Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aleksandra Vinogradov, Montana State University; Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2008-646: ENHANCING STUDENT UNDERSTANDING OF AND INTEREST INMECHANICAL ENGINEERINGAleksandra Vinogradov, Montana State University Dr. Aleksandra Vinogradov has extensive academic and industrial experience in mechanical engineering. Her academic career has been dedicated to teaching and research. She has taught a variety of courses in materials engineering, engineering mechanics, mechanical vibrations, engineering analysis, and finite element analysis. She has supervised award winning student projects in mechanical design. Dr. Vinogradov’s research interests are in the area of materials. Her recent research focuses on the performance and properties of piezoelectric polymers, durability of

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Willis, Southern Methodist University; Paul Krueger, Southern Methodist University; Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

, Southern Methodist University Paul Krueger received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 from the University of California at Berkeley. He received his M.S. in Aeronautics in 1998 and his Ph.D. in Aeronautics in 2001, both from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2002 he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Southern Methodist University where he is currently an Associate Professor. He is a recipient of the Rolf D. Buhler Memorial Award in Aeronautics and the Richard Bruce Chapman Memorial Award for distinguished research in Hydrodynamics. In 2004 he received the Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation. His research

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kirstie Plantenberg, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

one credit class.BackgroundWhat is the FE Exam? The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is a measure of minimum competency toenter the engineering profession[1]. Employers hiring recent engineering graduates often look tosee if the applicant has successfully passed the FE exam. Passing the exam also demonstrateshow serious you are about your engineering career. The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) is theorganization that oversees the development, distribution, and grading of the FE Exam, along withits counterpart, the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. The FE Exam is a"limited reference exam," which means that the only reference material an examinee can useduring the exam is

Conference Session

Materials in Design and Manufacturing

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhiqiang Hu, University of Missouri - Columbia

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

concepts in undergraduate engineering education. An integral model ofeducation for “Peace, Democracy and Sustainable Development” was recently proposed toaddress the need as required by ABET (2). Peace was the key element of the model, whereeducators should promote the pursuit of peace in engineering education through being at peacewith oneself, others, and the planet. Principles of green engineering are also important inengineering education (3), as engineers of future generations will use sustainable technology,benign manufacturing processes and an array of environmental assessment tools in their futureprofessional careers. Because of interwoven relations of sustainable development andengineering ethics, some educators suggested to incorporate

Conference Session

Innovations in ME Laboratory Instruction

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Davis, Kettering University; Craig Hoff, Kettering University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

theexercise.Requiring the teams to perform the laboratory exercise on their own time provides a bettersimulation of the requirements they will face in their careers. The teams will need to becomeself sufficient, learning to rely on the use of manuals, and professional standards, etc. in order toperform their jobs. In order to help them begin to achieve this process, faculty members providea more detailed tutorial to the host team, and lists of references for all teams. Two hour timeslots are setup to conduct each exercise. If a team fails to complete the exercise during this timeslot, they must schedule another time with the host team. This encourages teams to comeprepared to test.An example laboratory exercise is presented in the Appendix. This exercise, a

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids and Heat Transfer - II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jesse Huguet, University of Alabama; Keith Woodbury, University of Alabama; Robert Taylor, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

computational problem solvingearlier in their college careers by developing Microsoft Excel-based modules to be used asteaching tools in the sophomore and junior-level thermodynamics and heat transfer courses. TheMS Excel package was chosen as a software platform for this purpose because of its ubiquitousnature and its ability to utilize Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros in a spreadsheetformat.In the sophomore-level thermodynamics course, much of the class material focuses on theproperties of steam and ideal gases. Therefore, a suite of Microsoft Excel functions to computesteam and ideal gas properties and assist in analyzing properties of states and processes has beendeveloped. A number of Excel packages that pertained to the computation of

Conference Session

Approaches to Active Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum Univeristy of Applied Sciences; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Michael Trzesniowski

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effortThe engineering students and graduates are also exposed to marketing, time management, projectmanagement, team building, budgeting, presentation skills, and other management issues.Through Formula Student, they develop experience, skills and professionalism as “hands on”engineers, with a keen awareness of the often competing pressures of performance, cost, safety,reliability and regulatory compliance. The benefit to students is immense and is good experiencefor newly qualified engineers preparing to enter a career in motorsports, the automotive industryor many other areas of high performance engineering.AcknowledgmentsOur special thanks go to all tutors and experts

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Greg Kremer, Ohio University-Athens

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

2.88 6.00 12High Workload will limit student effectiveness 3.29 9.00 12Program will decrease in size or be unable to grow 4.00 6.00 29Recruiting & RetentionInadequate Recruiting & Retention of New Students 3.76 9.00 29Inadequate career support will limit student success ingetting jobs or grad school assistantships 3.65 9.00 24Inadequate diversity of student body will limit the totaleducational experience 2.88 9.00 18 Table 3f: Summary of ME Program Risk RatingsCommunication & Relations

Conference Session

Accreditation Issues

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kenneth Van Treuren, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

are equipped with the ability to think and solve problems. It is thedesire of most faculty that students think and solve problems on the global scale and that studentswill impact society for good. This desire is found in most program objectives, and BaylorUniversity is no different. Baylor’s Department of Mechanical Engineering has ProgramEducational Objectives for engineering graduates. The graduates should be able to: 1. Apply their knowledge of mathematics, basic science and engineering science to creatively ring a project from problem statement to final design. 2. Be professionally competent and engaged in life-long learning, serving God in a professional career or by continuing their education in a graduate

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids and Heat Transfer - I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Troy Dent, University of Alabama; Keith Woodbury, University of Alabama; Robert Taylor, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Conference Session

Approaches to Active Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Yim, University of Pennsylvania; Katherine Kuchenbecker, University of Pennsylvania; Paulo Arratia, University of Pennsylvania; Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania; John Bassani, University of Pennsylvania; Jonathan Fiene, University of Pennsylvania; Jennifer Lukes, University of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

intuitive grasp of the concepts and the motivation for relevance. As the students becomemore independent, the labs provide opportunities to apply the theory they learn in increasinglyopen-ended ways.One of our motivations for the top down framework is the introduction of engineering conceptsearly in a student career. The early college years are usually composed mainly of math andnatural science courses; thus, engineering students often question why they are involved inengineering (with the unfortunate effect that some students transfer to a different engineeringmajor or abandon engineering altogether). We believe that introducing engineering duringfreshman year helps inspire students and thus retain them in engineering.Practice–Integrated

Conference Session

Improving Mechanics & Structural Modeling Courses

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Raghu Echempati, Kettering University; Enayat Mahajerin, Saginaw Valley State University; Anca Sala, Baker College

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

a team, we worked as individuals. It wasn’t until everyone did apart and pulled it together that made the pieces start to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. With that in mind,I think this is the most valuable learning objective in life. We work in groups in school all the time, andwe always wonder why our Professor’s like these projects, but in all reality, they are setting us up for thereal world. There will never be a time in our engineering careers that working alone. After realizing this,machine design has taught me this through this project as well as all assignments for the class” – 2006batch senior student“This project combined everything that I have learned in the entire class into a multi component problem.The final project was

Conference Session

Outstanding Contributions to ME Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashland Brown, University of the Pacific; Joseph Rencis; Daniel Jensen, U.S. Air Force Academy; Chuan-Chiang Chen, Tuskegee University; Essam Ibrahim, Tuskegee University; Vladimir Labay, Gonzaga University; Paul Schimpf, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

University, Pullman, WA. His research interests include modeling of and the development of computer-aided design software for RF/microwave integrated circuit devices used in wireless and satellite communications.Paul Schimpf, Eastern Washington University Paul H. Schimpf received the B.S. E.E. (summa cum laude), M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1982, 1987, and 1995, respectively. Dr. Schimpf began his academic career in 1998, and is currently Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. His research interests include numerical methods for forward and inverse solutions to partial differential equations, with