Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amjad Zaim, University of Texas-Brownsville; Mahmoud Quweider, University of Texas-Brownsville

. fingerprints and hand-written signatures, the iris-based recognition hasproven to be far more accurate and therefore provides a good alternative resource. Themain algorithmic components that are usually involved in any personal identificationsystem that utilizes the human iris are: image data acquisition, iris localization andsegmentation, feature extraction and decision making. These scientific methods thatenable this advanced biometric technology is a good example of how cross-disciplinaryscientific methods –such as artificial intelligence or AI, image processing, as well aspractical software design tools such as graphical-user-interface-design, can cometogether to provide an integrated solution to a challenging security problem. In ourcomputer

Conference Session

Student Learning and Teamwork

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alok Verma, Old Dominion University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

organizations have failed in implementing these philosophies2, 3 & 8. This isprimarily due to lack of sufficient number of trained employees to reach a critical massfor organizational transformation. Training all employees in the principles of Lean andSix Sigma is a critical part of the organizational transformation process. Higher educationhas also lagged behind in incorporating Lean and Six Sigma philosophies into theeducational curriculum. A limited number of universities are offering graduate andundergraduate courses in Lean manufacturing. An initial survey of higher education Page 12.672.2indicated that only ten universities had a course in lean

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stacy Gleixner, San Jose State University; Elliot Douglas, University of Florida; Olivia Graeve, University of Nevada-Reno

. Page 12.1183.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 PRIME Modules: Teaching Introduction to Materials Engineering in the Context of Modern TechnologiesAbstractThis paper discusses the progress of curriculum development under an NSF, CCLI-EMDsponsored work, “Development of Project-Based Introductory to Materials EngineeringModules” (DUE # #0341633). A multi-university team of faculty is developing five lecturemodules for use in Introductory to Materials courses. This course is required by mostengineering programs in the U.S., with an annual enrollment of 50,000 students. This freshman/sophomore class is an ideal place to excite students about their engineering majors and exposethem to real world

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ioana Voiculescu, City College of the City University of New York; Benjamin Liaw, City College of the City University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 12.83.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 A NOVEL LABWORK APPROACH FOR TEACHING A MECHATRONICS COURSE Abstract This paper presents a novel approach adopted to enhance the hands-on learning aspect ofa Mechatronics course for undergraduate mechanical engineering students. In addition totraditional homework, which is usually solved analytically and/or numerically and conventionallaboratory experiments, in which students follow certain pre-written, spoon-feeding proceduresto complete assignment, our approach designed a set of “labwork” as an integral part of thiscourse for students’ learning through their own “design of experiments” to solve engineeringproblems. To solve these

Conference Session

Service Learning Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cher Cornett, East Tennessee State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

MediaProgram (fall 2005 and spring 2006 meetings), commendation was extended to the program forthe technical and creative abilities demonstrated by our graduates, but a lack of adequateprofessional skills was noted. The advisors indicated that weak presentation skills, writing skills,communication skills and overall professionalism often were a barrier to our students when theywere competing for jobs against other applicants. More attention to development of these skillsin the curriculum, and more exposure to the industry via work experiences in the form ofinternships and real world projects, was strongly recommended in order to better prepare ourgraduates to perform effectively as professionals, and to give them an edge as they enter

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Asa, North Dakota State University; Zhili (Jerry) Gao

Tagged Divisions

Construction

on the partof the Professor, Project Manager and the students to make it work well. This innovativeapproach can be used together with the traditional capstone course to enhance the problemsolving skills of students. This course may however serve as the capstone equivalent forConstruction Management students. Construction engineering students are required to take thiscourse in their final year of studies to prepare them for the construction industry.Bibliography1. Walker, Ellen, L. and Slotterbeck, Oberta, A. “Incorporating Realistic Teamwork into a Small College SoftwareEngineering Curriculum” NSF sponsored Research under Grant No. 9952749.2. Grayson, L. P., “The Making of an Engineer”, John Wiley and Sons, NY, 1993.3. ABET: Accreditation

Conference Session

Laboratories and Computer Simulation in BME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Kang-Mieler

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

-on learning? An hands-on learning approach requires students to become activeparticipants instead of passive learners who simply listen to lectures. The concept of “hands-onlearning” is not new in engineering education. A previous study of engineering educationshowed that hands-on learning is an effective method for engineering classes.1 In fact, over thepast 10 years or so, many engineering schools and programs have started to adopt “hands-onlearning” into their curricula. Whether using simple everyday household items or sophisticatedequipment, professors are now trying to integrate hands-on learning into their classes.Laboratory activities are the traditional method of providing students hands-on experience.However, with advancements in

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Lee, University of South Florida; Douglas Lunsford, University of South Florida

” criteria - ABET 2007-20081).With the advent of the 21st century, communication effectiveness has received even moreattention as the concept of the “global engineer” influences the engineering profession2. Manyengineering programs address communication skills through a specific required course incommunications, often administered by a non-engineering department (see reference 3 for anoverview of communication in current engineering curricula). Such a course will typicallyaddress both nonverbal and verbal communication skills. However, it is well recognized thatcommunication skills must be integrated into the engineering curriculum to be effective4. Formany institutions, where written communication is often a significant activity in

Conference Session

Emerging Technologies in Manufacturing Education II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

jack danziger, Rochester Institute of Technology; David Street, Rochester Institute of Technology; William Leonard, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

innovation and commercialization, and rapid product developmentDavid Street, Rochester Institute of Technology David M. Street received BS degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) from Rochester Institute of Technology. He is graduate student at RIT in the Manufacturing and Mechanical Systems Integration department. His research interest includes rapid prototyping, product innovation & commercialization, and rapid product development.William Leonard, Rochester Institute of Technology is the program chair has been on faculty in the MET Department at Rochester Institute of Technology since 1998. Bill has a BSME from the College of Engineering at RIT and an M.S. at RIT. He has

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Manar Shami, University of the Pacific

Tagged Divisions

Construction

speakers were invited to address evolving principles of sustainable civilengineering, eco-renovation, ecological home improvements, deconstruction as discussed above,besides many issues.CONCLUSIONSThe green construction engineering course provides skills and techniques in sustainabilitythat is becoming an essential component of the civil engineering practice. A number ofresults measured throughout this course include skills in critical thinking, datainterpretation and analysis, integrative ability, data collection techniques of various greenconstruction projects. The qualities assessed include curiosity, creativity, appreciation forrole of science and technology (e.g., using LEED by the USGBC in design andconstruction), and a continued interest in

Conference Session

Aspirational Visions of Civil Engineering in 2025 & Policy 465

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Evans, Bucknell University; Daniel Lynch, Dartmouth College; David Lange, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

applicationof social sciences in civil engineering courses such as transportation, environmentalengineering and in a capstone design course. Page 12.1461.12Both outcomes require an engineering student to have achieved proficiency at Level 3“Application” of Bloom’s taxonomy. It is assumed that this is achieved as part of theBachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.How does a program achieve these outcomes? How does this change the currentsmorgasbord of humanities and social science electives from which our students choose?These and other issues remain to be explored further. Certainly, the role of humanitiesand social sciences in the curriculum is not a new

Conference Session

Design of Lab Experiments II

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerald Recktenwald, Portland State University; Robert Edwards, Pennsylvania State University-Erie

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

problems”.This approach is well suited to a laboratory environment. The laboratory exercises we aredeveloping are designed to promote active learning: through guided inquiry with simpleequipment, students make observations that illustrate qualitative features of standard engineeringmodels. Students are first introduced to the hardware during an in-class demonstration. Duringlecture instruction after the demonstration, the measurements made during the demonstration arerelated to established theories. Students then return to the laboratory to test and deepen theirunderstanding of the concepts presented in lecture. A good example of how cognitive science informs the development of educational materialsis the Physics by Tutorial curriculum

Conference Session

Effective Learning Innovations in Civil Engineering Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Blake Tullis, Utah State University; Steven Barfuss, Utah Stat University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

solving problems,so that they can later apply this knowledge to engineering system design.Of course, an inductive discussion (the “why”) about the inductive teaching/learningapproach is of value, but a deductive discussion (the “how”) on inductive teaching is alsoimportant. Certainly, there are many different ways to teach design effectively; thebalance of this paper attempts to illustrate some specific successful teaching techniquesthat seem to improve the learning environment in the authors’ hydraulic structures designcourse.Course ExampleAlong with the philosophical ideas just discussed, the development of the hydraulicstructure design course illustrated here was based upon three general principles: 1)integrating lab and lecture topics, 2

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam Carberry, Tufts University; Morgan Hynes, Tufts University

University, ranging in age from 10 - 13 were instructed to first build a boat; thenmodify their boat to become a submersible. The activity required the students to test theircreations in a small pool away from the building area in order to reinforce the iterative nature oftesting and redesign. Each student’s process was mapped out in time and with a flow diagram tovividly illustrate his individual process. Through this analysis, the study supplies an example ofhow underwater robotics can be used to integrate the engineering design process with relatedscience topics in the classroom.IntroductionUnderwater robotics is an up and coming field of study in engineering. This area is beingstudied not only for uses in scientific exploration[1], but also for

Conference Session

Multimedia and Distance Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Backer, San Jose State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

integrate theirlearning into their lives. There have been long-standing claims in the research literature thatstudents learn faster and retain more information the more they are involved in the learningprocess (Liu & Hsiao23, Royer & Royer24). Therefore, the more students interact, the more theywill learn. From a theoretical perspective, Hamilton25 saw the curriculum as a process thatshould not separate what is learned from how it is learned. This duality is the fundamentalidentity of multimedia.Since this class has continuous assignments for students, each week they must write about thecourse topics each week. Our surveys show that students enjoy the self-paced multimediamodules for Units 1 through 4 and their answers to the class

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Pagliari, East Carolina University; Richard Monroe, East Carolina University; David Batts, East Carolina University

will show how East Carolina adapted to the challenge of teaching thesevarious types of students in an online classroom and the techniques that were used in our IDIS3790 Technical Presentation course.About East Carolina University:Chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly on March 8, 1907, East Carolina Universityhas moved in a rapid but orderly transition from its beginnings as a two-year normal school to aDoctoral/Research-Intensive level comprehensive university whose outreach now transcends itsregional origins. On October 5, 1909, East Carolina Teachers Training School began its firstregular session; during that year 174 men and women students were enrolled. The first class tograduate from the two-year normal curriculum received its

Conference Session

Innovation in Construction Engineering Education I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhili (Jerry) Gao; Virendra Varma, Missouri Western State University; Eric Asa, North Dakota State University

Tagged Divisions

Construction

techniques to the current mechanicscourses, namely Mechanics of Materials, will provide students a learner-friendly environment,lower the difficulty of students’ understanding, and improve the retention rates of studentsenrolled in the construction curriculums. However, the traditional chalk board still has its ownstrengths for students’ understanding of course material. Below are detailed students commentsin an organization of selected questions followed by summaries of students’ feedback. What are the benefits of using visualization tools instead of conventional chalk and board? Which part of class gets more benefits from visualization? Lecture or problem solving lab? • Being able to see makes much difference. Labs are the biggest

Conference Session

Collaborative & New Efforts in Engineering Education

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Hinds, Michigan State University; John Lloyd, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

International

courses. That is, the need toevolve traditional classroom courses into dispersed virtual learning experiences.Much of the motivation for writing such a report hinges on globalization. Without the currentstatus of globalization, the report would not have been written. The process of globalization hascreated an environment where we must do more for engineering education to influence the USeconomy such that the United States is able to retain its leadership position.Globalization will drive more uniformity in the educational systems between that of the UnitedStates and those around the world. We will require additional knowledge to remain globallycompetitive and maintain that global leadership.Globalization also levels the playing field for

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elise Amel, University of Saint Thomas; Camille George, University of St. Thomas; Yvonne Ng, College of St. Catherine

surveys, and behavior rubrics.Bibliography1. Ng, Y. (2005). Taste of Engineering, Integrating Engineering into a Liberal Arts Institution. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Session 2192.2. http://www.stkate.edu/~ysng/PROJECTS/METoo/index.html3. Steadman, S., Dewey, B.R., Jacquot, R.G., & Marquard, P.J. (2001). Enhancement of an introductory computing course with experiential and cooperative learning. Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, Session 3553.4. Beder, S. (1999). Beyond technicalities: Expanding engineering thinking. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 125, 12

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Denise Jackson, University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Sara Abdulla, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

. When studying how to retain engineering students, this raises the questionof what factors influence academic success. For, if academic success can be achieved, thenumber of students defecting or being dismissed from the engineering program would decrease.Some researchers have recognized that social integration is also an important factor to academicsuccess.10, 19-21Social integration within a classroom allows peer-to-peer interaction. Students are able to buildsocial capital, which “consists of social networks, habits or cooperation and bonds of reciprocitythat serve to generate benefits for members of a community.”10 Students are willing to shareinformation within their network, issues out of the class and issues in the class. Unfortunately

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abul Azad, Northern Illinois University; Xueshu Song, Northern Illinois University

improvement. All of this information was to beused towards quantitative analysis as well as ongoing improvement/updating of the teachingmaterials, experimental facility, and delivery approach. At the end of the semester, studentswere also asked to provide a qualitative assessment of the overall system and their experiencefrom this remote laboratory facility. Student activity profile: As an integral part of the remote laboratory system, students’activity profiles were monitored. This provision records when a student logs in or logs out to thesystem and also how long he/she performed an experiment. This allows the course teacher tomonitor when and for how long a student access to experiment. At the same time the data can beused to develop an

Conference Session

International Case Studies:Collaborations, Exchanges & Interactions

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alec Simcock, Victoria University; Robert ives, Victoria University; Paul Bronson, Victoria University; Charles Mphande, Victoria University; Juan SHI, Victoria University

Tagged Divisions

International

learning outcome of students. 3 To improve the conditions for the staff. 4 To establish an interdisciplinary learning environment. 5 To sustain integration of research in the education. 6 To present a teaching and learning institution that matches the demands of modern society. 7 To sustain a learning setting where solutions are correlated with the context of which it will serve. 8 To create a setting where changes in demands from industry and society can be integrated in the curriculum when the demands appear. 9 Increase the cooperation with industries and society. 10 International competition. 11

Conference Session

Engineering Economy: Beyond the Classroom

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald Remer, Harvey Mudd College; Karen Ahle, Raytheon; Kevin Alley, Southwest Research Institute; John Silny, Raytheon; Karen Hsin, Accenture; Elijah Kwitman, Harvey Mudd College; Allison Hutchings, Harvey Mudd College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy

from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California in May 2002 with a B.S. in engineering. She is working at Honeywell International, an aerospace and defense manufacturer in El Segundo, CA. Her interests are systems integration and hardware development.Kevin Alley, Southwest Research Institute Kevin J. Alley graduated from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California in May 2005 with a B.S. in engineering. He is working at Southwest Research Institute, a nonprofit research institute in San Antonio, Texas. His interests are in business management and law.John Silny, Raytheon John F. Silny graduated from both Harvey Mudd College and Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California in

Conference Session

Cognitive and Motivational Issues in Student Performance I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dawn Williams, Howard University; Lorraine Fleming, Howard University; Marcus Jones, Howard University; Ashley Griffin, Howard University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

give up. But then … realized,…If Ijust keep giving up, it’s not gonna help at all. So I would just keep studying even if I gotbad grades, I would just keep going. And that’s really what helped me my first year ofcollege.”Similarly, Peggy, an African American chemical engineering student, also had an earlyintroduction to a focused science curriculum before college. “…in high school, I wentthrough a lot of transitions. It was fun. First year I was really…doin’ whatever, just silly,bouncing off the walls. I got my work done, and I won [the] science fair the first year,and went to the international science and engineering fair and I joined the … area pre-college engineering program, officially. …I was in it for middle school. But once you win,you

Conference Session

Teaching Innovation in Architectural Engineering I

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mohammed Haque, Texas A&M University; Gaurav Shah, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Architectural

of the ResearchThis paper describes an online teaching tool for 4D visualization of construction process ofconcrete foundations. The model shows the construction sequence virtually with time.Considering the interest of youths in computer games these days the use of a 3-D computeranimation with time model will develop a lot of interest amongst them and will motivate them totry to better understand and retain important concepts of construction.The model could be a good planning tool to identify and resolve the various conflicts that mightoccur during the actual construction. The model could be an effective tool to explain owners,architects and subcontractors the scheduling and sequencing of construction. Constructionmodels integrated with the

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chell Roberts, Arizona State University; Senay Purzer; Darryl Morrell; Mark Henderson, Arizona State University; Scott Danielson, Arizona State University; Nancy Cooke, Arizona State University

problems,design, and take action as integrated units. Some examples of these team-level cognitive tasksinclude military command-and-control, emergency management, surgery, and air traffic control.Engineering is no exception, with teaming arrangements for design and problem solving servingas the rule rather than the exception.From years of research, we are beginning to understand that the nature of team expertise is notsimply an aggregate of the characteristics of individual expertise. Teamwork expertise is morethan the simple collection of individual expert team members8. Team-level expertise emergesfrom interactions among a collection of experts. The 2004 US Olympic basketball team is aninteresting case in which a team of expert players was

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gina Montgomery, Auburn University; Chetan Sankar, Auburn University; P.K. Raju, Auburn University

. Montgomery, S. M. (1995). Addressing diverse learning styles through the use of multimedia. 14. Nunnaly, J. (1967). Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York. 15. Pennoni, C.R. (1998). “Managing Your Career in an Era of Change,” Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 124(3): 75-78. 16. Raju, P.K., Sankar, C.S., and Xue, Y. (2004). “Curriculum to Enhance Decision-Making Skills of Technical Personnel Working in Teams,” European Journal of Engineering Education, 29(3): 437-450. 17. Treacy, M. An Empirical Evaluation of a Causal Model of User Information Satisfaction, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Information Systems, Indianapolis, IN, pp. 285-287, 1985. 18

Conference Session

Using Technology to Enhance Teaching and Learning

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Smaill, University of Auckland

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

deficiencies in packages available at the time, the Department producedits own software package, OASIS (Online Assessment System with Integrated Study),described in the next section.Only a prototype version of OASIS existed in 2002. This software package was well-regarded by the instructors using it, who saw it as both reducing their workload and liftingstudent achievement, and the decision was made to develop it further. This development wasinformed by an action-research program, conducted by the author over a four-year period.The research program had two aims. The first aim was to develop and implement OASIS soas to best support student learning. The second aim was to confirm that OASIS did enhancestudent learning and to investigate the extent to

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Livingston, Virginia Military Institute

available in a wide variety of memory sizes, input/output capabilities, and packages. ‚ An integrated assembler and simulator are available at no cost from Atmel. A port of the open-source gcc compiler is available in a development environment called “WinAVR”10. ‚ Other types of support are available at Atmel’s website as well as at a user site called AVR Freaks11.Furman and Moen12, in a comparison of microcontrollers for mechatronics, rated the AVRATmega128 – a high-end member of the AVR family – very high in its applicability tomechatronics education. Experience with the AVR family in our microcontrollers course hasbeen positive. Our students have been quick to learn the family and have successfully used theAVR in

Conference Session

Laboratories and Computer Simulation in BME

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joe Tranquillo; Daniel Cavanagh

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

troubleshooting,and had many opportunities to encounter open-ended problems that required a creativesolution. While these skills do not always come easily, in the authors’ experiences,students, when motivated, rise to the occasion. As the instructor, the sequence providedcountless teachable moments that would not have developed in a traditional course.ReferencesRicherson SJ and Cavanagh DP “Vertical Laboratories: Within Biomedical EngineeringCourses and Across the Curriculum”, Proceedings of ASEE 2005.Cavanagh DP and Richerson SJ, “An Integrated Lecture-Lab Approach for anIntroduction to Biomedical Engineering Course”. BMES 2004.Tranquillo, J, “Qualitative, Quantitative, Open-ended Design: A Progression inLaboratory/Lecture Learning”. Proceedings of ASEE