Conference Session

Sustainability & Environmental Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Roger Hadgraft, The University of Melbourne; Jenni Goricanec, RMIT University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

, decision-making and report writing. These are the new basics.Compare this list with the old basics, which includes mathematics, physics, chemistry,applied mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, etc. These map onto the new basicsthrough the analysis phase (Figure 2). It is clearly time to rethink how we practise engineeringeducation. Yet, the temptation remains to continue with the basic sciences through years oneand two, with some engineering design being introduced in the third or final years. Page 12.654.4Of course, the accrediting bodies have beensaying this for sometime now (above). The

Conference Session

Sustainability & Environmental Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Richter, Virginia Tech; Sean McGinnis, Virginia Tech; Maura Borrego, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

complex to modelthoroughly, so the LCA software was critical for the quantitative analysis; the size of the teamallowed good coverage for all aspects of the product. The students were required to identifytheir specific roles within the team, complete the analysis, and present the analysis in reportformat as well as a 20 minute presentation to the class. To encourage teamwork within themultidisciplinary project, the assessment of the students was based on several components. 40%of the project grade was given to the project team as a whole for the written report and oralpresentation, 40% of the grade was based on the individual roles that the students assignedthemselves on their team, and 20% of the grade was based on the students’ peer assessment

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Teams

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University; Durward Sobek, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

about levels of performance. After some discussion, we decidedthat a rubric might be more appropriate for our purpose.Developing a RubricIn order to get more background on developing measures of performance, one of theauthors attended a workshop on Designing Performance Measures at Washington StateUniversity. The workshop, which helped us get started on a rubric and gave us a modelof a development process, was sponsored by the Northwest Regional ProfessionalDevelopment Center and facilitated by Pacific Crest personnel.A rubric is a scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of student work. Rubrics havebeen used extensively in the evaluation of student writing and, more recently, in theevaluation of many different types of student work

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Bland, John Brown University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

very intentional learning, grades, high Page 12.1460.3structure, limited student control of content, and the outcome of a degree. New philosophiesmove the format from the lecture to more active learning techniques, but the classical lecturecontinues for many. Non-formal interventions are characterized by seminars: much lessstructure, still intentional learning, no grades, limited student control of content, and certificates.Informal interventions are characterized in the mentoring or peer team activities: one-on-onerelationship encounters, minimal to no structure, increased student control, learning by doing,and more intrinsic reward of

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Howard Evans, National University; Shekar Viswanathan, National University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

and design critical safety andSafety application of safety and security security systems for buildings and/orEngineering engineering methods and processes processes.Capstone learned through this program. The • Define a research problem and/or anCourses students are to select research topics industrial / commercial case study. under the guidance of instructor and • Perform a literature review and conduct research and write a methods used in the project. detailed report. Working in teams or • Identify sources of data for the analysis as individuals under the guidance of and gather and analyze relevant data

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Bucks, Purdue University; William Oakes, Purdue University; Carla Zoltowski, Purdue University; Frank DeRego, Purdue University; Silvia Mah, University of California-San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

is that “the population of individuals whoare involved with or affected by technology…will be increasingly diverse and multidisciplinary.”This highlights one of the biggest pushes in recent years, which is for engineers who are able tofunction effectively on multidisciplinary teams.Often in engineering, when the term multidisciplinary is used, it refers to different branches ofengineering. A multidisciplinary team might have electrical, mechanical and industrial engineerson it. However, when students become practicing engineers, they will no longer be workingsolely with other engineers. Quite often, they will need to work with peers without a technicalbackground. For instance, their coworkers may have a business or management degree

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Course Innovation

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hugh Jack, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

. For larger scale issues students could be partnered with graduates from complimentary dis-ciplines. In other cases complimentary activities could be assigned so that one would be com-pleted quickly, while the other is slow. For example an ECE student might quickly write amicrocontroller program, but require additional time for a mechanical design problem.Students were pleased with the chance to cross disciplinary boundaries. In particular many ME/PDM students noted their satisfaction with the microcontroller boards, while many ECE studentsmentioned the machining and welding knowledge as very valuable.The ProjectsThe laboratories allowed students to verify background knowledge in their own discipline, andextend their knowledge to a new

Conference Session

Capstone Design & Project Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wayne Walter, Rochester Institute of Technology; Jeffrey Webb, Rochester Institute of Technology; Mark Smith, Rochester Institute of Technology; Elizabeth DeBartolo, Rochester Institute of Technology; Margaret Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; George Slack, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

“guides” or “consultants.” A guide is afaculty member who is the primary mentor for the project. He or she is the most intimatelyinvolved with the entire process, and remain with the team for both quarters of MSD. The guideis also ideally an expert in the field of the project’s subject matter. He or she meets with theirteam weekly, helps resolve technical issues, provides advice on resolving personnel conflicts,and grades the team on its deliverables. The final individual student grade is also adjusted up ordown by the guide. After reviewing the logbooks, peer evaluations, and looking at the overallparticipation, the grade can be modified to reflect the student’s overall contribution.The guide most often acts as the administrative point of

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Terrance Boult, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs; Jeremy Haefner, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

21 Credits (Choice from 1-3 cores) General education courses to meet requirements of the appropriate college.The Innovation Core is 27 Credits, geared toward innovation and entrepreneurship; a keycomponent is the multi-disciplinary, long-term team activities over the sophomore, junior andsenior years. Teams are expected to include students from all years, possibly including graduatestudents. The teams will have dynamic membership and the roles of team members will changeon a regular basis. The innovation core also includes an overview course of innovation, acourse on entrepreneurship, a variation on the technical writing course focused on proposalpreparation, a course

Conference Session

Experiential and Service Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Margaret Bailey, Rochester Institute of Technology; Elizabeth DeBartolo, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

academic quarters (22 weeks). The MSD experience is a studio course in that it adopts ageneral approach to student interaction that is hands-on, instructor facilitated, and student-centered [1]. Refer to companion paper by Walter et al, 2007 [2]for more details on the overallMSD program at RIT. Like its peer institutions, RIT strives to continuously improve curriculumstructure, integration, and assessment. The MSD course sequence is particularly crucial to thisongoing improvement due to its culminating nature. Accordingly, the Accreditation Board forEngineering and Technology (ABET) Criterion 3 Program Outcomes and Assessment states thatengineering programs must demonstrate that their students attain the following set of attributesupon graduation