Bam! Just like that, I am done with my first two weeks of classes. It’s kind of hard to believe that less than three weeks ago I was still running around India (more on that later). I thought it would be slightly harder to adjust to be back at school than it has, but I am already 100% back into the swing of things. That might be because I went swing dancing the night before driving back up to school. I’m sorry, that was just awful…ANYWAY I am back, and my semester is looking delightfully challenging. I am excited for things to unfold. This semester, I am in 4 electrical engineering classes and 1 business law class. Rather, I am in 4 classes with electrical engineering in the title, but only two of them are true EE classes.
EE348 is a hardcore analog circuits class. I know its going to be difficult, but I already love Professor Choma, my instructor for the course. On the first day of class, he shared with us his vision for what he hoped we would take away from his class. He wants us to be able to analyze circuit systems and designs just by “inspection” by the end of the course, and develop a fundamental understanding and expertise on the basics of analog circuits (no matter how large they get), rather than just memorizing how to use equations. He told us that if we can’t come up with a correct answer for a question on his tesst, but explain how/why we know our answer is wrong qualitatively in terms of concepts, we can still get a great deal of the points. He seems incredibly passionate about making each and every one of us circuits gurus, so I hope to take full advantage of his passion by supplying my own. We had our first lab section for the course this week. It’s 3 hours long on Tuesday nights, and no one even came close to finishing. I have that to look forward to this weekend, along with preparing a beautiful lab report once I do finish it:) Not to mention a problem set due for the same class this week as well. Nobody said becoming an expert would be easy:)
A typical analog circuit that I should be able to analyze pretty quickly be the end of this course!
Additionally, I’m in a nano-technology course (EE337). It’s really hard for me to see a clear direction for where this class is going after only the second week, but our professor told us to be patient as the material builds. He seems really passionate about innovation, and wants us all to keep an eye out for opportunity in this field. He says once we leave his class, we will be equipped to at least understand potential applications of nano-technology in new devices and spot opportunities. But for right now, we are covering some basics in Fourier series, frequency and bandwith relationships, review of MOSFETS, and LT-SPICE circuit simulations. I will keep you posted once we really get into the core of this course. But for now, know this: my professor has an awesome British accent. It definitely adds to the lectures!
My other two EE classes are EE355 and EE364 which are each a computer science and statistics class respectively. EE355 is programming and software design with electrical engineering applications, and it is taught by Professor Redekopp, one of my favorite professors here. He is an amazing teacher, and I had him for my EE101 into to digital logic course. He understands how to pace a lecture, keeps things interactive with in-class excercises, and has designed the course and assignments to apply to genuine EE problems. I can’t believe that two weeks ago I knew zero C++ but have already written several (small) programs. I can’t wait to see this course build. EE364 is similar, in that it is a probability and statistics class with EE applications. So far, we are just going through probability material and theory I am familiar with, but it will be cool to see what kinds of engineering problems we apply that theory too a little later on.
Finally, I’m taking introduction to the legal environment of business as part of my business law minor. This class is awesome and totally practical. One assignment I’m really looking forward to is the court report, which will be an adventure to an LA court one day. I will blog about that extensively after it happens:) Honestly though, the book and professor are both great, and I am learning a lot of law school basics at a totally manageable pace. With any of these classes, it’s so nice being taught by professionals who speak from experience. So many of my professors here work in industry in addition to working as teachers (e.g. Professor Fields works as an attorney and Professor Redekopp works at Raytheon).
We watched footage of Lil Wayne’s deposition from a case he was involved with a few years ago. It’s a must watch
Other than classes, I am busy with NOBE, getting ready for the National Conference we are holding, which is just a little over a month away! We will be hosting all the other NOBE chapters for a fun and progressive weekend filled with workshops, speakers, social events, and elections for the national board. Right now, we are trying to lock up sponsorship, get all printed materials ready, and finalize a few items on the agenda. In addition, we are still finalizing events for the semester on campus. It’s going to be a busy one, but I am excited for it. I also joined the USC Forensics club last semester, and I can’t wait to get more involved with that. Forensics is a field I am newly interested in, and I want to learn more about deterring cybercrime in particular. The club is new, but they plan to bring in a lot of cool speakers and put on events relating to many aspects of the Forensics field!
As far as fun goes, last night I saw an early screening of the film Warm Bodies on campus. It was a delightfully terrible zombie rom com. I enjoyed it a little too much…It was a pretty cute concept, and it was hard not to laugh. It was a fun Friday night treat before things get really busy. But I absolutely love being involved with the cinematic arts school. They put on so many great events, whether it be early movie screenings for films with wide releases,or showcases of Colombian avante garde animation with authentic Colombian cuisine served afterwards, or screenings of the complete Twin Peaks collection done over a few weeks with over 20 of the original cast members and staff members. SCA is awesome, and I am so happy to get more involved with them senior year when I finish off my screenwriting minor. I’m thinking of joining the comedy club when my semester is a little more writing heavy, and a little less EE-heavy.
Warm Bodies: a zombie rom com about star-crossed lovers whose love has the power to change humanity and zombie-kind for the better!
Anyway, I digress. This semester is going to be awesome. Busy as always, but I also always manage to slip in times for fantastic adventures too. Let’s see what those adventures will be this semester:)
