UofT ECE 2T7 + PEY

As I mentioned in my welcome page, I am currently an ECE student at the University of Toronto, class of 2T7 + PEY (UofT’s quirky way of saying class of ‘27 and a Professional Experience Year). In this post, I will speedrun a description of all the upper year courses I have taken so far.

Year 1 and Year 2

These courses were required for all ECE students. More information about these courses is easily found through other sources, so I’ll just share the course averages for my year.

Year 1

Year 2

Note: ECE students have a choice between ECE295 and ECE297, Software Design and Communication.

Summer

PEY300: 12 Week Summer Internship

I opted out of the PEY summer internship because I already had a project in mind that I wanted to pursue. Check out my post about it here.

Year 3

Fall

APS380: Introduction to Electric Vehicle Design - Olivier Trescases and Matthew Mackay - Course Avg: B+

This course covers the basics of electric vehicle industry and design, with topics ranging from power electronics to assembly line automation. This was the second year that this course had been running, meaning that some of the planning was a little rough around the edges. But overall, it was a very unique course that emphasized design and innovation. The labs, though long and intense, were incredibly fun, as we got to interact with motors, EV chargers, batteries, and drivetrains. We also had a group project about a topic of our choice (that may or may not be used in future labs!). This course is highly multidisciplinary, appealing to students in ECE, MEC, and CHE.

ECE302: Probability and Applications - Ravi Adve - Course Avg: C+

This course covers probability theory and its applications in electrical engineering (particularly communications). This is a very common prerequisite course for many areas. The beginning of the semester is very straightforward, but it quickly gets more complex in the second half of the course, so don’t fall behind!

ECE311: Introduction to Control Systems - Daifei Zhang - Course Avg: B-

This course covers both modern (state-space models, linearization, ODEs) and classical (Bode plots, Nyquist, controller design) control topics. The content was very straightforward and included a few labs that demonstrated basic applications of controllers.

ECE314: Fundamentals of Electrical Energy Systems - Daifei Zhang - Course Avg: C+

This course covers electromechanical system, with half the course being dedicated to power electronics and the other half covering magnetics and mechatronics. The labs can get pretty complex and messy, but they can really enhance your understanding of the material if done thoroughly.

ECE472: Engineering Economic Analysis & Entrepreneurship - Steven Chuang - Course Avg: B+

This is the required economics course for all ECE students. For our year, lectures were online and synchronous, while tutorials remained in-person. Exams are very straightforward if you pay attention to lectures, since he is very direct on what to expect.

Winter

BME331: Physiological Control Systems - Jose Zariffa - Course Avg:

ECE334: Digital Electronics - Khoman Phang - Course Avg:

ECE342: Computer Hardware - Parinaz Naseri - Course Avg:

This course covers embedded systems topics using the STM32 Nucleo board. NOTE: this is the last year that ECE342 Computer Hardware will teach embedded systems concepts. In future years, this course will be ECE390, while ECE342 will begin teaching Verilog.

ECE421: Introduction to Machine Learning - Brendan Frey, Ashish Khisti - Course Avg:

This course teaches machine learning concepts and algorithms. This year, the course was taught in separate sections, with the first part being taught by Brenday Frey, and the second being taught by Ashish Khisti.

ECE470: Robot Modeling and Control - Manfredi Maggiore - Course Avg:

PEY400: 12-16 Month Co-Op

This is the 12-16 month long co-op that is required with the PEY program. Read more about my experience here.