2011 Edition - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - The ...

Seniors Find EECS Shop Becomes 'Best Friend'The Navy veteran Tom Colwellruns the EECS Shop with precisionand order. More than 300 drawersfilled with resistors, capacitors, andother components are all neatly marked.The nearly floor-to-ceiling shelving inthe front room also houses larger toolsthat each have their assigned spots.Orderliness, says Colwell, is necessary withsix students rotating at the front desk. IfShop attendants had to go rummaging forparts every time, there would be a lot ofunhappy students, says Colwell. He wantsthe Shop to run efficiently as possible toassist often stressed-out students in themiddle of projects.Located on the third floor of Eaton Hall,the EECS Shop is near the Senior DesignLabs. As seniors design, build, and analyzereal-world systems, they often go to theShop for guidance.“The EECS Shop becomes your best friendduring senior year,” says Tom Willger(BSEE ’11), now a Test System Engineerat Texas Instruments. “When buildingyour first independent circuits, there is acruel debugging phase to achieve a fullyfunctional circuit. Tom Colwell is the manto talk to when you need assistance. Aftera long night of unsuccessful debugging,Tom's words are as precious as gold.”Each year Colwell and his staff fabricatehundreds of printed circuit boards, savingthousands of dollars in outsourcingcosts. In-house milling ensures a quickturn-around of precise fabricated boardsneeded to operate electronic devices.In addition to etching, milling, and otherfabrication work, attendants order partsfor senior design projects and prepareEECS junior Robert Perez runs the milling machine in the EECS Shop.kits for lower-level EE and CoE labs asrequested by graduate teaching assistants(GTAs).As a GTA for the Senior Design Lab lastspring, EECS doctoral student Matt Cookworked closely with Shop personnelto ensure students had the necessaryequipment. A few years earlier during hisown Senior Design course, EECS Shoptechnicians helped Cook’s team builda canned satellite containing sensors,a microcomputer, and a radio to sendcollected data.“During my Senior Design class, theEECS Shop went above and beyond toaccommodate my team in getting thecomponents and tools that we needed tomeet deadlines and complete the project,”said Cook. “Then as a TA for Senior Design,I worked one-on-one with the top-notchEECS shop staff to plan and organize forthe Senior Design class. I look back fondlyat my experiences with Tom Colwell andEECS Shop staff.”“If students need something, they justhave to walk down the hall and ask. TheShop usually has it,” says EECS graduatestudent Matt Kitchen, a current GTA forthe Senior Design Lab. “The shop not onlyprovides components and test equipmentbut also offers solutions for prototypingcircuits, such as printing and milling circuitboards. People in the shop are alwaysknowledgeable about circuit fabricationand can offer plenty of helpful advice." •EECS News 2011 7