Conference Session

Capstone and Senior Design in Electrical and Computer ET

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Grant Richards, Purdue University; John Denton, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

idea selected through a singlevote process. The course instructors did not participate in the voting process. The selectedproject was a 915MHz, multi-channel FM audio transmitter and receiver.The second phase of the project focused on the determination of functional blocks, blockspecifications, circuits, component selection, test and measurement procedures and layout anddesign of printed circuit boards. At this point, project teams were assigned by the courseinstructors (3 teams of 4 students and 1 team of 3 students) and all project activities werecompleted as a team effort. Student interaction was low and typically had to be prompted in theearly stages of this phase. Later interviews yielded comments indicating that students assumedthat if

Conference Session

Our Future in Manufacturing: STEM Outreach

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Winston Erevelles, Robert Morris University; Jennifer Parsons, Robert Morris University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

. The models were then transferred toa CNC (Computer Numerical Control) software package and machined on a CNC millingmachine (Denford MicroRouter). The camp ended with races conducted on an 80-ft long racetrack.The F1 Engineering Camp participants toured the BeaveRun Motorcomplex in Wampum, PA.They were greeted by the owner who talked to the students about BeaveRun and showed themcars similar to the ones they were designing and manufacturing in class. The students also hadan opportunity to meet a young, female engineer on staff at the complex. The timing of the tourwas remarkable in that the campers were able to see several actual Formula 1 cars at the complex– a phenomenon that happens infrequently during the year. The tour ended on an

Conference Session

Capstone and Senior Design in Engineering Technology

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Johnson, Purdue University; Sergey Dubikovsky, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

completeAT496 and AT497. (See Figure 1.) A significant portion of a student’s grade depends on peerevaluation which is conducted two to four times a semester. There is a consensus among facultymembers teaching the senior level courses that the best way to handle those peer reviews is tohave a single form for this purpose across most, if not all, senior level courses14. AT496 AT497 AT408 Applied Research Applied Research Advanced Mfg Proposal Project Processes DMAIC or DMEDI DMAIC or DMEDI DMEDI Identify project, form Conduct project

Conference Session

Robots in Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Ahlgren, Trinity College; Igor Verner, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

asked students to describe characteristics of team learningenvironments that would be most productive and supportive. A second part of the pre-semestersurvey aimed to help students to identify mastery project topics. In 2006-2007, each RSTstudent was expected to become the team’s expert in that topic.The survey presented twelve topics related to the team’s current projects. Students rated eachtopic according to four criteria: (1) importance to personal goals; (2) importance to RST projects; Page 14.864.3(3) level of confidence in the skill area; and (4) the student’s priority for this skill area based onhis/her individual interest and

Conference Session

ERM Potpourri

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jill Nelson, George Mason University; Margret Hjalmarson, George Mason University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

the trends in student responses arediscussed in the following sections.Two in-class problems included content that evaluated students' understanding of theconvergence of sequence and series. In both problems, students were required to apply sequenceand series concepts to determine whether or not a given system was stable. In the first problem,shown in Figure 1, students were first asked to describe what a system does if the system wasdefined by an infinite summation. Thirteen groups submitted solutions, and five groups wereable to describe the "purpose" of the system in words. While an additional six groups were ableto expand the summation to give a formulaic description of the processing performed by thesystem, their inability to explain

Conference Session

Learning as a Community

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Ricks, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Rhonda Kowalchuk, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; John Nicklow, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Loen Graceson-Martin, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Lalit Gupta, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; James Mathias, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Jale Tezcan, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; Kathy Pericak-Spector, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

students’ persistence and success has received a great deal of attentionin the literature. According to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)1, “Only 40-60percent of entering engineering students persist to an engineering degree, and women andminorities are at the low end of that range. These retention rates represent an unacceptablesystemic failure to support student learning in the field.” (p. 40).Noteworthy is that research has shown that predictors of retention change throughout the firsttwo years of an engineering program and predictors of graduation vary across universities.2Tinto’s3 Student Integration Theory posits that students enter university with varied backgroundcharacteristics and goal commitments which in turn influences their

Conference Session

Assessment and Continuous Improvement in Engineering Technology: Part II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Austin Asgill, Southern Polytechnic State University; Omar Zia, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Page 14.1106.2Technology (BSTCET). All three programs are ABET accredited. During the last accreditationcycle, ABET allowed the option of going by the old criteria or opting for the new accreditationcriteria. Since the university and the Technology departments did not have any of the continuousimprovement requirements in place at that time, the faculty opted to utilize the old criteria foraccreditation of the six (6) E.T programs offered on campus.During the fall semester of the 2008/2009 academic year, all of the Engineering Technologyprograms on campus were up for re-accreditation by ABET, Inc.1 Around this same time frame,the university was also preparing for its accreditation cycle through SACS 2. Since this was not anormal occurrence, and

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; Wajiha Shireen, University of Houston; Farrokh Attarzadeh, University of Houston; Miguel Ramos, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

entering the engineering profession and in earning Electrical/ComputerEngineering (ECE) degrees. If the model is adopted, it is envisioned that a new first professionalengineering degree can be constructed whereby: (1) All engineering-bound students would firstcomplete 2 years of an ECET program; (2) With proper advising and mentoring, those studentsinterested and skilled to follow the more Conceive-Design side of engineering would transfer toa Department, College or School of Engineering and complete an ECE degree in 2, 3 or 4additional years; if 4 years, then the Department of Education definition of a first professionaldegree would be satisfied; and (3) Those students interested and skilled to follow the moreapplied Implement-Operate side of

Conference Session

Laboratories in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Grant Richards, Purdue University; John Denton, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

. d  Z S ? 50Ψ YL⁄   Z 0 _ through ? 50Ψ Z L ? 25Ψ   Z 0 _ stub ? 50Ψ l Figure 1 - Single Stub Impedance Matching NetworkOne possible approach is to design an impedance matching network using mathematicalexpressions. This can be accomplished through algebraic manipulation of widely availabletransmission line input impedance expressions, although this process can become tedious withoutsome guidance. Previous attempts using this

Conference Session

Software Engineering Teaching Techniques

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Scott Hawker, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Software Engineering Constituent Committee

part of the course is devoted to software processmodeling concepts. This section describes and gives example models of that portion of thecourse content. The teaching approach leverages the student’s understanding of using UML tomodel systems, in general, and in particular makes parallels between software product models inUML and software process models in UML.Figure 1 is a UML diagram that illustrates the relationships between roles, activities, and workproducts in a software engineering process, and Figure 2 is the same diagram, using the SPEMUML stereotype notation. 0..* Activity Performs 0

Conference Session

Educational Issues in Civil Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wilfrid Nixon, University of Iowa; James Stoner, University of Iowa

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

pool of 36 semester hours (s.h.) of elective courses. The student’s portfolio and plan of study guide the selection of appropriate electives. The electives are used to fulfill two College requirements: 1) A general education component of 15 semester hours that ensures focused studies in non-technical areas; and 2) The remaining 21 semester hours provide flexibility for students to pursue a formal minor in an approved area or earn a certificate in a multidisciplinary area (e.g., Technological Entrepreneurship, Health and Biological Sciences, International Business, Law and Engineering) developed by the College in collaboration with other colleges on campus, or build strength in a technical

Conference Session

Teams and Teamwork in Design I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yogesh Velankar, Purdue University; Sean Brophy, Purdue University; Masataka Okutsu, Purdue University; Daniel Delaurentis, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

simulation of an aerospace designfirm with an innovative work environment designed to foster the generation of new ideasfor advanced aircrafts. Students take on the role of an intern working in the Research andDevelopment portion of a company called AeroQuest. The major goal of the game is todesign a competitively priced aircraft and/or rocket that a client needs delivered in a very Page 14.1052.3short time. Each student is part of a design team who has their own room where they cansolve problems and develop their conceptual design for the RFP. Students collaboratewith each other in various rooms in the 3D virtual world. Figure 1 illustrates thesevarious

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Haluk Ozemek, San Jose State University; Preetpal Kang, San Jose State University; Albert Khanh Nguyen, San Jose State University; pradeep badhan, San Jose State University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

this course are designed to cover the lecture topics and elements to provide self-motivation to students. When students have “hands on” experience and learn how easily they can interface various sensors and actuators, they develop self- confidence and interest that help them throughout their educational and professional career. Experiment 1: Simple Input/Output: The first experiment allows students to become familiar with Visual Studio and programming language C. Students learn how to create, write, compile, and debug programs in Visual Studio. Experiment 2: Conditional Operations: The second experiment introduces conditional logic. Students write a program that contains different types of conditional operands. Experiment 3

Conference Session

Student Learning

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Parker, University of Wisconsin, Platteville

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

various factors, including pedagogy, influencestudent concept retention. This is an exploratory effort and no attempts to generalize will bemade.BackgroundIt is important to differentiate between transfer, knowledge retention, and concept retention. Forthis paper, transfer is defined as the ability for learning activities to have positive effects thatextend beyond the conditions of initial learning.(1) Knowledge retention is defined as the abilityto remember facts and other information. Concept retention is the ability to rememberfundamental concepts rather than “just” facts. “Concept retention” is a term coined for thispaper, which was necessary as the ability to retain concepts rather than facts has not beendifferentiated in the

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and K-12 Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Faik Karatas, Purdue University; George Bodner, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

should be designed to helpthese teachers bring engineering into the elementary-school classroom.Background and research questions The literature on the nature of science (NOS) has suggested that students, teachers, andthe vast majority of society, in general, believe certain common myths about science, includingthe myths that scientific facts are absolute and purely objective, that there is no role for humaninterpretation or imagination in science, and that scientists have certain rigid methods to generatescientific knowledge and/or solve problems.1-5 Driver and her colleagues 6 have shown thatstudents form ideas about science, its process, and its product — scientific knowledge — beforeany formal science instruction. The students’ ideas

Conference Session

BME Laboratory Courses and Experiences

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Allen, University of Virginia; Jeffrey Saucerman, University of Virginia; Jason Papin, University of Virginia; Shayn Peirce-Cottler, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

Virginia. The new systems bioengineeringPage 14.462.4Since there was a wide breadth of material covered in this course, we necessarily had to be veryselective about the material covered in each module, so that students had an opportunity to gainan appreciation for the issues and limitations of the most common modeling and experimentalapproaches at each scale. Each of the three modules in the course had the following generalgoals in common: 1. Introduce an especially medically relevant problem (in lecture and by assigning review papers to read) such that the students learn the motivation/need for a systems approach to solving this problem. 2. Lay the theoretical foundation: In lecture, we reviewed the underlying physical

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Tech Session I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ernest Tollner, University of Georgia, Athens; John Schramski, University of Georgia; Caner Kazanci, University of Georgia

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

this point forward). Using a compartment network model as depicted inFigure 1, each particle is followed from input through the system to output. Animproved version of Gillespie’s algorithm (1977) for solving stochastic differentialequations greatly extended the tracking capability of the Tollner and Kazanci (2007)approach enabling feasible solutions to ecological-scale problems. Knowing particlerouting probabilities provides interpretive insight as to how particular ‘particles’ ofenergy or mass may move through a system before exiting. Kazanci and Tollner (2008)mark and follow each discrete element, with the unique capability of attaching variousidentifying attributes to each particle as it routes through compartments maintaining ahistorical

Conference Session

Innovations in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Programs

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yuhong Zhang, Texas Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

) ? ( A − m(t )) Ac cos(ψ c t ) , where ψ c is the carrierfrequency and Ac is the carrier amplitude. In my first class of amplitude modulation, theMatlab tool box is used to show students the plots of a real message signal m(t ) and themodulated carrier xc . An example is presented in Figure 1. From this figure, it is obviousto find that the period of the original signal is much bigger than the modulated signal. Inanother words, the frequency of the modulated signal is much bigger than the originalmessage. The students immediately understood the idea that modulation changes themessage’s frequency and the envelope of the carrier signal looks like the originalmessage. The plot highlights their findings. Sinusoidal wave and

Conference Session

Think Outside the Box! K-12 Engineering Curriculum

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tara Gomez, California Institute of Technology; Oliver Loson, California Institute of Technology; Douglas Yung, California Institute of Technology; Sindhuja Kadambi, California Institute of Technology; Paul Lee, California Institute of Technology; Luz Rivas, California Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

was an effective way to teach neuroscience.The modules we describe here, can be adapted by other educators in K-12 advanced sciencecourses as a vehicle for introducing engineering concepts or in an engineering course asdemonstratives of engineering applications in the life sciences.1. IntroductionThe increasing interdependence of science and engineering disciplines has led educators torethink the way science is taught in K-12 grades. The interdisciplinary nature of emerging Page 14.756.2science and engineering fields requires students to be able to integrate ideas from several subjectareas.1 Recent recommendations for reform have emphasized

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jean-Claude Thomassian, State University of New York, Maritime College; Anoop Desai, Georgia Southern University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

the course. Students also gain experience in applying PSpice toelectronic design and visualization. Circuit Analysis is a pre-requisite course. Mostly studentsfrom the electrical engineering program enroll in this course, as it is a required course for theirmajor. This course is a four credit hour course (two 75 minutes combined with a three hourlaboratory meeting each week). A pilot study was conducted for this course. Students completing Page 14.1084.2this course should be able to:1. Analyze circuits containing electronic devices using suitable models4-6.2. Analyze linear circuits containing operational amplifiers4-6.3. Design circuits

Conference Session

Issues and Direction in ET Education and Administration: Part II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Enrique Barbieri, University of Houston; Wajiha Shireen, University of Houston; Farrokh Attarzadeh, University of Houston; Raresh Pascali, University of Houston; Miguel Ramos, University of Houston; William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Engineering Technology programs within the Conceive, Design, Implement,and Operate (CDIOTM http://www.cdio.org/) professional engineering spectrum. The new modeladvocates that a TAC/ABET accredited, 4-year B.S. degree in ET disciplines is a logical, viable,and in fact a key component in the student’s path to entering the engineering profession and inearning degrees from Engineering Departments. If the model is adopted, it is envisioned that anew first professional engineering degree can be constructed whereby: (1) All engineering-boundstudents would first complete 2 years of an ET program – such as Computer, Electrical, orMechanical ET; (2) With proper advising and mentoring, those students interested and skilled tofollow the more Conceive-Design

Conference Session

New Learning Paradigms I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Parker, University of Wisconsin, Platteville

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

taught using the control method.As such, this paper helps to address a gap in the engineering writing education literature, in thatfew studies have investigated the effect of various methods in an experimental fashion. Oneexception is the work of Jensen and Fisher,(1) who showed that the use of student peer reviewwas found to be positively correlated with an improvement in student writing proficiency. Thefindings were based on a comparison of scores on a writing assignment at the beginning of thesemester and a writing assignment at the end of the semester for a control section and a testsection.BackgroundThe test method was guided by advice gleaned from the technical writing and engineeringwriting instruction literature. Two very practical

Conference Session

Measuring the Impacts of Project-based Service Learning on Engineering Education

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kurt Paterson, Michigan Technological University; Angela Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Chris Swan, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

International

assessment of PBSL.In February 2009, a national Summit was held in Washington, DC to begin a year-long synthesisof wisdom, experience, and evidence among PBSL implementers and assessment experts.Following recommendations from the Summit a series of national dialogues is to be held toengage a broader community of PBSL scholars; the 2009 ASEE annual conference is one of foursuch venues.1. MOTIVATIONAmerican engineering capacity is in tumultuous waters. Enrollment trends are flat overall, andworse, declining when considering citizens only. Social dynamics may be further strainingengineering education. Top concerns include the diminishing interest in engineering amongAmerican high school students, the continued lack of diversity within the field, and

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Homayoon Abtahi, Florida Atlantic University; Ali Zilouchian, Florida Atlantic University

designed todetermine fundamental student understanding of PEM fuel cells, their varied applications, andissues associated with their use. Ten(10) questions have been distributed to the students at theend of each semester that course has been offered for the past three years. The first part of theassessment has focused on (1) integration of the lecture and the laboratory (2) labview and dataacquisition, (3) simulik modeling of the fuel cells (4) the data collection of the commercial fuelcell (5) modeling of the fuel cell based on the laboratory data, and (6) completion of a systemdesign and final project.The second part of the assessment has focused upon student-identified strengths/weaknesses ofthe course/modules. In sequel, the assessment results

Conference Session

Technological Literacy and K-12 Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nataliia Perova, Tufts University; Chris Rogers, Tufts University; David Henry Feldman, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Technological Literacy Constituent Committee

Engineering Curriculum Framework and its inclusion in Massachusetts’scurriculum standards.IntroductionIn a world where technology plays a very important role, technological literacy becomes one ofthe important goals in our education. In 2002, the Technological Literacy Committee of theNational Academy of Engineering issued a report stating that “technological literacy is essentialfor people living in a modern nation like United States” and defined technological literacy as “anunderstanding of the nature and history of technology, a basic hands-on capability related totechnology, and the ability to think critically about technological developments”.1 One of therecommendations followed from the Committee’s report was to strengthen the presence

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Margot Vigeant, Bucknell University; Michael Prince, Bucknell University; Katharyn Nottis, Bucknell University

” H3) Rate of Heat Transfer vs. Amount of Energy Transferred H4) Radiation Thermodynamics Page 14.740.2 T1) Entropy 1/5 T2) Reversibility T3) Internal Energy vs. Enthalpy T4) Steady State vs. Equilibrium T5) Reaction Rate vs. Reaction EquilibriumConcepts H1, H2, H4, T1, T2, T3, and T4 were selected based upon those that wereidentified as both difficult and important in a Delphi study (Streveler et al, 2003).Concepts H3 and T5 were added based upon the authors’ observations in class

Conference Session

Investigating Alternative-energy Concepts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Mark Jansson, Rowan University; Ulrich Schwabe, Rowan University; Kevin Bellomo - Whitten, Rowan University; Jonathan Bucca, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

modules is a major factor, but only basic data for the surrounding area was found – whichdoes however give at least a small insight into its effect. Comparisons of various data were done Page 14.210.3for the months of May through September 2008, starting with the most intuitivelystraightforward correlation of ambient and module temperatures. A simple best fit confirms theassumption with R2 values ranging from .8 to .85. Figures 1&2 give example graphs of theambient and module temperatures measured at the site for the Months of May, July andSeptember

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Meyer, Purdue University; Cordelia Brown, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

learn best. Thisoutcome was evaluated based on exit survey data.Standardized Outcome Assessment ResultsThere are six learning outcomes in the targeted sophomore-level course8, each of which isassessed using a standardized in-class “hourly” exam: 1. an ability to analyze static and dynamic behavior of digital circuits; 2. an ability to represent Boolean functions in standard forms, to map and minimize them, and to implement them as combinational logic circuits; 3. an ability to use a hardware description language to specify combinational logic circuits, including various “building blocks” such as decoders, multiplexers, encoders, and tri- state buffers; 4. an ability to design and implement arithmetic logic circuits; 5. an

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Srikanth Tadepalli, University of Texas, Austin; Cameron Booth, University of Texas, Austin; Mitchell Pryor

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

. Page 14.589.3 Figure 1: Course homepageSpecifically, our course implementation includes 18 modules shown in the top navigation menuin Figure 1. Access to each unit requires a password acquired by students who successfullycomplete the previous unit. Unit 00 familiarizes students with the site layout and test submissionsystem. It is the only unit completed during in class. Unit tests must be completed in 2 hours.Then proctors review the answers and either pass, fail or mark the test for correction. Studentswho fail the test (i.e. answers are not 100% correct) or do not submit in time retake the test whenthey feel prepared. Tests may be marked for correction to improve on a technically correct butpoor programming

Conference Session

Sustainable and Urban Development

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sanjaya Senadheera, Texas Tech

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

social and political order in order to arrest the potentially rapid deterioration inthe ecosystem and escalating scarcity of resources. Societies must develop creative andinnovative ways to educate communities, the younger generation in particular, to understand the Page 14.21.2long-term impacts of their actions and to find ways to create a sustainable world order.The term sustainability has generally been used in natural resource situations where ‘long term’is the focus. The US EPA (2007)1 defined sustainability as “the ability of an ecosystem tomaintain a defined/desired state of ecological integrity over time”. However, sustainability