Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Knudson, Oregon State University; John Schmitt, Oregon State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

students expressedexcitement regarding the ability to simultaneously review global and internal behaviors incomplex systems. [6],[8]6. RecommendationsFrom these observations, we present a set of recommendations for improving the SystemVisionsoftware integration into engineering curriculum. As well, suggestions for a more quantitativeassessment of the tool’s effectiveness in improving student learning are addressed.6.1 CAD Project • Adopt the method of integrating SystemVision into individual homework assignments with simple examples of each technique required in the project. This will reduce the learning curve encountered by the students when the project is first assigned, and establish an understanding of the tool’s application

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Efstathios Michaelides, University of North Texas; Reza Mirshams, University of North Texas

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

last constraint is obvious and universal: the Accreditation Board of Engineering andTechnology (ABET) has several criteria that must be met by all accredited programs. Sinceaccreditation is essential, indeed vital, to all programs offered by public universities, fulfillmentof these criteria must be an integral part of all engineering curricula. B. Elements of the Mechanical and Energy Engineering curriculum:The curriculum of the Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department has been designed tosatisfy all the constraints of the previous subsection and four essential elements: • Mathematics and basic sciences courses: These courses offer the students a solid foundation in Mathematics and Natural Science as well as needed

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rajesh Bhaskaran, Cornell University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-2323: STRATEGIES FOR THE INTEGRATION OF COMPUTER-BASEDSIMULATION TECHNOLOGY INTO THE ENGINEERING CURRICULUMRajesh Bhaskaran, Cornell University Rajesh Bhaskaran is the Director of Swanson Engineering Simulation Program in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. He is leading efforts in the Sibley School to integrate contemporary simulation technologies into the mechanical and aerospace engineering curriculum. As part of this initiative, he is developing web-based curriculum material for integrating the ANSYS and FLUENT packages into solid and fluid mechanics courses. He holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University

Conference Session

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

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Malicky, University of San Diego; James Kohl, University of San Diego; Ming Huang, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-1341: INTEGRATING A MACHINE SHOP CLASS INTO THEMECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM: EXPERIENTIAL ANDINDUCTIVE LEARNINGDavid Malicky, University of San Diego David M. Malicky is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of San Diego. His teaching interests are in design, manufacturing, and solid mechanics. His research interests include biomechanics and engineering education. He received a B.S. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas.James Kohl, University of San Diego James G. Kohl is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Department ofMechanical Engineering, The City College of The City University of New York. The currenteffort adopted an integral analytical-numerical-experimental pedagogy for a required course –ME 41100: Systems Modeling, Analysis and Control (4 credits, 3 lecture hours and3 laboratory hours), which is one of three courses in the area of mechatronics and controlsoffered in this curriculum. The other two courses are ME 31100: Fundamentals of Mechatronics(required, 3 credits, 2 lecture hours and 3 laboratory hours) and ME 51100: AdvancedMechatronics (technical elective, 3 credits, 2 lecture hours and 2 laboratory hours). Results ofthe curriculum reform in other courses had been reported elsewhere11-13.As shown in the figure on next page, ME 41100 lies

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Hinds, Michigan State University; Craig Somerton, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-2145: INTEGRATING THE TEACHING OF COMPUTER SKILLS WITHAN INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COURSETimothy Hinds, Michigan State University TIMOTHY J. HINDS is an Academic Specialist in the Michigan State University Department of Mechanical Engineering. He teaches undergraduate courses in machine design, manufacturing processes, mechanics and computational tools. He also teaches a senior-level undergraduate international design project course and has taught graduate-level courses in engineering innovation and technology management. He received his BSME and MSME degrees from Michigan Technological University.Craig Somerton, Michigan State University CRAIG W. SOMERTON is an

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University; Mihir Sen, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Page 12.529.2be prohibitive, it was decided to propose to the National Science Foundation Course,Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program to adapt and implement acourse and laboratory on Intelligent Systems.Such a proposal was clearly in keeping with the strategic plan of the College ofEngineering at ONU1. Particular strategic plan actions that related to this proposalinclude: • “Regularly reassess the curriculum, and make comparisons to curriculums of other institutions. Changes to the ONU curriculum may be made to keep pace with industry and other leading-edge institutions. • The integration of engineering courses with mathematics, physics, and chemistry courses as well as integration within each

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Duffy, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Cheryl West, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; John McKelliget, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Eugene Niemi, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Sammy Shina, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Hongwei Sun, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Chris Niezrecki, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Robert Parkin, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Majid Charmchi, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

required core course every semesterwith a S-L project that is either a required or elective part of the course. During 2005-06fourteen core ME courses had S-L projects, and a required engineering ethics course alsohad S-L in addition to four elective courses. Nine of twelve ME faculty membersincorporated S-L in those courses (more recently 12 of 13), in addition to 3 facultyoutside the department teaching courses for ME students. This initiative is part of acollege-wide effort to have all five undergraduate programs have S-L integrated into thecore curriculum (ECE, ChE, CE, and Plastics E).Courses and projects included, for examples, introduction to engineering for first yearstudents (common to students in all five programs) who designed and built

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Gerhart, University of Evansville; Andrew Gerhart, Lawrence Technological University; Bruce Cain, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

when students design their own experiments andmeasurement systems, or the focus can be on the documents themselves, via a “read and report”exercise. Students have responded favorably to such an exercise at one university.In addition to what the Codes can teach about performance testing and measurement technology,they provide a valuable introduction to the use of Codes and Standards in engineering practice,the importance of voluntary standards development, the premier position that ASME occupies inthis endeavor, and the contributions of “ordinary” practicing engineers to the Codes andStandards process.A major obstacle to the widespread use of Performance Test Codes, indeed all Codes andStandards, in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum is the

Conference Session

Outstanding Contributions to ME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-2053: AN INTEGRATED UNDERGRADUATE DYNAMIC SYSTEMSTEACHING METHODOLOGY UTILIZING ANALYTICAL ANDEXPERIMENTAL APPROACHESPeter Avitabile, University of Massachusetts-Lowell Peter Avitabile is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department and the Director of the Modal Analysis and Controls Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is a Registered Professional Engineer with a BS, MS and Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and a member of ASEE, ASME, IES and SEM. Page 12.222.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 AN INTEGRATED UNDERGRADUATE

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Orval Powell, U.S. Air Force Academy; Michael Maixner, U.S. Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

/2004. However, as shown inFigures 4 and 5, following the integration MEs consistently outscored EMs in topics to whichEMs were not directly exposed. These topics include Energy Conversion (TFSE IV), Fans,Pumps and Compressors (TFSE III) and Refrigeration and HVAC (TFSE III/IV).One disturbing trend shown in the afternoon exam results (see Figures 2, 4 and 5), although thestatistical significance might not give the complete picture, is that the scores tended to declinefrom 2004 to 2005. This trend is not shown in the morning exam results (see Figure 1). Whilethis downward trend may show a flaw in the integrated curriculum, the 2006 results in Figure 3show an increase in Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer scores. Although this is not a

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

B.K. Hodge

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

these strategies forincreasing the capture ratio is appropriate. Increasing the rated input power would be moreexpensive and would mean more generator operation at less than the rated input. For example,increasing the rated input of the generator to 10.5 kW/m2 would result in a capture ratio to 0.682,an increase of only 5.5 percent in actual energy extracted. Increasing the cut-off speed muchgreater than 35 m/sec would require enhanced structural integrity of the tower, nacelle, andblades.Vestas Wind Systems, a leading manufacturer of large (MW range) wind turbines, presents aninteresting demonstration of the effectiveness of their control strategy for a Vestas V-52 850 kWwind turbine. Figure 10 illustrate the response of the generator output

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Blekhman, California State University Los Angeles

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

conditions, and data postprocessing. However, this design has its drawbacks, allowingthe instructor only limited capabilities in adopting the software.The experience of introducing FlowLab into the Fluid Mechanics course at Grand Valley StateUniversity (GVSU) was mixed. The course was offered with an integrated laboratory.Complexities arose from the need to introduce the Fluid Mechanics fundamentals before anyproductive work in FlowLab could be performed, leaving limited time for thorough integration.After a few introductory demonstrations and tutorials, students used FlowLab to simulate theexperimental results from laboratories on the converging-diverging channel, flow over acylinder, and flow over an airfoil. The results were mixed, ranging from

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Autar Kaw, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

instructional technologies, integrating research in classroom, thermal stresses, computational mechanics, and mechanics of nonhomogeneous nanolayers. Page 12.869.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 INCORPORATING A RESEARCH PROBLEM IN A NUMERICAL METHODS COURSE FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERSAbstract This paper presents an example of incorporating a research problem in a course -Numerical Methods for Mechanical Engineers. In bascule bridges, the fulcrum is assembled byshrink-fitting a trunnion into a hub. In one case, the trunnion cooled in a dry-ice/alcohol mixturefor

Conference Session

Software and E-learning in the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ali Mohammadzadeh, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

for constraint motion were then utilized to arrive at the second orderdifferential equations of motion. SIMULINK, as a user friendly graphical interface, wasused to carry out the integration to obtain angular position, velocity, and acceleration ofthe designed mechanism.The project, though rigorous, is an excellent way to force students to practice theirknowledge of dynamics and numerical methods. The project, certainly, meets the ABETcriteria for implementing design in mechanical engineering curriculum. The authorreceived positive feedbacks from his students with regard to this project.Problem StatementStudents in kinematics and dynamics of machinery class were, first, asked to design afour bar quick-return mechanism to meet a certain design

Conference Session

Innovations for the Senior Year of the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Trimble, Arizona State University; Ronald Bengelink, Arizona State University; Valana Wells, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

building risk mitigation exercise, andethics scenario on DVD. There was inadequate time to fully utilize the proposal activity, whichis supposed to be the culminating activity for the course. With minor adjustments to theschedule and content, this course will be an effective required course for seniors to address theABET Criterion 3 and new Dean’s engineering business practice requirements that are not Page 12.82.9adequately covered elsewhere in the curriculum. Page 12.82.10Figure 5. Final Schedule for Fall 2006 Table 7. Summary of Student Survey ResultsSurvey Question

Conference Session

Innovations for the Senior Year of the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Showkat Chowdhury, Alabama A&M University; Abdul Jalloh, Alabama A&M University; Ruben Rojas-Oviedo, Alabama A&M University; Mohamed Seif, Alabama A&M University; Amir Mobasher, Alabama A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-895: CAPSTONE DESIGN COURSE AS A TOOL FOR ASSESSMENTAND IMPROVEMENTShowkat Chowdhury, Alabama A&M University Dr. Showkat Chowdhury is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, AL. Dr. Chowdhury has extensive background in teaching undergraduate and graduate students in Mechanical Engineering, and performing research in the fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics, Combustion, Propulsion, Heat & Mass Transfer and Turbulence. Previously, he worked as a Professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) and at University of Brighton, U.K. He also worked in the Research Division of Corning

Conference Session

Innovations for the Senior Year of the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Davis, Kettering University; Craig Hoff, Kettering University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

also active on the professional level of SAE, currently serving as Past-Chair of the Engineering Education Board and on the SAE Board of Directors (Director term, 2007-2010), and as a Director on the Publications Board. He is also active in numerous committees. Greg joined the faculty at Kettering after serving on the faculties of the U.S. Naval Academy and Lawrence Technological University. He received his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991. Prior to this, he worked as an engineer for both the automotive and electric utility industries. Dr. Davis is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan.Craig Hoff, Kettering University DR

Conference Session

Innovations for the Senior Year of the ME Curriculum

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Kiefer, Tri-State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-2593: PREPARING MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS FORSENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS WITH ELECTRONICS COMPONENTSScott Kiefer, Tri-State University Scott Kiefer is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tri-State University. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. Page 12.1180.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Preparing Mechanical Engineering Students for Senior Design Projects with Electronics

Conference Session

Outstanding Contributions to ME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Rhoads, Michigan State University; Craig Somerton, Michigan State University; Brian Olson, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Terry Ballinger, Lansing Catholic High School

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

of the program’s curriculum has been a short course inmechanical engineering. This course, which is taught by a representative of the mechanical engi-neering department (a faculty member or doctoral candidate) in conjunction with a local secondaryschool educator, is intended to introduce the fundamentals of mechanical engineering in an infor-mative, yet approachable, manner.Structurally, the mechanical engineering course is divided into ten two-hour academic units, eachof which includes a brief technical lecture (approximately twenty minutes in length), a varietyof hands-on demonstrations, and a competitive group project of a design-build-test nature. Thecourse’s curriculum presently consists of three distinct sections: (i) mechanical system

Conference Session

Meeting ABET Requirements

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anne Spence, University of Maryland-Baltimore County; Liang Zhu, University of Maryland-Baltimore County

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

quantitative value is obtainedindicating success in achieving the ABET outcomes. An example QuACO for the engineeringmathematics course is given in Table 5. Table 5. Sample QuACO for ENME303: Topics in Engineering MathematicsCourse Outcome Basis for AssessmentThe student will be able to solve linear algebraic equations One final exam problemnumericallyEach individual student will learn numerical methods to fit Three final exam problemcurves to data.Students will find roots of equations numerically. One final exam problemThe student will learn to evaluate integrals and One final exam problemdifferentials numerically.Students will solve differential equations numerically

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Langerman, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; William Arbegast, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Daniel Dolan, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

introduce these tools into a curriculum that is alreadycrowded. As engineering programs struggle to find accommodations, many studentsreach their senior year before realizing an opportunity to apply these sophisticated analy-sis methods- frequently with little or no training. A recurring example is that of students’a priori construction of a system component followed by a perfunctory stress analysis us-ing a commercial computer code. Often the analysis performed is irrelevant or incom-plete. The notion of analysis being an essential element in the design process can be lostin the minds of many students. Therefore, the ME department faculty at SDSM&T to-gether with campus partners are integrating into the traditional junior-level core curricu

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nidal Al-Masoud, Central Connecticut State University; Peter Baumann, Central Connecticut State University; Alfred Gates, Central Connecticut State University; Zdzislaw Kremens, Central Connecticut State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

ofunderprivileged / underrepresented groups). What is more disturbing; the retention rate forengineering students is one of the lowest 1 (some 60%) among all college majors. In part this isdue to very demanding and rigorous curriculum, but the fact that some engineering studentsrealize quite late that the program is not the best fit for them also has a negative impact. “Having programs available won’t do much to address shortages unless those programs attractstudents. Marketing of these programs needs to be an integral part of the process. This marketingcan be done in partnership with businesses and community-based organizations as well as highschools. New strategies will have to be developed to target groups that have not traditionallysought out higher

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cuneyt Sert, Middle East Technical University; Gunes Nakiboglu, ROKETSAN Missiles Industries Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Collins, Integration of Simulation into the Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Curriculum usingFLUENT, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Session: 1637, 2003.7. R. A. Pieritz, R. Mendes, R. F. A. F. Da Suva, C. R. Maliska, CFD Studio: An Educational Software Packagefor CFD Analysis and Design, Computer Applications in Engineering Education, vol. 12 (1), pp. 20-30, 2004.8. GNU General Public License (GPL), http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html9. Homepage of Virtual Flow Lab software, http://www.me.metu.edu.tr/cuneyt/VirtualFlowLab10. J. Blanchette, M. Summerfield , C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4, Prentice Hall, 2006.11. J.F. Thompson, B. Soni, N.P. Weatherrill, Handbook of Grid Generation, CRC Press, 1998.12. H.K. Versteeg, W. Malalasekera, An

Conference Session

What's New in Dynamics?

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

El-Sayed Aziz, Stevens Institute of Technology; Sven Esche, Stevens Institute of Technology; Constantin Chassapis, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

student may have difficulty understanding what a mathematical solution to a problem 2means from a practical point of view. If students are provided with the means to performexperimentation and to apply the theory to real world situations, this can only be expected to leadto a better visualization and understanding of the theoretical concepts. The simulation systemdiscussed here presents an attempt of integrating Web-based content and interactive multimediatechniques into the curriculum. The integrated platform provides an easy flow of data fromtheory to modeling and measurement, bridging the gap between theory and hands-on learning, asshown in Figure 1. It greatly enhances the students’ understanding

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ming Huang, University of San Diego; James Kohl, University of San Diego; Veronica Galvan, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2007-219: A CASE STUDY OF COURSE CLUSTERING STRATEGY TOENHANCE RELATIONAL LEARNINGMing Huang, University of San Diego Ming Z. Huang is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of San Diego. Dr. Huang is a registered Professional Engineer and is actively involved in research focusing on integrating industry practices with engineering educations. Dr. Huang received his B.S. from the National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan in 1980, M.S. from the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island in 1984, and Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio in 1988, all in Mechanical Engineering.James Kohl, University of San Diego James G. Kohl is an

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

. Page 12.83.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 A NOVEL LABWORK APPROACH FOR TEACHING A MECHATRONICS COURSE Abstract This paper presents a novel approach adopted to enhance the hands-on learning aspect ofa Mechatronics course for undergraduate mechanical engineering students. In addition totraditional homework, which is usually solved analytically and/or numerically and conventionallaboratory experiments, in which students follow certain pre-written, spoon-feeding proceduresto complete assignment, our approach designed a set of “labwork” as an integral part of thiscourse for students’ learning through their own “design of experiments” to solve engineeringproblems. To solve these

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jesse Maddren, California Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Also, I think this is an important subject that everymechanical engineering graduate should understand completely. This portion of the class usestheir fluid mechanics textbook and additional notes from the lecture. The subjects of heatexchangers and fluid systems (pumps and piping primarily) are subjects that show up in a few ofthe textbooks on thermal systems design. The depth of coverage for a thermal systems designcourse will necessarily depend on the context of the curriculum, the intended use in the thermalsystems design course and the preferences of the instructor.The inclusion of system modeling and simulation, economics and optimization is a good fit in aclass on thermal systems design. The problem may be to integrate them together in

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Messiha Saad, North Carolina A&T State University; Taher Abu-Lebdeh, North Carolina A&T State University; Devdas Pai, North Carolina A&T State University; Cindy Waters, North Carolina A&T State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

PerformanceAbstract In an ongoing attempt to improve undergraduate education and increasing studentretention, the College of Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University adopted anew system in which recitations become an integral part of core engineering mechanicscourses including: Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials. Under the newlecture-recitation system, each course contains two one-hour lectures, and one two-hourrecitation. The entire class attends the lectures in which the faculty member covers thegeneral topics and provides related sample problems. There are multiple recitationsections operated by the same instructor, consisting of typically 15-20 students, in whichstudents review their lecture notes and solve selected

Conference Session

Improving ME Education: Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amir Jokar, Washington State University-Vancouver; Hakan Gurocak, Washington State University-Vancouver; Dave Kim, Washington State University-Vancouver; Xiaolin Chen, Washington State University-Vancouver; Hamid Rad, Washington State University-Vancouver

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

dischargemachining, etc) and CNC systems were introduced. During the last 20 minutes, the class went tothe materials lab and watched a demonstration of material testing.2.4. Computer-aided engineeringIn the area of computer-aided engineering, the curriculum has one freshmen-level requiredcourse, Engineering Graphics (Mech 103), one junior-level required course, EngineeringAnalysis (Mech 313), and one senior-level elective course, Computer-aided Engineering (Mech485). The elective course Mech 485 is also one of the three option courses offered in the designand manufacturing concentration area in the curriculum.The lecture started with an introduction to Computer-aided Design as a way of replacing thetraditional inefficient method of mechanical drafting