A tour of the CSM Electronics Prototyping Facility

The Division of Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines has developed a new approach in teaching and using electronic circuit fabrication skills as a standard part of our undergraduate electronics laboratories. We have created a vertically integrated facility with advanced computer-aided design (CAD) tools, quick and cheap printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication machinery and industry-standard electronics assembly tools. This facility has brought a new capability to our undergraduate laboratories for our students to design and fabricate significant circuits that used to be abstract problems because the implementation was too difficult or expensive. Since typical graduates from four-year electrical engineering degree programs have no electronics production skills, they must then learn on the job these necessary skills and industry must cope with the lowering of productivity and quality. Given the needs of the students and industry, it seems only natural that electrical engineering degree programs should give students a basic preparation in electronics production skills to enable their graduates to function better as working engineers. This work discusses the rationale for our approach, the impact these changes have had on our students, and gives a tour of the Electronics Prototyping Facility (EPF)