Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Roy W. Melton

pressing required learning objectives, electronic instrumentationinstruction is often relegated to a very brief discussion and demonstration in the very lab sessionwhere some quite extensive use is required.Thus, a student’s prior experience level with electronic instrumentation can affect many facets ofhis or her laboratory coursework. Beyond obvious characteristics and implications of abilitywith such equipment, attitude is a paramount determiner of laboratory performance. Inparticular, a student with no prior equipment experience who is neither confident nor proficientfollowing a three-minute just-in-time overview in a laboratory session, will likely be somewhatintimidated by the laboratory expectation, at the very least. Depending on his or

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Daren R. Wilcox; Gerd W. Wostenkuhler

structure is used and, just in case, all ICs arein a socket and all parts are through whole components for easy repair. Figure 2. Macrocell Block Diagram [7]Located in the center is the Lattice ispM4A5 64/32, 44 pin PLCC CPLD. Directly above is the JTAGconnector used to program the chip while it is in the system, hence in system programmable (isp).Above and to the left are a USB connector and a screw terminal connector. Either connector can beused to provide the board with a supply voltage. By having the USB connector, the board can be used inthe academic laboratory without the need for an expensive power supply. The board can be poweredfrom any computer with a USB port. Below the power connectors is the clock

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Michael A. Jackson; Thomas Schulte; Nathaniel Kane; Elaine Lewis; Surendra Gupta; Santosh Kurinec

processes, electro-deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, I-line and deep UV wafer steppers, Perkin ElmerMEBES III electron beam mask writer, and device design, modeling and test laboratories. Theprogram remains the only ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology)accredited Bachelor of Science program granting a degree in Microelectronic Engineering. Theprogram, which includes 5 quarters of required co-op, currently has over 130 undergraduatestudents. The Co-op is a program commences after the second year, and students alternateschool with paid employment in the semiconductor industry. The laboratories at RIT include thelargest university clean room for IC fabrication and are partially supported by our industrialaffiliates

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Surendra K. Gupta

Experiments in Micro-/Nano- Characterization of Material Surfaces Surendra K. Gupta Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623AbstractThis paper describes eight experiments developed for a 4-quarter credit hour upper-divisiontechnical elective course on Micro- and Nano- Characterization of Material Surfaces. The coursehas 3 hours/week of lectures and a 2 hours/week laboratory segment. Offered for the second timelast Spring quarter, the course has attracted students from mechanical engineering,microelectronic engineering, materials science and engineering as well a doctoral student inMicrosystems Engineering. The course has become part of a concentration program

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Robert Edwards; Gerald Recktenwald

try to increasetheir interest in the material. A traditional lecture is then presented on the material. The studentsshould be more prepared for the lecture, and may have questions they may not otherwise have.Finally, the students go into the lab and run a more extensive test using the same equipment. This paper presents a pedagogical framework for these types of exercises and an overviewof the seven experiments that are under development.Introduction This paper outlines a suite of seven laboratory exercises intended to be used in undergraduateclasses in thermal and fluid sciences. The exercises are designed to make the students confronttheir misperceptions about the core principles involved, and to ultimately improve the

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Chitralekha Potnis; Ajit Potnis

; developmentUndertaking research on the problems of industry by educational institutions means handling ofsuch problems in the classrooms and the laboratories of these institutions. That is one of thesurest and most effective ways of building up a faculty involved in practical problems andpreparing students to deal with such problems. Industries should establish their own R & Dwings which should work in close liaison with educational institutions to carry out theresearches.5. Ancillary production centerAuthors feel that projects at undergraduate & post graduate level should be essentially industrialbased. i.e., requirements of industry. Ancillary production centers should be started at variouseducational institutes. The product (requirement of industry

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Wei Cao; Peggy Vance; Robert Lockhart

-curriculum or extracurricular program amongthe middle schools.(4) Work with industrial sector: During the past five years, the member students of the clubhave been worked with several industrial sectors that sponsor our competition. For example, theParallax, which is a big player for educational robots, the Toyota, where the robots are usedintensively, Appalachia Education Foundation Laboratory and others. Those cooperativeexperiences enhance those students’ scope of real world cutting edge technology and makeconnection to the industry that will benefit our students with bright future.Looking for Future The competition has been gone through many challenges and the organization committeehas planed more in the future for k-12 kids in WV.(1) We

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Gregory E. Needel

Robotics as a Vehicle for Engineering Education Gregory E. Needel Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 14623An important factor in an engineering education is the students' ability to apply their theoreticalknowledge to solving real world problems. Unfortunately, many schools are unable to providefull laboratories for experimental experiences due to a variety of constraints. This is a seriousproblem for educators who wish to provide practical learning for their students. One of the morecommonly employed methods of providing a “hands-on” approach to learning is through the useof educational

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Ahmed S. Khan; Beverly Cronin; Maneesh Kumar; Atef Mustafa; Pankti Patel; Joey Socorro

proposal. And inthe second course (EET-410L, Senior Project Laboratory) students implement the project plan bybuilding and testing a prototype. A typical project involves a solution to a software/hardware-based engineering problem. The process of developing and implementing a solution to theproblem offers a learning opportunity for students to gain new insights and competencies as aresult of “constructivist” and “deep learning” teaching/learning approaches. According to the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors, 3 constructivism is a "viewpoint inlearning theory which holds that individuals acquire knowledge by building it from innatecapabilities interacting with the environment." The constructivist approach is based on recentresearch about the