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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Phillip Wankat

work during recitationsare also effective in increasing student learning.I. IntroductionAssignments provide instructors with the opportunity to have students be active,involved, and doing things.1 Numerous studies2 have shown that students who are activeand become involved in courses learn more. Unfortunately, without the encouragementand mild coercion of homework assignments, many engineering students will not studyand become involved in a course. Since we want students to learn to solve problems, weneed to assign homework.In general, student learning increases if the course satisfies learning principles. Thefollowing learning principles are easily included as part of homework assignments:practice, feedback, successful students, and

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Lloyd Feldmann; Robert Hofinger

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Peggy Rijken; Jagannathan Mahadevan; Dr. Ronald E. Barr; Zeno Philip; Michael Tsurikov; Fernando Ulloa; Cynthia Finley

sent out to five of these former students to find out if the ASEE activities helped them intheir preparation to become faculty members, if the chapter influenced them to become facultymembers, and if the programs conducted were relevant. The survey questions are presented inTable 1. The five former members and their current institutions are as follows: • Dr. Eric Matsumoto, California State University, Sacramento, • Dr. Anneta Razatos, Arizona State University, • Dr. Robert Stone, University of Missouri-Rolla, • Dr. Norman Grady, West Point Military Academy, and • Dr. Jeffrey Gray, Johns Hopkins University (currently doing post-doctoral research work at the University of Washington

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

D. Smith; James Squire

others. By the late 1920’s,Alfred North Whitehead wrote in his classic Aims of Education 1 that most of what is taught is“…no longer about life as it is known in the midst of living it,” and suggested that efficiency inteaching through subject compartmentalization is achieved at the cost of reducing its ties to thesociety it purports to aid.Community-based projects (CBPs) attempt to restore this link between the undergraduateengineering experience and society by allowing students to learn while creating devices that helppeople or organizations within their immediate community. The projects may be implemented atany level from introductory (such as preparation of a laboratory for local high school seniorslearning Ohm’s Law) through senior capstone

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Gilbert; Mark Maughmer; Bonnie Osif; Marilyn Barger, Hillsborough Community College; Renata Engel, Pennsylvania State University

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Jemison; James Schaffer; William Hornfeck

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Barbara Greene; Connie Dillon; Billy L. Crynes

conducted a detailed comparative study between our method andthe traditional lecture method (1). A section of 52 students was taught in the full,traditional lecture method of 50-minute periods, three times a week. Another section of27 students was taught by our test method. Results have been presented on our findings(1,2,3). In the Fall 2000 semester, all of our students (87) were enrolled in this newmethod and detailed data were taken to evaluate their learning, teacher time on tasks andstudent attributes. Before presenting some of our results, here is a brief review of ourmethod of teaching and learning.III. New MethodMore details on this method have been presented previously (1,2,3,4). A CDROMcontained most of the course content. New material is

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Regina Zmich; Thomas Wolff

start their collegecareers with a broader variety of mathematics courses than freshman in some other engineeringschools. Table 1 shows the distribution of freshman mathematics enrollments in fall semester2000.Finally, MSU is a very large place. As previously stated, it enrolls approximately 6500 freshmenper year, and has a total annual enrollment, undergraduate and graduate, of approximately 43,000.So, back to the title of this section—Why a living-learning program? A number of otherengineering schools have attempted (many with apparent success) to better unify the freshmanengineering year with integrated programs which typically combine several curricular topicsamong Calculus, Physics, Engineering Graphics, Writing and Communication, Computing

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mort Isaacson; Francis Di Bella

whatconstitutes a good Design Process Methodology (DPM) that helps the student to a solution to awell-defined problem (ref.s 1, 2 & 3). The teaching of the ‘Art’ part of the equation isrecognized to be the more difficult because it requires (assumes) that creativity, the essence ofArt in any human endeavor, can be taught. While it is arguable whether creativity can betaught, it is certainly less arguable that creativity can at least be demonstrated and evenimproved upon; honed to a razor edge to solve the most obtuse of engineering (even life’s ?)problems. If an engineering solution can be demonstrated for an interesting although(admittedly) whimsical project then, it is hoped, so may the students comfortably deploy thedesign process to more

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Chandler; Kathleen McCollom

proprietary information is ‘protected information’ and includesinformation that can be patented, copyrighted or classed as trade secrets16, 35, 38. There is alsoinformation that companies can’t formally protect, but must be treated confidentially: 1) business information; 2) employee information; 3) customer and supplier information; 4) and future plans6.Uses of ‘confidentiality’ can include contract clauses, or stamping the term on documents.Further along in the spectrum of protecting intellectual property, there are laws governingcontracts2. Related to this is the formal ‘exchange of patents and technical information,’ and‘technology transfer24, 25.’Typical1 reasons for preparing proprietary information for public

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Vadim Guliants; Eugene Kopaygorodsky; William Krantz

various terms in a physical model for the PSA process. In particular, itpermits assessing how the performance of Ultra-Rapid PSA process might be different.II. The Scaling Analysis TechniqueThe following steps are involved in scaling analysis: 1. Write down the complete set of describing algebraic or differential equations including any relevant boundary, initial, and auxiliary conditions. 2. Introduce dimensionless variables for the relevant dependent and independent variables employing arbitrary scale and reference factors; in some cases the relevant dependent variable might be a spatial or time derivative. 3. Introduce the dimensionless variables into the model equations and relevant boundary, initial, and auxiliary

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Borrmann

, /c,d)which the student can easily identify with the AND- and OR-gates he studies in thecourse. The variable names (z, x, y, g, a, etc.) are user-selectable. Each statementoccupies one line. The slash (/) preceding variable names b and c denotes the one’scomplement (the NOT function) of the variable. The functions AND and OR, along withseveral dozen others, are built into the program. Gates can have any number of inputs,limited only by considerations of possible crowding on schematic drawings..In SDL circuit descriptions, a minimum of "boilerplate" is required. The complete filedescribing a one-bit half-adder consisting on one exclusive-OR gate and one AND gate isshown in Listing 1. (In this and subsequent listings, SDL keywords are shown

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Peterson

the likelihood ofsuccessful outcomes in the introduction of new technologies – was applicable to structuring thecourse.The first step was to rethink the course’s presentation. What is a seminar? Webster defines it asfollows: “seminar…1 a group of supervised students doing research or advanced study, as at a university, 2 a) a course for such a group, or any of its sessions b) a room where the group meets 3 any similar group discussion”2Discussion, research, and advanced study seemed to be the key concepts in both the course andin a seminar style of presentation.The next step was to consider the students in the class. The typical students in the other fourgraduate courses I had taught in these

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

George Edwards

all modules, and the ultimate delivery date for the final product. Ofcourse, through all this, we want our students to use the knowledge they have learnt in courses aswell as available resources to solve a real engineering problem in their field. This is importantbecause it gives them a feel for how engineering knowledge can be used in our everyday lives. Inthis paper, the focus will be on the engineering experience.II. DesignFigure 1 shows a picture of the donated transceiver set, which consists of an FMmodulator/demodulator. The transmitter operated at a RF frequency around 6 G Hz and a powerlevel of 0.5 W.In the preliminary stage, the students examined different modulation techniques that can be usedto transmit digital information

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Sundar Krishnamurty; Robert Gao; John Ritter; Donald Fisher; Janis Terpenny

specific need of an individual client. Early results of merging engineering educationand an area of social significance have been very positive. Students have welcomed both thehands-on and personal contribution aspects of their projects. In many cases, projects have led toresearch extensions, additional community connections, and for many students, inspiration tocontinue with graduate studies. The objective of this paper is to report on the motivation, design,and results of the capstone course sequence in assistive technology. Specific projects, past andcurrent, are also highlighted.1. IntroductionIn recent years, assistive technology has gained an increasing importance for people with visual,auditory, cognitive, or physical disabilities

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Stanley Pisarski; Beverly Hunter; Kathy Bearden

rewarding aspect for the students is what they have learned by working through the project,whether or not the project was a resounding success.V. ConclusionsThe Senior Project Proposal and Senior Project capstone design courses have provided Civil,Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology students with an opportunity to incorporateknowledge and skills into a professional, high quality end product. The projects undertaken bythe students have proven to be technically challenging and a means of documenting thecapabilities of senior students.Bibliography 1. CET 1195 Senior Project Proposal student work Fall 1999, team of 3 2. CET 1199 Senior Project student work, Spring 2000, team of 3 3. CET 1195 Senior Project Proposal

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mohamad Ahmadian

. This paper introduces a senior seminar course that provides studentsand faculty with a means of measurement for evaluation of students’ technical presentation,written, oral, and graphical communication skills throughout the course. Furthermore, this courseprovides engineering technology programs with quantitative and qualitative measures that may beincorporated as one component of a plan for assessment of student academic achievement.1. Introduction Accountability has become a national concern in higher education. In response,accrediting agencies require the development and implementation of academic assessment modelsdesigned to assure and enhance institutional improvement. As part of the accreditation reviewprocess, each baccalaureate

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Grover; Terry Parker; Robert King; Joan Gosink

related two problems; their departmentdoesn’t have graduate students and the experiments require one-of-a-kind expensive equipment.Arizona State University adopted a consistent and integrated set of laboratory facilities for athree-semester digital systems design sequence.7 Consequently, students learn the use oflaboratory software and hardware sequentially. This was found to be more effective than usingdifferent equipment in each of the three laboratories and asking students to re-learn differentsoftware and hardware.1.3 The Unique Educational Objectives of the MEL Course SequenceLike the examples above, the main focus of most laboratory sequences is subject matter depth;however, MEL has a longer list of objectives (shown in Table 1) that are

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Raul Ordonez; Hong Zhang; Ravi Ramachandran; Stephanie Farrell

Session 1526 MULTIDISCPLINARY CONTROL EXPERIMENTS BASED ON THE PROPORTIONAL-INTEGRAL-DERIVATIVE (PID) CONCEPT Ravi P. Ramachandran, Raul Ordonez, Stephanie Farrell, Zenaida Otero Gephardt and Hong Zhang Faculty of Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028Abstract - The hallmark of the newly configured Rowan College of Engineering undergraduateprogram is multidisciplinary education with a laboratory emphasis. The development of a newmultidisciplinary control laboratory upholds our hallmark very well. We attempt to address thedemand of industry for acquiring control engineers (1) with a

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Teodora Shuman; Greg Mason

following criteria: a) the mechanism needs to assess the student experiences inthe light of course specific educational objectives, b) it needs to be easy to implement, since itwould be used several times a term, and c) it needs to guarantee student anonymity.The mechanism used consisted of three in class surveys and one in class peer review. The peerreview was an oral class evaluation conducted by an outside professor without the teachingprofessor present. A flow chart of the assessment mechanism is shown in Figure 1 and discussedbelow.Step one in the assessment process is to formalize the educational objectives for the course.Educational objectives include: a) learning objectives for the course, b) learning objectives forthe class projects, and c

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher T. Field; Cameron Wright; Thad Welch

Systems course. This paperdiscusses a MATLAB -based program that allows for simultaneous signal analysis in the time andfrequency domains. The program is menu-driven and very easy to learn and use.1 IntroductionThe curriculum for most electrical engineering (EE) programs contains at least one course on Signalsand Systems. While the majority of the concepts taught in a traditional first course on Signals andSystems date back more than a hundred years, today’s students still struggle with the relationshipbetween the time and frequency domains. Any teaching technique that permits increased studentinsight into this complex relationship is of great value to both the professor and the student alike.Several tools exist to display signals in the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

John Barrett Crittenden

. Page 6.875.2 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering EducationExample 1: Calculate the area of an obtuse triangle ABC shown in the figure below. B Not to scale A C D AB = 127.3” AC = 110.1” Angle BAC = 9.25°From basic geometry, Area of a triangle = ½ (length of base) (length of altitude) = ½ (AC) (BD) = ½ (AC) (AB) (sin BAC) since BD = (AB)(sinBAC

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

John Johnston; Ed Dammel; S.K. Ramesh; Eric Matsumoto

Page 6.98.1 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Educationtaken in this paper is to present basic engineering concepts and experimental procedures in amanner similar to that used in the actual workshop.II. Overview of ExperimentIn this experiment, a load is applied at the center of a simply-supported beam and the resultingdeflection at midspan is measured. Figure 1 shows the test setup, including the specimen,supports, loading device, and dial gage. The specimen shown in the figure is a steel beam ofrectangular cross section that rests on a wide flange stubs. The simple supports at each endprevent

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ron Chin; Kamran Qamar; Gary Krikorian; Joel Weinstein

the client although these meetings were generally unproductive. Infact, there were several times that the “client” failed to show up for the meeting at all. When theclient did meet with the team, he was cordial but generally ignorant about details promising to“get back to us” although he never did.This forced the team to formulate project information and scheduling tasks as shown below.DetailsAccording to the information we had, we determined that the necessary schedule included: -Boston to Bluebell less than 1 Hr -Bluebell to Kana less than ½ Hr -Bluebell to Kreegah less than ½ Hr -Kana to Beuna less than 1 Hr -Kreegah to Beuna less than 1 HrFour 12-passengers planes and four 24 passengers

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Rice; Christian Ochei; Alamgir Choudhury

the area. This simulation and programming task replaces previous laboratoryexperiment on wooden beam deflection. Therefore, curriculum objectives are achievedwithout utilizing additional laboratory time.1. IntroductionAt Cuyahoga Community College (CCC), Strength of Materials is a required course forthe mechanical engineering technology and architecture/construction technologyprograms. Beam deflection theory and the associated exercise problems are anindispensable part of a traditional strength of materials curriculum in similar programs.The subject is taught using both moment-area and superposition methods [1,2]. While themoment-area method uses properties of bending moment diagram area, the superpositiontechnique requires the combined use

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Wunderlich

can become an issue when comparingsimulations to real-time Neural Network hardware. In general, comparison of simulations to realphysical systems often enhances understanding of the underlying governing principles andequations, and results in simulations that accurately model the real world.I. IntroductionA comparison of real-time controlled systems to computer simulations is made below bysimultaneously discussing the design and development of each. Both of these engineeringprocesses can be accomplished by performing the following steps: 1) Define problem 2) Simplify 3) Find governing equations 4) Build 5) Test (and rebuild as needed

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Peter Schuyler; Howard A. Canistraro

of student lab reports andassessment of student outcomes.I. Description of the Mechanical Engineering Technology ProgramThe four year program attempts to orient graduates towards problem solving ability usingclassical theoretical methods coupled with computer analysis packages aimed at practicalapplication. These traits have been shown to be in high demand by industry.1 The first yearemphasizes basic mathematical, communication and experimental skills. A strong foundation ofstrength of materials is then established, leading to advance capabilities in the machine designsequence. Also, in the upper division the various specialties of mechanical engineering areinvestigated, leading up to the senior design project. A listing of the

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Myszka

design parameters.The objective statement identifies the performance criteria to be optimized, such asmaximize the life of the electrical switch. The design parameters are the factors that canbe controlled to create the optimized product. This phase also includes the identificationof appropriate levels for the factors. For instance, if a design factor included moldingpressure, suitable levelsOptimization using Taguchi Methods involves investigating the possible conditions of themany parameters in a design. Orthogonal arrays are used to plan the investigation of thedesign factors. These orthogonal arrays eliminate the need to investigate all possiblecombinations of the various factors.Figure 1 illustrates an example orthogonal array that can be

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Raul Mihali; Damir Vamoser; Tarek Sobh

requirements have been set, for any specific studentinformation, the application will search and output the schedules that will allow the student tograduate in the fastest number of semesters / quarters possible. Depending on the factors and dataconsidered, the execution time varies from few seconds to few minutes. Currently, we havesuccessfully tested and implemented the application at the University of Bridgeport, CT, USA.1. IntroductionPost secondary education is usually being categorized in fields of studies defined as majors. Eachmajor has its unique class curriculum and requirements, usually preset for years and undergoinglimited infrastructure changes. Since usually a student can choose one or very few majors tostudy, the problem is considered

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Nels Madsen, Auburn University