Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Deborah Tihanyi; Margaret N. Hundleby

produces focused and comprehensive assessment, butalso has the added advantage of integrating the communication work directly into thedevelopment of the work in science and technology within the undergraduate curriculum. Wehave successfully used this approach in several engineering courses, most recently in MSE390 –Communication II.BackgroundMSE390 – Communication IIIn their first year of study, all students* in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at theUniversity of Toronto take APS111 and APS112, Engineering Strategies and Practice (ESP),courses which emphasize the link between the design and communication processes. In theirsecond year, students stream into individual departments; each department in the Faculty has itsown curriculum

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Susan J. Masten; Robert V. Fleisig

problems are solved in practicalengineering situations. Case studies often included a compelling dramatic story to engage the students, such as the structuralfailure of the World Trade Center, material failures in two Space Shuttle disasters, and the transformation of Penicillin from theinitial scientific discovery to engineering production on an industrial scale that could actually save lives. In 2007/2008 we havemoved from this model to focus on teaching fundamentals of the profession, professionalism, and ethics as it applies to everydaypractice. Although some of the old material was retained, particularly with respect to the ethics of catastrophic failures and theengineer’s responsibility preventing harm and loss of life, the new curriculum

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Lisa Schneider; Michael Kelley; Shefford P. Baker

Integrating Engineering Applications into First-Year Calculus in Active, Collaborative, Problem-solving Sections Lisa Schneider, Michael Kelley, Shefford P. Baker Cornell UniversityAbstractIn Fall 2007 Cornell University engineering students who are enrolled in Calculus for Engineers,the first course in the required engineering math sequence, are working together in groups toapply the basic calculus concepts and methods they are learning to solve engineering-relatedproblems. Typically, students would not be introduced to such problems until later in theengineering curriculum. Through this innovation, faculty hope students will a) develop a deeperand more

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Colin Campbell; Steve Lambert; Oscar Nespoli

-disciplinary partnerships,and generate increased awareness and appreciation of design engineering.Ideally design case studies involve a real situation and real data, require judgment as well asanalysis, require problem formulation and refinement, are motivating, and integrate materialfrom other courses in the same or earlier years.Several cases will be discussed from various disciplines in engineering. For example: HydroQuebec Photovoltaics; Indian Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting; Nanticoke Power Station (coal);Ladle Tipping in Foundry; Fluid Power Control Systems; Soil Contamination (FEA model andphysical model), etc. Plans to release the case studies free of charge to other institutions will alsobe discussed.2. IntroductionThe University of Waterloo

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Rei Marzoughi

improve aparticular problem.As a student, I have experienced two different engineering programs, each with a uniqueapproach to addressing the lack of context in engineering education and practice. During myundergrad, I took part in the Engineering and Society program at McMaster University, andduring my current graduate work, I am a part of the Centre for Technology and SocialDevelopment at the University of Toronto. Each program attempts to teach students how to thinkmore broadly, balancing breadth and depth in order to develop a new approach to engineeringproblems. The Engineering and Society program uses a technique called “inquiry” throughoutthe curriculum and encourages engineering students to focus on a discipline outside ofengineering

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Chirag Variawa; Susan McCahan

which is an approach that takes into account the widest possible user base.There are many successful examples of this approach applied to products such as kitchenequipment or ATM machines.More recently the principles of Universal Design have been re-interpreted in the context ofeducation; first at the elementary levels and lately for secondary and higher education.3,4,5 Theprinciples can be applied to the learning environment at every level: curriculum, courses,classroom space, course materials, and university systems in general. The goal is to create alearning environment that is accessible to the widest variety of students without compromisingacademic integrity.In a limited way we can say that academic integrity, in this sense, is defined by

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Gregory E. Needel

Robotics as a Vehicle for Engineering Education Gregory E. Needel Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY 14623An important factor in an engineering education is the students' ability to apply their theoreticalknowledge to solving real world problems. Unfortunately, many schools are unable to providefull laboratories for experimental experiences due to a variety of constraints. This is a seriousproblem for educators who wish to provide practical learning for their students. One of the morecommonly employed methods of providing a “hands-on” approach to learning is through the useof educational

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Willem H. Vanderburg

-of-pipe fashion, or we do sopreventively. However, preventive approaches require a new knowledge system that links thedisciplines examining the consequences of technology with those in the technical core of thecurriculum in order to create negative feedback loops. This paper will describe some of thefeatures of such a knowledge system, and how it supports preventive approaches in a newcurriculum developed by the Centre for Technology and Social Development at the University ofToronto. This approach would permit engineering education to help society address the evermore pressing challenges of our time.Scoping Our FailureSome 25 years ago, our comprehensive study of engineering education asked the following twoquestions: How well do we teach

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Robert Edwards; Gerald Recktenwald

with. By using such devices the students can concentrate on learning the underlyingprinciples rather than getting lost in understanding how the device works. There are sevenexperiments currently being developed using a hair dryer, a blender, a toaster, a bicycle pump, acomputer power supply, a pipe with a sudden expansion, and a water container with a hole in it.These will be implemented over the next two years at the authors’ campuses to determine theeffectiveness of each. These experiments are used as part of a three step approach to teaching the core principles.First, before the relevant lecture on the material, the students are exposed to a demonstration ofone of the device. This is done to expose misconceptions they may have, and to

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Doug Reeve P.Eng.; Annie Simpson; Veena Kumar; Emma Master; Dave Colcleugh; Greg Evans P.Eng.

that advances in technology combined with theincreasing globalization, complexity and interconnectedness of the post-industrialeconomy demand new approaches to leadership. A definition of leadership as a set oftraits or behaviours is no longer sufficient. Rather, leadership is defined as “a relationalprocess of people together attempting to accomplish change or make a difference”(Komives, Lucas, & McMahon, 1998). New ways of leading include collaboration,teamwork and the ability to transform followers into leaders themselves. This isespecially true in the field of engineering, where groups and teams have the potential tobring multiple approaches to a single problem or challenge. In order to succeed in thisnew paradigm, professionals need

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Wei Cao; Peggy Vance; Robert Lockhart

, promote and help k-12 school teachers and kids whoare enthusiastic to learn new cutting-edge technology. In this article, the short history, organization methodology andstrategy, competition format, college student involvement, follow-upfeedback and future plan will be discussed. The next competition, The 6th Lego Robots Competition for High,Middle and Elementary Schools in WV will be held on May 2008.Motivation from WVU In 2000 and 2001 summers, WVU professor, Dr. Wei Cao, as a NASA Research fellow,joined the Bus Tour with his NASA colleagues, which was aiming to promote science andtechnology for the k-12 kids in their early ages. The bus tour was a big success. The kidswatched the shows conducted by NASA scientists and engineers

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Zachary Bensusan; Leslie Gregg; William Leonard

Product Design class in the MechanicalEngineering Technology major at Rochester Institute of Technology utilizes this educationalpractice to supply students with real-world experience. Through this experimental process,multiple benefits are discovered, along with several pitfalls, which will serve to educate studentswho may encounter similar experiences as they progress through their engineering education.This report addresses these benefits and pitfalls as well as proposes methods with which tocombat such problems encountered throughout the process.introductionThe product design curriculum in the Mechanical Engineering Technology major is comprised ofa series of three classes that are intended to walk the students through the entire process from

Collection

2007 St.Lawrence Section Meeting

Authors

Lawrence Agbezuge

to establish orders of magnitude and a“test of reasonableness”. The solution of an allied problem4 was provided to thestudents to help them with the assigned project.Developments of many subsystems that comprise a complex engineering systeminvolve the numerical solution of boundary value problems. Many commerciallyavailable finite element analysis programs such as Ansys® are available to theengineer for solving many classes of boundary value problems. In order toeffectively use these commercial programs, the engineering curriculum at manyaccredited engineering schools train the engineer in the use of at least onecommercially available finite element analysis package.One important part of the training should enable the engineer to classify