Conference Session

Introducing Active Learning into ME Courses

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ali Al-Bahi, King Abdulaziz University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

learning objectives.Finally course evaluation addresses issues related to the reliability of data gathering and datainterpretation as well as course verification and validation and the mechanism of using theresults to modify the course.2. Elements of ABET EC200 Criteria2.1 Program Educational Objectives and Program OutcomesABET EC 20003 defines Program educational objectives as "broad statements that describethe career and professional accomplishment that the program is preparing graduates toachieve". It also defines Program outcomes as "statements that describe what the studentsare expected to know and be able to do by the time of graduation".Program Educational objectives have to be consistent with the mission of the institution, EC2000 criteria

Conference Session

Hands-on/Experiential Learning

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Daria A Kotys-Schwartz, University of Colorado Boulder; Chiang Shih, Florida A&M University/Florida State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 23.643.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 Global Confidence: U.S. Student Outcomes from an International Capstone Design ExperienceAbstractThe Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)-Sustainable Energyand Aeronautical Engineering Program (SEAEP) brings together a consortium of fouruniversities: Florida State University (FSU), the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt),Universidade Federal de Itajubá (UNIFEI) and Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) totrain post-secondary engineering students for global engineering careers. A key aspect ofthis program is using design courses as a vehicle for student and faculty collaboration—both U.S. and Brazilian

Conference Session

New Teaching Pedagogies: Methods and Assessments

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin W. Caldwell, LeTourneau University; Colleen M. Halupa, LeTourneau University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering, Mechanics

Clemson University. Dr. Caldwell is a member of ASME and Pi Tau Sigma.Dr. Colleen M Halupa, LeTourneau University Dr. Colleen Halupa is currently the Director of Curriculum Design and Technology at LeTourneau Uni- versity. She has an A.S. in medical laboratory technology, a B.S. in healthcare management, an M.S. in health administration, and an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in educational lead- ership, and management. Prior to her career in academia, Dr. Halupa was a biomedical sciences officer in the United States Air Force. Prior to her retirement from the military, she held varying positions in health administration and education and served as the program director for all of the Air Force

Conference Session

Attracting, Developing and Retaining Talented ME Students

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashland O. Brown, University of the Pacific; Daniel D. Jensen, U.S. Air Force Academy; Richard H. Crawford, University of Texas, Austin; Joseph J. Rencis P.E., Tennessee Technological University; Ella R. Sargent, University of the Pacific; Brock U Dunlap, University of Texas, Austin; Rachelle Kisst Hackett, University of the Pacific; Kathy Schmidt Jackson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Kyle A. Watson, University of the Pacific; Ismail I Orabi, University of New Haven; Jiancheng Liu, University of the Pacific; John J Wood, U.S. Air Force Academy; Christopher Allen Wejmar, University of the Pacific; Paul Henry Schimpf, Eastern Washington University; Chuan-Chiang Chen, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

- sity of Washington, Seattle, in 1982, 1987, and 1995, respectively. Dr. Schimpf began his academic career in 1998, and is currently Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA, USA. His research interests include numerical methods for forward and inverse solutions to partial differential equations, with biomedical applications. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Schimpf was employed as a Senior Principal Design Engineer in the electronics industry, where he enjoyed 13 years of experience developing parallel embedded signal and image processing systems.Dr. Chuan-Chiang Chen, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Chuan-Chiang Chen is a Professor in the Mechanical

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Raghu Echempati, Kettering University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

to educate their faculty about the program which served as an opportunity to Page 22.924.3develop additional course proposals. One of their recent surveys suggest that over half of today’scollege students have a major career goal of owning a business however few of these studentswill choose to pursue a major in entrepreneurship. On the other hand, they found majority oftheir students all across campus in diverse programs such as music, art, the sciences, health care,education, history, religion, English, etc. Therefore, they found it essential that entrepreneurshipcourses are easily accessible if these programs hope to attract students from

Conference Session

Learning and Assessment III

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Firas Akasheh, Tuskegee University; Raghu Echempati, Kettering University; Anca L. Sala, Baker College, Flint

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

might notbe reflected in their grade. Taking a look at the student motivation survey indicates that studentshad value motivation for doing homework. They did understand the significance of the coursesubject and its relevance to their future career. Furthermore, they also believe in the benefits ofdoing homework in helping them understand the course material. Nevertheless, theyacknowledged that difficulty of the assignments and the associated frustration acted as anobstacle to the successful completion of homework, see results for Question 7. Faced by thisfrustration with assignments, students take shortcuts in order to obtain the grade reward if this ispossible as in the traditional homework practice. As well-known from cognitive theories

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric C. Dierks, University of Texas, Austin; Jason M. Weaver, University of Texas, Austin; Kristin L. Wood, University of Texas, Austin; Kendra Crider, U.S. Air Force Academy; Daniel D. Jensen, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

inspections. This project exemplifies the energy harvesting field as an excitingeducational tool useful for preparing students for careers in industry, consulting, entrepreneurialventures, or applied research. This paper provides a snapshot of this project and seeks todemonstrate the integration of emerging technology studies in undergraduate curriculum whilethe students explore a suite of concepts to power health monitoring systems.1: Motivation It can become easy for a student to become overwhelmed or lose enthusiasm during theirundergraduate engineering education; solving problems which have already been implemented inindustry for years or working on a project which is not utilized upon completion. On the otherhand, need-based problems

Conference Session

Thermodynamics, Fluids, and Heat Transfer II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brandon Field, University of Southern Indiana; David Ellert, University of Southern Indiana

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

methods were needed in both thecomputer and hand calculations of the building loads.The purpose to running the classes without textbooks was to familiarize the students with themultiple real-world references that would be needed in their engineering careers. The lack of anassigned textbook was not seen to be a hinder on the student ability to use the referencesprovided. At the end of each semester the University administers evaluations, and one of thequestions on this evaluation is: “The course materials used, such as visuals, texts, handouts andon-line items, helped me learn.” The students respond on a scale of 5 to 1 with 5 being“Significantly Agree” and 1 being “Significantly Disagree.” In all of these semesters, theaverage for this question

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Technical Session: Outreach and Retention

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Leigh S. McCue, George Mason University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

typically female or male firstname but were otherwise identical. When asked to provide both quantitative and qualitativeassessment of qualifications of the two candidates, participating students gave the female resumelower quantitative marks and honed in on non-technical and language skills more so than they didin their evaluations of the male candidate. This paper presents the findings of this initial study andoutlines a path toward a more comprehensive look at gender-bias in engineering studentperceptions of qualifications.IntroductionIn the Fall of 2019, the author taught a required, senior-level mechanical engineering courseintended to develop student career readiness through discussions and guest lectures on topics suchas ethics, codes and

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 8

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anahita Ayasoufi, Auburn University; Rick Williams, Auburn University; Golbou Makki

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

throughout theireducational career in [5]. Similar results were confirmed for fifth graders in a separate study [6],and for learning-disabled students [7]. Another study, [8], showed that first graders learned andretained at a significantly higher rate when imagery was used, and further, the students showedhigher level of creativity with usage of imagery [9], a result that can be exploited in higher-education problem-solving. A more recent study [10] reports the effect of using visual thinkingsoftware to improve writing skills of students with mild disabilities, and another one [11]provides a practical best practice example on how visual thinking is used to enhance studentbackground knowledge.Although, these studies were performed at the level of

Conference Session

Approaches to Active Learning

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum Univeristy of Applied Sciences; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Michael Trzesniowski

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

engineering project as well as the opportunity of working in a dedicated team effortThe engineering students and graduates are also exposed to marketing, time management, projectmanagement, team building, budgeting, presentation skills, and other management issues.Through Formula Student, they develop experience, skills and professionalism as “hands on”engineers, with a keen awareness of the often competing pressures of performance, cost, safety,reliability and regulatory compliance. The benefit to students is immense and is good experiencefor newly qualified engineers preparing to enter a career in motorsports, the automotive industryor many other areas of high performance engineering.AcknowledgmentsOur special thanks go to all tutors and experts

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Greg Kremer, Ohio University-Athens

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

2.88 6.00 12High Workload will limit student effectiveness 3.29 9.00 12Program will decrease in size or be unable to grow 4.00 6.00 29Recruiting & RetentionInadequate Recruiting & Retention of New Students 3.76 9.00 29Inadequate career support will limit student success ingetting jobs or grad school assistantships 3.65 9.00 24Inadequate diversity of student body will limit the totaleducational experience 2.88 9.00 18 Table 3f: Summary of ME Program Risk RatingsCommunication & Relations

Conference Session

Programming, Virtual Reality, and Dynamic Systems

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michelle M. Blum, Syracuse University; John F. Dannenhoffer III, Syracuse University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

design. This will prepare students for a career oftechnical excellence in a complex, competitive and technological environment.2. Design Project Descriptions Three practical short design projects were introduced. These were implemented in orderto provide small-scale, highly mentored problems to introduce the design process and to providecontinuation of the use of modern engineering tools (e.g. MATLAB, excel, etc.). Each projecttook the students nominally three weeks to complete. The following projects were implemented:Project 1 – Introduction to Design and Design Factors For the first project, students were given a scenario with two crates, each with differentmasses (1,000 kg, 2,000 kg), and different size diameter of cables that

Conference Session

Materials, Manufacturing, and Machine Component Design

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Scott Pierce P.E., Western Carolina University; Wesley L. Stone, Western Carolina University; Sudhir Kaul, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Paper ID #19326Integration of Engineering Theory and Practice in a Junior-Level MachineDesign CourseDr. Robert Scott Pierce P.E., Western Carolina University Robert Scott Pierce is an Associate Professor of physics and engineering at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Va. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1993. Prior to his teaching career, he spent 13 years in industry designing automated equipment.Dr. Wesley L. Stone, Western Carolina University Dr. Wes Stone is an associate professor in the School of Engineering and Technology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. He earned

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Technical Session: Potpourri

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Quamrul H. Mazumder, University of Michigan, Flint; Mingye Chen, University of Michigan, Flint; Sunzia Sultana, University of Michigan, Flint

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

focus in engineering in education while othersreceive less than ten credit hours. [2]. A study by Kirkpatrick et al. [6][7], concluded that currentengineering education programs put minimal emphasis on professional skills and that givingthese skills a greater focus would be helpful to prepare students for future careers. This, in turn,would make the engineering field more accessible to students. Another study by Holloway et al.evaluated a few KSA (knowledge, skill, and ability) frameworks and reported that theframeworks compared had similar expectations for student outcomes, problem-solving,communication, and teamwork. Given how the ABET framework can put minimal emphasis onprofessional skills, other frameworks could have similar problems. [8

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Indranil Brahma, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Paper ID #17821Rethinking the Macroscopic Presentation of the Second Law of Thermody-namicsDr. Indranil Brahma, Bucknell University Doctor Brahma is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Bucknell University. His primary research focus is data enabled modeling. Prior to his academic career he worked for about eight years in the automotive industry. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2017 1 Rethinking the Macroscopic Presentation of the Second Law of 2 Thermodynamics 3 Abstract: The classical macroscopic presentation of the second law of

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott F. Kiefer, York College of Pennsylvania; Tristan M. Ericson, York College of Pennsylvania; Kala Meah, York College of Pennsylvania; James Moscola, York College of Pennsylvania

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Paper ID #14448Design, Build, and Installation of an Automated Bike Rental System as a Partof Capstone DesignDr. Scott F. Kiefer, York College of Pennsylvania Scott Kiefer has spent the past fifteen years teaching mechanical engineering at four institutions. As an exemplary teaching specialist in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University, Scott received the Withrow Award for Teaching Excellence, given to one faculty member in the College in Engineering for outstanding instructional performance. Scott specializes in machine design, vibrations and controls, and mechatronics. He started his career at the University

Conference Session

Research and Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard F. Keltie, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

from working on it, provided them with knowledge and skills that enhanced their individual preparation and competiveness for an engineering career.3 - Undergraduate research experiences are popular among engineering students. Have youparticipated in a formal undergraduate research experience?3a – If ‘Yes’, then how wouldyou compare this designproject to your researchexperience? This designproject:A) Was much more valuableB) Was somewhat morevaluableC) Had about the same valueD) Was somewhat lessvaluableE) Was much less valuable Only 6 students, 12% of the total, reported having participated in a formal undergraduate research (UGR) experience prior to this course. These students felt, on average, that the value of the research-based design

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Poster Session

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yeow Siow, University of Illinois Chicago

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Firstly, most students were unfamiliar withParaview, so learning to download, install, and use the software was a rewarding experience onits own. In particular, through researching the required file structures and formats, students areintroduced to the world of scientific computation - an area involving highly valuable careers andlife-long skills.Secondly, most teams were consistently productive throughout the entire course of the project.This is further proof that collaboration is necessary in technical problem solving. Page 26.938.6 Figure 2. Submitted sculptures of p-v-T surface. Clockwise from top-left: Cheese, watermelon, cake

Conference Session

Dynamic Systems and Control

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chan Ham, Kennesaw State University ; Mohsin Mohammad Taufiq, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

, students also learned fundamental multidisciplinary principles inorder to achieve a compact, portable, and an affordable system while taking consideration of cost,performance, and functionality.The final class grade confirmed effective learning outcomes of the project team. All five studentsof the team received class grade A or B while the course success was defined a grade C orhigher. In addition, a class survey administered to the team students showed the students' fullsatisfaction with the course on how their learning of multidisciplinary mechatronics engineeringimproved for their professional career development in the future. As a result, students learnedclear lessons on how a multidisciplinary engineering design project is implemented. In

Conference Session

Manufacturing and Machine Component Design

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Youssef, California State University, Northridge; J. Michael Kabo, California State University, Northridge

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

degradation of polymers, and biomechanics of walking. His research has been supported by National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and private industries. Dr. Youssef was recognized by San Fernando Engineers Council as Distinguished Engineering Educator for 2014.Dr. J. Michael Kabo, California State University, Northridge Dr. Kabo received his PhD from UC Berkeley in Applied Mechanics in 1980. After a 23 year career conducting biomechanics research at UCLA he relocated to California State University, Northridge to become more engaged in teaching. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engi- neering where he also serves as Mechanical Engineering Graduate Coordinator and Course Coordinator for

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott F. Kiefer, York College of Pennsylvania; Tristan M. Ericson, York College of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Paper ID #11195Capstone Design Assessment and Student MotivationDr. Scott F. Kiefer, York College of Pennsylvania Scott Kiefer has spent the past fourteen years teaching mechanical engineering at four institutions. As an exemplary teaching specialist in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University, Scott received the Withrow Award for Teaching Excellence, given to one faculty member in the College in Engineering for outstanding instructional performance. Scott specializes in machine design, vibrations and controls, and mechatronics. He started his career at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in the

Conference Session

Design throughout the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anurag Purwar, Stony Brook University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

interesting motion.The goal is to motivate students to think about designing and prototyping programmable, electro-mechanical devices at an early stage of their engineering career. In doing so, they apply funda-mentals to a fun and exciting design problem of their choice, learn to think critically, communicateideas, and work in a team.ResourcesAlthough, the aforementioned CLOs comprise of a fairly comprehensive range of topics seeking toprepare students for their final project, it would be naive to assume that at freshman level studentscan apply a basic knowledge of Statics, Kinematics, Dynamics, Strength of Materials, DesignMethodology, Mechanisms and Machines, Sensors, Actuation, and Micro-controller programmingto carry out a project of such

Conference Session

Design Throughout the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum II

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dustyn Roberts P.E., University of Delaware; Jenni Buckley, University of Delaware

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

emailaddresses (N=2301) via repeated emails (Constant Contact) with links to an online survey(Qualtrics). Responses were solicited for a two-week period from mid-September to earlyOctober 2015.The survey began with questions about our current curriculum and our alumni’s satisfaction withtheir overall level of preparation for their respective careers. This was followed by questionsabout self-perceptions and the importance of three core areas of emphasis for our undergraduateprogram: Active Learning, Professional Development, and New Technologies. Assessment itemsfor the Design Studio were embedded in the Active Learning section, which included ratings ofthe quality and importance of undergraduate laboratory and design spaces, design projects, in-class

Conference Session

Uses for MATLAB in Mechancial Engineering

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Rhudy, Pennsylvania State University - Berks; Rungun Nathan, Pennsylvania State University - Berks

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

allMechanical Engineering students, and is typically taken in their sophomore or junior years in theprogram. Most of these students at this point in their academic career have only had minorexposure to MATLAB within their introduction to engineering course, which is a commonapproach taken by many institutions3,4,17. The goal of the MATLAB portion of the class was toteach students about computer programming using MATLAB as well as to leverage andreinforce engineering concepts from dynamics in the process. Each week typically contained 25minutes of MATLAB demonstration from the instructor, 25 minutes of in-class time to work onexercises facilitated by the instructor, and one MATLAB programming assignment which wastied into the dynamics course content for

Conference Session

Design throughout the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Martin Edin Grimheden, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. The student must show deepened methodological knowledge within the main area of the program.MSc degree (five years) For the MSc degree, the student must show knowledge about the scientific base and proven experience of the chosen area, and insight in current research- and development activities.Table 2: learning goals of four types of program and the related degrees.Summarizing the differences between degreesThe professional 5-year degree is recognized by industry as a professional engineering degree,where the program prepares students for an engineering career. Key differences between the5-year MSc degree and the 2-year masters degree are

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 5

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rambod Rayegan, Prairie View A&M University; Karla C. Lewis Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Greensboro, SERVE Center

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

the sustainable energy area. He has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Florida International University. He has been member with prestigious Honor Societies such as Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi and Golden Key. He has published number of conference, Journal papers and book chapters in energy and sustainability area. He is a reviewer of several Journals in energy efficiency area. He is a member of the Editorial Board of ASME Early Career Technical Journal. Raised in Tehran, Iran, Dr. Rayegan now lives in Houston. He has served as an instructor at Semnan University, Iran for 5 years. He was selected as the best teacher of the Mechanical Engineering Department by students during 2002-2003 academic year

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division Technical Session 5

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Huihui Qi, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

students interest in sustainability (N=25) Figure 5. Students’ opinion on the impact of learning sustainable engineering to their future career (N=25)With the class size of 25, before the course, students were exposed to very limited informationabout sustainability and its application in engineering. About 52% of the class have neutral orlow interest in the class subject matter. Later learned in conversations with students, moststudents actually did not really know what it means by “sustainability”, as well as what engineerscould do about sustainability. The effectiveness was obvious for this class in terms of increasingstudents’ interest in sustainability. 96% of the students have high or very high

Conference Session

Introducing Active and Inductive Learning and Improving the Learning Curve in ME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Günter Bischof, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,; Domagoj Rubesa, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Interpreting) in 1991. She has been teaching business and technical English both in industry and at university level in Austria for the past 12 years.Günter Bischof, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Automotive Engineering,Graz, Austria Throughout his career, Dr. Günter Bischof has combined his interest in science and engineering application. He studied physics at the University of Vienna, Austria, and acquired industry experience as development engineer at Siemens Corporation. Currently he teaches engineering mathematics in the Department of Automotive Engineering, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, and conducts research in automotive engineering and materials

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ioana Voiculescu, City College of the City University of New York; Benjamin Liaw, City College of the City University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

activity in the last decade to revise engineering curricula to include more concreteengineering practice rather than just engineering science5. In this respect a key strength of the ME311, Fundamentals of Mechatronics course at City College of New York is the laboratory whichencourages students to apply and absorb mechatronics concepts. The main goal of the laboratoryis to help students gain useful knowledge and skills in the general area of sensors and actuators,ordinary differential equations used to model measurement systems, laboratory software andsignal conditioning6. Such knowledge and skills are necessary for the success in students’ futureprofessional careers (including graduate studies) and for the continuation of their life-longlearning