Conference Session

FPD8 - Early Intervention & Retention

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gretchen Hein, Michigan Technological University; Amber Kemppainen, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

topicscovered and the variety between them caused a great deal of discontinuity in the course material.Therefore, the new structure emphasizes subjects where engineering tools are used to solve ordisseminate the course material in modules that are interrelated and reinforced throughout thecourse. In the first course, three subject modules were created for this purpose: • Engineering Design and Analysis • Engineering Ethics • Engineering SustainabilityIn the first course, students will use engineering skills such as the problem solving method andstatistical analyses while completing design activities. They will analyze and communicate theirresults in a technical poster competition. The second course builds on previously learned skillswith the

Conference Session

FPD10 - Freshman Engineering Introduction to Design

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Montgomery, University of Michigan; Rodney Johnson, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Engage in an ethical decision-making process, given some engineering situation. 6. Identify the ethical, environmental and global and societal impacts of engineering practice. 7. Design technical/professional communications. 8. Deliver well-structured, technically sound oral and written communication. 9. Evaluate and effectively construct arguments, using technical content at the first-year level.The technical component of the course varies by section, with some sections being very specificto a given major, such as the “Mechanics and Materials for the Design of Biomedical Devicesand Orthopedic Implants.” Others, such as ours, are broader in

Conference Session

FPD6 - First Year Curricula Development

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura Ruhala, University of Southern Indiana; Richard Ruhala, University of Southern Indiana; Eric Sprouls, University of Southern Indiana

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Careers in Engr / Planning Careers in Engr/Planning/Professionalism 5 Co-op Program Student Chapter Meetings 6 Engr Student Club Meetings Civil Engineering Program 7 Mechanical Engr Program Breakout Session Î Note-taking/Sketching 8 Civil Engr Program Electrical Engr Program 9 Electrical Engr Program Breakout Session Î Graphs/Tables 10 Engr Ethics Industrial Supervision/Adv. Manufacturing 11 Adv. Manufacturing/Industrial Sup. Ethics/Life-Long Learning 12 Engr Professionalism Mechanical Engr Program 13 Thanksgiving Î

Conference Session

FPD9 - First Year Learning & Assessment

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gary Halada, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

designed to avoid failure. The ethical implications of engineering failures are also discussed, and students individually research and report on a recent engineering failure (of their own choosing), providing a brief failure report and presentation.Modules 2 and 3 (the “mousebot” and fuel cell) have been recently redesigned to expand theopportunities for active (hands-on) and problem based learning. For example, students areencouraged and directed to optimize the designs by customizing construction and materials, anda “studio” approach has been incorporated into nearly one quarter of the classes for the course.This allows student groups to freely explore ideas and develop skills with supervisory assistancefrom the

Conference Session

1553 FPD3 - Computer & Programming Tools in First Year Instruction

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Robertson, Arizona State University; Sarah Roux, Arizona State University; Vivek Ramanathan, Arizona State University; Mark Rager, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

in the use of ‘cut and paste’ and there is asignificant ethical issue. This problem will not go away so a general solution that can be appliedto all courses was adopted. The first step is to show the limited utility of unverified information.Team discussions worked well for that. Second, provide positive incentives in the form of acomponent of the project report grade for good practice. Third, put good backgroundinformation in its personal context of enhancing the credibility of the individual and the teamoutput in the weekly team project presentations.A new set of skills measures was introduced in 2007 following extensive discussion with theIndustry Advisory Boards. Students were asked to rate their awareness and commitment to 64different

Conference Session

FPD1 - Early Success and Retention

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jale Tezcan, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; James Mathias, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Lalit Gupta, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Rhonda Kowalchuk, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

inengineering. Specifically, the course aims to 1. Help students understand and become familiar with engineering professions and careers. 2. Introduce students to the various technical areas and specializations within engineering. 3. Help students form academic and personal support groups and develop the ability to communicate and work effectively with others. 4. Acquaint students with the role of engineers in society and in engineering ethics. 5. Provide students hands-on laboratory projects and theoretical background to appreciate the importance of mathematics in engineering. 6. Guide students in choosing an engineering curriculumCourse Structure and Content :The Introduction to Engineering course is a three-credit course that

Conference Session

FPD6 - First Year Curricula Development

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Wight, Norwich University; R. Danner Friend, Norwich University; Jacques Beneat, Norwich University; William Barry, Norwich University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

introduction to engineering course. The committeealso directed that the course be developed with the following goals in mind. The freshmanexperience should engender improved retention, be efficiently delivered, allow students topostpone selection of a major field without consequence, be project-based, and place equalemphasis on design, analysis, some important technical skills, and “soft” skills like ethics,societal sensitivity, communication, and teaming.With this charge, the detailed development of the course was conducted during the summer of2007 by a team of four experienced and junior faculty from all three engineering disciplines.These four faculty members would also become the instructors for the course, which allowed for

Conference Session

FPD2 - First-Year Advising and Transition

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jean Kampe, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Whitney Edmister, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Christi Boone, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Bevlee Watford, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, so two lectures and two workshops wereheld each week. In moving to the summer 2007 offering, which spanned only six weeks, alecture and then a workshop were held each weekday, with a two-hour break between them. Afaculty member ran the lectures and workshops, but the workshops also had a teaching assistant:a graduate student in fall 2006 and an upper-class undergraduate in summer 2007. Thebreakdown of course content and delivery is presented in the Appendix (see Table A1, which is acompressed version of the summer course syllabus). The major content items for the courseinclude graphics, design, problem solving, graphing, computer programming, handling digitaldata, project management, communication, and ethics. In each offering of EngE2984, a

Conference Session

FPD6 - First Year Curricula Development

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kerry Meyers, University of Notre Dame; John Uhran, University of Notre Dame; Catherine Pieronek, University of Notre Dame; Dan Budny, University of Pittsburgh; John Ventura, Christian Brothers University; Patricia Ralston, University of Louisville; John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University; Constance Slaboch, University of Notre Dame; Brenda Hart, University of Louisville; Rebecca Ladewski, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, Assistant Superintendent, Merrillville Public Schools, INDr. John Hutton, Assistant Superintendent (Secondary), Valparaiso School Corporation, INMr. Garry DeRossett, Principal of Boone Grove High School, IN12:30 - 2:00 p.m. LunchSpeaker: Michael Littman, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, PrincetonUniversity “Educating Future Engineers and Citizens about the Grand Tradition in Engineering”2:15 - 3:45 p.m. Session #3: The Place of Humanities in the Engineering CurriculumDr. Gary Downey, Panel Leader, Professor of Science and Technology in Society, Virginia TechDr. Deborah Johnson, Professor of Applied Ethics in Science, Technology, and Society,University of VirginiaDr. Cornelius Delaney, Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the

Conference Session

FPD1 - Early Success and Retention

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy Bell, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Moshe Kam, Drexel University; Joan Carletta, University of Akron; Douglas Gorham, IEEE

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

ability to properly distinguish arrhythmias that require therapy (VT) from those that don’t (SVT). Thesecond, more complicated algorithm uses additional information to better discriminate VTs and SVTs. Thecomparison of the two algorithms will illustrate the tradeoff between algorithm speed vs. accuracy (faster/lessaccurate vs. slower/more accurate). Through their comparisons, the students will discover the impact of algorithmcomputational complexity on the real-time constraint that is critical to the ICD’s ability to save lives.An example of further reading for this project is the recent article that describes the ethical issues surrounding amanufacturer’s unwillingness to recall defective ICDs.Figure 1. A normal heart rhythm (left) is described

Conference Session

FPD4 - Teaching Methods for First Year Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sean Brophy, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

identify a method for capturing the qualities of students’ learning and using it toguide the implementation of the instruction.MethodsNine learning modules have been constructed to introduce first year students to descriptivestatistics, function discovery, numerical analysis, teaming and ethics to name a few. This studyused a challenge involving a closed loop control system to introduce numerical analysis(maximum, minimum, roots of an equation) and review function discovery (e.g. linearregression, exponential relationships). The problem provides an excellent foundation to developa mathematical model of a system’s performance. The objective for the module is to usefunctional analysis tools in MATLAB on a mathematical model to predict when a maximum

Conference Session

FPD7 - Global Warming & Sustainability for First-Year Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amber Kemppainen, Michigan Technological University; Gretchen Hein, Michigan Technological University; David Shonnard, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

sustainability of theethanol process by developing a facility to eliminate waste from the production process.This paper will describe the incorporation of the biomass-to-ethanol design project into our firstyear engineering program, the assessment methodology used and the expected educationaloutcomes of the project.IntroductionAll first year engineering students who enter our program Calculus-ready take a two semestercourse sequence: ENG1101 (Engineering Problem Solving and Analysis) and ENG1102(Engineering Modeling and Design). These courses are designed to introduce first yearengineering students to basic engineering topics: 3D visualization and modeling, ethics,engineering design and problem solving, software proficiency, and technical communications

Conference Session

FPD10 - Freshman Engineering Introduction to Design

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Silas Bernardoni, University of Wisconsin- Madison; Amit Nimunkar, University of Wisconsin - Madison; John Murphy, University of Wisconsin- Madison; Sandra Courter, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

this course, students should have: [1] 1. An elementary knowledge of the disciplines in engineering, especially the undergraduate programs and extracurricular opportunities available at the our university; 2. A basic understanding of/and experience in the steps and techniques of engineering design; 3. Awareness of some ethical, social, political, and economic influences on and impacts of engineering design; 4. Emerging skills in written and/or oral communication related to engineering design; Page 13.1108.2 5. Introductory skills in teamwork with peers; 6. Preliminary development of habits of mind that engineering

Conference Session

1553 FPD3 - Computer & Programming Tools in First Year Instruction

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jess Everett, Rowan University; John Chen, Rowan University; Stephanie Farrell, Rowan University; Jennifer Kadlowec, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

150-minute laboratory session each week. Students from all four disciplines are mixed insections of approximately 20 students each. The course serves as both an introduction to collegeand an introduction to engineering. Lectures focus on survival skills and other topics importantto freshman engineers, such as note taking, problem solving, engineering estimation, significantfigures, professionalism and ethics. Approximately eight of the laboratory sessions are devotedto open-ended project-based learning used to reinforce lecture topics. The rest are used forexams, to view and discuss videos, etc.Freshman Clinic I is additionally designated as a “Rowan Seminar” course. Rowan Seminarclasses are university-wide courses designed to help freshmen

Conference Session

FPD4 - Teaching Methods for First Year Students

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Hall, Louisiana Tech University; Stan Cronk, Louisiana Tech University; Patricia Brackin, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mark Barker, Louisiana Tech University; Kelly Crittenden, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

vision for the engineering field and to predict the work environment Page 13.855.4 of an engineer in 202017. The report resulting from Phase 1 of this work identified ten keyattributes to support the relevance of the engineering profession in 2020 and beyond. Theseattributes are presented in Table 2.Table 2. Key attributes that the “Engineer of 2020” should possess17No. AttributeA1. Strong analytical skillsA2. Practical ingenuityA3. CreativityA4. Good communication skillsA5. Lifelong learnersA6. Dynamic, agile, resilient and flexible characteristicsA7. High ethical standardsA8. Leadership skillsA9

Conference Session

FPD9 - First Year Learning & Assessment

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Whalen, Northeastern University; Susan Freeman, Northeastern University; Beverly Jaeger, Susan Freeman and Beverly Jaeger are members of Northeastern University's

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs