Championing high-tech renaissance: Sensor and controller system integration course

With rapidly advancing and evolving technologies, the primary challenges in engineering product development have shifted from creating well defined components to producing complex, interdependent systems. Innovating and adapting to this new, complex environment is critical to surviving in the global economy. The challenge is to generate "good" ideas and rapidly convert them to viable commercial products. In the product development process, proof-of-concept systems are built to determine the feasibility of products or processes. It is essential for today's engineers and scientists to understand systems engineering principles and have the knowledge and experience in integrating systems to test the efficacy of their ideas. To this end, we have developed the Sensor and Controller System Integration course that enables students to rapidly metamorphose their ideas to proof-of-concept systems for high-tech applications using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. This paper presents the course philosophy, curriculum, instructional strategy, preliminary assessment results and the teaching tools employed to enhance the students' entrepreneurial experience.