Vertical integration of System-on-Chip and Green Engineering across the undergraduate curriculum

Vertical integration is significant in achieving better student comprehension of the connections among topics and concepts covered in various courses taught during the same or different semesters of the curriculum. Students realize that the courses are part of a flow that contributes to a knowledge base without artificial boundaries rather than being separate bodies of knowledge. In this paper, vertical integration is achieved by a series of laboratory exercises in two areas (System-on-Chip and Green Engineering) that start as well-structured experiments at the lower levels and proceed as increasingly complex open-ended design projects at upper levels of the curriculum. Quantitative assessment results clearly show that students understand that concepts carry over from one course to another as a result of the laboratory projects. Clinic assessment results are also very encouraging.