engineering

Harriett B. Rigas

Harriett B. Rigas is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Harriett B. Rigas rather than just read about it. In short: Harriett B. Rigas (30 April 1934 – 26 July 1989) was a Canadian electrical engineer and innovative lecturer who was recognised worldwide for her hybrid computer and computer simulation research.

Key takeaways

Harriett B. Rigas belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Harriett B. Rigas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Harriett B. Rigas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Harriett B. Rigas (30 April 1934 – 26 July 1989) was a Canadian electrical engineer and innovative lecturer who was recognised worldwide for her hybrid computer and computer simulation research.

Early life and education Rigas was born on 30 April 1934 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She graduated from Queens University in 1956 with a bachelor's degree. She completed her master's in electrical engineering in 1959, the same year she got married. Rigas completed her doctorate in 1963 also from Kansas University as the first woman to do so.

Career She worked in academia, as chair of the Washington State University Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering between 1966 and 1984 where she developed the computer engineering curriculum, she became a professor in 1976. Rigas was instrumental in creating the concept of automatic software patches. She then went on to become the chair of the Michigan State University Department of Electrical Engineering. Rigas also spent time on the National Academy of Sciences committee for scientific programs in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Rigas was also professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Rigas was named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow in 1984 for contributions to programming of analog/hybrid computers and to the development of computer engineering curricula. In 1988 Rigas was on the IEEE Board of Directors. She was the IEEE Division V Director. Rigas was known for her advocacy of women in engineering. She was locally and nationally involved with the Society of Women Engineers, receiving the SWE Achievement Award in 1982. She died in Michigan in 1989.

Award & Scholarship Washington state set up the Harriet B. Rigas Memorial Scholarship Fund which is awarded to Computer Engineering students. Michigan State has named the graduate program the Harriett B. Rigas Graduate Engineering Program. The IEEE has an award was founded in her name, the Harriett B. Rigas Award to recognize the outstanding engineering faculty women who have made a significant contribution to undergraduate education.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Harriett B. Rigas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Harriett B. Rigas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Harriett B. Rigas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Harriett B. Rigas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Harriett B. Rigas

In research: Harriett B. Rigas appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Harriett B. Rigas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Harriett B. Rigas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 1989 deaths, 20th-century Canadian engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Harriett B. Rigas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Harriett B. Rigas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Harriett B. Rigas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Harriett B. Rigas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Harriett B. Rigas in simple terms?

Harriett B. Rigas (30 April 1934 – 26 July 1989) was a Canadian electrical engineer and innovative lecturer who was recognised worldwide for her hybrid computer and computer simulation research.

Why does Harriett B. Rigas matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Harriett B. Rigas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Harriett B. Rigas.