1. Penn Engineering Research Collaboration Hub (PERCH)
ESE 290/291 Introduction to Electrical & Systems Engineering Research Methodology & Design Lecture 0: Administrative Details
D. E. Koditschek
Penn Engineering Research Collaboration Hub (PERCH)
3rd Floor Pennovation Center (Bldg 6176)
3401 Grays Ferry Ave, PA 19146

2. Outline Motivation & Philosophy Course overview
content; organization
sponsored projects
timeline
Logistics (workload; credit)
Summary

3. Motivation Student Interest (Chair’s UG Advisory Board) Student Need
learning “how to learn”
literature search in unfamiliar technical domains
taking the pulse of current state-of-art
addressing gaps in personal knowledge base
extracting more complete value from Penn
assessing career options (full spectrum)
Departmental Need
students do not really know us
intellectual culture

4. Philosophy Need for Lifelong Education: Independent Learner
Human knowledge continues to explode
Technology changes too quickly to teach much specifics
Independent Learner ) Critical Thinker
Motivated: curiosity-driven inquiry
Skeptical: evidence-driven “cross-checks”
Social: diverse-group-driven progress
Critical Thinker ) Scientific Researcher
social creation of a never-ending web of technical hypotheses
Scientific Researcher ) Effective Citizen
ability to determine facts opens up the hope of establishing truth

5. Course overview: workload; goals
Workload: 1.5 CU ¼ 10 – 15 hr/wk effort
ESE 290: ~ min/wk lecture; ~ 2-4 hr/wk exercises
ESE 291: ~ 5-10 hr/wk lecture lab work (more as research progresses)
Students gain
critical thinking skills: relevant to any technical/engineering career
research experience: what it’s like; what ESE faculty “do”
potential longer term match: summer internship; papers; …

6. A Bit More Detailed Overview
ESE 290, 0.5 CU: scaffolded introduction to research process (2 – 4 hr/wk)
Lectures (Towne 305): ~ 40 – 60 min (remainder of class time for group check-in)
Exercises: finding, interpreting, using source articles
Design: planning, organizing, executing, recording research
Communications: mid-term & final presentations and papers
Instructor’s Office hours (358 GRW) : Tue, 10:30-11:30 pm; Fri, 9:00- 11:00 pm
TA’s Office hours (tba)
ESE 291, 1.0 CU: mentored lab experience (5 – 10+ hr/wk)
individually arranged student/faculty pairing: students apply; sponsor chooses
research project guided by mentor as directed by sponsor
Prequisites: MATH 240, PHYS 150, ESE 215 and 218, or ESE 204 and 210, or ESE 215 and CIS 240
Selection process via repository
majority of class (16/22) now matched with sponsor/mentor/project
remaining cases should be readily matchable (apply online – or propose your own)
selection by some faculty sponsor
required for continued permission to remain in course
final date for sponsor selection: Jan. 30 (end of course selection period)
Impact on ESE Program Requirements
fulfill’s EE, SSE, NETS 1.5 CU lab requirement
does not fulfill CMPE concurrency lab requirement

7. Spring 17 Semester Timeline
Week
Day
Topic 1
17-Jan
Lecture 0: Intro & Administration 2
24-Jan
Lecture 1: Source acquisition – database/citation index (Assignment C.1 due Jan. 30 at 11:59 pm) 3
31-Jan
Lecture 2: Source acquisition – annotated literature review (Assignment C.2 due Feb. 13 at 11:59 pm) 4
7-Feb
Lecture 3: Problem formulation – needs, gaps, means (Assignment C.3 due Feb. 20 at 11:59 pm) 5
14-Feb
Lecture 4: Oral project proposal development – concepts, hypotheses (Assignment C.4 Group 1 due Feb. 27 at 11:59 pm, Group 2 due Mar. 13 at 11:59 pm) 6
21-Feb
Informal check-in and updates 7
28-Feb
In Class Oral Project Proposal Presentations, First Group 9
14-Mar
In Class Oral Project Proposal Presentations, Second Group 10
21-Mar
Lecture 5: Project methods and setup including formal experiment design (Assignment C.5 due Mar. 27 at 11:59 pm) 11
28-Mar
Lecture 6: Technical Report Writing (Assignment C.6 due Apr. 10 at 11:59 pm) 12
4-Apr
Lecture 7: Oral Project Presentation (Assignment C.7 Group 1 due Apr. 18 at 11:59 pm and Group 2 due Apr. 24 at 11:59 pm) 13
11-Apr 14
18-Apr
In Class Oral Final Project Reports, First Group 15
25-Apr
In Class Oral Final Project Reports, Second Group
9-May
Final Papers (Assignment C.8) Due at 11:59pm

8. Workload Details Scaffold Component (290)
8 bi-weekly (roughly) pdf submissions via Canvas portal only
no credit for late submissions
Research Component (291) – highly variable
Ethics (
Collaboration
discuss work freely with others (in class; out)
submitted exercises must reflect individual effort (generated by you working with mentor & sponsor)
when in doubt: cite your sources
web,
informal, e.g., “personal communication”, etc.

9. Credit Weekly exercises Credit only as recorded on Canvas spreadsheet
broken out into rubrics
point values posted at portal
scored by combination of 290 & 291 staff
graders‘ comments via Canvas (pdf stickies & sheet)
Credit only as recorded on Canvas spreadsheet
Final numerical score: accumulated sum of points
Grade assignment:
strictly by numerical range
posted on web course description document

10. Summary Have Fun! 1.5 CU: apply for project via repository
ESE 290 : 0.5 CU structured exercises
ESE 291: 1.0 CU individually mentored project
Try out a world class research experience
connection : may lead to independent study projects or lab positions
life skills: critical thinking; problem solving; self-directed
University of Pennsylvania: don’t miss out/regret
Have Fun!