Conference Session

Panel Session

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura E. Ray, Dartmouth College; Raina White, Dartmouth College; David M. Feinauer P.E., Norwich University; David A. Hodgson, Union College; Eric B. Welch, Christian Brothers University; Yeu-Sheng P. Shiue, Christian Brothers University; Carlos L. Luck, University of Southern Maine; Jonathan West, University of New Mexico; Blair T. Allison, Grove City College; Kevin Huang, Trinity College; Nathan Amanquah, Ashesi University College; Daniel Logan Ray; Devin Tracey Montgomery, Dartmouth College; Prudence Merton, Dartmouth College; Vanessa Svihla, University of New Mexico

Tagged Divisions

Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies

of Education / Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Svihla studies learning in authentic, real world conditions; this includes a two- strand research program focused on (1) authentic assessment, often aided by interactive technology, and (2) design learning, in which she studies engineers designing devices, scientists designing investigations, teachers designing learning experiences and students designing to learn. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2018 BYOE: The Fidget Car – An Apparatus for Small Group Learning in Mathematics, Systems and ControlsContact InformationPlease contact Laura Ray, Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College,lray@dartmouth.edu, for

Collection

1999 Annual Conference

Authors

Hugh Jack

Session 2525 Multidisciplinary Design of Computer Controlled Systems Hugh Jack, Padnos School of Engineering, Grand Valley State UniversityAbstractWhen we teach design we quite often focus on a single area or problem. Senior design projects areoften seen as a way to broaden the subject area of the design. But, quite often we experience diffi-culty when crossing disciplinary boundaries.Two successful projects that include electrical, mechanical and computer elements will bedescribed. These projects were conducted by mixed groups of senior students from mechanicaland electrical programs. In one of the projects, a mobile robot was

Conference Session

Design Projects

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frederick Berry, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Patricia Carlson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; William Eccles, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Bruce Ferguson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Daniel Moore, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mihaela Radu, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Terry Schumacher, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; David Voltmer, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Mark Yoder, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Edward Wheeler, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

professional publications and has served as National Research Council Senior Fellow assigned to the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory. In her spare time, Pat enjoys reading and gardening.William Eccles, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Electrical and Computer Engineering Department William J. Eccles has been teaching electrical engineering courses since 1954. He holds SBEE and SM degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the PhD degree from Purdue University. He has been at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for fifteen years after retiring from the University of South Carolina. His primary activities have been in the senior design sequence and in

Conference Session

Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies Division (DELOS) Technical Session 6: Online, Remote, and VIrtual Labs

Collection

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Genisson Silva Coutinho, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia; Alejandra J. Magana, Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE); Vinicius do Rego Dias

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Experimentation and Laboratory-Oriented Studies Division (DELOS)

learned. Effective pedagogy takesinto account the characteristics of the learners, the content to be taught, and the desiredlearning outcomes to create instructional experiences that are engaging, meaningful, andrelevant [28], [29]. Thus, the choice of pedagogical approaches can greatly impact studentlearning outcomes, so it is essential to make informed decisions when designing instructionalmaterials. Content, assessment instruments, and pedagogy must be well-aligned to support thedevelopment of higher-order thinking skills and foster student motivation and engagement.We noticed that laboratory activities conceived for real laboratories typically follow thetraditional approach to laboratory instruction [30], which means well-structured

Conference Session

Materials Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Spencer Seung-hyun Kim, Rochester Institute of Technology (CAST)

Tagged Divisions

Materials

engineering technology.The current plastics laboratory course indicates deficiencies for undergraduate students to dealwith complex material systems in characterization and testing for selection and design purposes.We develop the concepts involved in converting a traditional “verification” experiment (wherethe student verifies a principle taught in the classroom) to a "guided inquiry" experiment (wherethe student discovers the concept using the data and information collected.) and to reemphasizediscovery-type experiments (i.e. research). The main purpose of this study was to develop andenhance plastics laboratory practices to increase engagements in an active-learning pedagogythrough the modification of POGIL strategies. In addition, we attempted to

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chris Ramseyer, University of Oklahoma; Beth Brueggen, University of Oklahoma

2006-2241: “CAMP CONCRETE” – AN EXPERIMENT IN UNDERGRADUATERESEARCHChris Ramseyer, University of Oklahoma Ph.D., P.E. is an assitant professor at the School of CEES at OU. He has spent 5 years as a structural steel designer. His research interests include cold formed steel, structural stability, bridge issues and concrete materials. His educational interests include undergraduate research in engineering and alternative learning paradigms. He received the OU-CEES George W. Tauxe Outstanding Professor Award in 2004.Beth Brueggen, University of Oklahoma Earned her B.S. and M.S. in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science at the University of Oklahoma. During the summer of

Conference Session

Design Education

Collection

2005 Annual Conference

Authors

Arnaldo Mazzei

) per week, with four hours oflecture or, when the course requires, a lecture and a laboratory (both consisting of two hours).For basic design courses, where no laboratory is included or in-class activities are not required,the two-hour lecture blocks can be more efficiently utilized if part of the block is used for studentlearning of the material presented by the instructor instead of using the entire block just forinstructor presentation.This paper presents a simple idea for achieving this goal. The idea was implemented and testedin three distinct engineering courses, namely ME-309 (Vibrations), MECH 210 (Mechanics I –Statics), and MECH 310 (Mechanics III – Dynamics). For evaluation purposes, student feedbackand comments are included in the

Conference Session

Educational Issues in Civil Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anant Kukreti, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

goals by addressing concerns rather than simply trying to convince them to attend graduate school. A suggested timetable for the application process as well as general suggestions for enhancing applications and obtaining reference letters is provided.Each year research projects for the REU Site are designed to introduce undergraduates fromdiverse engineering and science backgrounds to “hands-on” structural engineering laboratory,field, and computer simulation research experiences. Six to nine engineering and scienceundergraduates are recruited through a national application process annually, with a special focuson women and underrepresented ethnic minorities. Teams of two or three students are guided ona research project by

Conference Session

Design Pedagogy

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elissa T. Morris, Texas A&M University; Daniel A. McAdams, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

motivate currentstudents, to attract future students to the program, and to raise interest in the community.Students report that the contest increased their interest in electrical engineering, was useful as alearning tool, and was a valuable investment of their time. Students also express that the contestmotivated them to learn, provided them with a good engineering experience, and was moreeffective for learning course material than conventional laboratory sessions. One drawback ofthis approach is the sacrifice of depth in some course topics to allow more time to teach contest-relevant material. However, they suggest that these drawbacks can be alleviated with morecareful course planning 22.Impromptu design contests have also been used to achieve

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratories

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Naumov, Purdue University Calumet; William Obermeyer, Purdue University Calumet; Rahul Singhal, Purdue University Calumet; Eduardo Garcia, Purdue University Calumet; Nasser Houshangi, Purdue University Calumet

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

assignmentsand five design projects resulted from performing the integration. Horizontal integration wasachieved by providing a consistent presentation of concepts across two computer architecturelaboratory courses while simultaneously providing students the necessary skill-set for developinga successful career as a computer engineer. Vertical integration was achieved by interweavingcommon technical theories and skills to establish interdependence among all digital system andcomputer architecture laboratory coursework. The restructured laboratory sequence provides acohesive educational experience and significant exposure to concepts, design methodologies, andsoftware tools ubiquitous in the semiconductor and computer industry.1. IntroductionThree

Conference Session

Instrumentation and Controls Laboratories

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yanfei Liu, Indiana University Purdue University, Fort Wayne (Eng)

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

. Page 13.1371.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2008 Utilizing a PCI DAQ board in the Laboratory Course of Microprocessor Systems and InterfacingAbstractThis paper describes five experiments using a PCI DAQ board in the laboratory course of“Microprocessor Systems and Interfacing.” The five experiments involve basic digitalinput/output interfacing design using a 82C55, analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog(D/A) design. The PCI DAQ board chosen is PCI DAS-1002, manufactured by MeasurementComputing1. Based on this PCI DAQ board, five experiments were designed, including I/Ointerfacing design, programmable DC motor speed control system design using pulse widthmodulation (PWM), and A/D and D/A

Conference Session

Electrical and Computer Engineering Laboratories

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yu-Wei Huang, National Changhua University of Education; Jieh-Shian Young, National Changhua University of Education; Chih-Hung Wu, Chienkuo Technology University; Hsing-Jung Li, National Chung Cheng University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

requirement, (2) a plan for their procedure, and (3) diagramsof system architecture. Students are encouraged to discuss to each other, and the teamsactively discuss the procedure in use. Based on the course design, students are asked tocomplete their own OBD implementation step by step. The students are expected tounderstand the practical aspect of an OBD, and have comprehensive exercises on OBDimplementation based on embedded system. This paper presents the course and hands-onOBD implementation designs, and the teaching experiences and student responses.LEARNING THEORYIn the process of experiments development, we reviewed the recent literature of engineeringeducation about laboratory courses. We found that some universities have stand-alonecourses

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Division: Engagement, Experiential Learning, and Balance

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Veera Gnaneswar Gude P.E., Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

asopen-ended problem solving, or critical thinking10. Students are often not afforded the timenecessary for the deep processing of information in laboratory sessions. It is through deepprocessing that students are able to integrate new experiences with prior knowledge, establish acontext for the purpose of the laboratory activity, and determine the activity’s relevance tothemselves. All of which are characteristics of meaningful learning12. Secondly, in their currentformat, traditional laboratory activities are designed to facilitate the development of lower-ordercognitive skills such as rote learning and algorithmic problem solving. Bloom’s taxonomy ofeducational objectives is a hierarchical representation of six cognitive processes: knowledge

Conference Session

Concurrent Virtual Sessions

Collection

2016 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Raymond Colin Lewis, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy; Matthew Garratt, University of New South Wales

Tagged Topics

International Forum Virtual Presentation

manoeuvres were discontinued as part of the laboratory as this testing often ledto motion sickness problems as students tried to observe and record turn rates, bank anglesand ‘g’ loadings during steady turns.The Aviation Studio utilises a Precision Flight Controls console, screens and the X-Planeflight simulator software package (Figure 6). Students are able to ‘fly’ the simulated aircraftand manipulate many aircraft characteristics.As in the case of the airborne flight laboratory, students record their data and submit a reportdemonstrating their knowledge and understanding of certain aircraft dynamics and control. Figure 6: Aviation Studio Flight SimulatorThe Aviation Studio experiments were designed to achieve the

Conference Session

Biomedical Engineering Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jorge E Bohorquez, University of Miami; Jonathon Anthony Toft-Nielsen

Tagged Divisions

Biomedical

: An existing laboratory course was overhauled and refocused to boost student’sskills in design, crafting, self-efficacy, troubleshooting, and expertise in the field of MedicalElectronics. The strategy was to use problem oriented methodology in a collaborative setup.Results: The main learning objectives were fulfilled and students reported a high level ofsatisfaction with the content and the methodology of the course.IntroductionCollaboration in education is seen as joining intellectual efforts between groups of students orbetween students and instructors to achieve a common goal. Collaborative learning is the heart ofproblem-based learning, which emphasizes a more “natural learning” [2]. Cooperative learningrepresents an active field of

Conference Session

Research on Design Learning

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jackson Lyall Autrey, University of Oklahoma; Farrokh Mistree, University of Oklahoma; Zahed Siddique, University of Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

is dubbed “Project POP;” POP being an acronym for ‘prospect orperish.’ In solving this problem for the Vayuns, students are able to explore new areas oflearning and contextualize that learning in lived experiences to encourage long-term attainmentof specific competencies. These competencies are explored by Lucas Balmer in [4] and arebased on ABET accreditation criteria [5] as well as several other academic sources in which theauthors explore the competencies required by engineers in a changing global environment [6-11]. Figure 1: Map of the course used in the design experience. The course included physical barriers such as humps, sand pits, grease spots, gravel, and "swamp" terrain. At the end of the course is a box covered in

Collection

ASEE-NE 2022

Authors

Brian Hong, MathWorks; Afsaneh Ghanavati, Wentworth Institute of Technology

investment required tocreate robust models, especially if they are not familiar with the required programming languagesor software. In this work, we present two resources designed to lower the barrier for incorporatinga virtual lab: 1) a virtual controls laboratory and 2) a DC circuit analysis virtual laboratory. Theseresources provide instructors with simulations of physical systems using Simscape™ along withdetailed lab manuals to describe the process and assigned tasks. Instructors can introduce studentsto industry tools by both using and building models, such as PID controller models in Simulink®or electrical circuit models in Simscape, among others. These virtual laboratories can helpinstructors to achieve several education goals in their

Conference Session

Design in Engineering Education Division Poster Session

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen Ekwaro-Osire, Texas Tech University; Fisseha Meresa Alemayehu, Texas Tech University; Haileyesus Belay Endeshaw, Texas Tech University; Ricardo Cruz Lozano, Texas Tech University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

, Page 24.468.18 complimenting what was already being done in the context of reliability.” • R8.13: “The required laboratory courses (Sophomore, Junior, Senior) emphasize statistics and uncertainty analysis in Design of Experiments. Students in the Junior level Machine Design course are taught to consider the variability of materials, manufacturing processes, and unpredictable factors of products in service such as variable loading, and the necessity for a factor of Safety. They analyze the empirical nature of fatigue analysis, and apply fundamental concepts of uncertainty in designing components.” • R8.14: “We focus on teaching them how to deal with uncertainty through prototyping and

Conference Session

Assessment of Graphics Programs

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Krueger; Theodore Aanstoos; Ronald Barr

individual learning activities, which build the student’s confidence ingoing from 2-D to 3-D solid geometric modeling. Once their confidence in computer graphicsmodeling is established, the students explore the many design applications for the 3-D modeldatabase. In so doing, they experience the concurrent engineering paradigm that underscores thecourse. Several computer graphics exercises are available for each laboratory module, thusallowing the students some choice in the objects they model and analyze. All objects selectedfor the exercises are real parts taken from commercial catalogs, or actual parts from the shop.With the pedagogy and learning objectives established, the next step was assessment of thelearning activities in the course. Two

Conference Session

Design Cognition

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rogelio Cardona, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Ted Cruz, University of Puerto Rico; Noraica Davila, University of Puerto Rico; Omar Ferrer, University of Puerto Rico; Alexander Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Ramon Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Willie Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico; Nelson Mendez, University of Puerto Rico; Damian Torres, University of Puerto Rico; José Vega, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

nine highly and self-motivated undergraduate students and oneprofessor trying to, and at times succeeding in, being inconspicuous. We are aninterdisciplinary team from several areas of the Computer and ElectricalEngineering programs at the University of Puerto Rico, exploring novel ideas ofproducts that can become feasible projects for the capstone design course. Theapproach to our work contrasts with many conventional engineering educationpractices, which place emphasis on highly structured and formal procedures andsolving problems proposed by faculty members or by industry partners. Althoughwe still meet in the formal setting of a classroom and one research laboratory, thesessions differ significantly from regular classes, appearing more

Conference Session

Assessment of Student Work

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Greg J. Strimel, Purdue Polytechnic Institute; Scott R. Bartholomew, Purdue University; Andrew Jackson, Purdue Polytechnic Institute; Michael Grubbs, Baltimore County Public Schools; Daniel Gordon Mendiola Bates, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Paper ID #17703Evaluating Freshman Engineering Design Projects Using Adaptive Compar-ative JudgmentDr. Greg J. Strimel, Purdue Polytechnic Institute Dr. Greg J. Strimel is an assistant professor of engineering/technology teacher education in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. His prior teaching experience includes serving as a high school engineering/technology teacher and a teaching assistant professor within the College of Engineering & Mineral Resources at West Virginia University.Dr. Scott R. Bartholomew, Purdue University My interests revolve around adaptive

Conference Session

K-12 and Bridge Experiences in Engineering Education

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Matthew T. Stimpson, North Carolina State University; Jerome P. Lavelle, North Carolina State University; Laura Bottomley, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

Expressions of annoyance at the inability to accomplish a laboratory task or activity Impressions Feelings and thoughts related to laboratory activities Learning Skills, abilities, and habits of mind acquired through the course of the laboratory experience Results Results of laboratory exercises and experiments Successes Achievements in related to the laboratory experienceThe second research question addressed how participants use research notebooks to record andcatalog potential pedagogical practices related to using engineering concepts, and sevenresearcher developed codes relate to this question:Table 3: Codes and Definitions for RQ2 Code

Conference Session

Concurrent Paper Tracks Session II Courses

Collection

2016 ASEE International Forum

Authors

Michael E. Auer, CTI Villach, Austria; Abul K. M. Azad, Northern Illinois University

Tagged Topics

International Forum

online labs on a common infrastructure.A unified and interoperable architecture is essential to convert the tremendous current interestfor online experiments into an economy of labs that can be efficiently shared around theworld. The GOLC strategic objectives are 2 - to encourage and support the creation of new online laboratories and associated curricular materials - to sponsor the design of an efficient mechanism for sharing, exchanging and trading access to online laboratories by the creation of a global network of shareable experiments - to support communities of scholars created around online laboratories - to lead the evolution of an architecture that enables the sharing of online

Conference Session

Manufacturing Laboratory Innovation

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

R. Radharamanan, Mercer University

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

RoboticsAbstractStudents’ achievement in design and hands-on laboratory experience are important part ofengineering education. To meet this requirement, the department of mechanical and industrialengineering offers design and manufacturing courses to engineering students at MercerUniversity School of Engineering (MUSE). In this paper, how the manufacturing laboratoryfacilities, and design/automation hardware and software available are effectively integrated toteach Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), CAD/CAMintegration, dimensioning and tolerancing, and measurement and inspection with appropriatehands-on experiences to engineering students are presented and discussed. A Design (CAD),Fabrication (CAM), and Measurement (CMM) module, a

Conference Session

NSF Grantees' Poster Session

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jason K. Durfee, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees Poster Session

industry. Exposing students to actual industrialequipment and processes they would see in industry is a worthy goal but ultimately the purposeof using the actual building should be to enhance the learning experience. To see where theLiving-Building Laboratory concept fits into a student’s educational experience it can be helpfulto reference Bloom’s Taxonomy.One of the challenges in education today is trying to bridge the gap between students who oftenview education as an effort to try and push as many important facts into their brains as possibleversus the understanding that we as educators have that students need to be able to synthesizethat knowledge and be able to use it to make decisions (what we often call Design). Certainly,many courses that

Conference Session

Capstone Design

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

John Paul Giolma; Kevin Nickels

laboratory and designportions of the program provide the students with a balanced perspective on the theory andpractice of the engineering profession1.The design sequence includes a first year experience consisting of two three-hour courses, eachof which has a small-group design project. These courses also provide an introduction toengineering, to CAD and to a variety of computational tools. The second year has two one-hourdesign courses that include small-group projects and provide introductions to engineeringeconomics and statitistical methods. The projects (one being a mini-capstone project) in the firsttwo years have themes that are principally mechanical in nature. In the third year there are alsotwo one-hour courses: one deals with design from

Conference Session

Innovations in Laboratory Studies

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Olowokere, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Olutola Jonah; Oladipo O. Osasona, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; E.O.B. ajayi, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; Kayode P. Ayodele, Obafemi Awolowo University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

and infrastructural development. For sustainable WBL, it is important toensure that not only are the laboratories able to satisfy pedagogical needs; theyshould also ensure that designers and developers are well trained to adapt basicexperiment infrastructure to suit a range of other experiments. Training willinclude hardware and software development.An important aspect of WBL is how much of hardware should be replaced bysoftware. This aspect becomes especially relevant in cash strapped environmentand in many institutions where deficient funding leads to constraints in theacquisition of equipment. Of note also is how WBL can be tailored to suit caseswhere adequate bandwidth is an important issue.In this paper the experience of developing WBL

Conference Session

Laboratory Development in ECE

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Vladimir Mitin, University at Buffalo, State University of New York; Nizami Z. Vagidov, University at Buffalo, State University of New York; Athos Chariton Petrou; Xiufeng Liu, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

course. Also two evaluation forms were developed before the course was offeredin 2010: 1) Formative Laboratory Experiment Evaluation Form and 2) Formative Evaluation ofJava Applets (Appendices 2 and 3). These were given to students during the course for formativefeedback. These instruments will be given every time the course is offered to validate them.Six weeks before the end of the semester, students were given two comprehensive problems(design projects) to assess their ability to apply quantum-mechanical laws to a specific problem.Thus, we could assess the conceptual understanding of the material and the ability of students tosolve the problem using the hands-on experience they acquired while carrying out laboratoryexperiments. We had four

Conference Session

Improving ME instructional laboratories

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jed Lyons, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

with their data. To compensate for their “bad data”, sometimes students maybe provided with “good data” from the instructor, or they may report that it is their fault that thedata doesn’t match the theory and simply cite “human error” as the cause of the discrepancy.Such experiences do little to help the student develop critical thinking skills or the ability to theirown design experiments. This paper illustrates how the concept of “learning from mistakes” canbe used as instructional strategy in engineering laboratory courses. Three experiments from ajunior-level mechanical engineering course on Measurements and Instrumentation at theUniversity of South Carolina are provided as examples of this instructional approach. Topically,the experiments

Conference Session

Inter- and Multidisciplinary Laboratories

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Sharfstein, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Blanca Barquera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Michael Hanna, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

acquire the instrumentation necessary for these courses. Moreover, undergraduateengineering laboratories are often poorly designed for small-scale experiments, having been builtto accommodate large pieces of equipment.In developing a biotechnology and bioprocessing laboratory course for the Department ofChemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, we encountered manyof these challenges. Our traditional senior/unit operations laboratory contained a large distillationcolumn, pumping equipment, and a heat exchange experiment with limited bench space for smallscale microbiology and molecular biology manipulations. We had received funding from theSchool of Engineering and the Merck Foundation to purchase equipment; however