A new direction for undergraduate electromagnetics

This paper describes a new approach to undergraduate electromagnetics that responds to changing educational and technological environments. Lumped circuit elements, with which students are already familiar, provide the framework from which the properties of electromagnetic fields naturally evolve. Circuit behavior provides the basis for the introduction, formulation and interpretation of many electromagnetic concepts. This approach emphasizes spatial discretization and numeric formulations in order to exploit the computational power and rich graphical environment of modern computers. Classroom activities include the use of a powerful, PC-based, interactive, electromagnetic computation engine which empowers students to experiment with the geometry and material properties of two-dimensional electromagnetic problems. Course details and software demonstrations are included in the presentation.