Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers
Spring 2025

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).

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

Tuesdays, 4:00pm - 5:00pm at 4034 Electrical & Computer Eng Bldg

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

Introduction contd.: Slides

Fri, Jan 31

Open Lab

Mon, Feb 3

WiFi: Slides

Wed, Feb 5

Cellular: Slides

Fri, Feb 7

Lab 2
WiFi: Notebook

Mon, Feb 10

Internet (1/3)
Connectivity, Forwarding, and Routing: Slides

Wed, Feb 12

Internet (2/3)
HTTP and DNS: Slides

Fri, Feb 14

Lab 3
Internet and Graphs: Notebook

Mon, Feb 17

Internet (3/3)
TCP and Layering: Slides

Wed, Feb 19

Client-Server: Slides

Fri, Feb 21

Lab 4
Distribution and Streaming: Notebook

Mon, Feb 24

Distribution and Streaming: Slides

Wed, Feb 26

File Systems: Notebook

Fri, Feb 28

Lab 5
Social Networks: Notebook

Mon, Mar 3

Social Network: Notebook

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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Exploring Digital Information Technologies for Non-Engineers Spring 2025