1990 Eta Kappa Nu Survey Results

I found this gem as I continue to unpack all my stuff at the apartment. At UCLA, I think I barely qualified for Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical Engineering Honor Society) one quarter so I quickly joined. I found the results of a survey we conducted in Winter of 1990 (n = 200+ upper division EE students). Some of the questions (and answers) were pretty funny.

7. Have you ever told a technical joke?
Yes 54%; No 46%
[OK, I got one. A passenger jet was flying in from Warsaw to New York. As it was coming in for a landing, the pilot said, "If you look out the window, you can see the Statue of Liberty." All the passengers rushed over to look causing the plane to flip and crash. The moral of the story? Keep your poles off the right half plane. Ha ha! Get it? Get it? I didn't the first time I heard it.]

11. What is your ethnic origin?
Caucasian 21.9%; Asian 63.5%; African 1.0%; Latino: 8.3%; Other 5.3%
[Maybe we should have had sub-categories (i.e., Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, etc.)]

20. Have yo ever tried to construct anything MacGyver has built?
Yes 6.5%; No 93.5%

27a. Do you plan to pursue a higher degree after graduation?
Yes 91.3%; No 8.7%

29. Would you prefer to marry another engineer?
Yes 10.9%; No 89.1%
[Good thing that Yes number is low; I don't thing there are enough female electrical engineers.]

31. Do you own or have you ever owned a Radio Shack mini-electronics laboratory kit?
Yes 31.8%; No 68.2%

32. Do you own any engineering laboratory equipment? (you may mark more than one)
oscilloscope 7.5%; curve tracer 2.5%; signal generator 6.0%
soldering iron 33.5%; multimeter 25.5%; power supply 16.0%

I never owned a Radio Shack mini-electronics laboratory kit. Maybe that's why I'm in finance now instead of engineering. BTW, I'm still not quite sure what a curve tracer is used for (something to do with transisters); I can't believe undergrad students owning one.


Tektronix 576 Curve Tracer ($2,500 used!)