Author: Jelena

what do electrical and computer engineers do?

Posted on by Jelena

Despite the number of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) departments around the country (also EE, EECS), very few prospective students know what electrical and computer engineers do; even on our own campuses, we are typically a mystery. While in high school many students get exposed to various areas of computer science, they rarely do so for areas of ECE. Moreover, the lack of understanding of how we impact the society and people’s lives influences the enrollment of underrepresented students and creates a general misconception of electrical and computer engineers walking around with soldering irons.  Continue reading “what do electrical and computer engineers do?” →

how to start writing a paper

Posted on by Jelena

Often, we encounter papers we cannot read nor understand; such papers are useless. While they appear on the author’s CV, they do not add to the knowledge base of the community. Even the most important and interesting results are of no use if they are not disseminated. You do not want all your hard work to go unnoticed due to poor content organization, inability to express yourself well in English, or sloppy preparation and writing.  Continue reading “how to start writing a paper” →

what, why, how?

Posted on by Jelena

One of the key mantras in my group is what, why, how. It is one of the more useful guidelines for explaining your work in written or oral form. It works for an elevator pitch as well as writing an abstract for your paper. For each of what, why, how, try to articulate your thoughts with the fewest possible words that exactly describe what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how you are doing it.  Continue reading “what, why, how?” →