havent posted here in a while.... but I was wondering if there are any ee students from ucsc here? I'm finally finished up declaring ... (my third year) I have a meeting with my advisor Thursday. yet I really have no clue what electives I wanna take. Nor which track... althuogh the eletronics/ optics track sounds the most promising. Anyone have a clue? wtfs optoelectronics anywho?

 

I graduated computer engineering from ucsc in 2002...though I basically did the electrical engineering + optics track...I just didn't want to do the low level device physics type stuff....too much intense math

optoelectronics are devices that combine electronics and optics. an example would be a laser, photodiode, lcd, etc. anything that converts electrical energy to or from optical energy.

those courses will be heavy in fiber optics and the theory upon which they are based. there's a ton of really messy calculus in those types of classes so if you're into that kind of stuffl...just watch out; if you're not real good with calculus in 3 vars, you'll have trouble...

if you've got more specific questions i'd be happy to answer them...I didn't find it too easy to get a job in optics. I'm working as an electrical engineer right now

 

woohoo somebody I can ask questions. I'm alright in calculus, I hate physics though.... oh god do I hate physics... anywho. What kind of stuff are you doing now, what would be easiest to get a job after? Although that won't be for a while since I get to stay an extra two quarters for senior design. Would you happen to know what the differen between Communications, Signals, and Systems track is from the Signals and Control Systems track? Any general info you have would be great lol. After 3 years I still don't really know what I should be doing :/

 

whoah...uh
have you taken ee70?

i have no idea what the easiest thing to do to get a job after school is...i work as an electrical engineer. if you want to know the difference between the two tracks, go get the handouts from the advising department that tells you what the different classes you take are. then look them up in the course catalog to see the subject matter they cover. have you taken a look at them yet?

 

yea haha well I'm taking it now, phasors wee. Hmm I'm lookin at the handout now I guess I'll tenatively do optics track. and see how I like signals and such when I take 103 (Signals and Systems). *sigh*Did you take any particularly fun upperdiv classes ?

 

fun upper div classes? there arne't any

heh just kidding
depends what you're into...i like high speed digital design, microprocessor design, optical electronics, advanced circuits...hmmm what else.. oh verilog was cool

tha's about all i remember. if you can take a class with prof peterson you'll like it. you'll get to 121 for sure after you've passed ee70. who do you have for ee70? t

 

ohb tw earlier when i asked what you do i meant like what type of stuff? What do you work with etc? (Trying to see what I can expect in my future)

Mmm Peterson I'll look for some classes with him. I have Wentai Lui for ee70. I think he's pretty new? He use to teach at NC State or something. His research is pretty neat though. biotech stuff. the main thing hes working on is an eye implant for blind people that allows them to see again. haha that reminds me how interesting I find biotech, although I dont think I wanna do a year of biology.

Whats verilog?

Hmmm the CE stuff will be interesting. I've had my fill with CE 12 (use to be CS12C) and CE 16... not looking forward to 107 either. My ce friends who are taking it this quarter just got owned by the midterm.

Just curious what did you do your senior design project on?

 

my senior design was an optical autocorrelator. i worked for a professor and it was a 9 month project that allowed us to measure femtosecond optical pulses using a photodiode.

121 is computer engineering. 12c is a baby computer engineering class (basically just a programming class) and 16 is a math class. 107's a math class as well. and it sucks.

I studied computer engineering (which is usually chip design and programming) along with optics (lasers and fiber optics), but i'm working as an electrical engineer on the bradley fighting vehicle: http://www.udlp.com/prod/bradleyfam.htm

went from small fast things to big slow things. go figure.

verilog is a hardware descriptive language that allows people to make application specific programs to be flashed onto an fpga (field programmable gate array)

only advice i have is go what you like. its too difiicult a major if you don't like what you're learning. even if it takes you 5 years...

 

Yea haha I feel sorry for whoever has to grade my 12c labs... hehe my code= very redudent.

haha I dunno I wouldn't mind going to very slow things.... as long as it blew things up :P

femtosec... lol

hmm yea I guess I'll be able to figure it out more once I get a few more classes under my belt. CE classes are really interesting because I get to learn about how my comp works but programming is definatly not for me.

Did you have to take EE 151 when you were here?

 

ee151 what was that? i thought that was the optics class?

chip design is more interesting than programming. to me at least.

 

151 Communications Systems.

I know for the years before my curriculum chart it was a required class for EE, but come to think of it you probably didn't have to take it.

Oh how about ee 178 Device Electronics? haha things like that sounds interesting to me. :P

 

So have you looked into the full spectrum of electrical engineering? Just wondering how you decided on your track.

I don't go to ucsb but I'm sure ee is divided analogously (for undergrad obviously, the possibilities explode for a grad student) in all institutions and you're probably wondering about first job options.


Circuits and devices - analog design like transistors and stuff, IC fabrication, devices... well, circuits. Job - applications, process engineer for like ADI, National semi, Cypress, yada yada. If you like tinkering with circuits, and are interested in how chips are made, this is for you.

Computer hardware/software - pretty self explanatory although computer hardware actually gets very complicated. Hardware/software interface is a cool thing to know, I think Berkeley's EECS major is basically this. You probably have the most opportunities as an undergrad with this. Hardware verification for say NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, etc. Or as Musashi mentioned, FPGAs and microcontrollers - embedded systems - are needed in a lot of industry. If you like coding and how computers work, this is for you.

Fields and waves - the theoretical physics side. I'm not that familiar with this field but I suppose optoelectronics fits in it? Electromagnetics, as Musashi mentioned, is really hard.

Signal processing and communications - Lots of people do this too. Some fourier transform, sampling theory, statistical methods. Communications circuits are pretty fun to build and an exercise in banging your head against a wall wondering why signals crosstalk and crap doesn't work.

There's not much design or cool stuff you can do with an undergrad degree in EE, but obviously you might not be going the design route; your plan might be b-school or law school or what not.


Classes I think all ee undergrads should take (besides the core, duh, and regardless of concentration):
analog design (opamps, yo!)
controls theory
computer architecture
programming paradigms (like data structures, what is a programming language - one step up from a basic CS course)
IC fabrication

Also, some vector mechanics (statics, dynamics), a basic thermodynamics course, and maybe a fluids course. See the thing is these used to be required for all engineers to take like 50 years ago but since we've gotten more specialized not anymore, but I guarantee you will understand the world a lot more from some me courses.

 

Yeah I forgot to list, a class on Devices is a must. But if you're a superstar genius/sado-masochist, a class on analog design will force you to understand device physics and some controls (for feedback calculations)

 

You're working at BAE eh? You know an Addison Shelton there? He's working on some armored vehicle as well, don't know which. He was BSME '05, got hired by UD right before it was bought out and started for BAE

 

woah lots of info there Verc thanks. Computer hardware is pretty interesting to me. One of my friends is doing it but hes a CE major. Lol the thing is coding isnt something I'm that great at, although once I learn it its alright but I'm not natural at it.

Lol Looks like fields and waves is definatly not for me :P although I'll be taking the freaken class next quarter at 8am and I think the department chair is teaching it I'm in big trouble there lol. I barely remember my differential equations and that was last quarter, multivariable calc was 3 quarters ago or so.

b-school? definatly not law school haha my writing is teh suck. My BS was fine for HS but hasn't cut it in college (or my teacher just didnt like me)

oh wait business school? haha... umm I dunno I dont think so. I was thinking about going to graduate school but I'm not sure. I might just apply and see what happens I guess.

Oh and I was definatly wondering about first job options.

ug its gonna be tough to compete with EECS students though I was talking to a few.. its pretty crazy. lol some of them are definatly hating themselves.

*sigh* Guess I'll talk to my advisor thurs and see what comes of it.

btw verc whats your job descirption? or are you still in school?