Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Robert Edwards; Gerald Recktenwald

device generally hasno resemblance to a refrigerator the students are familiar with, so it can be difficult for them torelate to the device on a practical level. We recognize that many of the laboratory exercises atour own institutions are of this type, which is part of the motivation for this work. The seven exercises outlined in this paper are intended to be used in several undergraduatecourses. No attempt is being made to entirely replace traditional lab exercises in these courseswith our own, but to supplement them. A key difference between our exercises and traditionalexercises is that ours are designed to teach core principles rather than to demonstrate them. Thistype of learning will be discussed later in this paper as the pedagogical

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Roy W. Melton

., “A laboratory approach to multidisciplinary freshman computer engineering,” 2006 ASEE St. Lawrence Section Conference, Ithaca, N.Y., USA, Nov. 17-18, 2006, available from http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Conferences/ASEE2006/ASEE%20Papers/Session%203/Paper_Melton.pdf.ROY W. MELTONDr. Roy Melton received B.E.E., M.S.E.E., and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from theGeorgia Institute of Technology. He is currently Lecturer of Computer Engineering at the Rochester Institute ofTechnology. During his graduate studies he worked as a teaching assistant as well as in Georgia Tech’s CERL andEASL laboratories. In addition, he has worked for AccuSentry and for IBM.

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Daren R. Wilcox; Gerd W. Wostenkuhler

-38855 Wernigerode, Germany +49 3943 659-322 gwoestenkuehler@hs-harz.deAbstractIn this paper, a curriculum for an introductory digital electronics course using VHDL based on a customdesigned development board is presented. The development board is centered on the ispM4A CPLD.The development of the CPLD teaching aid is the direct result of collaboration between engineeringfaculty at Hochschule Harz (University of Applied Studies and Research) in Wernigerode, Germany andSouthern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Georgia, USA. The discussion that follows includesan overview of VHDL in engineering education, an overview of the ispM4A, a design review of theteaching

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

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

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

Chitralekha Potnis; Ajit Potnis

development. Engineering syllabi should bemodified to be consistent with the latest engineering practice followed by industries and updatedat regular intervals. This should be done by involving industrial & practicing engineers incurriculum development.3. ConsultancyThe educational institutes can play a commendable role in the field of consultancy. This isbecause these institutes have the largest concentrations of most qualifies men in various areas ofscience & technology. The initiative in this regard should come from industry and theeducational institutions must accept the challenge. Consultancy will immensely improve theutility of both teaching and research which would turn out to be an advantage to the industry.4. Research &

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Wei Cao; Peggy Vance; Robert Lockhart

, and did the experiments bythemselves under the supervision of NASA bus crew. Those shows and experiments covered thewide range of NASA research projects, such as model shuttle launch, model wind tunnel, turboengine experiment, satellite communication ground station and other advanced technology fromNASA. A particular Lego Mindstorms Robot show drew much attention from the kids. And theNASA colleague told the kids that this small robot is mimic version of the real robots sent toMars. They both used the same scientific and technology principles. And that the LegoMindstorms Robots was invented by MIT learning lab, which aims to teach the science andengineering principle for k-12 kids. Dr. Wei Cao shared his experience with

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