Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Fred Looft, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gretar Tryggvason, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Taskin Padir, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Lance Schacterle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, the program culminates in acapstone design experience wherein students synthesize their accumulated knowledge in a majorproject. There are many paths through the curriculum; select illustrative samples are shown in 9.1.2. ContextAssessment is an integral part of the accreditation process6. As an emerging engineeringdiscipline3,4, Robotics Engineering falls naturally under the purview of the ABET EngineeringAccreditation Commission. However, Robotics Engineering is not recognized by ABET as adistinct engineering discipline, hence there are no program-specific criteria to follow foraccreditation. Nonetheless, we have planned the program as if it were accreditable, based onprogram objectives and outcomes, and with mathematics, science, and

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Fred Looft, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

systems.The specific details of the courses have been the topic of several previous papers, however thecore of the program consists of an Introduction to Robotics in the first year, followed by a seriesof four unified robotics courses which are normally taken in the second and third year[1-5]. Thecatalog descriptions of these courses are paraphrased below: RBE 1001, Introduction to Robotics. RBE 1001 is a multidisciplinary introduction to robotics, involving concepts from the fields of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science. Topics covered include sensor performance and integration, electric and pneumatic actuators, power transmission, materials and static force analysis, controls and programmable embedded

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Peterson, United States Air Force Academy; Patrick Sweeney, United States Air Force Academy; Delbert Christman, United States Air Force Academy

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, capstone designprojects usually either require a massive learning curve to build on previous systems or arerelegated to relatively simple designs, many of which are repeated year after year. This paperdescribes the educational experience gained through design and construction of an R2D2 replicafrom the Star Wars™ movies. The initial project incorporates basic radio control as well assimple autonomous navigation and limited user interface with the capability for futureexpansion. The modular design is intended to allow future capstone groups to add innovativenew features as well as novel applications of well established technologies. In addition to beinga motivational project for senior-level engineering students, it is also a marketing tool for

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Michael Demetriou, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

Society for Engineering Education, 2010 A Robotics Engineering M.S. DegreeAbstractThere is an increasing demand for creative scientific, engineering, and management talent tomeet national needs. We believe that the best way to educate professionals for leadership roles isin a unified multi-disciplinary curriculum. This paper describes one such program, a Master ofScience degree in Robotics Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, whose goal is toprepare men and women for technical leadership in the robotics industry and research inrobotics.The program, launched in fall 2009, develops competence in electro-mechanical-computationalsystems and an awareness of management systems. It constitutes a multi-disciplinary

Conference Session

Robotics Curriculum

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Beach, Western New England College; Michael Gennert, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; William Michalson, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; James Van de Ven, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Taskin Padir, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gretar Tryggvason, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Gregory Fischer, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

and invention team almost certainly will comprise a multidisciplinary groupof engineering and computer science students, undergraduates and graduate students. The RICCis a testing ground and springboard for the dissemination of this combined vision and approachto fundamentally transform Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)education in universities.2.2 Mission StatementThe main reasons for this effort are summarized below:Interdisciplinary: It seems obvious that designing devices that marry sensing, computing, andacting requires individuals who have a background in electrical engineering, computer science,and mechanical engineering. Design of robots requires emphasis on system integration that goesbeyond that usually

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Smitesh Bakrania, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

AC 2010-1117: INTEGRATION OF JOURNAL CLUB IDEOLOGY INTO ANANOTECHNOLOGY COURSESmitesh Bakrania, Rowan University Smitesh Bakrania is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Rowan University. He received his PhD from University of Michigan in 2008 and his BS from Union College in 2003. His research interests include combustion synthesis of nanoparticles and their applications. Page 15.782.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Integration of Journal Club Ideology into a Nanotechnology CourseNanotechnology is bound to dramatically impact how we use materials in all aspects ofengineering

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rupa Iyer, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

environment to support the biotech industry through training, research and best practice sharing. 4. Engage in high impact research with an emphasis on environmental biotechnology.The first initiative of the center was to establish a new undergraduate major in biotechnology.This new degree program was developed in collaboration with industry and academic partnersand offers two tracks, one in bioinformatics and the other in bioprocessing. The laboratorycurriculum is a research -based curriculum and uses a pesticide degrading bacteria as a model totrain students on techniques and applications of biotechnology. In summer, we offer outreachprograms to train high school teachers and students. For local incumbent biotech workers, weoffer workforce

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kumar Yelamarthi, Central Michigan University; P. Ruby Mawasha, Wright State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

of software, hardware,and mechanical design makes this platform an excellent choice for undergraduate studentprojects in both design and research aspects. Senior CS students have required programmingexperience to develop software programs, EE seniors have sufficient knowledge to understandthe basics of radio frequency, signal processing, and circuit design, and while ME seniors havesufficient knowledge to understand the basics of structural dynamics and thermodynamicanalysis. This integration of complex programming, electrical hardware, and mechanical systemdesign provides an excellent educational experience for undergraduate students. Also, this interdisciplinary platform is systematic and integrated that involves investigating acomplex

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Horacio Vasquez, University of Texas, Pan American; Arturo Fuentes, University of Texas, Pan American; Javier Macossay, The University of Texas-Pan American; Martin Knecht, South Texas College; Robert Freeman, University of Texas, Pan American

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

-on ActivitiesIn order to support the DEEA program as well as other similar programs at STC, andUTPA, CBI with hands-on activities were developed and implemented to encouragestudents to integrate and understand multidisciplinary concepts through new instructionapproaches. Introduction to STEM was implemented as one of the initial steps in thisproject to use CBI with hands-on activities in early STEM career courses. CBI is aresearch proven methodology that provides students with an interactive approach inlearning and understanding new concepts . The literature indicates that hands-onactivities are required to promote STEM interest as a career path. These hands-onactivities also allow students to develop abilities and apply concepts and

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Capstone

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Palmer, Louisiana Tech University; Hisham Hegab, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

. describes a course to teach softskills applicable to all students but little training on tackling open-ended problems. Rogge andLivesay presents a course to prepare biomedical engineering students using mini-design projects,however no details of the projects are given in the paper. Csavina and Seeney discuss a productdesign course for biomedical engineering students to prepare of open ended constraints bydesigning a Home Lift Position and Rehabilitation chair. Co et. al. write about a pre-capstonecourse for electrical engineers where teams work on various subsystems of an overall electricaldevice. A number of team and soft skills were also reinforced in the course to provide bettermanagement and integration of efforts. The course described in this

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Josef Rojter, Victoria University of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

professional engineering discourse.Each subject, whether PBL or not, relied on a set pre-requisites subjects to providea knowledge and skills platform for further development. The coursework component in thePBL subject is essential in constructing knowledge and skills scaffolding to enable students totackle any assigned open-ended projects and problems. In some ways, the PBL subject with acoursework component resembled a mini curriculum-based PBL model.In the undergraduate engineering curriculum there are subjects which integrate knowledgeand subjects which are narrowly discipline focused. It is the former that that it is most suitablefor a PBL delivery because of the its nature in integrating knowledge it allows thedevelopment of open-ended student

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Northrup, Western New England College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, manyengineering programs have incorporated international service projects4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11.. In his Ph.D.dissertation regarding humanitarian aspects engineering in the engineering curriculum, Page 15.896.2Vandersteen provides and eloquent history of the evolution of engineering education discussinghow the profession has evolved to see the interconnection between technology and humanity.He further states that the “2000s (have seen an) increased interest in social, environmentalimpact of engineering”12. In fact, six years after the advent of ABET‟s EC-2000, thefundamental change in engineering accreditation, the International Journal for Service

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexandra Coso, University of Virginia; Reid Bailey, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

examinedwithin the humanities and the sciences, not engineering. While disciplinary borders andinterdisciplinary programs in the humanities and the sciences have been examined for decades,this is not the case for engineering disciplines and programs.7 In other cases, the core elements ofan interdisciplinary curriculum were discussed theoretically8, yet these discussions lacked anexplanation of how such a curriculum could be implemented. Other studies focused on only oneor two of the dimensions of interdisciplinary understanding. In a green engineering program, forinstance, concept maps were used to assess the students’ ability to integrate the differentconcepts.9 Another assessment of interdisciplinary collaborative efforts measured students’awareness

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randall Brouwer, Calvin College; Steven VanderLeest, Calvin College; Paulo Ribeiro, Calvin College; Robert Medema, Calvin College

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

engage the student’s vision andimagination for better business education and better engineering education. This paper will firstdiscuss recent curricular changes to our BS in Engineering degree, partly sponsored by a KernEntrepreneurship Education Network (KEEN) grant, intended to enhance engineering students’understanding of business practices, societal needs, and engineering solutions. Initial changesfocused on the “endcaps” of our first-year and senior-year courses. Based on those results, anextension of the changes throughout the curriculum may be implemented. Secondly, we identifysome distinct characteristics of the general engineering curriculum that provide a fertile groundfor this type of integrative, multidisciplinary work to be carried

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Cramer, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Wendy Crone, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Moira Lafayette, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Jeffrey Russell, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Paul Peercy, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Darryl G. Thelen, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Daniel Klingenberg, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Amy Wendt, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

college and includes faculty involved in departmental curriculumcommittees. The charge to the Roundtable has been to “Understand the changing environmentfor higher education and its implications for the College of Engineering and develop an actionplan that includes changes in course curriculum and delivery to meet the new challenges inundergraduate education.” This followed directly from the step 1 implementation from Massy tobuild awareness and commitment and is articulated with similar words in the CCSSI Phase Ireport and other institutional change literature.The Roundtable determined that three elements in addition to disciplinary excellencecharacterize the best undergraduate engineering education: 1) curriculum and course contentrelevancy, 2

Conference Session

Sustainability, Service Learning, and Entreprenuership

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shekar Viswanathan, National University, San Diego; Howard Evans, National University, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

as well as quality ofinstruction provided in this program. Each course is established with an acceptable targetachievement.Table 4 shows an example layout of course learning outcomes assessment for SEM 602course. As shown, these individual course learning outcomes are linked to the programlearning outcomes through a curriculum mapping process.SummaryThis program, developed with the help of experienced academics and industrypractitioners, has resulted in a program that integrates fundamentals with relevantapplications, offers significant opportunity to study sustainability, exposes studentsextensively to current issues and practitioners, allows to be readily updated due tomodular structure, and addresses the needs of the marketplace. Finally

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Huanmei Wu, IUPUI

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

.Interaction between academic engineering programs and industrial partners showed that capstonecourses can create useful business products, produce corporate-ready students, and provideexperience for faculty in future curriculum development13.However, there are little efforts in designing interdisciplinary courses or projects to promoteundergraduate students in engineering in research. Integrating the multidisciplinarytechnologies, informatics, and the corresponding real-life applications is an important stimulatingapproach to promote the interests in research of undergraduates in engineering. This paper willintroduce a project based approach based on multidisciplinary undergraduate research projects.Student learning is enhanced and the research

Conference Session

History, Program Design, and even a Journal Club

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Blanchard, Florida Gulf Coast University; Robert O'Neill, Florida Gulf Coast University; James Sweeney, Florida Gulf Coast University; Lisa Zidek, Florida Gulf Coast University; Simeon Komisar, Florida Gulf Coast University; Diana Stoppiello, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

: Page 15.1014.3 Vision Mission The U.A. Whitaker School of The mission of the U.A. Whitaker School of Engineering is to produce Engineering at Florida Gulf graduates and community leaders in selected engineering and computing Coast University will be disciplines with superior technical competence and business skills to meet the internationally recognized for engineering and computing challenges of Southwest Florida and beyond. This excellence in interdisciplinary is accomplished in an entrepreneurial and innovative educational engineering and computing environment that values diversity, service, integrity, leadership

Conference Session

Understanding and Measuring the Impact of Multidisciplinarity

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

participants should be capable of developing a set of rubrics that can be effectively utilized in administering their assessment procedures. 3. The participants should finally be able to generate a set of graphs that provide them with appropriate, productive feedback pertaining to student learning capabilities. A problem-based curriculum is significantly different from the traditional disciplinecentered curriculum (Woods, 1994). This is because problem-based learning has been definedas minds-on, hands-on, focused, experiential learning (Wilkerson & Gijselaers, 1996). Modernteaching techniques should be combined with knowledge acquisition along with an activity

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Cressler, Georgia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, this classical course model is deficient, and mustchange if the future educational needs of our students are to be best satisfied, and our globalcommunity best served. Of particular interest in this context is the exposure of non-engineeringmajors (e.g., management students) to micro/nanotechnology, something they would generallynever encounter in a “normal” college undergraduate curriculum. We offer here an example of asolution to this dilemma by describing a new course introduced at Georgia Tech which dealssquarely with micro/nanotechnology at the undergraduate level, and importantly is intended toserve undergraduate students of all majors (e.g., management, engineering, sciences, etc.) and alleducational levels (freshman through senior).At

Conference Session

Project-based Learning and Other Pedagogical Innovations

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Fleishman, Western Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

AC 2010-31: WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY'S HYBRID BUS - AMULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO PROJECT BASED EDUCATIONSteven Fleishman, Western Washington University STEVEN FLEISHMAN is currently an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Technology Department at Western Washington University. He joined the Vehicle Research Institute at WWU in 2006 after spending twenty years in automotive drivetrain R&D. Steven.fleishman@wwu.edu Page 15.1362.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010Western Washington University’s Hybrid Bus – A Multidisciplinary Approach to Project-BasedEducationAbstract Western