experience in a variety of STEM fields including robotics, biotechnology, and renewableenergy. Qualified graduates of the Academy are guaranteed admission into the engineeringcollege at the University of Colorado Boulder. Currently, there are 400 students enrolled. TheSTEM Academy is connected to the IC through the Academy’s Capstone Design Projects. Theseinvolve projects in engineering and computer programming which are accomplished with ICsupport. This allows for strong alignment of the Academy’s curriculum with IC resources. Page 24.755.3The Innovation CenterThe St Vrain Valley School District’s Innovation Center (IC) seeks to invent a pipeline
multitude of design artifacts and associatedlearning objects into interactive, museum-like exhibits that can mediate situated learning in thedesign suite, in the machine shop, and amidst a gallery of capstone project posters. This paperreports on initial efforts to implement such a system in support of just-in-time project learning.The system is uniquely designed to operate within our design environment. It has evolved overthe last two decades to reflect shared beliefs about design pedagogy and product realization. Page 24.1060.2Educational SettingOur inter-disciplinary capstone design program has been a catalyst for local design
stormwater engineering skills within the current university curriculum. Theproject starts as a capstone design courses where students design a BMP and a BMP monitoringsystem as well as prepare technical documentation consistent with the EPA requirements forstormwater management projects across the country. Future efforts will construct the BMPequipped with a monitoring system, establish a monitoring program, and integrate monitoringactivities into existing related civil engineering courses.This paper presents a case study focused on the first year of the cooperative stormwater project,which provides the basis for assessing the potential benefits of the project to the university, themunicipality, and the students. Assessment of the case study focuses
of Pennsylvania. It begins with the historical reasoning behind the implementation.This is followed by the implementation strategy and some preliminary assessment of theeffectiveness of machining and drawing documentation activities.2. Historical Background From its inception, the York College Engineering Program has always prided itself onbeing a “hands-on” engineering program. Lab experiences are used heavily throughout theacademic curriculum to reinforce lecture material. In addition, there is a freshman level projectoriented course sequence, and a two-semester senior capstone course that includes a large project Page 24.879.2build1
and ill-structured problems at a community college. Thetechnology program at North-West Community College (NWCC) is a two-year program. In the first year, students learn fundamentals and basic low-tech skills. The learning takes place in courses that incorporate projects withwell-structured problems, often with both a theoretical classroom and a labcomponent. In the second year, students engage in ill-structured problemsolving in their technically sophisticated capstone projects that integrate theprinciples that students have learned during the first year and continue tolearn and practice in the second year. The findings suggest that scaffolding experiences, that is, movingfrom very well-structured problems to ill-structured problems
new capstone design projectclass - Engineering Technology Project was introduced in the Engineering TechnologyDepartment at Kent State University at Tuscarawas in the spring semester of 2011. Studentswork in groups under direct faculty supervision on creative, challenging, open-ending projectsproposed by the professor in the area of renewable energy. Practical, hands-on experience isemphasized and analytical and design skills acquired in companion courses are integrated. Theseprojects align with Ohio’s Third Frontier Fuel Cell Program commitment to accelerate thegrowth of fuel cell industry in the state, to investigate manufacturing processes and technologies,to adapt or modify existing components and systems that can reduce the cost of fuel
lessons learned will be explained in this paperin full detail.1. IntroductionIn most undergraduate engineering programs, students are required to complete a capstone designproject by building and testing a prototype1. Depending on the nature and complexity of the designspecifications, the final product may be a composite of analog and digital, hardware and software,discrete components and off-the-shelf parts.For a majority of the projects in disciplines such as electrical engineering and mechanicalengineering, the primary processing component of these projects is a microcontroller unit (MCU).It used to be that the number of different MCUs and development tools (DT) available to peoplewas pretty limited, but times have changed. Digikey2 lists over
engineering or STEM project before this point. Third, the three teacherswere interested in creating an engineering project that would span the kindergarten, third gradeand sixth grade classes. And fourth, the unit studied was created based on a need these teachersidentified in their own school. This was of special interest for the researchers since a key focus ofthe capstone course was to understand that engineers solve real problems. These teachers agreedto serve as a case study and the following findings focus on these in-service educators.Teacher reflections, student interviews, classroom observations, and teacher interviewscorroborated the findings. The case study allowed for the following data collection: studentinterviews, classroom
with bus schedules, real-time bus location and delayinformation so they can plan trips accordingly, and to provide useful information to thetransportation center for management purpose. The developed system has been tested anddemonstrated successfully.IntroductionThe presented work is the outcome of an undergraduate capstone project. Students in theComputer Engineering Technology (CET) major at Central Connecticut State University arerequired to finish a capstone project in their senior year study. The capstone project isaccomplished by successful taking two consecutive courses, Capstone Project I and CapstoneProject II. The Capstone Project I course is 1-credit in which students research, propose andfinalize project ideas. The Capstone
experience through internships, co-ops, and capstone projects with industry partners. Page 24.246.2The remainder of this paper will discuss each of these four strategic directions.2. Faculty engaged as consultants to industryPart of the University mission includes regional economic development, which requires buildingeffective industry partnerships through the involvement of the faculty. To encourage faculty-industry collaboration, the College created the Center for Innovation in Technology andEngineering (CITE). CITE’s primary mission is to provide access to college resources forbusinesses and the industrial community. Encouraging faculty to leave
problems.New engineering programs, such as those at Olin College5 and James Madison University6, aretaking a different approach to engineering education by challenging lower division students withcomplex open-ended problems and by infusing project work throughout the four-year curriculum.The large number of mechanical engineering students at Michigan Tech presents challenges toimplementing more project-based courses, but size has advantages too: well equippedlaboratories, a mature industry sponsored capstone design program, and diverse faculty expertise.This paper will describe the process we followed to develop a new curriculum in addition toproviding details about the new curriculum itself.Curriculum Design ProcessIn Fall 2010 an ad-hoc Curriculum
on the Monte Carlo simulation. Because of the difficulty of teaching andimplementing the Monte Carlo simulation, probabilistic risk analysis has not been widely used inthe industry, although it is more desirable. This paper developed an interactive probabilistic riskanalysis tool called RISK (Real-time Interactive Simulation Kit) that makes the Monte Carlosimulation of project risks unprecedentedly easy. RISK was tested in a capstone class at theUniversity of Texas at San Antonio Result showed that RISK is an effective tool in teaching riskanalysis for construction engineering and management. It is also expected to improve theutilization of the probabilistic risk analysis in the industry by providing graduates with
prepared (upon graduation) to take on challenges of the real world.Unlike in traditional learning method, in experiential learning students are involved in hands onreal world problem solving environment. Thus, in experiential learning student learning takesplace based on the experience of the project they work on. Capstone or senior design projects aregreat examples of experiential learning environment. By realizing the need of project-basedlearning, the US government has been encouraging the academic institutions to create suchlearning environment in the STEM disciplines through its funding agencies like National ScienceFoundation (NSF) [1]. This has generated huge interest among the engineering educators onhands-on freshmen engineering programs
research is also one of the objectives of AerosPACE. With the popularityand interest in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and flipped classes, some evidencesuggests such methods may not be as effective as presumed [2] [3]. The AerosPACE course hasbeen developed to enable research on engineering teaching and learning in a unique multi-disciplinary, multi-university environment.In this paper the academic year 2013-2014 AerosPACE senior capstone project, where threemulti-university teams of students collaborated with Industry to design, build, and fly a UAVcapable of monitoring farmland to improve crop yield, is presented. The scope of the studentproject is defined by one semester completed at the time of submission of draft paper. Someresults
capstone writing project course inplace of the directed project requirement. This gives students both the time and the structure tocomplete the research and writing component of their degree. The Capstone Writing Courserequires students to submit their writing to a construction management related journal.As a part of this change, the Graduate Committee also eliminated the use of the three persondirected project advisory committee. To support the new journal paper requirement, each studentworks with a single faculty advisor who has an appropriate background to guide the research.This change simplifies the meeting coordination that is complicated by the geographic distancebetween the students and faculty. No change in program status was required
categorized in three groups as follows:Design Prerequisite • R4.2.1.1: “It is addressed in other courses but is often considered in the design course” • R4.2.1.2: “There is no a lot of room in the didactic part of our design courses to include topics. My feeling is that uncertainty is best introduced in courses that come before the capstone design course and then students use it, if needed, in their design project.” • R4.2.1.3: “Students should have already been exposed to it as part of a sequence of courses on measurements - probably a better fit than in my machine elements course.” • R4.2.1.4: “We have 3 courses in design. One of them incorporates Probability and Statistics. One I teach does not
.” Journal of College Science Teaching, v. 36, no. 5, p. 14-20.13. Finger, S., Gelman, D., Fay, A., Szcerban, M. (2006). “Assessing Collaborative Learning in Engineering Design,” International Journal of Engineering Education, v. 22, No. 3, Pg 636-644.14. Marin, J.A., J. E. Armstrong, Jr., and J.L. Kays, (1999) “Elements of an Optimal Capstone Design Experience,” Journal of Engineering Education, p. 19-22.15. Brackin, P. and Gibson, J.D., (2004) “Service Learning in Capstone Design Projects: Emphasizing Reflection,” ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings, Salt Lake City, UT. Page 24.428.11
deprived of the opportunity to take background courses such as 2D-signal processing,computer communications, radiography, and sensors and instrumentation. Compare to traditionalelectrical engineering students, the lack of hands-on lab experience becomes more apparentwhen students are working on capstone senior projects.One strategy we used to solve this issue was to include a mixed capstone project groupcomprising of computer, electronic, and biomedical engineering students. This strategy workedfor few groups but the success rate was less than thirty five percent due to the students’ lack ofpreparation and disadvantage of knowledge compared to traditional electrical engineeringstudents.To rectify this situation we proposed and developed this
contact hours)mini-design project based on a BME capstone senior design project in which each team workedto develop a “smart” gown which could replace traditional hospital gowns and measurephysiological signals (heart rate and respiration). Day 1 consisted of introducing participants toBME, brainstorming ideas for obtaining signals and implementing into a gown (sketchdocumented) and equipment overview. Day 2 involved building, design iteration, andverification testing; it also included gown assembly and planning for a scientific style poster.Day 3 began with an introduction to giving a professional presentation and continued withdeveloping the poster; the day concluded with participants presenting their posters and solutionsto their
development processes in thestudied Design and Development of Food Products and Processes capstone course2-5.Assessment of creativity was grounded on the Consensual Assessment Technique6 (CAT), whichis based on the idea that the best measure of creativity regardless of what is being evaluated, isthe assessment by experts in that field. Therefore, a group of experts in the FE field were invitedto evaluate capstone course final projects and developed food products by means of the CreativeThinking VALUE Rubric, which is made up of a set of attributes that are common to creativethinking across disciplines1, 7. Possible performance levels were entitled capstone or exemplar(value of 4), milestones (values of 3 or 2), and benchmark (value of 1). Instructor
: Lab-Scaled Industrial Web Handling System for Vision Evaluation and Detection of WrinklesAbstractWe are presenting a capstone Senior Design project proposed, developed and implemented by ateam of undergraduate students in Drexel University’s Engineering Technology program (a fouryear Bachelor of Science degree). This system will reduce the cost of manufacturing ofcontinuous-web products by eliminating the operator based wrinkle detection currently used inindustry. Using vision technology combined with the known physical properties of the productthe system can recognize and react to waves in the web that lead to these wrinkle formations,using a laser line generator to highlight the waves in the web, and
, American Society for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.asee.org/search/proceedings7. Hampton, D., & Macedo, J. (2012). A model to offer courses led by industry advisory board – Value chain. Proceedings of the 2012 ASEE PSW Section Conference. San Luis Obispo, CA: California Polytechnic State University.8. Barger, M., Gilbert, R., & Ennis, M. C. (2013). Florida’s model for industry-technical education partnerships. Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Conference & Exposition, American Society for Engineering Education. Retrieved from http://www.asee.org/search/proceedings9. Dunn, P. (2009). Developing a workable construction-management technology senior capstone project at the University of Maine
more educators are becoming aware of the issues of design, and steps arebeing taken world wide to address the concerns of industry at large. One approach has been toform “symbiotic” partnership between industry and academia through senior capstone projects. Page 24.948.2The capstone course has evolved over the years from “made up” projects devised by faculty toindustry-sponsored projects where companies provide “real” problems, along with expertise andfinancial support. In fact, design courses, in general, have emerged as a means for students to beexposed to some flavor of what engineers actually do; and also, could learn the basic elements
problems, to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams, and to consider non-technical perspectives, long before the characteristics of the “Engineer of 2020”1 was everdefined.This paper discusses the EPP program over its four decades and how the program integrates withthe traditional engineering programs. We discuss the curriculum over time, the course selectionsstudents make, and the benefits our alumni receive from the program. We will give an overviewof our capstone EPP Projects course, a truly interdisciplinary teamwork situation addressingcurrent technology issues. Finally we reflect on how the program achieves the ABET (a) through(k) outcomes and work in the ABET system, and how the program has been successful these past40 years.We do not
. Final devices may still only befabricated at one location.The study abroad trip was first piloted in Summer 2011. Students and faculty both felt the tripwas a unique and life-changing experience. The reaction of patients to the devices that wedelivered was also unforgettable. Emotions were high as they expressed their appreciation forour projects, explaining how they never dreamed such assistance was even possible for them.Our patients’ love for life, determination to find a way to improve their conditions, and sincereappreciation of our work, sparked in us (both faculty and students) admiration and desire tocontinue our projects for as many underprivileged persons with disabilities as possible.This unique pre-capstone experience has helped
innovation in our capstonesenior design classes (SDI and SDII) and elaborated on the mechanism of entrepreneurship inour Professional Practice course, but they all agreed that the department was missing a dedicatedcourse on innovation and entrepreneurship.This information encouraged us to conduct a survey to assess the true level of intensity. Twofaculty from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department interviewed students from themost recently completed Senior Design capstone course sequence to assess their perspectives oninnovation and entrepreneurship. The faculty evaluated students ideas, compared the data fromstudents who participated solely in industry supported projects versus students who worked onfaculty sponsored projects. They
SettingsWhile each team’s learning environment centers on project-based and simulation approaches toteaching complex disciplinary practices, they span educational levels (secondary,post-secondary) and scientific disciplines (environmental science, biology, engineering), andnational contexts. This diversity provides a unique opportunity to develop potentiallytransformative and generalizable new understandings of engagement and how to support it inSTEM. The secondary contexts include urban, poverty-impacted schools in the US and highschools in Finland with significant numbers of immigrant students. The post-secondary contextsare targeted at capstone students in professional programs (engineering and veterinary) who maybe at risk for disengagement from
brings the graduates together to commemorate the hours of hard work and study and to celebrate with family and faculty. To mark the event, a distinguished speaker provides a presentation that attempts to place their achievements in a business or career positive perspective. Poster presentations are required by TPM graduates to present their Capstone project at the graduation dinner. For about one and a half hours, prior to the graduation dinner, the students make poster presentations to friends, faculty, and distinguished guests. Each student makes his/her presentation from the perspective of having recently completed the project, thereby giving the listener the opportunity to understand the finished project and to ask
a lessresource-intensive manner. One benefit of the collaboration is the expansion to these non-travelexperiences. For example, activities in the summer program have extended to coursecollaborations during the academic year. Senior-level (i.e., “capstone”) design teams from thethree principal universities have collaborated on projects during the academic year. These joint-projects face all the challenges of typical capstone projects with the additional logistical andcultural issues of international collaboration. They are an excellent opportunity for our students.The institutions have also benefitted from first-hand experience with new programs. Forexample, the experiences at NUS with the development of their design-based curriculum
effective teams,4,5 intra-team communication,6 team skills,7,8,9 implementing design projects,10 assessing learning level,11and improving students’ ability to function in teams.12 To make sure students can satisfy thisrequirement, engineering programs try to provide team-oriented design projects through astudent’s college education starting from freshman year and culminating with a capstone designproject in the senior year.It is a challenging task to assess and demonstrate an intangible student outcome such as theability to function on multidisciplinary teams. Teamwork in a design oriented project can beassessed by a team’s tangible finished product and the team members’ self-reportingsurveys.9,13,14,15 However, there is little discussion on how to