Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1093246
MARCH 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 17 but now, it's a common first year. My digital logic class went from being electrical, mechani- cal, and civil engineers who hated being there but had to take it, to electrical and com- puter engineers and a bunch of computer science students who want to be there because it's in their major. Given all of that, I always give them a very straightforward and fair first test on Boolean algebra, but the average score is always around 55. If you ask any stu- dent, "Was the test fair? Should we know how to do this?" They would say, "Oh, yeah." Something about learning digital logic is a major context switch for students. Basic mathematics in binary seems to confuse students who have been through semesters of calculus and differential equations. So, even with the students changing, this hasn't been any different; it's the same frustrating thing this year after year (laughs). I can't seem to change it no matter what I do. It just appears to be part of the learning process that sopho- more-level students must go through. Shaughnessy: Do you have programs set up with local companies? Spivey: Yes, A-Dec has an internship with us. We don't do MECOP [Multiple Engineering Cooperative Program, the Oregon-based co-op program] because we're on semesters, but we invite companies to job fairs in the fall. Because it's a small school, students can receive more attention and direction than at a larger school, so that can be an advantage for our students. We have a lot of private communications with industry companies where we can promote our students to them. Shaughnessy: I think it's great that they get to go out and give back to the community. Spivey: The Servant Engineering Program has evolved continually over the years. The origi- nal idea was to get students to use their skills to help other people, and we realized fairly quickly that students have lim- ited skills. We said, "That makes sense; that's why they're in school." So, we've had to revise to the program to give them more guidance throughout. We have worked very hard to keep the emphasis on teaching engi- neers how to use their gifts to serve others. We're happy with the direction of the program now and are excited to keep point- ing engineers to a life of service. Shaughnessy: This has been great, Gary. We talk to new EEs about manufacturing, and a lot of them say, "How would we learn about fabrication? We only learned formulas." Spivey: There are a lot of details involved in getting into fabrication, but you just have to let the students learn them as you go. We have a 20-page design rule check that the students hate, but it's full of every stupid thing we've done. I had a student once who had learned about blind and buried vias. That sounded useful the him, so he put some in. He had no idea that those are expensive and are not done with the fabrication methods we use. Now, we have a part of the design rule check that says "Are you using blind or buried vias? Stop it." The design rules are full of things like that. It is important to try and capture all of the details and resources and keep those available for stu- dents each year with each year learning from the previous years. Johnson: That's great. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Spivey: I don't think so. Thank you for the opportunity. Johnson: Thanks again, Gary. DESIGN007 Gary Spivey