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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Maryamsadat Shokrekhodaei; Annatoma Arif; Robert Christopher Roberts

1Optimizing Laboratory Curriculum to Enhance Students’ Learning Efficiency in Electrical Engineering Department Maryamsadat Shokrekhodaei, Annatoma Arif, and Robert C. Roberts Electrical and Computer Engineering Department The University of Texas at El Paso AbstractIntroduction to Electrical Engineering (I2EE) is one of the core courses offered to freshmen in theElectrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Thepurpose of this course is introducing students to theoretical and practical concepts those form the basisfor

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Madalyn Wilson-Fetrow; Dayra Fallad-Mendoza; Benjamin Fetrow; Christopher Fetrow; Vanessa Svihla

University of New Mexico Introduction and MethodsIn STEM education, educators and industry leaders alike emphasize hands-on laboratory researchexperience during undergraduate education as a way for students to gain skills as technicians andresearchers​1,2​. Undergraduate research promotes retention in STEM fields and serves as a pathway tograduate school and science careers​2,3​. For some undergraduate students, however, the process ofengaging in research can be chaotic, confusing, and discouraging, which limits the value of theirexperiences [2]. However, positive undergraduate research experiences can be a key to studentgrowth and success. Effective mentorship and guidance can impact outcomes of undergraduatestudent

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Robert Carrillo; Ricky Perez; Alex Sanchez; Ray Long; Okan Caglayan

safely store the LiPobatteries in a laboratory. Figure 1 (b) showed the hardware that included the PCM, temperature,humidity, carbon monoxide and gas/smoke sensors, which could trigger an alarm to alert thepersonnel if an abnormal condition was detected during storage. E.M.A.’s operational state isshown in Figure 2. a. b. Figure 2. ThingSpeak Dashboard (a) Normal operation (b) Detected abnormal conditionProject Volta was funded by the Autonomous Vehicle System (AVS) Laboratory under thesupervision of Dr. Michael Frye, PI and Director of the AVS Lab at the University of theIncarnate Word. This project provided the senior engineering students an invaluable opportunityto

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Zachary Brounstein; Elizabeth Armistead; Murali Duggina; Pallavi Sharma; Nathan Jackson

siliconwafer using photoresist as the sacrificial layer and measuring the displacement as a function of theapplied voltage, which was performed as laboratory work supplementing the graduate course.Actuators with varying dimensions were developed. Stresses in the aluminum cantilever structurewere reduced by controlling sputtering deposition parameters such as thickness and power. Removalof the sacrificial photoresist layer proved to be a limiting factor because a liquid etchant was used,which lead to issues with stiction. Care was taken to optimize the process of the electro-thermalactuators and reduce the amount of stiction and overall intrinsic stress present of the device. Theresults of this project were working devices and knowledge of process

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Adeyemi Taylor; Shuza Binzaid; John Attia

of the multifunctional sensors, and the electronic modules. Many sensorsare already developed and available today but still very short in multifunctional sensors, that candetect more than one type of radiation environment. To design a system that is suitable for bothspace and earth environments in detecting hazardous conditions that can cause fatal diseases, eightMulti-functional sensors were designed and successfully tested under the highest flux of neutronenergy radiation at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Initial findings from this work have shownthat it is possible to have a single multifunctional sensor that can detect two environments. Thesesensors had the same diameter of radiation window so that collected data can be compared

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Ahmed Hasan; Tariq Khraishi

the freshman year, students take several math, physics andother pre-requisite classes, during which they do not see the relevance to an engineering career1.Consequently, many students change their interest to other degrees path, which result in lowenrollment in the engineering schools. This issue even become more convoluted by the natural lowenrollment in small schools that play important role in graduating much-needed talents that servethe local private, state and federal businesses2,3. The University of New Mexico (UNM) located inthe central region of the state that host several national laboratories such as Sandia NationalLaboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Air Force Research Laboratory, in addition toseveral other state

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Abhaya Datye; Marina Miletic; Jamie Gomez; Eva Chi; Sang M. Han; Catherine Hubka; Yan Chen; Vanessa Svihla; Sung Kang; Heather Canavan

Foundation (NSF) funded projects: Professional Formation of Engineers: ResearchInitiation in Engineering Formation (PFE: RIEF) - Using Digital Badging and Design ChallengeModules to Develop Professional Identity; Professional Formation of Engineers: REvolutionizingengineering and computer science Departments (IUSE PFE\RED) - Formation of AccomplishedChemical Engineers for Transforming Society. She is a member of the CBE department’s ABET andUndergraduate Curriculum Committee, as well as faculty advisor for several student societies. She isthe instructor of several courses in the CBE curriculum including the Material and Energy Balances,junior laboratories and Capstone Design courses. She is associated with several professionalorganizations including

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Krista Nicklaus; Daniel Puperi; Patricia Clayton

toinclude the student-teacher in course planning before the semester begins, to provide guidance inpreparing and teaching a major portion of at least five classes, and to support participation in gradingand responding to student work. The student-teacher participates in all aspects of course planning,lesson planning, and student assessments with opportunities for reflective self-assessment andstructured feedback from faculty and student-teacher peers from lesson observations. Thispresentation will provide perspectives on the teaching practicum experience of a student-teacher,supervising faculty mentor, and students in a sophomore-level computational fundamentals ofbiomedical engineering design laboratory course. The student-teacher and supervising

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Marina Miletic; Vanessa Svihla; Eva Chi; Jamie Gomez; Abhaya Datye; Pil Kang; Yan Chen; Sang Han

in her lab is focused on understandingthe dynamics and structures of macromolecular assemblies including proteins, polymers, and lipidmembranes. Undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars are trained in amultidisciplinary environment, utilizing modern methodologies to address important problems at the Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Copyright © 2020, American Society for Engineering Education 4interface between chemistry, physics, engineering, and biology preparing the trainees for careers inacademe, national laboratories, and

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Aleksandr Sergeyev; John Irwin; Adrienne Minerick

) for therequired masters-level courses. To accommodate the distance, laboratory components will betaught in a week-long format on campus in a condensed fashion at a time that is most convenientfor the students. This hybrid (online lectures and in-person hands-on training) approach will notonly attract industry representatives but will also provide additional flexibility to the studentscurrently enrolled in the degree.International students and the students from other universities will be able to enroll in the MSdegree of Mechatronics based upon their earned BS degree, admittance by the graduate school,and approval of the graduate advisor. The approval will be based on comparing the individuals’transcripts with the current requirements for

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Ian Gravagne

Poor… and Yourself, Moody Publishers, 2014IAN A. GRAVAGNEDr. Ian Gravagne serves as Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director for the Department of Electrical &Computer Engineering at Baylor University. His research interests include dynamic equations on time scales, and powergrid stabilization via synchrophasor-controlled renewable resources. He and his family lived on campus for five years asfaculty-in-residence at Baylor, and he recently took a one-year sabbatical to work for Sandia National Laboratories. Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Copyright © 2020, American

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Jesus Ortega

related toefficient particle heating, flow control and containment, erosion and attrition, and conveyance.1Based on current knowledge of the three power tower technologies, all three paths have thepotential to achieve the SunShot goals. Further development, modeling, and testing is currentlyundergoing by Universities and National Laboratories throughout the US, along with manyinternational partners. The expectation for this on-going research is to bring the technologies to astage where integrated system tests and pilot demonstrations are possible and realistic. References1. Mehos, M., Turchi, C., Vidal, J., Wagner, M., Ma, Z., Ho, C., Kolb, W., Andraka, C., & Kruizenga, A., — Concentrating

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Savannah Bradley; Mostafa Hassanalian

aircrafts, aircraft optimization, and aircraft efficiency.MOSTAFA HASSANALIANDr. Hassanalian currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at New Mexico Institute of Miningand Technology. Dr. Hassanalian runs the Autonomous Flight and Aquatic System Laboratory at New Mexico Instituteof Mining and Technology. His research interests include biomimetics and bioinspired aerial and aquatic vehicles, designand optimization of aerial vehicles, and new concepts for planetary and space exploration. Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Copyright  2020, American Society for

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Olga Lavrova; Satish Ranade

Engineering 4 cr. instructor (myself in this case) ensures that students are actively EE531: Power System Modeling and Computational Methods. participating in the class, rather that passively listening.B. Online lectures and assignments. instruments, the laboratory has six LabVolt test benches which can be configured using motor-generator sets as generating Successful teaching of interactive classroom and online- sources or loads. Each bench is tied to its substation andspecific classes means that the teacher not only needs interconnected via transmission lines as a complete powercurriculum and

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Cody Crosby; Anita Patrick; Margo Cousins; Laura Suggs; Mia Markey

scholars weregrouped upon their arrival on campus, thereby enriching each other’s experiences and streamliningthe administrative organization (Cousins, Demont, Suggs, & Markey, 2018). All subsequentanalysis combines observations gathered from CUReS and BUILD participants.REU ProgrammingCUReS and BUILD visiting scholars were assigned a faculty and graduate student mentor (anarrangement the authors have found highly effective in past iterations of this REU (Cousins et al.,2018)) and a corresponding laboratory upon their arrival on campus. During the ten-week program,these students spent most of their available time conducting high-level research in their assignedresearch group. The laboratory settings varied significantly based on the faculty

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Roli Varma

head of the family who controls a woman’seducation, mobility, labor participation, reproduction, and sexuality.31 A family considers thesons’ role as staying home to provide for the family, whereas girls are expected to leave homeafter marriage. Consequently, women receive less financial support and encouragement forhigher education than their male siblings. Even teachers have greater expectations in theeducation of male than female students. Because of their gender, female students face curfews attheir hostels and at home. As a result, female students are unable to stay in laboratories longer tocomplete group projects and network with male peers. During job placements on campus, it iscommon for employers to ask whether female students have

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

AHMED HUSSAIN; Nizar Tayem; Jamal Nayfeh; Samir El-Nakla

” method that can be applied.This poses a significant challenge to new institutions/programs that have embarked on the process ofapplying for ABET accreditation. Each program/institution has to develop its own methodology orprocess8,9,10 for meeting the ABET requirements based on the resources available at its disposal.Successful ABET accreditation of an institution of higher learning requires several years of priorplanning and preparation11. It must have a strong up-to-date curriculum that meets internationalstandards, qualified faculty and staff in sufficient numbers, teaching and laboratory facilities, andstrong institutional support. It must also put in place a clear, well-defined, and implementableprocess for assessment and evaluation of

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Kenneth Leitch; Erick Benjamin Butler

renumbered and reconfigured to share with the environmental engineeringprogram. The two programs share lower division courses and naturally complement each other interms of shared faculty as well as laboratory and classroom resources.WTAMU uses a pre-engineering sequence that approximates the first two years of study at a fouryear institution and is approximately the same as the pre-engineering (associate’s degree)program at partner junior colleges and universities. It was decided to make the pre-engineeringsequence identical for both civil and environmental engineering BS programs in 2019. Studentsmust complete fundamentals of engineering (ENGR 1301), computer-aided drafting (ENGR1304), statics (ENGR 2301), dynamics (ENGR 2302), calculus I (MATH

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Roli Varma

fulfill specialty jobs for whichdomestic labor was seen in short supply10.The 1990 Act defined a “specialty occupation” as requiring highly specialized knowledge andskills, and a bachelor’s or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent). It created acap of 65,000 temporary foreign workers based on specialized education and technical skills indemand. They were allowed to work for up to six years, with an eligibility for renewal in threeyears. This cap only applied to the U.S. industrial sector; those on H-1B visas working foracademic institutions and government research laboratories were excluded from this cap. In1998, the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act increased H-1B visas to115,000 for the 1999 and 2000

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Roman Taraban; Curtis Craig; Srinivasa Murthy Gunturu; Edward E. Anderson

specialized dictionaries for text analysis. East European Journal of Psycholinguistics, 6(1).ROMAN TARABANRoman Taraban is Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Texas Tech University. He received hisPh.D. in cognitive psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. His interests are in how undergraduate students learn,and especially, in critical thinking and how students draw meaningful connections in traditional college contentmaterials.CURTIS M. CRAIGCurtis Craig is a Research Associate in the HumanFIRST Laboratory at the University of Minnesota's Department ofMechanical Engineering, a part of the Roadway Safety Institute. He received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology fromTexas Tech University. His interests center on cognitive

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

John Carrell; Joshua Cruz; Stephanie Kuzmack

Conference and Exposition, Columbus, OH,20 Dubreta, N., 2014, "Integration of Social Sciences and Humanities into Mechanical Engineering Curriculum," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems, 12(2), pp. 137-15021 Fisher, E. and R.L. Mahajan, 2010, "Embedding the Humanities in Engineering: Art, Dialogue, and a Laboratory," MIT Press, pp. 20922 Shankar, R.T., et al., 2017, "A Case-Study Approach to Interlink Humanities with Engineering Education," 124th ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, OH,23 Walther, J., S.E. Miller, and N.W. Sochacka, 2017, "A Model of Empathy in Engineering as a Core Skill, Practice Orientation, and Professional Way of Being," Journal of Engineering Education, 106(1), pp. 123

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Randall Manteufel; Amir Karimi; Pranav Bhounsule

and have been used by students to copy homework solutions sothat faculty have changed how they assign, collect and grade homework.4 The use of Chegg tocomplete homework has encouraged departments to recommend relatively low weights tohomework5,6. Some students have a blurred idea of what is academic dishonesty, especially onhomework7. In many places, homework is not a substantial part of the grade so it is acceptable toreceive online help on homework.8 Some instructors avoid traditional homework and use projects toassess student learning, yet it appears the online tutors are available to not only solve problems butwrite papers and laboratory reports. There appears to be a growing market for online tutoring servicesto help students solve

Collection

2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Kenneth Van Treuren

DPhil in EngineeringSciences at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and returned to the USAF Academy to teach heat transfer andpropulsion systems. At Baylor University, he teaches courses in laboratory techniques, fluid mechanics, energysystems, and propulsion systems, as well as freshman engineering. Research interests include renewable energy toinclude small wind turbine aerodynamics, small propeller design, and experimental convective heat transfer as appliedto HVAC and gas turbine systems. Proceedings of the 2020 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Copyright © 2020, American Society for Engineering Education

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2020 Gulf Southwest Section Conference

Authors

Amir Karimi; Randall Manteufel

information, determining an appropriate source and applying the information.”Engineering programs can still employ their previous instruments used for the assessment andevaluation of SOs (A-k) or modify them to assess and evaluate the student outcomes in the newgeneral criteria. Most programs have been using the results of student performance on specificproblems, laboratory experiments, design projects, or other types of reports as primary directmeasurement for assessing student outcomes. Other instruments such as results of thefundamentals of engineering (FE) exam and student surveys are used as secondary instrumentsfor the assessment of student outcomes. Most programs have been using the same instrumentsfor the assessment of both student outcomes