Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

David J. Palazzo; Chad C. Schools

to these cadets in the spring semester. Completion of bothsemesters of introductory physics is a graduation requirement. Cadets are grouped into classes of nomore than 16 cadets per section and typically an instructor will teach four sections. Eight laboratoryexperiments are conducted each semester in support of the lecture curriculum. Instructors have many tools available to exploit their small class size in an effort to create aninteractive environment. Every classroom has a personal response systems, a full suite of Pascodemonstration equipment and sensors, a desktop and tablet computer, and a classroom video camera.Associated with each of the 18 core physics classrooms is a separate physics laboratory with fiveindependent stations

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

R. Radharamanan; Ha Van Vo

CAD/CAM and Robotics Applications in Laboratory-Learning Environment R. Radharamanan and Ha Van Vo School of Engineering, Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207-0001, USAAbstractIn this paper, how the design/automation hardware and software and manufacturing laboratory facilitiesare effectively integrated to teach Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing(CAM), CAD/CAM integration, and robotics with appropriate hands-on experiences in the Biomedical,Mechanical, and Industrial Engineering Programs are presented and discussed. A typical CAD moduledeveloped and taught in Biomedical Engineering includes the use of patient-specific 2D

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Roger Chapman Burk

Using Space Travel to Teach Engineering to Liberal Arts Majors Roger Chapman Burk Department of Systems Engineering United States Military Academy, West Point, NYAbstractThis paper describes the author’s experience developing and delivering a new course for non-engineers ata top-ranking national university. It covers the educational philosophy behind the course, how it wasdesigned, and the results of teaching it. The core idea was to use the natural fascination of space travel asa vehicle to help non-engineering students learn basic engineering principles and have fun doing it. Thecourse was interdisciplinary, including lectures on relevant

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Kanti Prasad

IMPARTING CONSUMMATE INSTRUCTIONS IN MICROELECTRONICS ENGINEERING AND VLSI TECHNOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, LOWELL Kanti Prasad Ph.D.; P.E. Professor/Founding Director Microelectronics/VLSI Technology Electrical and Computer Engineering Department University of Massachusetts Lowell Kanti_Prasad@uml.eduAbstract:For consummate VLSI program, theoretical instructions must be complemented withadequate laboratory facilities in order to validate the design from its conception to thefinished chip along with its real time testing. This comprises of

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Bahram Nassersharif

simulations of virtual models, environments, and processes. The centerprovides a unique laboratory/classroom environment for immersive interaction with models,environments, data, and processes in engineering and the sciences. The center merges teaching andresearch activities into a powerful discovery environment in which faculty and students share a problem-solving tool for exploration of any subject using methods that are impossible in a physical laboratory.The first course that will be implemented in the classroom is our freshman engineering problemsolving/programming course using Matlab.The different phases of design and implementation of this very sophisticated classroom as well as the firstsemester teaching and learning experiences in this new

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Robert M. Brooks; Soumitra Basu; Shriram Pillapakkam; Kurosh Darvish; Keerthi V. Takkalapelli

conferences.IntroductionThe weakness of the traditional lecture is well established by the regular calls from the academicworld to improve the standard of teaching (1-3). The lecture method of teaching must be replacedby providing more empowerment to students in various categories of learning such as design,discovery, innovation, and creativity (4,5).The objective of this paper is to describe the effect of various types of student empowermentprojects on student performance in a civil engineering course.MethodologyA course, CE 342: Transportation Engineering repeated over four years was considered. In theyear 2000, the course was taught in the traditional lecture format for nineteen students. Theaverage grade for this student population was sixty nine out of one

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Bassem Alhalabi; M.K. Hamza; Ali Abu-El Humos

Distance Education: Remote Labs Environment Bassem Alhalabi 1 M. K. Hamza 2 Ali Abu-El Humos3Abstract – Since the invention of the Internet, research for [capable] virtual lab experiments has been thetarget of higher education’s distance learning research; however, the very nature of real experimentation(real elements and real instrumentation) was not possible or missing from much of the acclaimed virtual labexperiments. Nonetheless, in the past decade or so, countless scholarly writings asserted the availability of[real] or virtual laboratories that mimic real laboratory experimentations. Within these virtual experiments’infrastructures, the elements of real experimentation- in comparison to conventional laboratories

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ryan A. Ebel; Donald S. Abbott-McCune; David Chang

Undergraduate Mechatronics Couse Design Project MAJ Ryan A. Ebel, United States Military Academy MAJ Donald S. Abbott-McCune, United States Military Academy MAJ David Chang, United States Military AcademyAbstractThere is a real need to educate our engineering students in the application of electronics, controls,mechanics, and software; this multidisciplinary initiative has led to the creation of an undergraduateMechatronics courses at the United States Military Academy (USMA) and many other universitiesaround the world. The focus of these courses is to emphasize application and hands on laboratory work ingeneral, and design projects in particular. This paper presents an

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ismail I. Orabi

New Haven (UNH) had the opportunity to enroll in such a course. The initial preparation for the onlineclass was time consuming because of the amount of materials made available to the students. It has alsobeen found from experience that it takes much more time to teach and administer online courses. Otheronline course developers agree that teaching and maintaining an online course takes a considerableamount of time [4]. However, the time is well spent since the material developed in the online courses can 1also be used in the regular classroom. Student satisfaction is about the same in the traditional course andthe online courses. Furthermore, the composition of the student population at

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Peter Thomas Tkacik

, UNC at Charlotte has an overall out of state ratio of just 12%.In contrast to that, for the Motorsports focus of the Mechanical Engineering department, out of statestudents represent a whopping 53%!Creating the engaging environmentMuch discussion has gone into teaching to the so called „Millennial‟ students. Their high pacedupbringing, shuttled from one activity to the next, and packed with instant feedback web access requires acompensatory education. It was decided that the Motorsports program needed to provide continuousfeedback in concert with classroom lectures. In order to fully develop the program, UNC at Charlotte hasinvested not only in supporting a large collection of race teams but has also supplemented them with acomplete race shop

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Matt Armstrong; Richard L. Comitz; Andrew Biaglow; Russ Lachance; Joseph Sloop

wellas engineering decision making concepts. Lastly our novel approach to curriculum development allowed for an earlier incorporation of theactual data into the process via ChemCad, the Chemical Engineering software that was used by eachstudent. Typically, use of this software does not occur until later in the design sequence. Background The Friedel-Crafts reaction is used in laboratory synthesis as well as in industry in the synthesis ofethylbenzene and its derivatives as an intermediate to make styrene monomers1. Therefore, this reactionwas a good choice to integrate several different courses. Laboratory experiments conducted during the second semester of organic chemistry generallyillustrate practical

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

David A Gray

and teach them the concepts, emphasizing the language. 3. Ask all faculty and advisors to use the language and concepts when dealing with students, for example, in advising sessions. (In a business that expects to improve, personnel would be told to do so.)It is not complicated. Perhaps in a few years an entire upper-class student body of a college will act asmentors when they shoot back, “Change your process.”David A. Gray, following retirement from AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories, has been an assistantprofessor of engineering at Messiah College since 2000. 51 Craig Gygi, Neil DeCarlo, and Bruce Williams, Six Sigma for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Inc

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Junichi Kanai

required little encouragement to start usingthis system, many project teams quickly learned to use it productively and obtained good results. Thesystem allowed sponsor mentors to share project information with a broader audience within theirorganization. It enabled them to provide better and timelier feedback to students and faculty; therefore,the students were able to explore more realistic design solutions. The faculty advisers were also able toassess a team’s progress, problems, and individual contributions more effectively by monitoringinformation posted by the team. The system made a significant impact on the project outcome andstudents’ learning experience.IntroductionThe O. T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory (MDL) at Rensselaer

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

John Adams; Charles Kochakian

course itself, are both discussed in thispaper.The lecture component of this RFID course includes presentation of technical material such asantenna design and frequency of operation. The growth of RFID technology is presented across abroad spectrum of applications ranging from tracking of high-valued items in the pharmaceuticaland health care sectors to the “Internet of Things.” An undergraduate teaching lab has beendeveloped in partnership with companies including TagSys, Alien, Symbol, Intermec, Radianse,and Zebra among others.Background and OverviewThe Merrimack College Department of Electrical Engineering is a unique department in that itsits in an undergraduate, Augustinian college. The department is the only ABET accredited EEProgram to

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Ha Van Vo; Stephanie Rossman; Zsaquez Flucker; R. Radharamanan

socket in terms of Von Mises stress, maximum principle stress, maximum shear stress,shear stress in xy plane, and shear stress in yz plane. This study recommended that motions of ankle jointis needed to preserve in order to prevent distal stump pressure sores and ulcerations. Future studies of theauthors include developing simulation models to the current manual BKA prosthetic devices and comparethe stresses between them.The results from this study will be used in teaching a new theory course and a lab course in biomechanicsand the gait analysis of the below knee amputee. In the theory class, students will model a rigid andmobile ankle prosthesis using Solidworks, Pro-E, or ANSYS to simulate the human anklemotions in order to prove the mobile

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Diana Schwerha; Chang Liu; Sertac Ozercan; Tripura Vadlamani; Lev Neiman

givenproblem set. This structure creates potential problems because students do not have the ability to getfeedback when needed. Lack of feedback can lead to frustration, preservation and the inability to achievethe correct answer, and lack of interest in the subject. Statistics as a concept is difficult to teach to beginwith because many students take the course before truly understanding why the course is valuable to themin their careers.Much research has been completed on how to improve student learning through homework sessions.Although early research focused on the notion that students would learn more just by completing moreexamples, more resent research has studied the relationship of providing worked examples to studentlearning. 1 Krippen and

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

. Instructors wrestled with studentfrustration and the reality that good projects were tough to come by and an engineer’s“final design” could always be modified by a client.In 2000, the classroom and the capstone design components of this course began tochange. Planning and Design of Construction Projects continued to consist of two 50minute classroom sessions each week and two three hour laboratory periods per week. Toenhance student achievement of various educational outcomes and better meet the needsof the Coast Guard, the classroom portion of the course expanded its focus to coverlecture topics that can be assigned to six broad categories: 1. Planning 2. Cost Estimating 3. Scheduling 4. Engineering Economics 5. Engineering Ethics

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

David I. Schwartz

experimental/experiential aspect akin to physics and chemistry at an introductorylevel. Moreover, the model would also avoid combinatorial expenses given the simplifications, thusallowing for a realistic game.4.3 Quality of ChoicesIn teaching scoring functions to students, one could further simplify G(t) to pose simple “base cases,” asin a linear equation: G(t) = qt (4)where q is an constant, defined later in this section. One could also simplify G(t) even further with aconstant k: G(t) = k (5)Figure 5 shows Equations 4 and 5. These simple functions hide a elegant

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Eileen M. Kowalski; Joe D. Manous

investigation of cognitive learning within the engineering profession is rather new, it hasbeen accepted by other fields of education with the most notable being the study of medicine. Untilrecently, the four-year medical school experience centered around lecture and laboratory work, somewhatsimilar to engineering education, with clinical work occurring primarily during the fourth year. Todaymany medical schools include clinical experience early in the medical school experience because studentshave demonstrated a better grasp of material when they are concurrently studying in “traditional” coursesand experience greater cognitive learning through the combination of clinical (problem-based learning)and lecture activities.1 A similar inclusion of

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Linda Ann Riley; Charles Thomas

materials for use in K-12classrooms, professional development for K-12 teachers, web-based resources, activities that take place atthe institution of higher education, activities in the K-12 school (such as design competitions or somemember from a higher institution partner– a student or instructor teaching in the K-12 classroom). Aswith other classification systems, there is room here for crossover, thus there are also “blended models”which would encompass one or more of these forms.Given the nature of the time scales involved (it might be as many as 10 years after the “outreach”experience occurs that the student makes a decision about what to study) it is somewhat difficult to assesswhether one form of “outreach” is more effective at attracting

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Rashmi Jain; Keith Sheppard; Elisabeth McGrath; Bernard Gallois

commercial fire alarm system (multiple units – one per group –connected across the design laboratory to a master monitoring panel) is evaluated and then the individualalarm units disassembled to reveal their sensors (temperature and optical smoke sensors which relatenicely to sensors used in the course). Stakeholder requirements for the alarm system are considered andthen the 4th total design stage is introduced, namely Operational Scenarios, in which context diagramsand use case scenarios are developed. This requires a collection of scenarios to be established, one ormore for each group of stakeholders for the particular phase of the life cycle – only the first design phaseis considered in Freshman year. Each scenario addresses one way a particular

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Dean M. Aslam; Zongliang Cao; Cyrous Rostamzadeh

Innovative Engineering Education Using Programmable Lego Robotic VD Graaf Generators Dean M. Aslam, Zongliang Cao and Cyrous Rostamzadeh* Micro and Nano Technology Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824 * Robert Bosch LLC, EMC Department, Plymouth, MI 48170. aslam@msu.eduAbstract The Technology Assisted Science, Engineering and Mathematics (TASEM) learning, with majorfocus on innovations in the use of technology to explain new and complicated concepts rather than oneducation research, goes far beyond the

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Dean Aslam; Aixia Shao

Nanotechnology Learning Modules Using Technology Assisted Science, Engineering and Mathematics Dean Aslam and Aixia Shao Micro and Nano Technology Laboratory, Electrical and Computer Engineering Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824 aslam@msu.eduAbstract Technology Assisted Science, Engineering and Mathematics (TASEM) focuses on innovative use oftechnology to explain new and complicated concepts rather than on education research. The explanationof nanotechnology is challenging because nano-dimensions require high-magnification electronmicroscopes to see them. Hand-on learning modules are difficult if

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

theexisting plug flow activated sludge tanks, and development of an educational poster explaininghow nitrogen is removed in the wastewater treatment process.Informal feedback and assessment data indicate that the service-learning projects have beenextremely helpful in exposing students to professional practice issues in the water quality field,in deepening student understanding of water and wastewater treatment processes, and ininspiring students to use their technical expertise to serve the public. The Civil Engineeringfaculty hopes to expand involvement in service-learning projects in the future.BackgroundService-learning has been defined as “a method of teaching, learning, and reflecting that tiescommunity service with academic learning outcomes

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Mir M. Atiqullah

laboratory for fabrication of the panels. Bibliography 1. Callister Jr., William D., “Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction,” 7th edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2007. 2. Schwartz, M.M., “Composite Materials handbook,” McGraw-Hill Inc. New York, 1984. 3. Reihart, T.J. et al., editors, “Engineered Materials Handbook Volume I Composites,” ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1987. 4. Gdoutos, E.E., Pilakoutas, K. and Rodopoulos, C.A., Editors, “Failure Analysis of Industrial Composite Materials,” McGraw-Hill, 2000. 5. Mallick, P.K., “Fiber-Reinforced Composites: materials, manufacturing, and design,” CRC Press

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Elif Kongar; Paul Kontogiorgis; Nancy L. Russo; Tarek Sobh

U.S. National Academies Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering. 2006, National Academies Press, Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in 6 Academic Science and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine: Washington, DC.[6] Gilmartin, S., et al., Gender ratios in high school science departments: The effect of percent female faculty on multiple dimensions of students' science identities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2007. 44(7): p. 980-1009.[7] Phipps, A., Re-inscribing gender binaries: Deconstructing the dominant discourse

Collection

2008 Spring ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

Roy T.R. McGrann

) Demonstrate the integration of the elements of modeling and analysis in a CAE design project, and (VI) Prepare a complete design project report. 3The course is structured as two one-hour lectures each week and one 2½-hour computer lab. Thematerial presented in each of the two “lecture” sessions each week is distinct. One session consists ofpresentations of design methodology, engineering graphics fundamentals, kinematic and force analysisof mechanisms, and FEA. The other session consists of Pro/Engineer (Pro/E) training. The trainingsessions and the laboratory assignments are complementary. These training session lectures have beenrecorded for student self-study.Three projects are the