Conference Session

Meeting ABET Requirements

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Bannerot, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

be used as part of a comprehensive assessment process forProgram Outcomes and ABET EC-2000 Criterion 3. Descriptions of similar processes formechanical engineering programs 2,3, engineering programs 4 and technology programs5-7 havebeen previously described in the literature.ABET Course SyllabiPeriodically the “official” course syllabi for all undergraduate courses are reviewed by thefaculty currently teaching the courses, the topic area coordinators concerned, and theDepartment’s Undergraduate Academic Affairs Committee. Electronic and hard copies aremaintained on file. This activity is the starting point for the course assessment process. Anexample syllabus is shown in Table 1.The Course Surveys and Example ResultsBased on the syllabi for

Conference Session

Teaching Design

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Bannerot, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

undergraduate engineering programs and only about 9% of the engineers in theworkplace in the United States. 1 Some refer to institutional barriers2, differences in learningstyles, “tradition,” or social issues3 for this under representation. Much attention has beenfocused on encouraging pre-college women to enter engineering programs, and even more efforthas been expended in retaining them 4-7. However, all seem to agree that women are as academicqualified as men8 for an engineering career.In a companion paper9 at this meeting the effect of the presence of women on the performance ofdesign teams in a predominately male environment was examined. Overall performance wasshown to have improved when women were part of the teams. Improvement was noted in

Conference Session

Teams and Teamwork in Design

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Bannerot, University of Houston

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

) where N is the total number of balls initially in the primary container (Nø10), G is the number of golf balls successfully placed in the “golf ball” secondary container. Page 11.697.4 P is the number of ping pong balls successfully placed in the “ping pong ball” secondary container. o""is the weight of the device in pounds ( o 7.00), v is the time for the run in seconds (v ø 30)Six examples solutions (from the sixteen produced) for fall 2005 are shown in Figs. 1 to 6 withthe Figure of Merit (FoM) and the artifact evaluation both shown in each figure title with thescores reduced to a gpa: 4.0 = A, 3.0 = B, etc

Conference Session

International Engineering Education I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Simo Lehto, Helsinki Polytechnic

Tagged Divisions

International

giventhe business. Because of this mechanism, the company has to be better than the competitionfor staying in the business. It must have better knowledge and better skills: this type ofsupremacy is only achieved by changing faster than the competition.Problems of the current EE in FinlandThe main problems of the EE in Finland are:1. Heterogeneity of the students: large differences in basic knowledge and skills, managementof personal life, and motivation.2. Low starting level of knowledge for part of the students: conceptual thinking andsystematic/logical thinking and functioning.3. Lack for personal motivation for part of the students: second or third personal choice.These problems lead to delaying of the studies and the increase the attrition

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mario Castro-Cedeno, Rochester Institute of Technology

-discipline and motivation11, time commitment and study skills12,integration into the campus community13-14, health15-16, sex and age17, previous knowledge orexperience in the subject matter18, and socioeconomic status19. This study uses the followingvariables: 1)high school GPA as proxy for previous academic performance, 2)whether thestudent has the habit of studying every weeknight or sporadically, 3)age, 4)year in college,5)previous engineering or manufacturing work experience, and 6)participation in the learningcommunity.Student Learning CommunitiesStudent LC facilitate cooperative learning20, which has been shown to enhance learning andstudent performance in engineering curricula21. Research has shown that cooperative learning ismore effective

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Watkins, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Michael Smith, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

capstone course exposes the students to open-ended problems and alsoprovides a framework for their evaluation.1 Incorporating joint projects between the programscould better utilize university resources, such as machine shops and laboratory space.A project team comprised of both ME and MET students at The University of North Carolina atCharlotte (UNCC) embarked on a joint senior project to enter the Human Powered Vehicle(HPV) Challenge, an annual competition sponsored by the American Society of MechanicalEngineers (ASME). The HPV Challenge is a competition in which teams of students design andbuild a vehicle powered solely by human power (i.e. no energy storage or input devices areallowed, such as a flywheel or battery). A team can pursue vehicle

Conference Session

Successful Grant Proposals

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Houdeshell, Sinclair Community College; Paul Giguere, Sinclair Community College; Gilah Pomeranz, Sinclair Community College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

the geographic area serviced by an individual college. Theblended delivery system consists of small group face-to-face activities, web based synchronousand asynchronous communications tools and supporting web or video based instructionalmaterials and learning objects. Houdeshell and Pomeranz (2004) cited the need for qualified technicians andmanufacturing practitioners, at a time when the number of TAC/ABET accredited Associatedegree programs in Manufacturing Engineering Technology has dropped and postulated possiblesolutions. “One proposed solution to increase the viability of manufacturing related technologyprograms is to service a larger geographical area through the use of distance education” [1] Theuse of traditional distance

Conference Session

Engineering in High School

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Venkat Chandrasekhar, Northwestern University; Marcel Grdinic, Glenbrook North High School; Nathan Unterman, Glenbrook North High School; R.P.H. Chang, Northwestern University; Emma Tevaarwerk, Northwestern University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

prototype design project showthat the design project was successful in engaging student interest, and that themacroscopic models and activities were helpful in facilitating student understanding ofhow a scanning probe microscope works. All of the students were able to successfullybuild a working atomic force microscope and acquire an image.IntroductionThe introduction of the “iPod Nano” this past year is proof enough that the word “nano”has entered into the mainstream of public awareness. The buzz about nanoscience andnanotechnology is that it may generate up to $1 trillion/year in new business ineverything from pharmaceuticals to computers. To support this new business, it isestimated that we will need 3 million workers trained in nanotechnology

Conference Session

Effective Teaching with Online Technology

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eugene Rutz, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

-person recitations, problem sessions or lab sessions. This formatcan minimize the amount of time students may need to spend on-campus while still providing alevel of personal interaction that many students appreciate. This format does not enable students Page 11.512.3to take a course completely at a distance.What Works and What Doesn’t WorkOne example of the educational technology development was for engineering science contentdeveloped for both engineering and engineering technology students through an NSF PlanningGrant (grant # EEC-0341842)1. Content was designed to appeal to a variety of student learningstyles. The various modes of instruction

Conference Session

Innovative Partnerships

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine Shaw, Museum of Science, Boston; Michael Pelletier, Northern Essex Community College

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

that the PowerUp! project hasengaged in to foster increased understanding of engineering and promotestudent transition from high school to community college and set the stage forfuture examination of student recruitment, retention and completion of two yeardegree programs in engineering and technology areas. Page 11.1002.2 1Engaging community college students with creative and realistic problem-solving engineering activities.The PowerUP! project choose to address this issue by offering professionaldevelopment opportunities for faculty. In year 1, the project established

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Research

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tom Langen, Clarkson University; Stefan Grimberg, Clarkson University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

, including REU Site Programs, students are expected toinitiate and complete a substantive research project in a short period of time, typically 8 - 10weeks. While the research project is a student’s principal activity in a summer program, theremay be other organized activities incorporated into the program, including research seminars,skills workshops, graduate education and career mentoring activities, field trips, and socialactivities.3 Potential benefits of ancillary activities include (1) improved understanding of the Page 11.266.2relevance and multidisciplinary linkages of research projects; (2) improved attitude andmotivation to conduct research

Conference Session

Feedback and IT: Improving Student Learning

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Steinborn, Darmstadt University of Technology; Joerg Lange, Darmstadt University of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

within the research focus of the staff are taught.With a decreasing number of staff members some interesting subjects might be missed. Viae-learning within teaching networks this problem can be reduced because students can drawknowledge from other schools where highly specialized courses are offered. In addition thisimproves the possibilities for practicing engineers in life long learning.For a number of years lecturers and professors from other universities were interested inoffering this course to their students. Due to the development of Darmstadt University ofTechnology (TUD) to a Dual Mode university 1 (figure 1) it was possible to test this kind ofcooperation. The Dual Mode TUD combines traditional (face-to-face) teaching with e-teaching

Conference Session

Innovative Classroom Techniques

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eileen Kowalski, U.S. Military Academy; Joe Manous, U.S. Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

authors have begun a multi-year research programto assess a specific area of basic science education, general chemistry, within an environmentalengineering education. Chemistry was selected as an area of investigation because of itsrepetitive application within the environmental engineering curriculum and, as such, provides abasic science topic that should be reasonably well understood by all environmental engineeringundergraduates. A cohort of 12 seniors majoring in an ABET accredited environmentalengineering program at the United States Military Academy were interviewed a few monthsbefore graduation on selected chemistry topics. Each student was presented with five questions(Table 1) and asked to work the problems on a blackboard, explaining to

Conference Session

Virtual and Distance Experiments

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Schuyler, University of Hartford; Tom Eppes, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

focused on EET andCET programs. The electronics discipline is an attractive choice because relatively lowcost components, devices, tools and measurement instrumentation are available. Theauthors investigated the available technology and hardware capable of providing a Page 11.638.2combination of “hands-on”, remote-controlled and/or virtual experiments.[1-9] In thispaper, we analyze the laboratory component in depth and propose a solution.Our premise is that the reason there are no purely distance EET or CET programs isbecause no one has developed a pedagogically effective solution to the laboratorycomponent of the curriculum. The laboratory component

Conference Session

Assessing Design Coursework

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Miskimins, Colorado School of Mines; Ramona Graves, Colorado School of Mines; Craig Van Kirk, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

the self-study report were reached and outlines the evidencerelied upon. The supplemental document lends additional credibility to the achievements shownin the self-study and was highly regarded by the on-campus ABET reviewers during the 2000visit.Within the supplemental assessment document, the capstone design class was a criticalcomponent that aided in showing the interaction between the various data sources and theassociated outcomes. This paper discusses the development of this document in detail and showshow the gathered data are analyzed and cross-referenced with the university objectives, the CSMGraduate Profile, and the departmental Criterion 2 objectives (Table 1) to demonstrate successfulfulfillment of the outcomes associated with

Conference Session

Use of Technology to Improve Teaching and Learning

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Alley, Virginia Tech; Madeline Schreiber, Virginia Tech; Katrina Ramsdell, Virginia Tech; John Muffo, Virginia Tech; Maura Borrego, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

slides during class, but alsohad access to the slides as notes after the presentation. The results of these tests haveimplications in the way that educators design not only their teaching slides, but also theirresearch slides.Introduction The typography and layout defaults of Microsoft PowerPoint, which has 95 Page 11.1246.2percent of the market share for presentation slide software [1], compel presenters tocreate headlines that are single words or short phrases. Not surprisingly, in a typicalPowerPoint presentation, the main assertion of each slide is relegated to appear in thebody of the slide. For those creating slides in presentations, the

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University; Juliet Hurtig, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

of thismethodology, what was once considered to be essentially a random process by the students isnow a more uniform process grounded in a fundamental set of definitions accessible by all.I. Senior Design SequenceAll seniors in the College of Engineering are required to complete a capstone project. The seniorcapstone project is not the student’s first exposure to formal design work; however, it doeschallenge students to draw from all of their previous coursework and complete a design that islarge enough in scope to require a team effort and a six-month time period. The ECCSDepartment developed a year-long, three course senior design sequence common to all majorsoffered in the department.1 This approach allows students to work on

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship Education - A 10,000' View

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wade Shaw, Florida Tech; Muzaffar Shaikh, Florida Tech; Carmo D'Cruz, Florida Tech

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

Integration and business plan development, Systems Launch considerationsand product/business launch, etc. Concepts in strategy, team dynamics, and finance areintegrated into these courses focusing on Engineering Entrepreneurship. It appears thatEngineering Entrepreneurship has emerged as a Killer App for Systems Engineering.IntroductionThe emerging facts from successful organizations, including universities, indicate that the realsource of power in a knowledge economy is in combining technical prowess withentrepreneurship.1 A survey of business executives and managers indicated that highly successfulengineers are not only academically astute, but also possess entrepreneurial skills.2 TheEngineers of 2020 will need to be educated as innovators, with

Conference Session

Innovations in Mechanical Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Theodore Heindel, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

virtual measurements and instrumentation into the lecture andlaboratory, (ii) coupling the lecture and laboratory more closely through an on-line coursemanual, (iii) providing additional course resources through WebCT to enhance student learning,and (iv) updating and/or developing several new laboratory exercises to demonstrate key courselearning objectives. An outline of the course before and after the course revisions will bepresented, significant course changes will be summarized, the impact these changes have onmechanical engineering undergraduate education at ISU will be assessed, and lessons learnedwill be outlined.1 Background Mechanical Engineering Measurements and Instrumentation, commonly referred to asME 370 at Iowa State

Conference Session

Innovative Lower Division Programs

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen Wosczyna-Birch, CT College of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

bio-tech industries. New drug discoveries are requiring new drugdelivery mechanisms and production processes. Connecticut’s Next Generation Manufacturing initiative will spearhead twocategories of curriculum reform: (1) Core Curriculum providing a solid foundation forcontinuing education; (2) Specialized courses that provide skills and knowledge foremployment and careersFor each of the curriculum reform efforts, a curriculum advisory team was formed thatincludes faculty from two and four year College of Technology partner institutions,industry representatives, and a web based curriculum designer. In each case, thecurriculum advisory team built on the significant investments made in the past by NSF,industry, the community college system

Conference Session

Multidisciplinary Curriculum Innovation

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Blanchard, Florida Gulf Coast University; Nosa Egiebor, Florida Gulf Coast University; James Sweeney, Arizona State University; Lisa Zidek, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Chalmers Sechrist, Florida Gulf Coast University; Sam Hulbert, Florida Gulf Coast University; James Osborn, Florida Gulf Coast University; Robert O'Neill, Roger Williams University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

continuously pursue academic excellence, to practice and promoteenvironmental sustainability, to embrace diversity, to nurture community partnerships, to valuepublic service, to encourage civic responsibility, to cultivate habits of lifelong learning, and tokeep the advancement of knowledge and pursuit of truth as noble ideals at the heart of theuniversity’s purpose. Florida Gulf Coast University is guided by the principles given in Table 1(http://www.fgcu.edu/info/mission.asp), which were developed by the Founding Faculty of theuniversity. Some of the phrases given in Table 1, those in bold and underlined, reflect theFGCU’s principles that overlap with ABET accreditation requirements and assessment activitiesand were used to guide the development of

Conference Session

ECE Pedagogy and Assessment

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Larry Bland, John Brown University

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

environments.Introduction Undergraduate engineering classrooms are experiencing changes as we strive to improvecurriculum outcomes and develop students to meet future challenges. Two important issues thatface engineering educators are changing educational philosophies and techniques and theoutcome requirements of ABET. Active learning educational philosophies push us to consider alearner-centered approach over an instructor-centered teaching style. In addition to changingour teaching style, we have become aware of the different learning styles of our students.Research shows that students learn best when taught according to their particular learning stylethat may be dependent, collaborative, or independent.1 Course design must strive to integratethese

Conference Session

Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrew Foley, U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

. Page 11.227.2Introduction Papers on new ways to teach thermodynamics are somewhat rare and tend tofocus on either the implementation of a new software package, such as presented byDixon 1, Chang et al 2 or on ways to present existing materials in more diverse and, dareone say, “fun” ways (e.g. Elliot 3). Papers that address how the basic laws are taught andin what type of progression concepts are introduced are, however, almost non-existent.An observer might conjecture therefore, that the subject is so well documented that anydeviation would result in inferior instruction and so should be avoided at all costs.Student feedback however does not support this and the subject is still continually seen asone of the most academically

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Measurements: Innovative Course Development

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Muff, Iowa State University; Theodore Heindel, Iowa State University; Sriram Sundararajan, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

,conductively coupled noise is demonstrated through ground loops. Once this laboratory exerciseis completed, students have an appreciation for how electromagnetic noise may be introducedinto a measurement system, and how the effects of this noise can be minimized.1 Background Mechanical Engineering Measurements and Instrumentation, commonly referred to asME 370 at Iowa State University (identified as ME 370 in this paper), is a required course in themechanical engineering undergraduate curriculum. The course covers various measurement andinstrumentation topics, as well as data acquisition and analysis. Since electromagnetic noise ispart of every measurement system[1-4], it is important for students to be able to recognize itssource. The goal

Conference Session

Professional Development Programs for Teachers

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M. David Burghardt, Hofstra University; Maryann Llewellyn, Uniondale School District

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

teacher perception of student learning. Since there wereon average three teachers for 12-14 students, there was sufficient opportunity for assessment ofall the students.The teachers developed guiding questions at the basic, middle, and upper levels of understanding(KCAs) in content areas of mathematics and science. The student responses were typicallyassessed on a Likert scale for each question. A student might demonstrate a four at theknowledge level, but a one at the application/analysis level. The teachers gained insight intostudent learning, “I learned how to give informal assessment in a more direct way” (TeacherJournal 2005). Tables 1 and 2 indicate questions that were asked at the three levels in scienceand mathematics, respectively

Conference Session

ELD Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bruce Reid, Pennsylvania State University-Wilkes-Barre

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries

these men. These traits would besuccessfully incorporated into their coaching styles at the university level. Core values,organizational skills and mentorship were the standard ingredients used by all four coaches in themanagement of their staff and team players. Each is important as a stand alone option, but whenused together they form a strong and flexible base which enables the player and staff members toperform more effectively.Principle #1-Strong Value SystemA strong value system is a fundamental building block in coaching and management. The valuesystem of the coach and librarian lays the foundation, and sets the desired culture for the playingfield as well as the library. Peter Drucker, the famous management expert said

Conference Session

Examining the Synergy between Eng'g Mgmt & Sys Eng

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wade Shaw, Florida Tech; Muzaffar Shaikh, Florida Tech; Carmo D'Cruz, Florida Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Management

, Systems Modeling, Engineering Economics and businessplanning, Systems Integration and business plan development, Systems Launch considerationsand product/business launch, etc. Concepts in strategy, team dynamics, and finance areintegrated into these courses focusing on Engineering Entrepreneurship. A unique “SEEntrepreneurship” program is being pioneered at Florida Tech.IntroductionThe emerging facts from successful organizations, including universities, indicate that the realsource of power in a knowledge economy is in combining technical prowess withentrepreneurship.1 A survey of business executives and managers indicated that highly successfulengineers are not only academically astute, but also possess entrepreneurial skills.2 TheEngineers of

Conference Session

Elementary School Engineering Education

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

M. David Burghardt, Hofstra University; Krowles Christine, Plainview School Distict

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

) help students construct meaning. Further, when Page 11.587.3students are encouraged to create artifacts (Appleton, 2000), they both reflect and enhancestudent understanding.The particular design strategy used was based on the informed design cycle (Burghardt andHacker, 2003). It is iterative and allows, even encourages, users to revisit earlier assumptionsand findings as they proceed. Figure 1 shows the overall cycle. A key differentiating factor inthe informed design process is in the Research and Investigation phase. The use of Knowledgeand Skill Builders (KSBs) provides structured research in key ideas that underpin the designsolution

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alan Dutson, Brigham Young University-Idaho

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

serve as an effective problem-solving tool in many other situations. For example, Pauleyet. al.1 proposed using the design process to aid in curriculum improvement at Penn StateUniversity. This paper presents an approach for applying the design process to the design (orredesign) of a senior capstone design course.The author joined the mechanical engineering department faculty at Brigham Young University -Idaho in January of 2003. At that time BYU-Idaho had been a four-year university for less thanthree years (prior to that time the school had been a two-year institution known as RicksCollege). As a consequence of the transition from a two-year college to a four-year university,many new junior and senior level courses were being developed

Conference Session

Electrical ET Curriculum

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey Richardson, Purdue University; John Denton, Purdue University; James Jacob, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

students that take them. Studentscome to believe that the disciplines (analog, power, digital, communication, etc.) within EEThave little in common or are remotely related. A FM receiver project for a junior level EETcourse in electronic communication has created a curricular linkage to two sophomore courses,one in RF and power electronics and the other in digital microcontrollers.Introduction The traditional model for teaching is comprised of curriculum course sequences that createvertical ‘silos’ where each topic is fully developed before going on to the next topic. Thiscompartmentalized sequence of courses builds a solid conceptual foundation for the students 1, 2.However, each course is treated as a separate body of knowledge creating an