Paper ID #15540A Project-Oriented Capstone Course for Creative Engineering EducationProf. Chi-Cheng Cheng, National Sun Yat-Sen University Dr. Chi-Cheng Cheng has been with the Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering of National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan since 1991. He currently is the Chairman of the Depart- ment. He is also an adjoin professor with the Institute of Undersea Technology and College of General Education of National Sun Yat-Sen University. He was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of University of British Columbia in Canada in 2002 and a
Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Designing with Lessons from the Machine Design Course: A Capstone Experience Sangarappillai Sivaloganathan and Farag K. Omar Department of Mechanical Engineering College of Engineering United Arab Emirates University P.O. Box 15551, Al Ain United Arab EmiratesKey Words: Machine Design, Capstone Project, Impact of Designed ArtefactsAbstract:Extensive procedures and complex calculations involved in the Machine Designcourses make the students feel dull. To enthuse the students there is a need to haveinspiring capstone projects that
Paper ID #15403Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies withDr. Daniel J. Magda, Weber State University Professor, Mechanical Engineer, Ph.D. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies with Laboratory Courses via Capstone DesignAbstractThe objective of this paper is to improve student retention of their engineering mechanicseducation with a teaching/learning strategy implemented in their capstone design project class.There are many quotes from great historians and current educators about the process of teachingand the benefits of
engineering and the program director for the Master of Science in Automotive Engineering. In addition, he is faculty co-advisor for the Collegiate Chapter of SAE and the Blue Devil Motorsports Organization. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 A Three Semester Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Sequence Based on SAE Collegiate Design SeriesAbstractMechanical engineering students at Lawrence Technological University complete a five-credithour capstone project: either an SAE collegiate design series (CDS) vehicle or an industry-sponsored project (ISP). Students who select the SAE CDS option enroll in a three semester, threecourse sequence. Each team of seniors designs
of Capstone DesignAbstractThe Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering Programs at York College ofPennsylvania have mandatory co-op programs in which each student receives three semesters ofengineering work experience. Our senior design courses further develop our students’ designand project development skills by intentionally targeting projects that emphasize working withina larger team. For example, we have built autonomous robots for the International GroundVehicle Competition (IGVC) and formula style race cars for the Society of AutomotiveEngineering Formula Student Design Competition (FSAE). While successfully developing ourstudents’ project development and group communication skills, these projects lacked thepersonal
Vladimir Arutyunov2 1 Mechanical Engineering Department, San Diego State University 2 Mechancial Engineering Department, California State University NorthridgeAbstractSenior design projects are essential capstone experiences to Mechanical Engineering studentsthat allow them to integrate and apply the knowledge they attained in all of their prerequisitecourses. Generally, senior students are required to engineer a system that can be purelymechanical or interdisciplinary such as a biomedical, automotive, or aerospace system.Traditionally, Mechanical Engineering curricula focus on the specifics of each component orsubsystem with no regard, or at best little regard, to the overall system
. Also, it wasrequired that the tool could correctly verify the systems performance. Before this tool could beconsidered, a flow bench to simulate the air moving device (AMD), measurement and control ofa commercial kitchen ventilation system needed to be designed, built and tested (DBT). The MEProgram at Western Kentucky University has a significant history of incorporating thismethodology into its sophomore, junior and senior capstone design course sequences.3,4Therefore, this project methodology, although extracurricular, was very familiar to student,faculty and industry participants.Work on the Halton research project began in January 2014. During this work, an additionalopportunity presented itself in the form of a Faculty-Undergraduate
sessions, design teamsmaintained high spirits because the experience gained was directly applicable for their comingsenior capstone design, it was a real product design, and experience would be directly applicableto their future career. Design teams presented PowerPoint presentations and submitted technicalreports of the major project upon completing the project.4. Comments on students’ feedback and students survey analysisComments on students’ feedbackStudents needed to submit technical reports for the minor project and the major project. Theyneeded to present PowerPoint presentation on the major project. The followings were somecomments and discussions on the reports. • For the minor project, they mentioned in their reports that they learned
of the course.Implementation challenges and recommendations One of the significant challenges of assigning this project was with time limitation and theother was the timing of the project. The first numerical mini project/case study that forms aprelude to this project cannot be assigned very early in the semester; steady state multi-dimensional conduction has to be covered before that. It is also desired that course projects otherthan the senior capstone project be completed before the final week of classes. This leaves arelatively short period of approximately five weeks for this project. Meanwhile some of thematerial that might be needed for successful completion of the mathematical modeling andnumerical simulation will still be going
now emphasize on the engineering design process and mostof these courses now contain “hands-on”, team based design projects1-5. Benefits of such hands-on design projects implemented in the freshman year include, increased retention, studentmotivation, academic performance, etc. After the freshman year, most mechanical engineeringstudents rarely have opportunities to engage in hands-on design projects until their senior yearwhen the capstone design projects are implemented, where students apply their acquiredknowledge to an open-ended problem and produce a working prototype of the design or a finalproduct that has been manufactured. Within the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, somesophomore and junior level courses contain hands-on labs and
. Figure 1: Thermal Engineering Laboratory in the new Engineering building.Undergraduate Designed, Manufactured, and Assembled ProjectsConducting and assessing a senior capstone design course in a small university setting has itschallenges. The project is very limited by the amount of resources available, both in terms offinance and in expertise. At the same time, the students must be exposed to the real world withcustomer-defined constraints, budgetary controls, and time limitations.Despite budget constraints, the author set up the Thermal Engineering Laboratory at a smallliberal arts university. Heat Transfer Laboratory fees were used for projects that supportedThermal Engineering courses. Also, the author has been successful in obtaining grants
Dynamics Research on Undergraduate EducationAbstract The obtaining of an undergraduate degree concludes a successful student universitycareer. For many pursuing an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, the process canbe tedious and difficult. Much like an engineering design, an engineering education requiresspecific tools to see the problem from design to production. For many, the desired solution toproducing the degree is supplemented only by an introductory design class, a few hands onlaboratories that provide an introduction to a few key basic concepts, and a capstone course thatrequires the implementation of the acquired knowledge in a final design project intending tomimic the design process
competitive teams (iii) increasing the recruitment and retention of female and underrepresented students, faculty, and staff (iv) developing a more diverse set of engineering design projects (Capstone) and activities to show the broader inter-disciplinary nature of ME and, as a result, further increase student motivation and engagement in the field (v) increasing the awareness of the department as a whole of the need for an inclusive environment 3Our current departmental goals include recruiting and retaining underrepresented students andfaculty, and encouraging their active participation as stakeholders of our school. Our current goalclosely aligns with our College’s
incorporate a material selection design textbook with an associated professional-level software program. Materials selection concepts and methods were interspersed throughoutthe course and integrated into three student-group design projects involving springs, bearings,rotating shafts, and gear elements. This approach resulted in a practical and effective method ofintroducing materials selection into the design process and provided needed skills for the follow-on, senior-level capstone design course. At the end of the class, an easy-to-follow, student-written material selection reference guide (with examples) was produced to provide guidance forfuture classes and students needing a quick overview of the materials selection process and useof the
key to multidisciplinary engineeringpractice? A physical model of a design concept, based on simplifying assumptions (whichchange as the project progresses and one learns better what effects matter more than others), iscreated. This is an approximation of the real system and a hierarchy of models is possibledepending on the reason for modeling (see Figure 2). Laws of nature (e.g., Newton’s Laws,Maxwell’s Equations) are applied to the model, along with component model equations, togenerate the equations of motion for the multidisciplinary engineering system. These equations– nonlinear and coupled – are solved with Simulink, SimMechanics, SimHydraulics, LabVIEW,etc. to predict how the model will behave when various inputs – desired and
engi-neering design and provides a project-based design experience wherein the students design andbuild a microcontroller driven autonomous mechatronic device. In doing so, they are provided anearly exposure to the systematic approach to engineering problem solving that brings together fun-damentals concepts of forces, motions, energy, materials, manufacturing processes, and machinesand mechanisms. This goal aligns well with our department’s vision to create a design-orientedparadigm of Mechanical Engineering education that begins with an early introduction to designprinciples and ends with capstone design experience. Some of the Course Learning Objectives (CLOs) of this class pertaining to the design experi-ence are: 1. Apply Engineering
final exam questions, are included.Preliminary findings indicate that in general this approach can work, but that there arecertain content areas in which the available resources are very weak. A summary ofresources used and student ratings of each will also be provided.BACKGROUNDThis paper describes work completed at Ohio Northern University (ONU), a small, private,comprehensive university focused on undergraduate education. At ONU, engineeringstudents are heavily involved in design projects throughout the curriculum. A course in thesenior year called “Process of Design” is required for all mechanical engineering students.This course provides content to accompany the capstone projects, a model that is notunique1.Previously, this course was
of an undergraduate curriculum in mechatronics systems engineering. Journal of Engineering Education, 88(2), 173-179. 4. Hargrove, J. B. (2002). Curriculum, equipment and student project outcomes for mechatronics education in the core mechanical engineering program at Kettering University. Mechatronics, 12(2), 343-356. 5. Mariappan, J., & Flint, M. I. (1997). A laboratory for mechatronics courses. ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. 6. Bishop, W., Nespoli, O., & Parker, W., (2012). Rubrics for accreditation and outcomes assessment in engineering capstone projects. Proceeding of Canadian Engineering Education Association Conference. APPENDIX
authors developed an exploratory pilot interview focusing on students’identification and recognition of the application of course concepts into their senior designprojects. The pilot interview was qualitative, semi-structured, and open-ended in nature.2,3 Theinterview protocol is listed in table 4.In order to explore students’ ability to recognize and identify mechatronics, instrumentation, andexperimental design concepts without biasing their answers at the initiation of the interview, theprotocol followed a specified format. The first stage of the interview allowed the students toexplain their senior design project (i.e. their roles, problems faced, and stage in design). Thesecond stage of the interview engaged students in talk about concepts
Technological University After an 18 year career in the automotive industry, Dr. De Clerck joined the Michigan Tech Department of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics in August 2009. His areas of expertise include noise and vibration, structural dynamics, design, modal analysis, model validation, inverse methods applied to design, and advanced measurement techniques.Dr. Michele Miller, Michigan Technological University Dr. Michele Miller is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. She teaches classes on manufacturing and does research in engineering education with particular interest in hands-on ability, lifelong learning, and project-based learning.Dr. Ibrahim Miskioglu, Michigan
, mechanics of materials, calculus, and kinematics and dynamic. She has also developed undergraduate fluids laboratories and supervised many capstone projects. Her interest in SoTL is evidence-based teaching strategies, student engagement, faculty development, and teaching and learning communities. Dr. Yan is a registered P.Eng. with APEGBC and has served as reviewer for various international journals. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Online homework assignments: instructor’s perspective and students’ responsesIntroductionWith the continuous development of technologies, creating online homework assignmentsbecomes possible. For large classes, online
in preparation andgrading for a minimum of 480 man-hours of time gained. Perhaps most important, is that thetime gained did not come at the expense of results on Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanicsrelated questions on the FEE. The past decade has seen an increase in the number andcomplexity of Mechanical Engineering capstone projects requiring faculty advisors to spendadditional time with their teams. It is likely that this increased time spent with the capstoneprojects would have not been possible without a corresponding decrease in time spent in teachingtwo courses to all of the engineering majors at the institution. The largest disadvantage of the integrated approach to these two courses is in seekingequivalence at other
. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. She teaches un- dergraduate courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal fluids analysis and capstone design and graduate courses in thermodynamics and combustion science. Dr. Strzelec’s research interests are in the area of heterogeneous reaction kinetics and characterization with specific focus on automotive emissions aftertreatment; low temperature catalysis; particulate filtration; pyrolysis; and remediation of hydrocarbon contamination. www.andreastrzelec.comDr. Jeffrey E. Froyd, Texas A&M University Dr. Jeffrey E. Froyd is a TEES Research Professor in the Office of Engineering Academic and Student Affairs at Texas A&M University, College Station