Using Capstone Projects for Community Outreach
- Conference
- Location
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Salt Lake City, Utah
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2018
- Start Date
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June 23, 2018
- End Date
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July 27, 2018
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Mechanical Engineering
- Page Count
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8
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--31199
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/31199
- Download Count
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553
Paper Authors
Carmen Cioc University of Toledo
Dr. Carmen Cioc is Assistant Professor and MET Program Director in the Engineering Technology Department, College of Engineering, at the University of Toledo. She received her Master in Aerospace Engineering from The University Politehnica of Bucharest, her Master in Physics - Professional in Photovoltaics, and her Ph.D. in Engineering, in the field of thermal sciences, from The University of Toledo.
Sorin Cioc University of Toledo
Richard A. Springman P.E. University of Toledo
Prof. Springman is the Associate Chair and Director of Student Support of the Engineering Technology Department in the College of Engineering at The University of Toledo. He is also the Senior Technology Capstone course coordinator.
Abstract
The Capstone Projects course is certainly one of the most important courses the students experience in our college. In the Mechanical Engineering Department and in the Engineering Technology Department, students are exposed to and demonstrate their abilities listed in most, if not all, ABET student outcomes a-k. Still, in our experience, not all projects provide strong components related to student outcomes h (broad education), j (knowledge of contemporary issues), and especially i (life-long learning). In this context, this work shows some of our experiences in implementing projects originating from the community where our university is located. In particular, this work presents two cases: (i) one project based on the idea proposed by a local inventor related to power production and (ii) one project to satisfy the need of an elderly resident to move larger items with his pick-up truck. In both cases the clients have no engineering background, but they are confronted with problems that can be solved through engineering design.
As opposed to other projects, such as related to people with physical disabilities or projects with the local industrial partners, in these cases the clients were very involved in the design process, although not as engineers. By working on such projects, our students were able to interact with and learn from people of different backgrounds; this interaction, while not always easy, benefitted both our students and our clients. They were also able to see firsthand the positive impact their work can have on people’s lives: transforming a dreamed idea into a physical prototype, and helping a community member with his activity. Finally, by directly interacting with people who continue to propose new ideas and have active lives, with new problems, even after retirement, our students experienced the importance of life-long learning and intellectual curiosity have on people’s lives. Our experience has been largely positive and we plan to expand our capstone project list to include more such projects.
Cioc, C., & Cioc, S., & Springman, R. A. (2018, June), Using Capstone Projects for Community Outreach Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--31199
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