Student Projects

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Technical Program

Project Manager

Richard Zhang, Student Branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE NU)

Amount Requested

$5,000

Summary

The objective of the IEEE technical program is to teach students, create a community, advance careers, and widen perspectives. Students will form teams of five to six people with a peer mentor to create innovative projects and learn technical skills that are often only introduced later in the curriculum or only covered theoretically. At the end of around five months, students will have the chance to showcase their projects to industry professionals and gain feedback. The club will also host social events as well as invite speakers throughout the program to promote networking and create a fun technology community. The primary goals of our program are to help students develop their careers, learn from others, and have fun.

Planned Activities/Investments

1. The IEEE Technical Project is a 4-month mentorship program that places students in teams of 4 –5, led by an experienced project manager. Over the course of the program, teams will work collaboratively on a technical project, participate in peer feedback sessions, and build practical skills through hands-on development. The program culminates in a final showcase where students present their work to industry professionals, receiving valuable feedback to refine their ideas and strengthen their technical and presentation abilities.
2. Workshops: Before the IEEE Technical Project begins, we will offer frequent workshops to help prepare students to create a project. Oftentimes, at Northwestern, it isn’t until late sophomore year that you get to do this.
3. Tech Thursdays: Throughout the school year, we will meet once every two weeks on Thursdays, where students can come eat food, socialize, and get help on their projects. We aim to have this be a space for students to meet people across teams and form connections with each other.
4. Speaker Series: Every few Tech Thursdays, we will bring in a speaker to talk about their experiences so that members can broaden their perspectives. We will take input from the technical program members to ensure they are getting the most out of each talk.
5. BadHacks: While much of IEEE is focused on creating innovative and useful projects, BadHacks is an event that will allow students to unleash their creativity without having to worry about whether their project is necessarily the most innovative or useful. It allows students to have fun with technology and socialize in a more silly setting while exploring interesting projects.

Impact

The IEEE Technical Program will positively impact students in eectrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science, as well as those from other fields who are interested in gaining technical experience or contributing their expertise to engineering-focused projects. Our workshops will equip students with industry-relevant technical skills that are often not covered in traditional coursework. The team-based projects allow students to apply knowledge gained both in and out of the classroom to real-world challenges. These projects also often have impacts beyond the community, and many project teams aim to tackle real-world problems with their technology. Additionally, our speaker series and project showcase will allow students to receive career advice and network with professionals in the field. Altogether, the IEEE Technical Program aims to foster a stronger, more connected engineering community at Northwestern.

Deliverables

1. Support for 10 – 12 Student Project Teams through funding for hardware, software tools (e.g., API credits), and mentorship, enabling real-world technical exploration.
2. Midway Project Showcase, where teams present progress and receive feedback, promoting peer learning and mid-program reflection.
3. Final Project Showcase featuring completed student-led projects, industry judges, and awards to recognize innovation and excellence.
4. Sixteen “Tech Thursday” Workshops providing hands-on technical skill-building sessions, including topics in software, hardware, and AI.
5. Speaker Engagements integrated into workshops and showcases, offering students direct access to industry insights and career advice.

Sustainability

The technical program is a core part of the IEEE branch at Northwestern and is run every year. While funding from the Murphy Grant will guarantee enough support to run a lot of the program, we want to make the program more robust and general. IEEE plays a very important role in helping students learn content through applications that are vital for internships and personal projects. But the content often either doesn’t get covered in depth through classes or doesn’t get covered until much later in their college career. However, due to funding reasons, the program has often failed at including students who are not part of the technical projects. Currently,, we have one sponsor who helped us pay for the final showcase last year. This year, we plan to reach out to more companies for more sponsorship opportunities as well as partner with other tech clubs that have similar goals.

Previous Projects

Last year, we did not have new Murphy Society funding due to a late exec transition. Instead, we had some leftover money in our account to cover costs for the program. We held Tech Thursdays every two weeks starting in January until May. Due to low attendance, we only had to spend a couple of hundred for snacks and food. That being said, a major goal of the organization this year is to make Tech Thursdays mandatory so that students are able to form a community across teams, learn new skills properly, and be held accountable for their projects. We found that a lot of people with less experience had a hard time contributing to their projects due to a lack of communication in the team. The leftover money in the account also helped us fund the midway showcase and the final showcase. However, we were unable to provide the chip design team with the exact technology they wanted this year due to costs, and many payments were made out of pocket and only reimbursed when we secured the funds later on.

Budget Overview

• 16 Tech Thursdays ($800): Each Tech Thursday is allotted around $50. This money will be spent on buying food (community building), gifts for speakers, and technology used in workshops (especially for a hardware workshop or workshops that require API credits like AI).
• Final showcase ($2000): Lunch for members and judges, prizes to incentivize members, water, and judge gifts
• Midway showcase ($1000): Food for members (around $13 per person)
• Project money ($1200): Lots of new software requires money to fund exploration, like OpenAI credits. Additionally, hardware teams will need money to pursue their projects.

Total Budget Amount: $5,000

Matching Funds

We plan to find more sponsors for the upcoming year. As of right now, we have one sponsor (Schneider Electric) who will provide us with around $2000 for the program.

Faculty Adviser/Department

Alan Sahakian/Electrical and Computer Engineering