Integrating engineering design, signal processing, and community service in the EPICS program

One of the most challenging problems in engineering-and signal processing-education is providing realistic and meaningful design experience. In the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, teams of engineering undergraduates earn academic credit for multi-year projects that solve technology-based problems for community organizations. Key features of EPICS include the long-term nature of the projects; emphasis on “real-world” start-to-finish design; the learning experience embodied in solving ambitious engineering problems; vertical, multidisciplinary teams; development of teamwork and communication skills; and the use of engineering to help the community. We describe the EPICS program and highlight four EPICS signal processing projects: a real-time system to measure speaking rate for Purdue´s speech clinic; voice-controlled interactive software to encourage speech in developmentally delayed children; a microphone array hearing aid; and a virtual museum tour and interactive Web-based history games for the Tippecanoe County Historical Association