Restructuring Digital Design Courses in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Programs, Preparing the Engineer of 2020

As the complexity of microelectronic systems is steadily increasing, universities must update their curriculum to cope with the increased demands of the industry. New technologies and tools are frequently introduced into the engineering workplace, and educational programs must find a way to integrate many of these into their offerings. In the areas of digital system design, the industrial use of programmable logic devices (FPGA, CPLD), associated EDA tools and HDL languages is increasing rapidly and consequently the demand for highly qualified engineers with this type of expertise is increasing at a fast rate. Trying to address the current and future needs of the industry in the areas of digital system design, instructors and members of the Industry Advisory Board of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Department at Farmingdale State College-SUNY, are in the process of restructuring the digital design sequence of courses, placing a strong emphasis in the study of modern tools, technologies and current industrial practices while considering the characteristics of the student population at this school and their educational needs. The results of the current restructuring process, challenges presented by the process, “lessons learned” are presented. Plans for the future include more access to “hands-on experiences” for students using hardware platforms secured by grants and industry donations.