Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 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 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Michael Berry; Paul Russo; Joshua Wyrick

Cultural and Academic Learning Through Project Based Initiatives 1 2 3 Michael Berry, Paul Russo, and Dr. Joshua Wyrick The Civil and Environmental Engineering Program, College of Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, ,ew JerseyEngineers Without Borders (EWB) provides students a unique outlet to experience academia through awhole new lens, one that sheds light on global issues and the opportunity to effect the lives of others.Rowan University’s EWB project, involving clean water distribution in Senegal, is one such project thathas exposed our young intellect to a breadth of different

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Robin K. Burk

Project-Based Team Learning: Teaching Systems Engineering When the Data are Sparse Robin K. Burk U.S. Military AcademyABSTRACT: Undergraduate systems engineering courses face several challenges, including the need toprovide students with integrative projects which present sufficient depth and complexity while beingscoped for execution within a one or two semester course.This paper describes the results of providing students with challenging real-world analysis projectsdespite the sparse availability of established technical and operating data. Sixteen teams werepresented with projects regarding evaluation of advanced

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Tie Duan; Ronnie Baroud; Daniel Amato; Albert LaRoe

Real-Time, CNC Machine Tool Control with Linux: A Senior Design Project at MUSE Tie Duan, Ronnie Baroud, Daniel Amato, Albert LaRoe School of Engineering, Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207AbstractAs machine tools age and their existing controllers fail, the machine tools must be either modernized orscrapped. This paper details the infusion of new technology and the resulting extended useful life of acomputer numerical controlled (CNC) tabletop lathe. This work was undertaken as a senior design projectby a group of senior engineers at Mercer University School of Engineering (MUSE). Key to the successof the project was the ability to have a low cost, high

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Yiming Rong

MQP in China: Extension of WPI Practice on Project based Engineering EducationYiming (Kevin) RongWorcester Polytechnic Institute, Mechanical EngineeringAbstract - With the development of global economy and the rapid shift of manufacturing to China, thedemand for engineers with the ability to work in unfamiliar cultural environments is critically importantfor both Chinese and US companies. In response to a world in which science and engineering areincreasingly global in scope, integrating international research experience into engineering education isessential. An exchange program of Senior Projects in Mechanical Engineering has been establishedbetween WPI and HUST. US and Chinese students work in mixed teams doing real world

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

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

The Effect of Incorporation of Empowerment Projects on Student Performance in a Civil Engineering CourseDr. Robert M. Brooks, Dr. Soumitra Basu, Dr. Shriram Pillapakkam, Dr. Kurosh Darvish, Keerthi V.Takkalapelli College of Engineering Temple University Philadelphia, PAAbstractIn this paper, student empowerment was utilized as a tool in design, discovery, and learning. Theprimary objective of this study is to provide adequate learning experience for the student withinthe scope of the syllabus for the course. In this study, a courses repeated over four years (onceevery year) was considered

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

A.E. Schuster; J.A. Sanchez; C.W. Swan; J.L. Durant; D.M. Matson

Support Mechanisms for Sustainability of Community Health Projects in Arada Vieja, El Salvador A.E. Schuster, J.A. Sanchez, C.W. Swan, J.L. Durant and D.M. Matson Tufts UniversityAbstractEngineers Without Borders (EWB) at Tufts University is a student-run organization that seeks to find andimplement sustainable solutions to problems facing communities in developing countries. EWB affordsstudents a first-hand experience with project research, design and construction. Equally important,students gain an understanding of the necessity of support mechanisms to sustain a project. Since the fallof 2005 the chapter has developed a relationship with the community of Arada

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Service-learning in Environmental Engineering: Projects with Local Water and Wastewater Treatment PlantsAbstractOver the past several years, faculty and students in Civil Engineering at the United States CoastGuard Academy have partnered with local water and wastewater plant personnel on a variety ofprojects. Through these projects, student learning is fostered while local plants receive help withtechnical issues and public education activities. The projects are incorporated into theEnvironmental Engineering II course; a junior-level major area elective covering analysis anddesign of water and wastewater systems. The projects provide outstanding opportunities forstudent development in a number of educational

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

M.G. Guvench

Design, Simulation and Testing of MOSIS Fabricated CMOS Operational Amplifiers for Class Projects in an Analog I.C. Design Course M.G. Guvench University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME 04038 guvench@usm.maine.edu AbstractThe paper describes use of MOSIS fabricated CMOS Operational Amplifiers as a real world designexperience in senior level Analog Integrated Circuit Courses in Electrical Engineering. In the one-semestercourse on CMOS Analog I.C. Design offered at our department, design of a CMOS Operational Amplifier isrequired as a term project. Students are given a set of

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Christopher W. Swan; Julia Carroll

professional issuesassociated with the practice of engineering. The course also examines the economic, political andsocial issues that frame the project delivery process. Professionalism, ethics, communications,and leadership skill development were threaded throughout the course. Though specificallydeveloped and aimed for civil and environmental engineers, course materials are applicable tomost areas of engineering and science. This paper presents an overview of the course and provides specific examples of differentpedagogical methods and tools used for topic and course delivery. In addition to exams andassignments, a number of term projects were completed, allowing students to actively apply theskills discussed. Some of the pedagogical

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Evolution of a Senior Capstone Course Through the Assessment ProcessAbstractThe civil engineering senior capstone design course at the United States Coast GuardAcademy has evolved over the past fifteen years. Historically teams of cadets worked inparallel on one design problem with a single faculty advisor. The senior design projectsnow actively involve students in a variety of real world consulting projects to help theCoast Guard and local communities meet technical challenges. Each student team workson a unique project with a faculty advisor. The departmental assessment processconfirmed the educational benefits of student exposure to real world projects with clients,budgets, and deliverables

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

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

explored the chemical,ethical, physiological and economic dimensions of a (simple) question: Why do we eat what weeat? The students completed projects on subjects ranging from hunger in Worcester tocontrolling fertilizer runoff. Power the World focused on the physics, history, and theenvironmental and economic impact of energy technologies. The students completed projectsranging from an energy cost analysis of green roofs and photovoltaic systems for WPI to airpollution in China.This paper will describe the final student projects as well as the smaller projects and activitiesdesigned to help students develop the intellectual skills needed for research and professionalwork, including clear, succinct writing, oral presentation, pair and small group

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

mechanical requirements, it is stipulated that the design must be creative. Performance ofthe beam is weighted at a 40%, and creativity is weighted at a 20%. Critique sessions, oral presentationsand formal reports are required as part of the process, and constitute the other 40%. This paper provides adescription of the open-ended problem, the requirements and the results obtained during itsimplementation. These results are compared to previous groups where creativity was not considered. Thepaper discusses how this project promotes active learning, fosters teamwork, increases communicationsskills and prepares students for further experimental activities. Students’ perceptions of the importance ofcreativity are presented and discussed. It has been

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Jennifer Zirnheld; Adam Halstead

how does one explain each discipline in adequate detail in theallotted time? Two different methodologies were tested in a first-year engineering course at theUniversity at Buffalo. The first approach, called the disciplinary approach, covered each of the maindisciplines one at a time. The second approach, called the multidisciplinary approach, covered each ofthe main disciplines through a series of multidisciplinary projects. The results and discoveries of thisexperiment are presented.All freshman engineering students at the University at Buffalo (with the exception of computer engineers)take a course called Engineering Solutions. The goals of this course are threefold: to increase studentunderstanding of engineering, to develop teamwork and

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Beena Sukumaran; Joshua Bonzella; Kevin McGarvey; Heather Klein

Teaching Engineering Design with a focus on the developing world Beena Sukumaran, Joshua Bonzella, Kevin McGarvey, Heather Klein College of Engineering, Rowan UniversityAbstractThe paper describes a program, Entrepreneurs without Borders and a project undertaken through theprogram. The program seeks to establish entrepreneurship opportunities for the developing world. Thiswill be done through student teams comprising both engineering and business majors at RowanUniversity. The engineering and business students perform a survey of local communities in thedeveloping world, identified as having a need for engineering skills by Engineers without Borders1.During this initial survey, the students

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Roy T.R. McGrann

landing gear design and analysis project. Acomparison of outcomes is made of results for semesters in which the videos were used withoutaccompanying lectures with other semesters in traditional lecture format. The changes to the coursethat were adopted based on the assessment are presented. The assessment procedure is used to improvethe quality of the course and to satisfy ABET requirements. It is proposed that this assessmentprocedure using marker problems can be used in other design courses.IntroductionThe ability to design components and systems is recognized as one of the key characteristics definingan engineer. Design is a “systematic, intelligent process in which designers generate, evaluate andspecify concepts for devices, systems, or

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 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 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Adam Halstead; Jennifer Zirnheld

taken at the completion of the course indicated that student interest in thisproject was very high. In the interest of providing long-term retention of fundamental skills,several inductive learning techniques were employed. By maintaining student interest, we hopethat the skills they learn from this experience will stay with them throughout their engineeringcareers.IntroductionThis project, entitled the “Rainbow Sculpture: Artistic Engineering”, adapted from CliffordMatthews’ Case Studies in Engineering Design 1, is a case-based learning study that extends intohybrid problem/project based learning. “Rainbow Sculpture” borrows bits and pieces from manydifferent techniques to reach and impress upon a broad array of audiences. Students that

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

John Hartke; Robert Kewley; Greg Kilby; Greg Schwarz; Gunnar Tamm

study and identify the specific design issues addressed by the student team. It willalso describe how the project was structured so that each student on the team had both an in-depthexperience within their discipline and learned how to integrate their discipline specific expertise in thelarger multidisciplinary project. Finally the paper will present the results of the students’ work andlearning outcomes.1. Introduction One of the desired outcomes of nearly all engineering programs is that the students participate ina project where their work is integrated into a larger multidisciplinary project. The multidisciplinaryproject adds more real-word constraints and considerations to the problem than a single-disciplinaryproject can offer

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

M. Ali Montazer, University of New Haven

this lab including ARENA andQUEST 3-dimenssional discrete event simulation software for factory modeling.Initially, two aerospace parts manufacturers, Consolidated Industries Inc. (a metal forgingcompany in Cheshire, CT) and Valley Tool and Manufacturing (a machining andmanufacturing services company in Orange, CT), and three months later, a healthcare-medical devices company (Covidien previously U.S. Surgical) participated as the first setof real world test-cases in this experimental initiative. Each company was assigned astudent team who was responsible for the total project life cycle (from definition toreporting and presentation) in which they developed a discrete event simulation model ofa process from each organization. The experiment

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

B.M. Wright; C.W. Swan; D.M. Matson

in the highlands of northern Ecuador with student teams responsible forevaluating local conditions, providing education to local stakeholders, and assessing the impact of theproject on both the community and the team members involved in the project. Communication of surveyresults helped the village to identify municipal project priorities that would unify the community. Thissocial process, initiated by the student visit, resulted in successful attainment of a grant to construct awater filtration facility for the community based on the water quality sampling test results and on a pilot-scale technology demonstration of slow sand filtration.IntroductionThe Tufts University chapter of Engineers-Without-Borders (EWB)1-3 was founded with two

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Ashraf Ghaly

interdisciplinary course that combines engineering arts and the liberal arts has beendeveloped and offered. The course materials were designed to appeal to both engineering andnon-engineering students. The class was equally split between these two groups of students. Thecourse required high technical skill and ability to operate advanced software, which some did notpossess. The course explored the tightly knit relationship between the art of constructing some ofthe most sophisticated projects and other non-engineering requirements such as political,economical, historical, cultural, and public perception factors. The course offers an insight intothe role engineers play to find a common ground that satisfies all needs and meet

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

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

that more closely resembles the reality of the actual design process, to include the abilityto use Chemical Engineering software in an earlier stage of the development process.Results and Discussion Chemical Reaction Engineering Design Project In the Chemical Reaction Engineering class, the students were given a design project with thefollowing specifications: 1. Volumetric flow rate υ0 is 52 L/min; 2. A desired product ratio of 50:50 n-propyl-p-xylene to isopropyl-p-xylene at the outlet; and 3. T min is 15°C and Tmax is 70°C. The studentswere directed to use ChemCad to develop their designs, but ChemCad needs frequency factor andactivation energy values to correctly model the reactions mathematically. Since these values could

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Rashmi Jain; Keith Sheppard; Elisabeth McGrath; Bernard Gallois

engineering curriculum2. The vehicle for this thread was to bethe core design sequence at Stevens known as the Design Spine3. The first five courses are core designcourses taken by students from all intended disciplines; the last three are taken in the discipline - a juniorcourse followed by a 2-semester capstone senior year project. In most cases the core design courses arelinked to concurrent engineering science courses, thus providing context for the latter. The Design Spineis a key vehicle to develop a number of threads that build both technical and so-called “soft”competencies. The latter include communications, creative thinking, teaming, economics of engineering,problem solving, project management etc. It should be noted that the first four

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Gregory S. Parnell; Michael J. Kwinn

Series in early 2008. The authors redesigned the introductory course, now titled“Fundamentals of Systems Design and Management,” around a system thinking presentation, anindividual decision problem, and a group design project. We have continued to improve the course forthe past two years.IntroductionDesigning the first course of any academic program is always challenging. There are more foundationalconcepts than time in one semester. The first course of any engineering program is especiallychallenging. Several key questions need to be answered. What are the foundational topics that will beneeded in future courses to provide the knowledge for follow-on courses? Will students have thenecessary prerequisites? What pedagogy should be used?In the

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Anthony Manno; Kamal Shahrabi

of databases The perspective changes according to the user Very large database environments: Data marts, warehouses, miningProjects:Various ideas for projects have been tried. The least effective have been writing a paperon something that the instructor says. It is just another boring paper to write. Moreinteresting projects are hands-on. These projects have to do with grouping studentstogether to investigate a technological aspect of their major.Another type of project has been where students were split up into different groups andthey have to debate a subject where they need to learn about some technology. Studentsin different sections have also been brought together so that they can interact with eachother on a

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

NADIYE O. ERDIL; KOENRAAD E. GIESKES

required in the course, (3) active andcollaborative learning, and (4) interaction with faculty members.”In this paper, discussion of the learning community section assignments and examples of student work,comparison of the learning community sections with the traditional sections, reports of studentevaluations, and authors’ review of the learning community program are presented to assess the successof the learning community program. The authors were the teaching assistants of the WTSN 111 portion ofthe program.We start with the projects and activities that are specific to the learning community sections. Theseinclude the Wagner Mill assignment, the mini-golf contest, combined office hours/scheduled lunches,social events, and a gala. Then, we move

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Neal A. Lewis

. Methods of obtainingbusiness experience are also offered.IntroductionMany university instructors have long careers in academia. Some of these instructors have had contactwith industrial companies in the form of research projects, grants, internships, and various other forms ofwork. All of these can be beneficial to the quality of teaching in the engineering classroom. Manyadjuncts and a few full time faculty members bring significant experience to the classroom. Someuniversities find value in this experience and seek out experienced professionals for their faculty. Manyuniversities find little value in “real world” experience, preferring people who focus almost exclusivelyon academic research. I happen to be one of those people who changed

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

John Adams; Charles Kochakian

systems engineering concepts and introducing economicconcepts and business benefits through implementations such as found in Supply Chain andWarehouse Management (SCM/WHM). In addition, RFID is a natural place to introduce ethicalas well as global engineering issues. The course includes selected RFID projects incorporatingbusiness student participation on multidisciplinary teams. As a result, the department has beenable to tailor the course to specifically addresses ABET1 outcomes 3 (d), 3 (f) and 3 (h). Earlyexperience in multidisciplinary teamwork has been favorable, one example provided by a teamthat evaluated possible adoption of RFID by the college’s library. The role of assessment indeciding to adopt this course, and the assessment of the

Collection

2008 ASEE Zone 1 Conference

Authors

Aaron S. Bradshaw; Gary N. McCloskey; Franklin Miguel

of Luz Consuelo (Figure 1) isinterested in improving the quality of life for these people. Since these people have essentially nomonetary resources, future development of replacement housing will require external funding. TheDirector is in the process of obtaining funds but it is unclear what the future housing will look like.Therefore, the design objective for the students is to design housing that is safe, maintains the integrity ofthe existing community, and minimizes cost to allow the most effective use of external funds. The courseconsists of three major phases including research, field research, and design.Research Phase (Reflection-on-Action)Typically the first step to any civil engineering project is to collect and understand as much