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New lab wired for 21st-century education
By Bonnie Azab Powell
When researchers officially unveiled the new National Semiconductor
Mixed-Signal Systems Laboratory on February 20, it was more like
an organ transplant than a mere facelift for Cory Hall.
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| From left, Brian Halla
and Professor William Oldham admire the new workstations that
students and teaching assistants will use to interact electronically
in the renovated lab space. Peg Skorpinksi photo |
National Semiconductor’s $1.35 million gift enabled four
rooms to be completely gutted and rebuilt into a state-of-the-art
classroom. The 200 to 250 students per semester enrolled in Design
Techniques and Components for Digital Systems, one of the core
requirements for a degree in electrical engineering and computer
sciences, had previously bumped elbows at workstations built out
of World War II-era Army surplus benches.
The new lab increases the overall area from 1,800 to 3,400 square
feet, replacing 26 full and 30 partial workstations with 65 roomy,
ergonomically correct full stations, a multimedia-equipped command
center for the instructor, and a meeting area.
While the interior design is impressive, it is the cables snaking
along floors and beams that provide the lifeblood for a 21st-century
style of teaching. In addition to a pulse generator, mixed-signal
oscilloscope, and other diagnostic equipment at every station,
each Dell desktop has a video camera, microphone, and speakers
hooked into a multimedia local area network.
All workstations are wired to the teaching assistant’s desk
for sound and video, so the assistant can hear and see students
when they ask questions. The class can watch a multichannel demonstration
of the answer on pull-down screens around the room -- or on their
own computers, by way of a whiteboard camera, an instrument camera,
and a link to the teaching assistant’s own high-resolution
screen. Two wall-mounted plasma displays flash course updates
and announcements.
Before the lab’s unveiling, EECS professors Ron Fearing,
John Wawrzynek, Robert Meyer, and chair Shankar Sastry presented
their plans for the lab to 20 National Semiconductor attendees,
including CEO Brian Halla, who had nurtured the project. Executive
Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul R. Gray initiated the lab idea
when he was dean of engineering. Halla later presented an EECS
joint colloquium, “The Sight and Sound of Information --
Defining the Future Beyond the PC,” to students and faculty
in Soda Hall’s Hewlett-Packard Auditorium.
National Semiconductor, which has helped fund the construction
of Soda Hall and other projects, also established a distinguished
professorship to accompany the new lab. Chip legend Meyer -- whose
book Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits is now
in its fourth edition -- has been named the first holder of the
professorship.
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