Conference Session

International Engineering Education I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Doug Lauffer; Frank Duda; Peter Idowu

percentages of male and femalestudents closer (47% female and 53% male)4. The representation of female learners in post-elementary science courses is however still very poor. Female students in advanced sciencesare estimated at 18%. The striking imbalance has motivated several constituents towardsfinding remedies for improving enrollment of female students as well as addressing the largerproblems of the entire Ugandan education system. The Association of Women Engineers,Technicians and Scientists in Uganda (WETSU) has proposed and initiated a number ofstrategies with varying degrees of success. Some of the ideas that have been tested are:shared laboratory facilities funded through community and government collaboration; careerguidance and counseling

Conference Session

Innovative Teaching/Learning Strategies

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

James Houdeshell

intervention is proposed. One proposedsolution to increase the viability of manufacturing related technology programs is to service alarger geographical area through the use of distance education. While pure distance educationaddresses the accessibility issue, it has inherent problems of higher attrition for lower divisionundergraduates, greater difficulties in applying teamwork skills, and lack of student access toequipment for appropriate laboratory experiences. While computer simulations can providerealistic instruction for many laboratory experiences, many of the current solutions require eithermoving the laboratories to the students or moving the students for extended time to thelaboratories. These choices are costly logistic nightmares or

Conference Session

Innovations in CE Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Kristine Martin; Kenneth Leitch; Jeffrey Will

, where a watershed is located, how beams and columns areconnected in a building frame, what work will need to be done to excavate a foundation,or how to lay out a roadway. With the advent of new computer technologies, it ispossible to take numerical 3-D data and render virtual computer models that arepresented in 3-D, enhancing the learning experience in relation to both analysis anddesign in the civil engineering curriculum [1]. To this end, the College of Engineering at Valparaiso University has establishedthe Scientific Visualization Laboratory to improve the learning experience for studentsfor 3-D concepts that are hard to represent in conventional 2-D space [2-4]. Examplesinclude electromagnetic fields, complex organic molecules

Conference Session

ME Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Rogers; John Anderson; Corey Jones

energyengineers. The photovoltaic industry has been growing at a rate of 30% annually.1 Inaddition, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Center forPhotovoltaics predicts that within 20 years, the photovoltaic industry will employ more than150,000 Americans in the domestic, high-tech photovoltaic industry.2 Many technology-based schools often overlook educational programs in renewable energy engineering. Thiscan lead to a shortage of appropriately trained engineers in such fields. Implementing arenewable energy-engineering program will give the student a solid foundation infundamental physics and design-installation techniques required to work with renewabletechnologies. The field of study will be considered in many categories

Conference Session

Real World Applications

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Alberto Gomez-Rivas; Jorge Tito-Izquierdo; George Pincus

the theory, and with experimental results from other researchers. Knowledge of modernconcrete technologies permits significant economies, better quality of the structure, and meetingtight schedules required in the current workplace.Teaching Basic Concepts of Mix DesignInitial classes of the course are designed to prepare the students with the basics of concrete mixdesign, principally to understand the properties of concrete constituents. Students learn standardmethods for finding material properties. Laboratory work complements the theory and studentsdetermine material properties using available equipment. In this stage of the course, theprofessor defines the specific research for the semester which may vary according to newerfindings of the

Conference Session

Promoting ET Through K-12 Projects

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

John Marshall

even growth into a greater geographical area.Institutions seeking higher student enrollments in technical degree paths may wish toconsider replicating this simple and exciting programmable logic controller module. Thisstrong recruiting tool has provided us a pipeline of talented new students into theuniversity program.The ProgramThe University’s relationship with a local high school began with a simple invitation totheir technology education teacher. When asked if he would be interested in bringing aclass to tour our Industrial Power Transmission and Control laboratory, our phone callwas answered with a slightly skeptical – perhaps. The teacher wanted to visit us first anddetermine the usefulness of bringing a class to campus.His skepticism

Conference Session

Curriculum Development in Electr-Mech ET

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

James Rehg; Bruce Muller

Teaching PLCs with the IEC 61131 Standard Languages James Rehg, Bruce Muller Penn State AltoonaAbstractProgrammable Logic Controllers are the de facto standard for sequential control of discreteautomation systems and are fast becoming the system of choice for control of analog processsystems. The new languages introduced in the IEC 61131 PLC standard will increase the numberof applications suitable for PLC control. This paper provides a description of the new standardand describes a laboratory at Penn State Altoona that supports a two course sequence for PLC.The laboratory has 16 student stations and 4 automated assembly systems linked by an

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade for Teaching I

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Kemi Ladeji-Osias

Planning and Teaching an Undergraduate Course Jumoke O. Ladeji-Osias Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Morgan State University Baltimore, MD 21251AbstractPlanning a course involves many issues including choosing the objectives, scope and content,preparing a syllabus, developing lectures, laboratories, projects and assignments, and evaluationof students. Teaching the course is the implementation of the plan while developing a rapportwith the students and monitoring classroom dynamics. Teaching requires adapting your plan toyour current group of students and to the changing educational

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Tony Keller; Jeff Frolik

Experience course (EE/ME 001) is offered during theSpring semester as a follow-on to ENGR 2: Graphical Communication (CAD). EE/ME 001consists of a 1-hour weekly lecture and a 2.75-hour laboratory session. There is a single lecturesection for all students and several labs sections (capped at 20 students each). Both ECE and MEfaculty and staff are closely involved with this course ensuring a balanced, interdisciplinaryflavor. Teaching assistants from both departments mentor students during the laboratory portionof the course.Lecture Component The once a week, one hour lecture component focuses on topics related to theengineering profession, engineering design, electrical-mechanical systems, and wireless sensorsnetworks (Table 1

Collection

2005 ASEE Midwest Section Conference

Authors

Stephan A. Durham; Mark L. Kuss; Ernest Heymsfield; Hanna Sheppard

which neither parent holds acollege degree. The overall objective of this program is to increase enrollment for students inhigher education institutions. This program involves a six week summer program in which thestudents are engaged in “hands on” activities in the areas of math, laboratory sciences,composition and literature. The Department of Civil Engineering assists in the laboratory scienceportion of the program. Since the Department’s involvement, students have become involved ininnovative ongoing research. Research the students perform is practical and experimental andincludes topics such as field permeability of asphalt, in situ permeability of concrete, andtheoretical specific gravity of asphalt mixtures. At the end of the six week

Conference Session

IP, Incubation, and Business Plans

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

W. Andrew Clark

environment andculture for the establishment of student driven companies, improvement of commercialization ofuniversity intellectual property, enhancement of the ability to attract technology-basedbusinesses and provision of a living laboratory for student to work within the entrepreneurialenvironment. Just as is the case for the traditional research universities, business incubators atregional universities provide the supporting infrastructure that permits the university faculty totake advantage of SBIR and STTR programs to launch businesses and move university IP towardcommercialization. In addition, the formation of a university-managed business incubatorprovides an excellent environment for non-university established technology businesses

Conference Session

Tricks of the Trade

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Naomi Tillison; David Hand

by the NationalScience Foundation (NSF), by industry partners of Dow, DuPont, Fisher-Rosemount, andPepperl+Fuchs, and by MTU. The purpose of this paper is two-fold; it seeks to explore andevaluate assessment techniques and to determine if the EPSC course does indeed smooth thetransition of graduates into the workplace.The EPSC is a Unit Operations Laboratory (UOL) containing the following laboratory- or pilot-scale processes: (1) activated carbon adsorption, (2) advanced oxidation, (3) air strippingutilizing a packed tower, (4) ion exchange, (5) jar testing for coagulation/flocculation/sedimentation system optimization, (6) activated sludge treatment using sequencing batchreactors (SBRs), and (7) a drinking water treatment plant (Table 1

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

David Ollis

of appropriate technologies from an engineering device dissectionlaboratory in order to enhance achievement of course and student learning objectives infour courses with substantial technical content: Spanish: Language, Technology, and Culture (CHASS) (Fall, 2004) Design Studio (Design) (Fall, 20054) Communication Technologies (Education)(Spring 2005) Computer Technologies (Education)(Spring 2005) The overarching objective of the collaboration is to demonstrate the utility of ashared, central campus engineering laboratory as an enhancing and enriching agent fornon-engineering courses with appreciable technical themes or components. The particular technologies available for our collaboration were

Conference Session

New Frontiers in Manufacturing Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Gary Fischer; Richard Jerz

include introduction to design, manufacturing, anddesign for manufacturing; phases of a product life cycle; product design process; introduction toengineering drawing standards and graphics; computer-aided design (CAD) modeling; andvarious manufacturing processes. The course includes "hands-on" CAD/CAM and computernumeric control (CNC) machining projects.This paper discusses experiences in designing and delivering the DFM course. Among the issuesthat had to be resolved were what topics should be included; what book or books should be used;what software should be used; what kind of laboratory experience should be included; and whatresource materials should be chosen for the course?I. IntroductionThe College of Engineering at The University of Iowa

Conference Session

Design of Lab Experiments

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Bijan Sepahpour

critical final link for a thorough understanding and appreciationof scientific and engineering theories. Every possible effort should be made not to deprive thefuture engineers or educators from this vital component of their education [1]. It is thereforenecessary to continue development of effective and efficient pedagogical methods andtechniques for the engineering laboratory experience [2].Laboratory apparatus is generally expensive due to low production levels, specialized featuresand significantly higher Design Costs built into the final cost. For example, the range of cost fora typical educational fatigue testing apparatus is from $28,500 to $32,500. These units arebasically adaptations of the R. R. Moore Industrial Fatigue testing devices

Conference Session

Innovations in ChE Labs

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Brian Lefebvre; Stephanie Farrell

to determine operating conditions for displaying the separation of colorfulproteins in a variety of course settings. Anion exchange chromatography demonstrations havebeen developed, showing that a mixture of flavodoxin (orange color) and green fluorescentprotein (green color) can be selectively eluted at different salt concentrations, providing apowerful demonstration of the principles of protein binding and elution. These concepts havebeen expanded to full-scale experiments suitable for unit operations laboratories or upper-levelbiochemical engineering electives. This paper describes how these visually-appealingdemonstrations and lab exercises centered on bioseparations can be incorporated into lecture-and lab-based chemical engineering

Conference Session

Real World Applications

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Rainer Fink

Laboratory at Texas A&M University, results obtained usingNational Instruments LabVIEW and DAQ hardware are compared to data obtained using a state-of-the-artTeradyne A567 automated semiconductor tester. Deviations in results obtained using each test resourceare investigated. “Damaged” devices are interspersed within a 100 chip set to assure coverage in thestudent generated test solution as well as demonstrate statistical concepts.IntroductionDefinition: Correlation – ability to get the same answer using different pieces of hardware or software.Students at Texas A&M University are uniquely suited to explore the affects of high tech semiconductortesting methodologies and correlation issues between state-of-the-art bench-top test equipment

Conference Session

Electrical & Computer Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Mohamed Chouikha; Don Millard

systems that have historically been restricted to specific laboratory facilities. Thepaper’s presentation will demonstrate the pedagogical practices, the interactive materials, andaccompanying hardware/software that turn the Tablet PC into a mobile laboratory suite -integrating a function generator, multimeter, 5v power supply, and scope. A description of theinitial pilot project deployment is provided along with an explanation of how the student’slaboratory results will be integrated into a WebCT course management system (from connectionsto the hardware system) for automatic grading and review.BackgroundEngineering students are typically running multiple applications while simultaneously usingbrowsers, instant messaging and search engines on

Conference Session

New Learning Models

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Michele Perrin

little equipment, and can be used to increase students’ conceptualunderstanding. Each activity demonstrates a basic engineering principle taken from courses,such as Differential Equations, Physics, Circuits, and Thermodynamics – topics that are requiredclasses for all disciplines. Emphasis is placed on convenience and ease of use by the professor,with most equipment small enough to carry in a pocket or briefcase. These demonstrationsintroduce a laboratory element into the lecture without the necessity of having a laboratory on-site.IntroductionOne morning while sitting in on a sophomore engineering class on Electromagnetism, I watchedthe professor painstakingly lead a group of 75 students through an explanation of a Gaussiansphere using only his

Conference Session

Innovation in Curriculum Development

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Shreeekanth Mandayam; Beena Sukumaran; Kauser Jahan; Yusuf Mehta

field, yet undergraduate engineering students in civil and environmental engineering arerarely exposed to digital imaging through their coursework. The College of Engineering atRowan University received funding from NSF to integrate digital imaging technology (DIT) inour undergraduate engineering curriculum. Faculty from all engineering disciplines withexpertise in DIT participated in this exciting project to develop hands-on experiments forundergraduate engineering students. Experiments developed were such that all engineeringdisciplines would benefit from the endeavor. Certain digital imaging experiments havegenerated a lot of excitement in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program as many ofthe laboratory experiments are extremely

Conference Session

Innovative Teaching Techniques

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Jill Lane; Sarah Rzasa; Richard Behr; Christine Masters

offer some help to others.The innovation, called “MechANEX,” is a set of software modules and matched, bench-scalelaboratory exercises aimed at seven key statics concepts. The assessment consists of acombination of pre-tests, post-tests, on-line surveys, and phone interviews. Discussed are detailsof the proposed assessment plan and the logic behind the individual assessment instrumentsemployed. Preliminary results are also provided.IntroductionIn the fall of 2004, an innovation was incorporated into an existing introductory statics course atPenn State (EMCH 011). The innovation consisted of a set of software and laboratory exercisesinvolving key concepts related to the course. Because this innovation had not yet been utilizedin the classroom in

Conference Session

Innovative Techniques

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Kellen Maicher; Patrick Connolly

inthe current user interface and navigation components.The interactive drawing and response tool portion of the tutorial was presented separately toapproximately eighty students in an introductory engineering graphics course at PurdueUniversity. These students had some basic experience with multiview drawing and had completedseveral simple problems of this nature in course laboratory exercises. The students were asked tocomplete ten problems in the interactive drawing and response module and were asked tocomplete a short survey regarding the interactive tool. From these responses, the followingoverall opinions were noted: • The students consistently found the tool to be easy to use. • The error messages were not clear or were somewhat

Conference Session

Curriculum Development in Computer/Communications ET

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Warren Koontz

Graham Bell patented the “photophone”, an opticaltelephone system. Although telephone traffic was carried primarily by wire through most of thetwentieth century, investigation of optical communication continued. By 1960 optical fibers werebeing used in medical imaging, but their attenuation was much too high for long distancecommunication. Around 1970, however, researchers at Corning developed optical fiber withattenuation of less than 20 dB/km and Bell Laboratories demonstrated a point-to-point fiber optictelecommunication system in 1975. Thanks to further improvements of optical fiber as well as inlaser diodes and photodiodes, the performance of fiber optic telecommunication systems hascontinued to improve. Currently available optical fibers

Conference Session

Real World Applications

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark French

outside speaker – an engineer from a racing team – discussed his duties andresponsibilities on an actual team, both in preparation for and during a race. He brieflytouched on tire pressure, recording, adjusting wing angles, ambient conditions and theireffects on the car.12. Develop an understanding of the role of the “factory” in the manufacture of the engine, chassis, tires, etc.No activity in initial course offering. We are seeking a guest lecturer for the next courseoffering.Dynamics ModuleIt is not possible to present details on from all the modules in this paper, so we will usethe vehicle dynamics module and the engine module, as representative examples.Approximately three weeks of lecture and four weeks in the laboratory were devoted

Conference Session

Computer Based Measurements

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Narciso Macia

programming. This feature makes it veryattractive since our control classes and laboratories are populated by students from mechanical,manufacturing and electronic backgrounds. In addition, this particular PLC has built-in dataacquisition capabilities, making it ideal for comparing theoretical responses (obtained bysimulating a SIMULINK-based model) with that of the actual hardware. Further, PLCs areextremely common in industrial and manufacturing environments, and the student’s familiaritywith them can serve as an added bonus in seeking employment. This paper presents themodeling, parameter estimation, and simulation procedures. The setup can also be easilymodified so that it is controlled by other types of controllers (microcontroller-based, PC

Conference Session

Inservice Teacher Engineering Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Jane Schielack; Carol Stuessy; George Nickles

environmentwas designed to help bridge the existing “chasm” between how science is carried out in researchenvironments and how it is taught in secondary and undergraduate classrooms3. The LRCprofessional development environment brings together teams of experts from university andpublic school classrooms and laboratories to investigate the unique aspects of this environmentthat affect student learning. One assumption underlying the LRC is that mathematics and scienceteaching and learning will be improved when all participants in a learning environment ofdistributed expertise (a) become more connected to the authentic science research done in fieldsettings or laboratories and (b) work together to design innovative instructional frameworks thattranslate

Conference Session

New Trends in Graduate Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Preston McCrary; Chip Ferguson; Aaron Ball; Wesley Stone

needs of aunique region. The focus will be on approaches graduate education can take to address thegrowing need for technically prepared leaders in engineering fields. Specifically, partnershipand engagement actions taken by WCU and the benefits gained will be presented. Through theCenter for Integrated Technologies (CIT), graduate students have been involved in creativeprojects with organizations such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Caterpillar, Borg-Warner,Bombardier Recreational Products, and U.S. GreenTech. Additional information will beprovided on equipment resources available for industry use through the CIT and the developmentof a millennium campus to provide additional resources for entrepreneurial startups. Because ofthe positive

Conference Session

Course and Curriculum Innovations in ECE

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Tolga Duman; Cihan Tepedelenlioglu; Antonia Papandreou-Suppappola; Venkatraman Atti; Andreas Spanias

elective UG course entitled “Introduction to signal processing forcommunications research,” is being developed for Fall 2005. Evaluation and assessment procedures are inplace to evaluate the modules and measure the success of our objectives.* This work is sponsored by the NSF CRCD-EI award 0417604. Page 10.19.1 “Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”1. IntroductionTraditional undergraduate (UG) topics in electrical engineering and computer science rely on structuredclasses, laboratories

Conference Session

Crossing the Discipline Divide!

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Krumholz; Robert Martello; Jonathan Stolk

of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Educationfirst day of the fall semester, as an eager group of students watch their instructors removerandom objects from a box and call the class to order…The Semester BeginsOn the first day of materials science class, students in the Paul Revere: Tough as Nails courseblock were given a challenge. They were asked to form three-person teams; select a commonconsumer product; design laboratory experiments to analyze technical aspects of materials usedin the product; explore the cultural, environmental and political values embedded in the product;identify an approximate “ancient

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Carter; Catherine Brawner; Miriam Ferzli; Eric Wiebe

NSF-Course, Curriculum, and LabImprovement pilot project, the LabWrite project created a web site that was used as part ofsmall-scale study at North Carolina State University1. This two-semester, iterative studyinvolved the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data that supported the belief that theLabWrite approach could improve both the quality of the lab reports being written, the students’specific knowledge of the topic covered in the laboratory, and their understanding of the processof scientific investigation. Included in this pilot project was a materials engineering laboratory2.The second phase of this funded project has taken place over the last couple of years and has ledto continued improvements to the students’ and