Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Madhumi Mitra, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Lurline Marsh, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Craig Daughtry, United States Department of Agriculture; Tracy Earle, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Jurgen Schwarz, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

); ‚ Field scouting with hand held GPS, SPAD METER, etc.; ‚ Environmental monitoring; ‚ Aerial imaging using a variety of platforms (UAV, robotic helicopter, etc.); ‚ Advanced software in image analysis and GIS. AE ROStudents will get anopportunity to actively Students reflect on their learningexperiment with

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ernest Tollner, University of Georgia-Athens

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

piqued a few years ago when a group of seniordesign students who had taken my course began working with an extension colleague on aproject involving the estimation of average annual erosion from an agricultural field. Threestudents computed three very different estimates and the variation was due to differences in theway one selects the length factor. As the instructor of the Introduction to Natural ResourcesEngineering course where the students would be expected to learn how to use the USLE, thiscaused some consternation and reflection. I asked this colleague how he would have made thecalculation, and saw quickly how students could get different answers for a typical field asshown in Figure 1.Figure 1. Typical slope lengths. Slope A- If

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Meyer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

a reading was taken on totalsuspended solids in the sample based upon light scattered transmitted or reflected. The projectrequired analysis of wavelengths, calibration of sensors and error analysis.Equipment: LabJACK U12, commercial turbidity kit, photo diodes, solid state relay, water tank,and LabVIEW 8.5. Control of an Ethanol Fermentation Process (2006).A fermentation process in continuous production of ethanol requires monitoring and maintainingparameters such as temperature, pH, and flow rate. Fermentation by yeast requires optimumtemperature in the range of 37oC, and pH of 5. The temperature can be controlled by switching onor off a heater system. The pH can be controlled by adding acid or NaOH. These adjustmentshave to be done

Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Technical Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Anand Lakshmikanth, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; John Cundiff, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Andrew Fulton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

the remaining tworesponses.From the survey question analysis it was ascertained that questions 1 and 3 indicated significantchanges from pre- to post-test, and questions 1, 2, and 3 showed 50% of the students respondingpositively to the module. Upon comparison of the quiz results to the pre- and post-test surveydata analysis, it was found that their performance on the first three questions of the quizconformed to their responses in the surveys. Questions pertaining to precision and accuracy andcontrolling a system, that were answered correctly by 10 out of 14 students in the quiz showedpositive response in the survey analysis. While the quiz reflected that only 7 out of 14 studentsanswered the question on sensitivity correctly, it was

Conference Session

Innovations in Biological/Agricultural Education-II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Christan Whysong, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Jenny Lo, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

Expositions.Freshman year: ethics instructionOne of the main objectives of the freshman introductory engineering course, taught by EngE isthat students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of professional ethics and be able toapply it to real-life situations upon the successful completion of the course. During this coursestudents watch the National Institute for Engineering Ethics’ Incident at Morales video whichintroduces ethics concepts such as making tradeoffs, public health, and differences ininternational laws. Students are required to read a chapter discussing basic moral theories and afew classic engineering case studies from a basic engineering text such as Holtzapple andReece’s Concepts in Engineering4. Additionally, students reflect on