Conference Session

Four Pillars of Manufacturing

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David L. Wells, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

of‘manufacturing’. This construct offers a far-reaching method for envisioning the manufacturingsector of the economy that ought to become widely used at all levels in the near future -- fromcrafting of company strategies to formulation of governmental policy. Figure 1: The Four Pillars of Manufacturing (adapted from original)2 More relevant to the current context, this model provides a powerful tool for structuring theeducational curricula in Manufacturing Engineering.3 While the original Four Pillars modelsupports the ultimate objective of the product producing enterprise, the educational process Page 23.585.3culminates in a capstone

Conference Session

Integration of Manufacturing and Society

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Dunston, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Garth V Crosby, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

perceptions toward thecourse as it relates to course expectations and organization; time spent on course; and attitudesand perceptions of online learning among students enrolled in the online section versus studentsenrolled in the face-to-face section.To compare performance of the students in the two sections, the mean percentage on the threeexams was calculated as well as the overall grade percentage in the course.Table 1 provides a comparison of the time spent on the course and time spent navigating throughthe LMS for both online and face-to-face students. Based on the t-test results, there was asignificant difference between the time spent on the course for online students versus face-to-face students, with the former spending more hours per week

Conference Session

Retention and Persistence in Engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria-Isabel Carnasciali, University of New Haven; Amy E Thompson, University of New Haven; Terance Joshua Thomas, University of New Haven

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Question 1: How important are specific socializers, interest, and external influencers when selecting or changing engineering majors for UNH engineering students?The Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science,Engineering and Technology1 found that there are four important eras in girls’ lives when theystart losing interest in STEM disciplines: while entering middle school, during late high school,college and graduate school, and in their professional lives. This study focuses upon one of themost important indicators of interest, the choice of major decision. Research Question 2: Do important influencers on the choice of engineering major affect male and female UNH engineering students

Conference Session

FPD 4: First-Year Engineering Courses, Part I: Multimedia, Large Classes, and TAs

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Farshid Marbouti, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Kelsey Joy Rodgers, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Hyunyi Jung, Purdue University; Alena Moon, Purdue University; Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

undergraduate instruction. Atlarger research institutions, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) serve to teach most of thelaboratory and discussion sections.1 There has also been a movement towards usingundergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) in an instructional capacity, specifically forintroductory courses as they provide structure for courses with large numbers of students.2-4These TAs are in a unique position by serving as both students and teachers simultaneously.A significant portion of research regarding TAs has focused on training and supporting TAs.5-7One of the problems is that many teaching assistants reported being assigned to undergraduatecourses with no prior training.8 In the case of GTAs, they are assumed to have the contentknowledge

Conference Session

First-Year Programs (FPD) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Zahorian, Binghamton University; Mike Elmore, Binghamton University; Kyle J. Temkin, Binghamton University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

declining interest of US students in the STEM disciplines relative toother choices available to students. Within engineering and computer science, educators arecoping with large increases in undergraduate enrollment in some disciplines (for example,mechanical engineering) and large declines in enrollment in others (for example electricalengineering and computer science after the “dot com” collapse 1). Over a period of four academicyears, Binghamton University has held a student survey designed to rank the factors whichinfluence choice of major. This work examines the results of these surveys, as collected from apool of approximately 300 freshman engineering-intended majors, each year. Three factors wererated by students as most important in their

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cynthia J. Finelli, University of Michigan; Kenyon M Richardson; Shanna R. Daly, University of Michigan

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

teaching practices by engineering faculty islimited (e.g., [4]). Our own research confirms these findings at the University of Michigan (U-M,a large, public research university) where we recently observed a random sample ofundergraduate, lecture-based engineering classes and discovered that the use of active learningand effective student questioning was surprisingly low [2]. To achieve wider adoption ofeffective teaching practices at our college of engineering, we are working to develop aninstitutional change plan. This paper describes one part of that change plan: a series of facultyfocus groups we conducted to explore factors that influence faculty motivation to adopt effectiveteaching practices.We use the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT, [1, 6

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anil Saigal, Tufts University; Arun Karthik Saigal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

Faculty At Top EE/CS Research Universities Anil Saigal1 and Arun Saigal2 1 Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 email: anil.saigal@tufts.edu 2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 email: aksaigal@mit.eduAbstractDoes it matter where you do your doctorate if your goal is to become a faculty member at a top electrical engineering / computer science research university?  A number of criteria have been used to rank engineering institutions including total research and development expenditures, federally sponsored research and development

Conference Session

Distance Education and Engineering Workforce Professional Development

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vedaraman Sriraman, Texas State University, San Marcos; Wayne W. Wheatley; Valerie Ann Little

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

form of an industrial internship. An alumni (one of thecoauthors) who was highly placed at the company facilitated the process.One of the key preliminary steps was the execution of a “supplier consulting agreement”between the faculty member and the company that described in detail and in legal parlance theextent and scope of the internship. Fundamental to this document was the inclusion of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The author was treated as a “Consultant”, as legal documents thatdescribed the nature and scope of consultant pre existed, whereas no documents were availablethat described the duties of the faculty intern. The key elements of the agreement which was tenpages long included: 1. Definitions 2. Engagement and Services

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Russell Pimmel, University of Alabama (Emeritus); Ann F. McKenna, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus; Norman L. Fortenberry, American Society for Engineering Education; Brian Yoder; Rocio C Chavela Guerra, American Society for Engineering Education

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

models, and on the rapidly developing web-based social networking and contentmanagement tools. It utilizes virtual communities of practice (VCP) to help faculty membersunderstand and implement research-based instructional approaches.The two goals of the project are: (1) to develop a sustainable VCP model for facultydevelopment that will enable relatively inexperienced faculty members to gain an understandingof research-based instructional approaches and to implement these approaches in theirclassrooms and (2) to identify VCP best practices by developing approaches for characterizingthe operation of VCP implementations and relating these to VCP effectiveness. This paper firstsummarizes the literature that underlies the VCP approach; then it

Conference Session

FPD 7: First-Year Engineering Courses, Part II: Perceptions and Paradigms

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janaki Isabella Perera, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Brendan Thomas Quinlivan, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering; Yevgeniya V. Zastavker, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Undergraduate Engineering Education in First-Year Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics CoursesAbstractExamining the perceptions of first-year undergraduates and their instructors can provide insightinto these students’ experiences and shed light on the emerging issues of student attrition andlack of preparedness for the workforce.1-3 Students’ perceptions about introductory courses havebeen examined in previous work.4 On the other hand, as the high rate of university studentdropouts has frequently been attributed to the poor quality of teaching in first-year undergraduatecourses, this study aims to investigate the perceptions of faculty members instructing first-yearundergraduates.5Our analysis results in several emergent themes, which

Conference Session

Community Engagement Division Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bowa George Tucker, UMass Lowell; David O Kazmer, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Olga Pierrakos, James Madison University; Chris Swan, Tufts University; Angela R Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Kurt Paterson P.E., Michigan Technological University; Annie Soisson, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Community Engagement Division

students inLTS, and b) understand how engineering faculty implement LTS initiatives. (This studyexplores faculty efforts in both service-learning and community service). This study is focusedon engineering faculty members who integrate LTS efforts in engineering across a broad rangeof institutions of higher education. Twenty-nine interviews were conducted with engineeringLTS practitioners to explore their interests, challenges, and results of their efforts. Analysis ofthe interview transcripts reveals 1) faculty members who are passionate about LTS tend to play aleading role in promoting LTS within their institution; 2) faculty’s primary interest in integratingLTS is predominantly motivated by a desire to improve the quality of their teaching and

Conference Session

Restructuring/Rethinking STEM

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nicola Sochacka, University of Georgia; Kelly Woodall Guyotte, University of Georgia; Joachim Walther, University of Georgia; Nadia N. Kellam, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Architecture. Key possibilities and pitfalls identified in theanalysis of the emails center around the question of how STEM disciplines and the arts might bethoughtfully integrated in a reciprocal manner. Specifically, the paper highlights potentialdifficulties associated with current understandings of STEAM education which, almost withoutexception, focus on the sole objective of calling upon the arts to increase the creativity of STEMmajors. Concurrently, it is observed that insufficient attention is presently given to what STEMdisciplines might contribute to the arts.IntroductionRecognition of creativity as “perhaps even the essential […] requirement for sustainedcompetitiveness, leadership, and fulfillment in the age of globalization”[1] has led an

Conference Session

General Topics in Graduate Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Katy Luchini-Colbry, Michigan State University; Korine Steinke Wawrzynski, Michigan State University; Megan Shannahan, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

Engineering Education, 2013 Feeling Like a Grad Student: A Survey of Undergraduate Researchers’ Expectations and ExperiencesIntroductionParticipating in faculty-mentored research as an undergraduate can have a profound impact onstudents’ decisions about graduate school. Students are more likely to persevere in challengingundergraduate coursework when they have support from faculty mentors and can see theconnections between classroom knowledge and their research activities.1–3 This effect can beparticularly powerful for students from populations that are historically underrepresented inSTEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields.4–7 Undergraduates who participate

Conference Session

Mechanics, Hands-on Demo - Show & Tell!

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sinead C. MacNamara, Syracuse University; Joan V. Dannenhoffer P.E., Syracuse University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

courses have onstudents’ perceptions of engineering. This paper presents the results of this evaluation,alongside student performance data, student response data and faculty observations.1. BackgroundStudies into acculturation of engineering students are rare, but studies of retention offer aglimpse into the aspects of engineering education that most impact students’ happinesswith their choice of major, and into the student characteristics and skills that mostinfluence persistence and success for students in engineering programs. It is generallyacknowledged that high math and science barriers in the first two years of undergraduatestudy contribute to attrition, but it is also argued that more creative students becomefrustrated by a lack of “big

Conference Session

Engagement in Formal and Informal Learning Environments

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey H Rosen, Georgia Tech - CEISMC; Cher C Hendricks, Georgia Institute of Technology; Norman F. Robinson III, Georgia Institute of Technology - CEISMC; Julia Sonnenberg-Klein, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

  2011   2012  communities. With this effort in place, Figure 1 shows the minority participation in 2009 was29%, with total participation at nearly 2500 students. This year, 2012-13 minority participationhas reached 30%, which is equal to the percentage of female participation in Georgia, while thetotal participation has neared 4500 participants. The other impact from this effort is the numberof minority students that advance through the FLL tournament system. In 2009, 29% of theminority participants that competedin qualifying competitions advanced Figure  2  to the second round, and of those Percentage   o f   Minority  participants  participants 28% advanced to the

Conference Session

New Concepts for Alternative and Renewable Energy Courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian G Belu, Drexel University (Tech.)

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

instrumentation is implemented. The virtual platform realized using the LabVIEW,Interactive Data Language, Maple and MATLAB/Simulink environments. It will providestudents with enhanced tools of study, virtual experiments on renewable energy sources, energyconversion and hybrid power systems. The proposed system provides the learner withinformation about the most important functions, principles and operational problems of each ofthe renewable energy sources and energy systems included.1. IntroductionEnvironmental concerns, the ever-increasing needs for power generation, depletion of the fossilfuel reserves, and steady progress in power deregulation have created increased interest inenvironmentally conscious distributed power generation. Of particular

Conference Session

Mathematics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kathleen A Harper, The Ohio State University; Gregory Richard Baker, Ohio State University; Deborah M. Grzybowski, The Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

. Page 23.603.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 First Steps in Strengthening the Connections Between Mathematics and EngineeringIt is well-documented that students have difficulty transferring their knowledge between thedomains of science, mathematics, and engineering.1-3 This lack of transfer can lead to frictionbetween these departments. Some engineering professors are tempted to blame their colleaguesin math and science for not teaching effectively or not even addressing the proper content.Conversely, colleagues in mathematics and science have been known to say that engineeringstudents do not actually try to learn the material and just plug numbers into

Conference Session

New Approaches and Applications to Enhance Technological Literacy - Part II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelsey Joy Rodgers, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Krishna Madhavan, Purdue University, West Lafayette; William C. Oakes, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

scales. It was also found that teams that includedspecific products and/or applications of nanotechnology in their project solution showed agreater understanding of nanotechnology. Based on these finding, it is recommended that thenanoscale be explained through comparisons to other scales and nanotechnology-based designprojects should encourage students to learn about specific products and/or applications ofnanotechnology.I. IntroductionFirst-year students know very little about nanotechnology.1-3 The general public is ill-informedabout nanotechnogy.4 This means that high school and college students are not receivingaccurate information about a field that is changing many aspects of our world5-6 and offers manynew learning and discovery

Conference Session

First-Year Programs (FPD) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James J. Pembridge, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach; Matthew A Verleger, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

mechanics, and solid mechanics).At a small private institution in the Southern region of the United States there is currently acorequisite requirement of Calculus I for students taking Physics I, but a perceived lack ofmathematical ability has indicated that the Calculus I course should be a prerequisite for PhysicsI and subsequently Calculus II as a prerequisite for Physics II. The physics courses primarilyutilize differentiation and integration of algebraic and elementary trigonometric functions taughtin the calculus courses. Descriptions of these courses can be seen in Table 1.Literature has identified math and physics aptitude as a predictor of academic success incollege[1, 2]. Within these studies math and physics aptitude was represented by

Conference Session

Two-Year College Division Transfer Topics Part II

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael E. Pelletier, Northern Essex Community College; Linda A. Desjardins, Northern Essex Community College; Paul Chanley, Northern Essex Community College; Lori Heymans, Northern Essex Community College

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

assignments were submitted to grade them.  Graded assignments could be revised and resubmitted at any time for re-grading.The initial offering of EST104 was one section on Fridays from 10 am to 1:50 pm. When thissection reached capacity in one week, a second section was added on Thursday morning from 8am – 11:50 am. During the fall of 2011, Professor McKnight came to the community collegeand met with the community college adjunct instructor on Mondays to cooperatively developcourse materials and handouts appropriate to the audience at the community college and adaptthe hands-on projects to the newly obtained equipment which had been fabricated at a localtechnical high school using samples, schematics and materials supplied by the university

Conference Session

Mechanics, Hands-on Demo - Show & Tell!

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carrie J. McClelland P.E., Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

issues, at a global scale. In addition, technology and other aspects of society arechanging rapidly. Therefore the skills and knowledge that students attain in college need toprovide a foundation that will allow for them to be competent in a globalized, challenging, fluidprofession.1 Therefore, not only will they need to be competent with current knowledge, theyneed to also learn how to learn so that they can continue to stay up to date as technology andother aspects of society continue to rapidly change. These challenges in combination withenrollment that continues to increase caused the author to re-structure how a large, lecture-based,sophomore level fluid mechanics course was being taught.The philosophy of the re-structured course centers on

Conference Session

Manufacturing Partnerships

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marilyn Barger, National Science Foundation ATE Centers; Richard Gilbert, University of South Florida; Michael C. Ennis, Harris Corporation

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

education began with the Florida Career andProfessional Education (CAPE) act for Florida’s high school career academies(1). Thislegislature called for an academic structure that included industry certifications and articulationsusing those certifications along with new learning and teaching strategies such as learningcommunities, problem based learning, hands-on skills based learning for 21st century careers,and more. After high school, students would apply their skills and learning in college and careerssupporting Florida’s advanced manufacturing workforce. During the same time period, theFlorida Advanced Technological Education Center (FLATE), an NSF Regional Center ofExcellence for advanced technical education, had partnered with Florida’s

Conference Session

Computer Hardware and Simulation

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Man Wang, Michigan Technological University; Jun Tao, Michigan Technological University; Chaoli Wang, Michigan Technological University; Ching-Kuang Shene, Michigan Technological University; Seung Hyun Kim, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

flow visualization tasks. However, thereis a lack of tools to help students learn important flow visualization concepts. In this paper, wepresent a visualization tool, FlowVisual, which illustrates basic flow field concepts in 2D.Techniques involving field-line tracing, line drawing, background texture, field-line comparison,and critical point detection are integrated into FlowVisual to serve a comprehensive learninggoal targeting both engineering and visualization students. We evaluate and demonstrate theeffectiveness of FlowVisual by conducting a formal user study consisting of an introduction andtraining section, an auto-grading test, and a survey.1. IntroductionFluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics are among the core courses in

Conference Session

Issues in Advising and Mentoring

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gillian M. Nicholls, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

2005 through 2015 isestimated at nearly 3,000 students.The data collection will start by studying the course enrollment and success rates for a subset ofgateway courses at UAHuntsville to measure the probabilities of successful completion (earningan A, B, or C), unsuccessful completion (earning a D or F), and withdrawal for students given atheir individual sets of characteristics and factors. The gateway class sizes at UAHuntsville aresizeable enough to provide an extensive set of records over the anticipated 10 year period. Forexample, during the 2011-2012 academic year student enrollment figures for the Calculus A – Csequence were 608, 486, and 483 students, respectively. Similarly, the total 2011-2012enrollment for the Physics 1 and 2

Conference Session

...by Design

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pat Ko, University of Texas, Austin; Stephanie Baker Peacock, The University of Texas - Austin; Taylor Martin, Utah State University; Jennifer Rudolph; Noel Hector Ramos, Department of Defense Dependent Schools

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

education needs to teach for this.Teaching for Adaptive ExpertiseHatano (1988) lists three conditions that he believes help motivate the development of adaptiveexpertise, instead of just routine, expertise: 1. Students are frequently exposed to “novel” problems, i.e. problems that they are not familiar with and require them to ponder instead of simply following a procedure already known by the student. 2. Seeking comprehension is encouraged instead of just execution. Page 23.612.3 3. Students are not under intense pressure for external reinforcement, such as producing correct

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Education Technical Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chehra Aboukinane; Daniel N. Moriasi, USDA-ARS; Ann L. Kenimer, Texas A&M University; Kim Dooley, Texas A&M University; James DUPE Linder, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

students demonstrate a set of learningoutcomes. Further, the EAC criteria require outcomes be regularly assessed and evaluated.ABET learning outcomes (known as ABET a-k) mainly focus on 1) understanding andknowledge of math, science and engineering principles, 2) experimentation and Page 23.613.2interpretation of data 3) engineering design, 4) teaming, 5) problem solving, 6)understanding of ethical standards, 7) communication skills, 8) an understanding of thesocietal impact of engineering solutions, 9) a commitment to life-long learning, 10)knowledge of contemporary issues, 10 and ability to engage in life-long learning.As

Conference Session

Innovative Pedagogy in Civil Engineering Education

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Isaac W Wait, Marshall University; Jeffrey T. Huffman P.E. P.E., Marshall University; Christopher T. Anderson, Huntington (WV) Sanitary Board

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

experience for students3,4,5.Service-learning projects provide the additional elements of realism and student engagement thattake case-based learning to the next level of pedagogical efficacy. By following a format similarto the project presented in this paper, service-learning projects can be utilized to foster students’critical thinking through providing a real-world context in which to solve engineering problems.The real-world context is generated by: 1. Providing a driving question that has many unknown issues (for the student, instructor and project owner) and does not have a predetermined solution. This prevents the instructor or project owner from steering the project to specific issues on the project. 2. Providing an

Conference Session

Research on Learning, Performance, and Impact

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ananda Mani Paudel, Colorado State University-Pueblo; Sylvester A. Kalevela, Colorado State University, Pueblo

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

problems as ateam and learn from each other. For the purpose of grading, peer evaluations as well asindividual exams were administered in addition to group work. Descriptive Statistics andANOVA are used for data analysis. The results showed an enhancement in students learning inboth the universities. However, performance rate appeared relatively higher among whitestudents.1. Diversity in Engineering EducationStudents with different backgrounds, skill levels, and educational and motivational levels havecomplicated the traditional engineering class room. A wide spectrum of teaching and learningmethodologies are required to guide and serve them equally to fulfill their dream. Ethnicity,gender and age differences are commonly used to define the

Conference Session

Using graphics in the rest of the engineering courses

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard W Marklin Jr, Marquette University; Jay R. Goldberg P.E., Marquette University; Mark Nagurka, Marquette University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Design Graphics

(pre-test) and a sketch of thesame pipe fitting in the eighth class (after 7 hours of instruction - post-test). Sketches wereevaluated using a 1 (poor) to 7 (excellent) Likert scale. The second assessment consisted of anevaluation of the final projects, which were a collection of five sketches with different views ofan engineered product. Evaluations of the pre- and post-test drawings and the final projects byoutside reviewers and positive observations by engineering faculty suggest that this course hasthe potential to improve students’ ability to sketch objects.This paper discusses details of the course, provides examples of student sketches, and presentsresults of outside reviewer assessments. It includes suggestions for a more rigorous

Conference Session

Recruitment, Retention and First-year Programs in ECE

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christina Howe, University of Evansville; Dick Blandford, University of Evansville

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

the computer engineering and computer science portions of the course.The focus of the EE portion of the course is frequency domain concepts in linear systems.Implementation involves the use of MATLAB® 1, difference equations, the Fourier transform,and sound files. Since freshmen do not have the math background of our juniors we view theFourier transform as a correlation between an input signal and a complex sinusoid. MATLAB®allows for easy manipulation of difference equations, the z-transform need not be mentioned, andthe course has no time for theorems or proofs.Sound files present an easy way to introduce real data into the course and all students are able tosee the frequency spectrum of sounds in their environment. In a final project they