Our core lab sequence provides you with in-depth, hands-on application of what you’re learning in your classes. You will experience all phases of the analysis and design process, including testing of your designs and implementing your solutions. Our lab facilities are state- of-the-art, have current industry-standard software, as well as new equipment, cables, and workstations.

Discover: The first half of the sophomore lab gives you the tools of the practicing engineer. We use current- generation Agilent mixed-signal digital oscilloscopes and Wavetek function generators, as well as industry standard computer simulation software—all to create an environment for you to discover and explore fundamental electric laws. There are no prerequisites for this lab—everyone is welcome.

The second half of the sophomore lab sequence involves digital systems. We introduce you to programmable digital logic and digital signal processing, the Altera UP-2 development board, and Matlab programming language.  More and more of today’s electronic devices are built with programmable electronics, not individual chips, and the tools and experiences you encounter in this lab sequence prepare you for that world.

Design:  The junior labs are about practice, practice, practice—taking engineering tools and using them to design solutions to modest challenges.

The first half of the year is spent using the same Agilent 'scopes, function generators, and power supplies you learned about as a sophomore to build and analyze advanced circuits.

The second half offers you the opportunity to embed microprocessors into those circuits and make them perform useful functions. Much of this activity is project-based. We tell you what, not how. Experienced graduate teaching assistants and faculty are always available to guide you.

Deliver:  All of this laboratory experience is structured to prepare you for the ultimate design experiences in both Senior Design and Enterprise.  Our projects are sponsored by industry.  You’ll work with a team of students, a faculty advisor, and a practicing engineer from industry to deliver a real solution, to a real problem. 

Matt McInnis, an ECE graduate from Kalamazoo, Michigan, says, “I had always had an interest in electronics and technology, and eventually decided that I wanted to take a more hands-on, design-level approach to the things that interested me. I realized that MTU’s electrical engineering program was the perfect way for me to accomplish that.”