Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Eileen M. Kowalski; Joe D. Manous

investigation of cognitive learning within the engineering profession is rather new, it hasbeen accepted by other fields of education with the most notable being the study of medicine. Untilrecently, the four-year medical school experience centered around lecture and laboratory work, somewhatsimilar to engineering education, with clinical work occurring primarily during the fourth year. Todaymany medical schools include clinical experience early in the medical school experience because studentshave demonstrated a better grasp of material when they are concurrently studying in “traditional” coursesand experience greater cognitive learning through the combination of clinical (problem-based learning)and lecture activities.1 A similar inclusion of

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ha Van Vo; Stephanie Rossman; Zsaquez Flucker; R. Radharamanan

with a constant body load of 1,000 lbs acting in the sockets. Aluminum is selected for the materialproperty of the pylon and the socket. Results showed that the Von Mises stress to anterior aspect of theimmobile ankle prosthesis was 1,567 psi compared to 131 psi for the mobile ankle prosthesis; themaximum shear stress acting on the immobile ankle prosthesis anteriorly was 905 psi verses 52 psi inmobile ankle prosthesis. The results also showed large amounts of reduction in stresses in lateral, medial,and posterior aspect of the mobile ankle prosthesis.1. IntroductionWith advancement in gait analysis equipment, students at Mercer University School of Engineering(MUSE) have been using biomechanics lab to learn and conduct research studies

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Paul G. Ranky

above requirements.In this paper we focus on our generic methodology, and illustrate someengineering applications ([1], [2] and [12]). As a generic, object-orientedengineering management problem solving method, as with all cases in ourlibrary of cases, we are committed to the following approach: Analyze the needs and the requirements, the demonstrated processes, methods and systems they try to, or have to satisfy. Analyze the actual methods presented. Find the core methodologies, the mathematical models, the underlying engineering (and/or other) science foundation. Analyze the technologies involved. (How is science turned into a practical solution/ engineering and/or computing technology?) Analyze and review the actual

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ismail I. Orabi

course Std. 8.9 9.4 9.7 2.3 11 Dev Online Mean 89.16 75.99 89 84.5 71 course N 58 58 58 58 58 Quizzes Std 10.56 9.3 13.9 6.8 21.7 (30%) Dev Table 1: Assessment Method MeansTable 1 shows means, standard deviations, and cell sizes for the student scores on the commonhomework, quizzes, projects, and final reports for both the traditional classroom and the online courses.The much larger standard deviations

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Saikat Ray

Russian students possess great background inmathematics whereas students from Latin America are very good with traditional electrical engineeringtopics such as power engineering. Many of them, e.g., the students from different Indian Institute ofTechnologies (IITs) or Tsinghua University, come with outstanding undergraduate training. However, theM.S. student population in teaching oriented schools seems to show some common characteristics. Wedescribe below these observations and anecdotal reasons that perhaps explain the observations. Note that,these observations should not be construed as negative comments in any way, but merely as whatthe author has experienced. 1. Motivation: Most students join M.S. program in order to get a job in the

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Richard B. Mindek

,timing and process and machine control and coordination. Groover [1] defines a PLC as: “Amicrocomputer-based controller that uses stored instructions in programmable memory to implementlogic, sequencing, timing, counting, and arithmetic functions, using digital and analog input/output (I/O)modules, for controlling machines and processes.” Although PLC’s are used in the process industries(e.g., processing mined materials and oil refineries), they are more commonly found in discretemanufacturing industries, such as in machine control, transfer lines, and material handling equipment.First conceived in 1968 by Richard Morley, the PLC was originally developed as a device to overcomethe inflexibility and high cost of hard-wired controllers made of

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Aaron S. Bradshaw; Gary N. McCloskey; Franklin Miguel

wealthier citizens reside adjacent to others living in extreme poverty. Many of thepoor neighborhoods originated from the occupation of land without permission (i.e. squatters). Theseland invaders or “Invasores” as they are called in the local community staked their claims by buildingsmall shacks on parcels of land. These dilapidated houses were built quite literally using any materialsthat the people could get their hands on. Over time these communities grew as the walls of one housebecame the walls of the next. One of these neighborhoods, called Luz Consuelo, is shown in the satellitephotograph in Figure 1. Notable is the poor condition of the houses as compared to the wealthiersurrounding neighborhoods. Figure 2 shows some of the materials that

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Bahram Nassersharif

environment are described in this article.Background & MotivationThe College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island introduced a freshman engineeringexperience in 1996 consisting of a 1-credit semester course covering the foundations of engineeringduring the fall semester and a 2-credit engineering problem solving/programming course during thespring semester. This change was made for all eight engineering programs such that all engineeringstudents would experience a common curriculum during the first year. Many benefits have resulted fromthis change over the past decade including the following highlights: • Retention of engineering students from the freshman year to the sophomore year increased from ~60% to ~72% (see figure

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Bassem Alhalabi; M.K. Hamza; Ali Abu-El Humos

Distance Education: Remote Labs Environment Bassem Alhalabi 1 M. K. Hamza 2 Ali Abu-El Humos3Abstract – Since the invention of the Internet, research for [capable] virtual lab experiments has been thetarget of higher education’s distance learning research; however, the very nature of real experimentation(real elements and real instrumentation) was not possible or missing from much of the acclaimed virtual labexperiments. Nonetheless, in the past decade or so, countless scholarly writings asserted the availability of[real] or virtual laboratories that mimic real laboratory experimentations. Within these virtual experiments’infrastructures, the elements of real experimentation- in comparison to conventional laboratories

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Hudson V. Jackson; Evelyn A. Ellis

Early and Continuous Exposure to Engineering as a Profession: Career Imprinting in Grades PK-12 Hudson V. Jackson, PhD, P.E and Evelyn A. Ellis, Ed.D United States Coast Guard Academy, New London, Connecticut, U.S.A.AbstractIn recent years, there has been much discussion about declining interest in engineering programsthroughout U.S. colleges and universities. Several possible causes for the decline have been identified andare fodder for debate: (1) PK-12 educational systems are not adequately preparing students tocomprehend the connections among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) andfuture career opportunities and (2) College engineering curricula need to be more

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Navarun Gupta; Buket Barkana; Sarosh Patel; Lawrence V. Hmurcik

horrible accidents whenhumans contact high voltage. In this article we cite 3 cases of high voltage accidents.Each accident teaches something different about electricity and electric safety.Let us first begin with some clarifications. By formal definition, high voltage is definedas any voltage above 600 volts. Below 600 volts, one should consult the NEC (NationalElectric Code) for the rules of electrical installation and safety [1]. Above 600 volts, thebetter safety code is written by OSHA [2]. This should not in any way diminish thedanger of low voltage circuits. People die in their homes every day from electrocutioncaused by 120 and 220 volt sources. Furthermore, we have personal experience ofvisiting factories and other sites where electricity

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Mir M. Atiqullah

materials that leads to a composite that exhibit superior properties than any one ingredientalone.While composites can be made out of a number of components, most composites are made of just two.One of them is known as matrix phase which is continuous and surrounds the other one known asdispersed phase. Mechanical properties of composites are a function of those of the ingredients, as wellas their relative fraction amounts, and how the dispersed phase is distributed. The distribution ischaracterized by type/shape of the dispersed phase particles, size of the particles, as well orientation anddistribution.Distribution of fibers in fiber-reinforced composites is varied as per the application or load to be carried.These types are (1) continuous fiber

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Shih-Liang Wang

insufficient figures to illustrate these rules. This paperwill discuss the author’s attempt to address this problem.Force on a spur gearWhen two spur gears are meshed shown in Fig. 1, and the left one is the driver, the contact pointmoves along a line as the gears rotate, as shown in Fig. 2. The line of action is sometimes calledthe pressure line. The force pushing the driven gear is shown in Fig. 3, and will always be alongthis line of action. The type of force is bearing (pushing) force, applying pressure to the matingtooth. From the principal of force transmissibility in statics, we know that any point along theline of action will still create the same torque about the gear. Therefore, we can use a fixedcontact point (pitch point) to simplify the

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Philip L. Brach; Ahmet Zeytinci

experimentally after it was shown geometrically, theyoungsters cut out symmetrical geometric shapes and hung them with a plumb-line from two points ondifferent lines of symmetry confirming that their intersection was the center of mass as shown in Figure-1. Through simple qualitative discussion and demonstration the students were introduced to the fact thatfor every object, regardless of its shape and size, when freely suspended from any point on the shape, aplumb line will always pass through the center of mass. Using two points not on the same line of “masssymmetry” will result in an intersection which is the mass center of the object as illustrated in Figure-2.During this experiment the principal of gravity and how it works was explained and

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Arthur Heinricher; Brian Savilonis; David Spanagel; Robert Traver; Kristin Wobbe

-1-provide a solution, and that great problems will be solved only through the efforts of many smallsolutions coming from many disparate directions.There is a national trend toward more active, project-based learning in engineering education thathas been (slowly) gaining momentum for more than 40 years. (See Felder, 2004.) A recent, andwidely publicized, illustration of the trend was the creation in 1997 of the Olin College ofEngineering. The Olin Foundation made a $300 million investment to establish a new college ofengineering that would integrate project work in all four years of the new curriculum.(Somerville, et al, 2005).For almost 20 years, there has been significant investment by the National Science Foundationintended to increase

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ali Setoodehnia; Kamal Shahrabi; Anthony Manno

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Richard J.H. Gash; David Fedroff

content means making tough choices about what to remove in order tomake room. This paper proposes a viable method for weaving a green environmentality into a standardundergraduate reinforced concrete design course without sacrificing course content. The United States Green Building Council has established an industry standard in Green BuildingRating Systems with their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. TheLEED certification process involves earning credits for environmentally friendly construction processesand materials and the use of efficient building systems. The certification has several tiers (gold, silver,etc.) for different levels credit.1 One way LEED credit can be earned is through use of recycled

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

John Adams; Charles Kochakian

1 Inclusion of RFID in a BSEE CurriculumJohn Adams and Charles Kochakian, Merrimack College Department of ElectricalEngineeringAbstractThis paper discusses the evolution of a course in RFID which is now a required part of thecurriculum in Merrimack College’s BSEE program. In 2004 the department identified RFID as animportant emerging technology that would be timely to introduce at the undergraduate level.Initially, the department sponsored two seminar series with sessions taught by industryprofessionals, followed in 2007 with a full course in RFID. Advantages of RFID as a requiredcourse include using it to introduce

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Kanti Prasad

four distinct and disparatephases namely-Phase 1: Chip design – This basically involves the design of the chipbased on specifications provided by the customer, Phase 2: Mask Set – It involves theconversion of design’s layout and placement into set of masks e.g. diffusion, contact, andmetallization masks etc., Phase 3: Mask Transfer – This involves transferring the maskset onto a wafer substrate such as Si or GaAs etc., Phase 4: Packaged Chip – Thisincorporates inscribing, dicing, bonding and encapsulating chip in a plastic or ceramicpackage, depending on customer’s requirement.At UMass Lowell, the author founded the Microelectronics/VLSI program in 1984, at thetime, when only design tool available was DLAP (intense programming tool in

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Elif Kongar; Paul Kontogiorgis; Nancy L. Russo; Tarek Sobh

create anawareness of the skills and job roles required for future labor workforce demands in the engineering andtechnology services industry and argues that these current and future roles makes them more appealing towomen.Keyword: STEM, Women in engineering, U.S. Education, IT services, Service industries.1. IntroductionServices have surpassed agriculture and manufacturing as the leading contributor to gross domesticproduct in the world today. As the global economy has become more integrated, and the demand for aworkforce required to run service-focused organizations in an efficient manner grows, the level andvariety of skills needed in this new service economy have also changed and grown. Specifically; inregards to science, technology

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Matt Armstrong; Richard L. Comitz; Andrew Biaglow; Russ Lachance; Joseph Sloop

Sophomore Junior Senior Figure 1. Typical Chemical Engineering Program Order of Electives Design Reaction Engineering Separations Organic Chemistry Yearling Cow Firstie Figure 2. USMA Chemical Engineering Program Order of Electives The arrangement, therefore, more closely mirrored the real world Chemical Engineering designprocess. In addition to its realism, the engineering design process used by our students, in addition to itsrealism also parallels the Military Decision Making Process (see Figure 8), thus reinforcing military as

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Linda Ann Riley; Charles Thomas

probability of these students choosing a STEM major incollege is low. This ultimately will affect the production of U.S. scientists and engineers needed to solveour future technological and research challenges. 1To place the K-12 mathematics and science scenario in perspective, when compared to foreign countries,the U.S. significantly lags most with respect to performance. Table 1 presents a compilation ofmathematics scores of 15 year olds enrolled in secondary education institutions in OEDC (Organizationfor Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. This international comparison of mathematicsperformance by 15 year olds indicates that the U.S. falls almost at the bottom of the comparator

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Joseph Robert Yost; Randy D. Weinstein

. The first programs within the CoE were Civil Engineering and Electrical 1Engineering. Today there are four degree programs in Chemical Engineering (Che), Civil andEnvironmental Engineering (CEE), Electrical and Computer Science Engineering (ECE) andMechanical Engineering. All programs offer BS and MS degrees through the respectivedepartments. A five year program that combines the BS and MS degrees is also available in alldepartments, and an interdisciplinary PhD degree is administered and offered through the CoE.The CoE offers a common freshman year to all incoming students (Table 1). As can be seen inTable 1, the first year curriculum includes two semesters of calculus, two semesters of

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

David I. Schwartz

Motivating Engineering Mathematics Education with Game Analysis Metrics David I. Schwartz Rochester Institute of Technology Department of Information Technology GCCIS, 70-2509 +1 585-475-5521 dis[at]it[dot]rit[dot]eduAbstractIn this paper, I develop a system for computational analysis of games that uses scoring functions tomotivate engineering mathematics education. Although many modern videogames have abandoned pointsas an archaic form of representing victory (or defeat

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

John Hartke; Robert Kewley; Greg Kilby; Greg Schwarz; Gunnar Tamm

study and identify the specific design issues addressed by the student team. It willalso describe how the project was structured so that each student on the team had both an in-depthexperience within their discipline and learned how to integrate their discipline specific expertise in thelarger multidisciplinary project. Finally the paper will present the results of the students’ work andlearning outcomes.1. Introduction One of the desired outcomes of nearly all engineering programs is that the students participate ina project where their work is integrated into a larger multidisciplinary project. The multidisciplinaryproject adds more real-word constraints and considerations to the problem than a single-disciplinaryproject can offer

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Yiming (Kevin) Rong

projectssponsored by global companies doing business in China. The students work on defining and solving real-world engineering problems in a very important and vastly different cultural environment. They gainknowledge and communication skills through conducting meaningful project, working in teams, anddeveloping leadership skills in a multi-cultural environment.1 IntroductionWith the development of global economy and the rapid shift of manufacturing to China, the demand forengineers with the ability to live and work in unfamiliar cultural environments is critically important forboth Chinese and US companies [1-3]. One result is leading to considerable redistribution of research,design, and manufacturing. In response to a world in which science and

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Daniel J. McCarthy; Michael J. Kwinn

(SDP). (Parnell, et al, 2008) Thereader is referred to the recently released book, Decision Making in Systems Engineering andManagement” by Parnell, et al, for a more detailed description of this process. For the purposes ofdescription in this paper, we will limit our discussions to the first phase of this process, the ProblemDefinition phase, and most specifically, the first step, Stakeholder Analysis. In this step, the analyst Page 2conducts detailed background information searches and conducts interviews with significant stakeholdersto appropriately scope, bound and fully define the problem. Figure 1. Systems Decision ProcessIn our deliberate review of our

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Dean Aslam; Aixia Shao

increasing presence of new technologies in consumer products, are now becomingenabling technologies for bringing nanotechnology into our daily lives. Perhaps the best example is anintegration of ever increasing functionality into cell phones (Fig. 1). The introduction of projectioncapability in cell phones in 2008 will initiate the integration of HDTV and computer (operating system,RAM and storage may be placed on a network server) in cell phones.The integration of an air quality monitor (equipped with nano sensors) Computer Networkinto cell phones, expected in the next few years, will provide ‘air Interfacelabeling’ making it possible to monitor the air we are breathing and HD Video, PDAany

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Rashmi Jain; Keith Sheppard; Elisabeth McGrath; Bernard Gallois

. The SDOE graduate program(http://www.stevens.edu/sse/academics/graduate/sdoe/ ) has been very well received and delivered inmodular form world-wide to industry and government agencies that are involved with complex systems.The program was initially a certificate program directed to practitioners and working professionals butthis has subsequently expanded to include masters and doctoral degrees. The faculty and scope of theprograms has grown rapidly leading to the recent formation of a School of Systems & Enterprises  1(http://www.stevens.edu/sse) with a significant national and international impact in the systemsengineering field.The presence of a strong graduate-level activity in the

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Diana Schwerha; Chang Liu; Sertac Ozercan; Tripura Vadlamani; Lev Neiman

groups who communicated themost during the exercise and proceeded with the game only when everyone understood the concepts,scored the highest. This paper will discuss pedagogical issues with learning in virtual worlds, discuss theeffectiveness of the game, and suggest methods to improve learning. Future research will focus on theuse of Second Life for expanded statistics sessions and for human factors and ergonomics labs.1. IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to enhance Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) 306 with technologywith the intended goal of improving student learning during homework sessions. ISE 306 is the firstcourse in a two-course sequence in engineering probability and statistics. It is a required course for allISE