Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Erol Inelmen

during thesemester from an excellent collection of automatic control books, available in the campus library.One was found to be a good compromise between the very sophisticated and the very simpleones. Following the outline of the selected book proved to be very frustrating, so a differentstrategy was adopted that would encourage students to use books, proceedings, journals and otherdocuments available on campus. To assure a steady flow of information, students were requestedto make a weekly reports on their findings and the instructor presented the summaries of thesereports in class followed by weekly short quizzes (see Table 1.).During the first weeks of the course students were allowed to choose freely the topics using theexcellent examples

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Yousry S. El-Gamal; Sherif M. Tawfik; Abd-Elhamid Elmaghrabi

student'sprogress. JavaScript and Cookies help in controlling the quizzes access and timing, andautomatic quiz submission. HTML offers the displaying of all the Web pages and thehyperlinks between them. Special emphasis has been given to exercises and quiz functionsto achieve flexibility and automatic feedback without loss of control. The proposed courseoffers numerous advantages including convenience in use, better accessibility, enhancedcommunication with instructor and peers, automatic testing, quick feedback, and enrichedpresentation through hyperlinks with related material.1. IntroductionThe subject of distance education through the World Wide Web (WWW) is gainingincreased consideration. Researchers and education organizations have observed that

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Bill Diong

). However, they will also serve as the actuators for the linkage mechanismsdescribed below for MECE 3380. The computers in this laboratory include 8 Pentium Pro PCs that were recently donated byIntel. The department provided funds for the monitors and the printers in this lab. Figure 1 shows the hardware configuration for each station in this laboratory.III. Impact on UTPA’s Engineering program Our plan to motivate students in their study of engineering, to prepare them to be moremultidisciplinary in their thinking, to familiarize them with a model-based, simulation-orientedapproach to control systems design and development, and also to provide them with experience inimplementing DSP-based controllers revolves around the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Timothy J. Robinson; Jeffrey B. Connor

indicatedthe positive impact of group work on college students, academically and socially1.Study designIn four sections of EF 1015, 120 first semester engineering student were divided intoheterogeneous groups of four according to SAT scores. 75% of the students are designated“non-Common” and 25% “Common”. Common students are those that were in the same groupof four in both their English and engineering classes and non-Common are those students thatwere not in the same English and engineering groups. At the beginning of the semester commonstudents numbered 28. At the start and end of the semester all students rated the followingstatements on a scale of one to five (1, strongly disagree; 5 strongly agree): 1) The relationship between science and

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Melinda J. Piket-May; Julie Chang; James Avery

their motivation and initiative. Good undergraduatecandidates are often identified by their initial follow-ups.III. Undergraduate research assistantsUndergraduate students can conduct good research. However, their skills are often underutilizedand unrecognized by faculty. We strongly suggest that you consider including them in yourresearch projects for a number of reasons:1. Typically young students are very knowledgeable about computers. You can initially involve them in your research by letting them develop or maintain the research group’s web page. Web page maintenance will expose the undergraduate students to your research as well as the other students in your research group. As a result, the student may decide to get more involved

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1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Gopal Mohan; J. Michael Jacob

• Op-amp speed • Composite amplifier Page 4.412.6 • Switched capacitor voltage inverter • Switched power supply computer exercise • Sallen-Key • State variable • XR2206 function generator part 1 • XR2206 function generator part 2Concluding RemarksKnowledge and understanding of the proper application of simulation is of critical value to thepracticing engineer or technologist. PSpice, the circuit simulation software, provides thisfoundation. Our graduates are often faced with situations that need informed decision makingand

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Chuck Keating; Paul Kauffmann; Abel Fernandez

[1] and [2]. In product design, QFD relates the product performance requirements ofthe customer with technical design characteristics through a matrix generally known as the“house of quality.” This “house of quality” maps “whats” (product / customer specifications) to“hows” (technological features) and develops a quantitative measure of priority for eachtechnical characteristic based on its impact on the customer requirements. Based on this abilityto identify relationships, QFD is an attractive decision tool for application to the problem ofcareer development. Exhibit 1 contrasts the traditional product development orientation of QFD Page

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Ruane

,including the PC, are under $5000. HP VEE 4.0 was used under Windows 95. License packsare less than $20/station and free evaluation and run-only versions are available on the Internet.Figure 1. BlackWolf II radio-controlled car and controllerSix Radio Shack BlackWolf II radio-controlled cars, controllers, battery packs, and chargerswere purchased. The cost per car was less than $70. The controllers have steering and velocityjoysticks and each car has a two-speed motor. Their outdoor control range is 50m; indoor rangedepended on the building construction. Large lobby areas worked best and generated a lot ofpublic attention. Since the cars are sold with only four distinct frequency bands, two cars wereused as spares during the final rally

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Ann D. Christy; Marybeth Lima

effective parameters to decrease the microbialload on fresh apples, and assess the effects of ozone treatment on cider quality as compared withraw and pasteurized products.The class was divided into four student teams to work on the ozone project: 1.) A machinerydesign team that worked on the apple conveyor and ozone contact chamber. 2.) Anenvironmental team that worked on capturing and treating any stray ozone emissions for thesafety of workers who would be operating the system. 3.) A fluid mechanics team that worked onoptimizing the mixing regime and designing proper flow rates. 4.) A transport phenomena teamthat worked on optimizing the mass transport of ozone from the generator to the disinfectionwater to the apple surface, by designing the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Anthony J. Muscat

with each student several times over the span of a semester,and to guide students interactively. The average scores on exam problems that required higherlevel thinking skills was 70-80% which is in the same range as the average scores onknowledge-based problems. The exam results provide some measure that higher level thinkingskills were improved.I. IntroductionThere are several innovative techniques at various stages of development to improve the level ofinstruction and the involvement of students in engineering education. Many of these techniquesare summarized in the excellent text entitled “Teaching Engineering” by Wankat and Oreovicz 1.Many of the latest experiments and results with these techniques in engineering can be found inthe

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Suzanne D. Bilbeisi; Camille F. DeYong

in the professional workplace. To addressthis need, three summer academies were held at Oklahoma State University. The primary goalof these academies was to introduce young women to the possibilities available to them withinthe professional fields of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.Needs Addressed and Project ObjectivesThe United States faces a shortfall in the number of engineers available to meet the needs of ourever increasing technological society in the 21st century. Atkinson observes that theemployment rate for scientists and engineers is increasing faster than total U.S. employment 1.Pool states that the number of jobs for scientists and engineers should grow at a rate of twotimes the rate of the rest of the economy2. To stay

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

William A., Jr. Russell

signal processing (DSP) in high-fidelity cellulartelephones, virtual-reality games, and fax machines. But, DSP also provides voice recognition intoy dolls, increases the efficiency of dishwashers, toaster ovens, and refrigerators, and controlsthe fuel-air mixture of automobiles. The DSP market place will grow 20% in 1998 to the $3.9billion level, and is forecast to grow to the $13.4 billion level in 2002 according to analyst WillStrauss [1]. These dramatic changes in the use of digital signal processing, and our need tocompete in the global market, dictate the necessity for our graduates to possess a hands-onknowledge of DSP technology and its implementation.DSP education as with any new technology was a specialist field. Today, many educators

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Walter J., III Gomes; Rulph Chassaing

-based systems can be readily reprogrammed for a different application. 1-3The C31-based DSK includes Texas Instruments' C31 floating-point digital signal processor, and anAnalog Interface Circuit (AIC) chip with A/D and D/A converters, input (anti-aliasing) and output(reconstruction) filters, all on a single chip. The package also includes an assembler, a debugger, andmany applications examples. The C31 is a 32-bit processor with 2K (32-bit) words of internal memory(approximately 256 words of internal memory in the C31 on the DSK board are used for the 24communications kernel and vector). It has a 24-bit address bus to address 2 or 16 million

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

John E. McInroy; Robert F. Kubichek; Raymond Jacquot

be such that results based on the model correlate well withmeasurements made on real hardware. To this end, a pair of active filters were designed andsynthesized on a small printed circuit board. One of the filters is of first order while the other isof second order type. They may be treated individually or cascaded to form a single third orderfilter.II. Course SettingThe course being discussed is a three semester hour course with three lectures weekly and a twohour lab six times during the semester. The course is taken by second semester sophomoreelectrical engineering majors. The prerequisite courses are a first course in circuit analysis plusordinary differential equations. Table 1 below gives the topics in the course roughly in the

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Donald Mahoney; Brent Young; William Svrcek

classical approach byapplication to the feedback control of liquid level in a separator, Figure 1. PC Fv FC Ff T,P LIC FL VL Figure 1. A schematic of vapor-liquid separator with standard feedback controls.The plant of Figure 1 is usually represented by a system of transfer functions as shown in theblock diagram for the liquid level loop of the separator, Figure 2

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Herbert Hess

rectifiers operate.[1]Nonetheless, seeing such a circuit in operation often helps the student understand how it works.Complicated or unfamiliar instrumentation can slow the learning down, but a working circuit withsimple visual impact can dramatically enhance understanding. In this paper, a simple demonstration using a working rectifier helps introduce the circuit'soperation to the student. The circuit is intended as introductory, with flashing lights to illustrateimportant points. The circuit is portable and construction is well within the capability of anundergraduate electrical engineering program, requiring just a small piece of circuit board and asimple function generator. Setup and troubleshooting requires no more instrumentation

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Sallie (Lee) Townsend; Howard A. Canistraro

scheduling.I. Recruiting and Retaining Full and Part-Time FacultyThe education of the technology student in the 1990's is different from earlier years; it not onlydemands academic excellence on the part of the faculty, but also current, relevant industrialexpertise. There are three basic types of faculty with that experience.(1) Full-time faculty with past industrial experience(2) Full-time faculty that work part time as consultants and(3) Adjunct faculty that work in industry full time. Page 4.442.1Full time faculty must form the nucleus of a given technology major since they provide the“home base” for the students in the major. Of the two types of

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Anthony Brizendine; Laora E. Dauberman-Brizendine

receiving tenure in their department, • 20 % of faculty at comprehensive institutions believed colleague and/or administrator observations of teaching was very important for receiving tenure in their department, • 43 % of faculty at community colleges believed colleague and/or administrator observations of teaching was very important for receiving tenure in their department.With respect to the importance of academic advisement, the 1989 Carnegie National Survey ofFaculty revealed: • 1 % of faculty at research institutions believed academic advisement was very important for receiving tenure in their department, • 2 % of faculty at doctoral institutions believed academic advisement was very

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Graciano Dieck; Artemio Aguilar; Sergio Malacon; Manuel E. Macias

) educationalintentions and general objectives, b) general, conceptual, procedural and attitudinal contents, c)learning strategies, d) summary of activities, e) resources, f) evaluation g) discussion and h)conclusions.II. EDUCATIONAL INTENTIONS AND OBJECTIVESThe redesign project describes the educational goals with the following statement: “Performing ateam effort between the student, who is the center of the learning process, and the instructors,who are facilitators of the teaching-learning process, the following educational intentions arefocused during the semester: 1. To supplement integral and formative education. 2. To recognize the value of learning. 3. To promote the critical thinking and reasoning in problem solving. 4. To enhance

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Halvard E. Nystrom

the treatment is financially justified.The model requires the estimation of probabilities of important events, the likely impact of theseevents to the bridge under various conditions, and the tangible and intangible costs associatedwith those impacts. As shown on Figure 1, the bridge can be in any one of three conditions. Itcan be original, treated, or new. Each of these conditions is associated with different costsassociated with the risk of service disruption. Costs are generated during the treating process, therebuilding processes as well as ongoing cost associated with the treated, original and newconditions. After the bridge is treated the costs and benefits under the treated condition arecompared to the costs and benefits without

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard B Cole; Charles V. Schaefer; Bernard Gallois; Keith Sheppard

includes:Engineering Graphics (2-credit laboratory), Engineering Seminar (1 credit), and Engineering De-sign Laboratory I (1-credit laboratory).The major goal of these activities in the first semester is to provide the students an early bondingwith engineering and its style and task orientation as distinguished from science. They are aimedat initiating development of competencies that will build through subsequent design experiences:1. Ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs2. Ability to function effectively on multidisciplinary teams3. Ability to identify, formulate and assess alternative technical and economic solutions to en- gineering problems.4. Ability to communicate effectively and persuasively, both in writing and

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Ying Lu; Vincent Singh; Steven Palmer; Sarah Bergstrom; Nicolai Ramler; Mikir Bodalia; Martins Innus; Jami Meteer; Contessa DuBois; Aleli Mojica-Campbell; Martha E. Sloan; Ashok Goel

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

David Whitman; Sally Steadman

arrangement, an indicator ofthe success of this living arrangement.A survey, conducted to ascertain student attitudes about the living environment and theperceived benefits of the program, is discussed in this paper. Students are very positive aboutthe innovative living environment. Improved retention and academic performance statisticsare reported, thereby demonstrating that the Engineering Floor is an effective method ofimproving student success in engineering programs.IntroductionStudent retention can be improved through a variety of strategies. One such strategy, thecommunity building model,1 has produced impressive results for minority student success. Thismodel promotes a high level of collaborative learning through various mechanisms

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Recayi Pecen

Session 1333 Restructuring and Innovating of Power System Analysis and Power Electronics Courses at the University of Northern Iowa Recayi Pecen The University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IowaAbstractThis paper presents; (1) innovating changes to a course, power system analysis (PSA), and (2)development of a new course, industrial applications of power electronics (IAPE) aided withadvanced power system simulation studies at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), Electro-Mechanical Systems (EMS) – Engineering Technology division of Industrial TechnologyDepartment. Basic energy and

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Ralph A. Dusseau; Kauser Jahan

engineering clinic class. This class is a major hallmark ofthe Rowan engineering program. The theme of the Freshman Clinic class in the spring semester is reverseengineering of commercial products. Students in teams of four or five spend an entire semester learning aboutengineering fundamentals such as fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics and engineering materials.They are also exposed to intellectual property rights, safety and ethics, ergonomics and environmentalconsiderations in engineering design.IntroductionThe college of engineering at the Rowan University was created through a $100 million gift from Henry andBetty Rowan in 1992 to the then former Glassboro State College (1). This newly constructed state-of-the-art$28M Henry M

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Douglas; Dean Lance Smith

exerciseswere revised to accommodate the new text. Laboratory exercises are the focus of the course.Grades assigned to the laboratory exercises count one-third of the course grade. The exercisesemphasize programming and the reuse of existing code. Lectures are used to go over readingassignments and discuss some short problem and question assignments. Often, the students writeshort assembly language programs in class that help them do the laboratory exercises. Thesolutions to the in-class programming exercises are critiqued in class.II. GradingTable 1 shows the grading criteria used for the laboratory exercises. Up to 100 points can beearned for each assignment. Assignments turned in late receive no credit. The more a studentaccomplishes and the higher

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Howard I. Epstein

andPractice in 1991 1: There’s an old Bob Newhart routine about baseball. In it, an adult game manufacturer is talking on the phone to Abner Doubleday who is explaining the rules of his new game, baseball. Doubleday explains, "Three strikes and you’re out, four balls `." "Why four balls?" asks the manufacturer. Why, indeed? The engineering curriculum, leading to a Bachelor of Science degree, has been a four-year program at most institutions for as long as they have offered degrees. Programs that required longer eventually found it difficult to compete for students. In the 1950’s and early 1960’s, most five year programs in existence were being phased out as the engineering programs, in

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Nancy White

Session 2606 TS/1 River of Law III – Duty of Engineers to Third Parties Prof. Nancy J. White, J.D. Assistant Professor Department of Construction Science Texas A & M University1. IntroductionNo doubt law and the American legal system are mysterious to those not routinely associated with it.The law and the American legal system is a living process. A process whereby the law is debatedand tested by different courts, eventually being hammered out after much trial and error, no punintended. Perhaps therein lies

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Raffaello D'Andrea

(including the opposition) and ballposition determination. Functionally the robots can be broken down into essentially three parts:electro-mechanical (the chassis, the drive unit, the passing unit, and the local sensors),communication (the wireless transceiver), and control (a microcontroller). The coordination ofthe robots is typically handled by a workstation, which has access to the global visual feed andwhich can communicate to each robot. The overall system is depicted in Figure 1. System COMPUTER VISION - frame acquisition - image processing ROBOTS

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

James Devault

, decoybeacons, and air cannons. Late night sessions in the laboratory, unique contest strategies,exotic robot features, and satisfying student outcomes provide an ample source of stories to beshared.BeginningsThe first Kansas State University mobile robot contest (1993) was an offshoot of an informalexperiment in undergraduate research, the MARS Lab (Mobile Autonomous Robotic SystemsLaboratory) [1]. The following year, a mobile robotics course was developed to support andenhance these activities. The contest is now in its seventh year and continues to serve as ashowcase of our students’ work and as a vehicle for interdisciplinary engineering education.This paper briefly describes the mobile robotics course and the mobile robot contest [2] andthen