Conference Session

To Design and Conduct Experiments

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Stephen McClain

,acting in the vertical direction with no drag resistance, a projectile fired at an angle θ with agiven initial velocity, v, will travel a horizontal distance, s, equal to v 2 sin (2θ ) s= (5) gThe students tested the potato gun on a flat section of a farmland owned by the parents of one ofthe students. They measured the distance each potato traveled using a measuring wheel. Theangle with which the potatoes were fired was determined by measuring the rise, H, and the run, Lof the barrel. Substituting for the angle in the above equation and solving

Conference Session

Freshman Success/Retention Strategies

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Paul Blowers

the entire class. The results from this analysis are shown in Figure 6. 1) Rank the topics that we covered this semester from most useful to least useful? Give a brief description of why you ranked the topics this way. 2) What aspects of the course were most beneficial for you this semester? 3) What topics would you choose to include in this class? 4) Describe one activity that we could do in class that would make one of the topics more informative/more exciting than it was this semester. 5) What common theme(s) did you notice throughout the semester that tied the topics together? Figure 5 - A final open-ended course evaluation by the students. In Figure 6, a lower score means that students

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students for Success

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Beyerlein; Robert Drew; Matthew Walker; Karl Rink; Dan Gerbus; Dan Cordon; Edwin Odom

Works (IEWorks or IEW),12 was developed at the University of Idaho underthe guidance of Dr. Edwin Odom in 1994. This group was molded after Kelly Johnson’s designof the Skunk Works13 at Lockheed in the 1940’s. Today, IEWorks consists of students involvedin the Mechanical Engineering senior capstone design classes, graduate student mentors, andseveral faculty members involved in engineering design. This paper will focus on the graduatestudent experience in IEWorks.The IEWorks graduate students are funded as capstone senior design team mentors and, inaddition to the typical course load, work together on various projects to challenge the student todevelop these softer skills. With these daunting challenges, much time is spent by the student towork

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Donald Lenhert; David Soldan; Andrew Rys

Curriculum Committee. He has developed and taught the microprocessor designcourse since the middle 1970’s. He is working on an NSF CRCD grant on real-time embedded systems. Dr. Lenhertedits the IEEE Test Technology Technical Council Newsletter for IEEE Design and Test of Computers.ANDREW RYSAndrew Rys is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Kansas State University. He serves as Chair ofthe Electrical Engineering Curriculum Committee. Dr. Rys has been teaching courses in electronics, optoelectronics,integrated circuit design, and solid-state electronic devices. His current research interests are mainly concerned withelectrical characterization of wide bandgap semiconductors. Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Chetan Sankar; P.K. Raju

Session 3225 Importance of Ethical and Business Issues in Making Engineering Design Decisions: Teaching through Case Studies Chetan S. Sankar and P.K. Raju, Auburn University, AL 36849 ABSTRACT This paper discusses the development of a multi-media case study that documentsthe events and decisions leading to the January 27th , 1986 teleconference where thedecision on launching the STS 51-L, Challenger Space Shuttle, was made. Thedifference between this case study and others is that it focuses on the processes used, thefive design options that were presented to the NASA management during 1977

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Per Reinhall; Michael Jenkins; Joyce Cooper; Angela Linse; Eric Stuve

Session 2325 An Interdisciplinary Capstone Design Project in Fuel Cell Development Eric M. Stuve,a Per G. Reinhall,b Michael G. Jenkins,b Joyce S. Cooper,b Angela Linsec aDepartment of Chemical Engineering/ bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering cCenter for Engineering Learning and Teaching University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195AbstractSince 1996 the University of Washington has maintained an interdisciplinary capstone designproject to develop proton

Conference Session

Engineering Design in Pedagogy

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nathan Mentzer, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Kyungsuk Park, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education, K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

students starting andfinishing the sequence of engineering courses at each high school to help the team address thesecond research question: Does student participation in a multi-year sequence of courses focusedon engineering correlate with changes in performance or design knowledge?AcknowledgementThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation underGrant No. DRL-0918621. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendationsexpressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect theviews of the National Science Foundation. References1. National Center for Technological Literacy. Our Nation's Challenge. 2010 [cited 2010 January 12

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lisa Schneider, Cornell University; Maria Terrell, Cornell University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

concepts represented on the MAI from pre-calculus are average of numbers,average rate of change, fractional change, reasoning from and about graphs/graphical displays,asymptotic behavior, and signed numbers (arithmetic with positive and negative numbers). Themathematical concepts from introductory calculus include the derivative, the definite integral,and the fundamental theorem of calculus. MAI items were categorized into a short taxonomybased on the mathematical content area(s) represented and the cognitive process (knowing,applying, or reasoning) required to solve the item.In addition to analyzing students’ open-ended responses to the MAI test items, researchers alsoconducted in-depth interviews with a sample of fourteen students immediately

Conference Session

They're Not "Soft" Skills!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eckehard Doerry, Northern Arizona University; James Dean Palmer, Northern Arizona University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

number of team members. Thus, each member of a three-personteam would have 300 points to distribute across the three teammates, representing contributionsby each teammate to the team deliverable(s); in a well-balanced team, each team member wouldsimply receive 100 points. To guard against vindictive or wildly unfair ratings, detailedcommentaries justifying each rating in terms of tasks assigned and completed was required aswell, and students were informed that they might be contacted by the instructor for clarificationin extreme cases. Team members emailed their ratings to the instructor, who averaged theratings received for each team member (including the self-rating) to arrive at an overall peerrating; this rating was then counted towards the

Conference Session

Best Zone Paper Competition

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amelito G. Enriquez, Canada College

Tagged Topics

Council of Sections

Education Leadership and Policy.2. National Science Foundation (2007). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2007, Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics.3. National Science Foundation (2004). Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering: 2004, Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resource Statistics.4. Goodman Research Group (2002). Final report of the women’s experiences in college engineering (WECE) project, Cambridge, MA.5. Davis, C-S. & Finelli, C.J. (2007), Diversity and Retention in Engineering, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, v2007, n111, p63-7.6

Conference Session

Robot Mania!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Meltem Alemdar, Georgia Institute of Technology; Jeffrey H. Rosen, Georgia Institute of Technology, CEISMC

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Robotics course instructor available to answer her questions and provide tips andresources, she became more confident in her role over the course of the semester and alsorealized that she is not “in this all alone.” The key point that the teacher reported in coming tothe ePDN Robotic course was that she felt the need to be educated to integrate Robotics into theschool curriculum and to develop technological fluency. She also reported that she first neededto experience Robotics design experience herself and to engage in a learning by designexperience through a professional development course in order to teach robotics courseseffectively in her school. The LEGO Robotics ePDN courses met these needs. She concludedthe interview by stating ”It s like a

Conference Session

Design Communications & Cognition II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Caleb DeValve, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Richard M. Goff, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

. Page 22.904.12References[1] Malik Q, Koehler MJ, Mishra P, Buch N, Shanblatt M, Pierce SJ, 2010. Understanding student attitudes in a freshman design sequence. International Journal of Engineering Education; 26(5): 1179-1191[2] Farrell S, Hesketh RP, Newell JA, Slater CS, 2001. Introducing freshmen to reverse engineering and design through investigation of the brewing process. International Journal of Engineering Education; 17(6): 588-592[3] Al-Rizzo H, Mohan S, Reed M, Kinley D, Hemphill Z, Finley C, Pope A, Osborn D, Crolley W, 2010. Directional-based cellular e-commerce: undergraduate systems engineering capstone design project. International Journal of Engineering Education; 26(5): 1285-1304.[4] Hines PD

Conference Session

Ethical Perspectives on the Grand Challenges of Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph R. Herkert, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

upon work supportedby the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1033111.References1. Berra, Y. (2002) When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It!: Inspiration and Wisdom from One of Baseball's Greatest Heroes, Hyperion: 1592. National Academy of Engineering (2008) Grand Challenges for Engineering, http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/Object.File/Master/11/574/Grand Challenges final book.pdf3. Marx, L. (1987) Does improved technology mean progress? Technology Review (January): 33-41; 714. Gray, E. (1988) The World That Moses Built, PBS, The American Experience5. Dolnick, S. (2010) On Bronx Stoops, a Highway’s Traffic Entertains, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/nyregion/02bottleneck.html

Conference Session

Integration of Liberal Education into Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George D. Ricco, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

traversing of an engineerthrough the world in this context can help define engineering.      Bibliography 1. Dall’Alba, G., J. Sandberg. (2006). Unveiling Professional Development: A Critical Review of Stage Models. Review of Educational Research. 76(3). 383-412. 2. Dall’Alba, G. (2009). Learning Professional Ways of Being: Ambiguities of Becoming. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 41(1): 34-45. 3. Florman, S.(1976). The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. St. Martin’s Griffin. New York City. 4. Bonasso, S. G. (2001). Engineering, Leadership, and Integral Philosophy. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice, 127(1), 17. 5

Conference Session

Incorporating Innovative Technologies into the Curriculum

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael J. Kozak, University of Dayton

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

quiz administered after activity four were inconsistent and itis difficult to generalize beyond what has already been discussed.ConclusionsThe assessment instrument was found to be very poor at discriminating between the relativemerits of the different activities. The author strongly feels that there was significant growth ofthe students’ R&R knowledge and capabilities from activity to activity, but it is not apparentfrom the assessment tools that were used. Further development and refinement of the author’simplemented assessment tools are required.Bibliography1. NIST/SEMATECH e-Handbook of Statistical Methods, http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/, January 5, 2011.2. Bloom, Benjamin S., Engelhart, Max D., Furst, Edward J., Hill

Conference Session

Design Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James M. Widmann, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Brian P. Self, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Lynne A. Slivovsky, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; J.Kevin Taylor, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

ddesigned for UPF. The R Rockn’ Bowleer allows a person with partial p quadrriplegia to boowl. This devvice is a “high-end”attachmeent for the Un niversal Playy Frame, giv ving the userr a great deall of control oover the spinn andplacemen nt of the balll. Perhaps th he most uniqu ue feature off the Rock nn’ Bowler is the powereddspinning rail system that can be used u to add spin s to the b all. As the bball rolls dow wn the ramp,, itcomes inn contact with h two rails spinning

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanics

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ing-Chang Jong, University of Arkansas; William T. Springer, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

2009. His research interests are in mechanics and engineering education.William T. Springer, University of Arkansas William T. Springer is 21st Century Chair in Mechanical Engineering and Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas. He received his BSME in 1974 from the University of Texas at Arlington, his MSME in 1979 from the University of Texas at Arlington, and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1982 from the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Springer is active in ASME where he received the Dedicated Service Award in 2006, was elected to Fellow Grade in 2008, and was awarded the S. Y. Zamrik Pressure Vessels and Piping Medal in 2011

Conference Session

Special Session Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the MATE International ROV Competition

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Douglas E. Oppliger, Michigan Technological University; Valorie Troesch, Michigan Technological University; Jean Kampe, Michigan Technological University

Tagged Divisions

Ocean and Marine

observations, like those of the zebra mussels described above, have ledto many questions which the team is interested in exploring. For example, students haveobserved plant material scattered, sometimes densely, about the underside of the ice roof. Theyhave questions such as; what species of plant(s) are represented, how the material migrates to theice roof, and what happens to it over the winter and into spring?More information about this team’s work is presented on the HSE website:http://www.enterprise.mtu.edu/highschool/currentteams/traverse-city-central/index.html. Theteam also posts many videos on its own Vimeo pages: http://vimeo.com/user1446488/videosSummary and ConclusionsThis paper has focused on one HSE team using ROVs to excite and motivate

Conference Session

A Systems-Thinking Approach to Solving Problems

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adeel Khalid, Southern Polytechnic State University; Scott C. Banks, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

major incidents,tracking assets and resources is hindered by a lack of interoperability between theagencies2. Interoperability3,4,5 encompasses the radio communications between theagencies as well as the coordination of responses and creating a command and controlorganization. Agencies each use their own particular set of communications equipment, Local S Responders Communications P T O A L N Resource I State D

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christopher W. Swan, Tufts University; John J. Duffy, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Kurt Paterson, Michigan Technological University; Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder; Olga Pierrakos, James Madison University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

, gender, institution as obtained through surveys and virtual and real communities) • Number and type of student engaged in LTS • LTS career impacts to faculty • Learning outcomes for students from participation in LTS activities • Institutions with LTS (program models, number of faculty and students involved, disciplines) • Communities benefited by LTS (locations, number of projects created, project types, number of people affected)5.0 AcknowledgementsThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under GrantNos. 1022927, 1022883, 1022738, 1023022, and 1022831. Any opinions, findings, andconclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Experiences and Assessment in Environmental Engineering

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Angela R. Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

in EVEN and another major; these students were counted fully as EVEN majors. Datafrom 2005 and 2008 has been omitted since the course had a different instructor.In addition to student major, the sub-disciplinary focus of the students is an additional variable.EVEN majors select among six sub-disciplines (W = water resources and treatment, En =energy, Ec = ecology, R = remediation, A = air, C = chemical processing; S = special optioncreated by student via petition). They generally would prefer to have a project that engages theirstrength and interest area. CVEN majors specialize in water resources and treatment whileCHEN majors specialize in chemical processing. The distribution of these sub-disciplinesamong the EVEN majors in the course

Conference Session

Engineering Education Ties and Engineering Programs in the Middle East and Latin America

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lourdes Gazca, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla; Aurelio Lopez-Malo, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla; Enrique Palou, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla

Tagged Divisions

International

Conference Session

Engineering and Public Policy I

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Mendoza-Garcia, Purdue University and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Ida B. Ngambeki, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Lamis J. Behbehani, Purdue University; Demetra Evangelou, Purdue University, West Lafayette; P. Suresh C. Rao, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica Farmer Cox, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Engineering and Public Policy

, procurement, and/or regulation thatthe government provides”. Myers 20 includes in the definition “decisions”, “commitments” and“actions”. In addition, it includes not only the government but also the interpretation of the Page 25.383.4government’s positions of authority interpreted by “various stakeholders” 20 . Myers also addsthat a public policy “affect[s] the daily lives of the government citizens” 20, “our lives including,but not limited to, federal, state and local governments. Public universities, its utilities, andNGOs may also be included.”14.History and role of engineers in Public PolicyIt is also helpful for engineering students

Conference Session

Trends in Mechanical Engineering: Curricula and Courses

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Simin Hall, Virginia Tech; Catherine T. Amelink, Virginia Tech; Deyu Hu, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

program: Strategies and experiences,” Huffman, S., Albritton, S., Wilmes, B. (editors). Hershey, Penn.: IGI Global. She maintains research and publishing tracks in nascent interdisciplinary trust concepts, eLearning, and innovative teaching, learning in fields of statistics and research methods, engineering, medical fields, and assessment methods.Dr. Catherine T. Amelink, Virginia Tech C. T. Amelink is currently serving as the Research Analyst and Assessment Specialist for the Dean’s Office, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech. Previously, she worked on assessment initiatives with the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning, Division of Student Affairs, and the Center for Excellence in Undergraduate

Conference Session

Research in Assessment

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Baba Abdul, Washington State University; David B. Thiessen, Washington State University; Bernard J. Van Wie, Washington State University; Gary Robert Brown, Portland State University; Olusola O. Adesope, Washington State University, Pullman

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

. International Journal of Engineering Education, 2006. 22(6): p. 1281-1286.10. Montfort, D., S. Brown, and D. Pollock, An Investigation of Students’ Conceptual Understanding in Related Sophomore to Graduate-Level Engineering and Mechanics Courses. 2009: p. 111-129.11. Marra, R.M., B. Palmer, and T.A. Litzinger, The Effects of a First-Year Engineering Design Course on Student Intellectual Development as Measured by the Perry Scheme. Journal of Engineering Education, 2000. 89(1): p. 39-45.12. Perry, W.G., Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years. 1999, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass13. Stiggins, R.J., Student-centered Classroom Assessment Vol. 2. 1997, Gale: Prentice Hall.14. Laeser, M., B.M. Moskal, R

Conference Session

Projects in Instrumentation and Control

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian G. Belu, Drexel University; Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

Instruments LabVIEW: A ProgrammingEnvironment for Laboratory Automation and Measurement, Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation,Volume 12(1), February 2007.10. N. Kehtarnavaz and N. Kim, LabVIEW Programming Environment, Digital Signal Processing System-LevelDesign Using LabVIEW, 2005.11. G. Faraco and L. Gabriele, Using LabVIEW for applying mathematical models in representing phenomena,Computers & Education, Volume 49, Issue 3, November 2007.12. S.S. Murthy, K. Raghu, A. Dwivedi, G. Pavitra, and S. Choudhary, Online performance monitoring and testingof electrical equipment using Virtual Instrumentation, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics and Drive Systems

Conference Session

Recruitment and Retention Matters in Engineering Technology

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph A. Morgan, Texas A&M University; Jay R. Porter, Texas A&M University; Douglas William Twigge; John Block, Texas A&M University; Mickie Byrd

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

layout using EagleCad design tools.Schematics – One of the major design considerations was the testing and expansion capabilitiesof the E-Clock™ project. E-Clock™’s primary purpose, of course, is to keep and display timethrough the use of LEDs. As shown in Figure 3, the LEDs were arranged in a row and columnmatrix so that only 15 digital signals (12 X and 3 Y) are needed to control the state (ON/OFF) ofup to 36 different LEDs. To create the effect of up to three LEDs being on at the same time, thecontrol software strobes the Y signals for a short period of time. Each light is turned on for aduty cycle (that can be varied) at a frequency of approximately 250 Hz. By varying the dutycycle of the Y signals, the intensity of the LEDs can also be

Conference Session

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Education Technical Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George E. Meyer, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Kim Cluff, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Jeyamkondan Subbiah P.E., University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

construction is planned for the summer of 2012.Each Chase classroom is equipped with white boards, a multimedia teaching station that includesa computer, digital projector, and an overhead visualizer or camera. The stations are connectedto the internet. Two of the lecture halls also have distance education capability with a centralcontrol room, high resolution cameras, and microphones. Power is also available for studentlaptops at their desks in some of the halls. Wireless computer access (801.2n, (54 Mbit/s to 600Mbit/s)) is available to students and staff on all levels of the building. However, a recentproblem has been the saturation of bandwidth at certain times of the day due to the increasingpopularity of wireless internet. The status of the

Conference Session

International Engineering Education: Developments, Innovations, Implementations, and Pedagogical Challenges in Engineering Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alireza Rahrooh, Daytona State College; Walter W. Buchanan, Texas A&M University; Faramarz Mossayebi, Youngstown State University

Tagged Divisions

International

presented. This analyzer is designed to producespectrum of low frequency signals ranging from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. This instrument is low-cost,easily implemented, offers a robust gain and high quality factor, and user friendly in comparisonto the existing spectrum analyzers. Additionally, it is suitable to be used as a student project. Thedesign lends itself nicely to increasing the number of bands in the spectrum, although forillustration purposes only 12-band was considered in this paper.References1. L Jones, and A. F. Chin, Electronic Instruments and Measurements, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1983).2. S. Celma, A. Carlosena, and P. A. Martinez, PC-Based Spectrum Analyzer, IEEE Transaction on Education, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1992).3. Hewlett Packard, The

Conference Session

Best of Computers in Education Division

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Autar Kaw, University of South Florida; Ali Yalcin, University of South Florida; Gwen Lee-Thomas, Old Dominion University and Quality Measures, LLC; Duc T. Nguyen, Old Dominion University; Melinda R. Hess; James A. Eison, University of South Florida; Ram Pendyala, Arizona State University; Glen H. Besterfield, University of South Florida; Corina M. Owens, Battelle Memorial Institute

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

gotten right or wrong until much later.”Based on the above observations, we are planning to develop and assess the effectiveness ofthese unlimited assessment quizzes for all topics of a typical course in Numerical Methods.AcknowledgementsThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos0717624, 0836981, 0836916, 0836805, and the Research for Undergraduates Program in theUniversity of South Florida (USF) College of Engineering. Any opinions, findings, andconclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do notnecessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation