EE 4161 -- Changes

Mon Nov 23 13:20:45 2009

Course: New:  EE 4161W
Old:  EE 4161
Proposal Changes: New:  Proposal to change course to writing intensive
Old:  <no text provided>
Propose this course
as Writing Intensive
curriculum:
New:  Yes
Old:  No
Question 1: What types of writing (e.g., reading essay, formal lab reports, journaling) are likely to be assigned? Include the page total for each writing assignment. Indicate which assignment(s) students will be required to revise and resubmit after feedback by the instructor or the graduate TA.

New:  The writing portion of the course will consist of a proposal, annotated bibliography, and final report.  The proposal will be at least 3 pages, reviewed by the instructors, and sent back for revision.  The annotated bibliography will be at least 3 pages.  The final report will be 15 pages.  
Old:  <no text provided>
Question 2: How does assigning a significant amount of writing serve the purpose of this course?

New:  The students will learn to make engineering recommendations in technical areas where design and analysis involve a complex balance between technical, economic, and sociological considerations.  This course touches on many different facets of energy and its storage and so is amenable to written exploration.
Old:  <no text provided>
Question 3: What types of instruction will students receive on the writing aspect of the assignments?

New:  There will be instructor feedback on the proposal and the weekly homework.  Assigned reading material will be chosen to highlight specifically well-written material.
Old:  <no text provided>
Question 4: How will the students' grades depend on their writing performance? What percentage of the overall grade will be dependent on the quality and level of the students' writing compared with the course content?

New:  Final Report - 15% of final grade
Weekly Written Homework - 20% of final grade

75% of the grade for these items will depend on the clarity and effectiveness of the students' written communication as well as the written justification of their conclusions.

Old:  <no text provided>
Question 5: If graduate students or peer tutors will be assisting in this course, what role will they play in regard to teaching writing?

New:  TAs will assist in grading and providing feedback on the weekly assignments.  The instructors will be grading and providing feedback on the proposal and final report.
Old:  <no text provided>
Question 6: How will the assistants be trained and supervised?

New:  TAs go through standard university training.  Instructors will have weekly meetings with Teaching Assistants to go over course content and communicate standards and emphasis.
Old:  <no text provided>
Question 7: Write up a sample assignment handout here for a paper that students will revise and resubmit after receiving feedback on the initial draft.

New:  Report Proposal:

Propose a topic to explore. This topic should be important or become important to energy storage and conversion technologies.  This proposal should be approximately three pages in length and should highlight the following issues and concerns (emphasis will be different in different reports):
1. What is the technical scope of the proposal pertaining to the applications?
2. What is the scope of the proposal pertaining to the theoretical operation?
3. What is the scope of the proposal pertaining to research?
4. What role will this technology play in meeting technical needs? What are the economic and sociological concerns?

This is meant to be a technical document. In each of these, there should be sufficient technical content that we can judge the scope to be discussed in the final report.  This proposal will be revised and returned to the student with possible significant changes to the scope.

Old:  <no text provided>
Provisional
Syllabus:
Please provide a provisional syllabus for new courses and courses in which changes in content and/or description and/or credits are proposed that include the following information: course goals and description; format/structure of the course (proposed number of instructor contact hours per week, student workload effort per week, etc.); topics to be covered; scope and nature of assigned readings (texts, authors, frequency, amount per week); required course assignments; nature of any student projects; and how students will be evaluated.

The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards for Semester Conversion" at http://www.fpd.finop.umn.edu/groups/senate/documents/policy/semestercon.html . Provisional course syllabus information will be retained in this system until new syllabus information is entered with the next major course modification, This provisional course syllabus information may not correspond to the course as offered in a particular semester.

New:  EE4940,  Spring 2010

Energy Conversion and  Storage Devices:
fundamentals and applications

Credits: 3
Instructors: P.I. Cohen and P. Imbertson
Time: 11:15 ¿ 12:30 Tues and Thurs
Prerequisites: EE3161, IT, or consent of instructor

Goal: To develop an understanding of the physics and applications of devices that are key to a clean energy environment with an electrical engineering perspective.

Overview: Energy issues have now reached a level of urgency that unconventional applications of existing devices and the  development of new electrical devices have become necessary.  The current curriculum, however, neglects the study of many of these, partly because their understanding requires a diverse background in physics and chemistry.  In this general study,  we will examine  the fundamental physics and chemistry of selected energy conversion and energy storage devices and connect with their electric power applications.   The role of the grid and application to electric vehicles will be examined.  The format of the course will consist of lectures, laboratory, and student presentations.

The course will satisfy breadth requirements in either microelectronics or power systems.

Outline:

1.        Energy
2.        Energy storage applications
3.        Review of device physics and elementary thermodynamics
4.        Photovoltaic solar cells
5.        Battery storage systems
6.        Super capacitors
7.        Fuel Cells
8.        Thermoelectric devices
9.        Energy harvesting devices
10.        Utility scale systems
11.        Comparisons
12.        Student presentations

Grading: 65% tests (3), 15% project, 10% homework  (no final)&#8207;

Tests: Feb 24, April 7, May 7

Key deadline: Project request by Jan 27

Lab Room: EECSci 6-166

Old:  EE4940,  Spring 2009

Energy Conversion and  Storage Devices:
fundamentals and applications

Credits: 3
Instructors: P.I. Cohen and P. Imbertson
Lab TA: Nick Gabriel (nick.gabriel@gmail.com)
Time: 11:15 ¿ 12:30 Tues and Thurs
Prerequisites: EE3161, IT, or consent of instructor

Goal: To develop an understanding of the physics and applications of devices that are key to a clean energy environment with an electrical engineering perspective.

Overview: Energy issues have now reached a level of urgency that unconventional applications of existing devices and the  development of new electrical devices have become necessary.  The current curriculum, however, neglects the study of many of these, partly because their understanding requires a diverse background in physics and chemistry.  In this general study,  we will examine  the fundamental physics and chemistry of selected energy conversion and energy storage devices and connect with their electric power applications.   The role of the grid and application to electric vehicles will be examined.  The format of the course will consist of lectures, laboratory, and student presentations.

The course will satisfy breadth requirements in either microelectronics or power systems.

Outline:

1.        Energy
2.        Energy storage applications
3.        Review of device physics and elementary thermodynamics
4.        Photovoltaic solar cells
5.        Battery storage systems
6.        Super capacitors
7.        Fuel Cells
8.        Thermoelectric devices
9.        Energy harvesting devices
10.        Utility scale systems
11.        Comparisons
12.        Student presentations

Grading: 25% per test (3), 15% project, 10% homework  (no final)&#8207;

Tests: Feb 24, April 7, May 7

Key deadline: Project request by Jan 27

Lab Room: EECSci 6-166