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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Devin D. Cook

thisenvironment, students learn the basics of programming logic.This learning curve can be gentle – allowing students to learn and understand concepts one at atime. Only the source code, that demonstrates the concept, is required. For example, thefollowing is the solution for Hello World in QuickBASIC. There is little syntactic overheadwhich results in a program that is simple, short, and intuitive. Students can understand theprogram even though they may have never had any training in this language. Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education/Pacific South West Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

M. Zoghi; L. Crask; B. Hyatt; V. Luo; W. Wu

engineer will entail: “strong analytical skills, practicalingenuity, creativity, good communication skills, business and management knowledge,leadership, high ethical standards, professionalism, dynamism, agility, resilience, flexibility, andthe pursuit of lifelong learning.”Furthermore, in 2008, the NAE identified fourteen global challenges for the 21st century. GrandChallenges are key initiatives fostering innovations to solve the world’s problems in relation tosustainability, health, vulnerability, and human wellbeing. Subsequently, in 2009, the NAEGrand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) was announced at the GC Summit in Durham,North Carolina9, 10. The intent of the GCSP is to prepare students via a combination of curricularand extra

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Bhaskar R. Sinha; Pradip P. Dey; Gordon W. Romney; Mohammad N. Amin; Debra A. Bowen

78 Best Practices Guidelines for Successful Capstone Projects in Accelerated Technology Programs Bhaskar R. Sinha, Pradip P. Dey, Gordon W. Romney, Mohammad N. Amin, Debra A. Bowen School of Engineering and Computing National University, San Diego, CAAbstractA practicum or capstone project is an effective and useful end-of-program academic exercise thatreinforces the ability of students to implement knowledge and skills they have learned in theprogram. Every academic program structures its capstone

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Ronald P. Uhlig

206 Mapping between Computer Science Program Educational Outcomes, University Mission, and Student Outcomes Ronald P. Uhlig, National University, School of Engineering and Computing, San Diego, CAAbstractNational University is seeking initial ABET accreditation for its Bachelor of Science inComputer Science degree program. The program has been in existence for more than 30 yearsand has more than 3500 graduates, but has undergone significant changes in preparation forABET accreditation. Because of National University’s strong assessment program, extensiveevidence is

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Paul Nissenson

67 Impact of a hybrid format on student performance and perceptions in an introductory computer programming course Paul Nissenson Department of Mechanical Engineering California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CAAbstractThis study describes the development and implementation of a hybrid format with a flippedclassroom approach in an introductory computer programming course for mechanical engineers atCalifornia State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Two sections of the coursewere taught during Spring

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Laith Al Any; Jodi Reeves; Carl Josephson

DisciplinesThe FE exam is open to anyone with a degree in engineering or a related field, or is currentlyenrolled in the last year of an ABET-accredited engineering-degree program. Some statelicensure boards permit students to take it prior to their final year of school, and numerous statesallow those who have never attended an approved program to take the exam if they have a state-determined number of years of work experience in engineering. Some states allow thosegraduates with ABET-accredited "Engineering Technology" or "TAC" degrees to take theexamination. The states of Michigan and California have no admission pre-requisites for the FEexam, however California will not issue an “Engineer-in-Training” (EIT) certificate until theapplicant has obtained

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Mehdi Khazaeli; Camilla Saviz

incorporated to improve the project and quality of student learning.ABET Accreditation Criteria for Engineering programs require that accredited engineeringprograms demonstrate students have “an ability to design a system, component, or process tomeet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political,ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability,” and “an ability to function onmultidisciplinary teams” 1. The integrated and collaborative learning environment provided bythe type of applied project used in this course can help prepare students to address problemsolving to meet desired needs within realistic constraints while developing their awareness ofcommunity needs.Active learning

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kamran Abedini

or even minimal mention ofrelationships to others. Worse, review of programs has shown that often courses are taughtwithout even mentioning their interactions with specific programs. If we are shaping anddeveloping the engineer of 2020, then we have to change from the segmented teaching, look atthe curriculum more from a “Systems” point of view and clearly show the interactions of coursesand interrelations of them as they are being taught. This means that while the professor islecturing a subject, he/she has to be relating it to the next course, show why previous courseswere pre-requisites, and then show how the subject is used by a professional engineer at job sites.Additionally, to enhance the linkage of courses, and teaching engineering

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Susan Wainscott; Julie Longo

making the transition from student to independent scholar12.Compounding the apparently common composition anxiety among graduate students in general,there is a prevalent stereotype that engineers are poor communicators. A very pervasive culturalbelief related to communication skills, particularly written communication, exists amongengineers; this is reflected in a currently popular T-shirt, as shown in Figure 1. Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education 532 Figure 1. A popular T-shirt reflecting a

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Pradip Peter Dey; Gordon W. Romney; Amir Rezaei; Amelito G. Enriquez; Bhaskar Raj Sinha; Mohammad Amin

conformity and standards. With the recent advances inautomation and social changes, questions are raised about the current adequacy of theseparadigms. In the coming decades, growth of diversity of talents would be more appropriatethan conformity of skills measured primarily by multiple choice tests, because creative problemsolvers increasingly are in demand. Some of the legendary engineers, such as Steve Jobs andBill Gates were college dropouts. There are several emerging alternatives that involve distancelearning that need to be considered in order to investigate the real issues in engineering andscience education. Some of the pertinent questions about any engineering program are: (1) Howwell do the program learning outcomes, teaching practices

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Amelito Enriquez; Nicholas Langhoff; Wenshen Pong; Nilgun Ozer; Hamid Shanasser; Cheng Chen; Hamid Mahmoodi; Ed Cheng; Kwok-Siong Teh; Xiaorong Zhang

one million additional STEMprofessionals in the next decade in order to retain its historical preeminence in science andtechnology. The report proposes that addressing the retention problem in the first two years ofcollege is the most promising and cost-effective strategy to address this need. The CaliforniaCommunity College System, with its 112 community colleges enrolling approximately 2.5 millionstudents—representing nearly a third of the nation’s community college student population—is ina prime position to grow the future STEM workforce. However, for most community collegeengineering programs, developing strategies to increase the number and diversity of studentssuccessfully pursuing careers in engineering is a big challenge due to

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Monica Palomo P.E.

.) areinterested in identifying water issues that their consumers face. To collect information, thecompanies have sent surveys attached through their monthly water bills. Public agencies haveused the data to develop internet resources and water education programs for K-12 instruction sothat consumers can learn about Southern California water issues. In addition, informationprograms have been developed to educate communities about new water programs or innovativeengineering solutions (like the water-to-tap).The objective of the course change was to pilot the enhancement of the curriculum with anassignment that would mimic local community outreach efforts in Southern California wateragencies, and as a result, providing contact between engineering students

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Thomas M. Korman

60 Using Mock Bid Simulations to Enhance Construction Engineering and Management Education Thomas M. Korman, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CAAbstractIn the engineering and construction industry, many companies rely on competitive bidding toobtain work. Students can read about how a general contractor assembles a competitive bid andthey can listen to an instructor relay this information, but they do not understand how hectic anddemanding the process can be. Students need to understand the importance of analyzing

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Thais da C. L. Alves

studentchapter, and how its activities relate to ABET outcomes, uses the NECA student chapter at SanDiego State University to illustrate how students have been working on activities that have helpedthem earn course-related credits in regular and capstone courses, as well as how they improvedtheir performance in competitions throughout the years.Introduction“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.”This old saying summarizes the role of student chapters in supporting engineering education. Thestudent chapters addressed in this paper are organizations based on institutions of highereducation, which are committed to partnering with the industry organizations to provide studentswith real world experience

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Michael Kinsler; Colin McGill; Giovanni Rodriguez; William Berrios; Jeremy Chow; Amelito Enriquez; Paul Grams; Xiaorong Zhang; Hamid Mahmoodi; Wenshen Pong; Kwok-Siong Teh

covered for any of the students.By providing a hands on task for the students to explore that was related but more advanced thananything covered in their classes, the students were forced but internally driven to explore andconquer these more advanced topics.4. Students’ Responses and Survey ResultsIn order to gage the effectiveness of the summer research program, a post-completion exit surveywas conducted. The survey was administered to 16 community college students, four each fromthe mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and computer engineeringgroups. Two sets of responses are summarized in Tables 1 and 2. While it appears that overallthe projects were pleasing and useful to the students, some of the most

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Rose-Margaret Itua; Sharnnia Artis

students traditionallyunderrepresented in science and engineering programs. One pool of such students is community college students pursuing math, chemistry, and physics courses that are transferrable to baccalaureate programs. In a Strategy for American Innovation, the Obama administration stated that “President Obama is taking continuous steps to improve our educational system ... and to promote student achievement and careers in STEM fields”, and “the Administration is committed to restoring America’s global leadership in college graduation rates ...., making investments in community colleges ....”4,5 With more resources being allocated to community colleges to stimulate student achievement in STEM fields, and community colleges serving many

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jean-Michel I. Maarek; Brittany P. Kay

applied equally well in college classes for less experiencedunderclassmen and more advanced upperclassmen [1].We adopted the flipped classroom approach in a freshman-level Introductory course and a moreadvanced medical electronics course of our Biomedical Engineering program and measuredstudents’ performance on exams as well as students’ perceptions. The data was analyzed tocompare and contrast performance and students’ feedback with the flipped classroom approachfor student cohorts at different stages of their college training.2. MethodsThe flipped classroom model was implemented in two one-semester courses of theundergraduate biomedical engineering curriculum. The first course was a “Medical Electronics”course that is required within the

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Lu Zhang; Mudasser F. Wyne; Alireza Farahani; Bhaskar Sinha; Mohammad Amin

. The idea is to demonstrate the mapping rules in ananimated environment to show the creation of relations and highlight the movement of primarykeys based on the cardinalities of involved relationships. Figure 2 is a very basic sketch illustratingthe mapping of a one-to-many relationship type. Note that the actual animation programs are muchmore effective in serving the intended purpose than the sketch provided. There actual developmentis the subject of future work. Figure 1 – Task map outlining the Mapping Process Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Ranjan K Sen

90.311 Introduction to the Linux/UNIX Operating System CS 633 Distributed Systems Parallel processing (Map Reduce, Query 90.360 Introduction to Data Structures processing on column-stripped nested 90.250 E-Commerce on the Web data) 90.303 Advanced Java Programming Big Data eco-system (Hadoop, Pig, 90.467 Relational Database Concepts Hive…) Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education/Pacific South West Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Kevin R. Anderson; Clifford M. Stover

perceptions aremeasured using assessment instruments as well as subjective observations. The study ofMirzamoghadam and Harding5 outline the success story of capstone design project thatpartners an industry sponsor with a interdisciplinary engineering student team, whereby eachindustrial participant contributes a preset budget defined thus promoting the request forproposal (RFP) means of program sponsorship. In the work of Morgan et al.6 feedback fromindustry and faculty experiences in product development led to a rigorous productdevelopment process in capstone design projects. As detailed in Morgan et al.6 the processstarts with a customer, followed by system requirements derivation, a feasibility study, acreation of test matrix and test plans

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Rita Melgar; Anthony Nash; Mou Sun; Carmen Tepeu Yoc; Maral Amir; Cheng Chen; Amelito G. Enriquez; Hao Jiang; Hamid Mahmoodi; Wenshen Pong; Hamid Shanasser; Kwok-Siong Teh; Xiaorong Zhang

). Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education/Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education 118Furthermore, changes like the lightning setup, background and the filling of the shapes inaddition to 2-D and 3-D shapes were included in the second phase of the testing process.During the summer internship period, we were able to develop a software-based model of visualneocortex using MATLAB which is a programming language with significant capabilities forimage processing. Our model was able to recognize several edges and orientations at a time; itcould easily be implemented in

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Bryan J. Mealy

the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education 447 1) Introduction to computer architecture and assembly language programming concepts 2) Introduction to basic computer-related hardware modules 3) Software aspects of programming the RAT MCU 4) Hardware aspects of modeling the RAT MCUThe first section introduces the course topics and also provides a review of the standard digitalmodules described in FRDD. The goal of this section is to place basic computer design in thecontext of previously acquired digital

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

John T. Tester

offering undergraduateengineering programs; it is the smallest in the context of regular faculty appointments to theMechanical Engineering program (10 tenure-track and lecturers). However, the NAU MechanicalEngineering undergraduate program can nearly match any campus for on-campus undergraduateMechanical Engineering enrollment, approaching 800 students as of 2015. In this century, thefaculty at NAU has seen a swell of enrollment in Mechanical Engineering—one data point is the390% increase in enrollment since 2008. The result is both a challenge and an opportunity for thisdepartment to offer more a industrial-oriented manufacturing laboratory to the undergraduates.Since the mid-1990’s the NAU Engineering programs offer the “Design4Practice,” or

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Bryan K. Allen; Gordon W. Romney

identity of a person or object.Azure. Microsoft cloud service provider that provides both PaaS and IaaS services that support many programming languages, tools, and frameworks.C2 Center. AEG Command and Control Center. It is the responsibility of C2 Center staff to collect, record, and audit information related to all aspects of aerial firefighting activity. Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education 15Cloud. The Internet or network of computing resources. May be either public or private.Cloud

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

between academics and industry. Theconference is organized by engineers and for engineers and hosted by National University. Thelarge number of submitted papers is a clear indication of enthusiastic cooperation and responsefrom the community. Out of the 90+ submissions, 57 full papers and 21 posters were acceptedbased on the reviewers’ comments and recommendations. Each submission was reviewed carefullytwice (abstract first followed by full paper) by two to four reviewers. These reviewers not onlyreviewed papers, but also provided their help and support to many authors in order to prepare theirfinal manuscripts. The program committee made their best efforts to accommodate all submissionswith academic merit and scholarship.Many recognized speakers

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Hasmik Gharibyan

comprehensiveevaluation and allows every aspect of student performance to be factored in the overall grade forthe course. However, such assessment does not always provide an accurate evaluation of studentknowledge. In this paper we concentrate our attention on the introductory programming coursesin Computer Science, even though the discussion can be extended to other CS courses, as well asto a number of courses in some other disciplines. We discuss certain issues related to theassessment of out-of-classroom assignments and pair assignments. We also point out someconcerns that arise during the overall student evaluation, particularly connected to the weightedaverage grade calculation. As a conclusion, we suggest assigning the overall grade for the coursebased

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Jing Pang

28 Critical Thinking Pedagogy in Teaching Computer Hardware Design Course Jing Pang, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering Program California State University, Sacramento, CA.AbstractThe critical thinking skills are highly required in the engineering field nowadays due to thecompetitive world demanding complex problem solving skills from engineers. This paperpresents the critical thinking pedagogy the author applied in teaching computer hardware designundergraduate course. In this work

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Bari Ma Siddique

work and study at unconventional times, which they’re used to in their line of work. Proceedings of the 2015 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest Conference Copyright © 2015, American Society for Engineering Education 189 Availability of programs –More schools are offering online programs, increasing the available options and allowing students to search until they find one that meets their needs. Synergy –The online format allows a dynamic interaction between the instructor and students and among the students themselves. Each individual can contribute to the course

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

David F. Hosterman; Wblesther Gama; Andrew Vitaljic; Jonathan H. Poluan; Ali A. Ballout; Yong X Gan; James L. Smith; Jimmie C. Oxley

, American Society for Engineering Education 109IntroductionIn next decade, over millions of undergraduates will be trained in engineering fields all over thecountry. It is, therefore, imperative to implement effective learning methodologies to enhanceeducation in engineering. Nanomaterials and related manufacturing technology with themultidisciplinary nature are viewed as important areas in engineering filed. Universities shouldprovide students in-depth knowledge and opportunities and allow them to practicemultidisciplinary concepts and team working. The cooperative learning setting may allowstudents to enjoy unique learning experience. Since the

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2015 Pacific Southwest Section Meeting

Authors

Ronald Gonzales; Alan Watkins; Chris Simpson

industry. In this paper we discuss thetechnical set up, development of lab objectives, data sources, and development of learningobjectives. We also discuss mapping the learning objectives of the lab to the related knowledge,skills, and abilities in the National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework and to the relevantknowledge units required for designation as a National Center of Academic Excellence inInformation Assurance/Cyber Defense. Use of realistic hands-on labs not only improves thestudents’ learning experience but also better prepares them to enter the workforce.IntroductionNational University (NU) is a National Security Agency and Department of Homeland SecurityCenter of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance Education that