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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Keith M. Gardiner

Virtual and Collaborative Project-Based Learning Keith M. Gardiner1Abstract – Project-Based Learning (PBL) methods have been used together with a digitized course managementsystem to enable small numbers of first year engineering students to collaborate, communicate, organize and work ingroups to plan, research and develop information for two-page status reports on a wide range of local, national, andglobal societal and technological issues. A large class comprising 331 first year engineering students wasadministered, managed and successfully guided through a whole semester of practical ‘hands-on’ laboratoryactivities culminating in student presentations to explain their practical lab

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Brian Savilonis; Kent Rissmiller

Great Problem Seminars: Engaging First Year Students in Project-Based Learning Brian Savilonis,1 Kent Rissmiller 2In the early 1970’s, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) promoted project-based learning to the core of itsacademic program. At that time, WPI redesigned its graduation requirements to include two required projects [2].One project is undertaken within the student’s major field of study is completed during the senior year. A secondproject is usually completed during the junior year and challenges students to work on an interdisciplinary problemat the interface of science, technology, and societal needs [4]. For both projects, effective teamwork is a key skillemphasized

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Vijay Kanabar

Model Curriculum Research—Graduate Degree Specializations in Project Management Vijay Kanabar Director of Project Management Programs, Boston University, 808 Commonwealth Ave, Room 250, Boston, MAOur research introduces a model for colleges or universities designing a graduate curriculum in project management.It is based on our experience with implementing concentrations at Boston University and involvement by faculty innational curriculum standards. The research methodology involved researching several dozen project managementprograms, as well as research papers dealing with standards to create a create a base model of MS PM programs andspecialization. We evaluated seventy-three available

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Gonca Altuger-Genc

Implementation Review of a Service-Learning Project into a Freshman Level Plastics Engineering Course Gonca Altuger-Genc1In an effort to provide students with a vast array of experiences, educators support their in-class teaching withproject-based, experiential and hands-on learning approaches. As these approaches have been implemented intoundergraduate engineering curriculum, the need for incorporating the service component became necessary. As theimportance of service learning became more evident, higher education institutions incorporated service learningconcept into the engineering education. University of Massachusetts Lowell incorporated service-learning intomany of its undergraduate

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ethan Danahy; Morgan Hynes; Leslie Schneider; Danielle Dowling

The Aggregation Tool: Toward Collaborative Inquiry in Design-Based Science and Engineering Projects Ethan Danahy, Ph.D.1 [Morgan Hynes, Ph.D.,2 Leslie Schneider, Ph.D., Danielle Dowling]Abstract – A growing body of research has shown two things: (1) collaborative design-based inquiry activitiesshow remarkable gains in students’ understanding of science and (2) such activities are largely absent in theclassroom because they can be challenging to implement. In order to rectify the current situation, the InteractiveLearning and Collaboration Environment, or InterLACE, project seeks to design a suite of technological tools thatfacilitates class-wide collaborative sense-making. To that end, we have created an idea aggregation tool that

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

John W. Duggan; Michael Davidson; Leonard Anderson

Promoting Intra-Disciplinary Design in Civil Engineering Technology: An Approach to Comprehensive Capstone Design Through Faculty and Practitioner Mentorship John W. Duggan, Ph.D., P.E.(1), Michael Davidson, P.E.(2), Leonard Anderson, Ph.D., C.P.C.(3)Abstract - Working in teams, civil engineering technology students develop an open-ended design on a project of theirchoosing. The design integrates several design and engineering concepts including design alternatives, designassumptions, value engineering, cost, safety, construction feasibility, construction scheduling, engineering ethics andengineering economy. All projects include elements of civil engineering sub-disciplines, including structural, hydraulic,site

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Vicki V. May

A Cooperative Learning Approach to Designing, Analyzing, and Building a Structure as a Class Vicki V. May1Abstract – Students seem to have little trouble applying equations and using structural analysis methods but theyoften struggle with creating mathematical models, making appropriate assumptions, and approximating the responseof structures, concepts that are not easily addressed with textbook problems. For the past three years students in mystructural analysis course have worked cooperatively to design, analyze, and construct a structure for a non-profitorganization in the community as a class. While active and project-based learning is becoming more popular incollege classrooms

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Marc Veletzos P.E.

Merrimack College’s Haiti Service Learning Initiative Marc Veletzos1, P.E., Ph.D.AbstractMerrimack College’s Haiti Service Learning Initiative (MCHSLI) is a partnership between Project Medishare forHaiti and Merrimack College that benefits both the Haitian population and our students. The Haitian people receivemuch needed medical, developmental and engineering related assistance. The students receive a memorable andrewarding experience and the opportunity to nurture a deeper understanding of relevant discipline specific contentthrough personal connections to the project and the people they meet in Haiti.The initiative began with discussions among faculty and staff members across the college after a

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Steven Kirstukas; Nidal Al-Masoud

/Pro(formerly Pro/E) in “Solid Modeling and Design” at the senior level. Homework, classroom assignments, and a self-selected term-project are evaluated on the basis of using the software efficiently, creating the correct geometry inboth shape and size, and employing constraint-based solid modeling to transfer design intent from drawing to model.The grading rubric of the term-project examines several attributes of the design process, such as identifying theproblem, defining criteria and constraints, brainstorming possible solutions, generating ideas and alternatives,constructing virtual models using solid modeling software, and refining the design. The rubric emphasizes taking anidea from concept to product-ready prototype. The value of

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Christopher Swan; Xinyu Wang; Kurt Paterson; Krissy Guzak

developed from engineering education. With respect tomany of these desired aims, recent research has discovered and espoused the positive contributions of LearningThrough Service (LTS) in engineering education 5,6,9. This awareness has often come obliquely with some of themost engaging LTS opportunities originating outside formal academic learning (i.e., the classroom). For example,since 2002, students in more than half the nation’s engineering colleges have developed student chapters ofEngineers Without Borders-USA (EWB-USA) that serve developing communities through project work 8. There arefew, if any, other such dramatic and widespread movements within engineering education, yet, with such a rapidchange, a thorough understanding of best

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Brian Davis; Chris Dorchester; Ted Geldmacher; Tim William; Salah Badjou

on pollution and energy costs. This project was completed in a semester-longjunior-level Electromechanical Design course of the interdisciplinary electromechanical engineering program atWentworth Institute of Technology. All goals were met, a functioning prototype developed, and the finalcalculations made for the installation of a turbine in Keene, New Hampshire with a power output estimation of 71kW.Keywords: Renewable energy, turbine, generator, electric grid INTRODUCTIONWith the growing concern of a cleaner living environment, renewable energy has generated a large interest andmarket [9]. With a high potential energy stored in water towers through the pressure caused by gravity, there

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jani Pallis; Neal Lewis; Ravi Mishra; Navarun Gupta; Arthur McAdams; Richard Yelle

developed which will provide a sustainable method for students towork with the new CTech IncUBator and its businesses while gaining college credit and experience. Studentexcellence and entrepreneur teams (E-Teams) will either work with the incubator to develop and commercializetheir own ideas or they will develop products with existing businesses (both inside and outside of the IncUBator).The project develops the necessary business and education structures to make a sustainable business relationshipbetween UB students and the IncUBator and its associated companies.Keywords: entrepreneurship, commercialization, prototype INTRODUCTIONThe process of taking a new product from concept to commercialization can

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Zhiyong Gu; Bridgette Budhlall; Hongwei Sun; Carol Barry; Alfred Donatelli; Jill Lohmeier

-onlaboratory exercises, demonstration experiments, and a final design project. In this presentation, we will discuss thelecture topics and eight hands-on laboratory experiments or activities that have been developed into modules tocomplement respective lectures, including fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mixing, reaction engineering,electophoresis, and manufacturing methods for micro and nanoscale devices. Figure 2 shows a lab module focusedon the thermal conductivity measurement of nanofluids. We will also show the final project designs for thenanodevices or nanosystems that have been finished by student teams at the end of the course. Finally, we willshow results of the pre-post student surveys as well as faculty interviews.This new interdisciplinary

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Gonca Altuger-Genc

Social Network-based Self-Regulated Learning for Engineers: Is it possible? Gonca Altuger-Genc1Lifelong learning gained more importance as the Accreditation Board for Engineering Education and Technology(ABET) criteria require that engineering programs demonstrate that their students attain “a recognition of the needfor, and an ability to engage in lifelong learning”. Universities across the nation are implementing modules,projects, case studies, and online set-ups to meet the lifelong learning criterion. The concept of lifelong learningdiffers than the traditional in-class learning in being self-regulated and voluntary. These two characteristics oflifelong learning make it

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jessica Dawn Ventura

for overseas consumers, American engineers will come in contactwith foreign cultures.In view of the high impact globalization is having on engineering, many engineering schools have integrated globalexperiences into their undergraduate programs. Purdue University’s Global Engineering Program aims to give eachengineering student at least one meaningful international experience during their years at the university [6]. Thevariety of opportunities provided to students include work and study abroad, service learning projects, researchopportunities, and on-campus programs. The Projects for Under-served Communities academic program at TheUniversity of Texas at Austin [7] and the Global Village Project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology [8

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jerald D. Cole

“text” during class seems antithetical at first--like encouraging cell phone use during abusiness meeting. Moreover, a minor percentage of disengaged students will always be inclined to gossip on non-course related topics. Negative predispositions against Twitter are indeed colored by non-participatory uses thatpresent as distractors in the aforementioned situations.The key then is to repurpose texting during class sessions by making it participatory. That includes making thenumber and relevancy of the tweets count as a percentage of the final grade, and monitoring of the tweet streamduring class by either the instructor or a teaching assistant to address issues raised by students on-the-fly.Prominent projection of the transcript, either on a

Collection

2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jianyu Liang; Terri Camesano

. The overall goal of the new course is to give undergraduate students theopportunity to learn nanobiotechnology through an inquiry-based module that students addressin collaborative teams.The class is organized based on Felder and Silverman’s3 5-E Instructional Model which hasstudents Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate to achieve the following objectives:  Increase students’ knowledge of Nanobiotechnology,  Increase the skills of undergraduate engineering students in developing research methodology,  Prepare students to deliver high-quality oral and written presentation projects,  And enhance the interest and enthusiasm of undergraduate students for Nanobiotechnology.Fifteen students

Collection

2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Lisa Shatz

to others by blogging, and by designing an experiment. To that end, the students’ final project is to design a lab activity that teaches about the science of sustainability which they instruct to students of another class. The 2.5 hour class meeting time contains not only lectures about sustainability issues and the science behind them but also a ~1 hour hands-on activity using Labview and Lego Robotics that teaches mainly about sustainabilityconcepts but also some robotics as well. The activities included building a car-robot and programming it to perform certain tasks to learn about concepts such distance, velocity, acceleration, as well as building and programming; amass-pulley activity to learn about Newton’s 2nd

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Richard Harris; Hameed Metghalchi; Claire Duggan; Emanuel Mason; Rachelle Reisberg; Deepti Dutt

in science and engineering to maintain a globally competitive edge. This recent reportessentially builds on an alarm that was sounded five years earlier in the 2005 publication: RISING ABOVE THEGATHERING STORM by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute ofMedicine. This has considerable implications for the STEM professions, such as engineering, where minoritiesmake up a disproportionately low percentage of the workforce. According to U.S. Census Bureau projects, non-Hispanic white males will decline as a fraction of the working age population from 37% in 1995 to 26% in 2050. Inthat same time span, the fraction of African Americans in the workforce will increase from 12 to 14%, Hispanicsfrom 10% to 24

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

A. Ieta; R. Manseur; M. Hromalik

proper environment is also needed, so that they can learn both effectively and efficiently [3]. Accordingly,there is a continuous effort in search of more effective content delivery methods in order to achieve the skills neededin engineering. Students should learn to apply what they do know, while being innovative [4]. Projects andlaboratories provide hands-on exercises that stimulate curiosity, bring relevance to the theoretical training andprovide a practical foundation to engineering skills [5].Studio-style [1-14] teaching comes as an effective method to address the needs of engineering education. Themethod, pioneered in the nineties by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute [6], has shown effective gains versus thetraditional separate lecture

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Joseph J. Helble; Carolyn E. Fraser; Eric R. Fossum

research intoinnovative technology. The program is designed to teach them to recognize the skills needed to bring aboutsuccessful innovation and associated new enterprise, and to provide the opportunity to take risks, possibly fail, andultimately learn from the experience in a structured environment. PROGRAM STRUCTUREStructureThe Ph.D. Innovation shares a common core with Thayer’s Ph.D. program, which is comprised of applied math andengineering coursework, a multi-year research project, professional skill-building, an oral qualifying examinationand a Ph.D. thesis defense. The program adds Tuck School of Business (adjoining the Engineering school on theDartmouth campus) and Thayer Innovation coursework

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

James A. Lee; Michael J. D'Agostino

careers in the design and construction of the builtenvironment, including civil engineering and construction management. As the concept of sustainable designcontinues to hold greater significance in engineering and related professional disciplines, the laboratory alsoprovides the opportunity to reinforce principles of sustainability, including embodied energy, life cycle assessment,waste management and minimization. In addition, the design project has and continues to provide undergraduateresearch opportunities in the area of concrete design. Some aspects of this work will also be presented in this paper.Keywords: Concrete; Recycling; Aggregates; Wastewater; Sustainability BACKGROUNDIndustry Need

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Carlos Luck

investments. After 6 years, I am pleased to report that theapproach has been a great success, but not without continuing challenges. Key to the curriculum synergy between EE and ME was the creation of an engineering core, consisting ofcommon courses at all levels of the program, resulting in less than 25% of the credits that are program-specific. Forinstance, we have adapted the 3-semester Circuits/Electromechanical Energy Conversion sequence to include asystem dynamics perspective, freeing us from delivering key mathematical concepts in duplicate, while buildingelectromechanical competency for ME’s. The junior- and senior-level design experiences are fully interdisciplinary,with project teams comprising of both electrical and mechanical

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

David O. Kazmer

strengths and opportunities for UML. This exercise proved to be clarifying, with thecommunicated strengths including: 1) balance of practical training with engineering education, 2) geographic nichewith local access, 3) excellent value proposition, and 4) highly collaborative environment. Faculty proposed manyopportunities for advancing teaching/learning including project “maker” space, new engineering minors, more socialevents, and greater alumni involvement. Some of the suggested research opportunities included rationalization ofresearch spaces, establishment of graduate student offices, improving the quality of doctoral students with standardoffers, and development of larger research centers. Faculty also suggested administrative initiatives

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Edwin Schmeckpeper; Ashley Ater Kranov; Steve Beyerlein; Jay McCormack; Pat Pedrow

and discussion prompts; (2)transcript of student discussion as a response to the task and; (3) an accompanying analytical rubric that is used tomeasure the quality of the students’ performance in demonstrating the engineering professional skills. Since 2009,faculty members at Washington State University, the University of Idaho, and Norwich University have beenengaged in a three-year, multi-institution project to expand the set of scenarios as well as rigorously establish inter-rater reliability, content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity of the EPSA method and associated rubric.This effort is sponsored by the NSF Research in Evaluation of Engineering and Science Education (REESE)program [9].2012 ASEE Northeast Section

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Francis J. Hopcroft

their owncontrol and therefore rebel against the course even before the first session. This article looks at various culturalelements that inform and influence those feelings and discusses ways to begin to change those attitudes within thestudent bodies.Keywords: Diversity, Cultures INTRODUCTIONIt has been observed that students taking similar classes in college often project a wide range of academic skills,interest in the subject matter, and personal justifications for class attendance, among other things. Since people areinherently different, there is no shock or surprise generated by these observations; merely academic curiosity andfodder for research by those so inclined.Academic research can

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

John Finnie

. DiscussionAssignments on the history of technology have been used by the author in both senior civil engineering and firstyear general engineering courses. In a senior seminar course, individual students were assigned to write a paper andmake an oral presentation on a topic about the history of technology. Students were given a list of possible topics,or could nominate topics for the instructor’s approval. The topics were usually of local or regional interest,including: notable structural failures, safety related tragedies, earth structures left by native populations,controversial projects such as power plants, development of highway corridors, and development of naturalresources.In a first year general engineering course, student groups were assigned to

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

David Kazmer; Katie Bardaro

1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Years Post Engineering Baccaleurate Figure 1: Projected salary profile for the aggregate of bachelor degreed engineers 5 5

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Olga Lepsky; Michael Werner

members make the proposals over thepreferences of the group whose members choose whether to accept or refuse. The students are asked how we cantweak the algorithm to reverse the bias, and, better yet, to eliminate it. (We got some good suggestions from thestudents.) The next question arises: if it is proven that the original algorithm always results in a stable matching,does the modified algorithm also achieve it? The last question may be answered by doing analysis or by extensivetesting.The stable marriage algorithm was applied to college admissions, matching two roommates, and matching medicalschool graduates to residency training programs [6, 8]. An interesting project is to apply (possibly tweaking) thestable marriage algorithm to other

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2012 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jacob Cox; Jason Cody; Jesse Fleming; Matthew Miller

is disappointing that not all students can sit in the room’s best seats. Inour class and many others, we believe those seats are typically situated in the front and middle columns of the room.To develop our OML list, we first rank ordered the students belonging to the test group strictly by their GPAs. Wechose GPA because it has been identified as the best indicator for future course performance in previous research[12]. Once the initial ranking was completed, teachers were instructed to consider each student’s SAT-Math scoreand programming experience. In cases where students possessed significant programming experience, such as aprevious programming course or involvement in a programming project, instructors were asked to evaluate