1) How can we make this lab better for students?
- give academic credit for work completed
- make the lab a regular part of the curriculum, with a catalog description,
scheduled time, etc., so students can plan ahead
- expand beyond the basics, including some examples of real circuits
- more contact with design engineers ( help with
projects, mentoring )
- avoid time-consuming grunge, distill from our circuits the essence of what
students should learn
2) How can we make this lab better for industry?
- opportunity to interact with students without committing to teaching a full
course
- focus on real circuits and interesting uses of the tools
- avoid administrative or other burdens on design engineers time
3) How can we make this lab better for the university and faculty?
- fit in with existing courses and research areas
- help with practical details, setting up tools, etc.
We can get some ideas from other university websites. Here is one of my
favorites.
http://vlsi.wpi.edu/
Here is an online tutorial. We could put
together something similar for some more interesting circuits.
http://www.ece.iit.edu/~vlsi/cadence/
Here is Cadence's list of University participants. Many
good programs here.
http://www.cadence.com/company/university/members.aspx
More of my favorites:
http://www.cadence.ncsu.edu/
-- NCSU Design Kit
http://www.eng.usf.edu/~cadence/
-- large number of classes using EDA tools, including Analog ( Synopsis HSPICE
), Logic Design ( Cadence LDV ), RF Design ( Agilent
ADS )