ECE 3750

We were the first batch they tested out the 'Fundamentals' series on, and because of that the class was, to say the least, very disorganized. Emails were often unresponded to, and office hours were not set. homeworks were poorly planned with their due dates unclear and eventually being changed when the whole class was unsure when it was due. There was too much to be done in this class for only 4 credits, and even though an interviewer from the East Coast may have thought UVA students were high quality, it didn't change that the students were quite overworked (which the Professors admitted to) Panopto was set up but some queries went unanswered even as exams loomed closer. It seemed that the Professors were very busy with other things. In an effort just to cover lots of material the student's understanding of it seemed to be ignored at times. Lastly, this was the only class I heard of in which it was possible to get material on the Test from Fun I and II, which was not entirely fair in my opinion, unless they had reviewed the material in our class, but it was just assumed you would know it (which you should, to some degree, but not as much as expected).
Now the Professors are good people but they should understand that these Fundamentals courses need to improve tremendously (although, in their defense, it was the first batch) but for that reason grading should be more lenient. Coordination between the two Professors needs to strongly improve, as that causes difficulty for the students in the long run. The material should also be well developed and more organized. I hope the class improves in the future. Sorry for the rant. The class is not actually as bad as I just made it out to be, and I'm sure it'll get better. The material is slightly hard but you can still go to Office Hours when they have them

Definitely easier than FUN 2. Readings contain equations that you need for the HW. Best advice is to stay on top of labs and HW and go to OH when you need help. Tests are based on HW and labs. Powell is a pretty chill dude.

The FUN Series has been running for quite some time now, so if you have taken the prerequisites for this class you have a pretty good idea on how it's run. Conceptually lighter than ECE 2660 but I would argue about the same time spent on labs and homework as FUN II (if not more - my FUN 1 and 2 sequence was taught by Delong, and COVID-19 introduced a curriculum modification with our final projects [designing an EKG] and the Analog Discovery 2). Powell is a funny guy and wants the best for his students - there were multiple times he extended the deadline for labs/homework just because a student asked. If you need help are falling behind you should definitely talk to him or a TA; grading thresholds are a little unclear, but I'm pretty sure Powell curves at least a little.

The other reviews have it pretty much covered. Nonetheless, I saw that there wasn't much about the topics covered so here it is:

Power Supplies (Transformers, converting AC from outlet to 5V DC)
BJTs (Common Emitter & Common Collector w/ frequency response)
Review of Bode Plots and Fourier (Pole-Zero diagrams)
Control Systems (Feedback, Stability, and Synthesis)
Instrumentation Amplifiers
Discrete Time (Sampling, DFT, Z-transform, Digital Filters, a little bit of Modulation)

I thought it was a nice intro to all the ECE electives, but I wish they had spent more time on the project (an electrocardiogram), it felt more like a chapter at the end of the class rather than a semester long project in my opinion. I prefer the way we incrementally designed the project through each chapter like in Fun II. Overall, I really enjoyed this class, especially the BJT stuff, but I guess that's because I like electronics more than any other branch of ECE.

Professor Powell is a great professor that really goes out of his way to make Fun III enjoyable and ensure that you do well in the class. The workload is a little daunting at first, and some of the concepts especially in the beginning and then at the very end with discrete time can be difficult to wrap your head around. My best advice would be to take the readings seriously, use the quizzes to study for the midterms, and go to office hours when something doesn't make sense. He does a great job at helping you understand the homework and concepts, so don't be afraid to reach out. The curve at the end of the semester was very generous, and the project was both fun and a great way to solidify the concepts. Don't worry if you don't get the concepts at first or if discrete time trips you up, push through and you will do well in this class. The best way to make sure to do well is to put effort into getting the highest grades you can on labs, final project and homeworks, which should be very doable. This will balance any level of performance you have in the midterms.