Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Edward F. Glynn; Frank E. Falcone

Professional Practices in Engineering, An Introduction for Second Year Civil Engineering Students Edward F. Glynn and Frank E. Falcone Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Villanova Universityrecently introduced a new required course, Civil Engineering Fundamentals, inthe fall semester of the sophomore year of its civil engineering curriculum. Oneof the primary objectives in the course is to introduce students to the professionalpractice of civil engineering. This paper focuses on the professional practicescomponent of the course. In particular, the paper

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Leslie Guadron; Alen M. Sajan; Olivia Plante; Stanley George; Yuying Gosser

database, and the visualization tool Pymol.c) The gene annotation project provided a focus for our bioinformatics course. The students wereengaging in responsive research, from identifying the exon coordinates to constructing a genemodel, to the similarity searching, and from organizing the data table to writing a completeresearch report. The students became familiar with genomics vocabulary, the major databases,NCBI, Flybase, and EBI, and the basic tools of comparative genomics – BLAST andCLUSTALW, and learned to think like a scientist, and recognize the “uncertainty” in research,i.e. the unique definitive answer may not exist.d) Genome science education outreach to advanced high school students is feasible. The HSstudents did an annotation

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Kevin Dahm

Universityperformance indicators for each outcome.” An outcome is a broad statement such as“The Chemical Engineering Program at Rowan University will produce graduates whodemonstrate an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering,”which mirrors ABET outcome A1. Dr. Rogers notes that programs “…tend to go frombroad outcomes to data collection without articulating specifically what students need todemonstrate…”3The importance of “articulating specifically what students need to demonstrate” has longbeen understood at the level of individual courses. Felder, for example, has longadvocated for writing clear, carefully thought out instructional objectives for courses4 andcommunicating them to students at the start of the course. Felder

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ani Ural; Joseph Yost

modelingtechnique, and finally experimentally in the laboratory. To develop basic theoretical conceptsstudents are first introduced to fundamental force-deformation behavior of steel structures usingsimple thought experiments that are easy to visualize. This exercise begins with simple axialloading in tension. Students are instructed to visualize a simple axial tension test, where a steelrod sample of cross section area A and original length L is loaded in tension with a force P, andthen the load is released. Concepts of axial deformation, strain, stress, cutting planes, free bodydiagrams, and equilibrium are all extensions of this simple exercise. Sample figures related tothe discussion are provided in lecture material and shown as well in Fig. 1

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Jaime D. Alava; Keith M. Gardiner

their professional career. The fundamentals and theory of project Fall 2010 Mid-Atlantic ASEE Conference, October 15-16, 2010, Villanova Universitymanagement is discussed in class, which can be applied in the lab sessions and in future projectwork. Some lecture sessions are reserved to explain the limitless opportunities available forengineers at Lehigh University. Programs such as Integrated Product Development (IPD),supporting entrepreneurship, and working with Fortune 500 companies in the Co-Op program,are only some things that make a Lehigh engineering education unique. Many lectures focus onthe programs of the engineering departments. Representatives from the seven departmentsprovide information on topics such as curriculum, salary

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Dean C. Millar

paper emphasizes the need for high-quality technical coursework, and then expandsto a proposed strategy for students to not only land the right job but also receive early-startprofessional career information. Results competition is increasingly keen for both students andtheir institutions; this paper encourages students and schools to meet that challenge. The following “Keys to Success” are, and will become, important for any student tobecome an ideal engineering employment candidate.Key 1. A solid technical engineering education- Specifically, students need a sound grasp ofengineering theory and fundamentals from an accredited college engineering curriculum. Thisincludes the theoretical, applied lab, and computer knowledge to meet the

Collection

2010 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Shawn P. Gross; David W. Dinehart; Aleksandra Radlinska; Joseph Robert Yost

) integrates elements of Statics and Mechanics of Solidsalong with a few topics from Civil Engineering Materials. The second course (Mechanics II)integrates the remaining elements of Mechanics of Solids with the majority of Civil EngineeringMaterials.A key pedagogical component in this curricular restructuring is the use of “overarchingproblems”. The integrated content delivery allows for the full development of commonlyencountered problems in civil engineering within mechanics courses at the sophomore year. Forexample, students are able to use the Statics concepts of equilibrium and truss analysis, alongwith the Mechanics of Solids concepts of stress, axial deformation, and factor of safety, and theCivil Engineering Materials concepts of steel