Conference Session

Sustainable Design & Global Issues in ET

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jerome Tapper, Northeastern University; Francis Dibella, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

recently the topics of globalization3 of science, technology, and engineering have beendelineated in such popular works such as “The World is Flat4,” by Thomas Friedman, “A WholeNew Mind Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age5,” by Donald Pink. Theformer work in particular has been the focus of considerable attention in academia as well as theASEE organization where the Keynote discussion in the 2005 Annual Conference noted thetrends on engineering graduation rates.The full-time as well as any adjunct faculty teaching in an engineering technology curriculumshould be focused on administrating course lectures, homework assignments, course termprojects and classroom instruction via worked examples in these areas. It is strongly

Conference Session

Survivor: The First Few Years

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Creamer, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Tonya Saddler, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Margaret Layne, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

counterparts in industry, the nature of faculty work dictates that faculty members inengineering juggle the intensive time demands in the laboratory with other responsibilities thatare important to promotion, including at research-intensive universities maintaining asatisfactory record in teaching, service, and outreach. Lack of clarity about expectations fortenure and inadequate feedback about performance concern faculty in many settings10. Afterclimate and nature of work, clarity and reasonableness of tenure policies and practices is the thirdstrongest factor in predicting the overall job satisfaction, as indicated by 6773 respondents atover 80 colleges and universities to the COACHE survey. Sorcinelli11 identified a morecomprehensive listing of

Conference Session

Hardware Descriptive Language Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan Hill, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

currently being developed. This spring semester graduate studentswill be involved in its further implementation. We will incorporate student feedback to furtherimprove the toolkit.Bibliography1. C. Chandrasekara and A. Davari, “Inverted Pendulum: An Experiment for Control Laboratory,” Proceedings of the Thirty-Sixth Southeastern Symposium on System Theory, page(s): 570-573, 2004.2. J.L. Newcomer, “A Design Project Based Approach to Teaching Automatic Control Theory to Mechanical Engineers,” 28th Annual Frontiers in Education Conference, volume 3, issue 4-7, page(s):1242-1245, November 1998.3. L. Vlacic and M. Brisk, “Advances in Control Theory 2000,” A Proceedings Volume from the 5th IFAC/IEEE Symposium, Queensland

Conference Session

Investigating Fuel Cells and Alternative Fuels in the Classroom and Lab

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cortney Martin, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Brandy Bratton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; David Dillard, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Michael Ellis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Maggie Bump, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

AC 2008-1457: INCORPORATING A LEARNING COMMUNITY APPROACH TOENHANCE A FUEL CELL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES(REU)Cortney Martin, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Dr. Cortney V. Martin has worked in information design, pedagogy, and education for over 15 years including serving as the Assistant Director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village and the Broadband Wireless Networking Director for Virginia Tech. She teaches as a part of an innovative interdisciplinary thematic four-course sequence focused on Earth Sustainability and serves as the Research Coordinator for a fuel cell REU program. Her PhD is in Industrial Engineering (human factors) from Virginia Tech.Brandy

Conference Session

Technology in the Physics or Engineering Physics C

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nataliia Perova, Tufts University; Patricia Hogan, Suffolk University; Walter H. Johnson, Suffolk University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

AC 2008-2143: USING WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK AS AN EDUCATIONALTOOL FOR LEARNING SCIENCE CONCEPTSNataliia Perova, Tufts University Natasha is currently a graduate students at Tufts University majoring in Mathematics, Science, Technology and Engineering education. She previously earned her M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University in 2005 and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Suffolk University. Natasha is currently a research assistant at the Center for Engineering Outreach where she is involved in using engineering approaches to teach high school students science and mathematics.Patricia Hogan, Suffolk University Patricia Hogan, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Physics and

Conference Session

Improving Technical Understanding of All Americans

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kara Harris, College of Technology - Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

for decades 4,2,6,11,12. This decline has not only had a direct affect on thenumber of highly qualified engineering/technology education teachers that are availableto teach in public schools, but has also affected enrollment in technology teachereducation programs at colleges/universities across the nation. This decline, if notproperly addressed, could lead to the demise of engineering/technology educationprograms at the secondary and post-secondary level. 11 Successful efforts have been set forth in many areas of the discipline, such ascurriculum. Wright and Custer (1998) stated that, “Technology education professionalshave spent a great deal of time and energy focused on defining the mission of technologyeducation and redefining the

Conference Session

Student Engagement and Motivation

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Crown; Arturo Fuentes; Bob Freeman

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. The challenge in engineering education is to take advantage of the positiveeffects and understand and deal with the negative effects.The authors have been actively using technology to enhance engineering education and haveobserved that students often develop an expectation that learning should be easy and primarilythe responsibility of the teacher. Students, however, that make use of the new teaching tools (on-line lecture notes, simulation and modeling programs, etc.) achieve greater academic successthan would otherwise have been attainable. It is clear that students who achieve academicsuccess are the students who really learned. But who are the students that are learning in thisnew technically advanced learning environment? The authors

Conference Session

Marketing Engineering to Minority Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rafic Bachnak, Texas A&M International University; jack esparza, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

AC 2008-1614: ATTRACTING MINORITY STUDENTS TO SCIENCE ANDENGINEERINGRafic Bachnak, Texas A&M International University Dr. Bachnak is Professor of Systems Engineering at Texas A&M International University. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ohio University in 1983, 1984, and 1989, respectively. Prior to joining TAMIU in 2007, Dr. Bachnak was on the faculty of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State University, and Franklin University. His experience includes several fellowships with NASA and the US Navy Laboratories and summer employment with Koch Industries. Dr. Bachnak is a registered Professional Engineer in the

Conference Session

Institutional and Curricular Reform

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Froyd, Texas A&M University; Charles Henderson, Western Michigan University; Jean Layne, Texas A&M University; Andrea Beach, Western Michigan University; Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado; R. Sam Larson, Kaiser Permanente Colorado

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

AC 2008-859: MORE THAN GOOD CURRICULA: A GUIDE FOR CURRICULARCHANGE AGENTSJeffrey Froyd, Texas A&M UniversityCharles Henderson, Western Michigan University Charles Henderson is an Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University with a joint appointment between the Physics Department and the Mallinson Institute for Science Education. Dr. Henderson studies the use of innovations and instructional change in physics teaching at the college level. Current projects also include efforts to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration among the different groups that are interested in promoting changes in teaching practices in higher education.Jean Layne, Texas A&M University Jean Layne

Conference Session

New Ideas for ChEs II (aka ChE Potpourri)

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerardine Botte, Ohio University; Keeley Schneider, Ohio University; Bryan Boggs, Ohio University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

AC 2008-1024: KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTIES: “HAVING FUN AND LEARNINGENGINEERING”Gerardine Botte, Ohio University Gerardine G. Botte: Dr. Botte is an Associate Professor at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at Ohio University and the Director of the Electrochemical Engineering Research Laboratory (EERL) at Ohio. She received her B.S. from Universidad de Carabobo (Venezuela), and her M.E. and Ph.D. from University of South Carolina. She worked for three years as a Process Engineering in a Petrochemical Complex (PEQUIVEN, filial of PDVSA. Venezuela) before going to graduate school. Dr. Botte applies chemical engineering principles for the analysis of electrochemical systems. She has

Conference Session

Technology Integration in the Classroom

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yuqiu You, Morehead State University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

AC 2008-2101: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW CURRICULUM FOR ROBOTICSINTERFACING ENGINEERINGYuqiu You, Morehead State University Page 13.408.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Development of a New Curriculum for Robotics Interfacing EngineeringI. IntroductionThis paper describes a course and laboratory of Robotics Interfacing Engineering for students ofmanufacturing technology program (ITMT) in the Department of Industrial and EngineeringTechnology (IET).There are four Robotics courses offered in the IET Department spanning from 100 level to 400level to teach concepts, operation, programming, maintenance, interfacing, and

Conference Session

FPD10 - Freshman Engineering Introduction to Design

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Swanbom; David Hall, Louisiana Tech University; Kelly Crittenden, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

the regular class period are required to come back to the classroom after hours tocomplete the project. The faculty members teaching the course team up to monitor the work ofthese stragglers. The assembly steps can be completed outside of class. Figure 9 – Assembled PumpWith a class size of 40 students and a group size of 2, half of the class can work on their pumpsat the same time since 10 fabrication stations are available in the classroom (Figure 10). Theother half of the class works on drawing other pump parts (the barbed fittings, DC motor, andscrews) and create an exploded assembly of the system in Solid Edge®. Figure 10 – Integrated Lecture / Laboratory / Shop Classroom

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Widmann, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

AC 2008-2729: ENHANCEMENT OF CAPSTONE INDUSTRY SPONSOREDSENIOR PROJECTS THROUGH TEAM-BASED, PRODUCT REALIZATIONACTIVITIESJames Widmann, California Polytechnic State University Jim Widmann is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from Stanford University. Currently he teaches mechanics and design courses. He conducts research in the areas of design optimization, machine design, fluid power control and engineering education. Page 13.534.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Enhancement of

Conference Session

Industry and Engineering Technology Partnerships

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Fuehne, Purdue University-Columbus

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

connections for the experiment. A heat bar is used for the thermocouples and thermisters. Thermometer wells containing water are also placed on the heat bar and the temperature from the thermometer is also recorded. An additional activity for the students is to plot the data and then perform a linear regression to linearize the data, illustrating how this technique is used in practice. A similar activity is performed with photovoltaic cells. Measurement Tools 1 Software and Portfolio/Assessment Package An overview of the software by Amatrol, Inc. states that “The Measurement Tools 1 unit includes a complete set of computer software, written text, and laboratory activities that will teach students

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics I

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M.P. Sharma, University of Wyoming; Robert W. Peters, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

Bruntland commission’s definition which defines it “as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.” The concept and practice of sustainability has become very important in engineering profession. We conducted a project to determine and unravel the current state of integration of sustainability in engineering education at the colleges and universities across the nation. We conducted a survey and collected data from universities in US on teaching of the subject of sustainability in their curricula. We asked questions on what topics of sustainability were integrated in those courses. We also researched on identifying several key activities and indicators in this study. This paper

Conference Session

Reaching Students: Innovations to Curriculum in ET

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason Durfee, Eastern Washington University; Donald Richter, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

AC 2008-666: USING A TWO-COURSE SEQUENCE IN TECHNICAL DRAWINGIN THE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY CURRICULUM THAT ESTABLISHES ABASELINE OF KNOWLEDGE, PROMOTES INDEPENDENT WORK ANDLIFE-LONG LEARNING, AND INTRODUCES STUDENTS TO RAPIDPROTOTYPINGJason Durfee, Eastern Washington University Jason Durfee is currently an Assistant Professor of Engineering & Design at Eastern Washington University. He received his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University. He holds a Professional Engineer certification. Prior to teaching at Eastern Washington University, he was a military pilot, an engineering instructor at West Point and an airline pilot. His interests include aerospace, aviation

Conference Session

Non-Technical Skills Build Success in ET

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Edwards, Pennsylvania State University-Erie; Gerald Recktenwald, Portland State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

systemand to think about any differences they observe compared to their preconceived ideas. Thedemonstration is intended to be immediately followed by a lecture on the topic. In the case ofthe hair dryer the topic is the first law of thermodynamics for an open system. The third step isfor the students to meet in the laboratory for a more extensive exercise using the same apparatus.Each of these steps is described in more detail below.Use of a Hair dr yer as a Teaching ToolThe use of something that is familiar to the students for a demonstration can add relevance to anunfamiliar process that is being described in a lecture13 . There are many examples of the use ofsimple devices being used as teaching tools in the literature. Jodl and Eckert give

Conference Session

Assessment of Engineering Technology Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jyhwen Wang, Texas A&M University; Alex Fang, Texas A&M University; Michael Johnson, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Texas A&M, he was an researcher at KBSI in College Station, Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. Dr. Fang's teaching and research interests are in manufacturing processes , nondestructive testing technologies, and acoustic noise reduction.Michael Johnson, Texas A&M University Johnson is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas A&M, he was a senior product development engineer at the 3M Corporate Research Laboratory in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received his S.M. and

Conference Session

Industry and Engineering Technology Partnerships

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Dobrowski, Purdue University-North Central

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

at the chance to talk to the students, and most have beenrepeat speakers. The students have gained invaluable knowledge from these speakers and somehave led to later employment. It should be pointed out that the author had previous professionalrelationships with these guest speakers prior to asking them to come and speak (which lendscredence to the argument regarding maintaining outside consulting jobs).While industry volunteers have always been a welcome addition to the “teaching arsenal”, it wasnot until the proposed creation of the new program came that their true worth became apparent.It was decided that instead of starting the new degree program, and then forming an advisorycommittee, that industry leaders would have an opportunity to

Conference Session

Been There/Done That: Advice for NEEs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gene Harding, Purdue University; Benedict Kazora, Purdue University; Robert Smethers, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

junior in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology program at Purdue University. Page 13.198.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 An Oft-overlooked Resource: Undergraduate Students Can Be a Valuable Asset to Help Improve the Curriculum, Facilities, and PedagogyAbstractMany college campuses do not have graduate students to use as a resource for teaching, research,grading, and other pedagogical activities. These schools include some satellite campuses ofmajor universities, many private colleges that focus on undergraduate education, and communitycolleges

Conference Session

Materials Education Perspectives

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Barry Dupen, Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne

Tagged Divisions

Materials

AC 2008-35: USING INTERNET SOURCES TO SOLVE MATERIALSHOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTSBarry Dupen, Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne Dr. Dupen worked for 9 years in the automotive industry as a metallurgist, materials engineer, and laboratory manager. For the past 5 years, he has taught Mechanical Engineering Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). His primary interests are in materials engineering, mechanics, contra dancing, and engineering technology education. Page 13.1342.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Using Internet Sources

Conference Session

Special Resources and Activities for Minorities

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria M. Larrondo Petrie, Florida Atlantic University; Ivan Esparragoza, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

American Veterinary Medical Association http://www.avma.org/AWAA American Water Works Association http://www.awwa.org/Biophysical Society http://www.biophysics.org/BFRL Building and Fire Research Laboratory http://www.bfrl.nist.orgESA Ecological Society of America http://www.esa.org/FASEB Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology http://www.faseb.org/FMB Federation of Master Builders http://www.fmb.org.ukFMS Federation of Materials Societies http://www.fms.orgGeochemical Society

Conference Session

Emerging Issues in Engineering Education Research and Pedagogy

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Cady, National Academy of Engineering; Norman Fortenberry, National Academy of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

NSFfunding for rigorous engineering education research. Overall, both the number of and the moneyawarded to grants for engineering education research have increased substantially over the past20 years, with most focused on teaching and learning. This analysis provides a global overviewof the NSF-funding environment for engineering education researchers.BackgroundEngineering education research has occurred in some form for many years, but only in the past20 years has it received significant funding support. Engineering education researchencompasses examination of not only teaching, learning and assessment, but also issuesassociated with faculty rewards and the organizational dynamics of engineering departments 1.However, studies of teaching and

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Physics Programs

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Winston Jackson, California Institute of Technology; Jennifer Franck, California Institute of Technology; James Maloney, California Institute of Technology; Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux, California Institute of Technology; Julian Rimoli, California Institute of Technology; Luz Rivas, California Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

AC 2008-2378: PHYSICS FUNDAMENTALS, ENGINEERING DESIGN, ANDRESEARCH: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHREE-WEEK SHORTCOURSEWinston Jackson, California Institute of Technology Winston Jackson received his BS in Civil Engineering from Southern University and A&M College and his MS degree in Applied Mechanics at the California Institute of Technology, where he is currently continuing his PhD work. His research is in the area of experimental solid mechanics, and he has been a teaching assistant for a course in solid mechanics as well as the Physics Curriculum Coordinator for the 2007 YESS Program.Jennifer Franck, California Institute of Technology Jennifer Franck is currently a

Conference Session

Topics in K-12 Engineering

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephanie Goldberg, Buffalo State College; Paul Siciliano, Buffalo State College; Clark Greene, Buffalo State College; Steve Macho, Buffalo State College

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page 13.617.3and discussions of best practices for in-class implementation. As part of the grant, participantswere given laboratory equipment and software for use in their classrooms, providing continuityand motivation to implement these activities in their schools.DECS workshop participants were also given a memory stick containing curricular materials andsupport documentation for the lab experiments. They were encouraged to register on theElectronics in Schools Strategy (EISS) website3. This website provides teachers with access to adedicated training resource and in-depth support material, designed to help promote, teach andsupport Electronics, Communications and Technology (ECT) within school curricula.II PedagogyWorkshops were developed

Conference Session

Distance Learning in ET

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Hsiung, Old Dominion University; John Ritz, Old Dominion University; James Eiland, Blue Ridge Community College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

system with supporting instructional materials to assist the teaching of these concepts.Individual laboratory activities are being developed to reinforce student learning and skilldevelopment in programming concepts. This basic system format eventually will support anarray of technology courses. This project involves two community colleges, Blue RidgeCommunity College (BRCC), VA and Olympic College (OC), WA, and a four-year university,Old Dominion University (ODU), VA, in a collaborative research team to design and develop aspecific PIC microcontroller training system with customized designed software and curriculummaterials to support related engineering technology courses. The functions of the hardware andsoftware cover different areas of

Conference Session

Use of Summer Research Programs in Civil Engineering Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Ramseyer, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

experienced by the structural engineering group at the University of Oklahoma(OU), Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science (CEES). These constraintsstarted with the loss of all structural engineering faculty between mid 1999 and late 2000. Asnew faculty members were hired, there was a period of time during which very little researchwas conducted at OU's Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory. While the undergraduateprogram in structural engineering had been relatively unaffected, the graduate program wasvirtually non-existent. Opportunities included nearly unlimited access to Fears StructuralEngineering Laboratory, a fairly large undergraduate student body wanting to focus on structuralengineering, and a very understanding

Conference Session

Collaborative & New Efforts in Engineering Education

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Asad Azemi, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

International

AC 2008-1944: ENHANCEMENT OF TRADITIONAL AND DISTANCE LEARNINGTHROUGH HYBRID E-LEARNING APPROACHAsad Azemi, Pennsylvania State University Asad Azemi is an associate professor of Engineering at Penn State University. He has received his B.S. degree from UCLA in 1982, M.S. degree from Loyola Marymount University in 1985, and Ph.D. degree from University of Arkansas in 1991. His professional interests are in nonlinear stochastic systems, signal estimation, biocomputing, and use of computers and related technologies in undergraduate and graduate education to improve and enhance teaching and learning

Conference Session

Potpourri II

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Waterfall, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Elizabeth Albrecht, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Stephen Williams, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Owe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Missouri in 1990 and has 20 years of experience across the corporate, government, and university sectors. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin. He teaches courses in control systems, electronic design, and electromechanics.Owe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering Dr. Petersen is Department Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). He is a former Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories and received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and

Conference Session

Investigating Fuel Cells and Alternative Fuels in the Classroom and Lab

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Fletcher, Lawrence Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

University, in Southfield, Michigan, and the Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering focusing on Electrochemical Engineering, both from the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. He teaches a number of alternative energy courses and is leading LTU's efforts to establish a full energy engineering program that addresses both alternative and renewable energy systems, as well as energy conservation and optimization of traditional energy systems. He also is the Director of the Alternative Energy program at Lawrence Tech. Dr. Fletcher and his student research team are currently conducting long-term performance durability and reliability on multiple PEM fuel