CpE Handbook: Purpose

The Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University offers a four-year program leading to a degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. This program is accredited by the Engineering Accredidation Commission (EAC) of the Accredidation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the recognized national accrediting agency for professional curricula in engineering.

ABET requires the curriculum structure to provide breadth across the field of computer science and engineering, both hardware and software. Depth must be attained in at least one area of computer science and engineering. The curriculum must provide a balanced view of hardware, software, hardware-software tradeoffs, and basic modeling techniques used to represent the computing process.

To provide a framework for obtaining both breadth and depth, major elements of the student’s path through the program may be viewed as consisting of three basic threads: the software thread, the computer hardware and architecture thread, and the electrical engineering thread. Senior electives add further depth and breadth on top of this base.

The Computer Engineering curriculum is in compliance with the common computing requirements that are identified in the report entitled "Computing Curricula 1991, Report of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Curriculum Task Force." These common requirements identify nine topic areas that are essential and appropriate for all undergraduate curricula in computing. This report also contains curricular recommendations for baccalaureate programs in the discipline of computing, which includes programs with the titles "computer science," "computer engineering," "computer science and engineering," and other similar titles. These recommendations provide a uniform basis for curriculum design across all segments of the educational community. This report is endorsed by the Association for Computing Machinery and the Computer Society of the IEEE.

ABET has defined the curricular objective of an engineering education as follows:

"Engineering is that profession in which knowledge of the mathematical and physical sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgement to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of mankind. A significant measure of an engineering education is the degree to which it has prepared the graduate to pursue a productive engineering career that is characterized by continued professional growth. Included are the development of (1) a capability to delineate and solve in a practical way the problems of society that are susceptible to engineering treatment, (2) a sensitivity to the socially-related technical problems which confront the profession, (3) an understanding of the ethical characteristics of the engineering profession and practice, (4) an understanding of the engineer's responsibility to protect both occupational and public health and safety, and (5) an ability to maintain professional competence through lifelong learning. These objectives are normally met by a curriculum in which there is a progression in the course work and in which fundamental scientific and other training of the earlier years is applied in later engineering courses."

What is perhaps not so clear from examining the curriculum for Computer Engineering, or any other curriculum of the University for that matter, is the extent to which the courses build upon each other. This can be partly understood by examining, through the Clemson University Undergraduate Announcements, the prerequisite courses for a given required course in the curriculum. Subtler, however, is the expected "carryover" of knowledge and skills from not only the prerequisite courses, but also those courses that precede even the prerequisites.

While proceeding through the curriculum you will be expected to "build a structure" of knowledge and skills that act as the foundations for subsequent work. Since this structure will be "in your head," only you can build it by patient study and practice. In this regard, your instructors at as guides who indicate some (but not all) of the important things to be learned and provide you feedback, through critiquing and grading your work, on how well you are preparing your foundation for the practice of Computer Engineering.