Welcome to the second installment of my column on who’s doing what in university-based EMC education. I received a number of comments and course information after the first column was published in the November edition of In Compliance. Thank you to all who took the time to contact me. As you can see, I’ve made some additions to the table that was first published in 2012. Please continue to let me know of your courses so that this table will grow.
One of the most interesting comments I received emphasizes the sometimes unknown future benefits of a background in EMC studies. The comments were from Mr. Dieter Paasche of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. I found Mr. Paasche’s insight very much on target with how I feel about EMC education. With Mr. Paasche’s permission, I’d like to share his comments with you.
I would like to share with you my personal experience with EMC education. I was born and grew up in Mexico City , where I went to the National University of Mexico (UJAM) to get my electrical engineering bachelors degree. I had a class called Electromagnetic Theory and, funny but true, that subject is what got me into EMC years later. ( By the way, my teacher was Dr Prof Rodolfo Nervi Vela, the first Mexican Astronaut.) After graduating, I went to Germany. A recently build EMC lab was looking for people to test their products, young people fresh out of school with years of experience in EMC. Kind of a contradiction, right? Well, I was the only person that had “Electromagnetic” as a university subject and got the job. Twenty years later, here I am still working in EMC.
Personally, I think that EMC should be part of the regular engineering education. Products are getting smaller, more powerful, more wireless, and also more sensitive. Some day I would also like to see safety included as well, so we can avoid telling all smart design engineer, “Sorry, but you cannot do that. It will fail EMC.” From personal experience. 50% of new designs fail the EMC test. After the engineers come two or three times, the failing rate drops to about 20%. If EMC design is taken into account from the beginning, chances are a product will pass the first time.
Mr. Dieter Paasche
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
While I’m sure Mr. Paasche’s experience might not be unique to many of us (except for the chance to receive an education from an astronaut), his insight on the chances of a product successfully passing EMC testing the first time demonstrates that EMC design is extremely valuable. In today’s competitive environment, meeting program requirements and getting a product to market quickly is crucial to a company’s success. One way that Mr. Paasche suggests that this be accomplished is by the incorporation of EMC as a regular part of engineering education. Of course, many of us could not agree more!
So in follow up to that point, I’d like to ask you the following questions:
- If you have a formal university course on EMC, how is it perceived by the instructors of the “regular curriculum”? Do they support it? Do they mention it to their students?
- What do you think of having EMC be a required course? Are there other required courses that should be changed to an elective to make room for EMC?
Again, thank you for all your input and comments. I look forward to hearing from more of you as time goes by. 
Send your university EMC courses to be included in the matrix to Mark Steffka.
| Course Title | Location | When | Delivery Method | Contact |
| Introduction to EMC (Undergraduate course) | University of Michigan – Dearborn | Fall semester (typically) | On campus class with lab | Mark Steffka msteffka@umich.edu |
| Advanced Topics in EMC (Graduate course) | University of Michigan – Dearborn | Winter semester (typically) | On campus with distance learning available |
Mark Steffka msteffka@umich.edu |
| Electromagnetic Compatibility (Undergraduate/graduate class) | University of Detroit – Mercy | Once every 2 to 3 years | On campus | Mark Steffka steffkma@udmercy.edu |
| Interference Control in Electronic System Design (Undergraduate/graduate course) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Fall semester (typically) | On campus and distance learning available |
Dr. Daryl Beetner http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Signal Integrity (Undergraduate/graduate course) |
Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Spring semester (typically) | On campus | Dr. Jun Fan http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Microwave Principles for Mixed-signal Design (Undergraduate/graduate course) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Fall semester of odd years (typically) | On campus | Dr. Jim Drewniak http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Advanced RF & Time Domain Measurement (Graduate course) |
Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Check catalog | On campus | Dr. David Pommerenke http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Signal Integrity, High Speed Digital & RF Design Laboratory (Graduate course) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Check catalog | On campus | Dr. David Pommerenke http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Advanced Electromagnetics I (Graduate course) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Spring semester (typically) | On campus | Dr. Richard DuBroff http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Computational Electromagnetics (Graduate course) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | Fall semester of even years (typically) | On campus and distance learning available |
Dr. Jun Fan http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| EMC Principles (Certification) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | 40 hours of class lectures available on video | Non-credit video course with test for certification |
Dr. Daryl Beetner http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Grounding and Shielding Plus Circuit Board Layout (Certification) |
Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | 20 hours of class lectures available on video | Non-credit video course with test for certification |
Dr. Tom Van Doren http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Signal Integrity for High-speed Digital Design (Certification) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | 40 hours of class lectures available on video | Non-credit video course with test for certification |
Dr. Jun Fan http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Grounding and Shielding for Electronic Systems (Certification) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | 2-day, on-site presentation | Non-credit live course with test for certification |
Dr. Tom Van Doren http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| Circuit Board Layout to Reduce Noise Emission & Susceptibility (Certification) | Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO | 1-day, on-site presentation | Non-credit live course with test for certification |
Dr. Tom Van Doren http://dce.mst.edu/emc/ |
| EMC Protection of Communication Systems | University of Zagreb, Croatia | Fall semester | On campus | Krešimir Malarić Kresimir.malaric@fer.hr |
| Your EMC Course | University name | When it’s taught | Method | Contact information |
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Mark Steffka, B.S.E., M.S. is a Lecturer (at the University of Michigan – Dearborn), an Adjunct Professor (at the University of Detroit – Mercy) and an automotive company Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Technical Specialist. His university experience includes teaching undergraduate, graduate, and professional development courses on EMC, antennas, and electronic communications. His extensive industry background consists of over 30 years’ experience with military and aerospace communications, industrial electronics, and automotive systems.Mr. Steffka is the author and/or co-author of numerous technical papers and publications on EMC presented at various Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) conferences. He has also written about and has been an invited conference speaker on topics related to effective methods in university engineering education. He is an IEEE member, has served as a technical session chair for SAE and IEEE conferences and has served as an IEEE EMC Society Distinguished Lecturer. He holds a radio communications license issued by the United States’ Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and holds the call sign WW8MS. |
