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The Impact of Dennard's Scaling Theory - IEEE

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about the time he left OSU for Arizona.<br />

Fiez came on campus, took<br />

the course and grew the TekBot<br />

program, “got it done and made it<br />

successful. <strong>The</strong>n she enlarged the<br />

scope to the Platforms for Learning,<br />

which is all hers. It’s her vision and<br />

excitement that gets it developed.“<br />

Allstot recalls, “I'm guessing here,<br />

but I don't think she got interested<br />

in robots until she became Head <strong>of</strong><br />

ECE at OSU. <strong>The</strong>re was a freshman<br />

robot course sequence that had<br />

been put in place at OSU one<br />

year prior to her arrival. It was<br />

based on the freshman robot<br />

course that CMU ECE had<br />

developed a few years earlier,<br />

but had some innovative additions<br />

including enrolling some<br />

students from the local high<br />

schools. But, it was just a start.<br />

<strong>The</strong> next step in the thinking,<br />

as I understand it, was to determine<br />

a way for those courses<br />

to impact the entire undergraduate<br />

curriculum. One idea was to<br />

involve seniors in capstone projects<br />

that improved the robots and alternatives<br />

to them for the freshman<br />

sequence would be developed, as<br />

well. Of course, this left the uncomfortable<br />

two-year robot-free gap<br />

between the Freshman and Senior<br />

years. This is the kind <strong>of</strong> situation<br />

where Terri shines. She conceived<br />

the “Platform for Learning” idea so<br />

that the first-year robot experience<br />

was continued throughout the<br />

undergraduate years, and centered<br />

around a central theme that motivated<br />

upper level classes. This<br />

meant adding capabilities to the<br />

Freshman robots such as wireless<br />

communications and control, etc.<br />

As is typical <strong>of</strong> Terri, she had a<br />

good idea and she found a way to<br />

describe it in very simple, but powerful<br />

terms that everyone could<br />

understand. This is really important<br />

for encouraging younger kids to get<br />

involved in Electrical Engineering.”<br />

“This also presented an opportunity<br />

for Terri to shine in another<br />

way. To be successful, she knew<br />

that significant resources would be<br />

needed to incorporate the Platform<br />

for Learning into their undergraduate<br />

curriculum. So, she presented<br />

the idea to Tektronix, Inc., and<br />

garnered critical support by adopting<br />

the ‘TekBots’ moniker for the<br />

program. On the surface, such a<br />

move might appear to be hype.<br />

However, it is far more significant<br />

than that. Previous to Terri's<br />

arrival, the Freshman Robot<br />

sequence culminated in a so-called<br />

“She had a good idea and she<br />

found a way to describe it in<br />

very simple, but powerful<br />

terms, that everyone could<br />

understand.”<br />

Dave Allstot<br />

‘Robot Rodeo’ that was open to the<br />

general public, especially prospective<br />

students and their families.<br />

That term was almost pejorative, in<br />

my opinion, because it conjured<br />

up the old ‘cow college’ image that<br />

Oregon State had in the early days<br />

when it was Oregon Agricultural<br />

College. It certainly didn't suggest<br />

leading-edge high-technology education<br />

and research. With the simple<br />

twist <strong>of</strong> a phrase, TekBots,<br />

Terri conveyed the message that it<br />

was really leading-edge robot<br />

learning that had critical support<br />

from the local high-tech industry,”<br />

recalls Allstot.<br />

Fiez emphasized that “this<br />

award really recognizes an amazing<br />

team. Over the last six years,<br />

we have had a core team <strong>of</strong> Don<br />

Heer (Education coordinator),<br />

Roger Traylor (senior instructor),<br />

Gale Sumida (Research and Education<br />

Support), Tom Thompson<br />

(Math and Science education PhD<br />

student and Philomath High<br />

School teacher). Together, it has<br />

been a thrill working with the faculty<br />

and students in our department<br />

to create a unique experi-<br />

PEOPLE<br />

ence that addresses what seemed<br />

to be missing in our own educational<br />

experiences.”<br />

Nowadays, Hellums reports<br />

going to other schools and encouraging<br />

them to pick up the Platforms<br />

for Learning program. “I try<br />

to sell her idea.” <strong>The</strong> TekBots Platform<br />

for Learning has been implemented<br />

in eight engineering courses<br />

at OSU at the freshman through<br />

senior levels and is used by five<br />

other institutions.<br />

<strong>The</strong> concept includes two<br />

critical elements that aim to<br />

keep freshman and sophomores<br />

involved and staying in<br />

an EE program, Hellums<br />

reports. “It deals with the<br />

challenges <strong>of</strong> the major being<br />

too hard or too boring and<br />

gets over that sophomore<br />

hump,” said Hellums. First<br />

robot implementations <strong>of</strong>ten<br />

end up looking like the OSU<br />

mascot – a Beaver with whiskers<br />

that sense objects and back up<br />

move around them. By working<br />

with applications <strong>of</strong> theory, sensing,<br />

seeing, reacting and moving,<br />

the students realize what engineers<br />

do in their career and see it can be<br />

fun. <strong>The</strong>y also work in teams. Hellums<br />

recalls that there was nothing<br />

done in teams when he was a student<br />

but industry always works in<br />

teams, <strong>of</strong>ten fairly large teams. So<br />

the students learn early on to find<br />

their place in a team.<br />

Kartikeya Mayaram, pr<strong>of</strong>essor at<br />

Oregon State University, and a<br />

long time research collaborator<br />

with Fiez, sees definite differences<br />

in the graduate students who have<br />

come from the Learning Platforms<br />

curriculum. “<strong>The</strong>y are ready to hit<br />

the ground running. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />

already very good at trouble shooting.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y have skills that enable<br />

them to do independent research<br />

and basically they are more<br />

resourceful in terms <strong>of</strong> knowing<br />

where to go and how to find information.<br />

That’s a very valuable set<br />

<strong>of</strong> skills to come with to graduate<br />

school.”<br />

Winter 2007 <strong>IEEE</strong> SSCS NEWSLETTER 59

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