Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Greg Waidley, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Jason Bittner, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

. Realestate specialists get involved during property appraisal and acquisition. Financial analystsprepare budgets and track expenditures throughout the process. Public affairs professionalscoordinate political efforts and administer the funds. This is only a partial description and barelyscratches the surface of the disciplines involved but makes the point that the players often comefrom very different professional and educational backgrounds.Table 1 provides a description of how various disciplines contribute to each phase of thetransportation project development process. 3Table 1. Role of disciplines in each phase of the project development process Phase Description and Disciplines Involved Early Planning

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeremy VanAntwerp, Calvin College; Richard Braatz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

those deviations that are significantlydifferent (in a statistical sense) from normal variation in the measurements are worthcorrecting. Thus we need a criterion to determine what constitutes c"ÒtgcnÓ"fgxkcvkqp"cpf"what is just random variability in the measurement.A Shewart chart (see Figure 1) is the most basic tool for determining which variations aredue to a fundamental shift in the process variable and which are merely measurement o u t l i e r f i r s t d e t e c t i o n o f d

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teams

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University; Durward Sobek, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

we are to have valid measures of student performance. Wehave asked students for feedback about the rubric and its usefulness in the piloted course,both for formative and summative assessment purposes. Two student concerns have beenraised to date. 1. At least one student voiced concern about using the rubric for evaluation purposes, particularly if the scores are peer assessments. We have not yet used the peer rubric scores when considering final grades (although we have used the project advisor rubric scores). When the rubric was designed, we thought of it being most useful in two ways: (1) as a formative assessment and instructional tool, clearly spelling out the characteristics and attributes that were important

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Farison, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Undergraduate Masters Total Electrical and Computer Engineering 5 1 6 Biomedical Engineering 1 1 Engineering 1 1 Computer Science (w/engineering minor) 1 1 Total 7 2 9In an early offering, there was one mechanical engineering student enrolled, a graduate studentwho needed to use images and image processing for his M.S. thesis research.Scope and Balance of CourseAfter trying other books, the textbook that has been

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teams

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ralph Ocon, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

decisions4.The Creative Problem Solving ProcessThe 5 major phases in the “creative problem solving process” are listed below5.Phase 1: Problem definition- The first step in creative problem solving requires that the problembe accurately defined and understood. The creative problem solver believes that every problempresents danger and opportunities. To deal with the first part of problem definition, the dangerpart, the problem solver needs to collect and analyze relevant information and data about theproblem. During the information collection and analysis phase, the problem solver can identifythe causes or reasons which created the situation and the negative consequences that will result ifthe problem is not properly solved.The second part of problem

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Ciaraldi, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; David Cyganski, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Michael Demetriou; Fred Looft; William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Bradley Miller, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Eben Cobb, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Lance Schachterle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Kenneth Stafford, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Yiming Rong, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gretar Tryggvason, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; James Van de Ven, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, Computer Science Series, 1975.10. F.W. Lewis, S. Jagannathan, A. Yesildirak, Neural Network Control of Robot Manipulators and Non-LinearSystems, CRC Press, 1998.11. A. Meystel, Autonomous Mobile Robots: Vehicles with Cognitive Control, World Scientific Series inAutomation, Vol. 1, 1993.12. B. Bagnall, Maximum Lego NXT: Building Robots with Java Brains, Variant Press, 2007).13. M. Ferrari, G. Ferrari, and R. Hempel, Building Robots with Lego Mindstorms: The Ultimate Tool forMindstorms Maniacs, Syngress, 2001.14. M. Predko, 123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius, McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics, 2004.15. National Research Council, Evaluating and Improving Undergraduate Teaching in Science, Technology,Engineering, and Mathematics, National

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Darryl Morrell, Arizona State University; Robert Grondin, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

implementations in a real-world setting. The initial course offering is taking place in the Spring 2008 Semester. The courseemphasizes issues such as design cycle time, fabrication and manufacturing costs, quality, reliability,product life cycle and various forms of testing. In addition, the course will develop fabricationtechnology expertise such as technology selection (e.g. software solutions vs. FPGA).We believe that our course offers a unique combination of topics. Indeed, the authors are unawareof any other undergraduate courses within an engineering department with a similar breadth ofcoverage of issues relating to electrical systems implementation. Many courses and degree programsprovide expertise in micro-systems fabrication (see, for example [1

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Willis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; James Conrad, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

INTELLIGENT SPACECRAFT: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGINEERING EDUCATION COURSEAbstractThis paper discusses a highly interdisciplinary course offered to students during the Spring 2007semester : Design of Intelligent Spacecraft. The course integrates concepts from mathematics,physics, engineering and computer science for the purpose of educating 4th year undergraduateand introductory masters-level students on the design of intelligent spacecraft. Course content isdivided into two pedagogically separate parts : 1. The historical development of physical models, including mathematical models for celestial mechanics and thermodynamics. 2. Application of these models for creating intelligent spacecraft, i.e., applications of these

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Design Constituents

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Skokan, Colorado School of Mines; Michael Ewing, Colorado School of Mines; Barbara Moskal, Colorado School of Mines; Heidi Barker, Regis University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

physical science. Offering a workshopthat focused on the television series NUMB3RS and that used the previously developedcurriculum seemed to be a natural extension of these prior efforts. The specific goals ofthe workshops that were developed as part of the CDE program are as follows: 1. Improve middle school mathematics and science teachers’ knowledge of the disciplines that they teach through practical examples of the use of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. 2. Assist middle school mathematics and science teachers in developing a repertoire of standards based teaching strategies, activities and lesson plans that employ engineering and technology in their mathematics and science classrooms. 3. Provide

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Design Constituents

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daniel Walsh, California Polytechnic State University; Robert Crockett, California Polytechnic State University; Zahed Sheikholeslami, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

university initiatives.The initial effort does not mandate a project format, but focuses on the voluntary participation ofa number of motivated faculty to develop a course centered around high-quality, multi-disciplinary capstone projects that can be accomplished in a pertinent academic timeframe usingPBLI as a self-sustaining infrastructure.The primacy of the individual-student, independent-study model was driven by historical factorsthat governed the development of the institution, and by the availability of infrastructure. Anumber of factors now provide the opportunity to create a more academically beneficial, a moreinteractive and a more vigorous system. Figure 1 schematically depicts the supportinginfrastructure for PBLI at the university. The

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teams

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Denine Northrup, Western New England College; Steven Northrup, Western New England College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

-disciplinary teams”1. Western New England College has a long history of incorporatingengineering design into laboratory and course work. Additionally, interdisciplinary team effortsare initiated in the freshman year and continue for all four years.2,3 This paper describes theassessment instrument used in a senior-level interdisciplinary course that students take during thefall semester. The design project brings together students from mechanical, electrical, andcomputer engineering in teams typically consisting of 4-5 members. During the most recentdelivery of the course, due to a limited number of platforms and a larger senior class, the teamsconsisted of 7-8 students.To achieve a good level of interdisciplinary teamwork, educators need to motivate

Conference Session

Research in Multidisciplinary Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gary Halada, State University of New York at Stony Brook; Mary Frame, State University of New York at Stony Brook; Chad Korach, State University of New York at Stony Brook; David Ferguson, State University of New York-Stony Brook

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

ITS 102 students from students sections Hofstra entering Minor UniversityFigure 1: Schematic of interdisciplinary minor in nanotechnology studies (NTS)learning development, and appropriate mechanisms for assessment and evaluation.The structure of the minor is unique in that it provides four key elements for success: strongrecruitment potential, an interdisciplinary base, research and professional development activities,and full integration into the existing majors and programs in engineering. Page 13.414.5Our approach

Conference Session

Research in Multidisciplinary Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Bachmann, James Madison University; Jeffrey Tang, James Madison University; Carl Puffenbarger, James Madison University; mike kauffman, James Madison University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, offering students the opportunityto work on actual, operational vehicles in a functional garage with professional tools. Pastprojects have included the conversion of a gasoline-powered Volkswagen (VW) Jetta to a fullyelectric drive-train, the transformation of a gasoline VW Beetle and Yamaha motorcycle into abiodiesel three-wheeler, the adaptation of a retired golf cart into an electric-biodiesel hybrid AllTerrain Vehicle (ATV) and portable power station, and the construction of a single-passengersupermileage vehicle for entrance in the Society of Automotive Engineers’ (SAE) competition(see Figure 1). Many of these projects involve members of the newly formed student chapter ofSAE that brings in students from across the University (art, business

Conference Session

Research in Multidisciplinary Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Barry, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Jacqueline Isaacs, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

the program. Each year, a total of 16 to 30 undergraduate studentshave participated in the program, with the students split equally among the three Universities.Table 1 presents the professional development associated with this REU program. The initialprogram included safety training, how to use the Universities’ libraries, attendance at the annualNSF Site Visit, and participation in a half-day poster session and a half-day ethics workshop.The students also had the opportunity to attend various non-specific professional developmentactivities at each of the Center’s three campuses. Since evaluation of the Year 1 programrecommended “additional collaboration and contact among the participating Universities andstudents engaged in the REUs,” a

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Ruhala, University of Southern Indiana; Laura Ruhala, University of Southern Indiana; Eric Sprouls, University of Southern Indiana

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

two 100-level engineering courses, an algebra-based physics course, and acollege algebra course. Otherwise, all other courses they take are the same as those offered inthe 4-year curriculum. The 5-year program also has the advantage of a lower credit load persemester which allows these students more study time per course. The three main goals of thefreshman curriculum developed for this program are to provide these students with (1) the skillsthey will need to compete with their peers in the 4-year program, (2) immediate contact with theengineering faculty and peer students, and (3) an introduction to the rigor and commitmentrequired to successfully complete an engineering program. The first 100-level engineeringcourse focuses on the

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Ejiwale, Jackson State University; Della Posey, Jackson State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Projects

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yanfei Liu, Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne (Eng); Jiaxin Zhao, Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

project1 that was carried out by three electrical engineering studentsand three mechanical engineering students. In the fall of 2006, the students started with theformulation of the problem and then the generation of conceptual designs. After evaluating theconceptual designs, they completed a detailed design of the best conceptual design. In the springof 2007, the students built the system and conducted the experimental testing.There were a total of five conceptual designs generated2. The team evaluated these fiveconceptual designs based on the following criteria: ease of implementation, final manufacturingcost, mobility, reliability, ease of manufacture, dog appeal, etc. The two top-rated conceptualdesigns are illustrated in Figure 1. The

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Design Constituents

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karthikeyan Ramamurthy, Arizona State University; Andreas Spanias, Arizona State University; Linda Hinnov, Johns Hopkins University; James Ogg, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

-sampling, filter design, windowing, fastFourier transforms (FFT/IFFT), and time-frequency analysis. The current version ofJDSP/ESE has the capability to handle long signals (up to 8192 points) that are typical ofEarth systems data. For visualizing data and accepting user inputs, JDSP/ESE uses timeand frequency units that are familiar to geoscientists, e.g., kiloyears (Kyr) and cycles/Kyr,instead of the units in terms of samples that are widely used by electrical engineers.A screenshot of the J-DSP/ESE block diagram is shown in Figure 1. Each block isassociated with Java code that operates on specified data, and produces the necessarygraphs and visualization modules. By double clicking on each block, a dialog with amenu and graphics appears

Conference Session

Sustainability and Environmental Issues

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Achintya Bezbaruah, North Dakota State University; Wei Lin, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

740 Environmental Management, is intended to give students an understandingof current environmental issues and tools for environmental management. The issues areexamined from the worldwide perspectives of science, engineering, business and society. At theend of the course students are expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of integratedenvironmental management with a global perspective. It is designed to help them inenvironmental decision-making from a socio-economic-environmental standpoint. Theconceptual framework used to develop the course content is shown in Figure 1. The coursecontent developed and offered in Fall of 2006 is presented in Table 1. The course objectives andgrading policy are presented in Table 2.The course had to be

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teams

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Dong, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

topic full circle from designinception to completed project.In closing, the addition of the practitioners has been an invaluable resource. It not only gives thestudents access to recently built projects and real world feed back, but the guest speakers andreviewers always tell the students that; 1) they wished they had a course like this when they were in college 2) the collaboration the students are being exposed to now is necessary in the working world 3) they all volunteer to return next year when we hold the classThe class had 16 students in the inaugural year and this year we had 25 students. This impliesthat students are interested in courses which emphasize collaborative models, but they are alsointrigued by having classes team

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Waldron, Grand Valley State University; Pramod Chaphalkar, Grand Valley State University; Shabbir Choudhuri, Grand Valley State University; John Farris, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

endof the semester, the Machine Design II students participated in a “Project Celebration” postersession with other project-based classes, and awards were provided for the best technical designand the most innovative design. The competitions provided additional motivation for thestudents to do their best work. Figure 1 shows a dishwasher design from the 2006 Wintersemester. Lower position where Upper position where gears have lowered the gears have raised the two lifting arms two lifting arms Page 13.1156.3Figure 1: Lower dishwasher rack raised with four arms from Winter 2006

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Thornton, Emerson Climate Technologies; Kyle Shipp, Kettering University; Tony Lin, Kettering University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

disciplines can be applied to other areas of engineering. This createsa much more satisfying learning environment by allowing them to explore their curiosity and tryto solve real-world problems that they uncover in collaboration with their peers. When studentsdeal with a problem from its conception to its resolution, it can be more gratifying and is truly anunparalleled learning experience. Again, Prescott notes that, “The more the students invest intheir own learning process, the more they will learn. Cooperative learning offers a naturalmethod by which students can become successfully empowered in the classroom.1” Thesesentiments were shared by students of Kettering University when the Polymer Processing classof the Mechanical Engineering

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brent Nelson, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

engineering, and biology, which served as the researchenvironment for this study. Enrolled in the course were 1 electrical engineer, 7 biologists, 13biomedical engineers, 8 industrial and systems engineers, 13 mechanical engineers, and 3materials science engineers.At the beginning of the semester, the course consisted of introductory lectures about BID and theBID design process and also included discussions of ‘found objects’. Found objects werehomework assignments in which students identified natural objects relevant to a given topic,such as color in nature, and then researched and presented those objects to the rest of the class.The goal of the assignment was to give the students practice with identifying, researching, andunderstanding natural

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Waldron, Grand Valley State University; John Farris, Grand Valley State University; Hugh Jack, Grand Valley State University; Christopher Pung, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

teamof freshman and juniors placed their robots on opposite sides of the playing field. Each team consistedof one junior team and eight to nine freshman teams but a maximum of six freshman teams couldcompete in a match. The freshman robots’ goal was to feed golf balls to their junior team's robot in adesignated transfer zone. The juniors’ robot must then transport the balls to the bucket. The freshmanrobots could be controlled remotely using electrical connections, but the junior robot could not becontrolled with any physical means.A variety of scholars have investigated the use of vertical mentoring techniques. At Rose-Hulman seniorlevel students were used as mentors who guided junior level students through a process of guidedquestioning [1

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary and Liberal Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Heun, Calvin College; Steven VanderLeest, Calvin College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Page 13.1399.2trend) in oil and natural gas production will occur to the question of when the peak will occur.Hirsch, Bezdek, and Wendling summarize a variety of expert predictions regarding the peak andconclude: “Even the most optimistic forecasts suggest that world oil peaking will occur in lessthan 25 years.”1 They provide a similarly grim picture for natural gas: “Part of the attractivenessof natural gas was resource estimates for the U.S. and Canada that promised growing supply atreasonable prices for the foreseeable future. That optimism turns out to have been misplaced, andthe U.S. is now experiencing supply constraints and high natural gas prices.”2 Global energy usewill continue to grow: “…world marketed energy consumption is

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yusuf Mehta, Rowan University; William Riddell, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

opportunities that are relevant to the students, the goals ofwhich are at least partly determined by the students themselves 1. This does not mean that theteacher abdicates her authority for making judgments regarding what might be important forstudents to learn. Rather, partial and explicit responsibility is placed on the students for their ownlearning. Assignments and activities that require student input presumably increases thestudents’ motivation to learn.A common criticism of student-centered learning is that students, as novices to a subject, cannotbe expected to know what might be important for them to learn. The literature on novice-expertlearning does not entirely dispute this assertion. However, it also emphasizes that students cometo a

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald Kander, James Madison University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

and, if feasible, to propose a type of program that will meetcurrent and future workplace needs for more qualified engineers, contribute to the overallacademic offerings of the university and the state, and attract additional qualified studentsinterested in science, technology, engineering, and math to the university.The task force established an aggressive timeline (Table 1) that took the group from concept toimplementation in little more than two years. In that time period, many external and internalsources of information were reviewed and considered in the design of the new program. Page 13.262.2 Table 1: Program Planning and

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Projects

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zachary Gutierrez, University of Wyoming; Charles Dolan, University of Wyoming

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

levels of cognitive reasoning: knowledge,comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. These are summarized inAppendix I. Each problem is developed to require students to apply concepts (Bloom’sTaxonomy level 3) and to analyze results (Bloom’s Taxonomy level 4). Each student’s submittalis evaluated and assigned a Learning Score between 1 and 6 roughly correlating to Bloom’sTaxonomy levels. The average Learning Score for a class should be between 3 and 4 the firsttime students are exposed to a problem. Over a longitudinal exposure to multiple problems, theLearning Scores would be expected to rise. In addition to Learning Scores, each problem isidentified with one or more of the ABET a-k outcomes4. Learning Scores in combination

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Projects

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Charles Dolan, University of Wyoming; Ovid Plumb, University of Wyoming

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

within a major. For example, civil engineers may require students usestructural and geotechnical skills in their project. The use of “interdisciplinary” in this paper isto suggest that a wide range of engineering studies are engaged in the program.In 2001 the University of Wyoming appointed the first permanent H. T. Person Professordedicated to improving undergraduate education. One objective for this professorship was toenhance engineering design activities into the college curriculum. The first three years werespent introducing design projects into the freshman Introduction to Engineering class. Once thefreshman program was established, the operation of the program transferred to other full timefaculty.1 In 2005 attention shifted to

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Rabb; David Chang, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Engineering.Presently about 80% of the students taking the course are Mechanical Engineering students and20% are Electrical Engineering Students. Table 1 below correlates sample electrical engineeringprogram outcomes to the course content using the following scale:1=No contribution; 2=Small contribution; 3=Average contribution; 4=Large contribution;5=Very large contribution Table 1. Relationship of Course to Electrical Engineering Program Outcome COURSE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM OUTCOMES DIRECTOR ASSESSMENT 1