New Pulse format gives students opportunity to learn more about ECE

From startups to Fortune 500s, ECE Pulse is giving students an up-close look at the innovations in the field without the stress of a career fair.

The annual conference, scheduled for Feb. 14-21, has taken place every spring semester for the past four years. This is the first year the event will span an entire week, rather than being limited to weekends.

The celebration will give students an opportunity to hear presentations from some of the biggest names in the tech industry, including Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs. Jacobs will speak at 5 p.m. Feb. 19 in the ECE Building's Grainger Auditorium.

Jacobs decided to speak at Pulse after learning about it from former Qualcomm engineer Ekta Shah, who founded Pulse in 2011.

Ankit Jain, the conference's grad chairman, said organizers hope those who attend Jacobs' talk will learn about innovation and dedication.

"As a man who has both started and built a company that innovates the technology used in common devices, we know he will be an awesome speaker to show our students what can be done with time and commitment," Jain said.

Employees of industry-leading companies - including IBM, Halliburton, Shure, AT&T, and more - will give tech talks throughout the week.

"A lot of students don't know what ECE truly means in industry, and many don't know what options are available for them out of college," Jain said. "These talks answer those questions. By having companies from different technological pathways give talks about their next big thing, it shows students what is out there for them."

Networking chair Laura Haller sought out local startup companies different from the industry norm to give students new perspective on what they can do with their degrees. A startup panel is scheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 21 in 1013 ECE Building. Dave Cohen, an ECE student whose company, Petronics, which was recently completely crowdfunded on Kickstarter, will speak at 5 p.m. Feb. 21 in 1013 ECE Building.

“Students want to know what they can do once they exit college,” said Haller, who is a senior electrical engineering major. “Sometimes they don’t want to go to a big company; they want to see what life at a startup is like. So we wanted to bring in that aspect. That’s why bringing in a company like Petronics is a really big deal for students at this university.”

Aswin Sivaraman, Pluse director and a senior electrical engineering major, stressed that Pulse is about the companies impressing students, not the other way around. With such a wide range of companies, the event inclusive of everyone’s interests and school year, especially freshmen. The Pulse team designed two of the conference's five competitions to allow freshmen to showcase what they have learned so far at Illinois.

The competitions are meant to help students understand how to collaborate and apply their skills, Jain said.

"(Students will take) their skills from class and apply them in settings that are used in the everyday world," he said. "Our competitions provide a challenging setup where students will both take their intellect and fine-tune it to a more realistic approach, and work together to accomplish great results."

Sivaraman and his team hope Pulse will be an enlightening experience for all who attend and a showcase of the department.

“I love everything we stand for and all the impact we have in the world in terms of innovation and engineering,” Sivaraman said. “I think that this event and my vision for it are ways for me to give back to this department and show the world what ECE ILLINOIS is capable of doing.”