Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Design in the Classroom

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Taskin Padir, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

one computer engineer, two electricalengineers and two manufacturing engineering technologists at Lake Superior State Universityhas worked on this project as their capstone design requirement through the 2007-2008 academicyear. Lake Superior State University offers ABET accredited programs in computer, electricaland mechanical engineering as well as in manufacturing engineering technology. Robotics andautomation is a degree option in all majors. The capstone senior design project is an integral partof all the degree programs and provides a real-life experience for the engineering senior students.The two-semester course has been an important tool to introduce students to soft skills such asproject management, communications, engineering

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ding Yuan, Colorado State University, Pueblo; Nebojsa Jaksic, Colorado State University, Pueblo; Jane Fraser, Colorado State University, Pueblo

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

transition from the preparation course to the capstone one. Inthe future, we plan to establish further collaboration between the two courses, such as enforcingthe group activities and teamwork.2) Oral presentations for the proposalsOral communication is one of the soft skills required by ABET. In the seminar course, besidesthe lecture on the professional presentation skills, we try to encourage students to express theirideas orally through class discussions as well as presentations. For the assessment purpose, theoral presentation of the proposal is the most important event since this is the last presentation andis hosted as a public presentation session. During the presentation, students will face not only theinstructor and the classmates in this

Conference Session

Design Cognition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rogelio Cardona, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Ted Cruz, University of Puerto Rico; Noraica Davila, University of Puerto Rico; Omar Ferrer, University of Puerto Rico; Alexander Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Ramon Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Willie Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Nelson Mendez, University of Puerto Rico; Damian Torres, University of Puerto Rico; José Vega, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

new mentor. Another team member learnedhow to not criticize ideas before they are given a chance to surface. Yet anotherteam member learned about teamwork. Even though these are soft skills (whichare necessary as an engineer), the focus of the group was to develop an idea, not atechnical description or product. Moreover, if the team had remained strictlyfocused on merely fulfilling the course objective, the team might not have learnedall these skills. The fact that the team learned so much in so little time paves theway for creativity to make its case in engineering education. Needless to say, allteam members would repeat the experience again.Looking Back: AchievementsThe whole endeavor provided many experiences some of which have

Conference Session

Assessing Design Course Work

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Keith Sheppard, Stevens Institute of Technology; Edward Blicharz, Stevens Institute of Technology; Peter Dominick, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

to teaming skills. Below we reiterate the overall approach and describe thedetails of the Sophomore Year implementation.Outline of the Teaming Thread and AssessmentOur approach is to develop team skills through a series of engineering design courses. Thecurriculum at Stevens Institute of Technology has a design or design-related course everysemester12 with the four courses in the freshman and sophomore years (Engineering Design 1thru 4) being of particular importance to the early development of various “soft skill” threads,including teaming. These first four design courses are core engineering curriculum courses; laterdesign courses in the sequence are disciplinary, culminating in the two-semester capstone designproject.The subject of team