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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jesus Acosta-Iriqui; Eniko T. Enikov

interviews were conductedduring or after their semester abroad. A total of 23 U.S. students were recruited in a period of 4years (2008-2012).IntroductionThe Advanced International Studies in Mechanics of Micro- & Nano-systems program wascompleted in spring of 2012. The program consisted of an engineering student exchange andresearch arrangement between the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University,Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, and Slovak University ofTechnology in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Like other universities in Europe these twoinstitutions felt well prepared to receive international students, in this case from the U.S. [1] Atotal of 23 students were recruited in a 4 years period –from 2008 t0 2012

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jin-Lee Kim

and innovative virtual approach to deliver sustainabilityusing BIM technology for undergraduate students and implement it as a new hands-onlaboratory- and project-based course in construction education curriculum. The intendedcontribution is to influence undergraduate students with green buildings associated with BIM forthe sustainable development of a built environment. The proposed approach is unique in that itcovers both sustainability and BIM in a single undergraduate course as the two subjects arecurrently taught in separate courses in the nation. The objectives of the proposed project are asfollows: (1) To attract students with an interest in BIM technology and sustainability, (2) To prepare students for employment in the

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Taufik Taufik; Dale Dolan

, we currently offer technical elective courses related to powerelectronics. These courses are mainly geared for our EE students, although they are also open toany non-electrical engineering majors. The following is the list of these courses along with theirdescriptions3:EE 410 Power Electronics IIntroduction to power electronics and power semiconductor devices. Analysis, performancecharacterization, and design of power electronics converters such as: rectifiers, DC choppers, ACvoltage controllers, and single-phase inverters. Operation of DC motor drives. Use ofcommercially available software. 3 lectures, 1 laboratory.EE 411 Power Electronics IISwitching losses. Analysis, performance characterization, and design of snubber circuits andresonant

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Paul M. Jones; J. Richard Phillips

Professional Practice and the Engineering Curriculum Paul M. Jones, J. Richard Phillips Corporate & University Relations Group/ Harvey Mudd CollegeAbstractThere are elements of professional practice common to the engineering profession in allengineering fields. However, many, if not most, engineering academic curricula allowlittle or no room for professional practice other than minimal capstone projects. In thosethat do, the approach is widely scattered. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: (1) Tobriefly describe a professional practice program (featuring sponsored senior designprojects) as adopted by California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA); (2) Todiscuss difficulties

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Antonella Sciortino; Lisa Star; Tesfai Goitom

Europe. - Water Pollution. Managing and solving water pollution problems: The Orange County "Toilet to Tap" project and the London Sewers project.Information should be provided on the purpose of the two projects, their geographical locations,the starting and ending time of construction, the names of the design engineers and theconstruction company. The main body of the paper and the presentation has to include thefollowing sections: 1. Technical discussion: Students need to describe the main component of the design for the two projects including, if applicable, the structural design, the foundation design, and the design of the components of the projects and highlight similarity and unique features of

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Mohammed Alani; Alaa Ayoob; Jino Raj Xavier; Sameeullah Sharief; Mohammad Amin; Marcos Turquetti; Pradip Peter Dey

in the parent phone inthe form of vibration and ringing. This way parents can start looking for their missing childimmediately in an efficient way. There are many other tracking systems available in thecurrent market, but this proposed Easy Tracking system has some extra merits. Table-1 Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education 88exhibits a comprehensive comparison of other existing systems similar to the proposed EasyTracking system. Table-1. Comparison of Other Similar

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Harmonie A. Hawley; Brian O'Dell

Science Fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(1), 161-171.12 Lock, Roger. 1998. Fieldwork in the life sciences. International Journal of Science Education, 20(6), 633-642.13 Budhu, Muniram. 2002. Virtual Laboratories For Engineering Education. Proceedings of the InternationalConference on Engineering Education, August 18-21, 2002, Manchester, U.K.14 Glynn, E. F.; Fergusson, W. B. 1994. Innovative Introduction to Civil Engineering Curriculum. Journal OfProfessional Issues In Engineering Education And Practice, 120, 149-157. Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference  Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jeffrey Ashworth; Samer Shaghoury

byAbbot and von Doenhoff5. The results of this conversion are shown in Figure 1. 0.9 0.8 0.7 Lift Coefficient 0.6 0.5 0.4 2D 0.3 3D 0.2 0.1 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Angle of Attack (degrees

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Alex Dekhtyar; Anya L. Goodman; Aldrin Montana

improvement of ourapproach for the Spring 2013 offering.1. IntroductionBeyond higher education, computer science has always been an interdisciplinary field. The vastmajority of software serves purposes outside of the pure field of computing, and thus, buildingsoftware has always involved software developers collaborating with customers who came froma wide range of fields. At the same time, this interdisciplinary nature of the field, best expressed as “we build softwarefor everyone’s needs”, finds scant reflection in computer science education. Traditionalundergraduate computer science (CS) curriculum emphasizes technical proficiency, problem-solving skills, and breadth within the field of computer science, leaving learning about the Proceedings

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Lucia Riderer; Harmonie A. Hawley

, 2012. The three presenters were allaffiliated with the California State University, Fullerton. The Engineering disciplinesrepresented were Civil & Environmental, Mechanical, and Chemical Engineering. The openforum style allowed the Citrus College students to ask questions and promote discussionsamongst the faculty and students. Some of the main topics discussed were the differentengineering majors, what can be done with an engineering degree, how to obtain funding forgraduate school and the benefits of graduate school, and what standardized exams exist forengineers. A second presentation was held on June 1, 2012 by Dr. Joann Eisberg from ChaffeyCollege. Dr. Eisberg discussed the role of women in science and society; she encouraged theEEWIE

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Frank G. Jacobitz; Thomas F. Schubert

reflection papers, andformalized instructor observations. Overall, these CIE courses have been found to be a valuableapproach in the delivery of senior-level technical electives combined with an internationalexperience.IntroductionOver the past decade, the number of students at the University of San Diego (USD) involved inan international experience has surged to the point where more than 85 percent of USD’sundergraduates participate in study-abroad programs.1 There are a variety of reasons for thisincrease including an effort by the institution to internationalize the curriculum and a desire ofstudents to incorporate global competencies in their studies. An international experience can beobtained in many different ways, including year-long or term

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Bridget Benson; Bryan Mealy

virtual interaction. To maintain the course’s efficacy, the learningobjectives, problem assignments, quizzes, laboratory assignments, final design project, and finalexam all retain the same content as in-class instruction. Table 1 outlines how online tools willsubstitute for typical face-to-face interactions associated with in-class instruction. Table 1: Face to Face to Online Conversion Face to Face Online Tool In-Person Q&A on Video Lectures Moodle Forum (Q&A) In-Person Debug Support Moodle Forum (Debug) In-Class Quizzes Moodle Quiz In-Person Office Hours

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Fabricio Braga Soares de Carvalho; Orlando Rocha Baiocchi; Robert Friedman

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Liang Li Wu; Anis Hammoudeh; Gregory Washington

, their English proficiency wasdramatically improved by immersing in a diverse ethnic classroom. Even the most hesitantstudents were able to carry on conversations and convey their thoughts entirely in English.Figure 1 showed that out of 15 students, 12 students have advanced three levels of English basedon their final grade.After the hours of English, the 15 students were split among multiple disciplines in theirrespective fields, including four programs in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,Computer Engineering, and Civil Engineering. Three graduate mentors were hired to work inconjunction with professors providing research guidance. By the end of the program, studentswould be expected to finish their projects, with variations in

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Keith Level

WORK IN PROGRESS Using Mastering Engineering Software-Based Homework System in Statics and Circuits Classes Keith Level Las Positas College, Livermore, CAAbstractMastering Engineering is a web-based, homework management system, created by PearsonPublishing Company. It is currently available in 4 engineering courses and 2 science courses.Engineering Courses currently covered by the Mastering Engineering software include (1)Statics, (2) Dynamics, (3) Mechanics of Materials, and (4) Electrical Circuits. This paper willexamine the pros and cons of using this software, from a community college

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

David B. Lanning

graduation rate, shown in Table1. Of the 174 student cohort, 19 students were still at ERAU as of August 2012 (around half ofthese graduated in December 2012). The graduation percentage of around 42% is not atypical ofthe graduation rate in engineering at many universities, when considering that most of the currentstudents (14) will also make it to graduation. These results include several AE students whoswitched majors from AE to ME. Since the ME degree program is in the same department, andthe switch does not represent a drastic change on the part of the student, the author is notincluding them in the group that has switched majors. Table 1: Graduate rate for AE cohort Total cohort

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Danyang Li; Qiao Zhen; Albert Gordon; Bhaskar Raj Sinha; Marcos Turquetti; Mohammad N. Amin

subject’s body. There are anumber of such devices available that collect this kind of information and send it to a receiverusing Bluetooth. This project utilizes two such devices, a device for taking blood pressure (A &D Model UA-767 Plus BT-G) shown in Figure 1, and a device for measuring the temperature ofthe body (FORA IR20b Ear Thermometer with Bluetooth), shown in Figure 2. Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education 296     Figure 1: A & D Model UA-767 Plus BT

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Ameneh Akbari; Karla Ananias; Jeffery Bouchard; Qian Wang P.E.; George Law

/software depository on the internet. More importantly, it describes how these challengesare met and how the next micromouse groups can be better prepared.IntroductionEach year since 1972, the micromouse competitions have been held in cities and universitycampuses all around the world.1 The participants, students and engineers, design and programtheir micromice to autonomously find the center of a 16 by 16 cell maze within 10 minutes. Afterfinding the center, the micromouse may map the entire maze to locate the shortest route to thecenter. Using the shortest route, the micromouse will attempt to reach the center in a fastest run.The first generation of micromouse at California state university (CSUN), Northridge, was basedon the Motorola 68HC11

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Pamalee Brady; James Guthrie

,engineers, contractors) into local elementary school classrooms with overall goals that are two-fold. One goal is to use the design and construction practices to provide elementary schoolteachers with real world examples of math and science to reinforce standard curricula. Examplesinclude the calculation of slopes, areas and volumes, and applying scaling principles.A second goal is to introduce the design and construction professions to elementary schoolstudents with the hope that this will ignite an interest in some of the students that may lead torewarding careers. Beyond that it is hoped for all of the students an introduction to the designand construction professions will: 1) introduce them to the design process as a means of problemsolving, 2

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Tammy Yut-Ling Chan; Gustavo Borel Menezes

improve their work throughout thequarter.Key features of the courses included: 1) Dedicated class time was dedicated for students andinstructors to work together; 2) Teamwork enabled students, under time pressure, to analyzeengineering problems, formulate solutions, program, write, and prepare presentations; 3)Engineering problems were solved with widely-available software; and 4) Teams competed toproduce the best course manual for next year’s course.Preliminary results from surveys showed that students felt more confident and knowledgeablewhen presenting technical information, writing their reports, and using computer tools in theirsubsequent courses. They also used these skills later in their senior design projects. Compared totheir peers who

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jim Helbling; Angela Beck

. This steel substructure is obtained fromexisting stock in the ERAU Machine Shop, and students are required to investigate this existingstock in order to minimize costs to the university. By designing their models to meet the $550.00budgetary restriction, documenting their expenditures, and investigating the most cost-effectivemeans of fabrication, students engage in more socially responsible engineering. An imageshowing an example of a completed wind tunnel model is provided in Figure 1 below: Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Amelito G. Enriquez; Denise Hum; Christine Woo; Brandon Price; Danni Redding Lapuz; Anna Camacho

students in STEM.1. IntroductionA recent report prepared by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology(PCAST) report, “Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates withDegrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,” indicates that the UnitedStates needs to produce one million additional STEM professionals in the next decade in order toretain its historical preeminence in science and technology. The report proposes that addressingthe retention problem in the first two years of college is the most promising and cost-effectivestrategy to address this need.1 The California Community College System, with its 112community colleges and 71 off-campus centers enrolling approximately 2.6 million

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Nina Robson P.E.

andlimited faculty involvement in the second project. In order to asses the approach, we usetechniques to uncover what the students are asking themselves as they try to solve eachchallenge. Based on these questions, the main project objectives such as critical thinking,responsibility for students’ own learning and intellectual growth, are discussed.IntroductionAn instructional strategy that comes close to emulating the constantly changing demands of oursociety is inductive teaching [1]. In this approach, the students are first presented with a challengeand they attempt to solve it. Learning takes place while students are trying to understand whatthey need to know to address that challenge. Students tackling these challenges quicklyrecognize the need

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

M. Cardenas

reach the upper-level courses; examples from Canterbury and Imperial College werepresented. Further work in exploring culturally-appropriate Millennial options, such as workwith personal electronics devices and gadgets, fab labs, and 3D printing, may be of use inengaging this generation in more hands-on learning.Bibliography 1) USDOT, Traffic Volume Trends, U.S. Department of Transportation, 2010, retrieved Janaury 10, 2013 from www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/10aprtvt/10aprtvt.pdf 2) T. Libbey, Young Buyers Are Few and Far Between, June 21, 2013, retrieved January 10, 2013 from http://blog.polk.com/blog/blog-posts-by-tom-libby/young-buyers-are-few-and-far-between 3) Jan Van Der Waard, Ben Immers, and Peter

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Raman Unnikrishnan; Victor H. Delgado; Hye Sun Moon; Edward Sullivan

surprisingly several remedies also. ECS first-yearretention has improved between 15 and 20% during the past five years. The approaches, analysesand results of the CSUF experience are expected to be useful to all, particularly for institutionswith large populations of first-time college goers or underrepresented minorities.1. BackgroundHigh-Impact Practices are defined as purposeful and effective educational practices whichdeepen student engagement and learning leading to college student success. 39 Through years ofanalyzing student gains Kuh found that students who participate in high-impact educationalpractices have higher student engagement gains than their peers. He recommends that students Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Foaad Khosmood; Phillip Nico

has beenoffered for 3 terms already with small improvements made after each term. In general studentsappreciate being given an opportunity to design aspects of the file system themselves. Creatingone’s own free block allocation system, or superblock format requires significant understandingof file system principles. Many students have anecdotally cited this assignment as somethingthey discussed during interviews.While TinyFS offers some design opportunities, its overall structure is fairly static with onlyspecified “gaps” to be filled by students. TinyFS is therefore limited in offering variety andscalability. A comparison of TinyFS and PolyFS is presented below.PolyFS and disk emulator overviewAt the architecture level, shown in Figure 1

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Nasser Alromaih; Mark Rajai; S. Jimmy Gandhi

includeentrepreneurship are Innovation (MSE 602), Professional Management (MSE 608b), andother financial and economical courses. All respondents (100%) found the entrepreneurial courses beneficial. The reasonscited included gaining entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, becoming an innovativeengineer, enhancing one’s capability to begin a business in the engineering field andcreating jobs for others. In the section below, the authors have presented the surveyresults that were collected from the 20 respondents at Cal State, Northridge.In Figure 1, the authors have presented the results for Q3, “Do you find theentrepreneurship courses beneficial?”Figure 1: Results showing if the students found entrepreneurship courses beneficial. Figure 2: Reasons why

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jeffrey Georgette; Brian Self; James Widmann; Kathryn Bohn; Eric Wang

communicate the information. The IBLA method calls forstudents making a prediction of a physical situation followed by witnessing the result andreaching conclusions - similar to the scientific method. The students run their own experimentsand thus take ownership of the learning process.As shown in Figure 1, Laws et al.1 show that using inquiry-based active learning instructiondramatically increases student performance on questions relating to force, acceleration, andvelocity. Proceedings of the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference  Copyright © 2013, American Society for Engineering Education

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Seema C. Shah-Fairbank; William Kitch; Kenneth Lamb P.E.

Implementation of a Proactive and Effective Advising Program in a Large Civil Engineering Program In the Face of Budgetary and Organizational Constraints Seema C. Shah-Fairbank, William Kitch and Kenneth Lamb Civil Engineering Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA Abstract Assessment data from a senior exit survey in 2009 indicated significant dissatisfactionwith the advising received at a large regional university. At the time the civil engineeringprogram had over 1500 undergraduate students and only 16 full-time faculty members, resultingin a student to faculty ratio of 90:1. A review of the

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2013 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Binod Tiwari

enrolled inthe engineering and computer science major were only 6.2% (CSUF, 2012)1. Likewise, out of5,349 enrolled post-bachelor degree students, 12.8% were in engineering and computer sciencemajors. Although the graduation rate of the entire university is 64%, the graduation rate of theengineering and computer science students is only 40%. The 4-year graduation rate of transferstudents in the engineering and computer science major is only 41%. These statistics show thatthe student enrollment in engineering majors is significantly low compared to the other majors.In addition, the graduation rate of the engineering students is much lower compared to thestudents in other majors. Despite the high demand of engineers nationwide, the students in