MEP EP#297: Modern College Education with Derek Fronek

Before we begin this episode I have a quick announcement. If you are currently enrolled in college we would love to chat with you. We have some ideas for future podcast content that you could perhaps help us with. Also, we would love to get to know our listeners more. Please send a hello email to podcast@macrofab.com.

Derek Fronek

• Third year EE Co-op student at Purdue University
• Last on the podcast episode #146 where he spoke about his time with TechHOUNDS

Modern EE Education

• Stephen - Graduated from Texas A&M with a EE degree in 2009
  128 hours required
• Parker - Graduated from University of Texas with a ECE degree in 2011
• Derek - Will graduate in 2024
• Derek's Current class load
  • Freshman
    • High school credits that transfer help a lot
    • First year Engineering
      • Purdue's way of saying “you need to do basic math and science first”
    • General Chemistry
    • EPICS (project based design class)
    • Calc 1-2
    • Physics Mechanics/E&M
    • CS-159 Intro to C
    • Covid Happens and we go remote right after spring break
  • Summer
    • Online summer classes can be nice but its a 16 weeks class in 8 weeks
    • ECE 20001 Fundamentals 1 (Basic Circuit Theory/ Mosfets)
    • ECE 20007 Fundementals 1 Lab
    • Analog Discovery 2 is the main test and measurement tool now
    • Calc 3
  • Sophomore
    • First Co-op term at Rheem
    • Visiting campus when you have no class responsibilities is fun
    • First real “Covid Classes” Purdue managed to stay “in person” for the whole time
    • Classes were still mostly online but students could be on campus and some labs were still in person
    • Exams were mostly online as well
    • ANTH 21000 Technology and Culture
      • More interesting than i thought it would be, gave some perspective on how design choices have social and societal implications
    • ECE 20002 Fundementals 2 (Amplifiers, Op Amps, AC Circuit Analysis)
    • ECE 20008 Fundementals 2 Lab
    • ECE 264 Advanced C
    • MA 266 Diff eq
  • Junior
    • Back to in person classes this fall
    • ECE 20875 Python for Data Science
    • ECE 270 Digital System Design
    • Auto lab system is really cool
    • HIST 351
    • MA 265 Linear Algebra