Fawwaz Ulaby of the Department of Electircal Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan presented a colloquium speech to students and faculty of the department on November 5. His first talk was titled ""RF Broadband Frequency Allocation, Challenges and Tribulations"" and explained the mobile telephone providers' needs to acquired additonal spectrum allocations as they plan for next generation (or 5th Generation -- ""5G"") mobile telephone service. The new spectrum will be provided by a combination of reallocation of spectrum currently allocated to government use (mostly DoD allocations) and new allocations in the millimeter band.
The second talk, titled ""Teaching Fundamentals in Electrical and Computer Engineering"", focused on the use a three pronged approach to improve student perception of the connection between theory and hardware. The theory-hardware connection is established by 1) a mathematical analysis of a circuit or system, 2) simulation of the circuit to confirm the mathematical analysis, and 3) measurements from the circuit itself. This novel approach is supported by innovative laboratory exercises in his three text books dedicated to circuits, electromagnetics, and systems.
The department currently uses his textbooks for ECEn 360 and ECEn 380, part of our integrated junior core.