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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Herbert Hess

affect power electronics instruction.Introduction By the year 2000, about 60% of all electric energy consumed in the US and Canada, willbe processed through at least one power electronic stage.[1] Such a demand requires engineerswho understand the fundamentals of power electronics and has led to the rise of a number ofprograms to teach this subject. In this paper, a look is taken at the evolution of power electronics programs and theirexisting place within the general curriculum. Results of surveys show that over 100 suchprograms exist, varying in depth from just a course or two to well-funded sequences includinggraduate courses and cutting-edge research. After presenting a summary of these surveys, thescope narrows to

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Roy C. Shelton

industry involvement. The educational needs of industry must beclearly defined, articulated, and warmly received by the educational community. For appropriatelearning to occur near optimal demonstration or simulation of the object of learning must beprovided. "Show and tell" is still the best concept or idea translator since "a picture is worth athousand words". In order to perform his or her duties productively, the Microsystems EngineeringTechnologist must possess a specific set of competencies. The semiconductor industryunderstands what these competencies are. Viewed from the highest level these macro-competencies are stated below. They are modifications of those developed by the Coalition forNew Manufacturing Education.1. Know Self &

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Evangelyn C. Alocilja

designed to introduce systems engineering concepts and systems engineeringprinciples applicable to biologically-based systems. Specifically, the course objectives are: (1) tolearn the systems concepts and properties related to biologically-based systems; (2) to understandand apply the principles of cybernetics, stability, and sustainability in biological systems; (3) todevelop systems-oriented thinking and an integrated approach to problem solving; (4) to developthe skill of translating “word” problems into mathematical expressions (problem formulation),particularly in structuring a set of differential equations; (5) to use a mathematical type ofsoftware, in this case, Mathematica6, to find solutions; and (6) to understand the environmental

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

W. Ernst Eder

addition to knowledge aboutobjects and their related phenomena.Engineering is not "applied science," it has other tasks and responsibilities, including societal,economic, law-related, innovative, management and coordinating functions. A task for engineersis to provide the basis for making useful products -- summarized as designing. Problem solvingalone is not enough. Designing has its own procedures, of which problem solving is a sub-set.Designing is not fully predictable. Nevertheless, procedures and methods for designing can beproposed, and related to ways of modeling systems. The needs to learn such design proceduresin a more formalized way have been discussed, especially to enhance creativity.1. INTRODUCTIONFor several years it has been

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Sr., Buck F. Brown; Jr., Buck F. Brown

acquisition. This suggests that it is actually an educationalapproach rather than merely a teaching technique. Curricula and institution-wide restructuring through problem-based education generallyoccurs from the inside-out. Instead of having restructuring imposed upon them, faculty andinstructional staff first work to revise and restructure courses to incorporate a problem-basedapproach. As students progress, the types, scope, and complexity of the problems used may beexpanded to encompass interdisciplinary topics. These can be utilized to extend studentproblem-solving skills, increase their interdisciplinary thinking and emphasize the importance ofcommunication and cooperation. Dewey [1], Piaget [2], Brunner [3] and others have

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Mahler; Jon Szafranski; Dawn Werner; Karl Smith

before. The intellectual activity of building models to solve problems--anexplicit activity of constructing or creating the qualitative or quantitative relationships--helpsstudents understand, explain, predict, etc. (Smith and Starfield, 1993; Starfield, Smith, andBleloch, 1994). The process of building models together in face-to-face interpersonal interactionresults in learning that is difficult to achieve in any other way.A typical format for problem-based cooperative learning is shown in Figure 1. The formatillustrates the professor's role in a formal cooperative learning lesson and shows how the fiveessential elements of a well-structured cooperative lesson are incorporated (Johnson, Johnson &Smith, 1991; Smith, 1995, 1996).Cooperative

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Lang-Wah Lee; Tamer Ceylan

engineeringprinciples. Faculty members teaching these courses are oftenconfronted with the challenge of integrating these two componentsto help students learn the subject in the most effective manner.In the past ten years, the authors have tried several methods toachieve such a goal and found that a problem-based learning (PBL)[1] is a very promising method to address the problem. Thismethod is in essence a guided design process which mixes student-centered learning with a structured course syllabus. This paperis to discuss how PBL is used in teaching the Thermal SystemsDesign course. Thermal Systems Design is a required 3-credit hour course inour Mechanical Engineering curriculum. The course is for seniorstudents after they have completed Thermodynamics

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

A. Janaki Rao; B.K. Darshan

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN ENGINEERS IN INDIA Prof. A. Janaki Rao Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530 003 (A.P) India and Mr. B.K. Darshan, Member, UNIDO Managing Director National Institute of Technical and Management Education, New Delhi1. INTRODUCTION : India with a population of 900 million people is one of the largest producer of engineers and scientists having 4 16 engineering colleges producing 1 ,O 1,45 1 engineers per year and 1029 polytechnics producing 1,66,458 diploma holders

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

John R. Williams; Dr. Martin Pike

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

P.J. Fisher; N.J. Quick; S.J. Steiner

assessmentof these programmes. All undergraduate programmes operate under a modular structure.II. The PAMS Design ProjectThe Product and Manufacturing System design project, known as PAMS [1], was startedin the 1988/89 session as a means of integrating the diverse material covered on theManufacturing Engineering programmes, and to provide an opportunity for students tolearn and practise transferable skills. The PAMS project is integral to one course module,Total Design; this module continues over the first three years of each degree programme,and in total constitutes one ninth of the students’ final degree. It is most heavily weightedin the second year

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Sudhir Mehta

. Above all, students and instructorsindicate that this assessment technique is easy, effective, and enjoyable. INTRODUCTION Frank Huband, Executive Director of the American Society for Engineering Education(ASEE), recently reported that, “Pressures from corporate leaders, legislators, taxpayers, parents,and educators themselves are directing attention to assessment of the quality of educationalprograms in general and to engineering education specifically.”1 He also noted that, “Ifengineering schools do not assemble their own assessment process, someone else will. Anexternally imposed evaluation process will not be as effective as one developed and implementedby educators themselves.” John Prados

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark A. Shields; John P. O'Connell

described in Pfaffenberger et al.1The internal document, “Foundations and Benchmarks of Professional Development,” identifiedseven “attributes” and six “experiences” which represent the key dimensions of PD that ourundergraduate engineering curriculum should cultivate. Although these attributes andexperiences were formulated before any of the participants were aware of the ABET 2000criteria, we believe that our expressions are quite compatible with ABET 2000. Table 1 lists boththe 11 outcomes of Criteria 3 of ABET 20002 and the UVa PD attributes. The ABET criteriaconnected to the attributes are given. Comparison of the wordings shows that our PD frameworkis more comprehensive and possibly more ambitious.It should also be recognized that we

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Ted G. Eschenbach; Robert Madigan; Patricia Linton; Catherine Frank

Editors Style Manual Committee3. Hacker, D. (1995). A Writer’s Reference, 3rd, St. Martin’s Press.4. Linton, P., R. Madigan, and S. Johnson. (October 1994). “Introducing Students to Disciplinary Genres: The Role of the General Composition Course,” Language and Learning Across the Disciplines, 1(2), pp. 63-78.5. Madigan, Robert, Susan Johnson, and Patricia Linton. (June 1995). “The Language of Psychology: APA Style as Epistemology,” American Psychologist, 50(6), pp. 428-436.Biographical InformationTED G. ESCHENBACHHe is the founding and current editor of EMJ (‘97 is Volume 9). He has taught at UAA, the Naval Postgraduate School,and the Univ. of Missouri-Rolla (Robert Koplar Professor of EM). He earned his Ph.D. in IE from Stanford

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

David A. Lopez

. Traditionalcourses do not emphasis these types of skills sought by employers. Typicalteaching materials for traditional manufacturing engineering and technology coursesare DeGarmo (2) and Koenig (7). The problems of teaching using this type of material has been described in workby the NSF (4), Koen (6), and Ulrich & Eppinger (11). In addition, teachingmanufacturing topics has been broadened to include such topics as engineering designconsiderations and quality issues. The new philosophy of teaching manufacturing hasbeen described by Clark & Wheelright (1), Dixon & Poli (3), Ettie & Stoll (5), andLindeck (8). This paper will explore some of these aspects in more detail and outlinea different approach to dealing with some of issues

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Kirk E. Hiles

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Nancy L. Denton

significance of overlooking various engineering constraints as demonstrated through simplestrain measurements. The experiment was originally intended as a review laboratory session foran elective upper division course in experimental strength of materials, but is also appropriate inan introductory mechanics/strength of materials course, with some simplification.IntroductionThe statically indeterminate bar which is subjected to axial loading with one degree ofindeterminacy, such as that shown in Figure 1, is commonly an early topic in a first course inmechanics/strength of materials. Study of this topic affords students the opportunity to integratethe fundamental concepts of stress and strain, and to recognize more fully the effect of materialstiffness

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Saleh M. Sbenaty

wasdeveloped for this purpose. The spectra of the thirteen gas species of interest were obtained andthe sensitivity factors for each gas were calculated. The spectra of a standard gas mixture and thedissolved gases in oil from a faulty transformer oil specimen were obtained. Finally, theconcentration of each gas species was calculated and a method for fault assessment is presented.DISSOLVED GASES EXTRACTION SYSTEMThe complete gas analyzer system using a QMS is shown in Figure 1. Oil samples used for gasanalysis need to be drawn from the transformer without any atmospheric contact. A syringe or apre-evacuated container should be used for this purpose5, 6. The dissolved gases were extractedfrom the oil sample by introducing the oil into a pre-evacuated

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas J. Cortina

these results.1. INTRODUCTIONColleges and universities continue to struggle with the choice of programming language for thefirst programming course, typically denoted CS1 [1] [7]. Traditionally, the choice of languagehas been based on personal preferences of faculty members based on previous experience orinfluence from industry, high schools, and other faculty members [9]. Many papers have beenpublished describing experiences using one particular programming language to teach CS1 (e.g.[10], [11]).During the summer of 1996, an experiment was run at Polytechnic University to determine if thechoice of programming language truly affects how a student learns how to program a computer.A set of approximately 100 eligible high school students were

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Janet K. Allen; Farrokh Mistree; Jennifer Turns

quantitative approach for understanding the use andusefulness of the software, the analysis of the log files of student activity. Web log files wereanalyzed to address questions about how and where the resources were being used in general, aswell as over time and in relation to critical periods in the course. We found that all resources,with the exception of the parts catalog, were used effectively and that the web-basedimplementation, promoting platform independent and universal access, was important. In thepaper, we report on the analysis and conclude with recommendations for the continueddevelopment of the software and for the next steps in the research.1. ME3110 AND THE DESIGN LEARNING SIMULATORA recent survey conducted by the National Society of

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Péter Szendrõ; László Kátai

Session 3260 The Question of Turn of Millennium in Creative Engineering Education Dr.Péter Szendrõ, László Kátai Gödöllõ Agricultural UniversityAs we approach the turn of the millennium, the volume of information available in our society isgrowing at an increasing rate. Wide, never before seen perspectives will open in the acquiring ofknowledge and the realization of life-long learning. But new forms of education hide manycontradictions.I. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONSWhat are the concerns?1. Appearance of information as images, limited

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Rosa Gerra; José L. Torres

Session 2470 Reaching for the Stars: 20 Years of Success in Advising Potential Latino Engineering Students José L. Torres, Rosa Gerra Indiana Institute of Technology/United Hispanic Americans Inc.IntroductionAccess to higher education has long been considered one of the cornerstones upon which trueracial and social equality must be built upon (Morrison, 1995.) Unfortunately, even after mostsignificant social and legal barriers have been torn down, college enrollment among the twolargest minority groups still lags behind that of the majority population. As shown in Figure 1

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles U. Okonkwo

1IntroductionThe promise of hydrogen as a fuel for automobile and jet propulsion engine has sparkedinterest in hydrogen production. This opinion is shared by Marr (1). Steam methanereforming (SMR) is the method of hydrogen production described in this study.According to Rosen and Scott (2), it is one of the most important industrial processes forhydrogen production today. Rosen and Scott (1) describe the status of SMR process to bea mature technology. Though the process involves both exothermic and endothermicreactions, the net reaction is endothermic. The energy required to promote the reaction issupplied by heat from the exhaust of an automobile engine and a built-in heater inside thereactor that can be turned off and on. The MET 494 students have

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

L.J. Bohmann; B.A. Mork; Noel Schulz

involveelectricity and would focus on the type of apparatus that students have a good probability ofencountering during their working careers. The goal would not be to educate students to designthe equipment discussed, but rather to allow them to incorporate the equipment in system-leveldesign.BACKGROUND Page 2.342.1Energy conversion has been part of the curriculum since the inception of electrical engineering as 1a separate field of study [1]. The first departments taught courses primarily dealing withgenerators and motors, power transmission, and communications.The first part of this century saw many

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Amitabha Bandyopadhyay

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Bahador Ghahramani

Two types of graduate degrees are offered in the EMGT outreach programs: Master ofScience and Doctor of Philosophy. Table 1 summarizes the MS requirements for thesis andnonthesis options. TABLE 1, EMGT OUTREACH MASTER’S DEGREE REQUIREMENTS. REQUIREMENTS NONTHESIS THESIS HOURS HOURS TOTAL CREDIT HOURS 33 30 UPPER LEVEL COURSES 9 6 OUT OF DEPARTMENT 6 6 RESEARCH None 6 COMPREHENSIVE EXAM

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

John K. Brown

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald E. Yoder; D. Raj Raman

science, while written reports, oralpresentations, and team grading enhance professional skills. Ideally, the design problem is highlyrelevant to the students’ field of study, and representative of problems solved by practicingengineers.In our department, students can select from the following five de facto concentrations:agricultural engineering with soil and water emphasis, agricultural engineering with power-1 At the time of manuscript preparation, the second years submission had not yet been made.2 Substantial portions of this paper appeared first as Raman, D. R. and R. E. Yoder, “Using an Engineering Design Page

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Josef Rojter

attractiveness of engineering courses to secondaryschool students.This translates into poor calibre entrants into engineering courses.The employer groups also expressed concerns in the area of practical rationality: the deficitbetween practice and training or education. Many survey's among employer groupsindicated a general satisfaction with the scientific literacy but expressed concerns in theshortcomings of social, managerial, legal, environmental and even engineering literaciesamong engineering graduates.Thus Frenkel’s model (Figure 1) of engineering linked to the scientific domain must bereplaced by a more realistic model (Figure 2) where engineering is at the ‘coal face’ ofcreativity.One way of altering the current way of

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1997 Annual Conference

Authors

S. L. Ceccio; G. Tryggvason; Dawn M. Tilbury

Session 2266 Restructuring the Undergraduate Curriculum of the Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics Department at The University of Michigan D. M. Tilbury,1 S. L. Ceccio,2 and G. Tryggvason3 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109AbstractRecent changes in the undergraduate program of the Mechanical Engineering andApplied Mechanics (MEAM) Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor arediscussed. The undergraduate curriculum has been modified to emphasize

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

John R. Williams

oftenlitters the landscape because it costs too much to haul it away to a landfill. Those of us living inthe rust belt wax the exterior of our vehicles, and often pay someone to provide a rust protectivecoating on the underside of them. Approximately 20% of the iron and steel productsmanufactured each year are used to replace objects that have been discarded due to rust damage 1.Figure 1 is a photograph of a truck ravaged by corrosion typical of damage brought primarily byroad salt used for winter de-icing. Figure 1. An older vehicle shows the effects of corrosionThe Purdue University School of Technology requires all AS and BS degree Mechanical