2010-11 Catalog

Weekly seminar by a member of the EAS faculty to discuss his or her area of engineering and group's research at an introductory level. The course can be used to learn more about different areas of study within engineering and applied science. Graded pass/fail.

Guidance and practice in organizing and preparing topics for presentation and in speaking with the help of visual aids, including whiteboards, overhead projectors, and video projectors.

This class provides the opportunity for students to gain experience in technical writing in engineering and applied science. Students will choose a technical topic of interest, possibly based on a previous research or course project, and write a paper in a form that would be appropriate as an engineering report, a technical conference paper, or a peer-reviewed journal paper. The topic of ethical considerations for engineers and scientists as they arise in the publication and peer review process will also be discussed. A Caltech faculty member, a postdoctoral scholar, or technical staff member serves as a technical mentor for each student, to provide feedback on the content and style of the report. Fulfills the Institute scientific writing requirement.

An introduction to the basics of getting a high-technology business started, including early-stage patent, organizational, legal, and financing issues; growing a company; taking a company public; and mergers and acquisitions. Lectures include presentations by invited experts in various specialties and keynote guest lecturers of national stature in technology start-ups.

A course intended for students interested in learning how rapidly evolving technologies are harnessed to produce useful products. Students will work through Harvard Business School case studies, supplemented by lectures to elucidate the key issues. There will be a term project. The course is team-based and designed for students considering working in companies (any size, including start-ups) or eventually going to business school. Topics include technology as a growth agent, financial fundamentals, integration into other business processes, product development pipeline and portfolio management, learning curves, risk assessment, technology trend methodologies (scenarios, projections), motivation, rewards and recognition. Industries considered will include electronics (hardware and software), aerospace, medical, biotech, etc. E 102 and E/ME 105 are useful but not required precursors.

The course will emphasize products appropriate for the developing world-for those people subsisting on less than one dollar a day. The focus is on Guatemala and taught in partnership with Landivar University in Guatemala City and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The class consists of mixed teams, with lectures teleconferenced between countries. The class teaches product design methodologies informed by the special circumstances of the end customers. Technologies chosen are typically indigenous not "high tech". Issues of sustainability in a business as well as in an engineering sense are included as are cultural concerns, ultra low cost, manufacturability and ergonomic design. Each team works on a product which addresses people's basic needs, e.g., potable water, clean burning stoves, food processing, ergonomic carriers.

All candidates for the M.S. degree in applied mechanics, electrical engineering, materials science, and mechanical engineering are required to attend any graduate seminar in any division each week of each term. Graded pass/fail.