Conference Session

Effective Tools for Teaching Engineering Economy

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phil Rosenkrantz, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

redesign of the course to integrateconstructivist approaches for on-line learning environments. Instructional and outcomesassessment data, as well as demographic and tools usage survey data (including the results of alearning styles survey) was collected for each class. This paper will: (1) Compare the before andafter instructional assessment and outcomes assessment data for the course; and (2) Analyze thepatterns of learning tool usage based on demographic variables. Innovative uses of instructionaltechnology discovered along the way will also be presented.The paper is organized into the following parts:1. Introduction2. On-line teaching options, strategies, and considerations3. Teaching strategies and learning activities for

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Lord, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

professor in apractical way. These aspects include authentic investigation, motivation for communication,tying the writing to the technical content, a well-defined audience, providing useful practice foran engineering career, and not being overly burdensome to the engineering faculty instructor.Specific examples, student response, and lessons learned from activities in sophomore-levelCircuits, junior-level Electronics and a senior-level elective on Optoelectronics are presented.1. IntroductionTo help develop essential communication skills that engineering graduates need, engineeringfaculty must find ways to incorporate writing into the curriculum. There have been reports ofimpressive work integrating writing centers or technical communication

Conference Session

Critical Success Factors for Technopolis Creation

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Zidek, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Cindy Orndoff; Susan Blanchard

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

is an increasingconcern in the United States that high school students are lacking in math and science skillsleaving them ill-prepared for college programs in the sciences, technology, engineering andmathematics (STEM).1 According to a recent report form the US Department of Education, theUnited States ranks 27th in the world in mathematics problem solving,2 reiterating the point thatUS high school students are not well prepared for college after completing high school mathclasses. At one Southwest Florida university, more than 60% of the first year students were notacademically prepared for college calculus, prolonging their entry into the engineering programand increasing the time the students will spend in college. These deficiencies

Conference Session

Service-Learning in Developing Communities

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Wittig, City College of the City University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

quality of life.Between 2002 and 2006, the organization grew from fewer than 100 members to more than6,000 members. As of January 2007, there were 105 active student EWB chapters and 39 activeprofessional chapters nationwide, and approximately 600 chapters in development.1 Mostprofessional chapters provide support and mentoring for the student chapters, although some alsotake on projects on their own.Although most EWB projects require engineering design, environmental monitoring, publichealth assessment, accounting, and fundraising, few student or professional chapters havemembers that are not engineers or engineering students. The City College of New York (CCNY)student chapter of EWB is unique in that it has actively recruited engineering

Conference Session

Non-Technical Skills in ET

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Irene Ferrara, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona; Rebecca Maguda, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona; Andrew Vavreck, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

, Rebecca Maguda, and the EMET ProgramCoordinator, Irene Ferrara, worked cooperatively from February through May 2006 to developtopics for a one-credit course intended for advanced standing EMET students, in order to helpprepare them for the process of securing employment as well as succeeding in industry. Theoriginal syllabus for the course can be found in Appendix 1.Course ImplementationIn fall of 2006, eleven senior BSEMET students participated in the first offering of theEngineering Business Skills course. The class met for 75 minutes twice per week, for half of thesemester. During the first three weeks of class, students engaged in a variety of activitiesintended to prepare them for the Fall Career Fair at The Pennsylvania State University

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tokunbo Ogunfunmi, Santa Clara University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

previously to test some pre-requisite skills (likeElectric Circuits I and II) which are both pre-requisites to the Linear Systems course. These arepart of the assessment tools we developed and used prior to the use of the SSCI Test.Later, in Section 5, we briefly describe the SSCI CT Test which was administered in our Linearsystems class at the Santa Clara University in both Fall 2005 and Fall 2006. The SSCI CT Test isgiven to assess the students’ performance and determine evidence of learning outcomes.The goals of our study are :(1) To determine how much conceptual understanding the students have developed by the end ofthe class (compared to the beginning of the class).(2) To correlate the performance on the end-of-term exam with the performance on

Conference Session

Recruiting, Retention and Diversity in Engineering Technology

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Irene Ferrara, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona; Andrew Vavreck, Pennsylvania State University-Altoona

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Engineering Technology programs before any effort wasconcentrated in this area, and the rate of attrition.Data was compiled to determine where the students who completed ED&G 100 in each year ofinterest were two years later. Numbers are reported in Table 1 for students who completedED&G 100 in five different academic years – Fall 2000/Spring 2001, Fall 2001/Spring 2002,Fall 2002/Spring 2003, Fall 2003/Spring 2004, and Fall 2004/Spring 2005. In each case, thenumbers listed indicate the status of the students two years later. So, for example, for studentswho completed ED&G 100 in Fall 2000/Spring 2001, data has been collected to report theirsituations in Fall 2002. The number of students enrolled at University Park in College ofEngineering

Conference Session

Industry-Academia Collaborations

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Robertson, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

leadership. One route is for technical specialists. It is often called a‘Technical Ladder’ and it is a way to retain and recognize the depth of expertise neededfor the business. The other path is through project management which requires broadexperience in many contributing functions. The paths are represented in figure 1 whichshows the trade-off between breadth and depth. New engineering or technologygraduates enter the job market with specific discipline skills and would normally staywith that specialization unless they make a deliberate move into project management. Project manager Technology

Conference Session

Two Year Colleges

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amelito Enriquez, Canada College

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

student surveys show overwhelmingly positive studentperception of the effects of this model of classroom environment on their learning experience.These results indicate that the interactive classroom environment developed using wirelessTablet PCs has the potential to be a more effective teaching pedagogy compared to traditionalinstructor-centered teaching environments, and should be applied to math, science and otherengineering courses with traditionally high attrition rates.1. INTRODUCTIONThe fundamental problem addressed by this study is the lack of active participation of studentsduring classroom instruction in the traditional 50-minute lecture setting. Studies have longshown that the traditional instructor-centered lecture format is an

Conference Session

Mathematics in Transition

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Linder, Math Out of the Box; Donna Gunderson, Math Out of the Box/Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Mathematics

mathematics curriculum impacts the instructional practicesof K-5 educators in a Title I school district. The purpose of this paper is to describe the changesin practice that occurred throughout the implementation process and to outline several strategiesthat aided teachers while making the transition from traditional to inquiry-based practitioners.introduction: According to the Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) report, “Twenty-fivepercent of our scientist and engineers will reach retirement age by 2010” (p. 1)1. The prevailingconcern that American students are not as prepared to meet the challenge of scientific innovationwhen compared to students in other nations has prompted a response from the federalgovernment. An abundance of

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

S. Perwez Kalim, Wilkes University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

that the sophomore year course load often appeared more demandingthan the course load of other years in the curriculum. This was noticeable in our curriculum aswell, where students suffered from sharply decreased self-esteem and enthusiasm. It was also tosome extent apparent from their course work and examination preparedness. Table 1 shows theWilkes University’s Mechanical Engineering curriculum. In this course structure the first trulyrelevant mechanical engineering course the students are exposed to is thermodynamics, whichwas also offered at the sophomore level. Previous outcome based analysis indicated that students Page 12.859.2struggled

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experiences

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Mullenax, Tulane University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

current trends in curricula, and assesses the value of the Master’s Degree ascurrently implemented for the engineering practitioner.Background:The earliest mention of Master’s Degree dates to the thirteenth century, when Master’s Degreewas the top of three offered degrees: Scholar, Bachelor, and Master. At this time the Master’sDegree, also sometimes called Doctor or Professor, meant teacher. In the intervening yearsDoctor became the more common moniker for this degree.[1]There are currently three major types of engineering Master’s Degrees in the US: thesis, non-thesis with exit exam, and non-thesis course-based only. Statistics rarely show specificitybeyond the degree conferred.There were 40,650 Master’s Degrees awarded in engineering in the US

Conference Session

FPD3 -- Professional Issues for First-Year Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Lau, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

in developing professional and personal integrity. Once we becomemore aware, the next step is to develop our moral imagination.Moral imagination is “an ability to imaginatively discern various possibilities for acting in agiven situation and to envision the potential help and harm that are likely to result from a givenaction.”1 The main skill required is creativity – being able to imagine many possibilities andtheir effects. There is clear parallel with the engineering design process and like thetechnological creativity required in design, moral imagination can be developed and enhanced.The process of being morally imaginative has been described as:2 1. Disengaging from and becoming aware of one’s situation, understanding the mental

Conference Session

Critical Success Factors for Technopolis Creation

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carmo D'Cruz, Florida Tech; Frank Kinney, Florida Tech; Vaidy Vaidyanathan; Tom O'Neal, University of Central Florida; Clifford Bragdon, Florida Tech; Dennis Kulonda, Florida Tech; Grisselle Centeno, University of South Florida; Jose Zayas-Castro, University of South Florida; Lynda Weatherman, Space Caost EDC

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

its commercialization, called the“Technopolis Phenomenon”.A Technopolis (plural Technopoleis) is a region trying to build and maintain a healthy,technology-driven economy. 1Dr. Fred Phillips (ex Austin, Texas) of the Maastrict School of Management ((Netherlands),1 anacknowledged authority and experienced expert on the Technopolis phenomenon in the US andEurope, has postulated that Technopolis regions grow by: 1. Attracting new companies 2. Nurturing existing indigenous firms 3. Encouraging entrepreneurial start-ups Page 12.423.2 4. Providing a supportive educational, social, tax, quality-of-life and cultural context for research

Conference Session

Design Experiences in Energy Systems

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Lau, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Energy Conversion and Conservation

purchase, plus it requires attaching wires to the cells and interconnectingthem and mounting them on some type of base. In our case, local volunteers pre-assemble thepanels, wiring them with two sets of leads so that they can be connected with all of the cells inseries (27.0 Voc), or with a parallel arrangement of three cells in series (13.5 Voc). The cells areassembled with hot glue or double-stick tape onto a polystyrene tray that is donated by a localsupermarket (Figure 1). Figure 1 Photovoltaic module assembly used by local middle schoolsOur middle school partners have been using these less expensive components successfully intheir programs. The volunteer parent leader, Tobin Short, had noticed that the wiring of the sixcells

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Technology Curriculum Innovations

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Shannon Sweeney, Pennsylvania State University-Erie; Richard Englund, Pennsylvania State University-Erie; Robert Edwards, Pennsylvania State University-Erie

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

FA05 FA06 1 a -2 17.0 23.9 13.2 19.2 30.4 55.2 b 2 36.2 54.3 68.4 (-100

Conference Session

Graphics and Visualization

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Marty Fitzgerald, East Tennessee State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Design Graphics

, even though that was clearly the attempt by the artist. In thispaper I’m going to deal specifically with renders that intentionally non-photorealistic. Thestylistic intent was to produce a render that left the viewer with the impression that it was donetraditionally.The 3D LookRenders produced by a 3D rendering application havesome traits that are hallmarks of computer involvement.Some of the most noticeable are unnaturally crisp andsharp edges, large areas of a perfectly flat color,perfectly straight lines, visibly repeated textures,uniformly soft depth-mapped shadows, and faceting. InFigure 1, the same information is presented four times,with the first three being done by hand, and the lastbeing computer generated. All four present the

Conference Session

Building Knowledge Based Economies: the Role of Industry-University-Government Partnerships

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ivan Esparragoza, Pennsylvania State University; Ramiro Jordan, ISTEC-ECE-UNM; Maria M. Larrondo Petrie, Florida Atlantic University; Javier Paez Saavedra

Tagged Divisions

International

) to promote the formation of world-class engineers for theAmericas; as well as an assortment of resources and opportunities that facilitate the participationof faculty, staff, and students from Latin America and the Caribbean in a variety of engineeringeducation experiences.IntroductionThere has been an urgent call to academia to educate the Global Engineer. This is in response tothe rapid changes occurring in the global economy and the role that engineers have to play in thisnew scenario. Recently, eight prestigious universities around the world were involved in the firstscientific global engineering study1. Their findings lead to four recommendations1: (1) Global competence needs to become a key qualification of engineering graduates

Conference Session

Non-Technical Skills in ET

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Robertson, Arizona State University; Richard Newman, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

was easy to replicate in an academic department. Componentswere cheap and the design skills were well-suited to undergraduate teaching in anyElectronics Technology department. However, electronics in that form has effectivelydisappeared so the provocative question is, “how have the discipline skills being taught inhigher education institutions changed to match the new generation of job requirements?”The technology change has been driven by the effects of increasing integration ofelectronic functions on silicon. The inexorable progress of Moore’s law 1 has allowed arelatively small number of companies around the world to produce powerful electronicfunctions that deliver super-computer performance on a single chip. The product is alsodelivered

Conference Session

Multimedia Tutorials and Web Development

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria M. Larrondo Petrie, Florida Atlantic University; Ivan Esparragoza, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

professionalengineers. Table 1 shows a listing of engineering professional societies. The computer scienceand engineering technologies societies are included in this table because the computer scienceand engineering technology programs are often housed in the college of engineering. The tablealso includes architecture, because students may want to explore the differences between thisdiscipline and construction or civil engineering. Table 2 lists the engineering related honorsocieties. Table 3 lists other engineering-related societies, including science, mathematics,medical, and education societies. Table 4 lists engineering, technology, science and educationalsocieties that specifically target underrepresented minorities, and the list in Table 5 targetswomen

Conference Session

Developing Programs for Adult Learners

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Robertson, Arizona State University; Joseph Tidwell, Boeing Co.

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

: Expert participants Chief Engineer Expert participants Instrumentation Expert participants Software Engineering Expert participants Project ManagementAn important feature of the management process is to ensure that the continuousimprovement process to validate quality is systematically and extensively applied. Theframework is shown in Figure 1. Strategic review Existing courses of skills (PB & TAB) LCT * review team Requirements (Industry + faculty

Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K-12 Teachers – II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bruce Gehrig, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Lyndon Abrams, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Deborah Bosley, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; James Conrad, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Stephen Kuyath, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Dawn Denney, Northwest Cabarrus High School; Kelly Teague, J.M. Robinson High School; Bill Welch, J.M. Robinson High School

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

not taken in the near future, the UnitedStates will face a serious shortage of scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematiciansbecause high school students, especially those from underrepresented groups, are increasinglylosing interest in these subjects.1 The key in reversing this trend lies in our ability to promotescience, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and professions in a more sociallyrelevant, real-world context and to recognize the differences in learning styles and self-efficacybetween males, females and minorities.2,3,4 As STEM teachers and school guidance counselorswill be the catalysts for introducing students to engineering and technology subjects and careers,the Teaching Engineering to Counselors and

Conference Session

Building Knowledge Based Economies: the Role of Industry-University-Government Partnerships

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria M. Larrondo Petrie, Florida Atlantic University; Clement Sankat, University of the West Indies; Roberto Loran, Universidad del Turabo

Tagged Divisions

International

recognized engineering degrees accredited by their nationalengineering program accrediting agencies, and other countries have since become signatories orprovisional signatories, see Table 1. The Sydney and Dublin Accords, created in 2001 and 2002respectively, did the same for the recognition of technical engineering degrees. In 1999 theBologna Declaration was signed by 40 countries to create European Higher Education by 2010.In 2002, the Engineers Mobility Forum and the Technical Engineers Mobility Forum created theInternational Registry for Professional Engineers (IRoPE)1 to facilitate global mobility, andrequires a degree equivalent to an accredited degree. In 2004, the European Commission startedthe EUR-ACE2,3 program to help establish a European

Conference Session

Direct Measures of Student Performance

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Carpenter, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

follows: • A topic is presented to students using traditional teaching techniques: lecturing, active learning, cooperative learning, homework, etc. (As an example, one topic covered in Structures I is bar forces in a truss using the Method of Joints.) • After the coverage of this topic, students are given a single exam question on the topic where they can demonstrate proficiency. (In the Structures I example, the exam question would require that students solve for all the bar forces in a simple truss as shown in Figure 1.) • Although proficiency can be defined in numerous ways, the method works well when, to demonstrate proficiency, a student’s solution must be 100% correct. This definition of

Conference Session

Communication and Professional Skills in BME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John D. Gassert, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Jeffrey Blessing, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Larry Schmedeman, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Larry Fennigkoh, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

students not be asked to stretch and explain how the client can capitalize on thenew and innovative features; should the students be encouraged to be entrepreneurial? Ingeneral, engineering faculty members believe that teaching entrepreneurship is a sound idea;however, including it as an integral part of an engineering education is another story. How doesone approach changing from educators of competent engineers, or what Carol Steiner refers to as“technipreneurs,” 1 to educators of engineering entrepreneurs?Entrepreneurship in an engineering education is nothing new. Durgin and Zwiep describe theentrepreneurial aspects of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) engineering programsdating back to 1865 2 and other engineering programs that

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Owe Petersen, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Stephen Williams, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Eric Durant, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

2000” (EC2000, now called the Engineering Criteria) was implemented inthe later 1990s. Many aspects of the new criteria required a new mind-set and were quitedifferent from the Traditional Criteria, which had significant elements of “bean counting.”EC2000 at its heart was to allow greater freedom in how an engineering program defined itselfvia its intent, its constituencies’ needs, and its curriculum [1][2][3]. But, along with freedom tochoose comes the need to properly understand the new criteria and its implications.One item of lingering confusion relates to the program educational objectives and programoutcomes. Even now significant difficulties appear to exist in understanding the meaning of

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurements: Innovative Course Development

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Beams, University of Texas-Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

/Projects/NSF DUE9952292/ProjectGUISE/Project_GUISE.htmThe various hardware building blocks of the Project GUISE instrument are:1. A variable-gain (×1, ×5, ×10, and ×50) instrumentation amplifier. The instrumentation amplifier has maximal input-bias currents of 2nA and input-offset voltages of 150µV. Independent adjustments for maximizing common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) are incorporated for voltage gains of ×1, ×5, and ×10; measured CMRR exceeds 90dB at 100Hz.2. An electronic cold-junction compensator (LT1025) for thermocouples. Types R, S, J, K, T, and E thermocouples are supported. The compensated thermocouple voltage is amplified by a dc-coupled amplifier with gain of ×50.3. Two independent variable-gain ac/dc-coupled single-ended

Conference Session

Writing and Communication II: Practical Perspectives on Teaching and Assessment

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Luke Niiler; David Beams

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

writing samples gathered inportfolios). It employs several assessment strategies (quantitative analyses of student writingsamples, quantitative analyses of written surveys, and qualitative analyses of interviewtranscripts).BackgroundThe EWI began in 2004 with the our shared sense of frustration over the quality of studentwriting skills in engineering coursework. Unprofessional language, poor grammar and spelling,badly-formatted tables, figures, and graphs, and data reported without any sense of context:these and many other problems were endemic in the UT-Tyler engineering program. Weattempted to address these concerns with the publication of a style guide,1 yet the changesbrought about by that tool were cosmetic, at best. The first year of this

Conference Session

New Engineering Educators: Tricks of the Trade II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Claude Villiers, Florida Gulf Coast University

Tagged Divisions

New Engineering Educators

different learning styles, and enhance the quality of learning.Other qualities of effective presentation were presented by Ressler et al.7 and Estes et al.3. Ineach of the four classes, the author took all the necessary measures to ensure that the studentsunderstood the theory behind the structure, properties, and material characteristics pertinent toeach subject. When applicable, he stressed on the practical applications of the relatedconstruction practice. Also, in each of the courses the student’s communication and writing skillswere also assessed. The student’s final grade is presented in Fig. 1. Additional information abouteach particular class is described below.Civil Engineering Materials ClassThe Civil Engineering Materials class was the

Conference Session

Practice/Partnership/Program Issues

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suining Ding, Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne (Eng)

Tagged Divisions

Architectural

Gwathmey-Siegel, which focused on solid editing command and procedures. The following sections in thispaper describe two main tutorials and four case studies.Tutorial One –Surface Modeling – Beach House The following images represent the first tutorial in course material – Beach House(Figure 1 – Figure 3). This tutorial focuses on surface modeling, which includes all majorcommands such as TABSURF, RULSURF, EDGESURF and so on. Page 12.496.3 Figure 1: 3-D Model of Beach House (Support was provided by Purdue Research Foundation