Conference Session

Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tony Jones, United States Army; Daisie Boettner, United States Military Academy; Joel Dillon, United States Military Academy; Stephanie Ivey; Anna Lambert, University of Memphis; Brian Novoselich, United States Military Academy; Stephen Suhr, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

teams that have had access tocommunication systems. 6 What factors are behind these unproductive teams? How can weexplain why two members of a three-person team report satisfaction with the team’scommunication and collaborative processes while the third member indicates dissatisfaction inthe same areas? Research studies in Leadership Communication and Organizational Behaviorsuggest that differences in evaluation of communication levels within teams often stem fromeach group member’s perception of particular situations. 4,7,8 Put another way, communicationpatterns found in engineering design groups suggest that effective groups adopt an intricately-connected web of both cognitive and social interactions.9,13Perceptual FactorsPerception is

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; Raresh Pascali, University of Houston; Miguel Ramos, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

ofstudents to ME. As discussed earlier, we believe the overall impact on retention for bothprograms would be positive due to proper advising and mentoring during the first two years. Agood number of our ET students are transfers from E during their junior year! The intent here isto enable students to make an informed career decision much earlier and based on skills andinterest which will benefit not just the student but the entire engineering profession.Preliminary Assessment ResultsIn fall 2008, we administered a brief preliminary survey to industry professionals regarding thetopic of a 2 year common curriculum for E and ET programs. A total of 12 people completed thesurvey, ten of which had a degree in an engineering or engineering technology