Welcome to the VIP Program

This course provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to explore and develop comprehensive applications of electrical and computer engineering technologies, especially as they relate to active research areas of Purdue faculty members. Students will learn about the underlying research, and will work on teams to formulate applications of the research that address real-world needs. Students will attend a weekly lecture that provides an introduction to a broad range of applicable technologies and development tools - some associated with the activities of specific teams, and some addressing topics of more general value to students enrolled in the course. These lecture will be drawn from a pool of 36 different lectures; so students can register for VIP courses as many as three times and still see new lecture material each semester.

Together, the VIP courses ECE 495T, ECE 495U, and ECE 495V in ECE create a vertical project track under which students work in multidisciplinary teams on long-term engineering projects. Each team consists of a mix of sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Projects of at least one year in duration are intended to solve real problems that are defined in consultation with advisors who are Purdue faculty members, graduate students, or representatives of industry or the end-user population. Students are encouraged to participate in a VIP team for two or more semesters via enrollment in ECE 495T while a sophomore, ECE 495U while a junior, and ECE 495V while a senior. Projects that serve customers from community service or educational organizations will be conducted within the EPICS framework rather than VIP.