coming then I will hold the spot. (Otherwise I may end up meeting someone else in that timeslot - depending on who shows up and when.) If this timetable does not work for you then please arrange a meeting.

I have an open door policy - you are welcome to drop in any time. If the door is ajar - please knock, even if you do not see me. I spend most of my days with students, but that since could be anywhere in the building I can be a challenge to find. If you have trouble finding me then please either talk with AnnMarie (as above), or set up a meeting with me. For the latter, please either email or telephone. Email is suitable for non-time critical issues. Please include in the subject line 'ATTN EP' so that I can readily distinguish your (important) email from spam.

I usually read my email first thing in the morning and may not get a chance later in the day. Email can also be erratic - please call me (see above) if you do not hear back from me after a couple of days. (It usually takes a day to find files & needed background information before I can reply.) You may wish to leave me a voicemail or post-it with a brief 'topic description' and a telephone number where I can best reach you. This is best for situations such as finding a suitable meeting time.

Although I expect you to deal with your advisor on everyday issues, if there is a problem or just a need for discussion or guidance, then do not hesitate to come for a chat.

On the bright side - no exams. However, we need your full engagement - and your Friday afternoons (some in 2008, more in 2009). For presentation/discussion days (marked by a * below) we will need from 1400-1700h. Attendance is important - please advise me ASAP if you cannot make some of the scheduled events below. I will be checking in with your tour guides to find out how things went. In addition, I will occasionally show up for a tour myself. Our scheduled classroom (in both terms) is GSB 859 (a 'smart' classroom).

For presentations: use pdf or powerpoint of an established format (e.g. Office 2003/2004) and not exotic new formats (e.g. many problems with new Office formats). Please bring your presentation on a USB key and download it onto the desktop of the classroom's PC. A good rule of thumb is 1 slide should correspond to 1 minute of presentation. Not too much text on the slide please (just mnemonics and key points) and do not just read the slide text! Please set up your presentation before class starts. On presentation days I will open up the equipment in the smart classroom 10 minutes before class starts. For final reports - printed form only please. Too often email gags, or images do not print etc. We have had too many stressful moments!

EE494 and 496 are Pass/Fail based on a mark that is 50% from your written proposal, 25% from your presentation and 25% from class participation. EE495 and 497 are conventional courses with a breakdown as below. Although I reserve the right to mark on a distribution, I do not expect to have to. The external advisor/project sponsor provides their assessment of your work and performance that I in turn evaluate (as below),

Given past student permission, and if desired, I will have some copies of past reports available for your perusal. However, I would not recommend using such past work as a model - the projects tend to be very different and one person's style does not often fit another. I would recommmend following the outlines (below). There is no fixed style for any of this, but there are tight requirements on what needs to be in there.

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the polices of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online here) and avoid any behaviour that could result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or particpation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

We will discuss referencing other work in class but essentially it comes down to a simple choice.

This seems an easy choice. If anyone has any questions then please come and see me. We will discuss appropriate referencing styles in class but essentially you can follow any standard format that you see in a typical journal paper.

As you plan your project you will have to think very carefully about what is likely to go wrong and how you will cope with this. Part of that is deciding upon the key goals and the basic approach. You need to aim as high as you can for the key goals while maintaining a fallback position. This may be your first taste of project management - Murphy will be coming to visit.

I will be calling on you periodically for very brief reports on your project. In those discussions and presentations we only have time for the essentials. If you cannot get the message across in a couple of minutes then you probably need to understand it better, and put more thought into it. Ernst Rutherford and Erwin Schrodinger were among the first to get this message across, (e.g. here or (chuckle) here). More recently, this has become popular as a business tool - the famed "Elevator Pitch" or "Elevator Presentation" (you may wish to Google these...). This mode of communicating can be very difficult since it requires you to thoroughly think it through. Now is a good time to learn this skill!

I will be looking for:

If my 'take-away' message is that you had a lot of trouble setting up and getting to the point, and that you put things together earlier that day... then you have not done well. If your presentation leaves me with the clear understanding of what you are doing & why, then you have done well.

Whether to pitch your team's project to management or to convince your collegues that you have a good idea - you need to be able to communicate this way. This means being avoiding jargon, and confining yourself to the key concepts, issues, and goals of your plan. Once you have this, it is straightforward to plan the project as a whole, and to write it up. If you do not do things this way you run the risk of not seeing the forest for the trees (and getting lost) and not having others appreciate why your work was important. I vastly prefer not to be marking such a project.

You will need to be able to take direction from others (whether future bosses or your project advisor) and run with it. In general, those bosses and advisors will expect you to fill in the missing information and grasp the state of the art in the field, and to do so on your own. The standard tool for doing this is called the library :-) and can be accessed in person (gasp) or electronically. Often, your most important tools are databases such as Web of Science, IEEE Explore or, others, here. These databases have Google-like interfaces that are quite intuitive.

You are setting yourself up for a rough ride if you do not use such tools. Using the internet (e.g. via Google) is OK if you keep in mind that what you are getting has no quality control. Just for fun, try Googling "proof that Elvis is alive". If your whole premise rests on an untested bit of data you can expect a difficult time. Instead, use the above tools to find quality-controlled sources - these are known as 'peer-reviewed sources'. You will probably find these tools especially useful for finding reviews in your project area. Also useful are reference texts - as long as not published in a 'Vanity Press'. It is quite all right to have a great and well-justified hypothesis that turns out to be incorrect - this is part of the journey. It is not forgiveable to cut corners in the underlying research and to end up with a fatally-flawed result.

When people talk about the literature in a scientific/technical sense they are referring to such peer-reviewed sources. This literature is central to progress & development and I expect it to outlast Sol.

Give a brief one to three slide presentation on one of the following topics. You must provide me with a single-sided hardcopy - I will copy & distribute these later. (For many of you it will be especially important to apply for NSERC graduate scholarships.)

I will arrange lab tours in various research fields suitable for projects. All students are expected to attend all tours. In addition, I will present short summaries of various researchers and their work. The goal is to familiarise you with the possible paths forward, both for this project and your career.

Fields:

I will place updates of the tour schedule here in the next weeks - please press reload on your browser when returning.

I will be bringing listings of potential project titles along with descriptions. Many folk still assembling plans... Sit, Norcada, Fedosejevs etc. Stay tuned.

Do not delay! You do not need to rush - but you cannot afford to procrastinate. (Apart from Murphy and failing to think it through, procrastination is your biggest threat in this type of course.) Make up your own mind. As they say, measure twice and cut once! Do not commit prematurely and burn bridges later. If your plan is tentative, then say so!

Using the tools above (and similar), and with guidance from your potential advisor, assess the state of the art as it relates to your project.

By this time you should have a tentative plan of what you want to do and have discussed the scope of the project with your potential advisor (and with your instructor (Backhouse) if desired). (For those who have not finalised their thinking I want to hear their top choice so far in similar detail.) I will expect everyone to give an 'Elevator Pitch' (i.e. very succinct) description of their project idea and to be able to show familiarity with the state of the art (as conveyed by the advisor) & issues involved. You will be expected to discuss the mechanisms/principles, feasibility and risks of your project. I will want a 1-page document (on this date) that says what you want to do, why it is important and how it relates to the state of the art. I expect you to have defined 3 levels of success: (in consultation with your potential advisor)

We will discuss each project on these dates. I expect full class participation with insightful questions from the class. (Major brownie points for these...) This is a very effective way to troubleshoot ahead of time - rather than leap into potential troubles. This is a planning exercise. I am more concerned at this point with you thinking things through than I am that you have the final plan. Based on these discussions, many of you will refine this tentative plan for your final proposal and many will come up with another project idea after you have had class input & discussion that helped you spot major risks and issues. Similar situations in research and industry...

During this week I am available to meet everyone for an update on their project so far and to give them feedback.

By this time you will be expected to have a near-complete plan of what you may want to do. Much as above, I will expect everyone to be able to give an updated 'Elevator Pitch' (i.e. very succinct) description of their project idea and to be able to show familiarity with the state of the art (as reflected by the literature) & issues involved. This class is simply a check-in to see what is off the rails, and what is on track with each project.

An illustatrated elevator presentation of the 2 pager. This should be about 4 slides (4 minute talk, 2 minutes for changeover and Q & A). You will be expected to discuss the mechanisms/principles, state of the art (as supported by the literature), feasibility and risks of your project.

In-class discussion of project to that date. I will expect all to have a short point-form list of what they have accomplished & in discussion, to place this in the context of their proposal. Please be clear and succinct without waffle-words and jargon.

In-class brief presentations of projects to that date. As a guide, these presentations should be 3 minutes long with approximately 3 slides, and should summarize your progress and objectives. To be handed in: A one-page, point form, progress report listing accomplished tasks and status. Please be clear and succint without waffle-words.

A formal status report presentation. As a guide, these presentations should be about 6 minutes long with approximately 6 slides, and should summarize your progress and objectives.

A 12 minute oral presentation to advisors, employers and interested parties.

A 15 to 20 page project report.

This is a list of projects from recent years.