Conference Session

AERO 5: Student Success

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tracy L. Yother, Purdue University, West Lafayette ; Mary E. Johnson, Ph.D., Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI)

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace Division (AERO)

outcomes from EAC and ETAC. Additionally, the authorsillustrated how these course outcomes could be incorporated into a three-course structure in anexisting aeronautical engineering technology program. There are many methods for curriculumdevelopment. Many of them focus on a multi-stage process that typically begins with developinggoals or gathering existing resources and ends with implementation, assessment, evaluation, andrevision. With the scarcity of existing resources, much of the curriculum development should befocused on the location, identification, and development of resources that can be used to developcourse outcomes that lead to ABET student outcomes. This study used industry standards thatwill need to be supplemented with technical

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division Technical Session 6

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Diane Stine, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

that provides biodiesel fuel for trucks.Outcome AssessmentThe number of students in these classes is quite small (approximately 10 students) and the classhas only been taught twice. It is being taught the third time in the Spring of 2016. Each classworks on 3-4 projects in groups of 2-4 students. The class is a mix of senior undergraduates,master’s, and PhD students. The ability of students does not vary greatly by degree, but more onthe intensity of interest and effort in the project.Since the classes and number of projects are so small, statistical analysis is not possible.However, we can provide the following qualitative assessment based on an anonymous survey • 90 percent of students were satisfied or very satisfied with the class

Conference Session

Green and Susainable Manufacturing Practices

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Chiou, Drexel University (Eng. & Eng. Tech.); Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, University of Texas, El Paso; Irina Nicoleta Ciobanescu Husanu, Drexel University (Tech.); Carlos Michael Ruiz, Drexel University (Eng. & Eng. Tech.); Smarth H. Chadha, Drexel University (Eng. & Eng. Tech.); Shraman Kadapa, Drexel University (Eng. & Eng. Tech.)

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

measurement;  User-friendly data collection and processing software;  Gathering high quality data;  Easy to useinstrument that can be used commercially by a large number of people. Connecting a small-sized,low-cost CO sensor to an Arduino microcontroller module which is then connected to a computervia serial communication. The data collected by the Arduino microcontroller from the sensor isthen sent to the computer software where it gets recorded and plotted in real-time.System DesignThe workshop presented the required materials for the system design, including: ArduinoMicrocontroller, X-Bee Wi-Fi Module, X-Bee Shield, Temperature Sensor, Photocell (LightSensor), Methane CNG Gas Sensor, Carbon Monoxide Sensor, Gas Breakout Boards, BreadBoard

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janice M. Margle, Pennsylvania State University, Abington; Catherine L. Cohan, Pennsylvania State University; Yu-Chang Hsu, Boise State University; Jill L. Lane, Clayton State University; Amy Freeman, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Javier Gomez-Calderon, Penn State University; Dhushy Sathianathan, California State University, Long Beach; Renata S. Engel, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

engineering, to transition from highschool to college, and (d) the assessment and evaluation of the three aforementioned interventionstrategies. The strength of this project lies in the comprehensive scope of the interventions aswell as its large sample size.To illustrate the breadth of this project, the first semester of the intervention occurred on 15 ofthe Penn State campuses. It involved seven STEM courses: four as part of the math tutoringstrategy (algebra-analytic geometry, trigonometry, a combination of algebra-trig-analyticgeometry, and calculus) and three as part of the toy design strategy (freshman engineeringdesign, freshman engineering seminars, and computer-related engineering courses). After thefirst two semesters of implementation

Conference Session

Innovative IE Course Content

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Connie Gomez, Galveston College; Heidi A. Taboada, University of Texas, El Paso; Jose F. Espiritu, University of Texas, El Paso

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Economy, Engineering Management, Industrial Engineering

the need of large amounts of reading that hinders moretraditional approaches to engineering ethics education.2.0 Background2.1 Course BackgroundThis course in Sustainable Engineering gives students a broad overview of the challenges andopportunities within this growing field so that they can consider careers or a higher degree insustainability engineering. The key components to this course include Sustainability EngineeringChallenges and Background, Life Cycle Assessment, Thermal Review, Eco Design, and Ethicsand Consumerism. The amount of time dedicated to these components and to assessment isdepicted in Figure 1. Figure 1. Distribution of topics throughout the Introduction to Sustainability

Conference Session

Mechanical and Architectural Engineering Laboratories

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

A. Simionescu, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi; Mehrube Mehrubeoglu, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi; Korinne Caruso, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi; Gregory R. Reuter, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

obtained. This hands-on experience is offered jointly with the ArtDepartment at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, which operates a small foundry for theirown use. Graduate students majoring in sculpture, who routinely perform metal casting of theirwork, provided the support and shared their experience with the engineering students in acollaborative environment. Student opinions of the lab experience as determined throughanonymous surveys are presented, and ways to improve the lab based on this feedback arediscussed.IntroductionAlthough there is a steady trend in recent years to outsource manufacturing jobs to countries withlower labor costs, it remains important for American engineering programs to adequately trainstudents in the areas of

Conference Session

Enhancing Mechanics Instruction

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gary L. Gray, Pennsylvania State University; Francesco Costanzo, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

examples, this approach to the introduction of new ideas that wecall problem-centered. We also relate our experience in teaching dynamics this way, in lecturesdelivered electronically and in lectures delivered on the chalkboard, to large classes and small, andto honors and non-honors students. Finally, we present anecdotal evidence that the approach, at thevery least, captures the interest of the students. While we have no data comparing the performanceof students taught the way we used to teach dynamics with the performance of students taught inthis problem-centered fashion, we feel it is important to report that problem-centered approachcan be used with success in a variety of settings, where success means that it doesn’t get in theway of the

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Constans, Rowan University; Jennifer Kadlowec, Rowan University; Hong Zhang, Rowan University; Bonnie Angelone, Rowan University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

testing will be conducted to assess a) change in retention between courses and b)change in student problem-solving and design skills.BackgroundMany sources have made the case for reforming engineering education to reflect modern trends.Most notably, a recent National Academy of Engineering (NAE) report found that2 Engineering education must avoid the cliché of teaching more and more about less and less, until it teaches everything about nothing. Addressing this problem may involve reconsideration of the basic structure of engineering departments and the infrastructure for evaluating the performance of professors as much as it does selecting the coursework students should be taught.The report also stressed the importance of teaching

Conference Session

Software Engineering Topics

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Walter W. Schilling Jr., Milwaukee School of Engineering; Eric Durant, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Software Engineering Constituent Committee

outside of the application domain sequence. Thus, for any givenoffering of one of these courses, more than half of the students may be taking that course as atechnical elective without any plan of taking the other two courses in the sequence. Thisproblem is magnified even more by the fact that students of both the software engineering andcomputer engineering programs routinely take these courses as technical electives. This makes itmore challenging to offer these courses in a neutral manner.Scheduling is also an issue with these courses. Because of the small size of the programs, thesecourses are only offered every other year, resulting in a mixture of both junior and seniorstudents taking the courses. This results in significant differences in

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Rose M. Marra; Thomas Litzinger

.• “Advising Students” While advising duties vary across our departments, we felt it was important for our new faculty to at least know where to go with advising questions they may have. In our college, during the first two years of their programs students are advised at the engineering advising center. Once students enter a major, they are assigned an advisor in that department. For this session, we ask a representative from the general engineering advising center as well as one departmental advisor to address student advising needs.• “Research and Graduate Studies” As previously mentioned, faculty attend a full day workshop on building a successful research program later in the fall semester. The purpose of our “Research

Collection

2011 Fall ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference

Authors

KENNETH WADE JACKSON

learning within the context of real world situations.Such innovation in engineering education while maintaining its traditional rigorpresents many challenges. These interrelated challenges include the following: (1)Critical STEM competencies and professional licensing capability must be impartedin a traditional four year program of study. (2) Lecture based courses are moreefficient. (3) Many faculty perceive the analytical, math-intensive courses inengineering science to have higher prestige. (4) Individual learning assessment inexperiential, project-based courses is less objective and the supporting assessmentpedagogies for engineers are not well developed. (5) Fewer faculty have experienceand training in teaching multidisciplinary design courses

Conference Session

NSF Grantees’ Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hong Huang, Wright State University; Steven R. Higgins, Department of Chemistry, Wright State University; Aaron Joseph Blake, Wright State University, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering; Jason Allen Deibel, Wright State University; Ioana Sizemore, Wright State University, Department of Chemistry

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

microscopy. He was one of the first in the field to apply finite element methods to the study of novel terahertz devices and phenomena. At WSU, Dr. Deibel runs a cutting edge research program where he oversees three THz systems, a simulation workstation, and several student research assistants. Dr. Deibel is a member of the IEEE, SPIE, OSA, and APS.Dr. Ioana Sizemore, Wright State University, Department of Chemistry Page 24.575.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Experimental Nanomaterials and Nanoscience – An Interdisciplinary

Conference Session

Engineering Education Methods and Reflections

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ruidong Ma, University of Washington; Renee M. Desing, University of Washington

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Student Division (STDT)

thermodynamics course in the first quarter of my Ph.D. Then, I wasrecommended by the faculty instructor to become a GSI for the same course in the followingquarter. Since then, I have taught more than ten courses (a total of 44 credits) to over 400 studentsacross three different universities, with class sizes ranging from small to large. The coursesincluded thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, material mechanics, and various electivecourses in the biomedical area. In addition, I was selected as an outstanding teaching assistant inour department, the highest award for a GSI and TA. With this diverse teaching experience, I aim to provide insights and lessons learned frommy time as an international GSI by employing self-reflection in the

Conference Session

Special Topics

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Mary Ayre; Julie Mills

] has shown that these various interpretations of the inclusive curriculum represent thedevelopmental stages which typically occur in universities committed to improving therepresentation of women in their science programs, though not all institutions achieve the mostadvanced stage. The present authors recognise Rosser’s six stages as being equally applicable inan engineering context and to all ‘non-traditional’ students. In a previous work [16] we haveparaphrased and summarised her discussion and formulated it into tabular form for ease ofreference. We reproduce this in Table 1 below.Although research in this field has collated these various understandings of inclusive curriculainto a consistent framework, the authors have found that their

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark L. Smith; Kenneth E. Rowe; Carlos R. Morales; Rick L. Homkes

students to keep up with the reading material, or assess incremental learning. 2. Examinations will be used to assess that students have developed an appropriate understanding or mastery of conceptual foundations, essential terminology, high-level methods, basic techniques, and fundamental tools. 3. In-class and homework exercises will be used to assess that students can apply basic concepts and techniques to small, structured problem solving activities. 4. Laboratory exercises and practicals will be used to assess that students can independently apply the technologies used to reinforce problem- solving

Collection

ASEE Mid-Atlantic Section Spring Conference

Authors

Rajarajan Subramanian, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, The Capital College; Sofia M Vidalis, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg, The Capital College

Tagged Topics

Diversity

an AIcompetition.Gonzales, M., & Goel, A. (2019), “Why Are Some Online Educational Programs Successful?: ACognitive Science Perspective”. Poster paper at the 41st Annual Meeting of the CognitiveScience Society, Montreal, July 24, 2019.Lawrie, G. (2017). How our school is using Virtual Reality to prepare pupils for a futuredominated by technology. Retrieved 11 April 2021, fromhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/01/23/school-using-virtual-reality-preparepupils-future-dominated/Lee I (2017) Classroom Writing Assessment and Feedback in L2 School Contexts. Singapore:Springer.Lund, B. D. (2023). A brief review of ChatGPT: Its value and the underlying GPT technology.https://www.researchgate.net/publication

Conference Session

Aerospace Division Technical Session 1

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David B Kanipe, Texas A&M University; Kristi J. Shryock, Texas A&M University; Jacques C. Richard, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

holding successively responsible positions, he was selected as chief of the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division in the Engineering Directorate at the Johnson Space Center in January 2001 and served in that position until retirement on December 31, 2010. A month after his arrival at NASA, the last Apollo mission, Apollo 17, was launched. Obviously, that was exciting, but in terms of his career, the commencement of the Space Shuttle Program in November 1972 was to have far more impact. As a result, Kanipe was able to begin his career working on what he says was the most interesting and exciting project he could possibly imagine: the Space Shuttle. Kanipe moved into management in May 1990 when he became the Deputy

Conference Session

Course Development and Services

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ed Crowley; Susan Miertschin

of their peers according to stated standards.Assessing Students’ PortfoliosThe student portfolio development process yields a diverse array of end products. The portfoliosare judged on both content and aesthetic criteria. At this point in the evolutionary process, theresponsible instructors, realizing that aesthetic appeal has a large subjective component, havedeveloped an assessment process that includes objective and subjective criteria as well asfeedback from the students’ peers. Students ‘turn in’ their portfolio project by sending theinstructor the URL. The instructor posts the URLs so that all students in the course can view allthe portfolios. After all students’ portfolios are ‘turned in’, each student is provided with anExcel

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Mark Schulz; DeRome Dunn; Abhijit Duraphe; Samuel Owusu-Ofori; Ajit Kelkar; Devdas Pai; Richard Layton

Session 2520During the presentation, students in 474 (the target audience) change the truss parameters andsee the vibration analysis results in about 20 seconds. The students then change the cross-sectional area and damping of the truss members to reduce vibration. The concepts of naturalfrequencies and mode shapes and how they are computed in MATLAB are introduced. Students in474 learn that for a structure operating near a resonant condition, small excitations can beamplified by a factor between 10 to 50 causing large forces and stresses in a structure. Thusstatic analysis as developed in previous courses may be inadequate when considering a structuresubject to dynamic excitations. The software simplifies the computational burden of

Conference Session

Aircraft Design Education

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jacques C. Richard, Texas A&M University; Kristi J. Shryock, Texas A&M University; Dimitris C. Lagoudas P.E., Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

, students expressed havinglearned a lot about the engineering design process. Flowcharting and coding in the graphicalvisual programming environment were new to the students, but once they learned this,programming the SMA wire operation into the robot code was simple as it just replaced anothermotor. Frustration was felt by students trying to amplify small displacements of the SMA wiresin their quest to actuate a robot claw or gate mechanism. Overall, students’ comments suggestedincreased learning of engineering design and using problem solving. With this being the firstfull-scale implementation of SMA wires into the particular project, further work will need to bedone to excite students to learn more about aerospace materials science applications

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Karen Horton

range of manufacturing processes. Student teams presented studies of localcompanies at the end of the course. MET 270 now focuses on the concurrent engineering ofproducts. The technical content is presented using a variety of media including lecture,cooperative learning activities, web-based training, films, and student tours. Communication andteam skills are practiced during in-class exercises. For three families of processes, small studentteams design simple products, develop CADD drawings and engineering analyses to support thedesigns, and describe in detail how the products will be fabricated and what the impacts of thefabrication processes are on the designs. The teams submit written reports and make oralpresentations to the class

Conference Session

Capstone Design & Project Courses

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Green, LeTourneau University; Paul Leiffer, LeTourneau University; Thomas Hellmuth, LeTourneau University; Roger Gonzalez, LeTourneau University; Stephen Ayers, LeTourneau University

Tagged Divisions

Multidisciplinary Engineering

diversity of projects and yet specificenough to provide guidance and accountability to individual teams and faculty supervisors.Finally, (7) project assessment criteria and procedures must be agreed upon by the involvedfaculty for equitable evaluation of teams and individual team members. Our tactics for each ofthese key elements and results will be discussed. Page 12.584.21 Introduction and Background1.1 IntroductionStudent involvement in interdisciplinary teams is not only an expectation of industry but also hasbecome a required outcome of the ABET engineering criteria. ABET criteria now includeoutcome 3d which states that “engineering programs

Conference Session

Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) Technical Session 3: Instruction & Information Literacy

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Seth Vuletich, Colorado School of Mines; Brianna B. Buljung, Colorado School of Mines; Joseph R. Kraus, Colorado School of Mines

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Libraries Division (ELD)

library coverage relative to external coveragewere expected. The library must rely on campus relationships and partnerships because wecannot cover all topics.Despite gaps in certain Lesson Components, the frame-level assessment outlined in Figure 3shows the library covered all nine PCRN frames and all eight NACE frames in at least oneworkshop over the duration of the series. Technology has been a hallmark of the library’scontribution to the series as it helps supplement students’ STEM-focused curriculum. In general,the library has focused largely on technology and teamwork, but less on individual enrichment.This trend is particularly apparent when investigating the NACE mapping. The NACECommunication and Technology frames were covered by all 11

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Warren, Kansas State University; Jianchu Yao, East Carolina University

equipment laboratories andhire staff to oversee them, open laboratory traffic can be problematic when large lecture coursesor service courses for other departments decide to implement hands-on exercises as part of thelearning experience. Page 15.956.4E. Challenges for a General Engineering CurriculumGeneral engineering programs must cover material from multiple sub-disciplines, so theircourses must each cover a broad range of topics.11 The ECU GE program (B.S. in Engineering)supports four concentrations (Biomedical, Bioprocess, Industrial Systems, and MechanicalEngineering). Students in all concentrations take common core courses before starting

Conference Session

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES) Technical Session 4: Sociotechnical Integration

Collection

2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey John Hatala, West Texas A&M University; Celeste Arden Riley, Texas A&M University - Kingsville; James K. Nelson Jr. P.E., Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus; Andrew Steven Crawford, Tarleton State University; Victoria June Vinzant, Texas A&M University - Kingsville; London Knight, West Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division (LEES)

departments outside colleges of engineering in collaboration with colleges ofengineering, the importance and role of interdisciplinary education has not been studied as muchover the decades; the body of knowledge is small but is growing. Findings indicateinterdisciplinary education helps form connections to solve large-scale problems requiringsustainable solutions. In the early 20th century, John Dewey served as major proponent ofintegrated education [10]. One hundred years later major organizations in multiple sectors, suchas the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) (now NationalAcademies of Medicine), have called for interdisciplinary opportunities [11]. The World HealthOrganization (WHO) through its

Conference Session

Teamwork, K-12: Projects to Promote Engineering

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Barbara Gannod

whether they have a computer at home, use one atschool, or rarely use a computer at all. This exposure to technology is hoped to help in theprocess of “closing the digital divide.” Furthermore, a goal of the TEK program is to take thecurriculum to several elementary schools including those with large minority populations thatmay have students that do not have computers at home or role models that would influence themto pursue computing.Addressing the other common challenges in engineering and the sciences is part of the vision ofthe TEK program. Namely, TEK exposes kids to rigorous thinking and problem solving at ayoung age, with hopes that those kids will acquire and develop critical thinking and problemsolving skills that they can use and

Conference Session

New and Innovative Ideas

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer S. Atchison, Drexel University; Danielle Tadros, Drexel University; Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University; Paul Holt; William Andrew Stoy, North Carolina State University; Joy A. Kots, Father Judge High School; Caroline Louise Schauer, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

) and(right) honors chemistry classes electrospinning.An example of a collected mat of electrospun fibers is shown in Figure 5 and in Figure 6the students were observing their electrospun mats under the optical microscope.Figure 5. Photograph of collected nanofibers. The fibers are too small to be seen individually but ifthe process is working the students will observe the cloudiness on the foil.When all groups from a class were done electrospinning, their foils were sent to thepartner university for scanning electron microscopy. Each group received SEMmicrographs of their samples and used Image J software to measure the fiber diameters.The post–activity STEM Attitudes and Electrospinning Assessment was administered atthis point in the project

Conference Session

Communication Across the Divisions I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yupeng Luo, California State University - Fresno; Wei Wu, California State University - Fresno; Zhanna Bagdasarov, California State University - Fresno

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods, Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

discussions wereencouraged to take advantage of the active learning affordance provided by tablets. Comparedwith the non-tablet version of the course, large, comprehensive assessments were converted tolighter and more focused exercises at a higher frequency. Tablets also made it possible to adoptsome of the industry best practices, and develop desired skillsets that would help students gainsome competitive advantage in the job market. ● CM177As mentioned earlier, students from CM177 collaborated in teams with students from CM132through a joint-course project. The two classes worked on an ongoing campus laboratorybuilding. The goal was to develop green building strategies, create computer-aided designs,conduct performance analyses, and prepare

Conference Session

Improving the Pedagogy of Laboratory Courses

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sriram Sundararajan, Iowa State University; LeAnn E. Faidley, Iowa State University; Terrence R. Meyer, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

AC 2012-5155: DEVELOPING INQUIRY-BASED LABORATORY EXER-CISES FOR A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUMProf. Sriram Sundararajan, Iowa State University Sriram Sundararajan is an Associate professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University. He is currently the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Programs and oversees curricular and program matters including assessment and continuous improvement efforts. His research areas encompass scanning probe microscopy, multiscale tribology (friction, lubrication and wear), and surface engineering. More recently, he has focused on atom scale mapping of thin film material systems using 3D-atom probe microscopy. He has authored over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and

Conference Session

Information and Network Security

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward F. Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

needsThe administration of a large wiki textbook project is demanding, encompassing aspects oftopic selection, communication, role and responsibility assignment, assessment andmonitoring. 1. Signup sheet. Only a limited number of students or teams must be allowed to select any particular topic, to assure that all the topics will be chosen by somebody. Passing around a signup sheet in class means that some students get first choice because of where they sit in the classroom. Using standard software tools for this task—shared spreadsheets or message boards, for example—is unreliable, since these tools don’t have any way of preventing “too many” students or teams from signing up for a