Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Vojin Nikolic

ROLE OF INDUSTRY SPONSORED PROJECTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Vojin Nikolic† Minnesota State University, Mankato ASEE North Midwest Regional Conference Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, October 9-11, 2003 Abstract The experience gathered with industry-provided projects for senior design coursesfor mechanical engineering majors at Minnesota State University, Mankato, in recentyears has been discussed. The author acted as the faculty adviser to three student designteams which addressed three such project topics. The projects are briefly described.These company-sponsored senior design

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

John Mirth

THE USE OF PEER EVALUATIONS TO DIFFERENTIATE STUDENT PERFORMANCE ON TEAM-BASED DESIGN PROJECTS John Mirth, Ph.D. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering University of Wisconsin – Platteville Platteville, WI 53818 mirth@uwplatt.eduABSTRACTThis paper presents a method to evaluate individual contributions within a team-basedenvironment. The method relies on the ability of students to document their own contributionsand evaluate the contributions of their team members. The method uses two sets of points,baseline and merit points, to avoid the need for students to negatively

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Marlee A. Walton

Preparing Civil Engineers for 2020: A Curricula Design Project at Iowa State University ASEE North Midwest Conference October 9-11, 2003 Marlee A. WaltonBackground:Today’s world is fundamentally challenging the way civil engineering is practiced. Ourprofession has become more complex with issues such as technological advancements,increased stakeholder involvement, decaying infrastructure, additional environmentalregulations, globalization, and population changes. To effectively manage thiscomplexity, the future civil engineer will need additional knowledge, skills, andattitudes. This will require additional

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Karen C. Chou; W. James Wilde; Saeed Moaveni

An Unique Approach to Civil Engineering Design Experience Karen C. Chou1, W. James Wilde2, and Saeed Moaveni3 Department of Mechanical & Civil Engineering Minnesota State University, Mankato, MNAbstractThe ABET required major design experience is fulfilled through a 2-semester course sequencefor a total of 3 credit hours. The goal of the major design experience is to emulate the practiceof planning and designing of a civil engineering project in a way that is similar to a typicalengineering office setting. To achieve this goal, we have involved students from the freshman tothe senior level classes, faculty, and the engineering community. In addition, we have

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Fernando Rios-Gutierrez; Marian S. Stachowicz

fuzzy controllers in microprocessor-basedsystems.In the next lines we describe the characteristics of the Design Workshop, present our academicexperiences, show some of the projects implemented, and finally make an evaluation of theresults and present our conclusions.SettingAll the students that took this workshop had previous experience working with the 68HC11microcontroller. They completed the introductory microprocessor class, in which they learnedthe 68HC11 architecture and the assembly language. Therefore all the students had thenecessary background to start using the 68HC12. In relation to the design and implementationof their projects, all the students had a basic background in digital design and analog systems,so that to be able to

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Ralph I. Stephens

ENHANCEMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERINGSTUDENT MOTIVATION, LEARNING, AND LEADERSHIP THROUGH AUTO RACING INTERESTS INVOLVING MULTIPLE COURSES Ralph I. Stephens PhD, PE Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52240 ralph-stephens@uiowa.eduAbstractDue to student interest in auto racing, projects with racing were incorporated into fivemechanical engineering courses involving five faculty members, nine student projects and abouttwenty students. The racing projects provided outstanding student achievements along withhaving fun.IntroductionWhile teaching a senior 58:055 Mechanical Systems Design class

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2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Richard Valentine; Keri Hornbuckle; James Stoner; Julie Jessop

Engineering Problem Solving I Richard Valentine,1 Keri Hornbuckle,1 James Stoner,1 and Julie Jessop21 Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2Chemical & Biochemical Engineering The University of Iowa valentin@engineering.uiowa.eduAbstractThis course introduces the student to a multifaceted engineering problem-solving and designparadigm. Lectures provide students with the opportunity to develop and demonstrate specificproblem-solving skills; faculty-directed project team sections provide an opportunity for thestudent to become familiar with open-ended engineering problems/design and their solutions.Course FormatThis 3-credit course consists both of a lecture and a

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Justin Morrill; Stephen Bostrom; Joshua Olson; Steven Hietpas

Laboratory OverviewThe concept of the new energy conversion and electric drives laboratory was birthed in the fallof 1997 with an original estimate of $275,000 to replace essentially all existing equipment. Theproposed layout for this laboratory is shown in Fig. 1. Three components were identified fordesign and fabrication through senior design and student design projects: 1) automated loadbanks (ALB), 2) power processing station, (PPS) and 3) power workstation benches (PWB).The new student laboratory was designed around the PWB, which obtains access to power andload resources located in the utility room via a PC with a National Instruments Data AcquisitionCard and LabView control interface. These resources include 208 and 240 Vac 3-phase

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Julia Apple-Smith; Dave Holger; Shannon Miner

vision, who see the value of having an international experience and are willing to work hard to promote the same.The following faculty comments provide an excellent summary of the value and success of thisprogram:"The trip to Singapore gave me the opportunity to discuss numerous potential interactions withNUS and NTU, in academia, research, and distance learning. The trip has resulted in theinvolvement of two of my faculty in research projects and the discussion of PhD studentexchanges as a method of improving research collaborations. Without this initial trip, the facultyand I would not have considered Asia as a viable place to do collaborative research; indeed, weseem to have "forgotten" this area of the world as a source of ideas and

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Craig L. Just; P. Barry Butler

Executive SummaryThe Colleges of Engineering at The University of Iowa and Iowa State University, the IowaSection of Water for People, the Universidad Technólogica de Xicotepec de Juárez, and RotaryInternational, have agreed to work together through the International Engineering ServiceProgram (IESP) to provide an educational and service internship experience for students thatemphasizes environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects. The programinvolves substantial interaction between university-level students, faculty mentors at therespective universities, the Iowa Section of Water for People and members of RotaryInternational in the USA and Xicotepec, Mexico. Together, the team has begun to develop andexecute a long-term plan

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2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Michael P. Hennessey

: mphennessey@stthomas.edu Abstract The project-based undergraduate J-term course Kinematics and Mechanism Design is described, both technically and from a pedagogy point of view. In this course students discovered the kinematic car, a classic example of a nonholonomic mechanical system that everyone can relate to; especially mechanical engineering students. Technical work entailed kinematic modeling using    MATLAB /SIMULINK and CAD modeling and visualization using SolidWorks along with corroborating experimental work using scale model vehicles (i.e. Jeep Liberty SUV, Allis

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Charles McIntyre; Sudhir Mehta

A Program for Peer Review of Teaching Charles McIntyre and Sudhir Mehta College of Engineering and Architecture North Dakota State University charles.mcintyre@ndsu.nodak.eduAbstractNorth Dakota State University has recently created the Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) Programwhich seeks to promote student-centered learning through the use of cooperative peer reviewteams to promote enhanced teaching methods, techniques, and strategies. The PRT project isa faculty-driven initiative intended to offer individual faculty added feedback related to instruction.Faculty members work together to set goals and to interpret student reactions to

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Alec B. Scranton

proctor; v) a cooperative group project in which teams of studentswork together. This course has been taught every semester (including summers) since thespring semester of 1999. Our experience teaching this course for the past five years has shownthat the course is effective for teaching the class material, and has enhanced the learningopportunities offered to students.IntroductionThe Internet offers several important advantages for the delivery of college course content, andis well suited for effective distance learning. Foremost, the Internet offers convenient access tothe course from nearly any location (any computer with Internet access) and on any schedule(24 hours a day). This is especially important for distance education since it allows

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Melinda Gallagher; Lawrence J. Genalo

classroom instructors who modeled exemplary use oftechnology. The students were required to enroll in a technology rich engineering coursecalled Toying With TechnologySM which offered a positive, comfortable, and stimulatingatmosphere in order to introduce preservice teachers to aspects of science, math, andtechnology in the context of engineering. As a major component of the course, studentswere required to research and design an Engineering ABC Book tailored to both K-12students and classroom curriculum. A description of the Toying With TechnologySMcourse, cohort, and the Engineering ABC Book Project are examined and described.IntroductionToday, more than ever before, technological competence has become crucial tomaintaining our nation’s position

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Nancy J. Schneider; Gary W. Fischer

influence others in the group.Example case study:Guest Leaders present case studies to the students and the students figure out ways to solvethe problem in the case study. The case studies cover a wide range of topics fromenvironmental problems, to financial crises, to social or government problems, to product liabilityproblems, to integrity or personal character issues, or to engineering design concerns. Thefollowing brief summary is typical of the kind of problems that the student groups tackle.A large-size corporation is faced major challenges integrating their staff, accounting systems,projects and various corporate cultures that have resulted from growth and merger changes.The situation is that a manager who has just joined one of the offices

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Robert Bruce Kelsey

the real challenges they will face in software developmentprojects.IntroductionWith the publication of the IEEE/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and ProfessionalPractice [IEEEce], educators can point to an industry standard code of professional conductwhen discussing ethics in software development or software project management courses. TheCode is a laudable effort and will certainly help improve development discipline in industry. Andfor educators, the Code will provide both guidance and legitimacy to the classroom discussionsof real and imagined dilemmas students will face in the course of their careers.We all know that ethics discussions in the engineering classroom have to be focused on real-lifeissues. Kant’s Groundwork of the

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

James A. Davis; Melissa Dark

been engaged in targetedworkshops for the past two years, producing the results summarized here (see [1] for a moredetailed description). The long-term objective for the project is to develop a curriculumframework for undergraduate and graduate programs in Information Assurance (IA). Theframework includes: identification of broad areas of knowledge considered important forpracticing professionals in information assurance, identification of key learning objectives foreach of these areas, identification of a body of core knowledge and skills that all programsshould contain, and a model curriculum including scope and sequence. The framework'sdevelopment has been facilitated by workshops and working groups of leading informationassurance educators

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Emmanuel Ugo Enemuoh

. (iii) Computation and description of interaction effects of control variables. (iv) Formulate process model and conduct residual analysis of the model.On the discussion and conclusion sections of the report, students must discuss significance offactor effects and interactions between them. They must describe significance of the observedlevel of experimental error in terms of the engineering properties of the process and material.Also, they will explain the gaps and overlaps that exist between experiment and theory. At mid-semester, a formal final project proposal is submitted by the students and evaluated by thefaculty. The proposed final project must include design, analysis and characterization of amanufacturing process using a

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Frank Peters; John Jackman; Sarah Ryan; Sigurdur Olafsson

An Active Learning Environment in an Integrated Industrial Engineering Curriculum Frank Peters, John Jackman, Sarah Ryan, Sigurdur Olafsson Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering fpeters@iastate.edu, jkj@iastate.edu, smryan@iastate.edu, olafsson@iastate.edu Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011AbstractWe are developing a new learning environment that supports a suite of interrelated modulesbased on real-world scenarios. The primary goals of the project are to integrate industrialengineering courses, improve students’ information technology skills, and enhance students’problem

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Charles McIntyre; Gary Smith

AnalysisAfter consulting with the Vice President of Academic Affairs, representatives from InformationalTechnology Services (ITS), and various Department Heads, it was decided that the existingclassroom designated as CIE (Civil and Industrial Engineering) 102 should be the spacededicated to the CCL. At that time CIE 102 was designated as a university classroom whichcould be used for any class from any department or college. The room consisted ofpermanently floor-mounted tables with fixed chairs. Seating capacity was listed at 60. Ourconceptual plan called for a complete remodel of the entire room. This renovation would includenew reconfigurable furniture, instructional technologies (computer, projection system, Internetaccess, document camera, etc

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Gwendolyn C. Archibald

also requiresstudents to write a personal statement about why they would like to attend. This allowsthe selection team an opportunity to view both academic and non-cognitive variablesthat could be indications of success in engineering. The academy runs for one-week,typically during the month of June, and the students stay in one of the residence halls onThe University of Iowa campus. This allows students to get a “taste” of campus andresidence hall life with other students that share their interest in engineering.Throughout the program, students are given projects to work on that help them developtheir problem-solving skills, and display real-world applications for math and science.For example, in one project (see attached description) the

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Charles McIntyre; Prajesh Kondaskar; Gary Smith

for it were goingto be just to plug and play and see what I was able to do with it. "I have found the m105 to be quite beneficial in my eyes. By using the calendar and to-do listI was able to make sure I never forgot anything. Using the Palm next semester will help out quitea bit, since I will have more projects and more group meetings in the spring." "Having had brief opportunities to use Palm in the past, I was already familiar with its basicoperation. Even though I found that the Palm was easy to operate from the start, I did have touse the manual to figure at one or two operations, especially when learning how write eachcharacters. For the most part, the majority of knowledge came from trial and error." "Overall I am very happy

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Larry F. Hanneman; Pat N. White; Loni K. Pringnitz; Peter J. Sudbeck

. Criterion 3 of ABET’s Engineering Criteria specifies abase set of Outcomes that all accredited programs must demonstrate that their graduates have.The word “Leadership” does not appear. This paper describes a project designed to create aset of ability-based outcomes that define “Leadership” for the early career practicing engineerusing constituents representing students, employers, faculty and early career engineers.IntroductionThe Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET clearly imposed a paradigm shift onengineering education when it established ability-based student outcomes as the basis forassessment, accreditation and continuous curriculum improvement processes. Specifically,ABET Engineering Criteria’s Criterion 3 is of particular interest

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Beckry Abdel-Magid; Yunsheng Xu

from theexperimentation to develop some general conclusions that will support,invalidate, or redesign the hypothesis [6]. These four steps are vital to anyresearch project and should be performed with utmost care and rigor.In addition to being proficient in the research process, students should be awareof the positive attitude for success in research. This includes setting realisticgoals to motivate the student, having a good mental preparation and an I-can-do-it attitude, learning to enjoy the research activity and to be persistent inovercoming setbacks, and being curious to investigate a problem and questionthe results. These traits are not only essential for research but they alsoformulate the characteristics of the inquisitive lifelong

Collection

2003 ASEE North Midwest Section Conference

Authors

David A. Rogers; Orven F. Swenson

an established course in optical signal transmission.Students with majors in physics and engineering have learned professional optics techniquesfor evaluating the characteristics of optical fibers and obtained hands-on experience with opticalcommunications.IntroductionThe primary objective of the National Science Foundation (NSF) optics education project atNorth Dakota State University has been the development of an undergraduate optics laboratoryto serve the needs of a general optics course (Physics/ECE 411/611) that is the jointresponsibility of the Departments of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Thiscourse includes ten experiments in a lab that was established with the support of NSF andadapted from work done at New Jersey