Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers
Spring 2025

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Course Description

This course will give students from outside of Engineering an under-the-hood view of 12 important technologies that will impact their daily lives in the next decade.

For each technology, students will

1. understand the core technical challenges in realizing the technology
2. gain intuition on how the challenges are being solved
3. appreciate how such technologies translate to business and revenue, and
4. identify implications in areas such as privacy, fairness, policy, ethics, and other paradigm shifts.

Technical subjects to be considered include basics of sensing, computing, communication, and control, the 4 pillars of technology. To help students better relate to the topics discussed in the course, each technology will be highlighted using one or more well-established companies (e.g., Comcast, ATT, Google, Meta, ADT, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Verisign).

Logistics

Lectures

Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:00am - 11:50am at 3081 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg (ECEB)

See Lecture Schedule

Labs

Fridays, 10:00am - 11:50pm or 12:00pm - 1:50pm at 1009 Mechanical Engineering Lab (MEL)

We will use Wolfram Mathematica in the labs. Every Windows workstation in the lab already has Wolffram Mathematica installed. If you would like to also install the software on your own device, you can download and install it from here (using your netID and password).

Labs will be submitted and graded using Gradescope. Details about the submission process will be provided during class.

Communication

We will use Canvas for making class announcements and for posting grades.

Office Hours

Instructor: Abrita Chakravarty

Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:50am - 12:20pm or by appointment

TA: Sattwik Basu

TBD

Calendar

Introduction

Wed, Jan 22
Course Introduction & Landscape
Logistics, topics, grading, prerequisites, etc.
10 thousand foot view (Internet) to 100 feet view (programming)
Part 1 Slides / Part 2 Notebook
Fri, Jan 24
Lab 1
Introduction to Wolfram Notebooks
Notebook

Past & Present — Connecting the World

Mon, Jan 27
History and Map of Keywords
Slides
Wed, Jan 29
WiFi
Slides
Fri, Jan 31
Lab 2
WiFi
Notebook
Mon, Feb 3
Cellular
Slides
Wed, Feb 5
Internet (1/3)
Connectivity, Forwarding, and Routing
Slides
Fri, Feb 7
No Lab
 
 
Mon, Feb 10
Internet (2/3)
HTTP and DNS
Slides
Wed, Feb 12
Internet (3/3)
TCP and Layering
Slides
Fri, Feb 14
Lab 3
Internet and Graphs
Notebook
Mon, Feb 17
Client-Server
Slides
Wed, Feb 19
Distribution and Streaming
Slides
Fri, Feb 21
Lab 4
Distribution and Streaming
Notebook
Mon, Feb 24
File Systems
Notebook
Wed, Feb 26
Social Network
Notebook
Fri, Feb 28
Lab 5
Social Networks
Notebook
Mon, Mar 3
Catch-up Lecture
Slides
Wed, Mar 5
Exam Review
Notebook
Fri, Mar 7
Exam 1
 

Intelligence & Implications

Mon, Mar 10
Introduction to Machine Intelligence
Slides
Wed, Mar 12
Search Engines
Slides
Fri, Mar 14
Lab 6
Search Engines
Notebook
Sat, Mar 15
Spring Break Begins
Sun, Mar 23
Spring Break Ends
Mon, Mar 24
Recommendation Systems
Notebook
Wed, Mar 26
Machine Learning
Notebook
Fri, Mar 28
Lab 7
Machine Learning
Notebook
Mon, Mar 31
Neural Networks and LLMs
Slides
Wed, Apr 2
Security and Authentication
Slides
Fri, Apr 4
Lab 8
Neural Networks and Authentication
Notebook
Mon, Apr 7
Ethics, Privacy and Fairness
Notebook
Wed, Apr 9
Exam 2 Review
Notebook
Fri, Apr 11
Exam 2

Future

Mon, Apr 14
Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate
Slides
Wed, Apr 16
Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate
Slides
Fri, Apr 18
Lab 9
Sense-Compute-Communicate-Actuate
Notebook
Mon, Apr 21
Computer Vision
Slides
Wed, Apr 23
Speech and Natural Language Processing
Slides
Fri, Apr 25
Lab 10
Computer Vision
Notebook
Mon, Apr 28
Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality
Slides
Wed, Apr 30
Self-driving
Slides
Fri, May 2
Lab 11
Working with Data
Notebook

Final Week

Mon, May 5
Exam 3 Review
Study Guide
Wed, May 7
Exam 3
 

Exam Information

The course has three midterm exams. There will NOT be any final exam.

Each exam will be 50 mins long. You are allowed 1 letter-size (8.5" x 11") handwritten cheatsheet (you may use both sides). The exam is closed book/notes, and calculators are not allowed.
Detailed information on logistics, format, and grading will be provided during exam review sessions.

Exam 1

Exam 1 will be on Fri, Mar 4. This exam will test concepts covered in the Past & Present module.

Exam 2

Exam 2 will be on Fri, Apr 11. This exam will test concepts covered in the Intelligence & Implications module.

Exam 3

Exam 3 will be on Wed, May 7. This exam will test concepts covered in the Future module.

Grading Information

Your final grade will be based on a weighted combination of the following:

  • Classroom participation: 15% (6 absences allowed)
  • Homework: 10%
  • Weekly Labs (best 10 out of 11): 30%
  • Three Midterm Exams: 3 x 15 = 45%
    (Regrade policy: Correct mistakes and turn in for half of the points lost.)
 

 

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