2011
  • Co-Founder, LiveWire Innovation
  • Distinguished Professor, Elect & Computer Engineering
(801) 585-7234

Current Courses

Spring 2025

  • ECE 5340-001
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
    Location: MEB 2555 (MEB 2555)
  • ECE 5340-090
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
    Location: ONLN (Online)
  • ECE 5340-290
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
  • ECE 6010-090
    Professional Developmnt
    Location: ONLN (Online)
  • ECE 6010-290
    Professional Developmnt
  • ECE 6340-001
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
    Location: MEB 2555 (MEB 2555)
  • ECE 6340-090
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
    Location: ONLN (Online)
  • ECE 6340-290
    Comp EM w/ Code Writing
  • ECE 6950-007
    Special Study-MS

Fall 2024

Summer 2024

Entrepreneurial Experience

  • LiveWire Innovation. 05/2000 - present. Employees: 10.
    Comments: Founding member and chairman of the board. http://livewireinnovation.com/
  • Why a Scientist Might Sell Her Soul in Corporate America. 01/2012 - present. Employees: 0.
    Comments: http://www.ece.utah.edu/~cfurse/Publications/why%20a%20scientist%20might%20sell%20her%20soul.pdf

Professional Organizations

  • National Academy of Inventors. 03/2015 - present. Position : Fellow.
  • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). 01/2002 - present. Position : Member.
  • Society of Women Engineers. 01/1998 - present. Position : Senior Member.
  • IEEE -- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 08/1985 - present. Position : Fellow.

Teaching Philosophy

I love teaching.  I enjoy working with students, all students -- undergrads, grad students, high school students, faculty -- as we explore new ideas and new ways of doing things.

I teach 'Flipped', which means students watch my YouTube video lectures before class, so we can use the class time for active learning, problem solving strategy, and real world applications.  Here is a website for faculty who are interested in Flipping their classes: Teach-Flip.utah.edu.  For more details and information on my experiences with the flipped class, go to Pages - View All Pages -- Dr. Furse's Flipped Classes.

I think it is very important for engineering students to get to build things, and we have created a wide variety of systems-level design labs for our students: UofU System-Level Design Curriculum

Finally, here is my Lazy Professor's Guide to Teaching.


Teaching is just plain a lot of fun.  I really enjoy my students. 

 

 

 

Here is a Smith Chart Quilt I made several years ago, that all of my graduate students and senior project students sign when they are finished with their projects.

 

Courses I Teach

  • ECE / MSE 1030 - Your Smart Phone and How it is Changing the World   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/976489)
    (General Education Designations: Physical Science, International) Portable electronics, especially smartphones, are arguably the technologies that have had the greatest impact on the life and experience of individuals and society in the 21st century. Introduced only about 15 years ago, these devices cram some of human kind’s most advanced materials, electronics, electromagnetics, sensors, communications, signal processing, computing, and imaging technologies into packages so small as to be nearly unimaginable even 20 years ago. When combined with ubiquitous internet supplied by cellular and wi-fi data connections, they have helped to reshape how individuals spend their time and attention, how education, medicine, banking, and business are carried out, and overall, how societies function. This course uses your Smartphone as a launching point for student-led explorations into the science, technology and engineering of smart mobile devices as well as how they are affecting societies in the US and internationally in terms of issues like material resources, sustainability, equity, ethics and social justice. This course will also help develop skills and habits of applying quantification and comparison to develop perspective on and make decisions about complex societal questions. We will use 5G and 6G technologies as examples, but these skills apply to other complex issues as well. The course invites curious explorers from across campus to collaboratively answer these questions and more.
  • ECE1240 / 1245 / 1050 (previously 1250) - Introduction to Electrical & Computer Engineering   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/719613)
    System design using electrical and computer engineering concepts. Basic concepts of electrical circuit design, sensors, signal processing, communications, control and embedded system programming are used to design sensor/actuator systems to accomplish engineering design tasks. Topics also include Matlab programming and laboratory instrumentation. Link to Flipped Lecture portion of the class (ECE1240): https://utah.instructure.com/courses/719613 Link to labs (ECE1245): https://utah.instructure.com/courses/713600 Link to Matlab content of the course (ECE 1050): https://utah.instructure.com/courses/721154
  • ECE1250 - ECE 1250 Labs: National Instruments Webinar   (http://www.ni.com/gate/gb/GB_WEBCASTACADSERIES8/US)
    This is a webinar about ECE1250 Labs and the Flipped Classroom. About 15 minutes long.
  • ECE 3300 - Introduction to Electromagnetics   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/578994)
    Brief introduction to vector calculus, definition of electric and magnetic fields. Maxwells equations in integral and differential forms, electromagnetic-wave propagation in free space and in material regions, Poynting theorem, and electromagnetic power. Transmission lines (transient and steady-state analysis), Smith chart, and impedance matching techniques. Basic principles of radiation and propagation in waveguides.
  • ECE 3305 - LAB for Intro. Electromagnetics   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/757581)
    We have two versions of this lab: Benchtop Equipment Version:https://utah.instructure.com/courses/757581 NanoVNA version: https://utah.instructure.com/courses/1030264
  • ECE 5320/6320 - Microwave Engineering I   (http://www.eng.utah.edu/~cfurse/ece5320/)
    Brief review of transmission line theory and Smith Chart, general theory of waveguides, TE, TM, TEM modes, some commonly used waveguides and transmission lines including microstripline and its variations for microwave integrated circuits, matching techniques including conjugate matching, passive components, scattering matrices and signal-flow graphs, ABCD parameters, directional couplers and hybrids, power dividers and combiners, signal-flow graphs for microwave amplifiers, microwave resonators and filters including design considerations, filter design by image parameter method, constant-k and m-derived filters, maximally flat and equal-ripple filters, coupled-line filters, ferrite components. Biweekly laboratory assignments to design, fabricate, and test microstrip circuits: e.g., low and band-pass filters, coupled-line filters, directional couplers, etc., using professional-level computer sofware and network analyzers.(I no longer teach this course but provide this link to my lecture notes.)
  • ECE 5321/6323 - Microwave Engineering II   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/673043)
    Nonlinear and active microwave devices including diodes, mixers, transistors, and negative resistance devices; compressed Smith Chart; balanced and double-balanced mixer design; transistor amplifier theory and design for best gain, stability, and noise performance. Oscillator theory and design using transistors, tunnel diodes, IMPATTS, and Gunn diodes. PIN diode switching circuits and phase shifters. Survey of design and performance of microwave systems and auxiliary components; antennas, signal modulation and multiplexing, transceiver and radar systems, signal-to-noise ratios, atmospheric effects, microwave heating, biological effects and safety. Course will not include laboratory sessions this semester, but will include filters (not covered in Microwave I this year).
  • ECE5325/6325 - Wireless Communication   (http://www.ece.utah.edu/~ece5960/)
    Introduction to wireless transmission systems. This course will emphasize how individual parameters affect overall system design and performance. Topics include: basic cellular systems and parameters, multi-path channels and modulation techniques. (I no longer teach this course but provide this link to my lecture notes.)
  • ECE 5340/6340 - Numerical Electromagnetics   (http://www.eng.utah.edu/~cfurse/ece6340/)
    Meets with ECE 6340. Review of basic numerical techniques including matrix methods and numerical methods for error minimization and convergence. Comparison of differential and integral formulations including finite difference, finite element, and moment methods. Emphasis on frequency domain method of moments and time domain finite difference (FDTD). (I no longer teach this class, but provide my lecture notes here.)
  • ECE 5324 / 6324 - Antenna Design
    General theory of conduction current antennas; linear antennas including dipoles and monopoles; antenna equivalent impedance; design of AM, FM, TV and shortwave broadcast antennas of one or more elements including ground and mutual impedance effects; matching techniques including lumped, shunt, and series elements, transmission lines and conjugate matching; receiving antennas; antennas used for mobile communication systems and their radiation characteristics; antenna arrays and their design; wave propagation including propagation via ionosphere or troposphere; loop antennas and Yagi-Uda arrays; antenna synthesis for specified radiation patterns. UHF and microwave antennas including corner reflector antennas, helical antennas, theory of aperture antennas including rectangular and circular apertures; broadband log-periodic antennas; microstrip antennas and phased arrays including applications for wireless communication systems; slot antennas, turnstile, horn and parabolic radiators; considerations for radar antennas and communication links. Antenna ranges and measurement techniques.
  • ECE 6960 - Professional Development for Graduate Students   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/993219)
    The purpose of this course is for graduate students to explore a variety of career options (industry, academia, national labs, policy), and the skills that can lead to strong career success and technical leadership. The course covers Career Development, Research Development, and Network/Mentoring Development and is variable credit, allowing students to select assignments from each area to best fit their interests and needs. Career Development includes creation of an Individual Development Plan (IDP), team and leadership skills, preparation for career fairs, interviews with stakeholders to explore career options, and more. Research Development is based on the Lean Canvas approach which encourages research students to explore their research area not only in the traditional way (professional literature) but also business and patent literature, and direct interviews/visits with professionals working in their field who may later be users of their research output. Network and Mentoring Development helps students develop a formal mentoring plan, find people to help guide their individual areas of growth, and learn skills to effectively engage with mentors and their professional network throughout their careers.
  • workshop - HyFlex Flipping   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/630035)
    Teaching Hy-Flex Flipped gives instructors an introduction to the ins and outs of teaching with a flipped, hybrid, AND online classroom.
  • workshop - Teaching Flipped   (https://utah.instructure.com/courses/356979)
    Learn to teach with the flipped classroom. Also known as "The Professor's Guide to Sanely Flipping Your Classroom".

Student Projects

  • SSTDR for Microwave Breast Cancer Imaging. Dylan Ladds, Brendan Werner, Benjamin Hayes, Collin Griswold, Asher Borders, Barnes Cook, Phat Nguyen, Samuel Makin, Nick Brown, Cade Boynton, Samuel Jerel Hansen, Dominic Gruenwald, Chase Griswold. 08/2023 - 07/2024
  • Lens Into the Body: Designing 3D implantable antennas that can focus power on very small, next generation implantable medical devices. Kaitlin Hall, Zach Deneris, Rick Puckett, Hossein Mehrpourbernety, Jordan Gardner, Eric Lindstrom, Eldon Pe'a, Dylan Zdunich. 07/2017 - 12/31/2018

Additional Teaching Resources

Former Students