Peer Advice: what senior design courses would you advise engineering students to take?

There are so many choices. What are the best senior design courses to take, when should they be taken, and why? Don't forget to say what is your major.

• I would really like to know what students think about EPICS. In particular, what are the reasons an ECE student would choose EPICs over a standard senior design course, and vice-versa. --Mboutin 12:24, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

• First I would like to clarify that VIP currently is an experimental course, and this is the main reason for which it can NOT be counted as Senior Design credits. But this may change soon. My knowledge about EPICS probably is not enough to compare VIP and EPICS fairly (I am the TA for VIP), so I will just present my opinion about VIP. VIP is a hands-on experience on which you can apply concepts from different classes such as 301, 438, 201, (just to name a few), and at the same time it challenges students to learn new concepts while developing solutions to real problems. Among its many selling points, I would say that the experience of working directly with one or two professors and a couple of grad students is what makes VIP special. In a classic classroom you "share" your professor and TA with 30, 40 or even more students, whereas in VIP the teams don't have more than 8 to 10 people. If you are interested or wondering about how grad school would be, then taking VIP is your first step. VIP teams are independent of each other and have different goals and grading philosophies, depending mostly on the leading professor(s), which is very much like grad school. Each team has regular meetings (usually weekly meetings) on which the students present the advances that they have made on the project, discuss its difficulties and obstacles, and receive feedback from the professors and grad students mentoring the team, which is again, very much like grad school. Probably I am extending too much so I will stop here. I’d recommend visiting our website for more information http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~vip/. --Mortz 3:34pm, 20 November 2009 (UTC)
  • Is this a good course to take for students interested in doing research? -pm (ECE)

• I have participated in EPICS but not for my senior design, regardless I should be able to give you some insight on what to expect if you plan on taking the EPICS route. EPICS is a multi disciplinary class so you will have the opportunity to see how you knowledge and work interacts with other disciplines. That said not all EPICS projects may utilize all or some of your skills or may be in need of other skill sets. However, there are many projects to pick from in EPICS and you should be able to find one that interests you and utilizes your abilities to the fullest. It is also highly recommended that you go talk to the professors running said projects and see if the projects you are interested in are really what you expect them to be. Also if you want to see how your abilities can impact a community I highly recommend participating in EPICS during your college carrier. --Longja 12:10, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
  • Would you recommend EPICS to a student interested in doing research? -pm (ECE)

• ECE students: is it a good idea for a EE student to take ECE477, or for a CE student to take ECE402? -pm (ECE)
  • I am going to do ECE 477 next semester and i am really excited for it.The best thing about ECE 477 is the independance to choose one's project.Ece 362(Microprocessors) is the pre requisite course.Digital Design is a completely digital course which includes embedded programming.On the other hand Ece 402 is absolutely analog in nature.In 477 an individual maintains a weekly blog about the project which is a good practice of documenting ones work.Ece 477 is a good experience ,as a group may consist of EE and CompE students and hence its a good learning experience for individuals of the respective fields.Digital design is group project and every individual is responsible for a certain of the project but the completion of the project as a whole is a responsiblity of all the group members.However in ECE 402 a project is divided into parts among the members of the team and a particular members is responsible to complete his tasks only.Though mainly CompE students pursue 477,but EEs can take it too as a EE can apply his EE knowledge to make an application.For eg. one can use DSP knowledge to build sound recognition system and etc. Both 402 and 477 are interesting courses ,the main difference is analog and digital nature of the respectives.Its upto student's preference of what he/she likes.----Apanja 08:19, 24 November 2009 (UTC)
    • Let us know how it turns out at the end of the semester! --Mboutin 12:36, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

• I'm not sure I would want to do EPICS over a senior design course. I would feel like I wasn't getting as much out of everything I had learned throughout college. I like the idea of being able to apply classes, even if it is not directly applicable to what I'll be doing in a job after college. I just see senior design as a better overall experience for somebody who wants to see how ideas from class can relate to designing and building something. ---Mbuckenm 21:24, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

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