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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Montgomery

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Bruce R. Dewey; Raymond Jacquot

Session 2220 Solution of Static and Dynamic Beam Bending and Static Buckling Problems Using Finite Differences and MATLAB R. G. Jacquot and B. R. Dewey University of WyomingAbstractThe authors present here a way to utilize MATLAB for the solution of a class of static anddynamic solid mechanics problems. In particular, the authors demonstrate with simple codes thatcomplicated problems of bending, buckling and beam vibration can be solved with high accuracyand, in the case of beam vibration, can also be animated.1. IntroductionThe solution of bending and

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Wayne Cottrell

atwo-year period, and four cash flows during a three-year period with equal revenues inyears 1-3. As the degree of the polynomial increases, directly computing the IRRbecomes laborious. Sharing these points with engineering economics and managementstudents may improve the understanding of both the IRR’s definition and itscomputational methods.IntroductionThe rate of return is a percentage figure that indicates the relative yield of different usesof capital. Rate of return methods are used to compare investment alternatives. Sincethe rate of return is an interest rate, the interpretation is straightforward. The internalrate of return (IRR) is one of several that are either commonly used or have beenproposed in the literature; the others include

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

FYI Team Members; Adrian Cloete

to remain vague.”2My colleagues and I – all teaching first-year technical, business, communication and socialsciences courses – have embraced a complementary understanding of three main streams in thethe pedagogical history of Critical Thinking: 1) The Critical Thinking movement, advocated by Richard Paul, Edward deBono and others 2) Classical Rhetoric, developed by the Ancient Greek philosophers 3) Industrial and Business Heuristics, articulated by Fogler, Kepner and others1) The Critical Thinking theorist, who actually coined the phrase “thinking about our thinking”, is Richard Paul. In his pedagogical theory, he urges students to probe the Eight Elements of Reasoning: 3 1. Purpose of the Thinking 2. Assumptions

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Terrence Freeman

be taught andreinforced, but the process demands more from students and teachers than memorization andregurgitation of facts and formulas.Thinking is often hard work and it will produce its share of results, however, it is the process ofcreative thinking and the enjoyment of the process that matters most. Debono (1995) describes adozen diagnostic, analytical, and evaluative processing skills that contribute to creativethinking1: (1) recognition, (2) interpreting clues, (3) concept formation, (4) generatingpossibilities, (5) judgment, (6) developing alternatives, (7) comparison & choice, (8) analysis,(9) perception, (10) values & feelings, (11) design, and (12) problem solving.Recognition is the process of attaching labels and a set

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Howard Smolleck; Bhargava Jayanti

Page 6.886.1introducing and reviewing fundamental vector and complex-number concepts for lower-divisionEngineering and Technology students AC Insights Plus, which introduces many concepts critical to both dc and ac circuit analysiswith an extended coverage of transformers and an introduction to rotating machines and relatedtopics, and Fields Insights, which addresses basic electromagnetic principles with some energyconversion material. Each of these modules has been discussed in previous papers 1-5, several of which wereprepared during the actual development of the modules. The present brief paper addresses this topic from the perspective of the completed project.Some highlights of the experience in developing and

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Carlos Sun; Frances Johnson; David Hutto; Kathryn Hollar; Eric Constans; Jennifer Kadlowec; Beena Sukumaran; Anthony Marchese; Paris von Lockette; Kevin Dahm; Douglas Cleary

Educationdisciplines. Indeed, the hallmark of the engineering program at Rowan University is themultidisciplinary, project-oriented Engineering Clinic sequence.The Engineering Clinic is a course that is taken each semester by every engineering student atRowan University. In the Engineering Clinic, which is based on the medical school model,students and faculty from all four engineering departments work side-by-side on laboratoryexperiments, design projects and research. The solution of these real-world problems require notonly a proficiency in the technical principles, but, as importantly, require a mastery of writtenand oral communication skills and the ability to work as part of an multidisciplinary team1,2.Table 1 contains an overview of course content in

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Sellers; Douglas Bayley

payload on an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle.The mission of FalconGold was to determine whether GPS signals could be detectedabove the GPS constellation. FalconGold relayed GPS data for 15 days prior to batterydepletion. Successful operations and data recovery from FalconGold concluded that GPSsignals could be used for orbit determination, even beyond the altitude of the GPSconstellation. [1]The Academy’s first “free flyer” satellite, FalconSAT-1, was launched on January 14, Page 6.887.22000 aboard the first Minotaur launch vehicle (a modified Minuteman II ICBM) along“Proceedings of the 2001 American Society of Engineering Educators Annual Conference

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Ruane

undergraduate research opportunity projects (UROP) forengineering students. CSP has developed numerous sounding rocket payloads, the TERRIERSsatellite 1, and several spacecraft and space shuttle payloads. The interdisciplinary environmentat CSP has generated several recent senior design projects for engineering teams. STARS willcaptialize on this resource, and on general student interest in spacecraft and instrumentation, tocreate a series of related design experiences for engineering students across the curriculum.The SPECTRE ExperienceSPECTRE was a sounding rocket payload design project fundedunder the NASA student launch program 2, through faculty in theCSP. Engineering students did the payload design. The NASA SLPhas launched seven Nike-Orion

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Schultz; Darryl Sale; Chang-Hee Won; William Semke; Arnold Johnson

commercial world. Thephilosophy centers around the idea that a project will be designed and documented on paper beforeany prototypes are constructed. The documentation includes a Concept of Operations that describesthe overall system design criteria, Trade Studies that lead to decisions on the subsystem parts, alayout of how all system pieces will interface with one another, and a plan for integrating and testingthe complete system1,3. Figure 1 shows the general layout of the systems engineering process, fromthe Concept of Operations through the various stages of the mission. Page 6.889.2 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher Vondrachek; Joseph Hoffbeck

shown in Figure 1, the core of the algorithm consists of two finite Page 6.101.3impulse response (FIR) digital filters, each with the same audio signal input. One filter is a high Proceeding of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education Session 2793pass while the other is a low pass. For the purposes of this project, 14th order Hamming windowfilters both with a cutoff of 2kHz were found to be sufficient (based on analysis of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Timothy Wheeler; Dr. Rose Marra; Dr. Jack Mitchell; Dr. Charles Croskey

contributions,including Bristol Aerospace Limited, FaranScientific, Inc., and Physical Sciences Laboratory.Participation in the project and courses totaled over75 undergraduate students at the two educationalinstitutions over the three years of the project. Therewere students from all levels of undergraduatecurriculum in more than twelve majors Six facultymemberswere involved to varying degrees, includingone (the principle author) who committed half histime to the project. Figure 1: SPIRIT payload configuration Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Anderson

“Staged Solutions” thatattempts to address the learning of higher-level analysis skills. Basically, the concept is to leadthe learner through a series of low-level interaction questions that contain all the elements ofthe analytical process. An example of this approach to teaching problem-solving skills over theInternet as applied to Statics is presented in this paper.1. IntroductionThe primary goal of engineering fundamentals courses, such as Statics, Dynamics, andThermodynamics, is to develop the analytical skills required to apply concepts learned incourses such as Physics and Mathematics to engineering situations. Secondary goals are todevelop mastery of basic concepts, to demonstrate the utility of science and mathematics, andto begin the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Lance Schachterle

components—including mathematics and thephysical sciences—within such assessment was not addressed since mathematics and thesciences usually get substantially more attention than H/SS in ABET reviews.)This paper is intended to discuss some issues associated with trying to assess and rank H/SSlearning within undergraduate engineering education. I will try to cover four aspects of thediscussion: 1. The impact of the transition from the conventional ABET criteria to EC2000. 2. The advantages of standards-based assessment of H/SS within engineering education. 3. Establishing such standards. 4. Conducting and using an evaluation based on standards.1. The impact of the transition from the conventional ABET criteria to EC2000.A

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Raghu Korrapati; Nikunja Swain; Mrutyunjaya Swain; James A. Anderson

. Page 6.893.1The CBVEL consists of IBM compatible computers with appropriate software and hardware fromNational Instruments (NI), and is connected to School of Engineering Technology and Sciences (SETS)network and existing equipment 1, 2. Virtual Instrument (VI ) modules for different courses and researchareas are currently developed. Examples of some of these VIs are Circuit Analysis, Electronics,Communications, Digital Signal processing, Power Quality Analysis, Digital Electronics, ControlSystems, and Digital Filters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. These modules will be used to better train the engineeringtechnology, sciences, and information technology graduates. Some of the research areas that will bebenefited by this laboratory are Non Destructive Testing

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Luces Faulkenberry

are about 15 post secondary proprietaryschool electrical and electronics technology teachers.A date, April 28, 2000, was selected for the first meeting. An invitation letter to the firstmeeting, in Appendix 1, was sent out by email to every teacher for whom we had an emailaddress, and by mail to every teacher whose address we had. We mailed several invitations in anenvelope addressed generically to the electronics teachers at each proprietary school. A follow-up letter was sent out about three weeks before the meeting.The first meeting, held at the Houston Southwest Hilton Hotel, had 25 people in attendance. Thepeople were receptive to the idea of an association for Gulf Area electrical and electronicsteachers, and liked the idea of having

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Larry Richards

program. Our approach stresses minimalist learning– the students learn the essential commands and capabilities of each program, and thenelaborate these on their own. The scripts include some instructions that cause errors orlead to problems. This forces the students to think about the limitations of the software,and how to overcome them. They also learn that all software has flaws. Each lesson hasan associated assignment to be completed outside the lab. Two major projects includedeveloping a personal webpage, and a CAD design competition. This paper includesexamples of student work and sample scripts.1. IntroductionIn their first year at the University of Virginia (UVa), our students are exposed to twocomputer laboratory experiences. The first

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Salem

next step is to organize yourself –develop a detailed action plan, wisely choose how and when to invest your time, and work withyour strengths while correcting areas of weakness. The final step is to manage yourself – don’trely upon a boss or a colleague to lead you to success, develop mentoring relationships, and keepthese activities alive and ongoing.Personal well beingLife is a delicate balancing act among a wide variety of competing demands for your time andpersonal resources. A well-balanced life will promote inner peace and health, while a life livedon the ragged edge can be quite damaging.1 Successful people regardless of their professions arecontinually challenged to define and strive toward this healthy balance.2 One thing is certain

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kevin Murphy; Ismail Orabi

frequency. However, because it isFigure 1: a) The response viewed in the time domain. b) The discrete Fourier amplitudes andthe continuous frequency spectrum.periodic it can be expressed as a Fourier series, i.e. it can be expressed as an infinite sum of sineand cosines. This representation takes the form: ao ∞   2nπt   2nπ t   f (t) = + ∑  an cos + bn sin 2 n =1  T  T   (1)where the coefficients an and bn can be determined through integration: 2 T ao

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

James Rehg

. Texas Instruments developed Stage Programming for its line ofPLCs in the mid 1980s. While the techniques are not silver bullets for PLC programming issues,they provide structure that improves program readability. Also, they improve troubleshooting ofprograms controlling automation systems. The use of the SFCs approach in automation controllabs at Penn State Altoona is described in this paperEmpirical PLC ProgrammingProgrammable logic controller programming is accomplished using two techniques: empiricaland pseudo structured. The empirical approach follows the following steps: 1. Clearly state and defined the control problem. 2. Identify all of the control outputs and the control requirements for each. 3. For each control output identify

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Terry Armstrong; Paul Rousseau; Katharine Fulcher; Carlo Felicione; Steve Beyerlein; Donald Elger

of success, recall.” Based on findings such as these, Woods has spentmany years developing a problem-solving strategy. In his most recent paper, Woods (2000)reviews basic problem-solving strategies and presents the MPS (McMaster Problem Solving)program. For problem solving, five sets of knowledge/skills are identified: (1) subjectknowledge, (2) tacit knowledge (3) links and clues to subject knowledge, (4) pattern recognitionskills, and (5) generic problem-solving skills. Regarding skills for problem solving, Woods(2000) presents an extended list of metacognitive, cognitive and attitudinal skills. Woodsstresses the importance of learning problem solving as a nonlinear process.Polya (1973) presents a well-known model for problem solving in the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ed Wheeler; Robert LeMaster

Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Educationto post the material to the website is usually less than a minute. Practical issues associated withthe development and maintenance of the website are reported in Reference 6.Assessing the MethodThe instrument used to perform the student assessment contained 28 questions, and was given tosixty-six students. The questions were asked in a both a positive and negative sense. Thequestions were of two basic types: 1) those in which students could select one or more responses,and 2) those in which a numbered response ranging from one to five were selected. The key forthe numbered response was: 1) Strongly Disagree, 2) Slightly Disagree, 3) No Opinion, 4)Slightly Agree, and 5) Strongly Agree.The

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Rose Marra; Andrew Lau; John Wise; Robert Pangborn

Session 2793 Student Assessments of Engineering First-Year Seminars Andrew S. Lau, Robert N. Pangborn, John C. Wise, Rose M. Marra Pennsylvania State University / University of MissouriAbstractAs of summer 1999, the Pennsylvania State University requires all first-year students tocomplete a one-credit first-year seminar (FYS) as part of their General Education requirements.In fact, many engineering FYS’s were first offered in fall 1998 (as electives), and assessment hasbeen ongoing since that semester. Engineering seminars have these four specific goals: 1. Introduce students to a specific field, or a number

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Erlandson

by IE student designers, is a commercial food preparation kitand grew from the process flow analysis conducted in project 1. The kit, which keeps all of thetools necessary for each job in one contained unit, eliminates a great deal of the confusion andtraffic involved with looking for and retrieving the tools for each task. Students can easily locatetheir kit, and with a quick visual scan, be certain that they have all of the tools needed to beginworking. With this accommodation, the students are able to complete tasks quickly and havemore time for learning new skills.The third project, a computerized receipt creation program, enables students with limited readingskills to take and receive food orders. This project involved an ECE student

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Hoke; Craig Somerton

Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Educationcompletion reinforces their thermal design knowledge but also provides them with the confidenceto implement their skills. Students were given anonymous surveys before and after the project asa means to evaluate the impact of the thermal design experience at Michigan State University fromthe students’ perspective. This paper presents the survey results and focuses on theimplementation of those results as a means to continually improve the students’ thermal designexperience.II. Design Project DescriptionThe student design groups were required to design a water heater utilizing twelve (12) birthdaycandles as an energy source. The project goal was to heat 400 milliliters of water in a 1

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Hatfield

ability of acourse to contribute toward the desired program outcomes is determined by its content, structure,and delivery. Student perceptions of the quality and success of these three elements are whatstudent course and teaching evaluation systems have long sought to measure. Unfortunately,many of these systems have focused primarily on evaluation of the instructor and provide littleinformation about the quality of the course itself. Furthermore, the ability of these evaluations toactually improve teaching is limited by conflicting objectives, as identified by William Cashinwhen discussing the development of an effective faculty evaluation system:1 "The higher education rhetoric is almost universal in stating the primary purpose of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kara Kockelman

SETS Instructor experience, standing, and gender, course department and credit hours, andstudent classification, test scores, gender, and other variables are used here to explain variation ingrades and evaluation scores. A description of all variables used is provided in Table 1. The primary data represent grades, evaluations, and student information collected andmaintained by U.T. Austin’s College of Engineering from the spring semester of 1992 throughthe fall semester of 1998 (21 semesters total). The instructor-attribute data set was producedonly recently, based on personnel databases and publicly available lists maintained by theUniversity. Tables 1 and 2 present the definitions and some basic descriptive statistics of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Rajai; Mel Mendelson

Session 3655 Student Patents on Inter-University Projects Mel I. Mendelson,1 Mark Rajai2 1 Loyola Marymount University / 2East Tennessee State UniversityAbstractIn most universities the students relinquish their patent rights when they enroll in courses. Adifferent model is proposed where the students can own their patents and receive 98% of the netincome, or they can assign the rights to the university and receive generous royalty sharing.I. IntroductionIn 1999, a grant between Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and East Tennessee StateUniversity (ETSU) was obtained from the Lemelson

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Brenda Morton; Raymond Thompson

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Scott Dennis; Jeff Ball; Martin Bowe; Daniel Jensen

described aided by asmall plexiglass gear set. The gear set demonstrates the input-reaction-output function withdifferent sun-carrier-ring combinations giving various gear ratios. We would then only brieflydescribe the functions and operation of the clutches and bands and valve body not addingsignificantly beyond what is in the course textbooks (1-3). Whereas each of the majorcomponents of the automatic transmission can be adequately described as individual parts, anexplanation of the automatic transmission as a dynamic system is more challenging. We wouldattempt to present the system with the help of overhead transparencies of schematics such as thatshown in Figure 1. These types of diagrams are certainly worthwhile additions to worddescriptions