Conference Session

Engineering Economy: Beyond the Classroom

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald Remer, Harvey Mudd College; Karen Ahle, Raytheon; Kevin Alley, Southwest Research Institute; John Silny, Raytheon; Karen Hsin, Accenture; Elijah Kwitman, Harvey Mudd College; Allison Hutchings, Harvey Mudd College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

AC 2007-513: COST ESTIMATING CERTIFICATES OFFERED BYPROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND ABROADDonald Remer, Harvey Mudd College Donald S. Remer is the Oliver C. Field Professor of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College. He received his BSE at the Univ. of Michigan and his MS and PhD at Caltech. He is a registered professional Engineer in several states. He has presented short courses to thousands of engineers and managers in industry and government in the areas of Project and Engineering Management, Cost Estimation and Economic Evaluation of Projects, and Managing and Estimating Software Projects. He received the Centennial Award from ASEE.Karen Ahle, Raytheon Karen M. Ahle graduated

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melani Plett, Seattle Pacific Univ; Donald Peter

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

homework seems toincorporate that principle in a manner agreeable to both students and faculty.References 1. A.W. Chickering and Z.F. Gamson, “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education,” American Ass. For Higher Education Bulletin, 29 (1987), 3-7. 2. E. F. Redish, J. M. Saul, and R. N. Steinberg, "On the effectiveness of active-engagement microcomputer- based laboratories”, American Journal Physics, 65 (1997), 45-54. 3. McGraw Hill Homework Manager home page. 4. Wiley Higher Education home page (link to Technology Solutions and Wiley Plus). 5. A. Bright, R. Wang, E102 Advanced Systems Engineering syllabus home page. Harvey Mudd College. 6. S. Servetto, ECE 562, Fundamental

Conference Session

Radiation and Radiological Engineering Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sheldon Landsberger, University of Texas-Austin; Jessica Rosinski, University of Texas-Austin; Paul Buckley, Lewis-Clark State College; Dan Dugan, Washington State University; James Elliston, Washington State University; Roy Filby, Washigton State University; Jeremy Lessman, Washington State University; Alena Paulenova, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Nuclear and Radiological

, Page 12.519.11 10 Table 6 Calculation of a germanium detector efficiency curve 152Half-life of Eu 13.542 Y 427353019.2 s Highlight the B9 cell. Click on equal sign. Type B8 minus B7. ThenDecay Constant format B9 by right clicking and selecting format cells. Select the Number(lamda) 1.62195E-09 1/s tab, chose number from the category menu, and click OK. Convert days to seconds by multiplying by 24 and 3600.Activity

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher Carroll, University of Minnesota-Duluth

that are unwanted by the computer science students and also thecomputer structure details that may be unwanted by the electrical engineering students. Studentsdo design and build digital electrical circuits, but no discussion of the electrical nature of thecircuits is included. The power supply is just a source of 1’s and 0’s for the computation, and thewires are just physical implementations of pencil lines on paper. Of course, eventually the twogroups of students must diverge and pursue those details related to their major disciplines.Conveniently, that divergence comes right at the end of this introductory “digital circuit design”course. The engineering students follow this course with a “digital computer circuits” coursethat does teach

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Engineering Physics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Denise Martinez, Tarleton State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

evidence of achievement of theprogram outcomes. EPOC and EPAB jointly agreed the outcomes to be defined as ABETCriteria 3a-k plus an additional criterion related to the multidisciplinary nature of the programstating “a depth and breadth of knowledge in engineering and physics necessary to work in amultidisciplinary environment”.This data cannot exclusively be graded student work. Data are collected from faculty using avariety of tools. • Course Evaluation Form: At the conclusion of each semester, this form is completed by the instructor of each course in the curriculum offered that semester. This tool surveys the faculty opinion and proposed modifications to the text(s), facilities, equipment, content, student preparation, or

Conference Session

Retention of STEM Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lauren Davis, North Carolina A&T State University; Stephanie Luster-Teasley, North Carolina A&T State University; Funda Samanlioglu, North Carolina A&T State University; Leotis Parrish, North Carolina A&T State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

review”, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Winter 1991), pp 505-532 4. Judge, J. and J. Leary, “Department-Specific Mentoring Network for Women Students in Engineering”, Proceedings of 35th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference,2005. 5. Mara,R. and R. Pangborn, “Mentoring in the Technical disciplines: Fostering a Broader view of Education, Career, and Culture In and Beyond the Workplace”, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 85, pp.35-42. 6. Mueller, S. “Electronic mentoring as an example for the use of information and communications technology in engineering education”, European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 29, No. 1, March 2004, 53-63. 7. Muller, C

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kausalai Wijekumar, The Pennsylvania State University Beaver; Brian Cameron, The Pennsylvania State University

their postings can bealso focused to the content equally or more than the social conversations as seen in this researchstudy. Page 12.363.7References1. Anderson, M.& Jackson, D. (2000). Computer systems for distributed and distance learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 16, 213-228.2. Barker, P.G. (1994). Designing Interactive Learning. In Design and Production of Multimedia and Simulation-Based Learning Materials (eds. T. de Jong & L. Sarti) pp. 1-30. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.3. Blignaut, S. & Trollip, S.R. (2003). Developing a taxonomy of faculty participation in asynchronous learning environments

Conference Session

Technology Literacy for Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shayna Stanton, Student; Michael Bailey, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

: An opportunity for design faculty? Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education, Chicago.4. National Academy of Engineering, and National Research Council, Committee on Technological Literacy. (2002). Technically speaking: Why all Americans need to know more about technology. Pearson, Greg, and Young, A. Thomas. (Eds.).5. Mikic, B., and Voss, S. (2006). Engineering for everyone: Charging students with the task of designing creative solutions to the problem of technology literacy. Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Page 12.1610.8 Education, Chicago.6. Christopher

Conference Session

Multimedia and Distance Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Hsiung, Old Dominion University; John Hackworth, Old Dominion University; Richard Jones, Old Dominion University; June Ritchie, Old Dominion University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Iowa State University in 1992.John Hackworth, Old Dominion University JOHN R. HACKWORTH is Program Director for the Electrical Engineering Technology program at Old Dominion University. He holds a B. S. Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology and a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Old Dominion University. Prior to joining Old Dominion University, John had about 20 years of industrial experience. He is one of a few faculty members holding the special designation of University Professor.Richard Jones, Old Dominion University RICHARD L. JONES has been teaching at ODU since 1994. His areas of interest include digital and linear systems including hybrid circuits as

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David LaGraffe, Air Force Institute of Technology; James Petrosky, Air Force Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

in this article are those of the authors and do notreflect the official policy or position of the Air Force, Department of Defense or the U.S.Government.1 Overbeek, R. J. The Sensitivity of Radioactive Fallout Predictions to Source Term Parameters. Master’s Thesis,AFIT/GNE/ENP/06-05. Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology (AU),Wright-Patterson AFB OH, March 2006.2 Kim, W. S. Determining Source and Shield/Scatter Geometry Using Spectra Collected From a Portable HighPurity Germanium Detector. Master’s Thesis, AFIT/GNE/ENP/06-05. Graduate School of Engineering andManagement, Air Force Institute of Technology (AU), Wright-Patterson AFB OH, March 2006.3 Schueneman, R. A. Oxidation at Surfaces of

Conference Session

Issues of Diversity

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Mariga, Purdue University; Alka Harriger, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

: Choices for success (pp. 102-105). New York: The New York Academy of Sciences.11 Sanders, J. (1995). Girls and Technology: Villain wanted. In. S.V. Rosser (Ed.). ) Teaching the majority: Breaking the gender barrier in science, mathematics, and engineering. (pp. 147-159).12 Zeldin, A. L., & Pajares, F. (2000). Against the odds: Self-efficacy beliefs of women in mathematical, scientific, and technological careers. American Educational Research Journal, 37 (1), 215-46.13 Rosser, S. V. (1997). Re-engineering female friendly science. New York: Teachers College Press.14 Brainard, S. G., & Carlin, L. (1997). A longitudinal study of undergraduate women in engineering and science. ASEE/IEEE

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Curricula III

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Pines, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

faculty. Finally, the faculty was not in favor of eliminatinganother professional elective because it was felt that students should be able to select at leastthree courses that meet their professional needs. (The civil engineering curricula and descriptionof the courses can be found at http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/CEE.) The existing sophomore designcourse was selected instead of the junior or senior level design courses because of the desire tohave students who have gained “on-site” experience be available to mentor students thefollowing year(s) so that their expertise is not lost. Also, this will provide those students mostinterested in design for developing communities to be involved in a leadership role in subsequentprojects. In order for the

Conference Session

Teaching Strategies in Graphics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anthony Dean, Old Dominion University; Moustafa Moustafa, Old Dominion University; Julie Moustafa, Old Dominion University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Design Graphics

3 COMM 101R, Public Speaking 3 Gen Ed, Soc ial Sc ience Perspective (S) 3 Page 12.1538.3Figure 1Three course in the first two years are dedicated to drafting and design. Those coursesare:MET 100 – Engineering GraphicsCourse (Catalog) DescriptionLecture 2 hours; laboratory 2 hours; 3 credits. A modern treatment of the basic principlesof engineering drawing, including graphing, orthographic projection, sectional views,multiview drawings, pictorial

Conference Session

Laboratory and Internship Innovations in IT/IS

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shelton Houston, University of Southern Mississippi; Billy Walters, University of Southern Mississippi; Tulio Sulbaran, University of Southern Mississippi

Tagged Divisions

Information Systems

. Figure 1. Percentage of Network Outage after Katrina’s Landfall1Response to the Affected AreaFrom across the U. S. volunteers traveled to affected areas such as Waveland and Bay St. Louis,Mississippi and recognized the numerous critical needs such as communication services. Asvolunteers arrived in the Waveland and Bay St. Louis area, they began setting up camps in anyopen area such as ballparks, campgrounds or parking lots. Volunteers assisted with debris cleanup, repairs, social services and soup kitchens. These volunteers needed to contact their familiesand host organizations. Residents needed to contact FEMA for assistance with their losses.FEMA requested that residents contact the agency through their website by completing an online

Conference Session

Business & Entrepreneurial Information for Engineers

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Drew, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries

; Innovation. About CEI. 2006,http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MGT/CEI/About6. WPI Venture Forum. 2006, http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MGT/CEI/Venture/.7. Christensen, P. and R. Peterson. "Opportunity Identification: Mapping the Sources of New Venture Ideas."Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research (1990).Gilad, B., S. Kaish, and J. Ronen. "The Entrepreneurial Way with Information." in Applied Behavioural Economics,Vol. II, edited by Sholomo Maital. Vol. II, 480–503. New York: New York University Press, 1988.Shane, Scott. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities." Organization Science 11, no.4 (July 2000): 448 – 469.Shane, Scott and Frédéric Delmar. "Planning for the Market: Business Planning before Marketing and

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Education in Engineering Technology

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jinwen Zhu, Missouri Western State University; Virendra Varma, Missouri Western State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

, H stands for Hands-On, PU stands forPartner University, V stands for Virtual Classroom/Lab, S stands for Simulation, and I stands forInternship. • HPU Model: Students spend one or two semesters in a partner university to finish the capstone courses. This partner university could be one of the universities of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) and the National Nanofabrication User Network (NNUN). The students can fully utilize the nanotechnology infrastructure sponsored by federal agencies. • HVI Model: Uses virtual collaboration for courses and hands-on experience through intensive internship. The students stay at their home university for lecture/laboratory classes and

Conference Session

New Trends in Engineering Graduate Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phillip Sanger, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

/WCNews/NewsArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=21.2. Birchall, J. (2005, May 26). Family healthcare costs rising by up to 10% a year. FT.com Financial Times.Retrieved May 27, 2005 from http://news.ft.com/cms/s/545a79a4-cd76-11d9-aa26-00000e2511c8.html.3. Blake, B. (2005, April 8). $108M expansion plan would improve health care. Asheville Citizen-Times.Retrieved May 30, 2005 from http://www.wcu.edu/pubinfo/news/ statecapitalplan0804.htm.4. Brown, N. P. (2003, September-October). Where next for healthcare: The prospects for the professions. HarvardMagazine. Retrieved May 24, 2005 from http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/090339.html.5. Center for Regional Development. (2005). [data compiled from U.S. Census 2000 data.] Western CarolinaUniversity.6

Conference Session

Electrical Engineering Technology Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hong 'Jeffrey' Nie; Recayi 'Reg' Pecen

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

industry and academia. Fig. 1. Digilent Inc.’s FPGA Development Kit Circuit Requirements Model & Behavior Design Behavior Simulation VHDL Coding Hardware Test Synthesis FPGA Programming Fig. 2. Digital Circuit Design Flow with VHDL and FPGAMeanwhile, as a result of fast growth of semiconductor industry, Field Programmable GateArrays (FPGAs) 5, which are large-scale Integrated Circuit

Conference Session

Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Engineering

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shane Palmquist, Western Kentucky University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

m (x) from statics due to P = 1 m (x) couple, m (x)Virtual moment, m(x) m(x) from statics due to P = 1 m(x)Slope angle, (x) L Mm s (x) (x) = Ð EI dx due to P = 1 0Deflection, y(x) L Mm

Conference Session

Knowing Our Students, Part 2

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Paul Santi, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Roscoe, R.D., 2002, The Processes and Challenges of Conceptual Change. In M. Limon and L. Mason (Eds.), Reconsidering Conceptual Change. Issues in Theory and Practice. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 3-27.3) National Research Council, 1997, Science Teaching Reconsidered, A handbook. Committee on Undergraduate Science Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 88 p.4) Chi, M.T.H., 2005, Commonsense Conceptions of Emergent Processes: Why Some Misconceptions are Robust. Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 161-199.5) Evans, D.L. (moderator), Midkiff, C., Miller, R.L., Morgan, J., Krause, S., Martin, et al., 2002, Tools for Assessing Conceptual Understanding in the

Conference Session

Teaching Strategies in Graphics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Fernando Class-Morales, Cessna Aircraft Company; Jim Leake, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign; Brenton Hall, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Design Graphics

are chosen to be relevant and interesting tostudents, along with careful step-by-step instructions on the use of the DS and DA modules as adesign aid. The tutorial is comprehensive and easy to navigate, and it can be used as asupplementary teaching aid in an introductory mechanism design course, but also as a tool tolearn to use advanced design modules available from Autodesk Inventor.The main challenges in developing these types of tutorial packages are: 1) frequent releases ofupdated versions of the featured program (in this instance, Autodesk Inventor Professional) makeit challenging to keep the tutorial current, and 2) the development of a high-quality custom-designed instructional tutorial requires that the developer(s) be both

Conference Session

Student Diversity: attracting and retaining a diverse population of students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelly Crittenden, Louisiana Tech University; Galen Turner, Louisiana Tech University; Alicia Boudreaux, Louisiana Tech University; James Nelson, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

,2003). Furthermore, Preparing Our Children (NSB, 1999) urges partnerships betweenuniversities and local schools to increase the mathematics and science abilities of high schoolgraduates. TechSTEP directly addresses these concerns.“the University”’s STEM Talent Expansion Program (TechSTEP) has two major componentsthat will yield increased numbers of graduates in engineering, mathematics, and science. Onecomponent is a high school partnership program focused on recruiting new students into ourSTEM programs, while the other component is a summer enrichment and mentoring programfocused on increased retention of first-year college students. The recruiting component is an expansion of pilot

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Langerman, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; William Arbegast, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Daniel Dolan, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

, 3. Verify numerical results (lab week 10 of the semester) a. Design AMP center FSW experiment, b. Conduct experiment, c. Document data, 4. Report (hand in last week of semester). Figure 2. Depiction of FSWThe project encompasses several elements of heat transfer covered early in the semesterincluding: 1. Steady and transient conduction, 2. Boundary conditions, 3. Convection, 4. Heat generation.AMP Deliverables – A final report(s) will be delivered to the director of AMP. Includedin the report will be a documentation of the energy transferred from the FSW pin to thework piece and the accompanying machine thermal efficiency (based upon the measuredtorque and pin speed

Conference Session

Design of Lab Experiments I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Oscar Ortiz, LeTourneau University; Paul Leiffer, LeTourneau University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

) that responded neutral. This might have influenced the students not to work with MOSFETs in their projects.ConclusionsThe traditional pre-defined diode labs are achieving their goal of providing a greater learningexperience of diodes and their applications, as opposed to the pre-defined transistor-circuit labswhich simply provide the basic foundation. The results of the survey suggest that the learningprocess is greatly enhanced by real life applications such as the student’s projects. Page 12.1081.8The predefined MOSFET labs must be revised to provide a greater learning experience of theconcepts and applications of MOSFET s. Having the

Conference Session

Preparing Engineers for the Global Workplace

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bernd Widdig, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jack Lohmann, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

International

vea lsopr oduc ed“ wor kfo rceisl and s”i nit sindus tr ialc ommuni ty.As tr ongc ommi tme ntt oone ’sc ompa

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bradley Kramer, Kansas State University; Todd Easton, Kansas State University

. • More universities offering respected advanced degrees in the students’ home countries. • The U.S.A.’s stricter visa rules (post 9/11).In addition, the financial burden for an international student to study in the U.S. makes it lessattractive for international students to travel to the U.S. for graduate study. As an example, the Page 12.397.2amount of financial resources that an international student must be able to document in order toobtain an I-20 to study at K-State has more than doubled over the past 10 years. For example, aninternational student must show that they have financial resources exceeding more than$20K/year in order to attend

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chell Roberts, Arizona State University; Darryl Morrell, Arizona State University; Mark Henderson, Arizona State University; Scott Danielson, Arizona State University; Robert Hinks, Arizona State University; Robert Grondin, Arizona State University; Thomas Sugar, Arizona State University; Chen-Yuan Kuo, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

somemeasure of resource modeling in this situation?Via our focus on the individual, we have come to know our students much better than we haveever done before. While this provides us with the knowledge to be better mentors, it alsorequires that we learn to be good mentors. It also amplifies each student’s setbacks andsuccesses.We continue to look forward to these challenges.Bibliography[1] C. Roberts, D. Morrell, R. Grondin, C.-Y. Kuo, R. Hinks, S. Danielson, and M. Henderson, Developing a Multidisciplinary Engineering Program at Arizona State University’s East Campus,” 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Potland, June 2005.[2] William G. Perry, Jr. Forms of Intellectual and Ethical

Conference Session

Issues Affecting Engineering Technology Program Development

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Howard Evans, National University; Shekar Viswanathan, National University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

a similar program. Page 12.893.9 Figure 2: Typical Lesson Plan – Shekar ViswanathanSubject: EHS 301-Air PollutionSubject(s): Effects of Air PollutionDuration: 2 hoursObjectives: 1. Learn Composition and Structure of the Atmosphere 2. Cause of Primary and secondary pollutants 3. Cause and effect of photochemical smogMaterials: • Power Points • Video on Oct 2003 fire and transportation pollution • handwritten notes and web sites (CAL EPA and US EPA)Procedure: • Define the atmosphere in terms of a major chemical reactor (soup) – contents, compositions • Ask the students how the ozone is generated at the

Conference Session

Technical Capacity Building for Developing Countries

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diane Willkens, Development Finance International, Inc.; Emilio Bunge, Development Finance International Inc.

Tagged Divisions

International

inscience and technology (S&T), innovation, and productivity enhancements. In fields as diverseas education, infrastructure, and information technology, development funds are flowing toengineering expertise that can work with players in developing countries not only to supportconcrete projects, but ultimately to build the local capacity of policy-makers, educators, and theprivate sector, without which the sustainability of any progress is compromised. It is this lattereffort – the process of capacity building and the role of the engineering education sector – that isparticularly exciting for the American engineering education community.This paper will outline the confluence of economic drivers and development challenges thattoday foster

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Laboratory Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frank Tuffner, University of Wyoming; Andrew Catellier, University of Wyoming; Robert Kubichek, University of Wyoming; John Pierre, University of Wyoming

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

usually limited by theacquisition rate of the data acquisition card and the computing power of the PC, the basicfunctionality can compare with that of more expensive equipment. This lower speed ofoperation and basic functionality is adequate for educational laboratory exercises.In this case, the novel VSA system provides a user interface that has much of the basicfunctionality of standard hardware VSA’s, but with the limitation that bandwidth is constrainedby the 1.25 MSa/s sampling rate of the DAQ. The system provides real-time plots of I/Qconstellation as well as signal spectrum displays. The user interface is described as well asexample laboratory experiments, where students get hands-on experience with a variety ofsignals including BPSK, QPSK