Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

M.G. Guvench

Design, Simulation and Testing of MOSIS Fabricated CMOS Operational Amplifiers for Class Projects in an Analog I.C. Design Course M.G. Guvench University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME 04038 guvench@usm.maine.edu AbstractThe paper describes use of MOSIS fabricated CMOS Operational Amplifiers as a real world designexperience in senior level Analog Integrated Circuit Courses in Electrical Engineering. In the one-semestercourse on CMOS Analog I.C. Design offered at our department, design of a CMOS Operational Amplifier isrequired as a term project. Students are given a set of

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Christopher W. Swan; Julia Carroll

professional issuesassociated with the practice of engineering. The course also examines the economic, political andsocial issues that frame the project delivery process. Professionalism, ethics, communications,and leadership skill development were threaded throughout the course. Though specificallydeveloped and aimed for civil and environmental engineers, course materials are applicable tomost areas of engineering and science. This paper presents an overview of the course and provides specific examples of differentpedagogical methods and tools used for topic and course delivery. In addition to exams andassignments, a number of term projects were completed, allowing students to actively apply theskills discussed. Some of the pedagogical

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Evolution of a Senior Capstone Course Through the Assessment ProcessAbstractThe civil engineering senior capstone design course at the United States Coast GuardAcademy has evolved over the past fifteen years. Historically teams of cadets worked inparallel on one design problem with a single faculty advisor. The senior design projectsnow actively involve students in a variety of real world consulting projects to help theCoast Guard and local communities meet technical challenges. Each student team workson a unique project with a faculty advisor. The departmental assessment processconfirmed the educational benefits of student exposure to real world projects with clients,budgets, and deliverables

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Arthur Heinricher; Brian Savilonis; David Spanagel; Robert Traver; Kristin Wobbe

explored the chemical,ethical, physiological and economic dimensions of a (simple) question: Why do we eat what weeat? The students completed projects on subjects ranging from hunger in Worcester tocontrolling fertilizer runoff. Power the World focused on the physics, history, and theenvironmental and economic impact of energy technologies. The students completed projectsranging from an energy cost analysis of green roofs and photovoltaic systems for WPI to airpollution in China.This paper will describe the final student projects as well as the smaller projects and activitiesdesigned to help students develop the intellectual skills needed for research and professionalwork, including clear, succinct writing, oral presentation, pair and small group

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Roy T.R. McGrann

landing gear design and analysis project. Acomparison of outcomes is made of results for semesters in which the videos were used withoutaccompanying lectures with other semesters in traditional lecture format. The changes to the coursethat were adopted based on the assessment are presented. The assessment procedure is used to improvethe quality of the course and to satisfy ABET requirements. It is proposed that this assessmentprocedure using marker problems can be used in other design courses.IntroductionThe ability to design components and systems is recognized as one of the key characteristics definingan engineer. Design is a “systematic, intelligent process in which designers generate, evaluate andspecify concepts for devices, systems, or

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

M. Ali Montazer

this lab including ARENA andQUEST 3-dimenssional discrete event simulation software for factory modeling.Initially, two aerospace parts manufacturers, Consolidated Industries Inc. (a metal forgingcompany in Cheshire, CT) and Valley Tool and Manufacturing (a machining andmanufacturing services company in Orange, CT), and three months later, a healthcare-medical devices company (Covidien previously U.S. Surgical) participated as the first setof real world test-cases in this experimental initiative. Each company was assigned astudent team who was responsible for the total project life cycle (from definition toreporting and presentation) in which they developed a discrete event simulation model ofa process from each organization. The experiment

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Matt Armstrong; Richard L. Comitz; Andrew Biaglow; Russ Lachance; Joseph Sloop

that more closely resembles the reality of the actual design process, to include the abilityto use Chemical Engineering software in an earlier stage of the development process.Results and Discussion Chemical Reaction Engineering Design Project In the Chemical Reaction Engineering class, the students were given a design project with thefollowing specifications: 1. Volumetric flow rate υ0 is 52 L/min; 2. A desired product ratio of 50:50 n-propyl-p-xylene to isopropyl-p-xylene at the outlet; and 3. T min is 15°C and Tmax is 70°C. The studentswere directed to use ChemCad to develop their designs, but ChemCad needs frequency factor andactivation energy values to correctly model the reactions mathematically. Since these values could

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

John Adams; Charles Kochakian

systems engineering concepts and introducing economicconcepts and business benefits through implementations such as found in Supply Chain andWarehouse Management (SCM/WHM). In addition, RFID is a natural place to introduce ethicalas well as global engineering issues. The course includes selected RFID projects incorporatingbusiness student participation on multidisciplinary teams. As a result, the department has beenable to tailor the course to specifically addresses ABET1 outcomes 3 (d), 3 (f) and 3 (h). Earlyexperience in multidisciplinary teamwork has been favorable, one example provided by a teamthat evaluated possible adoption of RFID by the college’s library. The role of assessment indeciding to adopt this course, and the assessment of the

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Aaron S. Bradshaw; Gary N. McCloskey; Franklin Miguel

of Luz Consuelo (Figure 1) isinterested in improving the quality of life for these people. Since these people have essentially nomonetary resources, future development of replacement housing will require external funding. TheDirector is in the process of obtaining funds but it is unclear what the future housing will look like.Therefore, the design objective for the students is to design housing that is safe, maintains the integrity ofthe existing community, and minimizes cost to allow the most effective use of external funds. The courseconsists of three major phases including research, field research, and design.Research Phase (Reflection-on-Action)Typically the first step to any civil engineering project is to collect and understand as much

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

R. Radharamanan; Ha Van Vo

mixing cup, and a spoon. The robot armshould be programmed to include all the necessary motions to complete the mixing process. The resultsobtained from the student team projects on the above three modules are also presented, analyzed, anddiscussed.1. IntroductionThe advancement of industrial applications of process technology, computers, and automation demandscontinuous improvement in the quality of engineering education both in classroom theory and in hands-onpractice in design, computer simulation, and manufacturing laboratories. There is a growing need forpreparing students both in theory and practice so that they are well prepared to meet the challenges of thejob market, especially in the manufacturing industries of the 21st century. A

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Bahram Nassersharif

expand depths of understanding. Thecenter would provide no constraints to a person’s visual system. It would provide an environment similarto natural vision.i iiFor example, our engineering students currently build a mini-Baja vehicle for national competitions, aprocess that normally takes nine months to complete because many of the problems in the design arediscovered during vehicle manufacturing. With the availability of the Discovery Center, students wouldview large “wrap-around” imagery from inside physical mock-ups of the vehicle or cab, whilemanipulating actual vehicle controls. The student’s design project would be test driven before a prototypeis ever built. Students could fly through a jet engine or follow a Borrelia burgdorferi (the

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Mir M. Atiqullah

demand for composites engineers the engineering andtechnology graduates need to be knowledgeable in the field, if not develop some level of expertise, beforethey graduate from college. Traditional materials science/engineering course can accommodate only anoverview of composites. In the absence of a dedicated composites course a special project course or aresearch project on composites could be a supplement to the standard materials course. During thesummer of 2007, two minority students were awarded scholarships from Peach State Louis StokesAlliance for Minority Participation (PSLSAMP) to do undergraduate research. These students alreadycompleted their regular engineering materials course and were assigned to the project of performing

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ismail I. Orabi

exclusively on the web. The online class required students to attend four face-to-face meetings during which main topics of the course were discussed and exams of the course were administered, and projects were presented. Course materials in the form of lecture notes, text-based supplementary materials, discussion groups, and testing were offered through the Internet. The course used Blackboard as the course delivery platform. Test questions were drawn from the same test bank used for the traditional section. • Traditional section: A separate section of this course was offered using a mix of traditional and online based delivery means. The class met regularly for lectures, assignments, and

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

David Evanko; Arend Dorsett; Chiu Choi

below.2.1. SensorsThe Sharp GP2D12 infrared distance sensors[4] were chosen for the project because they were inexpensiveand sensitive enough for registering the location of the ball on the beam. Also the infrared beam isnarrowly confined that adjacent objects does not easily interfere with the detection of the ball position.The output of the GP2D12 distance sensor is a voltage that is exponentially related to the distance. Therange of the distance measured by the sensor is from 10cm to 80 cm. For the range over 40cm, thesensitivity decreases rapidly (see Fig. 2). To increase the sensitivity over the entire length of the beam,two sensors are used instead of just one. The two sensors are mounted on opposite ends of the beam. Thedifference of the

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Richard B. Mindek

. The topicof PLC’s was covered as the eleventh of twelve three-hour lectures given over the entire semester. Thelecture was quite extensive, covering Chapter 8 in Reference [1], including the characteristics andelements of PLCs, the use of truth tables, Boolean algebra, ladder logic and associated symbolism, andexamples demonstrating discrete process control using both logic (event) driven and sequence (time)driven system changes. Students were then asked to read the corresponding material in the text [1] forhomework, given instruction for about 15 minutes on the use of the PLC platform and its associatedsoftware as described above, and then given a PLC project to complete. The project required students tocomplete the exercises, as outlined in

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Hudson V. Jackson; Evelyn A. Ellis

aligned with the realworld needs of business and industry. Several programs such as STEM summer programs and internshipshave been developed to address these issues, but to a large extent, such programs are short-term based.Additionally, they mostly target high school students; are only applicable in one grade level; or are onetime project-based events. What would be the impact of systematically exposing PK through high schoolstudents to engineering concepts, applications, and career opportunities on a long-term, continuous basisat each grade level? If students are constantly reminded that engineering is part of their daily lives, thiscould generate a lifetime interest in the engineering profession and engage them in benefiting humanity.The

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ali Setoodehnia; Kamal Shahrabi; Anthony Manno

classes to support their new family.Suggestions to Solve Retention ProblemIn order to reduce student attrition rate, increase their success rate and improve studentretention the following suggestions are offered to assist in achieving these goals. Orientation and entrance measurement test Identify students at risk before enrollment Identify students at risk after enrollment Provide group discussions or have a course discussion section Provide effective homework assignments instead of busy work Provide mini projects, close to actual projects that they can find in the work place Send at-risk students to tutorial sessions Provide a mentoring program Have workshops and guest speakers on how their education

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Linda Ann Riley; Charles Thomas

meetings.First, due to the nature of our two-semester multidisciplinary senior design class, students from the highschool robotics class as well as the middle school science classes will partner with senior engineering andcomputer science students to experience the excitement of competition design projects. This year, amongother corporate sponsored projects, four senior design competition projects are included in the portfolio.They are the ASME Human Powered Vehicle, ASCE Steel Bridge, PEER Seismic, and WERCEnvironmental Engineering competitions. In each of these projects, direct connections between gradelevel and grade span expectations in the high school and middle school curricula have been identified.High school and middle school students will

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Elif Kongar; Tarek Sobh

Publications/year 84 76 63 16Max Women Students 260 197 182 (14%) 17Min Attrition Rate (Max Retention) 3% 5% 7.5% 18Max Co-op and internship participation in co-op programs 95% 86% 80% 19Max # of Staff (Administrative Personnel) 10 5 5 20RO* # of Students per Class (Average) 25 35 * 30 21Max # of Projects sponsored by industry/year 50 30 25

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Creep Response of Asphalt Mixture and Pavement Rutting Estimates, American Society for Testing and Materials, STP 1147, pp 329-347, Philadelphia, 1992.(8) Robert Brooks (a/k/a: James Matthews) and S.Jahanian, A Pedagogical Strategy for gradual Enhancement of Creative Performance of the Students, European Journal of Engineering Education, Volume 24, No. 1, 1999.(9) S.Jahanian and Robert Brooks (a/k/a James Matthews), Multidisciplinary Project-A Tool for Learning the Subject, Journal of American Society of Engineering Education, April 1999, pp 153-162. 78910

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Harry Knickle; Don Gray

friction factorwith hand valves and now are using digital signal controlled solenoid valves. Dataacquisition includes pressure drop and flow. The design for this project includedselection of the proper devices for the correct range of variables. Our second examplewas a laboratory cooling tower used to cool hot water with ambient air. Similar conceptswere introduced for this experiment. Our intentions are to automate other seniorlaboratory experiments. Each of these labs lasts 4-6 3 hour sessions (up to two weeks).To help prepare the students for these experiments we may give mini-lectures or havediscussions with the teams.In addition to the below listed experiments the students may spend time on a largedistillation column or a dual stage

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Dean M. Aslam; Zongliang Cao; Cyrous Rostamzadeh

include the development of activecollaborations with education researchers for the formal conduction of education research which will be reported infuture publication.Acknowledgement This work was partly supported by the Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundationunder Award Number EEC-9986866.REFERENCES[1] Lipman, M. (1991). Thinking in education.New York: Cambridge University Press.[2] CTGV. (1992). The jasper series as an example of anchored instruction: Theory, program description, and assessment data. Educational Psychologist, 27(3), 291-315.[3] Krajcik, J. S., Blumenfeld, P. C., Marx, R. W., Bass, K. M., Fredricks, J., & Soloway, E. (1998). Inquiry in project-based science classrooms: Initial

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ha Van Vo; Stephanie Rossman; Zsaquez Flucker; R. Radharamanan

to certain ground surfaces because they are rigid and donot allow for a normal gait. Therefore this causes excessive moment and shear force to occur andconsequently compensation occurs at the stump and socket interface. This will later in turn causecomplications of pressure sores and discomfort along the stump. In the biomechanics lab at MercerUniversity, students have been involved in several research projects and lab works relating to lowerextremity biomechanics using gait analysis system and measure moment and reaction forces.The authors used Pro-E to model a mobile (full range of motion at the ankle level) and immobile (rigidand no motions occur at the ankle joint) prosthetic devices and analyzed the shear stress in the pylons andsockets

Collection

2008 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Elif Kongar; Paul Kontogiorgis; Nancy L. Russo; Tarek Sobh

by the Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science andEngineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Instituteof Medicine5; increasing and sustaining women enrollment in STEM can only be possible by acollaborative effort rather than independent individual institutional projects. In this regard, university 5leaders, such as university presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs, faculties and their senatesshould develop and implement regulations to promote women in engineering, technology and computing.Professional societies and higher education organizations should develop and enforce guidelines to ensurethat keynote and