Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

D. A. Rogers; B. D. Braaten

THE GRADUATE COURSE IN ELECTROMAGNETICS: INTEGRATING THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE D. A. ROGERS AND B. D. BRAATEN Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering North Dakota State University Fargo, NDAbstractIn electrical engineering graduate programs, the first course in electromagnetic theory andapplications has been a staple for over 40 years. It has passed through the hands of multipleprofessors at many different institutions while using only a few standard textbooks in variouseditions. While a compelling goal has been to introduce students to the main areas ofelectromagnetic theory in common

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

P. B. Ravikumar

Personality Type Demographics and their Relationship to Teaching and Learning P. B. Ravikumar University of Wisconsin, PlattevilleABSTRACTAssessment is the next most important activity that follows teaching-learning in the classroom.Assessment plans must be carefully strategized from a top-down perspective complemented by bottom-uprealities. The assessment plan strategy must include elements of robustness which would make the resultsfrom implementation of the plan as insensitive as possible and hence more reliable to unavoidablevariations. Examples of robustness assessment include assessment at the individual student level

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Keith B. Lodge

Principles of Particle Technology: Philosophy, Topics & Experiments Keith B Lodge University of Minnesota Duluth Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section ConferenceIntroductionGenerally there are key basic experiments that define the development of the subjects that weteach. For example, the experiments of Joule and Reynolds underpin thermodynamics and fluidmechanics. In the classroom we attempt to convey the results and conclusions of fundamentalexperiments in a period that is a minute fraction of the time in which the original experimentswere done and the corresponding concepts developed. The philosophy of the lecture-laboratorycourse is to enable students the

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

M. S. Stachowicz; L. B. Kofoed

Problem Based Learning Principles for projects with “soft” evaluation. 1 M. S. Stachowicz, 2L. B. Kofoed Laboratory for Intelligent Systems, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, USA, The Warsaw School of Computer Science, Warsaw, Poland mstachow@d.umn.edu1 Department of Architecture, Design & Media Technology, Aalborg University, Denmark, lk@create.aau.dk2IntroductionInspired by a design workshop course offered at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department(ECE) at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) [1] we could see

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Richard A. Davis

with a similar blockof wood, an inexpensive plastic ruler for measuring length dimensions, and a portable digitalscale for measuring the mass, as shown in Figure 2. Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section Conference (a) (b)Figure 2 (a) Analog ruler for measuring length dimensions. The precision is 0.1 cm. The readability is ±0.05 cm. (b) Digital scale for measuring mass in grams. The precision is 0.1 gm, with a readability of ±0.05 gm.The ruler serves as a simple example of an analog instrument. Students must visually interpolatebetween the graduation marks on the scale for a measurement reading. Examples of

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Katherine Acton

Learning S r c ral Anal i in A B ilding ha Teache Katherine Acton University of Minnesota DuluthAbstractThe Swenson Civil Engineering Building, opened in 2010, was constructed with the goalof providing a space in which, and from which, Civil Engineering students can learn.Multiple exposed structural systems allow students the opportunity to visualize the wayin which the building is designed to carry load. The building is LEED certified. A largehigh-bay lab is open to view, so that class work and research is visible to students as theypass through the halls of the building.The high bay lab features two 15-ton gantry cranes. The gantry cranes have beenanalyzed in the

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Christopher R. Carroll

cleaned b he f a e and d ce he ame final e l a ca ef llcrafted designs. If the only measure of design quality is just how many resources are used in theprogrammable device, poor designs and high-quality designs will score identically.This pedagogical problem is evident even in the simplest case of implementing a singlecombinational function. In the FPGA case, no matter how clumsy or non-minimal the de ignefunction specification is, the software simply evaluates the truth table for the function, and storesit in the look-up table memory in a logic block. In the CPLD case, specification of non-minimized, redundant functions is immaterial, as the software reduces the function to minimalform. The software even determines whether sum

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

A. Hoxie

Integrating Energy Modeling Software into Sustainable Energy Systems Curriculum A. Hoxie, Ph.D. University of Minnesota DuluthThe Passive House energy modeling software was integrated into a senior level technical elective onsustainable energy in the Mechanical and Industrial Energy program at the University of MinnesotaDuluth. Previous iterations of the course have focused primarily on energy production. Renewableenergy technologies were introduced from large-scale utilities to distributed small-scale systems.Students also learned the current methods of energy production as well as the sectors of energy usethroughout the

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Mitchell Cornelius; Bidhan Roy; Osama Jadaan

employingvaluation tools and benefit-cost analysis (among many others) to study the financial feasibility ofengineering projects. Unfortunately, for projects involving nanotechnology, the finances aremainly speculative since commercial applications of nanotechnology are mainly at its infancy.H , a a a (SME ) a a aproducts and listed at NASDAQ. This is because such companies would have their financialstatements freely available in the internet. The module consists of designing sample valuation b SME a a .W Fa 2011,expected that it shall help students understand a financial statement, the future sway ofnanotechnology

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Waddah Akili

(the students) closer to the realities of the workplace.E ,b a a ,a a a ba a aa agraduates, but find them largely unaware of the vital roles that engineers play in bringingproducts a a a a a .A a a a ba that faculty members, today, often lack industrial experience and/or any other typeof practical experience. This is particularly troubling when faculty members, straight out of a a a a ab b , a a apractice-related courses. Often, teaching design-oriented and/or field-related subjects do require - a at instructors

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Derek Wissmiller

. Which string has greater tension? Why does Styrofoam rise faster?Group AGroup B Approximately half of the students in the study (N=24) were randomly selected and given aversion of Activity X which included an additional non-numerical question (Group B). In this Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section Conferencenon-numerical question students were asked to compare the tension forces on two identicalStyrofoamTM blocks held under water at different depths with a string as shown in Table 1. TheActivit X assessments were collected b the instructor and the students performance recorded.These activities were then returned to the students the following class period along with ananswer key for the corresponding

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Lisa Anneberg; Jiao luo; Suyun Luo

49 55.1 TOTAL 89 100.0 Table 4: Descriptive Chart for English learning Perspective For the last question, the authors surveyed the perception of scores, for we think most of studentswould like to have an A or B score. Table 5 just prove our theory, for 85% of students would like tohave a B and above score. We did have a final score for these students; however, we cannot connect thefinal score with the perception score one by one. Thus, we cannot determine whether those perceptionsare fit for the final score. For the final score, the mean was 76.78, and highest was 87, lowest 44.Basically, the scores follow a normal distribution curve, which

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Waddah Akili

Case-Based Learning: A Creative Experience in Comparison to Traditional Teaching Methods Waddah Akili Geotechnical EngineeringA b s t r a c tThis paper describes the steps taken in planning, developing, and executing a case study/ casehistory course in geotechnical/ foundation engineering at an international university. The paper ed : a ab e a ec e a a ed a ; e a a ecourse; and the results of evaluating the effectiveness of this approach versus traditionallecturing. Problems and challenges that could arise when offering the course for the first time arealso addressed. Embedded in this

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2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Byron Garry

og e on mee ing he a igned lea ning o come .Almost all evaluation at the level of a og am Ca one co e i bjec i e, a he co edeals with how well the student project groups can define and solve a technical problem, not anobjective measure such as whether the students know a fact or not. We have found that keepingtrack of all the evidence of student learning, and doing as objective as possible evaluation of the den o k, e i e he e of anda di ed b ic .Rubric RationaleRubrics can be defined as descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers or otherevaluators to guide the analysis of the products or processes of students' efforts2. The use of arubric is more likely to provide meaningful and stable appraisals than

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Christa James-Byrnes; Mark Holdhusen

potentially all over theworld, team work becomes very challenging.Another integral part of the traditional introductory engineering course is the inclusion of theperspective of outside practicing engineers. This usually takes the form of either a field trip to he ac ici g e gi ee c a b i gi g he e gi ee c a a a i i i g ec e . Freasons stated above, this becomes a challenge in the online environment. Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section ConferenceBeing able to give oral presentations is an i a a ec f a e gi ee ca ee . For thisreason, it is emphasized in the traditional introductory engineering course. Given that studentsare geographically dispersed and courses are generally delivered

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Michael A. Rother

Academic Versus Industrial Senior Design Projects Michael A. Rother Department of Chemical Engineering University of Minnesota-Duluth For the past seven years, the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University ofMinnesota-Duluth has used industrially supplied projects in its senior capstone design sequence.The change was implemented from academic to industrial projects as a result of an ABETrecommendation to increase the multidisciplinary experiences of the students. By ABETdefinition, an industrially supplied project is considered multidisciplinary. The department doesnot charge companies for the student

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

R. Nelson; J. Bumblis; C. Liu; A. Turkmen; N. Zhou; D. Olson; R. Rothaupt

, electronics, digital logic andcontrol systems) the need for more focused, in-depth preparation in the areas of embedded systems wasrecognized several years ago. Such recognition led to UW-S B a REducation Committee of the University of Wisconsin (UW) System to authorize the establishment of a Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section Conferencededicated program in Computer Engineering. Final approval was given by the UW System Board ofRegents on August 22, 2008. As a point of interest, approval was also granted at the same time toauthorize a new program in Plastics Engineering (PE) at UW-Stout.Program Overview and DevelopmentThe process of requesting a new program in the University

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

William C. Farrow

Project Cam-A-Rok, Engaging Mechanical Engineering FreshmanWilliam C. FarrowMechanical Engineering Department, Milwaukee School of Engineering, 1025 N Broadway,Milwaukee, WI 53202IntroductionThis paper documents the implementation of many of the leading concepts into a successfulfreshman design course. There are many different forms that a freshman introductoryengineering design course can take, and many examples shared through publication that describewhat has worked. The experience outlined combines benefits of both a team-centric as well asan individual centric course. It contains both project driven aspects as well as short termhomework style assignments. And the course completes the design work through both a

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Ahmet Turkmen; Jon Breen

) is used to transform a time domain signal x[n] sequenceto a frequency domain X(k) sequence.The frequency response of a sequence and its DFT are related as expressed in equation 1. , =2 /N, =0, 1, 2, .,N-1 (1)The elements of X( ) a b a d a a a d c c ac d 2 /Napart. This is the natural spacing of the transform, which doesn't need time information toperform properly, but to find actual frequencies, we need time information. This is contained inthe true frequency spacing of the a , ,a d d a (2). M byields the frequency of that point on the transform in Hz. = 1/T0

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Nathan Johnson

andHydrology. A detailed description is included for the assessment process involving the design ofexperiments to investigate rainfall-runoff processes using a bench-scale hydrology table. Thepresentation includes methods for (a) communicating the design process to students, (b) settingexpectations for classroom theory to be investigated, (c) working within the capabilities ofequipment, and (d) assessing the student-led design process.IntroductionExperimental design is an important skill for undergraduate engineering students to acquire.Hands-on exposure to the constraints of experimental variables, equipment capabilities, and theresolution of measurement techniques at the stage of experimental design gives students anopportunity to think critically

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Alon McCormick

sequence. Overarching goal: prepare ChEn students for professional practice and for possible research careers in computationally-intensive ChEn fields and applications In each following core ChEn course, students then completed numerical projects building on principles of that course The Numerical Methods course was built on concepts from linear algebra: linear e a e , ea e a e , ea de a d e , b da a e be , a d de Advantage: After that key Numerical Methods course, students were proficient at programming, at formulating numerical approaches, and at coping with challenging numerical problems Problems: In

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Daniel N. Pope

that is beyond the undergraduate level. Inaddition, CFD analysis is still somewhat of an art form where the adjusting of multiple solution a ame e can change a ele m del in a b , h icall eali ic m del. In deprovide undergraduate students with the necessary background, the basic theory for pressure-based solutions on regular, structured meshes is often presented with simple numerical examplesto reinforce the lessons. The theory and the examples are limited in scope and they discuss only afraction of the available CFD techniques. The course discussed here utilizes a final project toaddress these shortcomings. Each student designs their own problem at the beginning of thesemester with guidance from the instructor. As a result, students

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

William R. Peterson; Guanghsu Chang

the project started out at an interest rate ofzero and gave a positive value. While seemingly crude, it allowed the cash flows to be irregular(which is extremely common in practice) and (assuming correct input of the cash flows) did notmake ma h error . While he program co ld ha e been made fa er b a be er earchalgorithm, it met the needs of the using organization.A he ame ime, MBA (Masters of Business Administration) hand-held calculators werebecoming available to do basic financial calculations such as find the payment on a loan (P) withinterest (i) and period (n) based on the same underlying calculation in the tables is as a lookup al e for A/P, i, n .By 1990 spreadsheets, such as Lotus 1, 2, 3 and Quattro, were readily available on

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Debao Zhou

acceleration. Then the group compared the obtained acceleration with the calculated Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section Conferencevalues using analytical method and the simulated acceleration from Solidworks Motion analysis f a e. Af e he c a i , ha he de c d a i A a i g . Th gh ch aproject, they have much better feeling about the theoretical linkage analysis. Figure 5, Saw project. Figure 6, Loco motion with acceleration sensor. Figure 7(a), Mechanism illustration of the Figure 7(b), Geneva mechanism with wooden candy dispenser. base. Figure 7(c), Candy dispenser mechanism.3.3 Projects

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Stephen Patchin; Cody Kangas; Jamie Lindquist

Mind Trekkers Science and Engineering Festivals: Inspiring K-12 students to explore STEM Stephen Patchin, Cody Kangas, and Jamie Lindquist Michigan Technological UniversityThe Challenge O Ma 5, 2010 e Na a Sc e ce B a d b ed a e ed P e a e NeGeneration of STEM Innovators: Identifying and Developing Our Nation H a Ca a .S ed b e Na a Sc e ce F da , e e e ed ec e dato support the identification and development of talented young men and women who have the e a bec e C e e e a n of science, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Eric Musselman

types Compressive strength of wood with and against the grain Concrete compressive strength with different percentages of sand C m e i e e gh f e b gh e c c e e made a UMD Water flow over a broad crested weir Tensile strength of different metals Solar ovens Strength of different cross-sections of wood in flexureThe groups all completed each of the components of the project at an appropriate level. Thefinal presentations were not as polished as the instructor had wished, and in the future moreguidance will be provided about the structure of the presentation, including conducting ademonstration of what is expected.DiscussionBoth projects succeeded in achieving some of the

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Robert G. Feyen; Todd W. Loushine

a student learns a topic well, but the topic is irrelevant topractice? Or, what if a topic relevant to practice is only mentioned in the curriculum or worse,not presented at all? Without proper curriculum assessment, outcomes assessment may reliably ea e a g ad a e ea i g, b he i k f bei g a i a id f a e i g heiprofessional quality and competency.Current practiceIn this context, learning outcomes are most commonly described as the foundation for drivingprogrammatic changes, but at least for STEM-based programs, most outcomes are adapteddirectly from ABET criteria for accreditation and are accordingly vague (e.g., a abi ic ica e effec i e ). W h i g a e , ABET c ea defi e program outcomes

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

James Allert

knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering (b) an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data (c) an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability (d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams (e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems (f) an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (g) an ability to communicate effectively (h) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context (i) a

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Marian S. Stachowicz

, ethical, and economical issues that would beaffected by their projects. Furthermore the project work should be created using principle of theProblem Based and Project Organized Learning with concrete goals and criteria. Fuzzy settheory will inevitably play important role in any problem area that involves natural language. Proceedings of the 2011 North Midwest Section Conference7. References[1] L. B. Kofoed & S. Hansen, Teaching process competences in a PBL curriculum.In: Kolmos, A. et all (eds.)The Aalborg Model: Progress, Diversity and Challenges. Aalborg University Press,2004.[2] L. B. Kofoed & F. Jørgensen, Using Problem Based Learning Methods from Engineering Education in CompanyBased Development. Proceedings

Collection

2011 North Midwest Section

Authors

Ryan G. Rosandich

-defined tracks (design, manufacturing, research, etc.) b. Man electi es to allo students to pursue their passion 4. More practical content a. More hands-on experiences (how things work, how they are made) b. More design content, preferably distributed throughout the curriculum (a design spine) c. Emphasis on formulating and solving practical (big picture, multidisciplinary, systems level) engineering problems 5. Less technical content and more professional skills a. Innovation and creativity b. Communication c. Leadership d. Ethics e. Sustainability f. Business and economicsASME recommendations for graduate degree programs2: 1. A stand-alone