Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Baumann, Central Connecticut State University; Nidal Al-Masoud, Central Connecticut State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 15.361.3Design of Experiments (DOE) InclusionAccording to the current ABET Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, all engineeringprograms must demonstrate that graduating students have “an ability to design and conductexperiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.” As a prelude to potential projectexperimentation or testing of project designs, students within our capstone research class areintroduced to several useful classes of experimental designs. Design of Experiments (DOE orDOX) can actually invoke or is often depicted as a stepwise methodology or strategy as chartedby Del Vecchio and presented as Figure 1. Often in a team approach to design orexperimentation, team members contribute via brainstorming of potential

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ivana Milanovic, University of Hartford; Tom Eppes, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

versus goals is reviewed, and an action plan developed. In many cases, changeswithin a single course are sufficient to address an issue. Occasionally, the root cause may lie in aformative course that is part of a sequence, e.g. math, science or design, leading to multiplecourse improvements. The third source is program self-assessment which summarizes the actionsand results for Criteria 1-9 and is supplemental to the activities described above.PEO assessment is part of the ‘slow loop’ where changes typically occur over a period of years.For example, changes to the University, College, Department and Program mission statementsand strategic plans may impact one or more PEOs. Assessment and evaluation within the ‘fastloop’ may trigger the need for

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kuntinee Maneeratana, Chulalongkorn University; Angkee Sripakagorn, Chulalongkorn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

for programs with a large number of students with mixedability. Page 15.825.11 Figure 3 Correlation matrix between courses and GPAs for 2005 students in the ME program.These correlation data can provide some preliminary insights into the curricula and theinteraction between courses. For example, the correlations between the graduate GPAs and theindividual courses are shown in Figure 4. In the curriculum, the main content for each successiveyear of study are science, engineering, design and capstone/advance topics. It is clear that thecourses that strongly influence the final GPAs are those in the 2nd to 3rd year, mostlyrepresenting the

Conference Session

Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Vuksanovich, Youngstown State University; Darrell Wallace, Youngstown State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

to the student’s understanding of current methods andequipment used in industry at the time.It was noticed that a larger percentage of faculty had little or no industrial experience whencompared to previous years. More faculty were hired directly out of university programs, and theones that were from industry had less experience and far less responsible roles. This isparticularly bad for a discipline that is primarily concerned with the application of the conceptstaught in class.Academia, as a whole, has shifted towards research oriented programs. Many believe thatworking on basic research will help bring about innovation. The issue here is that in the majorityof the cases, the research revolves around many premises that are not practical or

Conference Session

Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angkee Sripakagorn, Chulalongkorn University; Kuntinee Maneeratana, Chulalongkorn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

issues that need improvement.By the way the design experience is defined – clear and concise, virtually all projects complete afull cycle of the design process at present. For some projects, the design problems may appear, atfirst, to be too simplistic. But indeed, they are rather well-posed and provide a decent platformfor learning. For the development of soft skills, via formal meetings and informal demonstrationof actual examples of best practices, students appear to be more familiar and aware of issues inproject management and working in teams. Another finding is that, after this restructuring,virtually all groups managed to finish the projects on time. This is probably due to the better-prepared proposal, the well-thought project as well as

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanical Systems: What's New

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arun Chintalapati, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Hong Sheng, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Richard Hall, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Robert Landers, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

the impact of engineering solutions in a globaland societal context. Page 15.541.7(i)A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning.(k) An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary forengineering practice.(m) An ability to apply advanced mathematics through multivariate calculus and differentialequations(n) Familiarity with statistics and linear algebra.RDS was introduced to the students as lab assignment to simulate the controller that wasdesigned by them as part of the course requirement.VII. Research ProcedureA total of 34 students participated in the complete experiment. All

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanical Systems: What's New

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ashok Kumar Manoharan, Auburn University; P.K. Raju, Auburn University; Chetan Sankar, Auburn University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

AC 2010-1369: USE OF MULTIMEDIA CASE STUDIES IN AN INTRODUCTORYCOURSE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERINGAshok Kumar Manoharan, Auburn University Ashok Kumar Manoharan is a Doctoral Student in Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University. He received his B.S from Anna University, India in 2006. He has been working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course for the past two years. His research areas include Innovations in Teaching Engineering, Adoption techniques for Implementing new teaching methodologies.P.K. Raju, Auburn University P.K Raju is a Thomas Walter Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University and has more than 42 years