Introducing Circuit Design In Freshmen Lab

The electrical and computer engineering curriculum at the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New Mexico State University now requires that students successfully complete a capstone design class (senior design project) before they can graduate. To reach this point, students need guidance and practice in design. If students are exposed to design early in their educations, then the capstone project won’t seem like such an insurmountable chore, but more of an interesting challenge. In lab, freshmen are led through the basic principles, and then asked to think about and design circuits. Since this is lab, they can then check their designs by building the circuits and testing them. This then lays the foundation for continued projects that will lead to the capstone class. In this paper, the lab structure and ideas will be presented that encourages students to begin designing circuits.