Conference Session

Advice for Dual-Career Couples

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Patricia Hyer; Catherine Eckel; Margaret Layne; Elizabeth Creamer

department or other departments.In this department, I think it’s very friendly” to “I have to be a little careful, frankly. I’m theextra one here; my wife was the one hired”. The language used in the department to describe adual hire situation reflects departmental attitudes: “Some view spouses as an opportunity; some people view them as a problem. The way it’s phrased here is it’s a two- body problem…. I wish they would view it more as a two- body opportunity.” (Male, first hire)Some of the faculty interviewed felt that spousal hires had to overcome a perception that theywere not as highly qualified as their colleagues: “I do think that there is a stigma associated with it. It’s probably with everybody; it’s probably

Conference Session

Problem-Solving & Project-Based Learning

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Karen High; Ben Lawrence; Cynthia Mann

seem to be a non-threatening forum for feedback.The last 12 weeks of the semester integrated the Pizza Project into the class activities. Theywere placed in teams of four and given a scenario in which they were all design teams workingfor a company that had been contracted by Fred’s Pizza. Unlike design problems that request acourse of action given a well-defined problem, the students were instead given a symptom toalleviate: Customers of Fred’s Pizza are calling in to complain that delivery pizzas are arriving cold, and that grease is leaking through the boxes and staining tablecloths.This open ended statement was developed to reflect the nature of industrial problems.Unlike textbook exercises, in industry, we are not given all of

Conference Session

Mobile Robotics in Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Miller; Charles Winton

Botball KitThe Botball kit has been a work in progress since the early 90’s when KISS Institute for PracticalRobotics (KIPR), a non-profit organization focusing on learning and skills development throughthe application of technology, particularly robotics, was founded. In its current form, the kitincludes the Handy Board [14] (with charger and serial interface), LEGO RCX (with serialinterface), DC motors (both LEGO and modified servo motors), servo motors, touch sensors (3types), light sensors (general, break beam, and reflectance), proximity sensors (both optical andSONAR), a modified CMUcam and over 1900 pieces of LEGO, mostly LEGO Technic. Crosscompatibility between the Handy Board and RCX environment is maintained where reasonable(e.g., at

Conference Session

State of the Art in Freshman Programs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Stoian Petrescu; Ronald Ziemian; Richard Zaccone; Richard Kozick; James Baish; Margot Vigeant; Daniel Cavanagh

skills” (4.1/5), “I used graphics” (4.0/5), and “Thisproject made clear the relevance of economic considerations” (4.2/5). Student commentsgenerally reflect that the project was a positive experience and that they felt they had learnedboth about engineering and about the ADA and issues facing those in wheelchairs. Field Hockey Field

Conference Session

Professional Graduate Education & Industry

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Stanford; Donald Keating

innovation (along with building faculty reward systems that predominantly reward federallyfunded scientific research), it has become extremely difficult for many university faculty andadministrators to undergo required change and to reflect the modern process of purposeful, systematicengineering innovation for needs-driven technology development. As Barwise and Perry have noted:“Different organisms can rip the same reality apart in different ways, ways that are appropriate to theirown needs, their own perceptual abilities and their own capacities for action.”53. The Concept of CultureJuran noted that understanding the concept of different cultural patterns is extremely important inimplementing effective breakthrough innovations and creating change

Conference Session

Thermal Systems

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Kevin Schmaltz; Robert Choate

competence with these outcomes. Theoutcomes of the course reflect intended exposure to the appropriate measurement methods,principles for further study, and extension beyond the course materials via open-ended problemresolution, documentation of experimental results and proper reporting based on audience, anduncertainty analysis associated with laboratory investigation.These assignments were matched with the course outcomes. A target score of 8.0 for alloutcomes is proper, based on the grading methodology and first time preparation. Studentperformance and student self-assessment indicate that students achieved the course outcomeswith a student assessment of Outcome 2 being slightly less than target, which is discussed below.Student assessment of

Conference Session

Topics of Interest-Nuclear Engineering

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Deinert; K. Bingham Cady; Joshua Barratt; Erich Schneider

vector, while that at right reflects theactinide composition after 60 MWd/kg of burnup. V:BUDS normalizes the bar graphs such thatthe total neutron consumption rate in the unit cell equals unity. Additionally, there is a user-specifiable option, visible in Figure 2, to limit the display to those species contributing more thana given percentage to the total. In Figure 4, this percentage was set to 5%; hence, a number ofactinide and other species not crossing this threshold are lumped into the ‘Other’ category. Page 10.192.7Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & ExpositionCopyright © 2005

Conference Session

Design of Lab Experiments

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Bijan Sepahpour

cycles,whereas nonferrous metals show no such point. For nonferrous metals, a value of 5x108 cycles isusually assigned as the fatigue limit. There are several theories available for prediction of failuredue to cyclic loading [6]. Depending on the situation at hand, the designer must apply thesuitable theory as no one theory will optimally address all design requirement. However, all ofthem reflect on the fact that this type of failure is not yet completely understood and extra caremust be taken when dealing with fatigue phenomenon. Shigley and Mischke present a rathercomprehensive view of the issues involved with the variations of behavior of different materialsin the fatigue analysis process [7]. The goal in the current experiment is to create

Conference Session

Inservice Teacher Engineering Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Jane Schielack; Carol Stuessy; George Nickles

3 RPs with peers & reflect/ revise/ report research partners classroom teachers in electronically and face-to-face a Mentoring/ Action during a summer throughout the two-year Research graduate conference period course VI Teachers V follow their RPs to Teachers

Conference Session

Innovation in Curriculum Development

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Knox; Randall Kolar; Teri Rhoads; Kurt Gramoll

. Before describing some specifics of our project, it is useful to reflect on past approaches to teaching core knowledge in the engineering curriculum. Literature suggests that it typically follows one of three models: 1) traditional; 2) integrated; 3) in-between [9,15,20,33]. In the traditional approach, core subjects are taught by faculty in their respective disciplines with little regard for the ultimate application. This approach, as cited earlier, is one of the reasons for low retention rates [6,15,17,19,31]. An integrated core approach is one where students learn multiple

Conference Session

Capstone & Educational Resource Developments

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Yong Yang; Andrew Bennett; Steve Warren

unguided. The JavaScript syntax checker has helped Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Educationsomewhat in this regard, since it locates mismatched/missing parentheses and unrecognizablevariables. Multiple choice questions can address this issue, but they are not as effective from alearning standpoint. Since problem sets can be submitted until a student achieves their desiredscore, it would simply be too easy for a student to obtain scores that do not clearly reflect theirlevel of understanding. In fact, there is not currently a good way to make computer homeworkfeel like the same experience as handwritten

Conference Session

International Engineering Education I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Stacie Edington; Melissa Eljamal; Stella Pang

context of the region where engineering solutions willbe implemented. Because these courses are not offered every semester, the PGE also permitscourses that allow a student to independently focus on cross-cultural issues. Students can use anIndependent Study option to work with a faculty member whose research involves working withinternational colleagues, suppliers, etc. Strict guidelines for the independent study project havebeen developed (how much interface necessary with international counterparts, plans forpersonal goals on improving skills, and a reflection paper) to ensure that the student gains insightinto cross-cultural challenges. One other option is for students to take part in an EngineeringCross-Cultural Training Series. This option

Conference Session

New Approaches & Techniques in Engineering I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Fazil Najafi

(Mwhen in association with Btu means thousand). In Equation [1], S is the slope of the Y(X) line incents/kwh/$/MMBtu or 10,000 Btu/kwh. As discussed in “Co-utilization of Domestic FuelsBiomass Gas/Natural Gas” Green, A., Swansong, G., and Najafi, F., we can relate S to the netplant heat rate (NPHR) (19, 20) or to the efficiency viaS = NPHR/10,000 [2] orS = 34.12/Eff [3]The constant K (in cents/kwh) mainly reflects the capital investment, the normal rate of ownerreturn and operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses. Lowering K and S as much as possibleso to lower the cost of electricity is the goal of true

Conference Session

Capstone & Educational Resource Developments

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Riggins; Bruce Mutter

from the encoders contains position, velocity, and azimuth. • Diffuse Sensors – By emitting light that reflects from a surface back to thesensor, the frequency can be analyzed and compared to a programmedfrequency. The sensors can be programmed to detect a particular frequency (color)on the ground. • Proximity Sensors – By emitting light that reflects from a surface back to thesensor(s), the proximity sensors can find obstructions.Computers The computing system isdivided into two parallel systems.A central computer is responsiblefor planning paths, forcontrolling the vehicle, and forinterfacing to all sensors exceptfor the vision. The secondcomputer system dedicates itself

Conference Session

New Approaches & Techniques in Engineering I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Fazil Najafi

mental capabilities (such as vision, hearing, health, and judgment/reaction time) of the olderpopulation, traffic officials in certain areas of the United States have changed certain parametersin road design to accommodate (i.e. or to increase the comfort and convenience for) the needs ofthe elderly in all facets of transportation; whether it be as a pedestrian, a passenger, or a driver.The parameters that have been implemented have also been studied since implementation. Thosestudies reflect on how different cities and states have used or not used the parameters and theireffectiveness on traffic. Still there is a great diversity among states regarding how elderly driversare considered and accommodated. Greater emphasis on implementation of

Conference Session

Project Management and Team Issues

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Sven Hvid Nielsen

goon in an iterative process with scientific methods available and usable for the actual topic. It is likewalking in a staircase. Seen from above it can look like walking in circles, but seen from the side,the students’ position, one can recognise a constantly increasing level.The supervisors of project-organised education need to be aware of that and not press the projectgroup too hard in the first part of the project period. If that phenomenon is not taken inconsideration, the students will tend to fall back to the ‘Do as Learned Method’ and find onlyconservative solutions.Process-based model for contingency - a dynamic approachThe core of the model is a balance between attention to and reflection on the potential opportunitiesand resources

Conference Session

K-12 Programs for Women

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Karen Ramsey-Idem; Sally Pardue; Kristine Craven

. Girl Scouts exchange swaps, small crafts that canbe worn on a vest or hat, when they attend various activities. These swaps are meant to representthe person giving the swap, this could be something personal, local, or regional depending onwhen, where, and with whom the swaps are being exchanged. The activity leaders distributeswaps that are relevant to their specific activity. Thus each team of participants will have adifferent set of swaps at the end of the day, highlighting the activities that they completed. Theseswaps are displayed prominently on the bag they received, or somewhere on their person. Theseare meant to be a more personal reflection of the EAF experience.Adult WorkshopIn conjunction with EAF, a program is conducted for the

Conference Session

Knowing Students: Diversity & Retention

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Karl Stevens; Sharon Schlossberg; Maria M. Larrondo Petrie

material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under GrantNo. 9987066. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National ScienceFoundation. Page 9.1132.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Educationunder-representation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in this workforce –issues addressed by the STEP project - remain areas of concern. See, e.g

Conference Session

Design in Freshman Year

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

George Catalano

)provide opportunities for students to develop communication and team skills; and (e)provide support in academic success strategies. Where the present effort differs from these successful freshman-engineeringprograms at other universities is, in my view, a significantly increased emphasis onengineering ethics, a significant focus on the societal and global implications of theengineering profession today and careful study and reflection upon the profound impactengineers have upon the natural world. In addition, the Watson program has, in manyways, fully integrated the freshman program with our minority-engineering program. Thedistinction between these two efforts often seems non-existent.Freshman Courses The focus of the freshman year

Conference Session

Computer Literacy Among Minority Students

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Marilyn Smith

not used as a criterion in selecting students for this scholarship. Should two studentshave identical credentials and need but differ only in non-merit aspects, we certainly hope thatwe will be able to find support for both. The more diverse demographics perhaps reflect needand interest distributions. The lower percentage of women students in CSEMS should be viewedwith the fact that the university statistics are for the overall institute, not the subset of the moremale-dominated CSEMS colleges.Table 1. FAST demographics compared to overall GIT US citizen/resident undergrads. African- Asian- Caucasian Hispanic- Native- Women American American

Conference Session

Virtual Instrumentation

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David McStravick; Marcia O'Malley

noted,though, that Rice University has a site license for LabVIEW, allowing broad distribution of thesoftware across campus computers, if necessary.Virtual Labs Developed 1. Pre-Lab for Wave Tank II Experiment The VL for this experiment is a simulation of a boat’s motion with incident beam waves. A second order differential equation of a system with a forcing function is used in the Page 9.1403.3 experimental analysis and the VL simulation to model the boat’s response to the generated waves. The student solves several cases that reflect different values of natural Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade: Inside the Class

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Lori M. Bruce; J.W. Bruce

accountable for doing their part and mastery of the material.• face-to-face interaction Some or all group members must work together to achieve the group’s goals.• appropriate use of interpersonal skills Group members learn and practice teaming, communication, conflict management and leadership skills.• regular self-assessment of group functioning. Groups periodically reflect and evaluate their performance and identify ways to improve that performance.Correctly applied, cooperative learning techniques increase the students’ motivation to learn,material retention, depth of understanding, and teamwork/communication skills [18] by forcingstudents to work in the more effective (lower) levels in Figure 2.Cooperative learning techniques may be the

Conference Session

Industry-Based Projects

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Duesing; David Baumann; David McDonald

build and test their product orprototype.The outcome of the design review will be decisions that set the direction of the project and astatus for the team. The decisions made will be firm and must be reevaluated by all partiesbefore any changes can be made. Upon completion of the design review, the status for the teamwill be red, yellow, or green.Red status means that the team’s design review and possibly the design has serious problems.Key information is missing or serious errors were made in the design/decision process. If a teamreceives this status they are to put the current design on hold and complete the required tasks thatwill provide them with the needed information to continue with their project. A red statustypically reflects

Conference Session

Teaching Engineers to Teach

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Neil S. Grigg; Darrell G. Fontane; Marvin Criswell; Thomas Siller

Planning Grant on the topic of “Information Technology in theIntegrated Civil Engineering Curriculum”, and this paper reflects findings from this effort. Theprimary emphasis of this paper is on the utilization of Information Technology within the civilengineering profession and in the large-scale products and systems the civil engineeringprofession provides, operates and maintains. Instructional technology, both general and IT isnoted more as a part of implementing changes within the educational environment.Information technology as utilized in CE can be placed into four general categories. (1) personalIT/computing tools – which all graduates and civil engineers need at a fairly high level ofproficiency, (2) civil engineering systems tools such

Conference Session

Best Zone Papers

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Betz

will also examine some of the issues and impediments confronting TechnologyEducation in this process of change.IntroductionThe shift from Industrial Arts to Technology Education in the public secondary education systemseems to be superficial. The name change more accurately reflects a shift from the industrialtools used in a wood or metal shop to that of a more current and identifiable technology. Theissue here is real change that must also include the type of knowledge used and the role it playsin the learning process. This paper will discuss the use of Design Competitions, developed inacademia, as a tool for change in secondary (9-12) Technology Education as a regional casestudy. The paper will outline the types of knowledge and the role it

Conference Session

Innovations in the ChE Laboratory

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ron Artigue; Mark Anklam; David Miller; Dan Coronell; Atanas Serbezov; Sharon Sauer; Alfred Carlson

students’ overall learning in laboratory so as to better prepare themfor industry and/or graduate research, we have (1) created a new lecture course on engineeringexperimentation to accompany the laboratory, (2) increased the emphasis on experimentalplanning and data analysis for each lab project, (3) implemented a peer-review and reportrevision procedure, (4) require students to follow industry standards for recording data inlaboratory notebooks, and (5) completely revised the department’s Lab Manual to reflect thesechanges in emphasis. This paper describes the organization and effectiveness of our revisedlaboratory sequence in comparison with our previous approach.IntroductionThe unit operations laboratory is generally regarded as an ideal

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Elisa Linsky; Gunter Georgi

’ attention on the engineering aspects of their assignments.1. Asking students to reflect on the projects they completed had a definite impact. Students in the assessment sections were able to identify more types of scientific communication at the end of the semester, by a factor of 2 or 3. Section E3 Section D Control Exit survey # types 1.9 2.6 1.6 Entry survey # types 1.0 0.8 1.2 Average change 0.9 1.8 0.42. All students showed significant learning in the sections of a lab report. The writing consultant program in general effectively

Conference Session

Trends in Civil Engineering Accreditation

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Elliott

-requisite courses and that these are completedwithin our college. This results in a close tie between these students and our undergraduateprogram. Because of this closeness, we contend that the outcomes from our BSCE programassessments are generally reflective of the outcomes we would expect from the two graduateprograms.We also had some concern over the fact that both graduate programs involve faculty from otherdepartments. The MSTE program includes professors from Industrial Engineering and theMSEnE program includes faculty from Chemical, Mechanical, and Biological Engineering. Wehold at least one faculty meeting each year to discuss program issues. However, to date, neitherprogram has had a student whose studies were primarily in one of the

Conference Session

Practice/Industry Partnership

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Ali Ansari

andconstruction for our particular region, breaking from existing convention and looking to nature asa designer, innovator and problem solver that has been performing ingenious engineering featsfor billions of years. In the process of attempting to teach ourselves the basics of nature’sengineering as they apply to ensuring thermal comfort, we believe we have also stumbled upon afascinating new paradigm for engineering education. “The Natural House Project” is an excitingadventure in teaching and learning – an enjoyable opportunity for students, and also the teachers,to use art, science and engineering principles in almost equal measure to imagine, conceptualize,design and build a home that reflects the beauty and ingenuity of nature. That being an

Conference Session

Outreach and Freshman Programs

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Patsy Brackin; Clark Merkel

. Page 8.610.4 “Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2003, American Society for Engineering Education”Project assessment: During the final two weeks of the quarter, all students were asked toprovide feedback on their teaming and design experience. The questionnaire givenduring week 9 is provided as Addendum 4. Additionally, during week 10, they wereasked to provide a reflective essay in their lab books which responded to the followingtwo statements. 1) Identify three or more, items, things, or aspects about your project, your team, oryour design process that worked well and that you were happy with. Discuss why each ofthese items pleased you. 2) You