Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Kevin M. Nickels

4377/4177 – Electronics II (VLSI)Odd Year 3321/3121 – Signals and Systems 4368 – Applied Signals & Systems 4390 – Mechatronics DLD Course ObjectivesThe DLD course mirrors the program philosophy, and therefore should cover the “fundamentals”of DLD, while keeping current with engineering practice. Objectives for the course reflect thismixture of goals. They include prerequisite knowledge and skills assumed by graduate schools inelectrical engineering, as many of our students continue to these. Also, they include anunderstanding or appreciation of digital systems design in industry, as many of our students will atsome point work on these

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Zhenyu Zhang; Yeshwanth Sampath; Dr. Rita Caso; Amy Collins

engineering students to ascertain which characteristicsthat are identified by the literature as being associated with retention/graduation candistinguish between the groups. The study is conducted among undergraduates in theCollege of Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU), which is predominantlyWhite, male, and comprised of non-transfer students. The results of this paper are basedon the development of ANCOVA models, Bootstrap tests and nonparametric tests, aswell as on descriptive analyses. IntroductionPrevious research has found that students’ pre-college preparation, reflected by bothstandardized admission scores and high school rank, is highly associated with students’early college academic performance

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Chandrika Rao; Carol L. Binkerd

they learn in a classroom environment and its reflection in professional applications. In addition, this collaboration bridges the gap between academia and industry. This semester was spent towards building a positive working relationship with industry. As the course is offered only once a calendar year, we will implement the plans generated by these ideas in Fall 2005. Proceedings of the 2005 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education Future Approaches: 1. Guest lecturers from local companies: Invite the project manager or a company representative to spend a

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Suketu Shah; Mohammed E. Haque; Gaurav Agarwal

waterheater in essence a storage facility for hot water heated by the solar system.e) Roofing Products: The biggest recent advance in roofing products technology came with theadvent of the radiant barrier. This physical layer in the roofing system acts to reflect sunlightback out of the roofing system before the light can be trapped and converted into heat inside thebuilding envelope. The systems are simple to install, and only add slightly to initial buildingcosts.f) Motion Sensors: There has been a leaning towards the installation of motion sensors thatwould detect the presence of people. The development of these intelligent motion sensors wouldswitch on and off the lights depending upon the occupancy. Thus theses equipments can offersizeable

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

John W. Hansen

materials currently available to Texas technology teachers were prepared to support the implementation and support of the Technology Education TEKS. Having served their purpose, they should be revised to reflect the transition to the STEM Career Expressway model. New technologies and new learning paradigms are emerging that can significantly improve instruction, learning, and career choices8. As a result, we believe these materials should be evaluated based on a rigorous STEM rubric to determine if they facilitate progress in STEM education. Materials that do not meet these standards will be removed from circulation and professional development activities will no longer be offered to support these materials. With the creation of the

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Rita Caso; Kristi J. Shryock; Jo Howze; Jeffrey Froyd; Arun R. Srinivasa

. Students who had elected to major in Aerospace, Civil, Industrial, or Mechanical Proceedings of the 2005 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering EducationEngineering were assigned to Track A. Students who had elected to major in Computer orElectrical Engineering were assigned to Track B. Students who had elected to major inBiomedical, Chemical, or Petroleum Engineering were assigned to Track C. Content of the twofirst-year engineering courses in each track was modified to reflect the goals of faculty membersin departments associated with each track. However, if students change majors

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Mirley K. Balasubramanya; George D. Tintera; Alexey Sadovski

based on ameasurement that was not satisfactory. They couldn’t always agree about the depth—some students could ‘see’ the disk after others had declared it to have disappeared. Somestudents also noticed passing clouds affected the measurement. A group discussion laterin the lab showed that they were able to put together how they were able to make theobservation: light from the sun passed through the water, reflected off the disk, passedthrough the water and then into their eye.The students were then challenged to say how they would better make the measurement.They readily identified a more reliable light source as a substitute for the sun and a sensoras a substitute for the eyes. They even sketched a design for a device to use in place ofthe

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Jim Farison

only the traditional “lecture” format (with 43 fifty-minute sessions per semester).Nonetheless, it seemed best for the course, both for appeal and pedagogy, to have a non-trivial“imaging systems” component as well as the “image processing” component.The textbook selected for the course was Digital Image Processing (Second Edition), 2002, byRafael C. Gonzalez and Richard E. Woods, published by Prentice Hall. It has a number of desirablefeatures, with good on-line help. While it has less directly on imaging systems than desired for thiscourse, it does have quite a strong first chapter that reflects actual imaging applications by theirspectral range of operation. The course was formed around the following textbook chapter outlineand order: 1

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Terry Kohutek; Arun Srinivasa; Andrew P. Conkey

process or knowledge of mathematics and science. 3). Projects did not reflect the societal roles that engineering plays. 4). Projects did not reflect a true engineering process.Issues related to engineering and sciences are: 1). Science is perceived as discovery oriented with little use for prediction. 2). Students see mathematics and science as concept-oriented and not task oriented. Thus the ability of the students to apply concepts to specific task is not strengthened [7-9]. 3). Freshmen engineering is boring since there is little in terms of active participation in building systems.Student perceptions were distilled from comments solicited from students about their first-yearengineering courses. Faculty

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Jeffrey Froyd; Donald A. Maxwell

process or knowledge of mathematics and science. 3). Projects did not reflect the societal roles that engineering plays. 4). Projects did not reflect a true engineering process.Issues related to engineering and sciences are: 1). Science is perceived as discovery oriented with little use for prediction. 2). Students see mathematics and science as concept-oriented and not task oriented. Thus the ability of the students to apply concepts to specific task is not strengthened [7-9]. 3). Freshmen engineering is boring since there is little in terms of active participation in building systems.Student perceptions were distilled from comments solicited from students about their first-yearengineering courses. Faculty

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Daniel J. Burroughs

incident analyst as possible.“Security Methods and Practices” is a continuation of the introductory security course.Whereas the first course gave the students the ability to secure a system from attack, thissecond course teaches them how to run a secure network. In this course, we assume thatthe student will eventually be in a position where they are the security administrator for anetwork of significant size. Issues such as budgeting, user management, securityauditing, and security risk analysis are introduced at this level. This course is developedto reflect the CISSP certification3. We feel that this vender-independent, broad securitycertification program makes an excellent basis for this course. Additionally, weencourage the students to take

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Wayne N.P. Hung; V. Jorge Leon

Session T2D1 Manufacturing Education in the Global Manufacturing Scenario Wayne N.P. Hung and V. Jorge Leon Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843 AbstractThis paper presents the current approach in manufacturing education at Texas A&M University(TAMU) in response to the alarming trend of manufacturing outsourcing in the USA. Therevised curriculum reflects the need from industries where engineers with hard-skills areessential for technology innovation and soft

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Sarah J. Smith

, Supervisor, Son, Daughter, and Higher Power • Will people view a student as honorable, trustworthy, and dedicated? • Conduct should make people proud of higher educationDiscipline – • If tempted, enticed, or intrigued by the possible benefits that immediate gratification may bring, people are human • If one is weak in character and unable to resist temptation, they should seek helpThe next two stages of ethics training; Reasoning and Action, should be developedthrough case study analyses. Applied ethicists declare: Ethical Values are CAUGHT…not taught. Students should be able to reflect on ethical issues and discuss them.Through case study analyses, students become better equipped to recognize ethicaldilemmas and develop

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Luciana R. Barroso; Jim Morgan

for Engineering Educationgrade helps mitigate work-load complaints.Mid-term and final course evaluations for this class reflect that, though students find the coursechallenging, they indicate that this course is one where they see how the material relates to thepractice of civil engineering. The results from three questions in the final course evaluationsfrom the Fall 2004 are presented in Table 1. Table 1. Results from Final Course Evaluation in Fall 2004Rank Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree DisagreeProjects provide insight into 12 22 7 2application of

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Chad A. B. Wilson

Florman defines engineering as the “art or science of making practicalapplication of the pure sciences.”1 By this definition, we can see that students ofengineering need to learn at least two disciplines: 1) “the pure sciences” and 2) “practicalapplication” of these sciences. Combine these two necessities with the imperative fromnearly every employer that engineers must learn communication skills, and we have quitea wealth of information to teach our students in four (or increasingly five or six) years. Inorder to meet each of these goals, we must have a concerted, self-reflective teachingstrategy.Here is where James Britton, et al. enter the picture, because their study TheDevelopment of Writing Abilities2 illuminates students’ learning

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Paul R. Corder

bracket is thin relative to its otherdimensions. In the case of the beam, the thickness was on the same order as the otherbeam dimensions. Conveying this type of modeling sensitivity to a student using FEA isa challenge.Discussion The following points reflect this mechanical design teacher’s experience withsomeone who does calculations and FEA studies without due consideration of thereasonableness of the estimated stress response. 1) A person should always interpret the results of calculations or simulations forreasonableness. It is not unusual to find engineering students substitute numbers intoequations without questioning the reasonableness of the “solution”. One commoncharacteristic of this situation is inconsistency in the units of

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Amir Karimi

wasbased on review of the materials included in the course notebook and course portfolio. Under thecoordination of the department chair, the program faculty members approved any major changesin the course content. The finalized changes were reflected in the course syllabus.The faculty members discussed the curriculum in departmental meetings or college meetings (forcommon courses in the college). Any curriculum changes wer reviewed and approved by the Proceedings of the 2005 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering EducationAcademic Policies and Curriculum Committees at the College and the

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Ross Kastor; Robert Askew; Richard Bannerot; Paul Ruchhoeft; Elena Poltavtchenko; Colley Hodges; Chad Wilson; Cari-Sue Wilmot

, skills, or “tips” related to technical writing and communication ingeneral, e.g., the order that sections of a report should be written, the appropriate types ofvisual aids for various situations, and a specified checklist of questions that the writer of acertain report or section should ask him or herself at different stages of the writingprocess. All of the workshop PowerPoint slides are made available to students on theWriting Center web site. In addition to the slides, several instructional handouts and tipsheets are also posted on line. The various writing samples and graphics discussedduring the final third of each workshop are taken from previous student work in thecapstone design course. The writing samples and graphics generally reflect

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Kenneth Van Treuren

graded individually. Reflections on the CourseThe ME Lab course is a very time intensive course for both professor and student. At thebeginning of the course, students are asked to write a lab report each week and they oftenfeel this is excessive. Because of the individual nature of assessment, this is a necessityas students must be evaluated on their written communication ability. At the beginningof the course skill levels in the area of writing are varied, however, by the end of thecourse marked improvement is shown and students have confidence in their abilities.These communication skills are often not appreciated until the student enters theworkplace. Several student comments sum up the experience:“I learned more

Collection

2005 GSW

Authors

Vanessa Svihla; Ronald Barr; Marcus Pandy; Anthony Petrosino