As a former president of the XI Alpha Chapter of Tau Alpha Pi, I was asked to contribue a short career biography for a new project that the society is undertaking. When I found out about the project, I was eager to comply. For those of you who don't know, my name is John Rice. I graduated in June of 1999 from the Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology program at Cal Poly Pomona. I graduated Summa Cum Laude, and I was the class valedictorian. While I was a student at Cal Poly Pomona, I worked for Southern California Edison where I was an Engineering Assistant working in the Research and Technology Applications group. My main responsibility was to handle data collection and compilation for several of Edison's photovoltaic installations. One of my key projects was a photovoltaic installation at the University of California at Irvine. The picture at right is a photo of the data acquisition system that I constructed. You can read more about the data acquisition system I constructed on my Web site.

While I was a student, the most rewarding and enriching project I undertook was my senior project. I designed and constructed a control system that balances a ball anywhere along a tilting beam. The picture at left shows the system in action. The user inputs a desired ball position using the linear command potentiomenter, and the beam rocks back and forth until the ball achieves the desired position. The joystick is for manual control to demonstrate that balancing a ball on a beam like this is not an easy task. It was a very demanding project that I was able to complete along with the help of my senior project advisor Professor Gerald Herder. I donated BOBB to the ET department in the hopes that another student will further advance the project. You can read more about the details of the Ball on Beam Balance project on my Web site.

After I graduated, I accepted a position as a Test Engineer in the VLSI Test Division at Teradyne. Teradyne is a leader in the design and production of state of the art test equipment used to test semiconductors during manufacturing. Some of my responsibilities as a Test Engineer in the VLSI Test Division include integrating all of the various electronic components required to produce a J973 VLSI test system, and working closely with engineers of various disciplines in order to refine system design. I rely heavily on my circuit analysis courses, especially ETE 305, ETE 314 the feedback amplifier course, and ETE 446 the switching circuits course. Other classes that have been really helpful in my career are ETE 420 the instrumentation class, ETE 437 the transmission line course, and McCurdy's numerical methods course.

I wish to convey to current students that thier circuit analysis courses are very important. Upper division courses are important, but they are nothing without a solid foundation in basic circuit analysis. As a practicing engineer, I always end up going back to the basics. In addition, the theory included in your coursework is as equally important as the hands-on portion of your labs. Don't underestimate its value. As you embark upon your career always remember one thing--ET's Rock!