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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Myszka

Session 3248 A Single Session, Laboratory Primer On Taguchi Methods David Myszka University of DaytonAbstractOver the past decade, Taguchi Methods have become an extremely popular approach toimproving the quality of products. These techniques provide a systematic approach forthe application of experiments to improve the product design and production process.However, outside of quality engineering courses, there is a lack of instruction on thesemethods in many technical programs. All technical professionals should have anunderstanding of Taguchi Methods. The reason for the

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2001 Annual Conference

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Barry David

Session 1454 Technical Entrepreneurship as an Undergraduate Course Barry G. David Millersville University of PennsylvaniaAbstractThis paper describes the content, methods and student activities of an undergraduate course intechnical entrepreneurship. The course engages students in a variety of research, problemsolving and critical thinking activities as they seek solutions to practical problems faced bydesigners and engineers bringing products to market. The one semester course requires studentsto present product concepts to the class during the second week of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kevin Taylor; Emilia Mironovova

Session 3148 An International Collaboration Using Technical English Kevin Taylor and Emília Mironovová Purdue University - Kokomo / Slovak University of Technology - TrnavaAbstractAs we continue to merge global markets it is inevitable that many of today’s graduates willparticipate in international activities when they enter the workforce. It is imperative that weprepare our students for this global work environment. Described is a project between studentsin the United States and the Slovak Republic aimed at improving both technical communicationsand cultural understanding between the two groups

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Kimball

Session 3486 Reforming Technical Mathematics: A Collaborative Effort Robert L Kimball Wake Technical Community CollegeAbstractThe National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the American MathematicalAssociation of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) and the Mathematics Association of America(MAA) have called for changes in the content and methodology of mathematics education.Industry is also calling for changes—changes in the product. Industry want graduates who canthink critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems using a variety of tools. This paperdiscusses

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Lacksonen

Session 1639 Automated Problem Generator for Asynchronous Learning Thomas Lacksonen, University of Wisconsin-StoutAbstractAn Engineering Economy course was taught in an asynchronous learning environment. Sincethe course is primarily mathematical story problem-based material, a technique was required toreplace the traditional ‘instructor solves problems at the chalkboard’ portion of a lecture-basedcourse.The Dynamic Engineering Economy Problem (DEEP) generators were designed on aspreadsheet. Each of the 29 generators could create quasi-random problem sets and solutionsfor one class of engineering economy problems

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Macy Reynolds; Joseph Untener

Session 1574 A Systemic Approach to Integrating Technical Writing in the Curriculum Joseph Untener, Macy Reynolds University of DaytonAbstractThis paper presents an approach to writing education recently implemented in the EngineeringTechnology Department at the University of Dayton. The approach began with an overallcurricular review. One of the department’s concerns was employers’ reports that many graduateslacked sufficient technical writing expertise. The department generally agreed that requiring aseparate technical writing course and then

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeffrey A. Donnell

Session 3561 TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION IN A LARGE COURSE: PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR INSTRUCTORS Jeffrey Donnell, The Georgia Institute of TechnologyIntroduction The integration of technical communication into a large technical course requiresinstructors to develop simple and practical answers to three very complicated questions:• What language structures are of most importance in conveying technical information?• Can we evaluate writing and technical substance together?• How are informational graphics to be used in technical documents?These questions come to the fore each time we deliver

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Donald Lenhert; David Soldan; Andrew Rys

Session 2532 Five Years from a Second ABET EC2000 General Review - and Counting David L. Soldan, Donald H. Lenhert, and Andrew Rys Electrical and Computer Engineering Kansas State UniversityAbstractMany engineering programs would still like to operate in the mode of ignoring AccreditationBoard for Engineering and Technology (ABET) issues except for the year prior to a visit. Withthe emphasis on continuous quality improvement inherent in Engineering Criteria 20001(EC2000) this is a dangerous mode of operation. Instead of back to

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeffrey Higgins

these programs willbe crucial to their long-term success.1 Draves, W.A. How to Teach Adults, The Learner Resources Network, Manhatten Kansas, 1997.2 Sternberg, S.P.K. et al “Delivery and Assessment of Senior Capstone Design via Distance Education,”Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 89, No. 2, 2000, pp.115-117.JEFFREY HIGGINSJeffrey Higgins is a Professor of General Education and Head of the Technology Extension Division atVermont Technical College. He has a B.S. from Plattsburgh State College, M.S. from Iowa StateUniversity, and Ed.D from the University of Vermont. Page 6.351.4 Proceeding of the 2001 American Society for Engineering

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

James Newell; Kevin Dahm

ASEE Session 1339 Baseball Stadium Design: Teaching Engineering Economics and Technical Communication in a Multi-Disciplinary Setting Kevin Dahm and James Newell Rowan University, Glassboro, NJAbstract: Rowan University's Sophomore Engineering Clinic provides students with anintroduction to engineering design and formal training in technical communication. The courseis team taught by faculty from the College of Communications and the College of Engineering.During the past two years, a very successful Sophomore Clinic module on economic design of abaseball stadium has

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Betit; William Swart; Sushil Chaturvedi; Gary Crossman

Session 1501Global Engineering in an Interconnected World: An Upper Division General Education Cluster at Old Dominion University Sushil Chaturvedi, Gary Crossman, William Swart, Joseph Betit College of Engineering and Technology Old Dominion University Norfolk, Virginia 23529AbstractThe “Global Engineering in an Interconnected World” cluster of courses fosters among studentsan awareness and understanding of global technology, quality assurance standards, anddifferences in cultural, communication, and business practices and their impact

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Kist; Barbara Goldberg; William Lin

Session 3650 The Impact of a Problem-solving, Team-based, Team-taught, Interdisciplinary Learning Community on Nontraditional Technical Students at a Commuting Institution Barbara M. I. Goldberg, Ph.D., Thomas M. Kist, M.S, William T. Lin, Ph.D. DeVry Institute/DeVry Institute/Indiana University, Purdue University at IndianapolisAbstractThis study focused on nontraditional, commuting, full-time students at a proprietary,technical, two and four year college in a large metropolitan area in central New Jerseyand the impact of a problem-solving, team-based, team-taught, interdisciplinary

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Roger Gonzalez

Session 2209 BME Undergraduate Design Projects using Various Engineering Majors Roger V. Gonzalez LeTourneau UniversityAbstractFor the past four years, undergraduate students in Mechanical, Electrical, and ComputerEngineering at LeTourneau University have collaborated via year-long senior design sequencesto design, develop, and build an ambitious biomechanical model of an Intelligent Prosthetic Armas a stepping stone for the next generation of prosthetic limbs. While each of these engineeringdisciplines has their own senior design

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Saleh Sbenaty

Page 6.566.1development, which involved direct industrial cooperation and partnership, by expanding theProceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Educationscope of the case study approach to include all technical fields. The NSF-funded consortium($1.8 million) is composed of five two-year technical colleges with representatives from four-year universities, secondary schools, business and industry, and government institutions inTennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama (Figure 1). The three-year grant has the following goals:1. To provide national leadership for the development and implementation of case-based

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Marcus

EducationII. General Format Steps Format Student Assignment Time: 45 min One student from each group Introduction Presenter: The Instructor will submit written Assignment Explanation explanation of the problem to Technical Props: Hematology Instrument group members. Explanation Hematology Tube Transparencies: Optics Diagram Time: 15 min Part #1 Students ask questions to generate specs. One student from each groupwill

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Kullgren; David Pape

-centralMichigan in which over 2200 manufacturing firms, ranging from small operations toFortune 500 companies, are based. The area is also the home of major product divisionsof the Dow Chemical Company, Dow Corning Corporation, General Motors, and Delphiand to large health care centers, a significant banking community, and other similarorganizations that employ large numbers of technical professionals. SVSU provides a Page 6.73.1“Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education”comprehensive array of baccalaureate degree programs and a select

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Alok Verma

”, includes applied research, industrial projects and ingeneral any contractual technical service. These contractual technical services can be provided Page 6.713.1 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education”under various organizational frameworks as discussed by the author and his colleagues in aprevious ASEE paper 6,7. Broadly speaking these services can be funded or unfunded.1. Funded ResearchExternal funding for applied research projects can be obtained througha. Various Federal Government

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Clark; Don McMurchie

Session 3650 Integrating Humanities and Engineering Technology Education in the Classroom: A Case Study Mark Clark, Donald McMurchie Oregon Institute of TechnologyAbstractHistorically, humanities education in engineering technology curricula has been governed byaccreditation requirements. Students are required to take a certain number of hours ofhumanities and social science classes, which are generally not integrated with the rest of thecurriculum.In light of the ABET 2000 accreditation criteria, which focus on outcomes rather than onspecific course

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Slack

teacher. They are pointed out because teachers and especially teachers inthe capacity as curriculum advisors can have a significant impact on them.III. Identity and acceptance within the technical community “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” Woodrow WilsonBy the time a person is in college he or she generally has many friends and has identified withmany groups, some of these identities will continue into their experience at college. This isespecially true at urban institutions like the University of Memphis where most of the studentbody commutes to school. Regardless of the identifications a person may have made in priorlife, they need to make new ones with the technical community or they will not

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Macy Reynolds; Joseph Untener

paper presents the role of the web in writing education and the development of such aresource. The web site discussed in this paper provides tools, help, structure, and evaluation ofwriting formats for some programs in the School of Engineering at the University of Dayton. Theresources include department-specific formats and preferences, and also more general resourceswith links to further resources for writers. Web-based formats for writing technical documentsmay become a standard for instructors who are concerned about producing better documents.As the web site is just one tool used in a new approach to writing education, the overall approachto writing is presented in the paper as well. This approach resulted from employer input

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeff Fant

time,we were also learning Morse Code and about different things that have to do with radioand radio communications. We also did a lot more things, but this is just a vagueoverview of how Tech Camp was. I thought that it was really fun and if there will be aTech Camp for General Licenses, then I will definitely go. My favorite part of TechCamp was being a fox, but I also thought that learning more about ham radio was veryfun and educating.”Wendy Masters(Grade 8)“My name is Jordan Goldblatt. I am a graduate of Tech Camp 2000, Session 1. I hadmany good experiences there and learned a lot of things about Amateur Radio. Probablythe best experience was being the "fox" in the fox hunts. Being the fox means that Itransmit a signal for about 20

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Leah Jamieson; Edward J. Coyle; William Oakes

Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education Session 3461The Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program provides a service-learningstructure that supports long-term projects in which teams of undergraduates in engineering arematched with community service agencies that request technical assistance. Under the guidanceof faculty in engineering, these EPICS project teams work closely over many years with theirpartner community service agencies to define, design, build, deploy, and support the systems theagencies need. The results are systems that have a

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Nels Madsen, Auburn University

until youare convinced you should attend the session. The less you know about the session, the more funit will be. However if you need to know more, read on!The anticipated topics include: fundamentals; precision; appropriate EC2000 outcomes;communication; instructional methodologies; collaborative learning; and teamwork. Theanticipated outcome of the presentation is an audience encouraged to take a fresh look atundergraduate engineering courses in general, and dynamics in particular. This presentation isnot recommended for those unwilling to get into a vigorous discussion, perhaps even anargument!I have attended the annual conference for many years. Each year I find the conferencestimulating, exciting, and useful. However one thing gets my

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael McGeen; James Friauf

information. However, basiccommunication principles such as audience analysis, selecting and organizing information,nonverbal communication, and delivery were also important components of this course.This course was taught by a team of technical communication (General Studies Department) andarchitectural engineering (Architectural Engineering and Building Construction – AE/BC)faculty and coordinated with an architectural design course that ran concurrently. The General Page 6.1001.2Studies professor’s role was to bring expertise in communication theory and practice with the “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

James Barrott

leaders do? Theyshould move to a new paradigm by taking engineering technology programs to the workers on-site. At Chattanooga State Technical Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, aninnovative alliance with Dupont Chattanooga has shown that providing engineering technologyprograms on-site is viable. In the fall 1999 semester, 66 student FTE’s were generated and in thefall 2000 semester, 54 student FTE’s were generated in three engineering technology programs:Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology, Automated Control Engineering Technology, andProcess Operator Chemical Technology. Success of this innovative approach was made possibleby addressing critical issues: 1) a workable method of instruction that includes a combination

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Kenneth Reardon

exercises in technical communication are always marked by asubstantial improvement in quality over the semester. In particular, students’ comfort and skillwith oral presentations increases dramatically.Table 3. Schedule of laboratory activities in "Strategies of Engineering Design". Actual activity for each group in Weeks 8-14 depended on their rate of progress. Week Activities 1 Introduction; creativity/teamwork exercises 2 Teamwork game 3 Overview of design process; distribute project descriptions; Work on Design Stages 1-3 (define problem) 4 Design Stage 4 (generate solutions) 5 Design Stages 5-8 (decide on a solution) 6 Design Stage 9 (implement

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Marie Plumb; Jerry Fong; Arnold Peskin

arelargely continued at the home campuses.BackgroundIt is widely recognized that there are systemic deficiencies in technician education.1-4Industry complains that new technician graduates often arrive with little understanding ofthe technical culture of the modern workplace, or how to effectively communicate andinteract therein. Page 6.74.1Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & ExpositionCopyright O 2001, American Society of Engineering EducationOne reason for this arises from the chronic difficulty technical colleges have reliablyobtaining and maintaining state-of-the-art instrumentation and the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald Rockland

six-phase approach can be used in a variety of courses,and by starting these engineering technology transfer students early in their upper division Page 6.953.1 Session 1648curriculum with this approach, the hope is that they will continue to use this methodology inother courses.Step 1 - Understand the Problem statementThe first step in this multi-step problem solving approach is to understand the problemstatement. If a student does not know what needs to be solved, it is impossible for that studentto complete the assignment, whether it is a homework assignment or

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Joan A. Burtner

 2001, American Society for Engineering Educationhave the rigor associated with a 400-level course. However, because the students would havediverse academic backgrounds, the content of the text needed to be more general than specific. Ahighly technical text would probably alienate the non-science liberal arts majors. A non-technicaltext might not hold the interest of the science and engineering majors. As a compromise, Idecided to use two texts. The first text8 covered the topic of managing technology and wasdesigned for seniors or graduate business students. The text was written by Harold Linstone andIan Mitroff. Mitroff had a background in business and Linstone had a background inmanagement and engineering. One of the most intriguing features

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Hare; Roger Russell; Miriam Ferzli; Michael Carter; Yusef Fahmy; Eric Wiebe

type of lab, ahypothesis is not formulated and tested. Instead, an inductive process is used whereby studentsuse the observations they record in lab to formulate generalizations about the scientific or technicalconcept being explored in the lab.Figure 1. Main page for the LabWrite-MAT site.A completely different type of lab report is the technical lab report. The technical lab report is Page 6.917.3 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Educationmodeled after industry lab reports written by