Incorporating Bioelectronics into ECE

1
Incorporating Bioelectronics into ECE

• Nihat Bilgutay
• Kevin Scoles
• Drexel University

2
Goals

• Update and broaden our undergraduate curriculum
• Many future careers will have a bio base
• Better prepare our students for future career
  opportunities
• Draw new students to the electrical engineering
  major
• Our faculty is majority EE
• Our student body is majority CE
• EE freshman enrollment has been flat over 5 years
• Retain students in electrical engineering with
  another interesting program choice

3
Justification

• One of the largest new growth areas impacting
  ECE education relates to the interface between
  biotechnology and electrical/computer/information
  sciences and engineering.
• D.L. Evans, S.M. Goodnick, R.J. Roedel, IEEE
  Transactions on Education, V46(4), 2003.

4
Justification

• An important player in 21st century engineering
  will be the biotraditional engineer, the
  recipient of a traditional engineers training
  and a modicum of exposure to life science.
• M.H. Friedman, J. Biomechanical Eng, V123,
  December 2001

5
Our Situation

• ECE Department
• CE Degree
• EE Degree
• Electronics Track
• Telecom/DSP Track
• Electrical Engineering (Power/Controls) Track
• School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and
  Health Systems
• Outside the College of Engineering

6
Our Situation

• First Year Courses Common across COE
• Two chemistry courses, one biology course
• Second Year Courses Departmental introductions
  (logic, circuits, programming) on top of common
  core
• Third - Fourth Years Track cores, math, ECE
  electives, liberal studies
• Fifth Year - Sr sequence, Sr Design, ECE
  electives, liberal studies
• Coop Experience 50 of AY time 2nd-4th years

7
Approaches Being Considered

• We can put together a program using new or
  existing ECE courses, BMES courses, and
  fundamental life sciences courses that will be
• High quality
• Of interest to new and current students and our
  faculty
• OK with ABET
• Compatible with BMES degree offerings

8
Approaches Being Considered

• Full EE Track in BioElectronics
• New courses to be EE electives
• A new Bio emphasis in existing courses
• A mixture of all these approaches

9
Approaches Being Considered

• Full EE Track in BioElectronics
• Combine existing EE courses with several from
  biomedical engineering and biological sciences to
  create a new track
• New courses to be EE electives
• A new Bio emphasis in existing courses
• A mixture of all these approaches

10
Approaches Being Considered

• Full EE Track in BioElectronics
• New courses to be EE electives
• Develop new courses that ECE students could take
  as technical electives within the existing track
  structure
• A new Bio emphasis in existing courses
• A mixture of all these approaches

11
Approaches Being Considered

• Full EE Track in BioElectronics
• New courses to be EE electives
• A new Bio emphasis in existing courses
• Introduce bio-related signals, devices, circuits
  into existing courses
• ECES 302 Transform Methods
• ECEE 352 Analog Electronics
• others
• A mixture of all these approaches

12
EE Curriculum
First Year, Terms 1-3 Common COE Core
Second Year, Terms 4-5 ECE Intros Common COE
Core
Third Year, Term 6 Common EE Core
Electronics Track Terms 7-12
Electrical Eng Track Terms 7-12
Telecom/DSP Track Terms 7-12
13
Electronics Track by TermYears 1 and 2
14
Electronics Track by TermYears 3 through 5
15
Electronics Track by TermTrack Requirements
16
Electronics Track by TermElective Slots
17
Other Tracks, CE Provide Electives
Electrical Eng Track
Electronics Track Terms 7-12
Telecom/DSP Track
Computer Eng
Core and Technical Electives
18
Conclusions

• Of the biotraditional fields, EE seems to be
  lagging behind our colleagues in mechanical,
  materials, chemical engineering in incorporating
  biological topics into our curriculum
• The electronics that span the bio fields are core
  to our discipline
• Signal processing, bioinformatics, imaging,
  sensors, medical instrumentation, etc.
• We need to be involved in bio focused curricular
  initiatives, and must find the best way to get
  started
• We find the best students in the technical
  fields, judged by SATs and HS GPAs, are going to
  biomed rather than ECE

19
Chemical Biological Foundations of Eng III

• Organic Chemistry hydrocarbons saturated,
  unsaturated, aromatic functional groups acids,
  esters, ethers,
• Water and hydrogen bonds
• Biological molecules carbohydrates and lipids
  proteins and nucleic acids
• Cells, cell membrane structure and function
• Bioenergetics thermodynamics, coupled reactions
• Enzymes and regulation
• Photosynthesis
• Glycolysis
• Respiration oxidative phosphorylation, electron
  transport
• Energy procurement nutrition and digestion
• DNA structure, replication of DNA
• The central dogma DNA ? RNA ? polypeptide
• Mendelian genetics
• Evolution, natural selection
• Ecology populations, population growth