System On Chip As A Theme For Achieving Seamless Transition From A Two Year College To A Four Year University

System-on-Chip (SoC) is the major revolution taking place in the design of Integrated Circuits (IC). However, progress in this rapidly evolving area hinges critically on the availability of well-educated engineers able to bridge the architectural and physical gaps in SoC design. There is a strong consensus from industry and academic institutions on the importance and urgency of reflecting the impact of the SoC paradigm shift in engineering education, as traditional programs, especially at the undergraduate level, have not kept pace with this evolution. This paper presents progress using SoC as a theme to achieve a seamless transition from a two-year community college (Camden County College) to the junior level of a four-year Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at Rowan University. The crux of achieving this seamless transition lies in reconfiguring and developing new courses at Camden County College that not only introduce key concepts taught in the first two years at Rowan but also replicate the innovative lab experiments in SoC introduced at Rowan. To this end, a new course sequence in Electronics and Digital Circuits is being developed at Camden County College. In addition, several concepts from the Freshman Clinic sequence at Rowan have been included at Camden County College in the Introduction to Engineering course. This course introduces key SoC concepts (like the timing circuitry of an electric toothbrush), reverse engineering, measurements and emphasizes oral and written communication skills. The paper presents details of these transition activities as a work in progress.