Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Dean M. Aslam; Zongliang Cao; Cyrous Rostamzadeh

, rather than education research, this paper reveals for the first time Lego-basedVan de Graaff generators field-tested on approximately 200 K-12, undergraduate and graduate students. As most of theeducators in engineering in the US have doctoral degrees in research areas related to engineering fields, their knowledgeand focus on education research is limited. On the other hand most of those who have doctoral degrees in educationresearch are less focused on the use of latest micro and nanotechnologies in their everyday research work. Consequently,it has become difficult to develop research partnerships with education researchers particularly in the areas of newtechnologies. Nevertheless the future plans of the research reported in this paper

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Paul G. Ranky

-assessment ispossible. This means that students become more self-critical as they participatedirectly in their own learning process. Team, group and class assessment isintegrated into every module of our programs (supported by active codespreadsheets, computer programs, often with embedded 3D objects, video-clipsand animations) that the students can interrogate to understand either thequestion(s) or the answers better.The important observation about millennial generation students is that all of thenoted attributes should be respected, and that the education system should adjustto delivering these customer expectations at a high quality level. In this paper 1some tested

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Eileen M. Kowalski; Joe D. Manous

education, general chemistry, within an environmental engineeringeducation. Chemistry was selected as an area of investigation because of its repetitive application withinthe environmental engineering curriculum and, as such, provides a basic science topic that should bereasonably well understood by all environmental engineering undergraduates. Three successive cohortsof 12 seniors majoring in an ABET accredited environmental engineering program at the United StatesMilitary Academy were interviewed a few weeks before graduation on selected chemistry topics. Eachstudent was presented with five questions (Table 1) and asked to work the problems on a blackboard,explaining to the interviewers their thought process as they proceeded. The sessions were

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

John Adams; Charles Kochakian

offer a part time evening program in all of New England, and in addition has a veryactive co-operative education program. A typical graduating class is on the order of 15 students,with most students going directly into industry.In 2004 the department was approached by an Alumnus who is a retired CEO in the bar-codingand RFID industry, who was very ardent about bringing RFID to Merrimack College. While thisimmediately was recognized by the department as a major educational opportunity for ourstudents, it was not clear how to staff the course and find a spot in a very tight curriculum for anRFID course. The decision was made to host a three part seminar series delivered by industryexperts, including the topics: “RFID: Past Present and Future

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Imin Kao

in their term projects. The education and awareness in what constitutes plagiarism, thus, becomes cardinally important. Online materials are increasingly becoming more stringently scrutinized for the infringement of copyright. 86. ConclusionMillennial students are generally more ready to embrace new technologies than their professors,and are more willing to adapt to new technologies. As a result, they are also pushing, andperhaps challenging, faculty to expand their technical competence, especially in new or emergingtechnology such as podcast. In this paper, the author shares his experience of employing videopodcast in teaching engineering courses, both at graduate and

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Barrie Jackson

as Bhopal, Flixborough, and Piper Alpha and the current interest ingreen engineering this should be a topical issue in Engineering Education. The general public has becomemuch more sensitized to the issue of process safety as have law makers. Although not all our graduateswill end up in a process environment, this whole issue is something that we believe to be an essentialsubject for a Chemical Engineering education.Process Safety Management begins at the design phase and is a critical aspect of operating andmaintenance procedures. Many of the large international hydrocarbon processing industries have veryextensive on-going safety training for all their employees, both professionals as well as operatingpersonnel. There is always the concern

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

environmentalengineering course required for all Civil Engineering students. Course projects previous to 2004involved a variety of term papers on technical topics sometimes focusing on case studies.Assessment data and informal feedback seemed to indicate that students were not inspired bythese “paper studies” and that there was also a need to enhance student contact with practitionersin the field and to better prepare them for the open-ended, client driven team projects they wouldencounter in their senior capstone design experience. When the staff at the City of GrotonWastewater Treatment Plant approached the Environmental Engineering II teacher aboutdeveloping an educational brochure for the plant, service-learning was eagerly incorporated intothe course. These

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Kanti Prasad

. Figure 2: Hybridization Model 4. ConclusionThe system design in general and VLSI system in particular needs multidisciplinary skills.The VLSI education model addresses this problem adequately. In order to become anintegral VLSI designer one needs to inculcate skills in design, simulation, testing andverification. This requires a special commitment of funds, which are beyond budgetaryallocations of the schools. The partnership between academia and industry is of vitalimportance which author has envisioned all along, especially through sponsorship ofUMass Lowell’s VLSI Design and Fabrication activities.The inception of this program ensued with the grant from M2C along with a clean roomfacility. After the demise

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

M.G. Guvench

disciplines, it is desirable that the design experience beincorporated into individual courses particularly those at the senior level. This ensures that the designexperience and exposure is not limited to the narrow topic of the student’s capstone project. Implementingit in the senior level courses makes it possible that a level of sophistication and depth can be demandedand achieved based on an accumulation of learning and experimentation from at least three years of priorengineering education.“ELE444 Analog Integrated Circuits” is a senior level elective in our Electrical Engineeringundergraduate program. Another title “CMOS Analog IC Design” is interchangeably used to highlight thefact that “design” is emphasized in this course. As a matter of

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Qing Li

the educational process could be responsible forforming a student’s negative attitude towards learning. If students have negative impression of engineeringeducation or engineering profession, they may switch out from engineering majors (Seymour & Hewitt; 1997,Besterfield-Scare, et. al., 1997; 1998; 2001). When students have less enjoyment in studying mathematics andscience, or dislike the teaching methods in engineering, they appear to have high attrition rate (Besterfield-Scare, et. al., 1997; 1998; 2001; Seymour & Hewitt, 1997; Bonous-Hammarth, 2000). Students come toengineering schools with various expectations such as to gain a general education, to prepare for graduate study,to get a better job with more pay, and so on. If the

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Gad J. Selig

innovative inter-disciplinary education environment for our students to seamlessly and easily integrate courses and concentrations offered by the Schools of Business, Engineering and/or Education & Human Resources.The results of the TM program transformation have been nothing short of outstanding. In the Spring2008, the TM program had grown to 303 graduate students for a 2.5 year growth rate of over 540%. TheTM program at UB is now the largest in the State of Connecticut and New England and may well be oneof the largest in the United States. The growth of the entire School of Engineering in the same period toover 1,250 graduate students (a growth of over 235%), is also

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Gregory S. Parnell; Michael J. Kwinn

Engineering at West Point was established in 1989 as an outgrowth of theformer Department of Engineering (now the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering.)Brigadier General (Retired) James L. Kays was the first head of the newly formed department and had theresponsibility for not only developing the academic programs under the department but also most of thecourses. The department was designed with four overarching objectives that have endured through threedepartment heads [1]: focus on cadet education; foster faculty growth and development; remain linked tothe industry we serve - the Army; and integrate state-of-the-art computer and information technology intothe education process.The Department established the Systems Engineering major after

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Ashraf Ghaly

Statement, one of Union’s major goals is to further integrate engineering withthe liberal arts. The college recognizes that “students graduating from Union belong to a generation inwhich technology has revolutionized communication and that they are part of a world where theunderstanding and appreciation of a multiplicity of cultures and perspectives will be essential to theirsuccess.” -1- American Society for Engineering Education ASEE Zone I Conference, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, March 28-29, 2008The college acknowledges that “preparing students for the 21st century requires that we take Union tonew frontiers of technology

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

with the technicalknowledge necessary to successfully design a vehicle. Until recently these courses were geared towardgeneral education within the sub-discipline and did not address the specific needs of the design teams (inessence, their customers). However, based on advisor observations and student feedback, these electivecourses modified their course syllabi to better prepare students for the design process. This paper detailsthe changes made to those courses and the impact on the capstone design projects. The ME curriculum at USMA consists of six possible sub-disciplines, including aerospace andautomotive engineering. Each sub-discipline consists of the core ME program and two technical electivesin the specific area – the first in

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Roger Chapman Burk

science, literature, and history, as well as onrockets, orbits, launches, re-entries, spacecraft subsystems, and human factors. The focus was on whatwould be needed for routine interplanetary and interstellar manned spaceflight, but we also covered theimportant considerations for current space operations. The intent was that at the end, the students wouldnot be in a position to start designing a space ship, but they would understand why they are designed theway they are. The author found that this course was excellent for its purpose. It excited interest instudents otherwise uninterested in engineering. The variety of topics demonstrated a wide selection ofengineering methods and concepts, and also provided variety and kept interest alive. Weekly

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Peter Thomas Tkacik

irrelevant topics taught bynon-racing faculty that slow the learning process. As an example, students in Automotive Powerplantswould expectedly be upset by balancing Chemistry equations. UNC Charlotte is lucky to have a top levelrace engine builder who teaches Chemistry in his evening Powerplants course and (because of hisreputation) the students relish it. The key is to focus on the educational strength of the students whichallows them to develop analysis tools or improve components. This is what the race teams (and industry)are hiring.The motorsports instrumentation courseThe development work for this paper was done for a new course called Motorsports Instrumentation. Itdiffers from traditional Instrumentation in that it is focused on the various

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Daniel J. McCarthy; Michael J. Kwinn

Mechanical Engineering) to become the thirteenth, and still youngest,academic department at the school. The first Department Head, now retired Brigadier General James L.Kays, had quite a challenge ahead of him when he assumed that position. With very few undergraduatesystems engineering programs in the country at that time to benchmark against, it was hard to knowwhere to start. Kays, a former collegiate football player at Army, decided to focus on the fundamentalslike most coaches do when trying to build and develop a young team. He designed the department withthe focus on four overarching and enduring objectives that have persisted through three department heads:(Kays and McGinnis, 1995.) • cadet education; • faculty growth and

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

M. Ali Montazer, University of New Haven

Consolidated Industries Inc. (a metal forging company) and Valley Tool andManufacturing (a machining and manufacturing services company). In this presentation,we will explain in details the program, the relationship created between Connecticutaerospace parts manufacturers, CCAT/NALI and the University of New Haven, theprogress made to date and the road ahead.IntroductionFor many small companies and their managers, lean is a concept that makes a greatdiscussion topic at conferences and in meetings – it looks nice on paper and makes senseonly theoretically. For them, unless the concept is put to practice in their workenvironment with tangible results that can be measured and are observable, the initiativeto implement lean could slowly dissolve in the

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

seniorcapstone projects as a result of all the lecture topics.In the Fall of 2003, a new course called “Construction Project Management” (CPM)became a prerequisite to CED. CPM lectures included all of the topics that had beenidentified as necessary for a Civil Engineer to succeed after graduation: • Construction Industry Overview • Design Package Components • Scheduling • Engineering Economics • Cost Estimating • Contracting/Project Management • Engineering Ethics • Sustainable Design • Capital Asset Management • Planning • Facilities ManagementCPM also fostered educational outcome achievement in areas relating to engineeringethics, professional practice issues, and engineering economics and deepened studentknowledge of

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Robin K. Burk

traditionalmodeling, simulation and life cycle cost estimation techniques. A second faculty member, a domainexpert, served as proxy client decision-maker. Data were gathered from the client as well as from opensource literature and through interviews with experienced commanders, soldiers and technologyproviders. Simulation models were required in order to estimate system performance, value functionswere elicited from the decision-maker and rough cost-benefit analysis was applied. Sensitivity analysiswas especially important given the sparse and uncertain nature of some of the data used.We describe responses of the students to these more-challenging-than-usual project topics, the degree towhich our pedagogical objectives were achieved and success factors in

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

NADIYE O. ERDIL; KOENRAAD E. GIESKES

student opinion ofteaching surveys (SOOTs), which allowed us to see the students’ perspective of the methods we hadutilized in both sections, and what they think they gained from this course. Tables 1 and 2 summarize theresults. Although each question had a four category scale with different scale in wording (such as: “tolittle extent”, “to some extent”, “very clearly”, “generally clearly”, etc.) to make the tables simpler, weuse a four category (excellent, good, fair, poor) scale for all.Table 1 concentrates on the general topics questions from the SOOTS. In all categories, the sum ofexcellent and good scales is always greater for the learning community sections. While 75% of thelearning community students were satisfied with the course, only

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Arthur Heinricher; Brian Savilonis; David Spanagel; Robert Traver; Kristin Wobbe

-1-provide a solution, and that great problems will be solved only through the efforts of many smallsolutions coming from many disparate directions.There is a national trend toward more active, project-based learning in engineering education thathas been (slowly) gaining momentum for more than 40 years. (See Felder, 2004.) A recent, andwidely publicized, illustration of the trend was the creation in 1997 of the Olin College ofEngineering. The Olin Foundation made a $300 million investment to establish a new college ofengineering that would integrate project work in all four years of the new curriculum.(Somerville, et al, 2005).For almost 20 years, there has been significant investment by the National Science Foundationintended to increase

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Joseph Robert Yost; Randy D. Weinstein

content contributeto the knowledge and solution approach necessary for the semester project and competition.The general format of the two lectures and laboratory components are summarized as follows:• Lecture 1 Provide a broad overview of the engineering discipline at hand. Describe individual specialties within that discipline, and provide specific application examples that illustrate the skills and activities that professionals, educators and researchers active in the respective specialty areas require. For example, structural engineering is a specialty area within CEE, and structural engineers use math and physics to design and analyze buildings, bridges, and other structural systems fabricated from steel, concrete, timber

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Neal A. Lewis

to life, and can use the lesson when they arefaced with a similar issue years later.When should examples be used? Many examples are planned ahead of time, and are inserted into alecture at an appropriate time. I save particular stories for certain courses, using them at planned times inthe semester. Sometimes an idea will pop into my head in the middle of class, and a decision is made onthe spot whether to add the story or not. Spontaneous story telling is often a good thing, keeping the classfresh and informal. Care needs to be taken to not go too far off of the current topic of the class.Ways to bring experience into the classroomThere are two general ways to bring experience to the classroom: either get some experience or bring inguest