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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Molly Clay; William Jumper; Kavitha Chandra

Computing and Simulation in the High School Classroom Molly Clay1, William Jumper2 and Kavitha Chandra3This research investigates methods for integrating computational modeling and programming in three high schoolphysics classes at Lowell high School in Lowell, MA. In this work, a project based approach is undertaken in whichstudents conduct experiments, build mathematical models and learn to program using MATLAB, a general purposescientific problem solving and scenario modeling software platform. We discuss the approach taken where studentsfirst undergo a four-week introduction to basic programming skills and begin to apply these skills to a series ofprojects based on fundamental

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Biswanath Samanta

to development of intelligentautonomous systems. These systems form a broader class of newly-coined cyber-physical systems or CPS.In a CPS, the cyber resources representing computing, communication and control combine andcoordinate with physical resources. For development of CPS systems, CI techniques are used withinspirations from the nature. These systems have unique ability to learn and adapt to new situationsutilizing the processes of generalization, abstraction and association with inspirations from nature [12-29]. Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference, University of Hartford Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education    Application domains of CI include

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Xingguo Xiong; Hassan Bajwa; Lawrence Hmurcik

). EE 548 - Low Power VLSI Circuit DesignWith the rapid development of mobile computing, as well as the energy conservationconsideration, low power VLSI design has become a very important issue in the VLSIindustry. In this course, VLSI power models are introduced so that students have an in-depthunderstanding about the power consumption of VLSI circuits, and how we can reduce thepower dissipation. A variety of low-power design methods are employed to reduce powerdissipation of VLSI chips. This course is designed to cover low-power design methodologiesat various design levels (from system level to transistor level). The basic low-power designstrategies are introduced. Students use the learned knowledge to design low-power VLSIcircuits.Upon

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Nese Orbey; Molly Clay

Using a Game Based Learning Tool in a Freshman Chemical Engineering Course Nese Orbey1, Molly Clay2Problems that chemical engineers face on a daily basis involve many unknowns that need to be optimized. Toinitiate this concept early on in chemical engineering curricula, a game based software (developed by ProfessorTWF Russell, University of Delaware, http://www.mht.che.udel.edu) was used as a part of an introductory freshmanclass at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The course was presented over a two week period with a lectureflowed by a lab session during each week. The students were in small groups in the lab session (instructor to studentratio 1:9) and each had an access

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Buket D. Barkana; Nelson Ngoh; Allen Cook

) Lectures and Discussions, (b) Lab activities: Hands-on computer experience, and (c) Team Project.In this paper, we will present the developed course outline, the response of our students who arepre- and in-service teachers, and the lessons learned by the instructors.Introduction In everyday life, people use devices such as cell phones, iPods and digital cameras, whichuse audio and image processing technology. Although Ngoh and Saleh (2010) in an article titled“Is technology a curse or a blessing to our students of today”, it was clear that thesetechnologies can be used in classroom applications to motivate students and make sciencerelevant to their learning. Despite some minute issues revealed as the dark side of technology forstudents, it was

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Tahany Fergany; Amal Abd El?Raouf

to review the flow of lecture material.  For global learners, allow navigation of computer course material under individual direction, but present a coherent association of previous, current, related, and future material. From the above, it is clear that the Web-based learning has important educationalimplications. It presents exciting opportunities for distance learners and course providers.Therefore, our tool has many objectives including: providing high quality course notes;ability to access various information sources in different forms; offer an environment forstudents- instructor interaction; and ability to tailor individual learning paths. Next, we introduce the different

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Sarah Tasneem

unrelated to computers and information technology [1]. Arecent National Academy of Sciences report states that programming knowledge and experience isbeneficial to everyone in an information society. “The continual use of abstract thinking in programmingcan guide and discipline one's approach to problems in a way that has value well beyond the informationtechnology-programming setting. In essence, programming becomes a laboratory for discussing anddeveloping valuable life skills, as well as one element of the foundation for learning about other subjects[2]”. It is identified in the report that exposure to programming is one of the essential elements that isnecessary for a person to achieve fluency with information technology. NSF researchers

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Bruce Char

learning or practice isrequired to answer the question again, it becomes just a matter of memory or lookup.1 Figures 1 - 6 show a question with automatically generated variants requiring numerical responses thatwe did for our Computation Lab I course in Maple TA. A short script adds variation to a word problemfrom a calculus book [4]. In this case the computation was intended to be Maple, but it could easily bea calculator or another kind of computation system. The original problem, which had fixed values for thevarious temperatures mentioned, was analyzed and the temperatures replaced by parametric names. Variantgeneration consists of using the built-in random number facilities to select integer values for the parameters

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Tom Goulding; Durga Suresh

. We hope to confirm in this paper thatSocratic Methods can virtually assure success once FIGURE 1the power of independent learning and self-reliance is GERMAN WWII ENIGMAunleashed to create a “failure is not an option” culturein the classroom.Keywords: Software engineering, gamedevelopment, rapid development methodologies,computer architecture, encryption systems,independent study.Categories and Subject DescriptorsD2.0 Software Engineering, D3.2 C#1.0 IntroductionMany educational institutions are now incorporating“real world” projects into the classroom. However, theuse of non-traditional educational methods still hasnot captured the imagination of academics in spite ofan

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ying Yu

Elevating Students’ Academic Motivations through Peer Instruction Faculty Paper Innovations In Engineering & Engineering Technology Education Ying Yu Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Hartford yyu@hartford.edu A typical class body consists of students who are fast-learners, slow-learners andthose in between. The differences can sometimes be quite significant. Thus, one of thebiggest challenges that an instructor always face is how to engage students of every levelin the classroom. Well-designed peer instructional methods have

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

S Claudina Vargas

, and (e) touse language and technology tools to communicate discoveries in a clear and meaningful manner. Ourgoal is to enable students to obtain a deeper understanding of the meaning of research, design andanalysis of experiments (DAE), and hypothesis testing concepts, and to provide them with a greaterfacility for applying these concepts to problem-solving - or at the very least, to point them in the rightdirection. Turning pre-college students into researchers is a way to motivate the deep learning of facts,creativity, and the development of knowledge-building skills that students will need to be successful incollege and in their daily lives.Despite limited skills and other barriers, the students involved in this program were able to

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

James W. Smith

had with this mode of learning was the lack of computational skillsdeveloped. That is not necessarily a given in this mode of instruction but care must be taken topick articles which have content from which computational exercises could be devised. Anotherfeature was a sense that whatever success the course had, was due partially to the maturity andsophistication of the students involved who were willing to come to grips with material whichwas not organized or presented in the way that they were used to but who, nevertheless, grappledwith material which initially they had little familiarity with. Using technical papers as theprimary text is probably best used with upper-division students.References 1. Livingston, James D. “Electronic

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Gaetan Garcia; Matthew R. Stein

; FromTele-Laboratory to E-learning in Automation Curricula at the University of Pisa, IFAC World Congress2005, 20059: Euan Lindsay, Dikai Liu, Steve Murray and David Lowe; Remote Laboratories in EngineeringEducation: Trends in Students’ Perceptions, Proceedings of the 2007 AAEE Conference, 200710: Dimitris Karadimas and Kostas Efstathiou; An Integrated Educational Platform Implementing Real,Remote Lab-Experiments for Electrical Engineering Courses, Journal of Computers,2(2),200711: Jan Machotka, Zorica Nedic and Özdemir Gol; Collaborative Learning in the Remote LaboratoryNetLab, International Institute of Informatics and Systemics, 200712: David Lowe, Steve Murray, Euan Lindsay, Dikai Liu, and Chris Bright; Reflecting ProfessionalReality in Remote

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Cristian Craciun

then control the cell with a PLC.6. Real PLC and Virtual FactoriesIn the PLC class the students start from device level (connecting sensor and actuators tothe PLC) then controlling premade cells. In CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) classthe students learn SolidWorks and get introduced to Catia so they are able to design theirown cells in Delmia. Then in the PLC Class the students build the cell and create the PLCprogramming then check their PLC programming. Fig 1. Example an Assembly Cell in Delmia Automation Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference University of Hartford Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education After the

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Kanti Prasad

Yes VLSI System Taught Learning No Assessed/Verified YesStudents graduated from the programFigure 1: VLSI Education Model 4 Figure 2: Hybridization Model 3. Blending of Engineering Fundamentals with State-of-The-Art TechnologyAfter establishing the laboratories in VLSI Design and Fabrication in 1984 and 1986respectively, these facilities have been upgraded continually. In addition, pertinent courses forthe VLSI Design and Fabrication were developed and taught and the author has been teachingthese courses all along. The courses in the area of Computer networking and MMIC technologywere also developed. All these courses deploy a

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Matthew R. Stein

Numerical Simulation as in Integral Component of Dynamics Problem Solving Matthew R. Stein Professor of Engineering Roger Williams University Bristol, Rhode Island, 02809 mstein@rwu.edu AbstractThe Roger Williams University faculty is committed to training students to use modern computer-basedtools when performing engineering analysis. But achieving this is a tall order, as engineering courses arealready jam-packed with essential technical material and any

Collection

2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Sigrid Berka

businesses operating all over the world. Tomake language learning more meaning- and purposeful, ACTFL, the American Council on theTeaching of Foreign Languages, recommends contextualization of language learning and cameup with the five ‘C’standards (Communication, Connections, Communities, Culture, Context)[7]. Teachers should be aware of those standards and use them in their daily teaching strategies,through community involvement, or through immersion programs abroad. The hope is that thelearner becomes more engaged in learning the language when his/her language learning ties inwith actual communities and contexts.The International Engineering Program (IEP) at the University of Rhode Island [8] is an exampleof how such contextualized and content

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Ladimer S. Nagurney

PREPARING ENGINEERING CONTENT FOR A KINDLE E-READER Faculty PaperInnovations In Engineering & Engineering Technology Education and Curriculum Development or Web-based Learning Ladimer S. Nagurney Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture University of Hartford West Hartford, CT 06117 nagurney@hartford.edu AbstractE-book readers, such as the Kindle, are becoming more popular due

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

William L. Cleghorn; Hapreet Dhariwal

combination of delivering notes in real-time, demonstrationing mechanical models,showing computer animations and playing of video clips.The authors developed the Mutimedia Enhanced Electronic Teaching System (MEETS) toeffectively provide presentations in the lectures of MIE301, even when the class size is verylarge [1]. The signals which are seen and heard during the live lectures may be recorded.Lecture capture refers to any means by which live lectures are recorded so they may be availableat a later time. It can involve the recording of audio and/or video signals of the instructor, andmay abe extended to the capture of demonstrations of physical systems, video clips and computeranimations. The MEETS is ideally suited to be used for lecture capture

Collection

2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Christian Bach; Salvatore Belardo; Hassan Bajwa; Sahas Sakhare

andcritically analyzed some of these studies and argued convincingly for the adoption of the instrument [19]on the basis of reliability, content, and predictive and construct validity. Miller’s validated 34 itemssurvey of computer-based information systems has been adopted [17] which consists of 24 items fromBailey (1983) [19] and Alloway (1981) 12 items from [20].Instrument DevelopmentIn Table 1 the items of an comprehensive Information Systems Effectives Survey has been developedbased on academic literature.Table 1: Survey Questions and originating Sources1. Availability, timeliness, accuracy, completeness, relevance, and flexibility of information output (reports, documents, etc.).Items taken from: 1,11,18,23,26,30 [17

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Craig Stringer

RELALATING TOY EVALUATION TO ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS IN A FRESHMAN ENGINEERING DESIGN COURSE Craig Stringer Department of Engineering The Pennsylvania State University, DuBois Campus cjs206@psu.eduAbstractToys can be used as a powerful yet less intimidating means for teaching engineering designelements and allows for students the opportunity to directly apply their knowledge to a hands-onproject early on in their academic careers. In a freshman engineering design course, smallgroups of students used toys as a vehicle to learn fundamental engineering principles in studyingcomplex toy design. The

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Jerald D. Cole

: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, McGrawHill, New York. 2008, p 96.6 Brown, Ames, Epistemological Dilemmas for Education’s Upcoming Cyber-Decade, CyberThink ConferenceProceedings, New York, 2000, p 153.7 Christensen, Ibid, p 69.8 Hewitt, Jim & Brett, Clare, The Relationship between Class Size and Online Activity Patterns in AsynchronousComputer Conferencing Environments, Computers & Education, Elsevier, Volume 49, Number 4, Dec 2007, p 1258-1271.9 Kristy, Elizabeth Boyer, et al, A Case for Smaller Class Size with Integrated Lab for Introductory Computer Science,SIGCSE '07: Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, ACM SIGCSEBulletin, Volume 39, Issue 1, March

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Frank Caserta; Robert J. Lind; Loutfallah G. Chedid

paying positions in the job market (forexample, computer science, economics and management, and engineering)[2]. However, in theU.S., business majors were affected by their SES while non-business majors were lessaffected[3]. In their survey, Adams, Pryor, and Adams reported that 4% of the respondentsindicated parental pressure and 10% indicated their major being similar to their parents’ Proceedings of the 2011 ASEE Northeast Section Annual Conference University of Hartford Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering Education occupations as strong influences on their decision, while the majority, 59%, indicated thatgenuine interest in the subject strongly influenced their

Collection

2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Matthew R. Stein

laboratory.Topics of the course include sensors, real-time software, electronics, actuators and mechanics. Studentsdevote most course time to a semester-long design project, the development of an autonomous device tocollect and sort black and white balls on a playfield. Students are issued a RoboStamp kit that includes aniStamp onboard computer with eight digital, eight analog, three hobby servo motor and two H-bridge motorchannels. Although the kit comes with a few pre-made sensors, students construct the majority of theirsensors from electronic sub-components. Throughout the semester, students must achieve carefullydesigned milestones, each representing a necessary but insufficient capability for completing the designproject. For example, one milestone

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

John Finnie; Neil Fennessey

Copyright © 2011, American Society for Engineering EducationThis latter definition was proposed for the “EAC Harmonized General Criteria” on November 1,2008. It was formally adopted for the 2011-2012 accreditation cycle at the ABET meetingOctober 30, 2010 [3].ABET does not provide a specific definition of a direct measure, nor does it publish proceduresfor the use of direct measures as assessment tools. However, ABET does provide a number ofvenues for learning about the assessment process and preparing for an accreditation visit. Theseinclude an ongoing series of webinars, workshops, conferences, newsletters, as well as theirwebsite. Some of the webinars are available at no cost, as are the newsletters and website.One definition of a direct measure

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Kenneth Edward Dudeck; Wieslaw Grebski

.  Progress to an advanced degree and certificate programs and be committed to lifelong learning to enhance their careers and provide flexibility in responding to changing social and technical environments.The degree offers students the option to select an academic track that fits their interests andregional aspirations. The first two years the degree aligns with other engineering programs andprepares students with math, science and engineering fundamentals. Both topical tracks in thedegree offer multiple years of design courses culminating in a two semester senior capstoneproject allowing students to complete a research project from conception through prototyping.The Alternative Energy and Power Generation track provides students with a

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2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Saeid Moslehpour; Hesham Elsaghir

parallel ports from today’s personal computers, theidea of incorporating Ethernet into embedded system is getting the full attention intoday’s embedded system markets. Ethernet's persistence and durability in connectingcomputers to a network makes it an attractive networking choice for embedded systems.Over the years, the cost of Ethernet connectivity has dropped significantly. The use ofEthernet offers many benefits. System designers can now reuse the Ethernet interface toperform product-service-related tasks that were once handled by RS-232 or similarinterfaces. Aside from the obvious competitive advantages of an Ethernet-enabledsystem, from a system designer's perspective, the key advantage to connecting overEthernet lies in the overall savings

Collection

2011 Northeast Section Meeting

Authors

Angel DeCegama

inthis area to change their already set up procedures because of he computational complexity of WT methods needed toachieve high quality video with WT-based codecs.The approach presented in this paper is different. Do not change the codec. Pre-process and post-process the video.Detailed DescriptionIn this approach, a crucial feature is the ability to recreate a given image or video frame from the low-frequency com-ponent of its WT which is ¼ the size of hte original image or video frame. This can be done precisely by applying themath of the direct WT and the IWT (inverse WT).In order to minimize computational complexity, the Haar WT can be used. The direct Haar WT low-frequency coef-ficients are a2 = 0.5 and a1 - 0.5 and the high-frequency