In Winter 2026, I took 5 courses as a part of my second semester of second year in Electrical Engineering at the University of Ottawa. If you’re curious about the course sequence for the program, you can check out this link. Here are my thoughts on the courses I took this semester, as well as some tips for success.
ELG 2137: Circuit Theory II
Ideal operational amplifiers - analysis and applications. Forced and natural responses of RLC circuits using the differential equation approach. Transient circuit analysis using unilateral Laplace transforms. Two-port networks and parameters. Mutual inductance and the ideal transformer. Transfer functions. Frequency response of simple filters. Fundamentals of computer-aided circuit simulation. The measurement of sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal electrical quantities in analogue and digital circuits. Introduction to sensors and instrumentation amplifiers. The measurement of non-electrical quantities.
I found this course super fun. The content is all very math oriented, but isn’t as “memorization” based as 2138. That’s to say, it’s far more clear what the application of what you’re learning about would be to the real world. If you’re into control systems, this acts as a great starting point for a lot of the content. The format of assessments for this course was okay - I liked that there were quizzes during the tutorials, as it forces you to keep up with the content. The hardest part of this course is the response of the RLC circuit, which requires a lot of practice. The final for this course was quite tough. Overall, very easy to do well by simply keeping up with assignments and practicing the textbook examples and questions.
ELG 2136: Electronics I
Physics of semiconductors. Diodes: operation, models. and application circuits. Bipolar Junction Transistors - operation and characteristics. DC and AC circuit models. Basic single-stage BJT amplifier configurations. Field-Effect Transistors: Structure and physical operation, bias circuits, small-signal equivalent circuits and basic amplifiers. Basic concepts of digital logic circuits. The BJT inverter. The CMOS Inverter. Propagation delay of the CMOS inverter. CMOS gates and other digital circuits. Using Computer-Aided Design software tools in the design and analysis of BJT/MOSFET-based circuits. Introduction to Semiconductor Power Devices: thyristor, triac, Insulated Gate Bipolar transistor. Power Electronics Applications: The AC-DC, DC-DC, and DC-AC converters.
My opinion on this course changed a lot during the semester. When I was starting off, I found it to be extremely dull, boring, and confusing for no reason. As time goes on, you really grow to appreciate the material being taught in this course. It’s foundational for a lot of electrical engineering fields. Analog design, power electronics, you name it - some of it is related to this course. This course is unique in that it’s the first time in the degree that you are forced to really abstract your thinking away from just simple formulas and think on a more “system” level. Of course, it’s 100% possible to just get by in this course by memorizing concepts, but a really big emphasis, weather you take it in or not, is placed on the theory and “why” thinking behind some of the problems this course takes on. Overall, really interesting course that I wish I took in a lot more of.
PHY 2323: Electricity and Magnetism
Review of vector analysis: gradient, divergence and curl. Electrosta- tics: Coulomb’s law, electric field, Gauss’s law, energy and potential, conductors, semiconductors and dielectrics, capacitance, Poisson’s and Laplace’s equations. Steady electric currents. Magnetostatics: magnetic fields and forces, Ampere’s and Biot-Savart laws, Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic potentials.
Notoriously, this is known to be one of the tougher classes in an electrical engineering program. That it is, and while the content of this course does make it one of the more tougher classes, the professor for this course was by far the only thing that allowed me to pass it. Prof. Andrej Czajkowski was absolutely fantastic and wrote fair midterms, and an even fairer final exam. He was quite accommodating and extremely flexible. The course itself is not extremely hard to do well in, but it requires you to not blindly setup integrals and equations like is done in many other engineering courses. For this reason I think your ability to do well in the course depends on how much work you put in. It’s certainly easy to simply memorize the setup for questions and get by, albeit your grade may not be as high. The textbook range for this material is quite broad, so I won’t touch on everything out there. There is Guru & Hiziroglu, which is alright but struggles to explain things in a manner that is easy to digest. Griffith’s is probably the most well known book on this course, which is standout and what I used for the semester. Purcell & Morin is also great, more of an engineering approach to the explanations, but not as well displayed as Griffith’s. You should spend a lot of time finding a textbook that you enjoy, since the course is really hard to learn from anywhere else.
GNG 2101: Introduction to Product Development for Engineers and Computer Scientists
A hands-on, team-based, introduction to product development principles for engineers and computer scientists. A “Design for X” approach is used for open-ended client-based design projects, by learning and handling the challenging constraints of product development, including economics, sustainability, project management, business models, marketing, ethics, compliance, and intellectual property rights.
This course is the sequel to GNG 1103: Introduction to Engineering Design. As I wrote about that course, your opinion of this course is highly dependent on the professor you have. I personally didn’t enjoy the course all too much, mostly because a lot of content is crammed into it during a short period of time. Besides having to create a project for a client, you have weekly deliverables, assignments, and cover economics and IP law as well. I had a fantastic group for my project which made the whole experience a lot nicer.
ELG 2911: Professional Practice in Information Technology and Engineering
Histoire de la profession d’ingénieur. Principes de professionnalisme dans la pratique de l’ingénieur. Obligations éthiques et légales de l’ingénieur envers la société et l’environnement. Compétences requises en communication et administration dans la pratique de l’ingénieur. Santé et sécurité au travail. / History of the profession of engineering. Principles of professional engineering practice. Ethical, societal, environmental and legal obligations of the professional engineer. Communication and management skills required by the practicing engineer. Workplace health and safety.
This course is offered under the moniker of CSI/SEG/CEG as well, it is the same for all sections, and students of different disciplines are in the same section. I have very little to say since the course was quite straightforward and easy to do well in. Assignments were a bit tedious since they were almost bi-weekly, but other than that this should be one of the easier courses you take in this semester.