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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Mariano Savelski; Robert Hesketh; Kevin Dahm

Process Simulation and Computer SurveyIn 1996, CACHE conducted a survey that shows the influence of computers and programmingin the chemical engineering curriculum but little emphasis was placed in the use of processsimulators. To fill this gap, a survey on computer usage in the chemical engineeringcurriculum was distributed to U.S. chemical engineering department heads. (In many cases itwas forwarded to a department design specialist for completion.) The survey addressed howextensively simulation software is used in the chemical engineering curriculum, as well asmotivation for its use. The use of mathematical software and computer programming wasalso addressed. Preliminary results are presented here; the response rate as of this writing was17

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Nicholas Arcolano; Richard Vaz

seen to present significant opportunitiesfor students to achieve some broad educational outcomes beyond mastery of the material. Theabstract nature of the material lends itself well to written work: challenging the students toexpress their understanding of the concepts in writing could reveal their mastery of the ideas, andhelp them develop the ability to demonstrate their understanding in this form. The abundance ofapplications of frequency-domain techniques, such as filtering and modulation, provides theopportunity for students to explore applications on their own, simultaneously testing their graspof the fundamentals and providing them with experience in learning independently. Learningcomputer tools is also well-suited to independent

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Deran Hanesian; Angelo Perna; Vladimir Briller

of Engineering Educationfreshman engineering courses at our Institute and with pressure to reduce credit hours in theengineering curriculum. The Faculty replaced Engineering Graphics with the Fundamentals ofEngineering Design course, which is in two parts, each one credit hour. FED 101C, theCAD/Graphics component and FED 101D, the design component each have two hours and tenminutes of class time per week for fourteen weeks during the semester. The FED coordinatorhas been designated to work with the Registrar, the Dean of Engineering and the Dean ofFreshman Studies to establish continuity.AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the NSF-Gateway Coalition, The State of New Jersey and NewJersey Institute of Technology for financial

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Joseph Walsh; David Kelso; John Troy; Barbara Shwom; Penny Hirsch

“busywork” that they must complete in order to graduate. What accounts for thesediscrepancies, and what can we, as engineering educators, do to help students become moreskilled communicators and better understand the role that communication plays in engineering?One reason that many students fail to recognize the importance of communication may be thatcommunication is generally treated as a set of skills that students are supposed to acquireoutside of engineering—in composition, technical writing, or public speaking courses. Studentssee no relation between communication and their genuine engineering work, such as solvingequations, modeling processes or doing product design. Although widespread, this approach tocommunication pedagogy is criticized by

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Jenkins; Dwayne Arola

rotationally, constrain thereaction points to approximate the experimental conditions. The results (i.e., elemental andnodal forces, stresses and deflections) in tabular and graphical form are made available in digitalfile format.Once all three methods have been completed, the results are compared to ascertain whether thevalidity of the hypothesis that the bicycle frame is not a truss. Generally, students conduct theexperiments and perform the analyses and interpretation of the results as small teams. However,each student must write an individual formal report containing the following sections: executivesummary, introduction/objectives, description, results, discussion/conclusions, and appendices.Assessment/EvaluationThe success of this “do-say

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Marion Hagler; John Chandler; A. Dean Fontenot

Multimedia Session #2793 Introducing First-year Engineering Students to Reading and Writing about Engineering Practice A. Dean Fontenot, Ph. D., John R. Chandler, Ph.D., College of Engineering, Texas Tech University, Marion O. Hagler, Ph. D., P.E., Mississippi State UniversityAbstractThe Texas Tech University College of Engineering is introducing first-year electricalengineering students to the relationship that literature and writing can have to becomingwell-rounded engineers. Beside being introduced to principles of electronics hardwareand conventions of software programming, first-semester

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Frances Johnson; David Hutto; Carlos Sun; Kathryn Hollar; Eric Constans; Anthony Marchese; Paris von Lockette; Kevin Dahm

ERM division An Investigation into Interdisciplinary Team Teaching in Writing and Engineering: A Multi-Year Study Frances S. Johnson1, David Hutto1, Kevin Dahm2, Anthony J. Marchese2, Carlos Sun2, Eric Constans2, Kathryn Hollar2, and Paris von Lockette2 1. College of Communication, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey 2. College of Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, New JerseyAbstractThe Sophomore Engineering Clinic I is the third course in an 8-semestermultidisciplinary engineering practice and design sequence taken by all engineeringstudents at Rowan University. This course is taught jointly by a team of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Keat; James Hedrick; Christine LaPlante; Richard Wilk; Cherrice Traver; Frank Wicks

concepts of the engineering design process,team work, and engineering ethics. In the last half of the course students worked on adesign project during the design studio time, and instruction was given on the basicoperation of the solenoids, motors, gears and other materials used in the project. Studentswere also instructed on oral presentation skills and on how to write design reports.The Design ProjectA hands-on design project, with students working in teams of 3, is the central focus of thedesign lab. The hands-on aspect allows students to learn, through experience, theimportance of fundamental design principles (esp. design for manufacture, design forrobustness, and design for adjustability) while providing instructors with an objectivemeans

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Christopher Ibeh

Session #3650 “Research, Report Writing, and Representation”: The Most Viable 3Rs for Critical Thinking and Effective Communication Skills in SMET Education. By Christopher C. Ibeh Director, PSU/NSF-REU Program Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS 66762ABSTRACTThe use of research for the development of critical thinking and effective communication skills isa current trend in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) education. Thistrend is epitomized by the National Science Foundation (NSF

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Sallie Townsend; Natalie Segal

other words, the problem expresses some process of change. Because this first step is the origin of the fundamental equation or equations in the mathematical translation, you must be sure to get this step right. • Write this comparison down Step 2: Morph the verbs. Page 6.1166.7Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference& Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education • Continue by rewriting the sentences. Watch for conjunctions (“and,” “while,” “but,” and so on) and separate the phrases at the point of the conjunction. • Rewrite as required so

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Anna Phillips; Charles V. Camp; Paul Palazolo

necessary to understand forces and limited engineeringprinciples.Instruction in the program was based on cognitive principles of active and collaborative learning,and, in addition to the technical skills, students were exposed to technical writing strategies andcommunication skills. The assessment plan included pre/post surveys, student and instructorjournals, and an exit skills test. A longevity follow-up study is planned for the spring 2001semester.Results were overwhelmingly positive from the program’s administrators, instructors, andstudents, and tips for generalization of the program with recommendations for improvement areincluded.I. What is the Joy of Engineering Program About?The pilot program for The Joy of Engineering Summer Program was

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Charles Pierce

student interest about learning concepts necessary to “build” thearena. This method has not yet been utilized in a course but is being developed for the nextoffering of Introductory Geotechnical Engineering. The paper provides a description of the newcourse platform and summarizes survey results of former students on the proposed method.I. IntroductionTeaching the fundamental concepts of geotechnical engineering using traditional methods oflecture-based instruction and hands-on laboratory testing can be effective, based on the author’sexperience. However, using a real, on-going field construction project as a platform for teachingthese concepts can enhance these traditional methods. It is important to recognize that thisteaching strategy does not

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Bunnell; Bill Knowlton; Amy Moll

is to balance the needs of local industry whilestill offering an education in the fundamentals of materials science. All three of the MS&Efaculty members have multiple years of industrial experience in manufacturing or serviceoriented sectors as well as R&D labs. We are committed to making the course work convenientfor students working in industry as well as directly applicable to their current positions. We arestriving to do this for a very diverse community, from the mechanical engineer working forAlbertson’s to the R&D engineer working on the next generation of memory chips for Micron.By focusing on the fundamentals and bringing in case studies from different technologicalfields and with a focus on projects and research papers

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeanne Garland; Christine Helfers; Ronald Roedel; Sarah Duerden

awareness, in part, is due to the serious consequences ofsome decisions that have led to loss of life, not to mention loss of credibility. The public haswitnessed disasters such as Chernobyl, Bhopal, the Challenger, and the more recentFirestone/Ford catastrophe. The profession has responded with training in ethics in as well asguidelines or codes of ethical conduct in many professions, such as the National ProfessionalSociety of Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics.The recent mandate by ABET to make ethics fundamental in engineering education points to theunderstanding of educators that, inevitably, students will one day face ethical dilemmas asprofessional engineers. Engineering students must engage with questions of ethics early in their

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Loker

the program, the null modem is removed and the internal modems are connected to thetelephone lines.The first part of this program uses the serial subVIs available within LabVIEW. The first ofthese subVIs is the serial port initialize function which establishes the port number, the type offlow control for handshaking, the bit rate, the number of data bits, the number of stop bits, andthe parity. Another SubVI is the bytes at serial port which provides the number of bytescontained within the receiver buffer of the serial port. Also, there are two SubVIs for readingand writing characters from and to the serial port, respectively. Finally, another SubVI is usedfor closing the serial port, which releases the serial port so that it can be used for

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Jian-ren Li; Ahmad Zagari

components andwas interfaced to take full control of a stepper motor’s motion. In addition, the microprocessor’sapplication to generate and measure waveforms was examined. This manuscript attempts todescribe the basic architecture of a microcontroller system, and examine its interfacingtechniques as well as its applications in providing communication to the outside world.I. INTRODUCTIONThe knowledge of computers and their applications has become a fundamental technical skillsrequired of electronics engineering technology students. In order to provide students with anopportunity to develop microprocessor application skills, this course is focused on teachingprogramming and application of Motorola 68HC11-A8 microprocessor. Although students whohave

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Deborah Hwang; Anthony Richardson; Dick Blandford

section for electricalengineers, a section for computer engineers, and a section for computer science majors. Duringthe first four weeks of the class each section is taught concepts which are fundamental to theirmajor and which are essential to solving a problem involving an autonomous LEGO vehicle. Forexample, the electrical engineers are taught about sensors, amplifiers, and electronics. Thecomputer science majors are taught the rudiments of programming in C, and the computerengineers are taught micro-controller fundamentals. During the last ten weeks of the semester-long class, teams are formed that have at least one person from each major. Each team memberis assigned a unique responsibility on the team. The objective is to construct an

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Guilford

American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Page 6.81.1 Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering EducationWe present an outline for a course in Cell and Molecular Biology for Engineers in which humanpathologies are used as a clinical, problem-based context for teaching basic biologicalmechanisms. To further emphasize the interface between engineering and the biomedical sciences,students write “review articles” covering the application of engineering to a particular problem incell biology and engage in the process of peer review. A representative curriculum is providedwhich

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Scott Midkiff

. Page 6.186.5Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & ExpositionCopyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education Table 2. Proposed Set of Core Courses Preparation “Fundamentals of Computer Systems” Networking “Computer Networks” Networking Elective Integrative “Business and Economics of Advanced Networking” “Simulation and Optimization” Writing Writing CourseVI. ConclusionsThe IREAN program is an experiment in graduate education that will attempt to producegraduates who have a broader understanding

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Edward Anderson

Session 2520 Staged Solutions as a Means of Learning via the Internet Edward E. Anderson Texas Tech UniversityAbstractIn engineering fundamentals courses such as Statics, Dynamics, and Fluid Mechanics, learningthe process of analysis is as important as the answers. But, when learning over the Internet,teachers are restricted to simple interactions such as multiple choices, select an object, drop anddrag, and key word answers. So, how does one teach the process of analysis with these verysimple interactions? This paper presents a technique the author calls

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Silverstein

currently receive in FORTRAN programming while minimizing time spent in what isarguably the most time consuming task in simple programming projects, designing input andoutput.The premise behind the method is that students tend to spend significant amounts of timedeveloping code to handle basic operations in an application, things like reading formatted datafrom a file, writing console input routines, and then presenting output in a readable form, either toa data file, a printer, or to the console. That data often must then be imported into a graphingpackage to be useful. These tasks have little to do with developing skills in designing engineeringmodels, or in implementing the numerical methods required for the solution, or in understandingthe

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Anna Phillips; Paul Palazolo; Scott Yost

courses tointroduce the concept of a criteria-based assessment system to the students, and students werestrongly encouraged to provide feedback to either the engineering instructor or the writinginstructor at any point during the semester. Specifically, an online email account was created forthe students at The University of Kentucky to communicate with the writing instructor aboutthese things; because the writing instructor is based at the other university, students were free tointeract with her either in person or by email.Designing the Authentic and Criteria-Based AssignmentThe first part of integrating criteria-based assessment into established courses with existingassignments is customizing the assignments to reflect the changes and

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Merredith Portsmore; Chris Rogers

-on activities whenever and wherever they want. The fundamental components ofthis set of materials are the LEGO RCX, a programmable LEGO brick, with the ability to store2000 points at up to 180 Hz and LabVIEW Student Edition. These materials, along with a set ofsensors, motors, and building components, are given to students at the beginning of the semester.The hardware, the RCX and LEGO elements, is small, portable, and relatively inexpensiveallowing students to use and program it in their dorm room using LabVIEW on their owncomputer. Projects have ranged from characterizing a spring to building and configuring ascanner. Labs addressed topics ranging from repeatability and uncertainty to Hooke’s law andFourier transforms. Eliminating the

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ray Bachnak

autoexec.bat files, and settingProgrammer’s WorkBench and CodeView options. Second, they create a templateprogram, compile it, and then build the executable file. The template program, with allinstructions removed, is shown in Fig. 1.Exercise 3: Students learn about the addressing modes by tracing the execution ofinstructions and monitoring their effects. This is done in CodeView, where they alsoverify the segments referenced and the effective addresses used.Exercise 4: Students examine the effects of executing many of the 8086/88 instructionsby tracing the execution of a program in CodeView. The program includes a call to aprocedure that converts from upper case to lower case letters.Exercise 5: Students write their own program that reads a list of

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Steven Chapra; Gary Huvard; David E. Clough

Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education computer applications. The fundamentals of programming are emphasized at the expense of engineering problem solving. Most engineering students never again write a C/C++ program after the course is completed.Common basis and rationale for the new coursesOur approach is middle-of-the-road when compared to the above. We focus on engineeringproblem solving: ½ ½ interpretation of the problem statement ½ design of the solution strategy ½ getting the results, usually numerical ½ interpretation and checking of the results display and documentationYet we retain the teaching of programming fundamentals: ½ ½ data structure ½ algorithm

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Terry Derossett; Steven Nesbit; Scott Hummel

believes thestudents have sufficient background to handle a major cross-course project with analysis, design,and manufacturing content. Also, it is believed that it is still early enough in the curriculum tohelp minimize future course and subject compartmentalization. The multi-course project is the design, analysis, manufacture, and evaluation of a load cell.The project was created to pull together diverse subject matter both directly and indirectly fromseveral past and concurrent courses. It involves the fundamental engineering functions ofanalysis, design, and manufacture. It also couples traditional design and analysis techniques withmodern software, manufacturing, and data acquisition tools

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Frank Krygowski

style when writing experiment instructions. ThePhysical Measurements lab handouts are written to explain many of the fundamentals of thesensors or sensor systems. Thus, much learning of these fundamentals takes place during labpreparation time and actual lab time, rather than during the lecture.Students are urged to study the appropriate portions of the lab handouts before the lab period(and in some cases, given pre-tests on the reading material as added incentive). Furthermore,lab directions require that students make observations and answer brief questions as the labprogresses. This process is part of the learning experience, and these answers become part ofpart of the students’ final lab report.As stated, the Physical Measurements course is

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald Adrezin; Michael Nowak; Donald Leone

advisor, each student sought a laboratory in his/her area ofinterest. The research is structured as two course equivalents (100 hours each). “BiomedicalEngineering Capstone Research I” was designed to immerse the student in a wide range oflaboratory functions. “Biomedical Engineering Capstone Research II” is designed to give thestudent in-depth experience by functioning as an engineer on a project, either ongoing in thelaboratory or being developed.Grading of each course is via written and oral reports, as well as laboratory supervisor input.The first course requires the writing of a report on the experience, while the second requires aformal research paper in the style of journal articles.The experience from these courses has been excellent for

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2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Brett Hamlin; Gretchen Hein

Session 2453 Integration of Math, Physics and Engineering, A Pilot Study for Success Gretchen L. Hein, Brett H. Hamlin Department of Engineering Fundamentals, Michigan Technological UniversityAbstractThe inherent integration between mathematics, physics, and engineering is obvious to experi-enced engineers and faculty, however, many incoming students find it difficult to see the connec-tions. During the 1999-2000 academic year, a pilot study was conducted at MichiganTechnological University to determine the effect of cohort scheduling students into integrated sec-tions

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

David Hutto; Kathryn Hollar

faculty from all engineering disciplines on laboratory experiments,real-world design projects, and research projects of increasing complexity. Theimportance of effective written and oral communication skills, teamwork skills,and technical proficiency is reinforced in the Clinic sequence1.In the sophomore year, students from all engineering disciplines work togetheron semester-long design projects and present results through either writtenreports (Sophomore Clinic I) or oral presentations (Sophomore Clinic II).Students learn not only the fundamentals of the design process, but also honetheir technical communication skills. This paper focuses on Sophomore Clinic I,which is a combined composition and design course team-taught by faculty fromthe