Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Arun K. Datta; Jacqueline Caesar; Daphne Rainey; Stephen Cammer; Julie Schuman; Oswald Crasta

more information). Oldconcepts have been revisited in light of new information such as the role of natural selection andmutations in genetic variations and the more recent emphasis on the concept of genetic drift.Projects are underway to create an International databank for DNA samples in an effort to obtain Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional Conference 459larger and more comprehensive data sources. Needless to say, an interdisciplinary andtransdisciplinary academic approach that includes cyberinfrastructure, science and the socialscience is a relevant and timely

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Hassan Mohamed-Nour

109 A Conceptual Approach to Developing a Universal Remote Laboratory for Education and Research in Electrical Power Engineering Hassan Mohamed-Nour Department of Electrical Engineering, California State University, Long Beach Long Beach, CA 90840, nour@csulb.eduAbstractOne crucial element of education in electrical power engineering is the laboratory component.The laboratory instruction may be delivered in physical laboratories using real equipment orthrough simulation software tools, and in many cases utilizing

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

DingXin Cheng; Joel Arthur; Albert M. Johnson

currently available in civil engineering can cover all the aspects of it. At thebeginning of the project, two different approaches were compared: 1. developing only one new class to include all aspects of waste tire applications 2. add teaching modules to different levels and related civil engineering classesThe second method was chosen because it is more flexible and can reach more students. It alsogives students more opportunity to be exposed to waste tire educational materials.Therefore, it was proposed to develop waste tire application teaching modules for a variety ofcivil engineering courses from freshman level to senior level. Each module contained one ormore lectures. Figure 1 illustrates the courses that training modules were developed

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Raman Menon Unnikrishnan; Ricardo V. Lopez

were notexposed to the necessary prerequisite science knowledge in high school. The problem isaugmented by the general lack of a refined pedagogical approach to science teaching in highereducation as teaching is often centered on lecture style teacher-dominated approach. Thisapproach lessens as students advance towards core content, but is pervasive in introductorycourses for first year students. The same trend is true in engineering programs in highereducation; students do not experience emphasis on cooperative teamwork (a key pedagogicalapproach in engineering education) until they reach higher level courses. Coll and Eames12support key factors that positively influence the efficacy of learning in engineering students, theinfluence of social

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Eniko T. Enikov; Malcolm T. Gibson

shown great success in its purpose of expanding a mechanicalengineering student’s perspective on education, technical knowledge and skills, and engineeringaspirations. By expanding engineering education beyond the limits of core curriculum,universities can greatly improve the success of many engineering graduates and ensure thedevelopment of a strong next generation of engineers who are technically trained to meet theadvanced challenges of the future. This can be achieved by implementing programs that supportand reward undergraduate engineering research as an effective approach to greatly enhancingengineering education and heightening the life-long success of future engineers, the engineeringindustry, and most importantly, the discoveries made

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jesa H. Kreiner; Peter W. Othmer; Timothy W. Lancey

over the two semester period which is the duration ofthe two capstone courses, the only costs of the projects are the components and fabricationas the students’ and faculty labor come free. The industry funded projects serve as anexcellent recruiting tool for new engineers where the company engineers interact with ourstudents and can evaluate their prospective contribution and subsequently decide if theyshould be hired upon graduation. Also, it is a good public policy for companies to maintainactive relationship with the biggest local University in Orange County. Interestingly enough,some projects were directly and completely funded by the students or their families. Therules for these rare projects were clearly laid out: if any funds

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kate Disney; John Krupczak

become more widespread and essential in our society now than ever in the past,and yet most people have a poor understanding of the technology they interact with. Devices aresmaller and unserviceable, interfaces simplify and hide the technology so that users do not needto understand the technology in order to use it, and much of new technology today is happeningat the microscopic level. All of these facts add separation between the end-user and thetechnology. The result is that collectively citizens are becoming less aware of technology but atthe same time more dependent on it. This chasm between dependence and understanding needsto be addressed. Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Yusuf Ozturk; Emrah Orhun; Chris Bowerman

the area ofhuman-computer systems), language and communication (in the areas of usability andcontent creation), business (in the area of technology driven proximity marketing),sociology (in the area of social networking via computers and forensic and terrornetworks) computing, graduates are increasingly required to have multidisciplinaryknowledge and abilities. This, coupled with the emergence of new subfields such asbioinformatics and significant growth in the body of knowledge in existing subfields suchas software engineering means that taught undergraduate and even taught postgraduate CSdegree programs can no longer cover comprehensively all aspects of the field.Institutions across the world are addressing these challenges through

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Vince Bertsch; John Krupczak; Kate Disney; Elsa Garmire; Tim Simpson

[11-14]. At the same time, the ITEA isdeveloping program and assessment standards, and curriculum materials for K-12 education[15]. Engineering departments offering courses on technological topics for non-engineeringstudents are beginning to appear [16].The recent history of efforts to address the technological literacy of undergraduates can beconsidered to start in 1982 when the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation established the New LiberalArts Program (NLA). The goal was to improve undergraduate education in the areas of Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional Conference

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Thomas MacCalla; Jacqueline Caesar; Michael Maxwell; Shay Vanderlaan; Sandra Valencia; Terena Henry; Matt Leader

add to the promise.The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi-level, interdisciplinary education, outreachand training approach to integrating CIBRED (Cyber-Infrastructure into curriculum design,development, and delivery for Biological Researchers, Educators, and Developers) andcontribute to the preparation of future scientist and engineers in our global knowledgeeconomy. CIBRED’s mission is to empower current researchers and the future workforcewith specific CI tools and an interdisciplinary work environment that will enable them togenerate new knowledge with a focus on the problem that transcends the boundaries ofdifferent disciplines and technologies needed to achieve their scientific objectives. The basisfor the trans-disciplinary

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kurt Colvin

, typically online. This paper describes the process andexperiences of the redesign of a systems engineering course into a blended course. To besuccessful, the redesign requires careful application of pedagogical concepts and continuousimprovement using an understanding of how students learn. This paper is a status report of anongoing effort.IntroductionWhile distance education programs have exploded in recent years, a new trend within the fieldhas emerged: blended or hybrid courses. A hybrid course builds on a traditional, face-to-facecourse incorporating online elements, using the same course management software thatunderpins courses taught entirely online. This model can appeal to a wide range of instructors,even those who are critical of online

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Thomas J. Impelluso

Load Theory (CLT) provides guidelines to present information in a mannerthat encourages learning and optimizes intellectual performance [1]. As an example, considerthe obstacles in learning new material in a non-native language. Clearly, there is an overload:learners must master the new material and the language itself. Interestingly, this is resonant withthe challenge of learning to program a computer (learners must master operating systems and thesyntax) for students not in the computer science major. CLT can mitigate challenges in suchcases when learning loads are high. CLT was used to re-design a computer programming classfor mechanical engineers at San Diego State University. According to CLT, information can only be stored in long

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

James Helbling

preparation as they transition tothe workplace. This paper will define these perceived gaps in student knowledge, describe theimplementation of curriculum changes, and evaluate the success of the new capstone curriculum. Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional Conference 473The senior capstone Aircraft Detail Design course was selected for curricular change because itprovides timely instruction just prior to graduation. Furthermore, this course is intended to be astepping stone to professional life. Thus, curricular changes to bolster application of theory andcommunication

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Donna M. Schaeffer; Patrick C. Olson

schools for him, until this is curtailedby the executor of her brother’s estate. Dewey was not a proponent of this approach. In fact, he indicates that these efforts werealso based on fallacy. That is “experiences” alone – without any vision will not produce aneducated person. He spends a significant portion of Experience and Education1 addressing thisproblem. Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional Conference 469 So, what is experience? The idea is, in effect, the interaction of a learner and itsenvironment4. While this is good news to those who like to

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kyle A. Watson; Ashland O. Brown

elective for undergraduate students. Therefore, the majority of engineering programs do not require coverage of FE theory and application as a component of their undergraduate curriculum. Industry is placing an increased emphasis on the ability to apply this powerful computational tool; so it follows that students earning an undergraduate degree in engineering should learn this skill in order to meet the demands of entry-level engineering job descriptions. The persistence of the deficiency of FE coverage in undergraduate engineering programs is due to various reasons, such as the recent focus on reducing credit-hours in engineering programs; the need to remove other material at the expense of adding this new material; and the fact

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Lizabeth Schlemer; Jose Macedo

local companies. The intent of thispaper is to describe the benefits and difficulties associated with this methodology. While specificclasses in this experience are typical of an industrial engineering curriculum, the lessons learnedand benefits could translate to other disciplines.Introduction The use of Project Based Learning (PBL) has contributed to Cal Poly’s reputation of“learn by doing” for many years. As part of the Industrial Engineering (IE) curriculum at CalPoly, students work in small groups with local companies on facilities related projects. Theunique aspect of these projects is that students from a senior class and students from asophomore class are partnered together to work on these industry based projects. These

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Lawrence Fong; Brian P. Self

Through Models and Modeling.References 1. California Polytechnic University. (2009). History. Retrieved Thursday, March 05, 2009, from http://lib.calpoly.edu/universityarchives/history/ 2. Dally, James W. (1993). Instrumentation for Engineering Measurements, (2nd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. 3. Meriam, J.L. & Kraige, L.G. (2002). Engineering Mechanics Dynamics (5th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. 4. Self, Brian P. (2001) New Approaches in Teaching Undergraduate Dynamics. Paper presented at the annual American Society of Engineering Education conference, 2001. Retrieved from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Web site: http://soa.asee.org/paper/conference

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Ranjan K. Sen; Pradip Peter Dey

  however  is  that  considerable  experience  in  parallel  programming  has taken place over the last more than 4 decades and a rich body of knowledge is available. The bad news is parallel programming looks very complex to most sequential programmers.  There  has  been  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it  is  urgently  needed  to  offer  training  in  parallel programming to students  in general and pro developers as well.   Most of them however,  have hardly looked  at  a  bridging  approach  where  a  sequential  programmer  is  gradually  moved  to  the  world  of  Proceedings of the 2009 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Regional Conference

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

David Lanning

213 Prerequisite Skills Testing as an Indicator of Student Retention David Lanning Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, ArizonaAbstractThe results from a prerequisite skills exam, administered in a Solid Mechanics course in thesophomore year of the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering degree curriculums, are evaluatedas a possible identifier of at-risk students in an effort to increase student retention. Theprerequisite skills exam was first implemented over two years ago in select engineering and mathcourses as a type of mastery exam, allowing

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

5. Dinner Speech: Cultivating Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Practice, Thomas MacCalla 10 6. Keynote Speech: Innovations in Undergraduate Bioengineering Education, Melissa Kurtis Micou 11 7. Concluding Speech: When Did Engineering Become so Cool? Engaging a New Generation, David Hauhurst 12 8. Classifying Student Engineering Design Project Types, Micah Lande 13 9. Learning Communities Improve Retention in Engineering and Computer Science, Raman Menon Unnikrishnan and Ricardo V. Lopez

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Geon S. Seo; Eniko T. Enikov

information—in order to create useful toolsand technologies. Consequently, engineering education has the objective of not only presenting thescientific principles, i.e., engineering science, but also of teaching students how to apply these toreal problems. It is not surprising, therefore, that hands-on laboratories have been an integral part ofthe engineering curriculum since its inception [1]. Their importance has been recognized by theAccreditation Board of Engineering Education (ABET) and its predecessors by creation of criteriarequiring adequate laboratory practice for students [2-6]. Unfortunately, during the last severaldecades, engineering laboratories have become highly complex and expensive, with multiplesimulation tools and computer

Collection

2009 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Phillip R. Rosenkrantz

many hours as well. It was Collegeof Engineering’s Assessment Committee conclusion after two rounds of ABET Assessmentunder the ABET 2000 criteria that a more strategic and systematic approach was needed forgathering and organizing data. In an effort to simplify assessment processes, the IMEDepartment at Cal Poly Pomona has been increasingly using SurveyMonkey on-line surveys togather data from students, alumni, faculty, and industry. One of the reasons for widely adoptingSurveyMonkey is the ability to create a data base that makes it easier to collect and analyze data,share results, and prepare descriptive statistics of results over time. The purpose of this paper isto show how SurveyMonkey can be used for various assessment situations and