This article was originally published by RFID Update.
February 6, 2008—As RFID grows in business, industry, and government, it is also making its way into the higher education system. Schools around the world offer RFID training and education, ranging from single courses to certificate programs to postgraduate research.
RFID Update examined college-based programs to get a sense of what type of education is available and how many schools offer it. The first part of this series, An Overview of RFID Education at the College Level, provides an overview of RFID in higher education and chronicles its growth. This installment provides a listing of current programs, which was compiled through online research and submissions from educators. RFID certification and training programs conducted by associations and professional training companies were not included.
The listing is not comprehensive. It is believed there are many more college-based RFID courses and programs. More than 250 professors have received formal training at the AIDC Technical Institute at the Ohio University AIDC Lab in Athens, Ohio, which focuses on helping professors integrate RFID and other automatic identification technologies into their curricula. Many of these professors have started courses and programs at their own schools, according to Kevin Berbisso of Ohio University, but only a smattering of these offerings are reflected in the listings.
“There has been a lot of interest in RFID in our Technical Institute program, and we’ve been including more and more RFID in it for the past several years,” Berisso told RFID Update. “A lot of professors who came to the Institute are doing classes, and a lot are also doing modules or sections within other classes. Some do workshops where local or regional businesses can come to learn about the technologies.”
Known programs are listed below in alphabetical order. This listing will be periodically updated and kept available in the RFID Update online archives. Send submissions for consideration to [email protected].
| Boise State University | |
| Location: | Boise, Idaho, USA |
| Course/program: | Graduate certificate, supply chain management |
| Contact: | Dr. Patrick Shannon, professor |
| Phone: | +1 208-426-3786 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | This online certificate course allows students to focus their studies on RFID. It is jointly offered by Boise State and the University of Alaska-Anchorage. |
| International Institute of Information Technology | |
| Location: | Pune, India |
| Course/program: | Department of Embedded System Design |
| Contact: | Dr. T. Srikanth, head of the Embedded Systems Design Department |
| Phone: | + 91 020-2293-3441 x247 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | The department offers various courses and lab facilities focused on access card technologies, including various active and passive RFID technologies conforming to ISO 14443, ISO 15693 and EPCglobal Gen2 standards. |
| Michigan State University | |
| Location: | East Lansing, Michigan, USA |
| Course/program: | MSU’s School of Packaging offers an academic-based course in Automatic Identification and Packaging that covers Auto-ID basics, current trends, and a hands-on RFID laboratory. |
| Contact: | Dr. Robb Clarke |
| Phone: | +1 517-999-7123 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 10 |
| Description: | A newly opened facility, the MSU Auto-ID Research & Testing Center, focuses on applied research to develop understanding of the interactions between auto-ID systems and product, package, and distribution environment. |
| Middlesex Community College | |
| Location: | Lowell, Massachusetts, USA |
| Course/program: | RFID certificate program, as well as an associate degree in Computer, Software, and Networking Technology with a concentration in RFID |
| Contact: | Robert Bowles, department chairperson, or Carlos Coral-Gomez, program coordinator |
| Phone: | +1 978-656-3020 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | Program graduates will be able to install, test, and maintain RFID systems, as well as instruct customers and other users. The program was created in 2006 from a President’s Community Based Job Training Grant from the US Department of Labor. |
| Monmouth University | |
| Location: | West Long Branch, New Jersey, USA |
| Course/program: | Various |
| Contact: | Robert Kelly, professor |
| Phone: | +1 732-263-5778 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | The last course where RFID was emphasized was a graduate-level software engineering class with nine students. |
| Description: | RFID at Monmouth University includes seminars, courses focused on prototype application development and emerging technology introduction, and partnerships with university organizations to trial RFID applications on campus. Prototype applications are oriented toward the emergency response space. |
| Tecnológico de Monterrey (Monterrey Tech) | |
| Location: | Monterrey, Mexico |
| Course/program: | New — see below |
| Contact: | Gerardo Barbosa, assistant professor |
| Phone: | +52 81-8358-2000 x5011 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 10 |
| Description: | The college has more than three dozen campuses and offices throughout Mexico and Latin America, plus distance learning programs. Last semester it conducted a pilot course on RFID with 10 students. The course was considered successful and is being expanded, with plans to offer it throughout the system by the end of this year. The school expects 30 IT and electronics students to take part in the next course. |
| New Jersey Institute of Technology | |
| Location: | Newark, New Jersey, USA |
| Course/program: | Graduate research program |
| Contact: | William Carr, professor |
| Phone: | +1 973-596-5692 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 9 |
| Description: | Students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department can work on RFID-related topics as part of their graduate research. |
| Oakton Community College | |
| Location: | Skokie, Illinois, USA |
| Course/program: | RFID 101, RFID 102, RFID 103, RFID 251, MGT 155, MGT 156 |
| Contact: | Robert Sompolski, dean of mathematics and technologies |
| Phone: | +1 847-635-1975 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | The college has developed an RFID curriculum and certificate program intended to prepare students for managerial and technical positions in the transportation, warehousing and logistics industry. The program was partially funded by a US Department of Labor Workforce Investment Act Initiative grant provided through the Illinois Community College Board. |
| Ohio University | |
| Location: | Athens, Ohio, USA |
| Course/program: | Multiple classes: IT 354 – AIDC technologies; IT 491 – RFID; MIS 400 – RFID in MIS |
| Contact: | Kevin Berisso, director of the Ohio University AIDC Lab |
| Phone: | +1 740-593-1453 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 12 (RFID class) |
| Description: | The college of engineering offers a course dedicated to RFID and a class on AIDC technologies that covers RFID in addition to bar code, biometrics and others. RFID software development is also covered in a business school class. |
| Texas State Technical College | |
| Location: | Waco, Texas, USA |
| Course/program: | See below |
| Contact: | Bob Hoheisal, lab director |
| Phone: | +1 254-867-2055 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | A new RFID training facility is scheduled to open on campus on February 28, 2008. Texas State Technical College and the Texas Workforce Commission received a $305,000 grant from the US Department of Labor to provide RFID-related training and RFID education and job training opportunities for students and others. Programs can accommodate up to 20 participants at a time. |
| UCLA | |
| Location: | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Course/program: | RFID course |
| Contact: | Dr. Rajit Gadh |
| Phone: | +1 310-267-4979 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | The course will introduce state-of-the-art in RFID systems technology with a specific focus on designing and analyzing RFID systems. Hardware and middleware issues will be discussed. Students will work on hands-on projects in RFID using equipment in the RFID Lab. The course is produced by WINMEC (Wireless Internet for Mobile Enterprise Consortium), a UCLA-based collaboration between the school, industry and government. WINMEC offers numerous RFID-related programs at UCLA. |
| University of Alaska-Anchorage | |
| Location: | Anchorage, Alaska, USA |
| Course/program: | Graduate certificate, supply chain management |
| Contact: | Janet Burton or Pat Lee |
| Phone: | +1 907-786-4171 or +1 907-786-4101 |
| Email: | [email protected] or [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | This online certificate course allows students to focus their studies on RFID. It is jointly offered by Boise State and the University of Alaska-Anchorage. |
| University of Arkansas | |
| Location: | Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA |
| Course/program: | Various |
| Contact: | Dr. Bill Hardgrave, director |
| Phone: | +1 479-575-6099 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | The university covers RFID in a variety of business and engineering courses, with at least 100 students enrolled at any given time. Instruction includes coursework in the university’s extensive RFID lab. |
| University of Kansas | |
| Location: | Lawrence, Kansas, plus off-site programs that can be conducted at private facilities |
| Course/program: | RFID Basics: What is RFID and what can it do for you? |
| Contact: | Kevin Curry |
| Phone: | +1 785-864-7861 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | Not available |
| Description: | Courses focus on helping businesses understand RFID and its potential for improving their processes, including reduced labor and operational costs, better inventory control, fewer shipping errors, improved utilization of fixed assets, and decreased losses due to theft and counterfeiting. The university’s continuing education department also offers multiple on-site RFID presentations that companies can host at their own facilities, or take on campus. On-site presentations include: RFID in the Cold Chain: Justifying and Deploying Your Cold Chain Solution; RFID for Intelligent Asset Management; RFID: Deploying Your Item-Level Tracking Solution, and; RFID Implementation: How to Evaluate, Justify and Deploy Your RFID Solution |
| University of Nebraska-Lincoln | |
| Location: | Lincoln, Nebraska, USA |
| Course/program: | RFID in Logistics |
| Contact: | Billie Strand, program specialist |
| Phone: | +1 402-472-1625 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | New course |
| Description: | This 16-week course is available to graduate and undergraduate engineering students, and is also available as a 10-week course in the university’s extended education program. The contact information is for the extended education program. |
| University of Pittsburgh | |
| Location: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Course/program: | ECE 1150 – Computer Networks |
| Contact: | Marlin Mickle, director of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering |
| Phone: | +1 412-624-9682 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 35 |
| Description: | This class in the engineering department focuses on integrating RFID technology, including passive and battery powered tags, into wired and wireless networks. Pitt also operates an RFID lab for study and testing. |
| University of Wisconsin | |
| Location: | Madison, Wisconsin, USA |
| Course/program: | ISYE 691: RFID, Bar Code and Other Data Capture Systems |
| Contact: | Dr. Raj Veermani |
| Phone: | +1 608-262-0861 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| Students in last session: | 40 |
| Description: | This introductory graduate-level course provides an overview of RFID technology and systems and their applications in various industries, and advances in other AIDC technologies. It covers how to develop RFID strategy, the implementation roadmap, and justification. Includes hands-on sessions at the university’s 2,250 square foot RFID lab. The course is popular with both engineering and MBA students. |