Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Carl A. Erikson

Integrating Writing into the Engineering Curriculum Or How to Build a Dog House Carl A. Erikson, Jr. Department of Engineering Messiah College Grantham, PA 17027AbstractThis paper compares a seven step engineering design process to the process of writing a paper,providing a reasonable approach for an engineering student to write a good paper. This processcan be applied to all types of written documents that engineers are required to write.IntroductionEngineering graduates of all disciplines should be technically competent in their discipline andbe good

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Raymond Addabbo

coalition5 on a local scale. That iswe are hoping to integrate the curriculum, by offering a course that incorporates other courses ina meaningful way. By giving the students the tools and the flexibility to modify what they havelearned, cooperative learning is being encouraged. Using the computer as a tool to docomputations we are fostering technology enabled learning. The writing component offersstudents the opportunity to improve through self assessment. We think that when students applytools from one course to another course we are fostering a higher order of learning.Future GoalsThere are discussions about introducing a physical experiment in the class. Students can collectdata from a simple pendulum or an electrical circuit and use Matlab to

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Andrzej Zarzycki

digitally native, with ways of accessing, interacting, and processing knowledge thatincreasingly conform to a digital media mindset. A successful curriculum should acknowledgethis asset and use it for further strengthening students’ knowledge. At the same time, it shouldcontinue to reference everyday experiences and provide students alternative ways to codify theirexperiences. In their first ever project done during architectural education, students are asked todevelop a cantilevered structure made of toothpick and glue that would be able to support abrick. [fig.1] Interestingly, there are hardly any questions asked regarding the project in theinitial stages of assignment. Students feel it is self-explanatory and expect it to be an

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Sunghoon Jang; Kenneth Markowitz; Aparicio Carranza

Developing a Senior Capstone Project Course in Integrating Undergraduate Teaching and Research Sunghoon Jang+, Kenneth Markowitz+, and Aparicio Carranza* + Department of Electrical Engineering Technology * Department of Computer Engineering Technology New York City College of Technology of CUNY 300 Jay Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 Abstract: In this current study, we will discuss how to develop a course module of seniorcapstone project as an activity of the NSF STEM grant proposal which has been awarded in theyear 2006. The

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Alfred A. Scalza

gender.This is an interesting observation since it applies to both the young daytime students and theolder nighttime students. Our curriculum is Architectural Engineering Technology andConstruction Management Engineering Technology, currently a male dominated profession, andour classes are predominantly male. The ratio is usually five female students in a class of 25students. One statistical distinction is 90% of the women students are in the Architecturecurriculum. The male students are 40% in Architecture and 60% in Construction Management.The women, whether in the day class or the evening class, far outpace the men. They workharder, pay more attention, do more work, show more interest, and usually find time to beinvolved in our various

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

William Hornfeck; Ismail Jouny; John Nestor

globalization: • Adapt to changing job challenges and to internationalization • Function in a multicultural team and provide leadership • Apply education in solving a global range of problems • Appreciate worldwide business enterprise, technology management, and social and legal issues.The editing of a list of program goals is one thing; however, changing the curriculum to betterreflect the globalization emphasis is quite another. In a broader sense, how does an existingengineering degree program implement features that promote a global awareness for students—including the lecture hall, outside the classroom, and as part of the overall undergraduateexperience? At the same time, this must be accomplished while honoring the

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Beth Richards; Karen Walsh

somewhere else—anywhere else?In this paper, we describe a recent approach to teaching writing to first-year engineering studentsat the University of Hartford, in which we crafted a course based the concept of the nerd, a topicthat engineering students find engaging, and then developing their writing skills from thosematerials in an integrated way that is interesting to students and (most important) develops keycommunication skills. We developed two tracks, one using a gender approach and the otherusing historical reactions to innovations in technology; these are described, along with texts usedand writing assignments that grew from the readings. This rhetorical foundation becomes thebasis for the oral and written communication skills required by

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Christopher L. Reitsma

and integrate the circuit and code together, which is electronicallyprovided, include a working demonstration, and then allow the students an opportunity toperform the activity themselves. These “observational and hands-on activities will have moreeducational value if they are planned so as to be integrated with overall course objectives andactively connected to what is happening in class.”3Incorporating the Robot SystemIn many engineering, math and science courses, teachers take a very active approach to assist thestudents in learning. Mainly, in-class exercises or daily work problems help achieve this goal.With computer science, practice in writing code with various structures are demonstrated andexecuted. With robotics, especially a small

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

William T. Riddell, Paris R. von Lockette, Gerard J. Tigue, Jeremy M. Zee Departments of Civil and Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Rowan UniversitySession III 14 – 15:15 P.M.Session III.A. AEC 306 – Integration of teaching and researchIII.A.1. Implementing a Histogram Equalization Algorithm in VHDL Stephanie Parker, J. Kemi Ladeji-Osias, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Morgan State UniversityIII.A.2. Relating the Increasing Scarcity of Mineral-Based Materials to the Materials Science Curriculum Jim McGuffin-Cawley, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve UniversityIII.A.3. Video Stabilization and Motion Detection Paterne Sissinto, Morgan State

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Timothy B. Whitmoyer; David T. Vader; Joel Z. Bandstra; William H.J. Strosnider

to aid current and future project participants. These practices become internalized habits, not just a concession to faculty demands. 3. The Integrated Projects Curriculum alleviates the discontinuity caused by graduation. While the Modified Rower Pump project invariably experiences lulls after losing experienced members to graduation, the down time is reduced with the IPC project structure due to vertical integration and improved documentation practices.Endnotes and Bibliography1. SIM (Serving in Mission) is an organization committed to meeting the spiritual and physical needs ofdisadvantaged peoples. http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/our-purpose provides a more detailed description ofthis organization’s

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Andrew Grossfield P.E.

a limit of sequences of rational numbers, the student is in no position to understandany derivations regarding limits. A student who has just been introduced to the word, limit, issimply in no position to appreciate limits of difference quotients. The limit of the differencequotient is just a method of obtaining the value of the slope, not the derivative itself. There ismuch to be learned about curves with such an approach without belaboring the difficultiesinherent in limit processes. The integral of a positive piecewise monotonic function should bedefined as the area under the curve and again the limiting process should be viewed as just amethod of obtaining the value.All references to the concepts and perplexities of the 19th century

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Arthur D. Kney P.E.; Nancy Ball; Traci Shoemaker; Danuta Bukatko; Angela Moran; Joe Colosi

interest in technology. However,Butler11 noted that students between kindergarten and fifth grade start to develop a gender-basedtechnology gap which peaks at the eighth-grade level; females lose interest in technology asreflected in their levels of computer usage. Similarly, Cady and Terrell12 found that girls asyoung as 10 years old began to have negative self-attitudes with regard to computers andtechnology. However, by incorporating technology in the science curriculum, the girlsdeveloped higher levels of confidence in their ability to use technology and also raised their viewof the importance of using technology. Finally, Sun, Lin, and Yu13 found that the integration oftechnology into the science curriculum had a very positive impact on all

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

William Jemison; Christopher Nadovich

requirements that comprise both technical and non-technical constraints. They are given this document on the first day of class andare expected to demonstrate and deliver a working system that meets itsrequirements by the last day of class – a mere fourteen workweeks later.In our model of a real world work arrangement, students are required to work as ateam to perform system architecture tradeoffs, develop a schedule, and organizeinto sub-groups for design and project management. They are required to conducta design review with an outside group of industry engineers. Finally, they arerequired to procure parts, build and test subsystems, integrate everything into asystem, and demonstrate compliance with the SOW in a final acceptance test

Collection

2010 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Joshua H. Smith; David Brandes

, in this case, since students participate in their EWB–USA student chaptersolely as an extracurricular activity, such assessment may be unnecessary.Ancillary course supportWhether or not the faculty advisor serves as the professional mentor, required or elective courseswithin a department of civil and/or environmental engineering, or other engineering departments,may include teaching of surveying, water system analysis and design, sanitation systems,structural design (such as for reinforced concrete water storage tanks), and other relevanttechnical topics and include discussions on issues of sustainability. In this case, students of thosedepartments may be exposed to issues that are directly pertinent to their EWB activities.However, EWB–USA