Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Tamer Ceylan

hope that it could assist other engineering programs seeking accreditation or re-accreditation. INTRODUCTION All seven engineering programs at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville went through the ABET accreditation process recently. This paper summarizes observations and reflections of an engineering educator about this experience. The author has been familiar with the process as a result of six engineering accreditation visits in his academic career since 1982. The engineering accreditation process has eight criteria (Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2006). It would be a mistake to think that a program deemed good or even strong in the collective and subjective opinion of the program faculty should therefore be accreditable

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kurtis G. Paterson

. Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE North Midwest Sectional Conference4. AssessmentA two-pronged assessment strategy was used in the program: daily self-reflective metrics,and weekly narrative statements. Both instruments were used one week prior to and twomonths after the conclusion of the in-country portion of the program. The daily metricsinclude the following questions: 1. All things considered, how do you feel overall? 2. How do you feel physically? 3. How do you feel emotionally? 4. Regarding your understanding and contributions on the project, how do you feel technically?These questions were self-scored on a scale of 1 (horrible) to 10 (fantastic). There weretwo primary purposes of the daily assessment: to engage the

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Michael A. Rother

to their choices. However, I give them a limited amount of time to make theircontacts after November, since they have already been given ample opportunity. Their otheroption is to do an academic project with at least one reactor and two separation steps. In the lastthree years, no group has chosen an academic project, although the Verso/NRRI project in 2006-7 (see Table 1) amounted to an academic project when the group and company made the mutualdecision to stop the originally suggested work on bleach-water treatment. The issue of why it is difficult to get new industrial sponsors remains – and whether abetter solicitation method exists. As discussed above, the difficulty seems to reflect an attitudeon the part of industry that the

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Valerie J. Fuchs; James R. Mihelcic

sustainability when students pursue the certificate. Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE North Midwest Sectional Conference However, students in both the ISD and PCMI program complete an international experience which greatly increases their knowledge of sustainable development. 2. A content analysis of student reports (fully described in Fuchs and Mihelcic, 2006) showed that students have knowledge of sustainability “language” as determined from the Sustainable Futures model. Their use of certain words and not others may reflect a) the research or project topic, b) the project or client needs, or c) that certain concepts are taught better than others. Credits ISD

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Yue Li; Qiong Zhang

and sustainability is essential to address the issue identified above. The curriculum should provide a breadth of material to equip students with the concepts and means to incorporate sustainability design awareness into PBE. Sustainability and PBE themes should be reflected in the individual courses and in the overall CEE program. The basic components in integrated course design (Fink, 2003) for significant learning include: formulate the learning goals, select the teaching/learning activities, and design the feedback and assessment procedures. Learning Goals When the principles of integrated design are applied to the framework of integrating sustainability and PBE into CEE curriculum, the following

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Robert M. Nelson; Benjamin D. Braaten

PML (perfectly matched layer) absorbing boundary is discussed. This discussion naturally leads to discussion of another analytical method – namely, the solution of the problem of wave reflection at a two-layer interface. This is carried out for the general case, and provides an opportunity to discuss reflection and transmission coefficients and surface waves.E.) Review of vector space concepts A transition is made at this point in the course to shift from finite-difference methods to other techniques used in computational electromagnetics. Since several of the other methods rely heavily on vector space concepts, a review is provided of the concepts of inner products, norms, orthogonality, etc.F.) Variational methods Vector

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kurtis G. Paterson

segments were shifted to the podcast, allowing class time to be used foractive learning exclusively. Podcasts have the advantages of pause and replay by thestudent, important for such reflective course elements like lecture. The podcast, andcompanion web site, directed the student to appropriate textbook material. Class timethen built upon the podcast “lectures” with a mix of hands-on activities, problems, fieldtrips, and discussion. This learning process is depicted in Figure 4. The PEL cycle, anadaptation of that by Kolb,3 creates an interdependence of the three learning elements: thepodcasts, the textbook, and the in-class activities. The podcasts serve primarily tomotivate learning by providing the core information, hopefully in an engaging

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Richard Smith

A Curricular Strategy for Information Security Engineering Richard Smith Department of Computer and Information Sciences (formerly QMCS) University of St. ThomasAbstractExisting textbooks and training materials in basic information security do not reflect theactual problem solving techniques and practices in the field of information securityengineering. In general, texts focus on memorization of a broad range of facts related tomodern information security practice. Analytical techniques, when present, often focuson mathematical foundations of cryptography, the inner workings of security protocols,and perhaps the logical derivation of formal security policy statements

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Paul J. Weber

; • Enabling students to find and communicate information effectively; • Improving the ability of students to reflect on their own learning history; and • Increasing the understanding of a student’s own learning strengths and weaknesses.Such sustainable learning practices are akin to the old adage that if you give a person a fish, s/hewill eat for a day, but if you teach a person to fish, s/he will eat for a lifetime (assuming the fishsupply and techniques are sustainable!).When examining the physical sustainability limits of learning systems, it is important to considerthat cognitive learning generally pertains to the acquisition, manipulation, and application ofinformation. In this context, the medium/technology through which the information

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Susan Amato-Henderson; Jessica Mariano; Pete Cattelino; Brian Hannon

conducting the pre-and post-event surveys in their classrooms. Twenty-four educators agreed to participate. Pre-event surveys were completed 1 – 2 days prior to attending the YES! Expo and post-eventsurveys were completed within 2 weeks of attendance. Students who completed both the pre andpost event surveys were included in the data analysis for this project.Results The mean response across the15-item engineering self efficacy instrument was calculatedfor each participant on both the pre- and post-event assessment. Thus, a pre-event and post-event engineering self-efficacy score resulted for each participant, with values ranging from 0 to6. Higher values reflected higher levels of engineering self-efficacy beliefs. To examine the

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Pasi T. Lautala; William J. Sproule

, photographs and videoclips of tours are on the web site www.cee.mtu.edu/railroad. 2007 ASEE North Midwest Sectional ConferenceFrom an instructor’s viewpoint, it has been extremely rewarding to see so many studentsdevelop a passion for railroads and discover a foreign culture. For many students, it wastheir first trip outside of the United States. It will be one of those special experiences thatwill change their lives. Setting up and maintaining an international program in a field inwhich there was no previous experience on campus turned out to be a challenging butrewarding experience.Tips on Setting up a Study Abroad ProgramAs one reflects on our experience with this study abroad program, there are excitingopportunities for

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

K. R. Haapala; M. J. Hutchins; J. L. Rivera; V. Kumar; A. R. Clarke; T. D. Eatmon; R. A. Harris; M. H. Durfee; J. R. Mihelcic; D. R. Shonnard; J. W. Sutherland

andtechnology aspects of sustainability.Sutherland et al. (2003) reported on the development of the MTU sustainability curriculum thatled to establishing the SFI. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, coursework in traditionaldisciplines (e.g., Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and the Social Sciences) beganto reflect the growing importance of the environment. An Environmental Policy graduateprogram was established that complemented the existing Environmental Engineering program.Efforts from across campus led to the Engineering for the Environment and, later,Environmentally Responsible Design and Manufacturing courses to address interdisciplinaryenvironmental issues. Involved faculty began to serve on graduate committees outside of

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Michele H. Miller; Kari L. Jordan

largeengineering class may involve students with these learning styles, and more, which requiresinnovative methods to teach them. Learning styles of engineering students and teaching styles ofengineering professors are often incompatible [36]. Most engineering classes encourage studentsto be passive. Students do not experiment actively or reflect which disables them to learneffectively. Active learning serves as an alternate to lectures [37]. The proof of what is beingtaught in class is in the fabrication and implementation of hands on experiences. BenjaminFranklin said, “Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I learn.”Hands-on engineering learning happens naturally in industry settings. Internships and co-opscomplement the

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Qiong Zhang; Dana Johnson; James R. Mihelcic

perspective added to the informalsurveys conducted by students in the field.To build a business case regarding particular technologies, a capital investment analysis wasperformed using cost of capital rates reflective of risk associated with operating in a particularregion, investment and business risk, financial risk, and failure risk. The information from theengineering analysis, business data, informal surveys, formal surveys, and capital investmentanalysis were then evaluated to obtain overall conclusions regarding the business feasibility of agiven water purification technology in the regions studied.Using qualitative information and quantitative data allowed for a comprehensiverecommendation regarding the business feasibility of water