Conference Session

Electrical & Computer Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Fabio Urbani; Juan Iglesias

tomatch the initial requirements. This simulator contains three different optimizing methods: theMonte Carlo Method, the Genetic Algorithm Method, and the Tabu Search Method.In order to approach any FEM problem, four basic steps must be followed: 1. Discretize the domain in which the solution has to be found using a finite number of nodes and elements (either triangular or quadrilateral); 2. Derive the governing equations for a single element; 3. Assemble all the elements in the solution domain; 4. Solve the system of equations obtained using numerical techniques like the Iteration Method or the Band Matrix Method. The former is faster and is usually preferred for a large number of nodes;Differential equations can be

Conference Session

Minorities in Engineering/Technology

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Amy Monte; Gretchen Hein

are included such as building and testing a ping-pong balllauncher and a pizza lunch. This training gives the mentors a chance to get to know each otherand begin building a mentor community (see Figure 1). Page 9.181.3 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Educations Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering EducationFigure 1: Team building activities during mentor training (ping-pong ball launcher, scavengerhunt).Engineering Seminars: The GUIDE scholars attend weekly engineering seminars during theFall semester where they have time to ask questions and discus the engineering topic, careerpath, or discipline

Conference Session

ECE Education and Engineering Mathematics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Seyed Zekavat

An Evaluation of the Teaching Approach for the Interdisciplinary Course Electrical Engineering for Non Majors S. A. Zekavat1, C. Sandu2, G. Archer1, and K. Hungwe3 1 Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan Tech University, Houghton MI 49931, 2 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, 24061, 3 Dept. of Education, Michigan Tech University, Houghton MI 49931.AbstractThis paper presents an evaluation on the teaching approach for the interdisciplinary course“Introduction to Electrical Engineering (EE) for non-EE majors” performed by surveying threegroups from the

Conference Session

Industrial Collaborations

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Visser; Carrie Steinlicht; Teresa Hall

industry jobs has been in response to wage differentials,valuation of the dollar, and a shortage of engineering and technology program graduates.1 Thetraditional career path sought by engineering technology program graduates was to seekemployment at a mid-to-large size corporation with the implied opportunity to climb thetechnical/managerial ladder during a lifetime of commitment to that single employer. Thisscenario is a thing of the past as multinational corporations downsize, outsource, and streamlinemanagement hierarchies and thin the ranks of technical professionals.At the same time, the growth in small businesses by entrepreneurs and small start-ups providingcomponents to larger companies has provided an alternative career path for newly

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Bahr; M. Grant Norton

programs or in research projects specially designed for thepurpose” 1.For the past five summers the NSF has funded a summer REU site in Characterization ofAdvanced Materials at Washington State University. WSU currently has the longest active REUprogram in materials research in the northwest. Our REU site brings students to Pullman tospend 10 weeks each summer focused on interdisciplinary materials research.The initial target population for our REU program was primarily students from schools in thePacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain states that do not have access to the moderninstrumentation that is needed for materials research. Over the five years of our program thenumber and popularity of REU programs has increased nationally and we have

Conference Session

Materials Science for Nonmajors

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Bahr; M. Grant Norton

increase the awareness of materials among the general student population at WashingtonState University (WSU) we developed a course, MSE 440 Materials: The Foundations of Societyand Technology. This course is taught as a Tier III course in the General Education Program andwas offered for the first time in Fall 2000, and has now been offered four times (fifth time inprogress at time of writing). At the 2002 Annual Meeting we presented the rationale fordeveloping the course, what we teach, and student feedback.1 The present paper provides anupdate on the course, the results of student surveys, and resources that we use in the course.Enrollment DataOur course is targeted towards students with non-SMET backgrounds. We try to recruit studentsfrom as

Conference Session

ECE Education and Engineering Mathematics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Roland Thomas; Albert Rosa

more positive. A comparison between the Fall 2002 offering (traditionalapproach) and the Fall 2003 offering (the different approach) is shown in Table 1. While it is tooearly to tell whether students will perform better in follow-on courses, the level of studentachievement and confidence appears to have significantly improved. The follow-on redesigned Page 9.91.6Electric Circuits and Systems II course will be offered in Fall 2004. Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

Conference Session

Improving Teaching & Learning

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Anita Gandolfo; Ken Alford

efforts can be successfully adopted at other universities andcolleges who face the challenge of providing pedagogical instruction for graduate teachingassistants, new PhDs and adjunct instructors.College instructors fall into three distinct groups based on their relationship with the university:(1) new hires who have not yet arrived on campus, (2) new arrivals, and (3) continuing faculty.Each group has different needs that the institution can help meet.This paper discusses some of the programs, activities, and events that have been usedsuccessfully at the United States Military Academy to meet the needs of these faculty groups. Itis written with the intent to provide other educational institutions the opportunity to pick andchoose among them and

Conference Session

Innovations in Nuclear Education I

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William Rezak

design capacity for high percentages of the time. Successfuloperation of nuclear facilities is determined by examining capacity or load factors. Load factoris the percentage of design generating capacity that a power plant actually produces over thecourse of a year’s operation. Table 1 indicates load factors for the best performing nuclear power producing nationsthrough 2002, the last year for which data is available (International Atomic Energy AgencyPower Reactor Information System database). The numbers in parenthesis indicate the numberof nuclear power plants operating in the country. When comparing US data with that of other nations, it is important to note that many of theother nations have only one operating utility organization

Conference Session

Trends in ME Education Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles Forsberg

experience from a teacher-centered approach to ateam-based and student-centered approach. [1, 2 , 3, 4] The heat exchanger project alsoprovides the students with a design-build test experience that greatly enhances their educationalexperience. Other schools have also found the design-build-test approach to be beneficial forstudents. [5, 6, 7, 8]This is the second major design-build-test project overseen in recent years by the writer. Theprior project dealt with design and construction of a pump system. [9] Comparing the firstproject with this one, the writer has noted considerable improvement in the students’performance. At least some of this improvement is due to the writer’s increased experience andimproved skills in directing student projects. A

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Pong Chu

anddistracts the students from the real design issues. An example of this kind of problem is illustrated by the following code. Assume that wewish to implement a 4-bit priority encoder with the following function table: a(2) a(2) a(1) a(0) code valid 1 x x x 11 1 0 1 x x 10 1 0 0 1 x 01 1 0 0 0 1 00 1 0 0 0 0 00 0In this circuit, the a(3), a(2), a(1) and a(0) are four input request signals, in

Conference Session

Real-World Applications

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Fuehne; David Lenart

informing the students of what they will see during the hospital tours thatcomprise the majority of the students’ visit. There are four separate tours: 1. the computer networking facilities 2. the computer technology section that provides hardware update/repair, software update/installation and other associated services to the hospital staff 3. the mechanical repair section whose purpose is to make repairs to hospital equipment such as beds, IV machines and other mechanical devices. 4. the hospital facilities management sectionThe high school students are divided into four groups and each group tours each of thefour areas.Typically, the tour of the

Conference Session

IS and IT Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Taz Daughtrey; Edgar Sibley; Anne Marchant

Certification standard7. Hence, this certification is approved and honored by the NSAand the DoD. This makes JMU students more marketable because the NSA hires employeeswith this certificate at a grade higher than the ones who do not have the certificate.Certificate requirements: 1) CS major 2) The Introductory Information Security course 3) Internetworking course 4) One of the following courses a. Network Applications Development b. Network Analysis and Design Page 9.273.6 c. Selected Topics in Information SecurityProceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference &

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Roslyn Smith; Amitabha Bandyopadhyay

as a method of determining machine down time and its causes. Later this methodwas broadened to measure inactive time of men and machines to determine the causesand improve them3. It was not until 1940 that the technique was introduced to Americanindustry by Robert L. Morrow. The technique enjoyed moderate success during the waryears but failed to gain widespread use, perhaps because of a need to understand statisticsand probability in order to interpret the results.The StudyThe following steps were carried out by the student for both the residential project andthe commercial project: 1. The problem was defined in details 2. The recording forms were designed 3. Preliminary observations were made to determine an appropriate

Conference Session

ET Design Projects

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Dale Litwhiler

appropriate measurement and controlsystem to achieve the design objectives is often a difficult part of the design. Most projectsrequire the measurement and control of very few parameters that does not justify the purchase ofan elaborate analog and digital I/O system. Combining LabVIEW™ software with the 1-Wire™family of integrated circuit devices from Dallas-Maxim produces a measurement and controlsystem that is an excellent match for many student design projects. LabVIEW is very popular inengineering technology programs and provides the software tools needed to easily develop thedata acquisition, signal processing and control routines. The student version of LabVIEW 6iprovides plenty of computing power for such applications, is very affordable, and

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Roxanne Jacoby

, learning from eachother’s work, moving forward together. As for the students, by giving them the opportunity toparticipate in interesting collaborative projects that simulate the real business world they willenter, they acquire precious skills enabling them to succeed in the highly competitive, rapidlychanging professional climate of the 21st century.Notes and Bibliography:1. The Nerken School of Engineering at Cooper Union, located in New York City, was a member of the Gateway Engineering Education Coalition till 2002, one of the coalitions sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Engineering colleges from the following institutions participated in the Phase II of the Gateway Coalition: Columbia U., Cooper Union, Drexel U., New Jersey

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Sub Ramakrishnan; Mohammad Dadfar

programming languages as well.The project deals with blocking and how a server in a TCP/IP network figures out which one ofits many client sockets has data to read from. This is resolved using asynchronouscommunication between a client and a server. Briefly, the server can receive data from any ofthe clients it is connected to. However, the server does not know which client to wait on. Thestudent has to employ nonblocking socket read and 'select' mechanisms at the server to correctlyidentify the client it can read from.1. IntroductionMany schools offer a data communications course at the undergraduate computer scienceprogram. Our program has a required core course in operating systems and networks (CS 327),followed by an elective course that is

Conference Session

ET Design Projects

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Horacio Sosa; Vladimir Genis

between transmittedand received ultrasound signals (the time-of-flight). In these experiments, the measurement ofthe transducer displacement is more convenient and accurate than the measurement of thetransmitter/receiver or transducer/reflector distance. Such a technique allows one to eliminateadditional artifacts caused by the time delays from the transducers and attached electronics. Theschematic diagram of the experimental set-up is shown in Fig.1. Page 9.1328.2 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Daniel Raviv

action” clearly indicate positive attitudes, persistence, openness and willingness to take risks in an enjoyable learning environment. Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education Page 9.653.1*This work was supported in part by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)1. IntroductionThis paper shares some individual and group activities that have been used to enhanceinnovative thinking skills of undergraduate students in a 3-credit “elective” course at

Conference Session

TIME 7: ABET Issues and Capstone Courses

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ever Barbero; Larry Banta

in 1997. It resulted in a six-year reviewrecommendation. In preparation for our first review under the EC 2000 criteria in Fall 2003, thedepartment implemented a comprehensive assessment process to satisfy criteria 2 and 3 [1-3].Three or more tools are necessary to accomplish triangulation [1]. Although surveys of varioustypes are the most popular tools for assessment, they are subjective, and over-reliance on themmay be misleading. Alternative tools such as standardized examinations, interviews, and focusgroups tend to be costly in time and resources. The objective of this paper is to describe ourapproach to assembling, assessing, and improving outcome portfolios [4], as an essentialassessment tool for outcome assessment under criteria 3

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Approaches

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Olufemi Omitaomu; Adedeji Badiru

the literature. The Standish Groupreported in 1995 that 31% of new ISPs were cancelled before completion at a cost to industry ofover $81 billion. An additional $59 billion was lost due to budget overruns of those projectsreaching completion7. It was further reported that more than 20% of software projects fail andonly less than 18% of software projects are completed on time and within budget. According tothe report, the lost opportunity cost could be in trillions of dollars. Overall, studies continue toindicate that about 85% of all projects end in failure3 and that less than 1% of all systemdevelopment projects were delivered on schedule and met requirements9. The 2001 extremeCHAOS report of the Standish Group indicate that most of the

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Hensel; Elizabeth DeBartolo

/Masters program as a second-year student at RIT. The focus ofthis paper is the BS/MS student, who wishes to complete all the standard undergraduaterequirements and graduate from RIT with a BS and MS degree at the same time.BS/MS students have a very rigorous schedule (Table 1) that provides them with two extraquarters of coursework during their five years at RIT. This is done by waiving one of the fiveco-op blocks and allowing them to begin co-ops over the summer after their second year insteadof during the third year. While BS/MS students are required to take two fewer courses towardtheir MS degrees than full-time MS-only students are, they are still required to take an extraeight courses beyond the BS to satisfy the MS requirements. This means

Conference Session

Integrating Math into Engineering

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Legand Burge; John Kaplan; Kathleen Kaplan; Moses Garuba

Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education”1. IntroductionModeling and Simulation (M&S) is an important course in many engineering disciplines. It isusually found in the upper levels of undergraduate engineering education, an indication thatunderlying engineering principles must be utilized to fully understand and apply its content.M&S is a very diverse subject and incorporates many different areas of expertise, yet mostundergraduate engineering students are only being exposed to application software. There is noneed to have any underlying expertise, merely the means to point-and-click.Obviously, an application-only approach does not require any mathematical skills. This isunfortunate since the engineering student will not

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Peter Wiesner; Karen Miu

categorize and contextualize information, the IEEE PowerEngineering Society,1 in cooperation with IEEE Educational Activities, developed thePathfinder on Power and Energy2 with funding from the National Science Foundation.The term “pathfinder” is commonly used in the library world to provide users with aquick way of finding resources. 3 Pathfinders are more informal than annotatedbibliographies that are scholarly in nature. Research organizations, such as Lucent, usepathfinders in the form of handy lists of brief annotated resources in particular subjectareas.Building on traditional librarianship, IEEE developed this pathfinder to vet resources onpower and energy that are already available through the Web. This tool provides afunctional organization

Conference Session

Technological Literacy I

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Samuel Daniels; Bouzid Aliane; Jean Nocito-Gobel; Michael Collura

instructors used atraditional lecture style approach to teach the course while others combined lectures withactivities such as computer-based simulations and projects. Typically, all classes involved sometype of design project at the end of the semester that included the application of the designprocess and problem solving techniques introduced in the course. However, the variations insections prevented faculty teaching subsequent courses from building on a common set ofconcepts and design experiences. Some of these differences are summarized in Table 1. Thisresulted in curricular inefficiency.For this reason, a group of faculty members during the Spring of 2002 began discussing changesto the Introduction to Engineering course. These discussions

Conference Session

Curriculum Development in MFG ET

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Shawn Strong; Scott Amos; Richard Callahan

that firstcauses hole sizes to become smaller over time as the drill wears. As wear continues the holesizes actually become larger as the tool becomes less stable12. Figure 1 shows a typicaldistribution of hole sizes for such a process. Understanding this process and the associated toolwear pattern can be critical in determining sample size, sample frequency, and the appropriatedistribution model to use in analysis. If a capability study for the immediate performance of theprocess is desired the samples might be taken consecutively or within a short time period.8 Thedashed line in Figure 1 indicates the likely distribution for this scenario. If the process capabilityfor the life of the tool is desired the data must be taken over time as the

Conference Session

Teaching Strategies in Graphics

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Satyajit Verma

elements of engineeringdrawing practices and manufacturing practices. The format of the course contains the steps in atypical design process in the development of a product. The steps are generally described asfollows:1. Problem Identification2. Preliminary Ideas (Brainstorming, Sketching)3. Refinement Considerations4. Design Analysis5. Decision (Writing Reports, Making Presentations)6. Implementation Page 9.1245.1 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering EducationDetails of the above steps

Conference Session

Portable/Embedded Computing II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Cameron Wright; Michael Morrow; Thad Welch

switching device. These devices have been successfully and enthusiastically used by a number of undergradu- ate and graduate students to allow their DSP algorithms to control their world, or to put it another way, to Reach Out and DSP Someone!1 INTRODUCTIONFor several years now, we have been suggesting and providing proven DSP teaching methodologies,hardware and software solutions, and DSP tools that have helped motivate students and facultyto implement DSP-based systems in real-time [1 6]. These efforts have emphasized the fact thatDSP is much more than just a collection of theories and problem solving techniques. Students caneasily be motivated to explore and implement DSP-based systems in an environment where theyare limited only

Conference Session

Opportunities in Environmental Engineering Curriculum

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Butkus

ofengineering in the field. Courses in a curriculum should include these “essential experiences.”Many undergraduate engineering curricula develop introductory level knowledge of commonengineering processes by using highly constrained problems with a single “right” answer. Thisteaching approach meets the intent of providing the student with a basic level of understanding inthe discipline.1 Environmental engineers as well as engineers in other engineering disciplines,however, apply their skills in a dynamic environment where single solutions are the exceptionrather than the rule. A static approach to problem solving cannot fulfill the curriculum goalspecified in most ABET accredited programs. Additional “significant experiences” are requiredto help

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Colleen Duran; John Kaplan; Kathleen Kaplan

software engineers, areaware of the problem. All students who take a programming course must be exposed to the Page 9.260.1dangers of buffer overflow; only then will this programming error be eradicated.“Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering Education”This paper will discuss the buffer overflow problems in the history of software engineering, thecurrent state of buffer overflow problems, and ways to combat buffer overflow problems in thefuture.1. IntroductionBO has been a stigma placed upon engineers