Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Glen Dudevoir, United States Air Force Academy; Andrew Laffely, United States Air Force Academy; Alan J. Mundy, United States Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

AC 2010-1013: "SURVIVOR" MEETS SENIOR PROJECTGlen Dudevoir, United States Air Force AcademyAndrew Laffely, United States Air Force AcademyAlan J. Mundy, United States Air Force Academy Page 15.3.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 “Survivor” Meets Senior ProjectAbstractWe have all seen the formation of tribes and cliques on the latest edition of the television hitSurvivor. Has Survivor mentality invaded your senior projects as well? For the last ten years orso, engineering programs nationwide have, with varying degrees of success, tried to incorporatethe ABET-required outcome of “ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.”1 Whilerecognizing

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tanja Magoc, University of Texas at El Paso; Eric Freudenthal, University of Texas, El Paso; Francois Modave, Central Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

in computer science tocomputational sciences courses and stimulate their interest in continuing study of computation. Toachieve these goals, besides teaching students the basics of programming, CompSE aims atattaining two other learning objectives: 1. Students will examine and understand the basis of analytical techniques that they have probably seen and memorized in mathematics or science courses but have frequently not been comprehended deeply enough to be able to apply them to real-life problems, thus enabling students to use analytical techniques in real-life problems that they have not seen before. 2. Students will learn how computation can be used to analyze problems that are difficult or

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Smitesh Bakrania, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

and at the same time remain currentwith the developments in the field.1 This approach is particularly suitable for emerging fields thatare being actively researched.2 Traditional courses that offer insight into these fields are oftenchallenging for instructors due to the inherent nature of the content. The textbooks and contentdeveloped for a course focusing on these frontier fields become quickly outdated. Applying thejournal club ideology to these courses can dramatically enhance the course content and lead to anengaging experience for the students. One such field is the research of nanomaterials formechanical, electrical, chemical, thermal and optical applications.The current progress in nanotechnology indicates its tremendous potential to

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jean Jiang, Purdue University, North Central; Li Tan, Purdue University, North Central

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

). The course was taught for 16 weeks with 3 lecture hours weekly. The textbook selected was“Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis”, published by John & Wiley Sons, Inc. 2007 [1]. The bookcovers most of the topics required by the course, specifically AC circuits and power analysis,steady–state frequency responses, the Laplace circuits and their solutions, the determination of atransfer function, and the calculation of a circuit’s step response or impulse response. The text Page 15.1178.4presents course materials at an appropriate math level, uses an ample amount of accurateexamples, adopts MATLAB and PSPICE programs to demonstrate simulations

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Bellinger, Rochester Institute of Technology (COE); Clark Hochgraf, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

first electric bicycle in 1977 and has been actively developing improved electric vehicles ever since. He founded the RIT Ebike club in 2006 and has been the advisor since inception. Scott led the club to the 2006 Tour de Sol ebike competition in Saratoga Springs, NY. The team placed first and second in the student category with both entered bikes finishing 1, 2 in the three hour marathon race.Clark Hochgraf, Rochester Institute of Technology Page 15.1332.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Using National Competitions to Focus and Energize Student ClubsAbstractThis paper

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Northrup, Western New England College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

15.896.3During the classes preceding the travel, students studied reading material and the course met foran hour and a half every other week for lectures followed by in-class discussions. During the 7meetings the following topics were covered: Week 1 – Syllabus, course goals, establish teams, assign literature reviews, logistics and immunizations, personal travel after the course, and planning for fundraising. Week 3 – Lecture on history of Guatemala – plantations and land tenure, civil war. Week 5 – Lecture on people, language and culture. Week 7 – Lecture on geology, climate, fuel sources, and deforestation. Week 9 – Lecture on public health related to housing conditions. Week 11 – Lecture on construction

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eli Patten, University of California at Berkeley; Sara Atwood, University of California, Berkeley; Lisa Pruitt, University of California, Berkeley

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

identified these skills as criteria 3d and3g. Particularly in multidisciplinary fields, engineers have different motivations, technicalbackgrounds, and ways of learning. In the undergraduate classroom, students can develop skillsto communicate with their multidisciplinary team members and other audiences by taking intoaccount the variety of learning styles and backgrounds. Felder et. al.1 developed a classificationof learning styles in which individuals’ natural tendencies fall on a continuum in four categories:visual-verbal, sensing-intuitive, global-sequential, and active-reflective. We used this learningstyle classification as a framework to incorporate teamwork and professional development into amultidisciplinary course.Structural Aspects of

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Fleishman, Western Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

hybrid powertrain, and is targeted to weigh in at500kg (1100 lb). It is one of only three competition entries from educational institutions worldwide. Figure 1 - WWU VRI Viking 20 Figure 2 - WWU VRI Viking 45 Rendering Project- Based Instruction Project-based instruction, as presented in this paper, is intended to compliment the theoreticalconcepts introduced during classroom discussions by serving as a concrete means of reinforcingabstract concepts, and to provide a tactile learning environment for hands-on experience. This conceptis further emphasized by experientialist philosopher, John Dewey, when defining experimentalism, orhands-on, inquiry-based instruction as “reconstruction or reorganization of

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Cressler, Georgia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

generally exposed to the disciplines of microelectronics andnanotechnology 1-3 only if they major in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) or associatedmajors, often only in advanced ECE classes (typically senior year), and in many cases perhapsnot until graduate school. Counter examples to this classical model do exist 4-11, but they arerecent and clearly in the overwhelming minority. In addition, such micro/nanotechnologycourses remain largely for specialists with a well-defined skill set coming into the class (e.g.,advanced undergraduate engineering or science students). Given the pervasive changes beingthrust upon our global society by the remarkable cross-disciplinary innovations which are beingfueled by microelectronics and nanotechnology

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mahmoud Quweider, University of Texas, Brownsville; Juan Iglesias, U of Texas at Brownsville; Katherine De La Vega, University of Texas at Brownsville

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

behind. UTB/TSC, unfortunately, is no different. As the fall-2009 UTBdemographics table below shows, 60% of the university’s 17,000 students are females; however,less that 27% of the graduates in Engineering and Computer Science are females. Page 15.1379.2 Table 1. UTB Fall-2009 Demographics UTB at a Glance ENROLLMENT Total enrollment: More than 17,000 • Graduate: 5% • Undergraduate: 59% STATUS • Full-time: 48% • Part-time: 52% GENDER • Female: 60

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lily Laiho, California Polytechnic State University; Richard Savage, California Polytechnic State University; James Widmann, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

report.Student delivered poster and hardware presentations to their sponsors at an annual Design Expoor at their sponsor site.Course content is somewhat typical of a Capstone Design Course (see Eggert 2007)1, butenriched by the viewpoints of three faculty and enhanced teaming activities. Responsibility forthe instruction and lab activities was distributed between the three faculty with the goal ofachieving the stated student learning outcomes (listed in the assessment section). All threefaculty attended the lectures and labs to see the different points of view teaching the same topicsand provide insight from their department’s background. The students met weekly with theirfaculty advisor during a lab sections as to monitor their progress and provide

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexandra Coso, University of Virginia; Reid Bailey, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

work atthe collegiate level, which was originally created to assess the performance of liberal artsstudents participating in interdisicplinary projects.4,6 The framework and rubric were developedusing a comprehensive definition of what constitutes a student’s interdisicplinary understandingbased upon faculty assessment of student interdisicplinary research. The definition consists offour dimensions of interdisicplinary understanding presented in the rubric and framework: (1)purposefulness, (2) disciplinary grounding, (3) integration, and (4) critical awareness.4 Figure 1: The four dimensions with which to assess interdisciplinary understanding4,6In the original studies used to develop these dimensions, students’ projects were only

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Cramer, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Wendy Crone, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Moira Lafayette, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Jeffrey Russell, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Paul Peercy, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Darryl G. Thelen, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Daniel Klingenberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy Wendt, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Page 15.13.3for academic reform are enumerated as: 1) Build awareness and commitment 2) Commission pilot projects 3) Create venues for ongoing discussion and development 4) Organize skill development and consultation services 5) Broaden the rewards, recognition, and incentives environment 6) Adopt performance-based resource allocation 7) Develop an internal oversight and review capacityIn June 2009, Task Force members again participated in an NAE-sponsored workshop on“Developing Engineering Faculty as Leaders of Academic Change.” This workshop set out withfour key goals: “catalyze knowledgeable faculty to engage in change leadership activities ontheir individual campuses, convene knowledgeable engineering faculty

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shekar Viswanathan, National University, San Diego; Howard Evans, National University, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

• Resource • Environmental Analyst Manager Consultant • Operations • Sustainability Manager Consultant • Project ManagerBased on these job descriptions, a draft of program learning outcomes (PLOs) wasdeveloped. These PLOs were circulated among a group of professionals involved in localsustainability initiatives (http://sustainsd.wordpress.com/) to ensure that the learningoutcomes are consistent with the employer requirements. With their help, the programlearning outcomes were finalized.Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs):Upon completion of the MS program, graduates from sustainability management will beable to:• PLO # 1

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Huanmei Wu, IUPUI

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

projects. Themultidisciplinary background gives advantages in their graduate school admissions andscholarship applications.1. IntroductionEngineering education is critical for nurturing competitive and skilled engineers and has greatinfluence for a nation’s competition ability in the current international high technology markets1.For most complex engineering and science problems, the solution can not be handled by oneindividual discipline. As most engineers required working on a project involving teamwork in amultidisciplinary environment, it is essential to tailor engineering education in a uniqueinterdisciplinary atmosphere and cultivate our engineering students to be the leaders in therapidly changing engineering fields.It is a challenging task

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Yelamarthi, Central Michigan University; P. Ruby Mawasha, Wright State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

process or system with multiple design and research elements, such as wirelesscommunication, control system design, statistical analysis, structural dynamics, and design formanufacturability. Through working on projects based on this platform, students will be able tostudy a complex engineering and technology system that: (1) exposes them to applied andcutting-edge technologies; (2) encourages them to participate in an integrated, interdisciplinarycurriculum; and (3) involves them in methods of applied technology and skills necessary totransition from academic to professional environments.1. Introduction The rapid advancement in technology has laid a path for the design and manufacture of manyinterdisciplinary integrated technologies. These

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rupa Iyer, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

led to the convergence of advanced technologies inengineering, biological sciences and information technology. Based in the University ofHouston’s College of Technology, the Center for life Sciences Technology (CLiST) is positionedto be a key component in statewide effort to support the biotechnology and Life Sciencesindustry in Texas. The Center’s blend of academic, research, outreach and workforce is uniqueand serves as a model for industry-academic collaboration focused on preparing 21st centuryworkforce. The goals of the center are: 1. Provide interdisciplinary research based educational programs 2. Conduct outreach programs to nurture Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) education 3. Foster a collaborative

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

application of a process each and every time the creation of instruction is required.Learning Paradigm & Problem Based Learning The author is would like to recommend that Instructional Systems should be Designedand built on the principles of learning paradigm and problem based learning. Clifford O.Young, Sr., & Laura Howzell Young of California State University, San Bernardino argue that anew paradigm for assessment, a learning paradigm, must be constructed to measure the successof new kinds of educational practices (Young and Young, 1999). 1. The participants should be capable of selecting an assessment plan best suited for their discipline and execute the chosen plan using a methodical approach. 2. The

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Peterson, United States Air Force Academy; Patrick Sweeney, United States Air Force Academy; Delbert Christman, United States Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

thetwo semesters of the student’s senior year. The requirements set forth for the capstone groupwas to produce an R2D2 robot which could move on flat surfaces via remote control,autonomous navigation, and a combined mode where manual remote control would beaugmented by collision avoidance capability. In the latter two modes, obstacles were to besensed and avoided, regardless of travel speed. Walls, objects and barriers were to be mappedand displayed on a retractable color screen on the R2 unit. In autonomous mode, those obstacleswere to be navigated around. The unit was to make appropriate sounds consistent with thosemade by the R2D2 in the movies. A battery lifetime of 1 hour between charges and a maximumspeed of 5 mph were expected. Kill

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Beach, Western New England College; Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; James Van de Ven, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Taskin Padir, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gretar Tryggvason, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gregory Fischer, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

international aspect of the community building effort, d) Steering Committeeformation involving robotics industry members and university faculty, e) several student projectson social aspects of the RICC, f) setting the format and schedule for the conference, g) refiningthe competition format and scoring rubric, h) holding the First Annual 2009 RICC, i) conductinga survey of RICC attendees and assessing the results.We report on the extent to which the competition and conference achieved four major goals: (1)stimulating students to imagine new robotics applications and encourage them to develop theirideas into working prototypes; (2) bringing student work to the attention of industry leaders whomay see opportunities to further develop the students’ ideas

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Fred Looft, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

systems.The specific details of the courses have been the topic of several previous papers, however thecore of the program consists of an Introduction to Robotics in the first year, followed by a seriesof four unified robotics courses which are normally taken in the second and third year[1-5]. Thecatalog descriptions of these courses are paraphrased below: RBE 1001, Introduction to Robotics. RBE 1001 is a multidisciplinary introduction to robotics, involving concepts from the fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. Topics covered include sensor performance and integration, electric and pneumatic actuators, power transmission, materials and static force analysis, controls and programmable embedded

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Josef Rojter, Victoria University of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

• Address the current skill and knowledge deficit among engineering graduates as shown by a number of enquiries and studies into engineering profession and engineering education 1-8.The two engineering schools at VU decided on a different tact in implementing the PBLpedagogy into their undergraduate curricula. The School of Architectural, Civil andMechanical Engineering (ACME) decided on subject-based PBL model and that 50 percent ofthe subjects constituting their undergraduate curricula designated to PBL delivery. In contrast,the School of Electrical Engineering (EE) at VU adopted a course curriculum based PBLmodel found At Aalborg University, Denmark. The Aalborg model PBL model seemed to beless realistic at VU because it relied on the

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Farison, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

interest and role inASEE and the educational and accreditation processes from whose output they recruit.Multidisciplinary Engineering ProgramsThe data presented in this paper are drawn from the current ABET website,1 as accessed onMarch 2, 2010. That site maintains a list of all accredited engineering programs under a set ofdrop-down menu titles, one of which is “Engineering, Engineering Physics & EngineeringScience.” This list currently comprises programs with one of those three titles, plus GeneralEngineering and a small number (three) of uniquely distinct titles that ABET has assigned to theASEE set. The most recent roster assigned to ASEE for program accreditation includes 68institutions offering 69 accredited multidisciplinary engineering

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Schaffer, Purdue University; Daniel Gandara, Illinois Institute of Technology; Xiaojun Chen, Purdue University; Margaret Huyck, Illinois Institute of Technology; Jill May, Illinois Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

their learning. The following questions helped drive theselection of theories: 1. How do individuals become effective team members? 2. How do projectteams become high performing teams (and what does a high performing team look like)? 3. Howdo such teams effectively adapt to project and situational demands? Some of thedisciplines/fields and theories that inform the evaluation framework include: experientiallearning and project-based learning in education1; design theory and cross-disciplinary learningin engineering2,3,4; teamwork and diverse teams in psychology 5,6; design theory in management7,8 ; socio-cultural systems and organizational learning in system theory 9,10.Evidence from team research studies indicates that design task complexity

Conference Session

Business Meeting

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Farison, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

communications between members and being a contact point for discussions on issues like ABET accreditation. ABET is discussing the issue of blurring the traditional programs, and input from this group Page 15.41.4 may be helpful."Other notes prepared by Dr. King included the following business: "The attendees represented a variety of multidisciplinary programs; for example, 1. General engineering programs with no specializations 2. General engineering programs with specializations 3. Programs that merged two or three disciplines but were not as general as 1. or 2. 4. Programs that began as multidisciplinary but later divided

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randall Brouwer, Calvin College; Steven VanderLeest, Calvin College; Paulo Ribeiro, Calvin College; Robert Medema, Calvin College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Page 15.843.2learning some of the concepts of entrepreneurship. The students in our engineering classes areeager to learn about entrepreneurial opportunities and ideas. A recent survey 1 of undergraduateengineering students at five different schools showed that most (82%) were interested inpursuing some form of entrepreneurship after graduation. Students want to know how to taketheir ideas and get them into the marketplace. They want to use their engineering skills to helpreal people with real problems (and they see entrepreneurship as a means to that end). Theyunderstand that competing for engineering projects in a global context requires not only strongtechnical knowledge, but also business acumen. This strong interest translates into

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anouk Desjardins, École Polytechnique de Montréal; Louise Millette, École Polytechnique de Montréal; Erik Bélanger, École Polytechnique de Montréal

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

to address the need for theinstitution to offer project courses. The Sustainable Development Capstone Project also providedan opportunity to address several graduate attributes desired by the CEAB2. These attributesinclude :1) Design :“An ability to design solutions for complex, open-ended engineering problems and to designsystems, components or processes that meet specified needs with appropriate attention to healthand safety risks, applicable standards, economic, environmental, cultural and societalconsiderations.“2) Team work and multidisciplinary work :“An ability to work effectively as a member and leader in teams, preferably in a multi-disciplinary setting. “3) The impact of engineering on society and the environment :“An ability to

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Palmer, Louisiana Tech University; Hisham Hegab, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

institutionalizes these behaviors intothe college.Course ContentA 1 SCH Junior level laboratory was developed for nanosystems engineering students to providethe uniform experience described above and elevate the product achieved in the capstone designcourse. The course has been taught two years (the first year was a pilot). Nine students took theclass the first year and eleven students took the class the second year (one student dropped half-way into the quarter). In both years, students were given the objective of producing CdSenanoparticles in a manner that provides a narrow size distribution at the lowest possible cost.The students were asked to envision that they were participating in a startup company that wouldbe selling these nanoparticles

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Fred Looft, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gretar Tryggvason, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Taskin Padir, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Lance Schacterle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

toexhibit mastery that is greater than simply knowing some computer science, electrical andmechanical engineering. Assessment of student learning therefore must go beyond measuring themastery of the various knowledge domains contributing to the discipline. Here we discuss ourcurrent assessment results, the tools we have used, and our plans for continuing assessment.There are three measures of success for any new program: 1. The number and quality of students attracted to the program, 2. The extent to which graduates are employed or admitted to graduate school, and 3. The degree to which the program achieves its educational objectives.The first measure, enrollment, is, sine qua non, the most important and straightforward. This hasalready

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Skokan, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

sustainabledevelopment concepts, exposed the students to the challenges of sustainable development froman engineering design perspective. The course objectives were that students would: 1. Be able to define sustainability 2. Identify sustainability issues in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere 3. Apply the engineering design process to sustainable projects 4. Summarize methods to measure sustainability 5. Analyze examples of sustainable and non-sustainable programs.Participants were also exposed to field experiences to observe issues in sustainability.Assessment of the course objectives illustrates the need for cooperation among engineering andother disciplines, such as economics and politics, in the design process for a sustainable