Computer Engineering Program
Industrial Advisory Committee
(Previous Meeting Summary)
Dr. Aiman El-Maleh
Dept. of Computer Engineering
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals,
Saudi Arabia
Outline
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Industrial Advisory Committee Role
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Industrial Advisory Committee Members
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Previous Meeting Agenda
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Input Provided by Members of IAC
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Summary of IAC Survey
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Actions Taken by COE Department
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Industrial Advisory Committee Role
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Review of department area of concentrations and
recommend some enhancement to undergraduate
program in some specialized areas.
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Provide inputs on the undergraduate student
qualifications and skills based on new trends and
local industry needs.
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Provide feedback on the Educational Objectives and
Program Outcomes and their implications on the
program curriculum.
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Provide feedback on the achievement of program
outcomes by our graduates.
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Industrial Advisory Committee
Members (External)
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Dr. Khalid Al-Biyari, Senior Vice President, Advanced Electronic
Company, Riyadh.
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Mr. Ali A. Al-Masari, Superintendent, Communications
Operations Department, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran.
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Mr. Masud Eid Al-Amiri, General Manager, Information
Technology Services, SABIC, Riyadh.
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Mr. Ahmad Ashadawi, President, Al-Falak Electronic Equipment
& Supplies Co, Al-Khobar.
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Mr. Alaa Abunijem, MS, PMP, Energy Team lead and Strategic
Relations Manager, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Intel
Corporation, Riyadh.
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Mr. Aiman H Mufti, Supervisor, Technical Knowledge Sharing
Unit, Engineering Knowledge & Resources Division, Saudi
Aramco, Dhahran.
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Industrial Advisory Committee
Members (Internal)
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Dr. Adnan Gutub, Chairman Computer Eng. Dept.
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Dr. Mayez Al-Mouhamed, Professor
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Dr. Aiman El-Maleh, Associate Professor
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Dr. Ashraf Mahmoud, Assistant Professor
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Dr. Basem Almadani, Assistant Professor
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Previous Meeting Agenda
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Introduction to COE department programs and
facilities
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Review of ABET accreditation process, the role of
Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), and the efforts
undertaken by the COE department towards this goal
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Receive feedback and recommendation of IAC
regarding the department Program Educational
Objectives, accreditation process
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Agree on IAC meeting frequency and the
mechanisms needed for the IAC to assume their role.
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Question & Answer session addressing COE program
depth and breadth, market needs, COOP & summer
training, COE graduates
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Input Provided by Members of IAC
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Issue#1: Quality of Computer Engineering Graduates:
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Communication & Presentation Skills of COE Graduates:
• lack of communication and presentation skills in COE-KFUPM
graduates, in general.
Quality of COE Graduates:
• lack of exposure to current developments in information technology.
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Input Provided by Members of IAC
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Issue # 2: COE Department-Industry Interaction: There is an
urgent need to improve COE faculty-industry relations:
• Faculty Exposure to Industry:
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• Faculty should bring case studies related to their subjects from local
industrial sections.
• Dr. Khalid Al-Biyari extended an invitation for the faculty to spend a
week’s time in his industry.
Research Interaction with Industry:
• Means for strengthening the involvement of faculty in solving local
industrial problems need to be investigated.
• The possibility of forming a strong partnership with industry may be an
avenue to be investigated.
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Input Provided by Members of IAC
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Issue # 3: Effectiveness of Coop and Summer
Training Programs:
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Coop students from KFUPM are focusing on mere reporting to the
department rather than presenting their learning experience.
Some students’ coop/summer training reports are well written but
their level of work presentation is very low.
Develop ways and means for making this experience more
effective in making the student professionally more stable and
aware of real life problems in the industry.
Suggested to look at the successful stories and experience faced
by COE ALUMNI for achieving their goal in their life
Input Provided by Members of IAC
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General Comments
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Add a course of Engineering Economics (to be core)
Mr. Alaa Abunijem said that COE graduates lack wider exposure
to High-performance Computing and Software areas, whereas
department has a stronger VLSI area.
Dr. Khalid Al-Biyari said that by concentrating on system design
projects, more emphasis on system integration using available
components is needed.
Mr. Ahmad Ashadawi stated that there is no data research, and
there is an urgent need to develop top most quality and capability
access to massive data - data storage, retrieval, analysis,
management and security.
COOP work plan should be identified ahead of time for sending
the students to the respective industry/company for coop or
summer training program.
Summary of IAC Survey
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Inputs on the Educational Objectives:
• Good objectives, however, you need some focus on
few areas to shine in and gain regional and WW
reputation.
• There is a breadth but not much depth in the overall
objectives.
• Provide graduate engineers with ability of supporting
the industry in the following fields: Communication
network design, and Embedded system design
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Inputs on the Program Assessment Method:
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• Reasonable.
• Very good.
Summary of IAC Survey
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Inputs on the Program Outcomes:
• Program outcomes are fine and the only suggested
improvement is to stress more practical disciplines.
• Students should specialize and go in depth in specific
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disciplines that will make them productive faster.
Outcome of the program need some improvements,
since we are now competing in WW level, not local
level. Companies now look for skilled employees
regardless of their physical locations.
Students graduating from KFUPM are very good
especially in work ethics. However, they lack
specialization. It will be better if the last 2 semesters at
minimum, are dedicated to specialization.
Summary of IAC Survey
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The COE program needs to improve the listed below
graduate abilities, attributes and skills which are
estimated to be important for the Industry:
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Design a system, component to meet a desired need (1)
Analyze and interpret data from experiments (1)
Communicate orally: informal and prepared talks (2)
Communicate in writing: letters, technical reports, etc. (2)
Ability to use state of the art techniques, and tools (2)
Recognize professional and ethical responsibility (1)
Function on multi-disciplinary or cross-functional teams (all)
Use computing technology in communications (all)
Understand the contemporary issues surrounding him (all)
Use computing technology in engineering analysis/design (1)
Summary of IAC Survey
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List three most useful knowledge, skills, and
professional tools that you think should be taught in
the COE Program prior to be eligible to the CO-OP or
Summer Training:
• Automated Office skills (Word/Excel etc...), learning
how to search the internet for information, technical
writing skills, and how to write reports
• Developing applications using Microsoft and Sun
technologies
• Understand the infrastructure design using Microsoft
and Sun environments including networking and
storage designs, and troubleshooting skills and
analysis.
Summary of IAC Survey
• In depth technical knowledge in practical areas
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relevant to need of local and multinational companies
operating in the region.
KFUPM need to assess the need of the industry and
focus more in area that is more relevant. For example
HPC computing is needed locally but no in-depth
knowledge.
Programming in C and C++, Study of industrial
standard C51 microcontroller, and get familiar with the
use of the microcontroller development tools, like
compiler, simulator, in-circuit emulator.
Summary of IAC Survey
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What should be done to improve the COE Education
at KFUPM?
• More interaction with the local industry.
• Capitalize on local and related technologies to address
country challenges
• Increase the exchange of skills and knowledge
between world class universities in related fields,
• Introduce the distance learning / video conferencing in
the related fields.
• More up-to-date dynamic curriculum to reflect the ever
changing technology.
• Enhance the laboratory skills, study software quality,
and study embedded systems operation system.
Summary of IAC Survey
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What should be done to improve the professional
partnership between the COE and the Industry?
• Match KFUPM programs with industry requirement by
having faculty spend time in industry.
• Conduct Knowledge Transfer Sessions where industry
and education exchange their experience and skills
• Introduce industry challenges to the education sector
to address these challenges through senior projects or
special studies
• More frequent visits of students and Faculty to Industry
• Encourage graduate students to do their projects on
areas having direct impact on the local needs.
• Getting advisors from Industry
Actions Taken by COE Department
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All KFUPM students required to take ICDL
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Engineering economy is a core in the new curriculum
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New curriculum is designed with minimum core
requirements with increased number of electives
• Allows more flexibility in program
• Focuses on more in-depth in selected tracks
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Catalog description of computer architecture courses
revised to address HPC requirements
• COE 403 – Advanced Microprocessor Architecture
• COE 420 – Parallel Computing
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A High-Performance Cluster has been arranged at the
Information Technology Centre (ITC).
Actions Taken by COE Department
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The courses COE 400 "Embedded Systems" and COE
305 "Microprocessor Systems" have been revised and
restructured to better address system design project
integrating hardware and software components.
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One undergraduate course on Data Management is
introduced and being offered as elective course.
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COE students are exposed to Oral and Written
communication at all levels:
• Technical report writing (ENGL 214),
• Seminar (COE 390),
• Set of course projects where a technical report is required
• COE 400 "Embedded Systems"
• COE 485 "Senior Design Project"
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