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Current Undergraduates

New Courses for Spring 2010

Courses for concentrations Spring 2010:


SMG SI 480: The Business of Technology Innovation (Levine, F 9:30 – 12:30)
This course explores the nature of entrepreneurial business. Where do business ideas come from and how can you figure out which ones are good? What goes on in each corporate department, and how do these departments interact with each other and engineering? How does the money work and what’s the story behind venture capital? Companies publish regular business and financial reports – what do they mean and if I get one from my employer how can I tell what is going on? What are some of the things I need to know if I want to work at a startup? What if I want to start my own company? Drawing from business writings, the stories of real companies and even the business news, the course will examine these topics in a real-world context.

ENG EC/ME/SE 543 - Sustainable Power Systems (Caramanis, MW 2-4)
Planning, Operation and Markets Breakthroughs in clean energy generation technologies and the advantage of exploiting efficiently the available work in fossil fuels will render electricity the dominant energy form in a sustainable environment future. We review the key characteristics of Electric Power Transmission and Distribution (T&D) networks and the associated planning and operation requirements that ensure supply adequacy, system security and stability. Capital asset investment and operation cost minimization is discussed in a systems engineering context where the assets as well as the dynamic behavior of generators, T&D networks, and loads interact. Recent developments in the formation of competitive wholesale markets at the High Voltage Transmission system level, the associated market participation and clearing rules and the market clearing optimization algorithms are presented and analyzed in terms of their effectiveness in fostering cost reflective price signals and competitive conditions that encourage optimal distributed/not-centralized investment and operating decisions. Finally, we present T&D congestion and supply-demand imbalance related barriers to the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly and economically efficient technological breakthroughs, and propose a systems engineering and real-time retail-market based coordination of centralized as well as decentralized generation, storage and load management resources that is able to achieve desirable synergies and mitigate these barriers. 4 cr
Prereq: Graduate/Senior status and consent of instructor.

EC 573 - Solar Energy Systems (Mazunder, MW 10-12)
This course is designed for first year engineering graduate students and engineering undergraduate seniors. It is intended to educate students in the design and applications of solar energy technology. It will focus on fundamentals of solar energy conversion, solar cells, optical engineering, photoelectrochemical cells, thermoelectric generators, and energy storage and distribution systems. The course also covers solar energy insolation and global energy needs, current trends in photovoltaic energy engineering, solar cell material science, design and installation of solar panels for residential and industrial applications and connections to the national grid and cost analysis of the overall system. In addition, basic manufacturing processes for the production of solar panels, environmental impacts, and the related system engineering aspects will be included to provide a comprehensive state-of-the-art approach to solar energy utilization. 4cr.
Prere: EK408, graduate standing or permission of the instructor. EC471 is suggested.

ENG EK 280/SO277 Technology and Society (Ruane, Smith-Doerr, TR 12:30-2)
Examination of technology as a fundamental element of and driving force in our culture. Balanced understanding of the promises, consequences, and dilemmas brought about by specific technologies. Opportunity to improve critical thinking abilities and to broaden perspectives and sense of responsibility of new professionals as they become involved in decisions related to technology. ENG EK 280 (for engineering students) meets with CAS SO 277 (for non-engineering students) and fulfills 4 credit hours of social science elective as a sociology course. The course cannot be used as a core elective.

EK 335 - Environmental Engineering (Pal, TR 8-10)
This course provides a technical introduction to a wide range of environmental engineering topics. The objective is to quantitatively understand and analyze environmental problems confronting modern society. Topics covered include mass and energy balance for analyzing environmental engineering concepts, population growth, models for resource consumption and risk analysis, energy systems, air pollution and prevention strategies, water quality assessment and supply issues, drinking and waste water treatment, solid waste treatment and management strategies, and resource recovery and recycling. Relevant existing laws and regulations are also reviewed in the context of the topics covered. This is a foundational course that will help in analyzing and mitigating the environmental impact of various human activities related to economic growth and sustainability.

ENG BE 400 A1: Transport Phenomenon in Biological Systems (Zaman, MW 8-10)
Biological Systems operate at multiple length scales and all scales depend intrinsically on internal and external transport of molecules, ions, fluids and heat. This course is designed to introduce the fundamentals of biological transport and to apply these fundamentals in understanding physiological processes involving fluid, mass and heat transfer. Students will learn the fundamental conservation principles and constitutive laws that govern heat, mass and momentum transport processes and systems as well as the constitutive properties that are encountered in typical biological problems. Transport is also critical to the development and proper functioning of biological and medical instruments and devices, which will also be discussed. Biomedical examples will include applications in development of the heart-lung machine, estimation of time of death in post-mortem cases, burn injuries through hot water, respiratory flow in smokers lungs etc. 4 credits NOTE: This course satisfies the Biomedical elective requirement

ENG BE 500 A1: Systems Biology of Disease (Kasif, MW 2-4)
This course will train students to apply or develop new computational network and machine learning concepts to probe into the systems biology of disease. The course will cover computational frameworks such as biological networks (including metabolic, regulatory and signal transduction networks), microarray analysis, proteomic analysis, next. generation sequencing, imaging, machine learning, genetics, pathway analysis and other technologies to medical diseases initially focusing on clinical problems such as cancer, diabetes, inflammation and aging. The course is aimed at seniors and graduate students in biomedical engineering or bioinformatics. However, students from other disciplines ranging from medicine to physics or computer science can attend the class with some prerequisites. There are no exams and grading is based on bi-weekly homework, reading research papers, class presentations and a team project. The aim of this course is to cover general concepts in biological computing that provide the foundation of thinking computationally about anomalous behavior in biological systems that causes disease. The course also aims to teach students to work in teams and develop the skills to plan and coordinate a scientific project. During the course we will have guest lectures from scientists working in local biotechnologies or hospitals. This course can be used as a professional elective but NOT as an engineering or biomedical elective. 4 Credits

ENG EC 500 A1: High Performance Programming with Multi Core, GPU's and FPGA's (Herbordt, MW 2-4)
Considers theory and practice of hardware-aware programming. Key theme is obtaining a significant fraction of potential performance through knowledge of the underlying computing platform and how the platform interacts with programs. Studies architecture of, and programming methods for, contemporary high-performance processors including complex processor cores, multicore processors, graphics processors, and field programmable gate arrays. Laboratory component includes use and evaluation of programming methods on these processors through applications such as matrix operations and the Fast Fourier Transform. 4 cr. Prerequisites: EC413 (Computer Organization) or equivalent. Experience programming in C is required.

Courses for concentrations Spring 2010:

Nanotechnology:

ENG BE/ME 523 Mechanics of Biomaterials Prereq:(ENGEK301 OR ENGME305 OR ENGBE420) ENGME306 is desirable Covers the chemical composition, physical structure, and mechanical behavior of engineering polymers. Study of types of polymers; rubber elasticity; fundamentals of viscoelastic phenomena such as creep, stress relaxation, stress rupture, mechanical damping, impact; effects of chemical composition and structure on viscoelastic and strength properties; methods of chemical property evaluation. Fracture and fatigue of polymer materials. Influences of plastics fabrication methods on mechanical properties. Emphasis on recent research techniques and results. Students will complete a semester-long design project. Same as ENGME523and ENGMS523. Students may not receive credit for both. 4 cr

ENG EC 560 Introduction to Photonics Prereq:(CASPY313) Introduction to ray optics; matrix optics; wave optics; Fourier optics; electromagnetic optics including absorption and dispersion. Polarization, reflection and refraction, anisotropic media, liquid crystals, and polarization devices. Guided-wave and fiber optics. Nanophotonics. Laboratory experiments: interference; diffraction and Fourier optics; polarization; fiber optics. 4 cr. either sem.

Energy:

CAS GE 309 Intermediate Environmental Analysis and Policy Prereq:(CASGE100 & CASEC101) *Introduction to economic and environmental theory critical to the formulation and evaluation of environmental and resource policy. This theory is applied to real world analysis of climate change, population growth, oil supplies, energy use, and globalization. Kaufmann. 4 cr.

ENG ME 430 Energy Conversion Prereq:(ENGME304) Thermodynamic and mechanical aspects of modern conventional energy conversion systems, including steam electric power plants, gas turbine and internal combustion engines, and refrigeration systems. Combined cycle and cogeneration are also considered, as well as economic and environmental aspects of energy conversion. Includes design project. (Formerly ENG AM 430) 4 cr.

ENG EC/ME/SE 543 Sustainable Power Systems Planning, Operation and Markets Breakthroughs in clean energy generation technologies and the advantage of exploiting efficiently the available work in fossil fuels will render electricity the dominant energy form in a sustainable environment future. We review the key characteristics of Electric Power Transmission and Distribution (T&D) networks and the associated planning and operation requirements that ensure supply adequacy, system security and stability. Capital asset investment and operation cost minimization is discussed in a systems engineering context where the assets as well as the dynamic behavior of generators, T&D networks, and loads interact. Recent developments in the formation of competitive wholesale markets at the High Voltage Transmission system level, the associated market participation and clearing rules and the market clearing optimization algorithms are presented and analyzed in terms of their effectiveness in fostering cost reflective price signals and competitive conditions that encourage optimal distributed/not-centralized investment and operating decisions. Finally, we present T&D congestion and supply-demand imbalance related barriers to the widespread adoption of environmentally friendly and economically efficient technological breakthroughs, and propose a systems engineering and real-time retail-market based coordination of centralized as well as decentralized generation, storage and load management resources that is able to achieve desirable synergies and mitigate these barriers. 4 cr
Prereq: Graduate/Senior status and consent of instructor.
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