1. Chapter 0 Your PSU Instructor and You
ECE 171 Digital Circuits
Chapter 0 Your PSU Instructor and You
Herbert G. Mayer, PSU
Status 4/19/2016
For use at CCUT Spring 2016

2. Who is Your PSU Instructor?
I have not yet met some of you in my past CCUT terms
Instructor is a German immigrant to the USA, who has worked in the US computer industry and academia
Worked at CCUT in 2014 and 2015, teaching CS + EE
Immigrated to the US, due to marriage with US citizen in Berlin; yes she is lovely 
Became naturalized US citizen in 1995
MS EECS (electrical engineering and computer science) UCSD 1983; beautiful beach & campus!
PhD CS (informatik) TU Berlin 1995; awesome city, now united!
Professional focus at Intel: compiler optimization, alias analysis, programming languages, VLIW

3. Who is Your Instructor?
PhD Thesis on automatic generation of MP-object code via alias analysis
Retired from Intel Corp. in 2011 after 24 years
Managed compiler development for systolic array architecture 1980s
Managed Intel CPU tuning lab & CPU validation labs for new Intel micro processors
Teaching computer science since 1983 at SDSU San Diego, and since 1987 also CS at PSU
Teaching experience 2004 in Shanghai, at IIIST
Loved China and teaching in China so much that I volunteered to participate in CCUT + PSU cooperation for CS and ECE
Back at CCUT this academic year for ECE

4. Goals of ECE 171
Improve CCUT students’ command of English in preparation for your possible studies in the US
Lightly acquaint CCUT students with the American culture, to reduce culture-shock in case of US studies (Portland, Oakland)
Review some math, physics to create strong basis for ECE 171
Enhance understanding of digital circuits by focusing on logic functions, hazards, Karnaugh Maps, HDLs, MUXes, Adders, FlipFlops, etc.

5. Conventions for ECE 171
At start of class, we discuss key English language terms used in the near future: vocabulary intro
Being a non-native English speaker myself, I experienced the hard way, how important language is for communication
Vocabulary intro limited to a few minutes
You should ask question in class, every time an idea is not understood; this way you are always “in synch” with the instructor
This may not be a typical custom in Chinese academia, but will help you ease into typical life at an American university
A few of you may study at a US university

6. Overall CCUT Context
My portion of ECE 171 is only a small part of your 16-week long semester at CCUT
Hence this portion is only one part for your final grade, to be assigned by your Chinese teacher
My ECE 171 portion will be part of your final grade, but detail and weight is decided by your Chinese professor
Hopefully, you learn a lot and enjoy my personal delivery method, refined by me in a quarter century of teaching

7. Who are You? What is “disruptive technology”?
What does receive some instruction in English?
Will some of you study in a foreign county?
If not, will it help you, to master a foreign language?
Will this make studying harder?
Are you willing and able to speak about it?

8. Who are You?
Share briefly, though I have some of you last year at CCUT
About 3-5 students volunteer to articulate in class, explaining:
Your name, Chinese and English, if you have
Your field of study and current progress
Why do you take ECE 171?
What is your expectation of this class?
What is your minimal goal for this class?
Which is your ideal learning goal?
Have you worked in the computer industry?
Which engineering topics are you interested in?
Anything else relevant to this course