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The field of electrical and computer engineering has evolved significantly in the past two decades. This evolution has broadened the field of ECE, and subfields have seen deep penetration into very specialized areas. Remarkable devices and systems arising from innovative processes, exotic materials, high speed computer simulations, and complex algorithms make ECE an exciting career field. These fascinating developments present greater opportunities for undergraduates to explore the field of ECE as well as greater challenges for them to navigate the curriculum because of the myriad of course and areas of concentration choices they have to make. Reflecting innovations in the field and capitalizing on the collective faculty research expertise, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University has redesigned its undergraduate curriculum around the theme of "Integrated Sensing and Information Processing." This paper presents details of the ECE curriculum redesign at Duke University including its philosophy and implementation as well as elements of the redesign that are transferable to other universities. Evidence of increased student ability to design a system or component and to work effectively in teams is presented through statistical analyses of student end-of-course course evaluations. Student design project complexity evolution as the curriculum redesign unfolded is also presented, and this provides further evidence that design and teamwork have enhanced student learning throughout the new curriculum.

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at Duke University, Durham, NC, is undergoing extensive curriculum revisions that incorporate novel content, organization, and teaching methods. The cornerstone of the new curriculum is a theme-based introductory course, Fundamentals of ECE. To introduce students to the major areas of ECE in their first year of study, this course is organized around three concepts: 1) how to interface with the physical world; 2) how to transmit energy and information; and 3) how to extract, interpret, and analyze information. To provide insight and motivation, the course is designed to introduce multiple areas of ECE, emphasizing how they are interrelated and how they contribute to the design and functioning of real-world applications. Also, the course must engage its students, many of whom are evaluating ECE as a prospective major and career. To achieve these goals, the course adopts a unifying theme, tightly couples lecture and laboratory exercises, and includes a laboratory experience that emphasizes design, integration, and real applications. The interactive classroom content and laboratory exercises are developed iteratively so that each course component supports the other, rather than one being dominant and driving the other. As the context focus of the laboratory, a robotic platform enables the exploration of a broad range of ECE concepts, both independently and integrated into an entire system. For their final design project, students form small groups, which in turn combine into larger teams, to create robots that work together to overcome realistic challenges. This paper describes the curricular objectives and key course elements that guide course development, the resulting content and structure of the course, and the assessment data that indicate successful achievement of the curricular goals. Index Terms--Electrical and computer engineering (ECE) curriculum, freshman design, introductory course.

Co-Mg[F.sub.2] granular thin films prepared by thermal evaporation are reported. The fabricated materials show promise as high-frequency, low-loss cores for microfabricated magnetic devices in microprocessor power delivery applications. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals Co grains of about 3.2 nm embedded in a Mg[F.sub.2] matrix 1 to 2 nm wide. Films were prepared with 20% to 89% volume cobalt at substrate temperatures between -21 [degrees] C and 311 [degrees] C. Good soft magnetic properties in a range of 40% to 55% volume cobalt with high dc resistivity of 500 [micro][Omega]-cm to 100 [Omega]-cm are measured for films deposited at room temperature. Low intrinsic coercivity, [H.sub.ci] of 0.76 Oe and susceptibility, [Chi] of 26 in the easy axis direction with quality factor, Q over 100 and saturation flux density, [B.sub.s] of 0.7 T are obtained. Index Terms--Co-Mg[F.sub.2], evaporation, evaporative deposition, granular magnetic film, inductors, thin films.

Provides information on a study which observed the evaporation activity of thin film inductors containing cobalt-magnesium fluoride substances. Details on microfabricated magnetic devices in microprocessor power delivery applications; Measurement of the magnetic properties of cobalt; Methodology; Results and discussion.