Title:	ECE/CS 3991   -   Computer Engineering Junior Seminar   -   Fall 2014
Instructor:	Ken Stevens, kstevens@ece.utah.edu, MEB 4506, 801-585-9176
Classes:	Tue 10:45am - 12:05pm, MEB 3147
Office Hours:	by appointment
Writing Consultation:	Aditi Risbud, by appointment, WEB 1704
Web Page:	www.eng.utah.edu/~kstevens/3991/
Prerequisites:	Computer Engineering major status

This course will serve three primary purposes. First, it will familiarize the students with current trends and career opportunities in Computer Engineering through presentations by industry and faculty members. The second aspect of the course is to provide an education and practice on technical writing for engineers. Third, factors that are important in the engineering profession including professionalism, ethics, the impact of engineering in global and societal contexts, lifelong learning, and contemporary issues will be discussed.

Refer to the College of Engineering Guidelines for more detail on appeals, disabilities, adding, and withdrawing from courses.

Incomplete Policy:	You can't get an incomplete unless you have a documented medical or legal emergency.
Add/Drop Policy:	The standard University Policy is applied.
Disability:	If you have a condition that merits consideration, you must contact the instructor at the beginning of the course.

Attendance: In this semester you will learn about the computer engineering discipline by listening and asking questions to invited speakers. Therefore, attendance is mandatory. To receive full credit for attendance, you must attend at least 14 of the 15 seminars. Also, since it is inconsiderate to the speakers when attendees arrive late or leave early, half of the attendance points will be deducted for those who do so. Attendance for Aditi Risbud's two lectures on writing are mandatory.

Report: Writing skills will be exercised and evaluated through a written report. The subject of the report will be a Computer Engineering technical topic of your choice; preferably one presented during the seminar. The report will be 4-6 pages long and formatted as an IEEE technical paper with references. You will need to read papers on your chosen subject and write a detailed report on that subject. Your paper can be written as a survey paper or as a detailed technical description of a particular Computer Engineering topic. It will include at least two figures and five references. Click for Detailed requirements of the report.

Extra credit: Students can receive extra credit by attending another seminar (with prior approval) such as an ECE or SoC distinguished lecture or graduate seminar, and writing a one page summary of the talk. Extra credit is limited to two such seminars.

This list is subject to change:

Date Due	Description
Aug 26th	Ken Stevens University of Utah - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sep 2nd	Ken Stevens LaTeX Primer
Sep 9th	Chris Myers University of Utah - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sep 16th	Dave Morrison University of Utah - Marriott Library Patent Landscape and Searching
Sep 23rd	Blaine Prestwich On Semiconductor Mixed Signal Design
Sept 30th	Olga Filippova Elphel, Inc.
Oct 7th	Tim Hollis Micron Corp
Oct 21st	Jeff England Sandisk
Oct 28th	Aditi Risbud University of Utah - College of Engineering Technical Writing Skills
Nov 4th	Ryan Hoobler Code Corp.
Nov 11th	Ross Walker Electrical and Computer Engineering Technical paper draft due at the beginning of class
Nov 18th	Erik Brunvand University of Utah - Computer Science
Nov 25th	Darrin Young University of Utah - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dec 3rd	Tom Armstrong Raytheon
Dec 9th	Jeff Walling University of Utah - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dec 16th	Final Technical paper due

Developing writing skills requires practice. However, there are methods to accelerate this process. One of the best resources is the book The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Please read the 1918 edition linked above, and even better purchase the 3rd Edition. Another great reference is A. Hofmann's Scientific Writing and Communication.

LaTeX is a professional typesetting language. It is a markup language (as is HTML) that embeds typesetting and formatting information with the text. It is the preferred document creation language for engineers. If you intend to continue to a research based degree (such as an Thesis based Master's Degree or Ph.D.) or intend to perform research in industry, then it is strongly advised that you use LaTeX. If you turn in any documents created using windoze software, please convert them to pdf documents.

LaTeX links (These just scratch the surface)

• Web based projects don't require install and allow multiple editors
  • sharelatex.com
  • writelatex.com
• To help you get started, you can use this simple example latex source with its bibliography and IEEE Conference class files.
• LaTeX Manual
• Math Symbols Cheatsheet
• LaTeX Tutorial from Cornell
• The pgf manual for creating stunning graphics.
• GUI Interface for latex. (Note: I have not used this but others have found it very helpful.)

Technical Document Formatting

• IEEE formatting instructions for your document

Online Resources

• The helpful Grammar Girl website.
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
• Unit rules and style conventions from NIST.

Presentations and documents regarding writing and document preparation from previous Junior seminars

• 2013
  • How to Search the US Patent Database for references.
• 2012
  • Technical Writing Basics
  • IEEE Style Overview
• 2010
  • Guide to Technical Writing
• 2009
  • Concise Writing presentation.
  • IEEE Paper Guidelines presentation.
• 2008
  • Grammar and Style Brief presentation.
  • Writing Equations in Word (not a recommended exercise ;-)
  • Grammar document (note problems of formatting in word...)
  • Paper Headings document (note problems of formatting in word...)
  • Paper Structure (inverted pyramid).
  • References document.