Policy Changes for EE 464
Starting Fall 2007, EE 464K, H, and R student project teams will be 4 members (or 3 with permission). This is to fulfill our educational objectives of (1) having a significant team project experience as two persons are not considered a team); (2) having a more complex project that spans several areas of ECE; and (3) allowing EE 364D student teams to carry their teams and projects forward into EE 464.
EE 464C will be approved only for CAREER employees working full time (or nearly so) in the Austin area and returning to school for the BS degree. This is the need that this course was expected to fulfill when it was originated. This is the only way that 1 (or 2) person teams will be allowed to participate in EE 464. This will be the new requirement for #quot;electrical engineering student working full-time in industry#quot;.
EE 464R and H students can mix together to form teams of 4 to work on professor-supervised or sponsored projects.
EE 464 projects can be carried forward from EE 364D (replacing EE 155) to be completed in EE 464 with approval of the final assignment, System Design report. These can be considered K projects if supervised by the 464 staff, or H and R projects if there is a supervising or sponsoring professor. Teams short one member can recruit a teammate from the EE 464K, H, and R students.
Note to Applied Research Laboratories (ARL) student employees: We will continue to accept ARL generated projects in EE 464H and 464R however the teams will have to be 3 or 4 persons. ARL supervisors are normally accepted as supervising or sponsoring faculty for these projects. ARL employees wishing to take EE 464C will have to meet the Career employee condition.
EE 464C is intended to serve permanent employees that are getting a degree. Some evidence of this might be:
- Job Title: Permanent title such as technician (not intern, coop, or summer employee).
- Employment start date: Started work before starting or returning to school for the BSEE.
- Employment continuity: Employed at full time (or more than half time during long semesters) continuously. Not returning to school without working; no breaks in employment.
Basically, this course is not intended for students who have work experience combining summer, intern, or coop employment. For these students, our accredited program puts them into the teams of 3-4 scheme (enrolled for EE 464H, K, R, G).
Admission to EE 464C (after employment approval), EE 464H (after GPA approval), and EE 464R is by submission of a project outline signed by the student team members and the supervisor/sponsor professor (and employer for EE 464C). These outlines are due 1 week before the first day of class of the semester the course is taken. Instructions, format examples, and employer letter examples appear on the EE 464 web site. A committee of four professors regularly involved in EE 464 will read the team's outline and approve it or return it for revisions.
Other Options for Student Projects:
- Job related projects can still be done in EE 360 (or EE X60). EE 360, Special Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering, may count as Technical Elective (one time), not as substitute for EE 464.
- Job related projects that are of interest to a UT professor or ARL scientist/engineer can be done in EE 464 by a team of 3-4 registered for H and/or R. But, the logistics of putting this team together might be difficult.
- Fall 2007 (phase-out exceptions for admission to EE 464C) In the long term, a course within a course (greatly different team sizes and related course schedule differences) is not viable, nor does it meet our educational objectives related to the goals and outcomes we desire for ABET accreditation. However, we will likely run a number of EE 464C one and two-person teams this fall semester during the transition period.