A Combined Research And Curriculum (Crcd) Program In Signal Processing For Communications

This paper describes a combined curriculum and research program that aims to provide scientific and investigative experiences to undergraduate (UG) students by immersing them into Electrical Engineering communications and signal processing research. Our objective is to raise the interest of undergraduates in thesis-oriented research and hence attract them to graduate education programs or prepare them for research careers in the industry. The innovation includes the development of research modules that expose UG students to signal processing for communications (SP-COM) research. These modules are taken by students across the Electrical Engineering SP-COM curriculum. Four interrelated modules are first injected in early junior-level “Signal and systems” and “Random signal analysis” courses and then in senior-level “Digital signal processing” and “Communications systems” courses. In addition, a new senior-level elective UG course entitled “Introduction to signal processing for communications research,” is being developed for Fall 2005. Evaluation and assessment procedures are in place to evaluate the modules and measure the success of our objectives.