engineering education and the liberal arts tradition

54 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION. VOL. 31, NO. 2, MAY 1988

Engineering Education and the Liberal Arts Tradition STEVEN B. SAMPLE, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-Over the past 150 years, engineering education has evolved from an apprenticeship method of instruction in which technical skills were learned by emulating practicing professionals, to a relatively fixed body of technology taught by men who were themselves closely identified with the engineering profession, to a scientifically based curriculum taught by men and women who are in some cases indistinguish- able from applied scientists and mathematicians. Due in part to these changes in engineering education, and in part to the rapid rate of change in technology, today’s graduates of baccalaureate engineering programs are not really engineers at all. As a consequence, most true professional engineering education occurs after graduation from an undergraduate engineering program, either in graduate school or by apprenticeship on the job. Rather than try to cram more and more technical subjects into the undergraduate curriculum, engineering educators should instead broaden the curriculum to provide young engineers with a more liberal education which will serve as a solid base for a lifetime of professional development.

TH the current national concern over the quality of w undergraduate education in our colleges and universities, it is becoming apparent to many of us that the questions we as engineers ask about our formal education apply equally to undergraduate education in general. The needs of a dynamic society to respond to the demands of our knowledge-based economy call for radical changes in the ways in which we educate all of our students in their undergraduate years. In my judgment, the proliferation of knowledge and the rapidity of social change require that all undergraduates receive a truly liberal and integrative education in order for our society to remain competitive and vital in the world of the 21st century.

It is all too easy for us as engineers to regard our own education as the only prescription for the future. But the engineering education we received was the result of an evolutionary process in American higher education, and the society which shaped the undergraduate curricula of former days is not the one our students will face through the bulk of their professional careers. We need to understand the history of our college curricula in order to iden- tify those features to retain and those to change.

In the course of the last hundred years, engineering education, liberal education, and the structure of our colleges and universities have all undergone fundamental changes. From the foundation of Harvard in 1636 through much of the 19th century, the so-called classical curriculum prevailed in practically every academic college in the land. The classical curriculum was relatively simple;

Manuscript received October 14, 1987. The author is with the State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo,

IEEE Log Number 8819635. NY 14260.

it comprised essentially Greek, Latin, moral philosophy, and mathematics. Higher education-college education at the time-was equated with virtue, religion, discipline of the mind, the fashioning of gentlemen of upper-class values, and the making of upper-class leaders.

Prior to the 19th century, most engineers in this country were not educated in colleges at all, but instead were trained through the apprenticeship system. This was an informal system of education with essentially no prereq- uisites and very little formal instruction in mathematics and science. The engineer-in-training learned primarily by emulating the practicing engineer to whom he was ap- prenticed. In the early 1800’s, military and naval acade- mies and a few technical institutes were established in the United States. Through these new institutions, engineering education began to move from the field into the class- room. However, it is important to remember that this kind of formal engineering instruction was not associated with established academic colleges and universities.

In the mid-l800’s, science began to knock at the door of the academy. It was a timid knocking to be sure, but one that carried with it a certain historical imperative. That initial intrusion caused some tension in the academic community. Indeed when Yale finally decided to admit students in the sciences, the administration established a separate, segregated school for that purpose, considerably removed from the main college campus, to make certain there was no tainting of the central core of Yale’s curriculum by scientific thought.

After the Civil War there began an even more significant revolution in American higher education. For it was then that the land-grant colleges were established. Now these were very peculiar institutions, quite different from what was commonly thought of as a college in those days. The land-grant colleges taught extraordinarily mundane subjects like agriculture and something known as the me- chanic arts. These institutions were fundamentally technological, as opposed to scientific, in their nature. They taught people how to grow corn, breed cattle, and build bridges, all of which led to a great deal of turmoil and misunderstanding in the American academic community.

Before these tensions could be worked out in an orderly way, yet another revolutionary notion entered American higher education in the 1870’s. This notion, invented by the Germans earlier in the century, held that original research and scholarship should be an integral part of academic life. The very idea of research and scholarship im- plied that somehow the storehouse of knowledge was not fixed, but could be expanded; that somehow man was in

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a position to add, willfully and purposefully, to the knowledge that would be taught in the curriculum.

As soon as the notion of academic research reached this country in the late 19th century, it began to spread throughout many of the traditional disciplines in Ameri- can higher education. This infectious disease was vigor- ously resisted at first, especially by the well-established colleges. Harvard declined to offer the Ph.D. degree as long as it could, as did Princeton. But by the early 20th century most of the institutions in this country that styled themselves universities were offering the Ph.D. degree. In fact, these institutions began to require the Ph.D. as a credential for their faculty in the arts and sciences.

Thus began a trend that is even more pronounced today-the increasing specialization of faculty and the con- comitant specialization of knowledge. For the essential concept behind the Ph.D. degree, and behind the faculty who hold the Ph.D., is that no person can know every- thing, and therefore it is better to know one thing ex- tremely well than to attempt to know many things super- ficially.

Here we see a very fundamental shift in academic philosophy. It is not at all clear whether this basic shift was widely recognized as such at the time it occurred, but it certainly has had important implications for all of us today. This shift in philosophy helped initiate the elective curriculum in the early 1900’s. It led to the creation of majors in the liberal arts in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Stu- dents in the arts and sciences came to the university, not to follow a prescribed curriculum, but to study subjects of interest to themselves, concentrating much of their coursework in particular subject areas of their own choos- ing.

However, engineering education, whether in land-grant colleges or technical institutes or more traditional colleges, was relatively untouched by this academic revolution until much later. As John Ryder, engineer and edu- cator, contends in a recent article, the period from 1880 to 1930 comprised the “stagnant years in engineering education-years in which engineering education did not really progress. ” Some visionary leaders, such as Charles Steinmetz, called for more emphasis on science and mathematics in the engineering curriculum. But most people, especially industrial leaders, believed that engineering schools could impart to students a fixed set of technical skills that would last a lifetime of professional practice. In particular, these industrial leaders believed that engineering schools should produce ready-to-wear engineers-people who, upon graduation, would be fully qualified to enter the professional practice of engineering.

Then came World War 11, and the engineering profession was found to be sorely wanting. Radar, rockets, the atomic bomb, sophisticated ship and aircraft design-all of these dramatic technological advancements were attrib- utable not so much to engineers as to scientists and mathematicians pressed into service by the exigencies of the war.

In response to this intellectual impotence on the part of

the engineering profession, the engineering curriculum after World War I1 began to change rapidly and radically. This revolution was led by men like William Everitt of the University of Illinois, one of the great engineering deans of this century and one of this country’s most ef- fective advocates for reform in engineering education. The new post-World War I1 curriculum placed heavy emphasis on mathematics and science and much less emphasis on technical skills. Not only would modem engineers have the mathematical and scientific background to follow technological advancements, they would be prepared to lead these advancements as well.

The new curriculum developed in the late 40’s and early 50’s is essentially what we have in place today. It has indeed led to some truly spectacular engineering achieve- ments, including what is, in my judgment, the greatest single feat of engineering in history-the landing of men on the moon.

Looking back we can see that over the past century and a half, engineering education has evolved from an apprenticeship method of instruction in which technical skills were learned by emulating practicing professionals, to a relatively fixed body of technology taught by men who were themselves closely identified with the engineering profession, to a scientifically based curriculum taught by men and women who are in some cases indis- tinguishable from applied scientists and mathematicians.

However, it is important to remember that these changes in engineering education have been undergirded by, and perhaps even driven by, important changes in the larger society. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States was essentially an agrarian society; that is, the great majority of Americans lived on farms. Young people were not exposed to advanced technology early in their lives, and most of them had no idea what engineers did or what the engineering profession was about. Then, too, those students who came to universities to study engineering were usually woefully unprepared in mathematics and science. As has already been pointed out, engineering graduates in this era were expected to go immediately into practice; they had to be qualified engineers upon graduation. Hence, engineering schools, like medical schools of this same period, tried to produce a finished product-that is, these schools admitted unsophisticated and poorly educated young people, and graduated men (and a very few women) who were presumably prepared to practice their profession immediately.

All of this is in sharp contrast to the situation in our country today. The United States in the latter part of the 20th century is an urban society in which most of the people live in cities and towns. It is a highly technological society, and thus our young people are exposed to advanced technology at an early age. Primary and secondary school students who lean toward engineering take enormous amounts of mathematics and science prior to enter- ing the university. Moreover, graduates of first-professional degree programs in engineering today-that is, of baccalaureate-level programs-are not really engineers.

56 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 31, NO. 2, MAY 1988

They are certainly not ready for independent practice, and no one expects them to be. Indeed, most true professional engineering education today occurs by apprenticeship after graduation from an undergraduate engineering program.

We should not find this phenomenon surprising or peculiar; it is occurring in a great many other professions as well. Think, for example, of medicine. Under no circum- stances is a fresh graduate of one of our medical schools ready to practice medicine. In fact, most of what the young physician needs to know about medical practice is learned through internships and residencies that occur after he or she has graduated from medical school.

All of the historical developments to which I have al- luded, both those touching upon liberal education and those relating to engineering education, have tended to widen the division between things literary and things scientific. Those people who valued the classical curriculum and the literary tradition increasingly divorced themselves from those who valued science and the search for technological knowledge.

Today we live in an age of acute estrangement between the disciplines in the arts and the disciplines in the sciences. And to make matters even more complicated, there seems to be increasing confusion in the minds of many people over the difference between science and technology.

But what is most apparent about our own time, and to me most troubling, is that we continue to live in an age of increasing specialization. We no longer think of an accountant, per se, as being a specialist; we no longer think even of a tax accountant as a specialist; instead, it is the corporate tax accountant who today rates the accolade of specialist. In my own discipline of electrical engineering, it sometimes takes four or five adjectives to define the precise technical area that one inhabits. And the same phenomenon obtains in the literary disciplines. Is there such a thing anymore as a scholar of English literature? Perhaps a few, but more often a person specializes in only one author, and in some instances in one book by one author. Are there any students of history left in the academy? No, but there are certainly students of late 19th century British diplomatic history.

We as a society have come to worship the narrow, the focused, the specialized. Won’t this be even more true in the future? After all, knowledge is being generated more rapidly today than in the past. The speed with which data can be processed and manipulated is increasing at an in- credible rate; our capacity to store information is growing apace; new specializations are forming every day. Most of the major academic research libraries in the United States subscribe to more than 20 000 periodicals and specialized journals, each of which supports a particular narrow area of research or scholarship or technology.

In view of all this, aren’t we really forced to conclude that the concept of a liberal education is today completely outmoded, not only in the undergraduate professional schools, but in the arts and sciences as well? Isn’t it fair

to conclude that liberal education, whole-person education, integrative education, is really only a romantic notion derived from an earlier and simpler era?

My answer to these questions is firmly and unequivo- cally “No!” These times cry out for truly liberal and truly integrative education, both in the arts and sciences and in the undergraduate professional curricula. However, obtaining such an education today is very difficult. Indeed, it may be the most difficult education for a student to acquire. Because it is not enough for a mathematician to take a survey course in history, or for a French major to take a nonquantitative course in physics, or for an engineer to take a course in technical report writing. What is required for a truly liberal education is a balance between specialization (which has today become the path of least resistance), and the more difficult task of acquiring substantive learning in a broad range of subjects and disciplines.

What I am suggesting here is that the difference between an undergraduate program in political science and an undergraduate program in electrical engineering should be one of emphasis, not of kind. The former should naturally contain more history and political science courses than the latter, while the latter should naturally contain more courses in science and technology than the former. But we must hope that the similarities between the two programs would outweigh their differences, in as much as both should provide a liberal education that prepares students to live and work productively in the complex world of the 2 1st century.

Let me be more specific. I believe all educated people in America today should be fluent in at least two languages-English and calculus. Certainly English is by far the more important of the two. To be fluent in English requires that a person be able to read and listen intelli- gently in that language, and be conversant with the prin- cipal works of English literature. But even more important, a person who is truly fluent in English must be able to speak and write the language easily, clearly, and co- herently, and express both complex and subtle ideas with great facility.

To become fluent in English today would appear to be a very formidable task. It seems that many secondary students in this country have very little opportunity to hear standard English spoken, or to have their own speech and writing corrected by people who are themselves fluent in standard English. Thus, the young American of today who, by whatever fortuitous circumstance, happens to become fluent in English enjoys an enormous advantage over the great majority of her or his peers.

The second language in which I think educated people should be fluent is calculus. Calculus has emerged as the lingua franca of science and technology. There is a fundamental division, it seems to me, between those people who speak calculus and those who do not. I have found that those who speak calculus, and who are also fluent in their native tongue, can generally learn the rudiments of practically any science or technology relatively rapidly.

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Conversely, most people who do not speak calculus seem to find it extraordinarily difficult to learn anything very substantive or quantitative about scientific or technological subjects.

Thus, English and calculus are the starting points in a modem liberal education. Achieving even this modest beginning is a significant accomplishment, for it would appear that only a tiny fraction of Americans are truly fluent in both English and calculus.

What else might one ask of a modem liberal education? There should certainly be some history-not just a survey course in Western civilization, but historical study in some depth. There is much talk of values today; values are dis- cussed in the newspapers, in our political assemblies, in the academy, in the streets, and in the churches. But it is unclear to me how we can develop a sense of cultural values without some fairly extensive knowledge of our own history.

And, of course, a modem liberal education should include some natural science-again, not just a survey course for nonscientists, but a few solid, quantitative, laboratory courses. There should also be something of the fine arts, some exposure to the special modes of expres- sion that characterize the arts and that set them apart from the professions and the sciences. And certainly a third language (beyond English and calculus) would be an appropriate addition to any liberal education.

Finally, I believe it is important that all undergraduate students develop an appreciation for technology. Now here it is important for us to distinguish between science on the one hand and technology on the other. By technology I mean the exploitation of science and mathematics for human purposes-the application, if you will, of scientific and mathematical principles to some practical end.

Technology is often confused with science, but the two are really quite distinct. Science tends to be value-neutral; science involves the study of things as they are. Technol- ogy, on the other hand, is heavily value-laden. Technol- ogy involves changing things from the way they are to the way some person or group of persons would like them to be. In this sense physiology is science, and medicine is technology; physics is science, and engineering is technology; biochemistry is science, and agriculture is technology.

Why should it be important for a student majoring in history or literature to study technology at all? Why wouldn’t the study of science suffice? Because in point of fact our society is becoming increasingly technological, as opposed to increasingly scientific, and many of the important questions that confront both society as a whole and the individuals within it are more technological than scientific in nature.

It isn’t so much new scientific discoveries that con- found us, as it is the choices we must make in determining how our scientific knowledge will be technologically applied to human ends and purposes. For example, the plac- ing of men on the moon was a technological achievement, not a scientific one. And the complex moral and political

issues surrounding the Strategic Defense Initiative involve technology far more than they involve science.

Thus, one of the greatest needs in our modem era is for men and women who are truly liberally educated-that is, for people whose undergraduate education encompasses language and literature, art, history, mathematics, science, and technology, irrespective of whether they intend to be historians, or managers, or engineers, or writers, or physicians.

A few years ago, we were privileged to have on the campus of SUNY-Buffalo a special exhibit of some of the works of Leonardo da Vinci. As all of you know, da Vinci lived and worked about 500 years ago at a time when Western society was in the midst of an explosion of art, science, and technology. During various parts of his life, da Vinci was a military engineer. He became familiar with mechanics, studied optics, and wrote treatises on descriptive geometry. He also studied physiology and anatomy, along with color, form, and balance. The genius of da Vinci was that he was able to integrate these disciplines in a marvelously sensitive and insightful way. As a consequence, he is remembered today as one of the world’s most important artists-not just as one who created beau- tiful things, but as an artistic pioneer who had a major influence on subsequent generations of artists for hundreds of years.

, I spent many enjoyable hours looking at the works of da Vinci in this exhibit. Again and again I was impressed by the breadth of his mind. His was not a superficial breadth. Leonardo was not a superficial engineer, nor a superficial anatomist. He didn’t possess a superficial knowledge of pigmentation and color. He certainly wasn’t a superficial artist. On the contrary, he was able to com- prehend a wide range of ideas in great depth, and bring them together in a way that serves as a paradigm of liberal education to this day.

We in our time would do well to take da Vinci as our model. We must not totally reject the notions of specialization and professional training in the undergraduate curriculum. But we must encourage our students to probe deeply into widely disparate fields of knowledge, including the technologies, and to integrate this breadth of knowledge in a way that is appropriate to our time and culture. In so doing we will surely be reaffirming the fundamental concept of a liberal education, as well as the noble traditions of the engineering profession.

Steven B. Sample (S’62-M’67-SM’78) received the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Ur- bana.

He has held faculty positions at the University of Illinois and at Purdue University, Lafayette, IN. Presently, he is President of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Sample is a member of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa, and Tau Beta Pi. He was recently honored as “Engineer of the Year” by both the local and

statewide chapter of the New York State Society of Professional Engineers.

58 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 31. NO. 2 , MAY 1988

Computer Movies for Education

Abstract-The growing power and availability of computers and computer-graphics hardware and software is beginning to revolutionize how mathematics, science, and engineering subjects are taught and learned. Besides providing opportunities for problem quantification in ways which would be impossible without its number-crunching power, the computer is also opening up new vistas of problem visualization, presentation, and interpretation. In this paper, we summarize initial experience acquired at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in developing computer graphics teaching aids for use in undergraduate education. The basic approach is to produce computer-graphics based modules consisting of a 5-10 min computer-generated movie together with an accompanying written text which provides background information and a running description of the movie together with sample frames taken from it. We describe the system developed to record the computer movie directly onto video tape using a computer-controlled recorder, and discuss the kinds of modules which have been produced.

I. INTRODUCTION OR those of us who can still vaguely remember the F pretelevision age, pictorial presentation of informa-

tion is probably not as routinely expected as by those who cannot remember life without TV. This expectation is even stronger for those who have been raised in the computer era and as PC’s have become more commonplace. It has been observed that we are in the initial phases of a revolution as profound as the industrial revolution which preceded it. This new information revolution, of which the basic ingredients are the generation, transmission, processing, and display of data, is providing leverage for the intellect in a fashion similar to that which the industrial revolution provided for muscle power.

One of the most fascinating and challenging opportunities of the information revolution is that of exploiting the data-display capabilities of computers. Computer display of data, or computer graphics, is a burgeoning area having applications in literally any intellectual endeavor. The breadth of applications is already wide-ranging, ex- tending from science and engineering, to music, literature, art, and sports. The potential benefits of computer graphics are almost mind-boggling, including areas so abstract that pictorial display might never have been con- templated before the computer made it feasible. As one example, computers and computer graphics have made possible a new kind of mathematics now being referred to

Manuscript received May 8, 1987. E. K . Miller is with the Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA,

R . D. Merrill is with the Department of Electronic Engineering, Law-

R . W. Cole is with the Department of Physics, University of California,

IEEE Log Number 8718358.

91360.

rence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550.

Davis, CA 95616.

as ‘‘experimental mathematics” [24] wherein problems in number theory are being solved using computers. Another area is that of minimum-surface mathematics in which computer graphics played an important role in leading to a mathematical proof that a particular set of equations had the right properties to yield the first “complete, embed- ded, minimal surface of a finite topology” to be discov- ered in 200 years [26]. A third example is the computer graphic presentation of fractals, the applications of which are tantalizing at the least, but which may drastically alter the way we view certain aspects of nature [ 181.

Other applications in which new boundaries are being explored include theoretical chemistry [ 141, cosmology [29], crystal growth [25], quantum mechanics [34], and computer representation of molecular surfaces [ 171. All of these applications share the basic idea of using computers to model complex physical and mathematical problems combined with computer graphic presentation of the results to improve our understanding of them.

In this discussion, we consider another application of computers and computer graphics, that of engineering education. The work to be described is an outgrowth of a summer program ‘‘Computer and computer graphic applications in engineering education” that began in 1984 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This program, which was funded by LLNL, Associated Western Universities, and the U.S. Department of Energy, was ini- tiated to make available computer hardware and software resources at LLNL to summer visitors from various universities. The stated objective of the program was to “promote the use of computers and computer graphics in science and engineering education through the development of software for interactive modeling and graphical display of appropriate problems and the production of computer-generated movies for displaying physical phenomena. ’ ’

The program was started by one of the present authors (Miller) as a result of his experience in making computer- graphics movies to display the results of various electromagnetics computer models. Being a mathematically in- tensive and, therefore, rather abstract subject, it is increasingly difficult to attract students to the study of electromagnetics. The movies were seen not only as a way to make the abstract more real, but to improve understanding for both student and researcher alike. Movies were initially explored as a natural way of presenting the results of time-domain computer models for studying the electromagnetic behavior of impulsively excited wire ob-

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jects [16]. The educational power of these movies soon became apparent as they revealed graphically a physical behavior previously obscured by the mathematical for- malism and the sheer volume of numerical results produced by the computer model.

The LLNL summer program was a logical outgrowth of these early EM applications, but taking place more than ten years later could exploit various hardware advances that had occurred in the interim. These advances included both computers and graphics-production equipment. Minis such as the VAX had become available, as well as the now ubiquitous PC. Also, where previously obtaining graphical output could be a time consuming and expen- sive proposition, the video cassette recorder (VCR) had made it possible to produce near-real-time movies. The remainder of this paper discusses various aspects of the program and the hardware configuration that made it possible. In Section 11, a brief review of the evolution of computer graphics is presented. Section I11 continues with a discussion of the motivation for using graphics in engineering and education. Sections IV and V, respectively, describe the LLNL system developed for making computer-graphic, video tape movies and present representative applications. The basic message that we wish to con- vey is that it is feasible to have a low-cost, hands-on, quick-turnaround system that uses public domain software for producing computer movies useful in education.

11. EVOLUTION OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS Computer graphics hardcopy technology has pro-

gressed from its earliest form of teletype carriage plots to the present laser printout, multicolor inkjet plots, 35 mm slides, 16 mm movies, and video cassette tapes. Simi- larly , hardcopy resolution has progressed from a resolution of six characters/in in those earlier carriage plots to 300 dots/in laser printing and four color inkjet output. Video recordings of computer output can be produced at the standard VHS 525 line per frame resolution with blended three-color rendition. Alternatively, it is possible to obtain over 3000 lines per frame in commercial video recorders. Surprisingly, the costs for nominal hardcopy devices has not changed significantly over this 30 year span. The teletype at the dawn of the digital computer age cost $500; now a 300 dot/in laser printer with three times the page production rate costs $3000, which is about the same in inflation normalized dollars.

Computer-generated, video movie technology has experienced the most important advance in the development of editing controllers whereby video recordings can be generated or edited a frame at a time without distortion so that the source imagery need not be produced on the computer in real time. It is possible to configure a system which will record 3 /4 in tape in this manner on a VAX computer for $35 000 to $40 000, or a PC-based system using a 1 / 2 in VHS editing recorder for approximately one third that amount. The very distinct advantages of this method of recording are that it can be done by the operator directly without film developing laboratory and/or film

editing support and the annotating commentary can be quickly dubbed directly into the resulting recording. Moreover, the results can be viewed and heard immediately on any standard consumer TV monitor with VHS recorder. The computer-graphics generation device for this type of system, called a frame buffer, produces imagery in the form of three separate video signals, one each for the red, green, and blue spectrum of the pictures. The output of this device can be used just as directly to drive a camera station with a 16 mm movie camera to achieve slightly higher resolution recordings to be used for more quantitative presentation or archival purposes.

Of comparable importance is the computer-graphics software that has become available. This software has evolved from simple graphics languages with only vector- and character-generation plot and display commands which were unique to each computer system and program to an increasingly device-independent status. Graphics languages now available provide much higher-level commands for such functions as polygon fills, shading, ray tracing, fractal texturing, etc., and conform to one of the contemporary graphics standards like GKS or CORE with virtual input/output devices and file stores. With these modem languages, developed code most often can be ported from computer to computer with little difficulty, and produce visually impressive and realistic imagery.

111. GRAPHICS OPPORTUNITIES IN EDUCATION AND

ENGINEERING

It has been attributed to Confucius, with a recent up- dating in High Technology [28], that “if a single picture is worth a thousand words, inexpensive animated pictures might be worth many thousands. ” Although the quantitative accuracy of that statement might be debated as being perhaps too conservative, for most of us its qualitative truth is not arguable. Among their other attributes, pictures have the property of providing a better “band- width” match to human perceptual capabilities than al- ternate ways of presenting the same information. Visual information is conveyed more efficiently partly because it is transmitted in an area format for parallel processing rather than a sequential format for linear processing in the fashion by which we acquire data presented as numbers. Beyond that, we interpret analog visual patterns more readily than we can their digital equivalents described nu- merically. For these and other reasons, one among them being the increasing power and accessibility of computer hardware and software for computer graphics, pictorial presentation of data is experiencing a growth which was heretofore not possible.

As an example to illustrate the basic idea that graphical depiction can be instrumental in revealing a behavior that might otherwise be overlooked, we choose an example from electromagnetics. In 1909, Arnold Sommerfeld developed a formal analytical solution for the problem of a delta-function current source located near a planar bound- ary such as the earth-air interface [32]. Sommerfeld’s so-

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and

D2(X) = 2 / ( k 5 + + k : y - ) - 2/[y,(k: + k ? ) ] .

During the intervening several decades, a considerable amount of additional analytical effort was devoted to developing practically useful solutions to this “Sommer- feld” problem. One property which characterized all of these analytical solutions was that each was limited in the coverage for which it provided accurate results in the mul- tidimensional parameter space of concern. Consequently, a reasonably general solution for the problem of a real antenna located near the earth-air interface remained eco- nomically impractical, even with the computers now available.

Eventually, however, the fields given by the Sommer- feld integrals were plotted graphically, as shown in Fig. 1. These results are remarkably simple appearing, consid- ering the mathematical representation of (11, and lead to the observation that “mathematical complexity can sometimes objkscate physical simplicity. ” In this particular case, the graphical results provided a hint about how a more practically useful representation of the Sommerfeld fields could be achieved. Initially, a simple two-dimensional linear interpolation approach was used to provide the numerical values needed for an integral equation model of an antenna located near the earth’s surface [20]. This was later extended to the modeling of antennas having elements on both sides of the interface, where the fields are functions of three variables, by using model- based parameter estimation [8]. The result was to make practical the numerical solution of very general antennas in the presence of the earth-air interface by reducing the computer time required by a factor of 100 or more. While it might be argued that this would finally have been done whether or not the fields were plotted graphically, it cannot be denied that the insight gained from the field plots was instrumental in achieving a solution now.

That this is not an isolated opinion is demonstrated by the variety of books that are beginning to appear on the general topic of visually presenting quantitative date. In Semiology of Graphics [2], there is a systematic theory of graphics given with an emphasis on perceptual issues. Tufte [35] provides another example of developing graphics’ designs in The Visual Display of Quantitative Infor- mation. Other examples are due to [37] and [9]. These

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Fig. 1 . A computer-graphics representation of typical fields resulting from the Sornmerfeld integrals.

books have the common attribute of having been developed after the arrival of a significant capability in computer graphics, although as shown by some illustrations dating from the 19th century in Tufte [35], creative graphics are not computer dependent.

This point is further emphasized in Thinking with a Pencil [23], which has a chapter on visualizing data that also predates computer graphics, as does a discussion in Creative Color on the role of color in pictorial presentations [3] and the series of sketches in The Graphic Work of M. C. Escher [13]. Other books that provide similar emphasis on visual patterns and thinking are Branham and Stuher [7] and Stevens [33] which deal with symmetries that occur in nature and structure, and McKim [19] and Samuels and Samuels [30] who consider the activity of “visual thinking” as do Blakeslee [4] and Edwards [ 111, [ 121. Further examples of the state of the art in computer graphics are given by Deken [lo] in Computer Images, Scott [31] in Computergraphia, and Prueitt [27] in Art and the Computer. Since engineers generally do not receive any formal training in illustration and the graphics arts, it is advisable that they learn the tools and techniques of that community using, for example, Scientijic Illustra- tion by Jastrzebski [ 1.51.

While the potential applications for computer graphics are literally as broad as the human imagination, one of the more attractive applications is that of presenting concepts and ideas in an educational setting. Educational uses of computer graphics are beginning to be explored in literally all areas of education [ 11, [5], [6]. The specific area of interest to us here is that of college-level electrical engineering courses. The primary thrust of this paper is not to convince the reader that computer graphics has a role to play in education, as we assume that is accepted as a given. Instead, we will concentrate on demonstrating some of the possibilities using examples taken from the LLNL summer program, and describe the relatively modest equipment by which such results can be generated.

The benefits of using computers in education are not so very different from what they are in any other endeavor. Computers can be used to develop and access information, and to manipulate and display it. But whereas re- searchers can wait, albeit sometimes impatiently, for the result of a significant computation, if the most productive

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MILLER et al . : COMPUTER MOVIES FOR EDUCATION 61

mode of instruction is to be achieved it is highly prefer- able that the student-computer interface be interactive and real time. We use the term “real time” to mean that any waiting for a computer response is acceptably short for the given application. In addition, it is highly desirable that input and output be clearly and easily interpretable, which mandates a pictorial or graphical interface. These two attributes, interactive and graphical, dictate both the approach and the kinds of subjects that are suitable for computer-aided instruction using computers of specified capabilities.

For solutions and their graphical displays that are achieveable in real time using a given computer, we use the term “generated solution” as the descriptor. In the generated-solution mode (GSM), there would be a minimum of constraints on the values of parameters and variables to be used, thus permitting the student to most closely simulate the real experimental world. As a matter of fact, since many physical phenomena are not easily seen or measured but could be displayed using computer graphics, it might be claimed for some problems that computer simulation is better than the real world for instructional purposes.

Alternatively, for solutions and graphical displays that cannot be achieved real time, we use the descriptor, ‘‘stored solution. ” Although the real-time interactivity of the GSM is preferrable, there are several advantages to employing the SSM. First, more complex and more realistic problems and graphics can be employed in the SSM. Second, the software needed for the computations and display need not be optimized. Third, the output is inherently less perishable in its dependence on changing technology. Finally, through media such as laser video disks, the SSM can be made nearly equivalent in interactivity to the GSM.

In the stored-solution mode (SSM), the results, which provide the basis for the computer experiment, are pre- calculated, and perhaps also pregraphed. The student’s choice of parameters would then be limited to those corresponding to solutions in the database. A computer is not mandatory for employing stored solutions, as at their simplest they could take the form of still pictures or movies with the attendant disadvantage, however, of sacrific- ing interactivity and making the student a passive partic- ipant in the “playback” process.

The storage format could be numerical data or graphical images, or both, and the storage medium could be mag- netic disk or tape, laser video disk, or movie frames stored on video tape or on film. Although the generated-solution mode would be the more desirable, all other factors being equal, the stored-solution approach can permit a high level of interactivity using media such as the laser disk, where the maximum access time is only a second or so. Even video tape can provide reasonable interactivity if the material is so arranged that items closely related logically are placed on neighboring sections of tape. The approach of using video-tape movies, i.e., stored solutions, has been followed in the LLNL program initially, although the

longer term goal would be to provide the material in al- ternate, generated-solution formats.

Recognizing that a computer-generated movie alone may be inadequate, each movie is intended to be accom- panied by an instructional text. The text would contain background information and descriptive material for each movie, together with a sequence of still frames from it. The text plus movie form a “module,” the design of which should be such as to permit use of the module for self-study by the student, or as part of a lecture or as a laboratory demonstration by the instructor. For this and other reasons, the movie portion of a module should be relatively short, nominally between 5 and 15 min. The texts would best be written without being keyed to a particular textbook, and the collection of texts for a given topic would eventually comprise a workbook that could then be used with any textbook. Our motivation is to provide an instructional accessory to complement or supple- ment traditional instruction, not to replace it, with the computer movie specifically being useful for either class- room/laboratory demonstration or self-study.

IV. THE LLNL ACE MOVIE GENERATION SYSTEM This section describes the hardware and software

needed to achieve an integrated movie-making capability for producing both video tape and film recordings. A specific system developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the Applied Computational En- gineering (AC) Laboratory is presented as a prototype for such a capability.

Basically, the hardware elements are: 1) a frame buffer in which each successive image is rasterized from a list of plot commands supplied by a computer program to produce three video signals which render the red, green, and blue (RGB) spectral aspects of the image, and 2) a means for recording a composite of these three images on either video tape or film. To record on standard video tape, an RGB-to-composite video (NTSC) encoder develops a signal to drive a video cassette recorder (VCR). In order that the frame buffer produces standard video 525 line interlaced RGB outputs, it is necessary that these outputs be synchronized with the encoder NTSC output signal. This is achieved by generating the color video synchronization signal externally and driving the frame buffer rasterizer and NTSC encoder with this external sync signal. The frame buffer must possess the so called “genlock” feature to accept external sync in this manner.

In order to record one video frame at a time, it is necessary to use an editing recorder that has dwell capacity operating under the control of a software-driven editing controller. The controller must set up the recorder prior to each recording sequence by backing up the tape so that on command to record frame n + 1, the capstan is en- gaged, the tape is brought up to speed and synchronized with the recorder phase-lock-loop as frame n passes be- neath the read/write heads. Then as the recording sweep begins for frame n + 1, the write head is enabled and the image currently in the frame buffer is recorded on tape.

62

/ \

+ m u d llne

MONITOR (NTSC) NTSC Video

\ / - NISC Vtdco 1 / 2 “VCR

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 31, NO. 2, MAY 1988

VCR EDITING CONTROLLER +

’ NTSCVideo control a ststus line

3 / 4 ’ EDITING VCR c

+ Audio input

AUDIO RECORDER & MIC -

The editing controller will have been instructed as part of the setup command from the computer program to record m consecutive frames of this image where m is typically 3, but may be set to any value desired. The controller also records a consecutive code on each successive frame. With a controller having this capability, it is possible under program control to select and edit single frames of a previously recorded tape.

Film recording is accomplished by sending the RGB signals into a camera station on which a stop-action movie camera has been mounted. In an automatic station, the camera exposure settings as well as the shutter sequence are under program control. The camera consists of a CRT monochromatic display with an optically flat face and bar- rel distortion compensation. The camera is mounted on front of the CRT and on the same optical axis. Superim- posed between them is a filter wheel with three sectors, one each for red, green, and blue exposures. The wheel is indexed consecutively through these sectors as the re- spective RGB video signals separately drive the CRT to produce a multiple exposure on the film of the image currently in the frame buffer.

The movie making system in the Applied Computa- tional Engineering Laboratory at LLNL is an example of the general capability. This design depicted in Fig. 2 provides a “hands-on” system that can produce a movie hardcopy of the sequence of interest which can be viewed immediately following the recording run. It consists of two subsystems: one which produces medium resolution (512 x 512 pixel) imagery and another which produces high resolution ( 1024 X 1024 pixel). Medium-resolution images suitable for VCR or film recording are produced either directly in the TEK 41 13B and Raster Technology frame buffers, or extracted from one quadrant of the IRIS frame buffer. The full-sized IRIS images can be recorded on film by the high-resolution camera station. Both film stations can accommodate the same 16 mm movie, 35 mm slide, and polaroid-print cameras.

The VAX-computer-based, movie-making system used in developing the animated movies described in later sections is shown in Fig. 3. This equipment functions together as described above. Audio scripts are dubbed onto the video cassettes using the editing VCR. VHS copies of the recordings are duplicated on the 1 / 2 in VCR or can be recorded into other formats as desired. The color- graphics terminal with color-screen copier is also linked to the VAX over a serial line and is used in coding the animation programs. Table I summarizes the specifica- tions and approximate costs of both the video and film recording equipment. Although the Tek 41 13B four-bit plane frame buffer was used to generate the movies described here, the Raster Technology 24-bit plane frame buffer will make it possible to produce continuous-tone imagery in our subsequent work.

The animation programs are organized into the general categories of element routines, scene routines, and command files or movie programs as shown in the Fig. 4 block diagram. An element routine combines several calls to

[ ACE Lab C o m p u t e r (VAX- 1 I / 7R ’ i I

f C o n t i n u o u s Tone \ I W o r k s t a t i o n (Tek 41 136)

RG B RGB Video I I I Swltch

F i l m C o l o r

( L y o n I L a r n b E d i t i n g ( M a t r i x 3000, ( M a t r i x 3000)

R e c o r d e r ) C o n t r o l l e r , Sony Bolex l 6 m m Camera)

Fig. 2. ACE (applied computational engineering) Laboratory movie making system.

WORKSTATION FRAME BUFFER (16 colors, 512x512)

WORK STAT1 ON MONITOR

(RGB)

I- VIDEO SYNC GENERATOR I RGB+NTSC ENCODER

00

TABLE I MOVIE MAKING EQUIPMENT SUMMARY

1) Tektronix 41 13B workstation: frame buffer, intelligent terminal and RGB monitor. 512 X 512 pix resolution, 4-bit plane (16 color) frame buffer store, GenLocked 525 line interlaced RGB video output and 9600 baud serial computer link. Approximate cost $13 000

2) Raster Technology one/25 frame buffer. 512 x 512 pixel resolution, 24-bit plane (continuous tone color) frame buffer store, GenLocked 525 line interlaced RGB video output, and DMA parallel computer link. Approximate cost $20 000

3) IRIS workstation: frame buffer, intelligent terminal, graphics engine, and RGB monitor. 1024 X 1024 pixel resolution, continuous tone color frame buffer store, and ethernet computer link. Approximate cost $65 000

4) Video recording subsystem: Sony VO-5850 3/4 in editing VCR, Lyon-Lamb VAS IV VCR editing controller, Lenco CSL-710D sync generator, and Lenco PCE-466 color NTSC encoder. Approximate cost $20 000

controller interface, and 16 mm movie camera. Approximate cost $30 000

5 ) Film recording subsystem: Matrix 3000 camera station with computer

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MILLER et a / . : COMPUTER MOVIES FOR EDUCATION 63

Graphics Geometric Animated Plotting Element Scene Library Modules Routines

Square Scene 2

Scene 3 (Optional C.G.S.

DI3000)

Master Movie Program

Animated Image

Sequence

Fig. 4 . Animation software methodology.

graphics-library subroutines to construct ever more complicated and specialized graphics, such as symbols or 3D representations, called elements. The routine is written so that all of the characteristics of the element, such as lo- cation on the screen, size, color, angle, and so on are communicated precisely to the calling program.

V. SOME REPRESENTATIVE APPLICATIONS During the first two summers of the LLNL program, a

total of 12 faculty members participated from six different institutions (Air Force Academy, University of Arizona, University of California at Davis, Howard University, Michigan Technological University, and University of Nevada at Las Vegas). The disciplinary backgrounds were as varied as the organizations represented, and included undergraduate physics instructors, as well as specialists in digital systems and circuits, controls, electromagnetics, and signal processing. Complete freedom was given to the participants to select topics, develop “story lines” and graphics, and to produce the final video tape, work- ing, of course, within the constraints imposed by the software and hardware available. Some additional help was provided on an “as-available’’ basis from LLNL person- nel.

Because the program had only limited resources, the actual production of graphical material was a sometimes painfully slow process. The greatest difficulty was associated with developing the graphics images since state of the art graphics software was unavailable. Therefore, much of the effort was devoted to developing plotting software for what were for the most part relatively simple images. Because it was accessible and its author (Hal Brand) is an LLNL employee, the graphics package “DIGLIB” was employed for the bulk of the graphics generation as outlined in Fig. 4.

DIGLIB supports windowing, move and draw primi- tives as well as polygons and polygon fill. It contains nine fonts per text strings, and the higher level routines include two-dimensional contour plots, three-dimensional surface plots, three-dimensional solid objects, and bar graphs. It runs on VAX compatibles, RT-TI, and RSX, and supports the following drivers:

TEK 4010 and 4100 series terminals

DEC VT 100/VT640 Retrographics, VT 100/DQ650

INTECOLOR VHR19 terminal ANADEX printer QMS laser grafix printer TEK 4692 and 4695 color inkjet plotters Although there is no unique way to categorize the var-

ious kinds of graphics presentations that might be used for science, engineering, and related applications, some kind of demarcation is helpful to make an appropriate dis- tinction between them. We have chosen to designate two categories each for the phenomena being presented, and the graphical characterization employed. Phenomena of interest are either abstract (mathematical) or real (physical) in that the former have no “measurable” physical reality whereas the latter do. Similarly, their graphical depiction may be attempted via using either a symbolic en- coding or a simulated visualization. The result of this ca- tegorization leads to the following;

Retrographics, VT240 and VT24 1 terminals

1) Symbolic visualization of abstract phenomena, 2) Symbolic visualization of physical phenomena, 3) Graphical visualization of physical phenomena,

some examples of which are given in the following par- agraphs.

A . Symbolic Visualization of Abstract Phenomena The first group of modules (1-3) uses the computer to

explore mathematical relationships. As an example, consider a function with a simple l / z pole that has been an- alytically continued into the complex plane. Typically, the response of a physical system is represented by the cut along the real axis of this mathematical model. In Fig. 5, the pole is sequentially moved towards the real axis in a surface plot of the function. The corresponding change in the cut along the real axis (response) is depicted. As the pole moves towards the real axis, the response increases and becomes singular as the pole reaches the axis. Such mathematical models are typically employed in resonance problems. An example would be an ac circuit with a series resistance, capacitance, and inductance. If the current is plotted versus the frequency of the power supply, a resonance curve, such as that depicted by the cut along the real axis of the graphs in Fig. 5 , is obtained. As the resistance of the circuit is decreased to zero, the current becomes divergent at the resonance frequency.

Such results allow students to see aspects of very abstract problems that they might not have appreciated in a more traditional lecture setting. This is especially true when the changes caused by pole movements can be shown dynamically. Even experienced teachers report that they have gained new insight into old problems when they have access to these kinds of presentations.

B. Symbolic Visualization of Physical Phenomena Examples of symbolic depiction (modules 4-8 listed

below) use the computer to visually represent ideas which may be inordinately difficult if not impossible to depict realistically. Instead, the representations are not intended

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64 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL 31. NO. 2 , MAY 19x8

Fig. 6. Symbolic visualization of pipeline processing for arithmetic oper- ations.

to accurately mimic the physical problem. but to pro\ride the student with a usctul mcntal model. Modules in this catagory include the operation of a simple latch. shiclding of a cirucit. and the pipelining of information to a coni- puter processor. In Fig. 6, from the movie on pipelining by Scihcrt, the process of addition i n a processor is rep- rcsentcd symbolically. Although thc physical addition process in the computer itself is quite different than shown (physically. capacitors becornc charged and unchargcd in a seemingly complicated sequence), the logic that the processor follows is represented quite clearly.

Symbolic representations need not be highly idealized but can also be very \,isual, almost to the point o f forming a realistic picture. In Fig. 7, a frame taken from ;1 mmie on the rainbow by Chimino shows that separate caustics that form from the red and blue light refracted by a spher-

(c)

function.

physical setting include fluid dynamics experiments in

of Fluid Motion by Van Dyke [36] presents a fascinating Fig. 5 . Symbolic visualization of complex-frequency plane plot of pole wind tunnels and other systems. A recent book An

MILLER er a/ COMPUTER MOVIES FOR EDUCATION 65

Fig. 7. Symbolic visualization of water-droplet dispersion that causes rainbows.

glimpse of what can be done in this area, and, not coin- cidentally, also provides some hints about how computer presentation of phenomena not amenable to such physical visualization might be displayed. Other examples can be found in stress analysis using polarized-light photographs of transparent plastic models, infrared imagery of heat flow, and liquid-crystal mapping of electromagnetic fields.

Unfortunately, many of the physical problems of interest, especially in a teaching setting, are not so well suited to visualization. For most problems in electromagnetics, for example, liquid-crystal visualization is not a practical technique, and computer graphics represents the only really viable alternative. This is especially the case when a dynamic phenomenon is of interest where the time scale is too short for human perception and must be slowed down. Two possibilities are considered here, one from electrostatics and the other from electrodynamics.

In Fig. 8, the electrostatic field lines are plotted for a negative point charge and a positive point charge where the positive charge has twice the magnitude of the negative charge. In the succeeding frames, another negative point charge is moved quasi-statically in from the right so that no radiation effects are represented. When viewed dynamically, such a sequence shows the structure of the static fields and can greatly enhance the mathematical presentation of superposition where the electric field at any point can be represented by the vector sum (superposition) of the fields from the individual charges. The student can more readily gain an intuitive grasp of the concept.

An example in short-pulse electromagnetics taken from module 12) is exhibited in Fig. 9. The results shown are the contours of an electric field that exist at several instants of time around an impulsively excited dipole where it should be noted that the fields are rotationally symmet- ric about the dipole axis. These plots clearly demonstrate the production of a “bubble” of outward propagating field

(c)

charge configuration. Fig. 8. Graphical visualization of point-charge fields due to changing


( e ) Fig. 9. Graphical visualization of the fields at several instants of time

around an impulsively excited wire dipole.

and the fact that radiation takes place due to the charge acceleration that occurs at the source when the exciting voltage is applied, and at the wire ends when the charges

are reflected. While these specific results were not produced as part of the summer program but were instead developed during the course of ongoing research [21],

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MILLER et al. : COMPUTER MOVIES FOR EDUCATION 67

[22], their utility for illustrating such basic phenomena is REFERENCES so attractive that they are being gram, as is also the case of modules 13) and 14).

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141 T. R. Blakeslee, The Right Brain. Truly dynamic problems like the impulsively excited dipole are difficult to demonstrate apart from Using COm- 151 A. Bork, Learning with Computers. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, puter animation, and have the potential to revolutionize the way we teach and understand such problems. Students typically do not think dynamically, partly due to their pre- vious education’s avoidance of dynamics because of the difficulty of the subject, and partly to the lack of demon- strations. Both of these causes tend to kindle the belief that dynamics are abstract and difficult, if not impossible, to understand. Dynamic visual aids can promote the development of more intuitive understanding, tie the abstract mathematics to concrete physical processes, and provide a motivation to learn. The potential value in science and engineering education of these benefits is enormous, and could revolutionize and enrich both the learning and the teaching experience. As a final comment, we note that emerging understanding of the separate functions of our left and right brains indicates that traditional education may apparently exercise only the analysis part of our intellect and ignore the synthesis function that deal- ing with visual presentation would more effectively uti- lize. Thus, besides making both learning and teaching more enjoyable, uses of graphics like those explored in this paper are logically consistent with how our “two” brains interact with the world around.

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6) M. Seibert, Grounding and Shielding, 1985. 7 ) -, Processor Piplines, 1985. 8) M. Soderstrand, Latching of an RS Flip-Flop, 1984. 9) R . W. Cole, Potentials, Gradients, and Fields,

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[I91 R. H. McKim, Experiences in Visual Thinking. Monterey, CA. BrookslCole, 1972.

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[21] E. K. Miller and J. A. Landt, “Direct time-domain techniques for transient radiation and scattering from wires,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 68,

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Edmund K. Miller (S’60-M’66-SM’70-SM’81- F’84) received the B.S. degree from Michigan Technological University, Houghton, and the Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Ar- bor, in electrical engineering.

Currently he is Manager of Electromagnetics at the Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA. He had previously held research positions at the Radiation Laboratory and High Altitude Lab- oratory of the University of Michigan; MBAsso- ciates, San Ramon, CA; and Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory, Livermore, CA. Most recently he was Regents-Dis- tinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Uni- versity of Kansas, Lawrence. He writes a column on personal computers that appears in the AP, Electromagneric Comparibility, and Microwave Theory and Techniques Newsletters. His present research interests include computational electromagnetics, signal and information processing, and computer graphics applications to education and engineering research and design.

Dr. Miller is chairman of the Antennas and Propagation Society Edu- cation Committee.

Roy D. Merrill (S’56-M’61-SM’71) received the B.S.M.E. and B.S.E.E. degrees the University of Idaho, Moscow, in 1956, the M.S.E.E. fromOhio State University, Columbus, in 1960, and the E.E. Engineering degree from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1965.

He is Manager of Small Systems Support at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Liv- ermore, CA, providing personal computer and of- fice technology training, consulting, and technical services for laboratorv Dersonnel. His interests in- . .

clude computers, workstation and PC networking, computer aided engineering application environments, and scientific and engineering database management, analysis and graphics.

Rodney W. Cole is an Adjunct Lecturer of Phys- ics at the University of California, Davis, and a Senior Learning Skills Counselor for the Learning Skills Center, Davis, CA. His research includes teaching methodology, computer animation of time domain solutions in electromagnetism, and critical phenomena.

engineering education and the liberal arts tradition

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