program self-study report - Lamar University Electrical Engineering

6.4 Engineering ToolsOur program is centered on major software tools to enhance our students learning experience as well asprovide them with adequate preparation for when they encounter software tools in the workplace.Microsoft Office Suite: although not explicitly taught in our curriculum, technical papers andother reports must be submitted in Word format. Presentations are delivered using PowerPoint andthe use of Excel for data manipulation and graphing is encouraged.Visual C++ Studio: this software is taught in ELEN1301 Introduction to Computers andProgramming. It is heavily used in industry by software developers.MATLAB: used in ELEN4351 Control Engineering.MultiSim: used in ELEN3321/3322 Electronics I & II.LabView: used by the ELVIS stations to produce virtual instrumentation in circuits andelectronics labs.We also afford our students the opportunity for hands-on activities in our department laboratories toreinforce what they have learned in lecture and to prepare them for interface with technologists. Finally,the EE Content rule (see Section 4) insures that they will engage in a hardware prototyping activity as partof their capstone design course experience.7. Institutional Support and Financial ResourcesLamar University is a state supported institution and as such our institutional support and financialresources reflect the requirements and budget control processes dictated by the legislature via the state ofTexas comptroller's office. The department was fifty years old in 2001 and so the budget processes arestable and predictable to the extent that no major fluctuations other than those induced by hurricane Ritahave been experienced since our last visit.Institutional support and financial resources are adequate to the accomplishment of our objectives giventhe size of our program. Although our basic operating expenses are fixed, opportunities exist for supportvia the Higher Education Assistance Funds (HEAF), course fees, gifts/donations and sponsored research.Table I-5 lists support expenditures since 2004. Key elements of this table are as follows:Operations:This value reflects amounts allocated to our program under the Maintenance & Operations (M&O)category. This amount is substantial fixed and increases slightly each year as dictated by thelegislature. These funds are used to "run the department" and provide telecommunicationsservices, office supplies, postage, etc.Travel:The travel shown is department travel as fixed in the budget and does not include research grant ordevelopment travel funded external to the department.Equipment:Self explanatory and expounded on in Section 7.3.EE Program Self-Study Report-2006 34