> I agree whole-heartedly with Mr. Townsend's comment regarding the
> capability of recent college grads to know this information fresh out of
> school. I am relatively fresh out of school (3yrs), and if you would
> have asked me these questions in an interview, I would have had no idea
> what you were talking about. I believe part of the problem, is in
> digital design classes, labs are not run in the MHz domain, and the TTL
> chips used (CMOS too for that matter) will work if you connected them
> with duct tape. Also, the analog courses do not typically move beyond RF
> areas, and are more concerned with the function of a single BJT or FET,
> than the whole system. A third item is the EMAG courses, which are
> typically based in a solid-state physics realm that very few people I
> have interviewed can even apply to a system level application. Why not
> begin teaching transmission line theory in digital/analog/and EMAG
> courses?
Because (from observation) most of the faculty haven't got a clue.
Of course, being godlike, they can neither admit their lack of
omniscience nor descend to studying it. (Research is, alas, out
of the question since their first efforts wouldn't be publishable.)
They resolve the dilemma by ignoring it. One of the little
perks of tenured faculty is that they can set the conditions
to avoid embarrassment -- and THAT, in turn, is why their
students never hear about this stuff.
-- D. C. Sessions [email protected]