Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Tamer Ceylan

ENGINEERING ACCREDITATION: PROCESS AND CHALLENGES Tamer Ceylan University of Wisconsin-Platteville E-mail: ceylan@uwplatt.edu Phone: (608) 342-1367 ABSTRACT This paper summarizes the important aspects of the experience gained before, during, and after the recent ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation visit for the engineering programs at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. From an engineering educator’s perspective, it provides information on the critical process issues and challenges with the

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Robert M. Nelson; Benjamin D. Braaten

Computational Electromagnetics in Electrical Engineering at NDSU Robert M. Nelson and Benjamin D. Braaten North Dakota State University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Fargo, ND 58105 Robert.M.Nelson@ndsu.eduIntroductionA course discussing Computational Electromagnetics has been taught several times by ElectricalEngineering faculty at North Dakota State University. The course is open to both seniors andgraduate students and examines various topics related to electromagnetic theory, with particularemphasis given to computational electromagnetics. Students

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Nihad E. Daidzic; Vojin R. Nikolic

Appendix. It is pointed out that the main idea of the camp has been to show to the participating students that engineering is much more than just solving equations, crunching numbers and generating complex designs; it is also exciting, creative, and a lot of fun. The program is intended for the high school juniors who had little interest in engineering but who also have not made up their minds as to the future career yet. In other words it is intended to those students who under certain circumstances may consider engineering as a distant career possibility only. The program staff included the two authors, three teaching assistants (MSU students, two from the Aviation Department and one from the Department of

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Valerie J. Fuchs; James R. Mihelcic

, as a group, write equally about economics andenvironment, with less focus on society. As an assessment, this offers an indication of whatMichigan Tech teaches well (environment and economics) and what could be better incorporatedinto the programs (societal interactions). However, the different purposes of the ISD and PCMIreports should also be kept in mind. PCMI students write a research report as a reflection of theirwork in 27 months in the Peace Corps. Their community is their natural focus, and in a researchreport, economics is of less importance. ISD students write engineering feasibility study andinitial design reports for a client community or organization. These reports are more likely to Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

William S. Helton; Michele H. Miller; Robert Pastel

pressure to be interdisciplinary is only going toincrease with time. Companies are learning that people won’t buy products that onlycomputer scientists and engineers can understand and use. They will fail to becompetitive if they do not get on the HF bandwagon. Eventually HF training will be a jobrequirement for engineers and technologists. Training in HF leads to better designs(Bailey, 1993) and in the global competitive market, money trumps trolls. HF instructorsneed to be aware of the trolls, but keep in mind they are probably only fairy tales. Theonly acceptable course of action for the HF instructor is to be brave.ConclusionHF is liberating and crucially important. Systems engineers are not inhibited and canchoose to study any field. By its

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

AnnMarie Polsenberg Thomas; J. Roxanne Prichard

of 80, and an even greater increase inthe number of Americans over the age of 60. With this increase in the size of theAmerican elderly population, society must examine carefully ways to improve the qualityof life for this population and their caretakers. Designing products and services createdwith the specific needs of this demographic in mind is a complex, multi-disciplinarychallenge. Engineers will certainly play a role in this process, but they will need to bewell versed in a variety of disciplines.To address this issue, the University of St. Thomas sponsored a three-day, multi-disciplinary retreat, coordinated by Professors AnnMarie Thomas (Engineering) andRoxanne Prichard (Psychology). The retreat, which was open to students from

Collection

2007 North Midwest Section Meeting

Authors

Paul J. Weber

central purpose was to require students to think about the entire engineering designprocess instead of simply the technical aspects. This was achieved through research into thepractices of the companies involved, including their location, the physical materials used, and thebenefits that the product provides to society. The purpose of this was to encourage the studentsto examine the impacts of these decisions and determine which would be sustainable.With these goals in mind, the following questions were given to the students to answer duringtheir presentations. The questions provided a set of guidelines for the information to cover anddefined one category of assessment for the work of the students. 1. Fundamentals of the Application: What is