Engineering excellence: the heart of the Hartig Fund
ECE is excited to participate in Give to the Max day 2025! This is our first year and our challenge is to support our students with updated lab stations and equipment, and bring them up to industry standards. Our challenge is to raise $6,000 to support our students, and when you give to the Hartig Fund, you help them dream, experiment, and think big! Get a glimpse of the impact of the Hartig Fund in the story below.
Innovation invites and intrigues. In 2023-2024, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering predicted a 50% or more increase in the number of EE and CompE majors by 2026-2027, mainly due to increased interest in the two majors. UMN’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering degree programs are consistently ranked among the top 20 of electrical and computer engineering programs in the nation. This success is critically supported by the labs, spaces, experiences, and equipment that the programs are able to provide— much of which is funded by the Hartig Fund.
While EE and CompE majors have garnered more general interest in recent years due to the increasing complexity of current technology, the University of Minnesota’s ECE program has a particular appeal to experiential and diligent learners.
Charlie Peterson, a junior in ECE, decided to switch to the computer engineering major after previously planning on a degree in an adjacent major. He shares what made him change his mind: "I really like the hands-on nature of CompE and enjoy working in the labs and understanding how components and code work together. I also appreciate the academic rigor of computer engineering. The program is difficult but rewarding."
Reflecting on what he would like to see or experience in the labs, Peterson says: "I appreciate the lab updates that gave students new oscilloscopes. And I think I speak for all students when I say if those updates can continue along with new soldering irons and flux pens, that would be awesome."
As a whole, updated equipment expands opportunities for lab electives, keeping these experiences novel and relevant for students. While this mainly applies to senior level electives, the ECE Department is looking to diversify lower division courses and enrich stations for classes like the Basic Circuit and Electronics Lab, which all ECE students take. Reliable equipment is key to student success in these labs; soldering irons that can hold their temperatures, readings that are not error-ridden, and easily accessible parts like capacitors and resistors increases student efficiency and accuracy in the learning process. This becomes particularly crucial as students move into courses that are project-based such as the junior design lab (EE 3951W) and the capstone senior design project (EE 4951W).
Lab extensions also allow students to optimize research opportunities. UMN faculty and students have access to state-of-the-art research facilities like the Minnesota Nano Center, Digital Technology Center, Medical Devices Center, Institute for Engineering in Medicine, and other University establishments. These facilities demonstrate the various interactions of science and technology in research in their own ways, providing students with a wide array of areas to apply their knowledge and passions to. Maintaining our lab spaces and stations is what gives interested students the ability to engage in these advanced research opportunities more effectively and intensively.
Take a tour of our labs and learning spaces
In addition, the Hartig Fund finances spaces like the Exceed Lab Makerspace and the ECE Depot, which offers resources for students both within and outside the ECE department. Henry Kopp, a MechE student in his junior year, notes that “The ECE depot provides critical resources, and has been incredibly helpful to me as a student. Having basic electronic components in stock on campus has been really critical to me for class projects. It was especially helpful for my ME 2011 robot project, where I ran into many issues and needed to go over there to get additional components faster than they could arrive from Amazon...all of the staff there are incredibly helpful, and always work diligently to make sure we have what we need as quickly as possible.” Supplies, speed, and expertise are reliably found at the ECE Depot, but could be further bolstered with more capable oscilloscopes, reflow ovens and other advanced soldering equipment, 3D printers, and CNC devices. The maker space is open to all CSE students and is used by both individual students and student groups, operating as a sandbox where minds can imagine, explore, and create.
The Hartig Fund also has an expanding impact outside of the University. University on the Prairie (UotP) cultivates interest in the field by engaging junior high and high school students in hands-on science and career exploration activities. These activities are led by UMN students, who get to share their passions and interests with youth.
Nicholas Lie, a sophomore planning on majoring in ECE, reflects on his participation in UotP. “UotP was a great experience for me. It connected with my interest in teaching and sharing and extending opportunities [in coding and circuit building] to students in semi-urban and rural settings. It is about planting the seed of interest in engineering in them.”
The program’s community outreach has a ripple effect that encourages both the present momentum of and future investment in science learning. UotP enhances current UMN students’ experiences in CSE with teaching opportunities while inviting younger students to return to the program as mentors to continue the cycle of learning. Lie reflects with, “I would love to participate in UotP again. I feel like these experiences are what make University life count. They don’t have to be grand experiences, just something as simple as helping students get interested in engineering. These bits make University life great!”
Through Hartig-supported programs like University on the Prairie, spaces like the ECE Depot and Exceed Lab Makerspace, and labs like the Basic Circuit and Electronics Lab, we witness the joy of discovery—the spark in a student’s eyes as they learn by doing. Those moments of hands-on curiosity feed directly into how we design and improve labs, courses, and mentoring experiences in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Your gift to The Hartig Fund helps keep that cycle going, transforming each small act of support into lasting impact for hundreds of students.
Thank you for contributing to the Hartig Fund!
