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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

W. Ernst Eder

Session 1625 THEORY OF TECHNICAL SYSTEMS -- UNIFYING THEME FOR DESIGN W. Ernst Eder Royal Military College of CanadaAbstractCourses in an engineering program are mostly taught in isolation. Designing, the unifyingexperience of engineering education, is treated a "an art", without guidance about procedure. Asingle "capstone" course attempts to unify the curriculum, which is almost impossible toachieve. A formal structure can help to unify the experience by showing the relationshipsamong parts of engineering knowledge.A suitable formal structure to

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Tirupathi R. Chandrupatla; Shreekanth A Mandayam; Anthony J. Marchese; John L. Schmalzel; John Chen; Ravi Ramachandran; Paris von Lockette; Kevin Dahm

Development taken each semester by every engineering stu- Senior Multidisciplinary Capstone Design Project dent at Rowan University. In the Engineering Clinic, which is based on the medical schoolmodel, students and faculty from all four engineering departments work side-by-side on laboratoryexperiments, design projects, applied research and product development. Table 1 contains an over-view of course content in the 8-semester engineering clinic sequence3. As shown in the table, whileeach clinic course has a specific theme, the underlying concept of engineering design pervadesthroughout. The 4-year, 24-credit Engineering Clinic sequence offers students the opportunity to incre

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles T. Jahren

Page 5.154.1opportunities are ones that require students to demonstrate a wide variety of technical,organizational, and social skills in order to complete a significant project. Mock bidlettings provide such an opportunity for future construction professionals.Iowa State University’s Construction Engineering Curriculum has conducted three mockbid lettings in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Transportation and theAssociated General Contractors of Iowa. Students work in groups of three or four. IowaDOT provides contract documents for actual transportation construction projects andIowa State University provides classroom instruction on cost estimating. Then, with thehelp of industry mentors, students design the construction process and

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Craig W. Somerton

organizations. One consistent theme in these discussions wasFord’s desire to have engineers with good teaming skills. The response of one faculty memberwas the observation that the undergraduate mechanical engineering program at MSU providesnumerous teaming opportunities. Students team in all four of the program's required laboratorycourses, as well as in the machine design course and the capstone design course. However, eventhough graduates from this program have several teaming experiences, it was also clear thatthere was no team training experience. That is, an experience where students learn about how ateam functions and how to work effectively on teams. To fill this void, one of the technicalexperiments in a senior level laboratory course was

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Donald N. Merino

”; Computerworld; Framingham; May 19, 1997.4. Hicks, Capt. Philip C. “What Are We Teaching Our Engineering Managers”; Capstone Project for MEM; 1998; pp. 331-340.5. Kocaoglu, Dundar F. “Educating Engineering Managers for the Future”; 1983 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings; pp. 794-798.6. Kocaoglu, Dundar F. “Engineering Management Education And Research”; 1984 IEEE; pp.341-342.7. Kocaoglu, Dundar F. “The Emergence of Engineering Management Discipline”; 1986 ASEE Conference Proceedings; pp. 240-247.8. Kocaoglu, Dundar F. “Education for Leadership in Management of Engineering and Technology”; 1992 IEEE; pp. 78-83.9. Maglitta, Joseph. “Top 25 Techno MBA”; Computerworld; Framingham; Dec 4, 1995.10. Nystrom

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Russell D. Jamison

used extensively. Teams of two engineering and two business students are formed atthe beginning of the courses and work together throughout the semester on case study analysisand other course-specific projects.The Integrated Project is the capstone course in the Technology and Management Program. Inthis course, teams of three engineering and three business students work on technology-relatedbusiness problems provided by industry sponsors. Guided by a faculty member and a designatedproject manager from the sponsor, they interact directly with the sponsor’s technical and busi-ness staffs. The problems posed to these teams are real, current, and messy. Each team presentsits analysis and recommendations to the sponsor at the end of the semester

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

B.S. Sridhara

rear suspension. Two other students received credit towardstheir Senior Project for working on the array. This author gave solar car related problems in ET384 as a project. These problems were based on Sunrayce regulations and involved acceleration,deceleration, stopping time and distance traveled during the braking test of the Solaraider III.One student received credit in the capstone course for designing and fabricating the canopy.This author performed a detailed analysis of all moving parts of the Solaraider III consideringdifferent theories of failure.3 The frontal, rear, side, and roll over impacts were also consideredin the analysis. Some team members participated in this task. Another faculty member in thedepartment helped us with the

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

W. Nicholas Delgass; Phillip C. Wankat; Frank S. Oreovicz

Chemical Engineering at Purdue integrated written and oral communication moretightly into the ChE curriculum. All freshmen are required to take or test out of Englishcomposition and speech courses. ChE professional development seminars forsophomores, juniors and seniors emphasize the importance of communication.Cooperative education students write reports after each work session. Many professorsinclude written and oral project reports in technical courses.The required senior laboratory courses and the capstone senior design course place amajor emphasis on communication. Oral presentations are videotaped and critiquedindividually by a communication specialist while he and the student watch the videotape.The professor or TA grades written reports

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Zheng-Tao Deng; Abdul R. Jalloh; Amir Mobasher; Ruben Rojas-Oviedo

project in each course. Therefore, students develop designportfolios from the freshman year. This portfolio continues through their capstone designcourse. The projects assigned to students are part of on-going faculty research that is supportedby industry and government agencies. This aspect of the program keeps the students in touchwith leading-edge technology and current research activities in the real world.b) Cross communication: The faculty keeps constant communication with each other anddiscuss the topics taught in different courses. This allows the faculty to synchronize the syllabiso that material learned in one courses can be reinforced and applied in another course. Forexample, material taught in the numerical method course such as

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Kristin L. Wood; John Wood

Ho se C ollap sib el 5 G al. Su pp o rt Air Tan k Stru ctu re Spectrum emphasizes concrete Capstone Design experiences at different levels. Figure 1. Spectrum of engineering design activities at UT, Dept. of Mechanical EngineeringFollowing the freshman year

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Sheila A. O'Connor; Don Malzahn

Design Through Project-Oriented Capstone Courses. Journal of Engineering Education, 1997(January): p. 17-28.20. Hilborn, R.B.S., Team Learning for Engineering Students. IEEE Transactions on Education, 1994.37(2): p. 207-211.21. Todd, R.H., et al., A Survey of Capstone Engineering Courses in North America. Journal ofEngineering Education, 1995. 84(2): p. 165-174.22. Brannick, M.T. and C. Prince, An Overview of Team Performance Measurement, in TeamPerformance Assessment and Measurement: Theory, Methods, and Applications, M.T. Brannick, Salas, E.,Prince, C., Editor. 1997. p. 3-16.23. Dyer, W.G., Team Building: Current Issues and New Alternatives. 3rd ed. 1995, Reading, Mass

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Sheikh A. Akbar; Prabir K. Dutta

to review the curriculum.Also, statistical surveys will track students in the program aimed at determining the success ofthe program in preparing them for their careers.IV. Dissemination Plans The results of this curriculum development effort is being disseminated through twomechanisms. The first is the presentation and publication of papers describing the curriculumtogether with descriptions of sample capstone design projects and the participation of industrialsponsors in these projects. Papers are being presented at the Frontiers in Education Conference,and at other professional society meetings and symposia. For example, CISM faculty havepresented the curriculum plans at: (1) the International Conference on Engineering Education

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Hugh Jack

course concludes with a major project that includes some form of controller, most commonlya PLC. The results of these projects, and the course notes can be seen at http://claymore.engi-neer.gvsu.edu/eod/egr450.html5.0 ConclusionEGR 450 replaced a previous linear controls course, EGR 455 - Automatic Controls, that wasnever highly regarded. The success of EGR 450 was overwhelming, and it continues to be themost popular senior elective for all disciplines. EGR 450 also serves as an excellent prerequisitefor EGR 474 - Integrated Manufacturing System which discusses the design and implementationof fully integrated manufacturing facilities.Indicators of the success of this course are clear. Of the 12 senior capstone projects conductedduring the 1998-9

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Farrukh Alvi; Chiang Shih

IntegrationOur new program is also restructured such that it is integrated vertically throughout the entirecurriculum. Several key integration concepts are adopted as follows: (1) provide students withgeneral skills required for their engineering problem solving as early as possible; (2) reinforcethese skills continuously throughout the curriculum; (3) offer more technical elective courses forstudents to choose during senior year; (4) strengthen the senior capstone design project whichutilizes and integrates the skills learned in the integrated curriculum and requires the creation ofa final product, similar to an indurial engineering process . To achieve these goals, two newcourses were introduced during the sophomore year: (1) Introduction to

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

John C. Anderson; David Kelso; Charles Yarnoff; Barbara Shwom; Penny Hirsch

knowledge to engineering.3-8 In contrast, an integrated approachto communication instruction has the potential to show students that engineers value—and dependon—effective communication, just as team projects give students valuable experience in theteamwork skills they are likely to need in the workplace.But integrating instruction in teamwork and communication into engineering courses isn’t easy,especially when engineering faculty already have overcrowded syllabi and have little idea how toteach teamwork and communication—even if they are convinced of the importance of thesetopics. Moreover, teaching communication usually requires assigning and grading more papers,a burdensome task that many engineering faculty prefer to avoid

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert S. Thompson

teamwork described in this paper, this perspective maybe inadequate since faculty may observe only a small fraction of the interactions. Peers workingon the teams are afforded a unique view of each other’s behavior and are in a position to providefeedback for improving team performance.The emphasis on teamwork skills stems from the widespread use of teams in industry. Theteams described in this paper are similar to self-directed work teams (SDWT’s). SDWT’s (alsoreferred to as task forces) are characterized by: 1. A limited life, 2. Are usually heterogeneous because of the diverse needs of the project, 3. Have a limited time frame to solve a specific problem, 4. Have members that may not know each other and their

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven B. Shooter; Catherine A. Shooter

Session 2325necessity limited in scope and complexity to address an issue germane to the current material.Processing these experiences is still valuable. In fact, it is in these instances that processing mostlikely already occurs in some form because the instructor has invested significant effort in theproblem to highlight a particular point.Most curricula include some form of a capstone design experience in which the students work inteams to design a solution to a fairly complex problem. The design process requires theincorporation of knowledge from a multitude of previous courses. Often, students must developnew knowledge in fields that they have not previously studied. The design projects areestablished as long-term exercises often lasting the

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark McNeill; Steven Shooter

Session 2325necessity limited in scope and complexity to address an issue germane to the current material.Processing these experiences is still valuable. In fact, it is in these instances that processing mostlikely already occurs in some form because the instructor has invested significant effort in theproblem to highlight a particular point.Most curricula include some form of a capstone design experience in which the students work inteams to design a solution to a fairly complex problem. The design process requires theincorporation of knowledge from a multitude of previous courses. Often, students must developnew knowledge in fields that they have not previously studied. The design projects areestablished as long-term exercises often lasting the

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary C. Verstraete; Daniel B. Sheffer; Bruce C. Taylor

traditional electrical and mechanical engineering courses currently available at The Universityof Akron. The majority of these courses serve as required courses for either one or both tracks,or serve as electives during the senior year. A heavy emphasis is placed on design, from thefreshman level (Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Design) through the senior year,culminating in two capstone senior Design classes. BME Design I requires a team of students tocomplete a design project specific to their chosen track. BME Design II requires that theprojects entail a joint venture between students in the two tracks.Furthermore, it is anticipated that the majority of the students will choose to participate in thecooperative education program in the

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Matt C. Smith; David K. Gattie

solution of problems. This newdegree program fills this void through a capstone design course featuring an interdisciplinaryteam project where team members attempt to solve a traditional environmental problem withnon-traditional natural treatment methods. Moreover, the faculty directing the course will alsobe interdisciplinary.Ecological Engineering as a Separate Area of EmphasisThe recognition of ecological engineering as a bonafide engineering discipline is debatable.What is less debatable though is the contribution of over 100 years of ecological research to ourpresent understanding of the environment. We have progressed from a compartmentalized viewof biological life to the current perspective that nature consists of biotic

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

William G. Fahrenholtz; Mohamed N Rahaman

. In the future, it will consist of a set of parallel laboratories, eachfocussed on a related set of properties: thermo-mechanical, electrical and dielectric, or opticaland magnetic. Students will choose one of the paths.In addition to the senior level laboratory, the senior design project is a capstone to theundergraduate program. For senior design, the students are given the opportunity to apply theprinciples and practice of ceramic engineering to design and produce a ceramic component. Forthe 1999-2000 year, the senior class attempted to improve an existing industrial process. Fourresearch groups explored different parts of the process in an attempt to make it more cost-effective by improving the performance of the product, making the

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Ron Humble; Michael Caylor

Session 1302 Rocket Systems Engineering Education at the Undergraduate Level Michael J. Caylor, Ronald W. Humble United States Air Force Academy, COAbstractCadets and faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy are designing and building a sounding rocketpowered by advanced hybrid propulsion. The eventual goal of the program is to launch a vehiclecarrying a small payload to an altitude greater than 50 miles thereby achieving "space." Senior-level cadets are developing a prototype rocket to meet these objectives as part of theirengineering curriculum. The primary objective of this capstone design project

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Nicholas A. Scambilis

Professional 40% Skilled Unskilled % Total 30% Prof Prof Skilled Prof Workforce Unskilled 20% 10% 0% 1960 1990 2000Growth Rate/Projections: A 1995 study forecasted that the environmental labor market will: • remain unchanged by economic fluctuations in the next century, • increase by 39.5% by 1998 in

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Phillip R. Rosenkrantz

the other methodologies where it made sense to do so. A QFD teamwas formed and included representatives from IME Department Industrial Advisory Council andthe College of Engineering. The team met regularly for five quarters to work through the QFDprocess and present findings. ABET assessment updates were on the Industrial Advisory CouncilAgenda and discussed at department meetings. QFD practitioners will notice that a modifiedversion of QFD was used to simplify the process. Not all rating and ranking algorithms wereemployed.The project was divided up into phases:Phase I - The Voice of the Customer - The IME Department recognized a number ofconstituencies or “customers” that need to be considered in all curriculum, scheduling, andprogram

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Zheng-Tao Deng; Abdul R. Jalloh; Amir Mobasher; Ruben Rojas-Oviedo

. There were approximately ninety students enrolled in the ME programat the initiation of its third year.II. Problem DefinitionThe task of designing an innovative non-duplicative curricula for mechanical engineering isboth a challenge and an opportunity to utilize the engineering design experience. This task wasviewed as a multi-year project with a goal; to produce a competitive engineering program. Page 5.571.2As in the case of new product development, it was essential to answer typical questions such as:a) What should be the key features; b) How to establish specifications; c) How to establishresource allocations; d) How to describe it; e) Who are

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Osama Ettouney; James Stenger; Karen E. Schmahl; James Moller; Christine Noble

work from courses in the sequence and shows how the integrateddesign thread is implemented.3. Pre-Post Learning of Engineering Design - Design reports generated in the freshman course,Introduction to Engineering Design, are used as a pre-learning vehicle for determining first-yearstudents' understanding of the professional ways of knowing, reasoning, and problem solving.The design reports of first-year students are collected, evaluated and compared to the students’work in their capstone projects during the senior year. Results provide information about valueadded during the students’ time at Miami.Customer FeedbackThese methods solicit our customers’ feedback. Our primary customers are considered to beindustry, employers of students, and

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Serpil Guvench; Mike Denton; Mark Rollins; Mustafa Guvench

forcing terminal voltage and an ammeter that measures thecurrent drawn by a device connected as a load at the SMU’s terminals, or (2) as a current source forcing theterminal current and a voltmeter combined with it that measures the voltage developed across the deviceconnected at its terminals. If the SMU’s source is stepped by a controller computer a single SMU will besufficient to get a full I-V curve of a two terminal device, such as a PN junction diode. Multiple SMU’s can beemployed to get I-V characteristics of multi-terminal devices such as BJT’s and FET’s, and even logic gates andoperational amplifiers. The purpose of this project was, while synchronizing multiple SMU’s to measure multi-terminal devices, also to be able to vary the

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Noellette Conway-Schempf; H. Scott Matthews; Francis C. McMichael; Chris Hendrickson

providing goods and services. The software has been used in undergraduate and graduate level civil and environmental courses and in the MBA program at Carnegie Mellon University, in environmental engineering courses at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, MIT in Massachusetts, and the University of California at Berkeley, in California. The software was accessed over 6000 times between April and October of 1999. Module and Project – Life Cycle Analysis: A Learning Guide For Professors and Students of Design, Environment and Ethics. This module has been used extensively at Carnegie Mellon in a capstone course for environmental engineering minors. The module discusses LCA and the idea of “Concept

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Vincent Wilczynski

experiment to investigate that property, conduct the experiment, and analyze theresults (including error analysis, are also conducted in the course. This capstone projectrequires all aspects of the course to be applied to the problem at hand. As an open-endeddesign exercise, the independent projects help integrate design across the engineeringcurriculum2.Standardization of hardware and software executed as virtual instruments is essential toefficiently run these labs which rely on a variety of transducers to illustrate numerousengineering experimentation techniques. Augmented with minimal in-class instruction on dataacquisition, the labs themselves become the tool that teaches computer based data acquisition,reduction, and analysis. This paper

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2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Jagdish T. Gajjar

, November 5-8, 19973. Karl A. Smith, "Design of an Introductory Engineering Course," Proc. Frontiers in Education ’96, SaltLake City, Utah, November 6-9, 19964. Craig James Gunn, "Design in the Freshman Engineering Curriculum," Proceedings of the 1997 ASEEAnnual Conference and Exposition, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 15-18, 19975. Frank Milillo, Richard Shanebrook, Frank Wicks, "Construction of a Newcomen Engine as a FreshmanEngineering Project," Presented in Session 3233 of the 1999 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition,Charlotte, North Carolina, June 20-23, 19996. F. Andrew Wolfe, Christine C. Laplante, "Bridge to the Future: the Freshmen Capstone Design BridgeProject at Union College," Proceedings of the 1999 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition