Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Shaibal Mukherjee; Pallabi Mukherjee

a comparative analysis of the overall annual research expenditures ofthese schools, some program specific comparisons are made. Specifically, the followingprograms are considered: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, CivilEngineering and Environmental Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, ComputerScience, and Industrial Engineering. In spite of steady increase in nation-wide competition forfederal funding for engineering research, the Big 12 universities considered in this study havedone fairly well in terms of annual research expenditures in engineering. In terms of overallannual research expenditures, UT dominated the group, followed by UC.I. IntroductionU.S. research structure after World War II consists of

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Lawrence Whitman; Zulma Toro-Ramos; Dan Allison; Colin Davidson; Martha Shawver; Shelly Belles; Chris Wilkinson

is motivated by both a new programat Wichita State University to broaden our engineering graduates and motivatedby Industry as well as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology(ABET) criteria.The SGDC is a collaboration between Spirit AeroSystems and two universitypartners: Wichita State University and the University of Manchester. SpiritProceedings of the 2008 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education 2AeroSystems is the largest tier 1 supplier in the aerospace industry. Spiritprovides the aerospace industry aero structures and systems. Spirit has worldwidefacilities

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Timothy J. Annesley; David P. Miller

Review of a Robotics Lab for Engineering Undergraduates Timothy J. Annesley and David P. Miller School of AME, University of OklahomaAbstractThis paper describes an upper division robotics lab course taught at the University of Oklahomain the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. While targeted to AE and ME majors,this course has some participation of CS, CEIE and EE majors. The paper describes the structure,content and learning objectives of the course. Assessment results based on tests and studentsurveys are also presented.1 Overview of the OU AME Robotics Lab Course: AME 4802The school of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

C. Baukal; W. Bussman

years in, for example, the nuclear and aerospace industriesto simulate both normal operating conditions as well as potentially dangerous situations. Thelatter may rarely if ever be seen in actual practice, but it is imperative that operators be preparedfor them in the event they ever do occur. In either case, it is generally not practical or preferableto let new operators learn initially on the actual equipment because of the potentially dangerousconsequences of making a mistake. Even if an operating error did not result in an unsafecondition, it could result in lost production or reduced efficiency that could have detrimentaleconomic ramifications for a plant. For these reasons, most new operators would be hesitant tomake adjustments on this

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Shannon G. Davis; Bryan W. Hill; Carol S. Gattis; Bradley M. Dearing; Edgar C. Clausen

Problem—Spinning Wheels; Ties to Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks; Daily Feedback 5 Group/Teamwork Activity—Aerospace Design; Construct a Design Brief Activity; Daily Feedback 6 Demonstration of River Bed Simulator; Finish Design Briefs; Gather Materials; Daily Feedback 7 Swap and Perform Someone’s Design Briefs; Daily Feedback 8 Finalize and Test Designs; Present Results; Daily Feedback 9 Post-Test; Group/Teamwork Activity—Traffic Jam; Finish presenting results; Daily Feedback 10 How will you use Design Problem Solving in your classroom?; Resource Exchange; Overall Feedback SurveyAs is noted in Table 1, the daily schedule included a teambuilding activity at the beginning

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Dominic M. Halsmer

undergraduate engineering student at Purdue, I enjoyed participating in their cooperative work-study program in the aerospace industry. It was there that I first interacted with experienced engineers on a daily basis. And it was there that I learned the importance of striving for absolute reliability in engineering solutions. Good engineers use redundancy and multiple lines of evidence and reasoning to avoid failure. This was vividly brought to my attention as a co-op student when I was introduced to the concept of a “belt and suspenders” design. This kind of design includes built-in redundancy mechanisms for additional confidence of success. What made the lesson especially memorable was when, upon completion of our meeting, as my

Collection

2008 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Josh Coffman; Sachin S. Terdalkar; Joseph J. Rencis; Ashland O. Brown

. The connecting rod provides a linkage from thepiston head to the crankshaft. The fatigue analysis of a connecting rod can be found in theANSYS® on-line white paper.2 Some fatigue failures in automobiles can be life critical, but inaerospace applications any fatigue failure may result in tragic losses of life. Sources of highcycle fatigue in large aircraft include turbo-jet engines, landing gear assemblies, fuselagecoverings, and the connection points of wings. In aerospace applications materials may be usedthat do not have endurance limits due to weight concerns. An example of fatigue failure in thefuse pin connections of the jet engines to the wing of a commercial airliner is studied in Zahavi.3Both industries sometime require a full-scale