AC 2009-966: A SIMPLE, YET EFFECTIVE, DEMONSTRATION OF POLYMERICMECHANICAL BEHAVIORLanny Griffin,Jeffrey Swab, United States Military Academy Page 14.104.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 A Simple, Yet Effective, Demonstration of Polymeric Mechanical BehaviorAbstractDeveloping an appreciation for the mechanical behavior of polymers materials in a lecture modecan be challenging for students if they have not had the benefit of a laboratory experience. Wehave developed a simple demonstration of thermoplastic polymeric behavior using low-densitypolyethylene bags. The demonstration illustrates strengthening, rate effects
. Debbie McCoy Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TennesseeAbstractThe Research Alliance in Math and Science (RAMS) program is a twelve-week summerresearch internship program for under-represented students majoring in computer science,mathematics, engineering and technology. It is carried out through the Computing andComputational Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Theobjective of the RAMS program is to identify students and faculty members in computersciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology disciplines for summer internships insupport of the long-term goal of increasing the number of under-represented minorities
AC 2009-2426: A STATUS REPORT ON A COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM FORHANDS-ON LEARNING, SEVERE WEATHER, AND NEXT-GENERATIONMULTIFUNCTION RADARMark Yeary, University of Oklahoma Dr. Mark Yeary is an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the Atmospheric Radar Research Center (ARRC). He has many years of experience as a teaching assistant, lecturer, and faculty member. Since January of 1993, he has taught many students in various laboratories and lecture courses, culminating in approximately 14 years of teaching experience. For the 1999-00 academic year, he received the Outstanding Professor Award, given by the Texas A&M student chapters of IEEE and Eta
thecharacter and scope of the mechanical engineering profession. It is put forward in this paper thatstudents who understand the scope of their major are more likely to have a stronger belief in thecorrectness of their choice, thus resulting in fewer transfers out of the program. Through designof appropriate self-discovery laboratories, it is also hypothesized that freshmen students willdevelop a relational understanding between fundamental courses (i.e., physics, chemistry andmath) and future curricula. This is important as many engineering students transfer out of theprogram before reaching upper level courses.This paper will discuss the development and implementation of hands-on activities for freshmenstudents in the Mechanical Engineering (ME
AC 2009-217: A LABVIEW FPGA TOOLKIT TO TEACH DIGITAL LOGICDESIGNTroy Perales, Texas A&M University Troy Perales graduated from the Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) Program in 2007 and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Computer Science at Texas A&M University. He is graduate assistant for teaching within the EET Program and is responsible for the development and delivery of laboratories associated with digital design and analog electronic devices.Joseph Morgan, Texas A&M University Joseph A. Morgan has over 20 years of military and industry experience in electronics and telecommunications systems engineering. He joined the Engineering Technology and Industrial
242 Teaching Classical Control to Mechanical Engineers via Take-Home Experimental Setup Based on Microcontrollers Vasco D. Polyzoev, Eniko T. Enikov Advanced Micro and Nano Systems Laboratory, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, The University of ArizonaI. IntroductionSupplementing a control systems class with a hands-on experience for students by working on areal dynamical system helps in better understanding the classical control theory and emphasizesthe importance of its applications. For a small size class this could be
as a technical course that requires a labcomponent. The underlying thought being that engineering students will have numerouslaboratory experiences within their engineering academic career and being able to get acourse on the history of modern engineering which counts toward a core requirementearly in their career will provide them an unique insight into engineering. Additionally,the creative hands-on laboratory experiences and associated data collection willencourage some of the non-engineering students to consider switching to engineering!The presentation of engineering in the modern world within ENGR 1200 at UT Tyler alsoincludes laboratory experiences for the freshmen engineering students. These laboratoryexperiences come from the Summer
instruction via semester endingstudent evaluations that were highly critical of the lack of laboratory technology. Attendance andstudent utilization of these labs dropped considerably once it was discovered that the equipmentcould no longer keep pace with current software needs. For this particular graphics program, thestate of technology in the computer labs was crucial for the success of the core curriculum. The Page 14.62.2computer graphics curriculum has many rigors, perhaps none more important than sustaining alearning environment with contemporary technology.In all disciplines, it is crucial that students possess access to the latest technology
Industry–Student Partnerships in Development and Sharing of Educational Content Involving LabVIEWAbstractThe biomedical engineering (BME) students at our university often need hardware and softwarefor data acquisition, automation and data analysis for their instrumentation laboratory classes andopen-ended design projects every semester. We have teamed with the Education Division atNational Instruments to form a collaborative partnership for the necessary resources and to createteaching material to facilitate students with their design projects. National Instruments havedonated NI ELVIS system instrumentation equipment during the 2007–2008 academic year aswell as continuous support to help students with their learning objectives
. For example, basics of grantwriting, the importance of maintaining a laboratory notebook, writing a technical report,chemical safety demonstrations or academic integrity are not addressed. At our University, wehave incorporated these topics into the seminar series in addition to presentations dealing withcultural aspects. Most of the speakers are from different departments within the University.Each seminar also included a critique (homework) submission to get the feedback on their likeand dislike about the presentations. These responses have been very positive and encouraging.Students have also expressed interest in many other topics such as time management, educationalresearch and interpersonal management. Thus, there are a number of
Page 14.33.2mandate that all engineering students take the new course - neither computer science courses norAP credits can be used to replace it. What follows is a discussion of the redesign of the course,information about the addition of hands-on laboratories, and an assessment of the success ofthose laboratory experiences.RedesignAs a first step in the redesign process, eight years ago, the associate dean for the school formed acommittee to evaluate the curriculum of the freshman EGR 53L class. Faculty members werepolled as to the future usability of the language being taught in EGR 53L. At the time, studentswould learn either C or C++. While the faculty generally agreed that students planning to pursuegraduate school in most engineering
learning tools for ET students. Earlyexposure and repetition is an effective approach of learning whether it is statistics25 or otherknowledge42. The critical ingredients found in the published educational research on teachingand learning of statistics that can be potentially adopted by electronics engineering technologyprograms are summarized as follows: ̇ Using real-world data and problems ̇ Active learning of students ̇ Using software and simulation ̇ Using statistics in laboratories and projects ̇ Early and frequent exposure to statistics. Based on these approaches that can work effectively for electronics engineering technologyprogram in the education of statistics, a learning-by-using method is used in
AC 2009-2063: UTILIZING ROBOTICS IN TEACHING MICROCONTROLLERPROGRAMMING TO MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING STUDENTSArif Sirinterlikci, Robert Morris University ARIF SIRINTERLIKCI is currently an Associate Professor of Engineering at Robert Morris University. He has been the Coordinator of the RMU Learning Factory and Director of Engineering Laboratories. He holds a B.S. and an M.S., both in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, and a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Ohio State University. He has conducted research and taught in mechanical, industrial, manufacturing engineering, and industrial technology fields. He has been active in ASEE
nanomedicine, self-assembly, tribiology, and nanobiomaterialsto learn first-hand the engineering and design challenges. The course culminated with researchor design proposals and oral presentations that addressed specific engineering/design issuesfacing nanobiotechnology and/or nanomedicine. The assessment also included an exam (onlyfirst offering), laboratory write-ups, reading of research journal articles and analysis, and anessay on ethical/societal implications of nanotechnology, and summative questionnaire. Thecourse exposed students to cross-disciplinary intersections that occur between biomedicalengineering, materials science, chemistry, physics, and biology when working at the nanoscale.We will also discuss the lessons learned and changes made
, Engineering and Mathematics Mentoring from the White House and the 2008 IEEE Education Society Hewlett-Packard/Harriett B. Rigas Award. Dean Schrader received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso University, and her M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D. in Systems and Control, both from University of Notre Dame.Patricia Davies, Purdue University Dr. Patricia Davies. Dr. Davies currently serves as a professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University and director of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. She joined the faculty at Purdue in 1987. She may be reached at daviesp@ecn.purdue.edu.W. M. Kim Roddis, George Washington University Dr. Kim Roddis. Professor
in this rapidly evolving area hinges critically on the availability of well-educatedengineers able to bridge the architectural and physical gaps in SoC design. This work is an ambitiouscollaborative effort by the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at RowanUniversity and the Engineering Science (ES) department at Camden County College (CCC) to integrate System-on-Chip (SoC) concepts across the curricula. More specifically, a curricular prototype is under developmentthat cuts across the artificial course boundaries and introduces SoC knowledge through vertically-integrated and problem-oriented laboratory experiments. Beginning with basic concepts, this approachimmerses students in actual system-design projects
Simulation of the Thermal Method for Nondestructive TestingIntroductionThe thermal nondestructive testing (TNDT) method is widely used for inspection of industrialparts and components. The method involves heating the object and subsequently measuringthe temperature of its surface. This change in temperature provides information about the testobject’s structure. The surface temperature changes if the discontinuity exists inside theobject.The laboratory training allows students to understand the fundamental processes, which takeplace during the TNDT procedure. Students are able to simulate this procedure use FEMLABsoftware package. This interactive software package is based on application of partialdifferential equations for
, loss budgeting, Bit-Error-Rate budgeting, and transmission capacity budgeting arekey to optical communication system design. Both cost and performance are the concerns insystem design and often times trade-offs have to be made. Wavelength Division Multiplication(WDM) technology is essential in today’s networks. Issues related to dense WDM and coarseWDM are discussed. At the end of this section, students are expected to design a single channelmulti-building campus network and single channel undersea network with the givenspecifications. To help students understand basic concepts taught in class and put knowledge in use and gainhands-on experiences with optical fiber and optical components, both classroom demonstrationsand laboratory
board (Figure 1). Figure 1: DE2 board controlling Create robot. 1EE484, Advanced Computer Architecture using VHDL, builds upon the computer architecturecourse. As noted in the title, the course utilizes VHDL throughout the semester implementingdesigns on the DE2 board. This senior-level elective uses multiple soft processor cores on anFPGA to study multi-core designs in a laboratory exercise. Our students instantiate multiplecores using the Altera Nios® II soft processor and associated Computer-Aided Design (CAD)tools. We demonstrate that multiprocessor systems can be developed, implemented, and studiedby undergraduate students due to the availability and accessibility of design tools and FPGAdevelopment boards. 2
withinterchangeable cartridges for dye injection into a flow stream; flow measurement with venturi,orifice and pitot tube meters; shell-and-tube, extended area and double pipe heat exchange; andpacked bed and fluidized bed performance. The DLMs are effective learning tools, but are theyuseful in collecting laboratory data?An experimental study was performed to determine the duty of the DLM shell-and-tube heatexchanger, and then to compare the results to theoretical predictions. Although a few minormodifications of the apparatus were necessary in order to obtain accurate data, experimental heattransfer rates on the tube side (539-831 W) were within 15-20% of theoretical predictions.Similarly, experimental heat transfer rates on the shell side (681-1,068 W
, University of Houston MIGUEL RAMOS is the Director of Accreditation and Assessment Services for the College of Technology at the University of Houston. His primary focus has been the practical application of assessment and evaluation strategies to enhance educational quality in the college and university. Prior to joining the University of Houston, Dr. Ramos worked as a researcher for the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, and as an Evaluator for Boston Connects. He earned a Ph.D. in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation from Boston College in 2004.William Fitzgibbon, University of Houston WILLIAM FITZGIBBON, III earned his BA and PhD degrees from Vanderbilt University in
bioengineering experiences in the chemical engineering curriculum39Trouble SpotsTrouble spots for this course include: ≠ Students may possess weak math skills. Instructors can develop handouts to step students through difficult solution processes (such as solving differential equations). Have them practice with in-class problems and homework before testing them. ≠ Students may have difficulty in connecting highly theoretical content to real industrial applications – if there is an internet connected computer and projector in the classroom, instructors can use online and/or laboratory demonstrations to make a strong connection. This connection can also help students with their follow-on classes
our teaching methods, which include real-time signalprocessing laboratories using low-cost DSP processors, and hands-on projects. We will alsopresent a course assessment and outcome, which will include how the students apply their gainedDSP knowledge to their capstone senior projects. Finally, we will address the possibleimprovement of the course content and associated laboratories.I. IntroductionDigital signal processing (DSP) technology and its advancements have continuously impactedthe disciplines of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering technology programs. This isdue to the fact that DSP technology plays a key role in many current applications of electronics,which include digital telephones, cellular phones, digital satellites
considerations that will reduce the test portion manufacturingcost. This process is calling Design for Testability (DFT). The skills a test engineer should have include mastery of basic circuits includingthe ability to design and troubleshoot them using laboratory equipment as well asAutomatic Test Equipment (ATE). The test engineer should also be able to program(C++, MATLAB, and LabVIEW) and to effectively communicate technical issues to bothproduct marketers (possibly non-technical) as well as product designers (very technical). The high demand of the electronics industry is the main reason for establishingnew classes in universities. Practice based education is one of the many ways the “can dospirit” can be inspire in many students
and UK began to contact the Ministry of Higher Education directly.A new leadership in the Ministry of Higher Education and the creation of a strongerimplementation team in the summer of 2006 were the turning point toward building effectivepartnerships between Afghan and foreign institutions of higher learning. Table 1 reflects theUniversity Partnership Program.The partnership between the University of Hartford (UH) in West Hartford, Connecticut, USA,and Herat University (HU) in Herat City, Afghanistan was initiated in August 2007 to developand implement a modern program to strengthen and modernize engineering education at HU.The program includes a number of activities such as curriculum review and revision, facultydevelopment, and laboratory
fundamental principles are now embedded in variouscomputational software packages developed by nuclear fuel vendors, software companies,universities and national laboratories. These software packages have become a larger componentof nuclear engineering practice, and therefore a gap presents itself as nuclear engineers transitionfrom the classroom to the workplace. Furthermore, the currently increasing demand for nuclearengineers is persuading more nuclear engineers to explore their career opportunities immediatelyafter receiving their undergraduate degree. This implies that most of these engineers will enter Page 14.484.2the workplace with little to
use in everything from automobiles to remotelysituated data loggers. A balance needs to be struck in offering these courses: basic conceptsmust be conveyed along with skills that will allow students to be productive in future situations Page 14.826.2where they will use these devices. Basic concepts such as interrupts, memory maps and parallelports can be taught in a classroom with accompanying text and laboratory. Many standarddemonstration boards exist that can serve as a vehicle for showcasing these concepts in the lab1.Many courses have been developed with these types of boards2,3,4. What can be lacking in suchan approach is giving the
concept of frontallearning. The capability of the developed virtual environments is to offer experiential learning,simulation-based learning, and guided exploratory learning. Finally, a wireless sensor networkwas deployed in the laboratory to collect real-time information of students’ activities andmachine operation conditions. The impact of the proposed methodology on student learningoutcomes was examined. Generally, the proposed methodology is beneficial to the technologicaleducation.IntroductionMicrosystems, often referred to as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), are miniaturizedmechanical and electrical systems with a dimensional range within a few micrometers. MEMSinclude a wide range of applications in the automotive [1-3
. Page 14.1227.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 The influence of a research experiences for undergraduates program on students’ attitudes toward engineering researchAbstractThe results of the second year study of a National Science Foundation Research Experiences forUndergraduates (REU) Site are presented in this paper. The program recruited studentsnationwide to participate in hands-on experimental research in a mechanical engineeringdepartment for eight weeks in the summer of 2008. The program matched 10 students withfaculty and graduate student mentors in several mechanical engineering laboratories, includingexperimental fluid dynamics, micro-sensors, laser micromachining, and advancedmanufacturing
. The travel arrangements for the DIT students were arranged by DIT. The PU students received $5,000 which covered their travel and some of their lodging. DIT students received £5,000 which covered their travel, lodging, and because of the current exchange rate, the Dublin students had some money for other exchange activities.Academic and Intellectual AchievementInterestingly, all four students felt that the level of courses was at a lower level than at their home institution, but that the appropriateness of content was about right. The only exception was the sophomore student from Purdue. The two DIT students felt that the effectiveness of teaching and laboratory experience was about right. They also were very impressed with the nature of the