Integration of COMSOL Multiphysics into an Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Curriculum

There is a need for multiphysics simulation in undergraduate electrical engineering curricula, however, many programs do not include this at the undergraduate level. This paper discusses the integration of multiphysics simulation into an undergraduate curriculum at [university] for the purposes of educational enhancement and undergraduate research. In this paper, we will discuss an internal grant award that was used to fund 60 student licenses of COMSOL Multiphysics to enhance the electrical engineering curriculum in the aforementioned manner. This is done over the course of three major objectives. First, several modules that were developed over the summer of 2020 as part of a student special project. [Name] who is an undergraduate student at [university] developed a series of interactive modules which will have a video component to instruct junior electrical engineering students on how to use COMSOL Multiphysics as part of their required electromagnetics course. In these modules, students will learn about device geometry, material properties, simulations meshes, and simulation methods. Students will learn how to model energy storage devices such as parallel plate capacitors and energy transmission devices such as cylindrical conductors. The second major objective is undergraduate research. In this paper, an undergraduate research project which took place over the summer of 2020 at [university] as part of the [center]'s undergraduate research program will be discussed. In this project, undergraduate researcher, [student], modeled an aluminum conductor, steel reinforced, transmission line conductor, in order to verify its resistance, inductance, and capacitance. This model will be the basis for artificial intelligence application training of transmission line measurements. The third major objective is to integrate this multiphysics tool into a junior level semiconductor device theory course and a senior level applications of fields and waves course. These courses have traditionally given students' difficulties due to the abstract and "hard to visualize" nature of the course. The implementation of COMSOL into these courses is discussed.