Stanford's Electrical Engineering (EE) Department broadcasts diverse, cutting edge courses and programs via SCPD distance technologies — opportunities uniquely suited to the career — long learning needs of industry students. Four Stanford MSEE alumni share their perspectives on online learning through SCPD-why Stanford's MSEE is an outstanding educational option for today's working professionals.

Allen Ong, Hardware Design Engineer for Agilent Technologies in Vancouver, Canada, completed his MSEE in 2002. "Stanford Online is the biggest draw," he says. "The offerings are enormous. EE courses are the longest list of courses in the SCPD quarterly brochure, and that list is growing … it seems they are always adding new courses."

Ravi Kalluri, Business Development Manager for Atrenta, Inc., completed his entire Stanford MSEE program online. He agrees that Stanford's portfolio is the largest. " I am not aware of another top school that has an online part-time MS program, let alone a 100% online program." Kalluri is particularly impressed with the availability of so many courses. "The availability of seats was amazing considering the EE department has such a huge graduate student population. Classes were open for degree students even on the last date of registration. I never had a problem getting into any class."

The broad-based, interdisciplinary EE curriculum is another asset. "I took courses that are closely related to my work, of course, but I took others," says Ong. "This introduces you to different fields that may be relevant in a way you didn't know; it gives you a starting point to learn more."

Kalluri agrees. "One of my best courses was Medical Imaging. It was not job-related, but it was outstanding — well tailored to the needs of the industry. Professor Nishimura is very considerate of the needs of SCPD students. It's valuable to acquire knowledge in another area."

Tim Peters, a 2002 MSEE alumni working at Agilent as a Wireless Applications Engineer in California, appreciates the format and flexibility of the master's program. "It's excellent that there is not a thesis," he says. "You can spend your time learning so much more in a master's degree, rather than taking a whole year to concentrate on just one area." (For more on Peters' Stanford experience, read this quarter's Distance Student Spotlight).

The quality of the education and its immediate applicability to real-life industry issues are two other key factors in choosing Stanford. Medical imaging, VLSI, wireless and DSL communications, optics, nano-engineering — all these current industry areas are at the forefront of Stanford research and the curriculum. "Many faculty are actively involved in their own startup companies or in consulting for companies in the Bay Area," Peters explains. "They have their fingers on the pulse of technology in Silicon Valley and use that knowledge to shape the curricula. Consequently, examples used in class are from real-life experiences of the faculty. This might happen at other universities, but no area in the world is better- known for its technology than Silicon Valley."

Both Peters and David Watt, Electrical Engineer in circuit and software design for Electro Scientific Industries, Inc., recall courses that had immediate application to their work. "I applied what I learned in EE364 Convex Optimization with Engineering Application directly to the software design I was working on at the time," says Watt, who completed his MSEE online from Oregon in 2002.

Peters found EE379C Advanced Digital Communication particularly useful. "What Professor Cioffi taught one day I could apply directly to my work the next day." (For more on EE 379, see this quarter's Faculty Spotlight).

There are no concessions to quality for industry students, a fact that all four alumni appreciate. "I took a few courses locally," explains Watt, "but when I researched available programs I turned to Stanford, for the courses available and the location. Stanford courses are more challenging — they start at a fundamental, underlying level of math and physics and build from there. Course at other schools had more of what I call a cookbook — a 'how to' approach."

Ong takes this further, saying, "It's a good thing that they do not relax the standards for distance students; we are exposed to the same things as on-campus students. It pushes us to work harder and we learn more that way."

EE faculty accessibility and flexibility also help industry student meet the unique demands of remote locations and schedule conflicts. Peters recalls taking a midterm during a business trip to Seattle. "It was faxed to me at my hotel, I took it in an hour and faxed it back. The professor accepted the time stamp." At one point he had to view courses and fax in assignments from Scotland.

"I needed a lot of scheduling flexibility for a few courses, and the faculty gave it," adds Watt. "SCPD has done a great job to get course audiovisual online with a minimum of glitches. I also found that I concentrated far better when I took exams in my off-campus locations — I wasn't distracted by the classroom noise."

Ong feels that online learning challenges are surmountable. "I was the only one at this site who was taking courses," he says. "However, I did successfully work with people in different companies. When I enrolled in a course, I just e-mailed to the group through the course itself. And I've not had problems with getting help from professors or contacting them. They've been very, very understanding. For me," he concludes, "continuing my education while I worked outweighed any disadvantages."

Use the links to the right for information all EE programs and courses now available through SCPD.