DepartmentofElectrical&ComputerEngineering

ECE 590

Syllabus: ECE 590: ECE Seminar, Fall 2016

1 credit, 50 minutes/week, 16 weeks
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.
Intelligence plus character that is the goal of true education. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Instructor:
Office Location:
Office Hours:
Class:

Dr. Jane Lehr

ECE 323B
by appointment
Friday 3 PM in Dane Smith Hall Rm 324 Rm 123

Email:

jmlehr@unm.edu

Phone:

505-277-1749

Course options:

Offered as Credit/ No Credit only: In class and ONL

Course Objectives

To gain an appreciation for engineering topics other than your own field of study.

To meet and exchange information with your graduate cohort and other attendees.

To understand the basics of professional meeting etiquette and hosting visitors.

To observe technical presentation styles with the intent of developing your own style.

Class Structure: There will be 12 seminars and 2 Free Assignments. There will be no ECE 590
Graduate Seminar on September 9, 2016. The last ECE 590 Graduate Seminar will be held on
December 2, 2016. The Free Assignments are to attend another seminar or technical gathering of
your choice. These may be the IEEE Albuquerque Joint Chapter meeting, a Science on Tap
event, a UNM Physics Colloquia. No more than one OSE Seminar may be used. Attendance will
be verified by having the host of the event sign the sheet provided on LEARN. Issues which may
arise should be addressed with the instructor.
Grades & Attendance: It is very important that you sign the attendance sheet for every seminar
you attend. The sign in sheet will be collected after the introduction of the speaker. Coming after
this time will not be counted. In the event that a seminar must be missed due to illness or
professional travel, the video of the seminar may be viewed and summarized according to the
instructions for the ONL section. Please notify me in advance by sending me an email
(jmlehr@unm.edu). No more than two make-up seminars will be allowed without permission
from the instructor.
Cell Phones and Technology - Please turn off cell phones, tablets and laptops prior to the
beginning of class. Notify me in advance if you are monitoring an emergency, for which ringers
should be switched to vibrate. As a matter of courtesy, I expect your attention to be directed to
the speaker who has graciously accepted our invitation.

TheUniversityofNewMexicoMSC0111001UniversityofNewMexicoAlbuquerque,NM871310001Phone505.277.2436Fax505.277.1439www.ece.unm.edu
Electrical&ComputerEngineeringBuilding,Room125

Feedback: Constructive criticism is vital to the engineering practice of continual improvement. I

welcome feedback on all topics. Comments may be sent to jmlehr@unm.edu.
Seminar Speaker Selection: Please note that sincere efforts are made to represent each of the
different tracks, interdisciplinary topics as well as those from different branches of science or
engineering, and speakers with different perspectives such as academia, industry and national
laboratories. However, ideal mixes are rarely realized and your understanding is appreciated.
Summary preparation instructions for Video Viewing:
The summary should be formatted as a Word document with Times New Roman font 12, spaced
lines setting at 1.15, and 1 inch margins. There should be no blank lines between paragraphs. If
you use bullets, you will need to compensate for the blank space with additional text, going over
to the second page. Include a concluding paragraph summarizing what was the most
interesting/valuable part of the talk from your perspective. Make sure you put your name and the
date/title/speaker of the seminar at the top of your summary. The header section should not,
however, be longer than 4-5 lines. If it is longer than 5 lines, or if you insert blank lines between
paragraphs, you will need to provide at least the same number of lines of additional text on the
second page. If you choose to insert figures, those will not count towards the 1-page requirement.
Please make sure you run a spelling and grammar checker on your summaries. Before sending it
to me, please proofread your summary carefully. Inferior summaries will be returned for no
credit. Strict compliance to these instructions is expected. Send your summary through UNM
Learn no later than 3 weeks after the seminar was given.