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SPARKS FLY IN GCC ELECTRONICS CLASS
By Megan O'Neil, [email protected]
Glendale News Press
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-classroom-20101102,0,3660647.story
Nov 2 2010
CA
Students prepare for careers as engineers, electrical contractors.
It's Thursday night in the Glendale Community College electronics
lab, and professor Patrick Shahnazarian is trying to get his students
current on their currents.
He has tasked them with designing a circuit with specific voltage
levels in different branches, achieved by adding resistors of varying
strengths at different junctures in the circuit.
"I like electricity because it [requires] a little bit of logic,
and I like challenging myself," said 21-year-old student Beno Manokian.
The course, Principles of Electricity and Electronics, is the first
step for Glendale Community College students interested in careers
in contracting, electrical engineering and physics.
"We start to understand the concept of electricity, and then we move
forward with electronics," Shahnazarian said. "And we provide a base
for them to advance in the engineering or electrical engineering field,
or to go on to technical fields."
There is no math requirement, and students start from scratch. But
within a matter of weeks, they have memorized necessary theorems,
such as Thevenin's Theorem and Norton's Theorem, critical to solving
many of the problems related to linear electrical networks.
Some students are seasoned professionals trying to learn a new skill.
Sarkis Anderyazian, 47, worked as an electrician in Armenia before
moving to the United States two years ago. He said he was focused on
relearning all the technical language in English.
Abe Barakat, 60, said he enrolled for "self knowledge."
"I started out as an electrical engineer in college, and then I became
an accountant," Barakat said. "I decided to go back and pick up some
of this stuff. I am a continuing student. I am always taking a class."
Other students are recent high school graduates with an eye on degrees
in engineering.
"I am an ambitious engineering student who believes that
interdisciplinary study is necessary to be innovative. You have to
learn all forms of engineering," said Samuel Sampson, 18. "You have
to know programming; you have to know electronics; you have to know
mechanics. You have to know all of it because it all interacts."
Shahnazarian, a physicist and a quality control manager at a machine
shop, said studying electricity and electronics overlaps with other
disciplines. If students are weak in math, they are sent to the math
department to build up their skills, Shahnazarian said.
And if a physics student needs more hands-on experience, they are
sent to the electronics department.
"We try to work closely with all the departments: physics, architecture
and math departments," Shahnazarian said.
In a first-world country, most experience with electricity is limited
to flipping a light switch, Shahnazarian said. But in his class,
students get to explore how electricity, and electrically powered
devices, work.
Recently, students were enthralled with a lesson about the basic
principles of DC and AC motors, Shahnazarian said.
For some students, one of the more fascinating aspects of the class
was magnetism, or the ability for the currents to interact without
ever touching.
From: A. Papazian
By Megan O'Neil, [email protected]
Glendale News Press
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-classroom-20101102,0,3660647.story
Nov 2 2010
CA
Students prepare for careers as engineers, electrical contractors.
It's Thursday night in the Glendale Community College electronics
lab, and professor Patrick Shahnazarian is trying to get his students
current on their currents.
He has tasked them with designing a circuit with specific voltage
levels in different branches, achieved by adding resistors of varying
strengths at different junctures in the circuit.
"I like electricity because it [requires] a little bit of logic,
and I like challenging myself," said 21-year-old student Beno Manokian.
The course, Principles of Electricity and Electronics, is the first
step for Glendale Community College students interested in careers
in contracting, electrical engineering and physics.
"We start to understand the concept of electricity, and then we move
forward with electronics," Shahnazarian said. "And we provide a base
for them to advance in the engineering or electrical engineering field,
or to go on to technical fields."
There is no math requirement, and students start from scratch. But
within a matter of weeks, they have memorized necessary theorems,
such as Thevenin's Theorem and Norton's Theorem, critical to solving
many of the problems related to linear electrical networks.
Some students are seasoned professionals trying to learn a new skill.
Sarkis Anderyazian, 47, worked as an electrician in Armenia before
moving to the United States two years ago. He said he was focused on
relearning all the technical language in English.
Abe Barakat, 60, said he enrolled for "self knowledge."
"I started out as an electrical engineer in college, and then I became
an accountant," Barakat said. "I decided to go back and pick up some
of this stuff. I am a continuing student. I am always taking a class."
Other students are recent high school graduates with an eye on degrees
in engineering.
"I am an ambitious engineering student who believes that
interdisciplinary study is necessary to be innovative. You have to
learn all forms of engineering," said Samuel Sampson, 18. "You have
to know programming; you have to know electronics; you have to know
mechanics. You have to know all of it because it all interacts."
Shahnazarian, a physicist and a quality control manager at a machine
shop, said studying electricity and electronics overlaps with other
disciplines. If students are weak in math, they are sent to the math
department to build up their skills, Shahnazarian said.
And if a physics student needs more hands-on experience, they are
sent to the electronics department.
"We try to work closely with all the departments: physics, architecture
and math departments," Shahnazarian said.
In a first-world country, most experience with electricity is limited
to flipping a light switch, Shahnazarian said. But in his class,
students get to explore how electricity, and electrically powered
devices, work.
Recently, students were enthralled with a lesson about the basic
principles of DC and AC motors, Shahnazarian said.
For some students, one of the more fascinating aspects of the class
was magnetism, or the ability for the currents to interact without
ever touching.
From: A. Papazian