A new laboratory provides juniors and seniors in Electrical Engineering facilities for project design: modeling, prototyping, and testing in an environment similar to that of an industrial research laboratory. Students have the resources to complete significant projects and also become more familiar with the environment they will encounter upon starting careers. The laboratory includes: (1) student workbenches to provide immediate access to continuously needed equipment (a networked PC, power supply, multimeter, oscilloscope, and circuit board assembly tools); (2) mini-laboratories containing equipment (printer, logic analyzer, counter, function generator, pulse generator, and logic troubleshooting kit) often but not continually needed by each student; and (3) computing resources served by a 486 PC networked to laboratory workbenches and the university computer system. The laboratory equipment is supplemented by a resource center including a component warehouse, a design library, and an equipment pool.
