Conference Session

FPD VII: Innovative Curriculum Elements of Successful First-Year Courses

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Byron L Newberry, Oklahoma Christian University; Cory R. Davis, Oklahoma Christian University; Robert Andrew Stevenson, Oklahoma Christian University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

rewritten to integrate the LEGO Mindstorms® NXT robotics kitaddresses trigonometry. This modified assignment requires students to navigate a maze ofknown configuration using the autonomous robot shown in Figure 1. This robot, equipped withtreads, effectively rotates about a point allowing precise turns. This ability is critical if thestudents are to effectively use trigonometry to compute a path through the maze that will miss allobstacles.The students begin by first calibrating both the linear and rotational motion of the robot. Thiscalibration process, implemented using the LEGO MINDSTORMS® NXT-G programminglanguage, is accomplished by systematically determining the duration the motors must beactivated to move a specific distance and to turn a

Conference Session

FPD VIII: Crossing Bridges and Easing Transitions into the First Year

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet Callahan, Boise State University; Judith A. Garzolini, Boise State University; Gary LeRoy Hunt, Boise State University; Joe Guarino, Boise State University; Doug Bullock, Boise State University; Susan Shadle, Boise State University; Cheryl B. Schrader, Boise State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) retention efforts at Boise State. She functions on campus as both the project coordinator for a $1 million grant from the Na- tional Science Foundation and the Idaho Science Talent Expansion Program (STEP), and as the first ever campus coordinator for STEM retention. Garzolini has a long term professional interest in increasing the participation and success of students in STEM fields. Throughout her career, she has provided extensive professional leadership and service to the Society of Women Engineers at the national level, and in 2007 was national society president. Garzolini has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Wayne State University and an MBA from UC

Conference Session

FPD VII: Innovative Curriculum Elements of Successful First-Year Courses

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerald W. Recktenwald, Portland State University; David E. Hall, Louisiana Tech University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

) students at Portland State University bought a copy of the Arduino Inventor’s Kit thatincludes an Arduino and a variety of electrical components and sensors sufficient for much of thecurriculum described in this paper 24. Figure 1 shows the 2009 version of the Arduino called theDuemilanove (“2009” in Italian). Features identified in the Figure 1 are described in Table 1. The Arduino platform has excellent technical performance, especially considering its lowcost. The A/D components can read up to 7 channels of data at speeds sufficient for a broadrange of applications. It has 14 channels for digital input or output, which enables control oflogic (on/off) signals. Five of the digital output channels can be configured for pulse-widthmodulation

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students, Diversity, and Assessment

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert M. Brooks, Temple University; Amithraj Amavasai; Jyothsna Kavuturu

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Minorities in Engineering

conceptswere correct but incorrect calculations in one step resulted in a failing grade. By breaking aproblem into steps and concepts and rewarding success at each step, students were encouraged tocomplete a problem and ask for help if they did not remember an abstract concept or equation.This paper describes a method for rewarding students for levels of knowledge during the finalexamination of a transportation engineering course.Kolb’s learning style theory 1 identifies four types of learning styles: (1) Concrete Experience(feeling), (2) Active experimentation (doing), (3) Reflective Observation (watching), and (4)Abstract Conceptualization (thinking). While every student has some component of each of thesefour learning styles, there is usually one

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students, Diversity, and Assessment

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joy L. Colwell, Purdue University, Calumet; Jana Whittington, Purdue University, Calumet; Carl F. Jenks, Purdue University, Calumet

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Minorities in Engineering

related issue of rigor can influence Page 22.1714.2student writing at the graduate level.Technical Writing versus Scholarly WritingGenerally, engineering and technology undergraduates come to graduate education withexperience primarily in technical writing skills. Although not everyone will agree with thisdefinition, technical writing has been described as a marriage of the task of effectivecommunication with the task of technical communication.1 The mechanics of writing (i.e.,format, structure, grammar and syntax), and the technical substance (i.e., analysis andinterpretation) are both important, so that the results of scientific inquiry are

Conference Session

Graduate Student Experience

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adam R. Carberry, Arizona State University; Daniel P. Bumblauskas, University of Missouri, Columbia; Alexandra Emelina Coso, Georgia Institute of Technology; Ana T. Torres-Ayala, University of South Florida

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Student

industry related toengineering education or as faculty members, it is the responsibility of these individuals to helpdefine the future direction of the field.It is reassuring to see that as the field has grown, so to have the number of students participatingin engineering education research, reform, and practice. A clear indicator of increased studentinterest has been the steadily growing student membership of the American Society forEngineering Education (ASEE). According to the June 2010 report to the ASEE Board ofDirectors, student membership in ASEE has risen by 32.6% in five years, surpassing the numberof life members (Table 1).1 According to Dwight Wardell, ASEE Membership Department Head,the student membership continues to surpass life

Conference Session

Panel on Innovative Graduate Education Concepts: Organized by the National Institute of Aerospace

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bimal P. Nepal, Texas A&M University; F. Barry Lawrence, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

are also presented in the paper.The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In section II, we present a brief discussion onthe different learning approaches that are out there in practice. Section III describes theandragogical model for adult learning. In section IV, we present our proposed framework forproject based learning including objectives, design, and grading policy of the course. Section Vpresents the student learning survey. Benefits of a residency class are discussed in Section VI.Finally, section VII summarizes the paper with some concluding remarks. II. Topic-based learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learningYousuf et al.1 define topic based learning as the mode of instructional delivery and

Conference Session

Graduate Studies Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Timothy Paul Tallon, University of Pittsburgh; Dan Budny, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

communicateeffectively‖[11].What engineers need to experience and know, in addition to ―hard‖ knowledge, is ―process-oriented skills and awareness-oriented skills‖ [1]. Process-oriented skills include―communication, teamwork, and the ability to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas‖ [1].These skills are powerful when combined with awareness skills involving ―understanding theimpact of global and social factors, knowledge of contemporary issues, and the ability to dolifelong learning‖ [1]. But what are the most effective ways of incorporating process andawareness-oriented practices into engineering curricula already crowded with necessary science,math, and disciplinary courses? How can engineering schools, which must ensure that theirstudents graduate with

Conference Session

General Topics in Graduate Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Suzanne M. Kresta, University of Alberta; John A. Nychka, University of Alberta; Roger Graves, University of Alberta

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

everyone to contribute their own best ideas and practices. Recommendedbackground reading 1,2. 1. Review current research on how students learn to write: Roger Graves - Director, Writing across the curriculum, who has assisted with the design and teaching of several writing courses for graduate students in other faculties on campus, and is available as a resource to all instructors for undergraduate teaching. 2. Teaching exercises for research groups and graduate students: Several exercises are proposed for group meetings where students learn how to take apart a journal paper and put it back together to uncover the argument structure and logic which lie beneath the surface. 3. Constructing a compelling

Conference Session

Panel on Innovative Graduate Education Concepts: Organized by the National Institute of Aerospace

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Shaurette, Purdue University; Joe Orczyk, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

of study has proved to be challenging for the students. Only 30% of the students havefinished in five semesters. Just over half (53.3%) of the students have finished within sixsemesters. All of the students have finished the coursework within the five semesters. In everycase it has been the uncompleted directed project that has kept the students from graduating ontime. Another negative trend is that once the students complete their coursework and take a breakfrom the directed project, they have a difficult time restarting the directed project. See Table 1which shows the Completion of Directed Project statistics for the students who have finishedtheir coursework. Table 1 - Completion of the Directed Project Program

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students, Diversity, and Assessment

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Craig T. Evers P.E., Minnesota State University, Mankato

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Minorities in Engineering

discussing their own country’s ethicaldifferences. Each case study also included a written analysis. In addition, each student wasassigned a research paper covering the cultural aspects of ethics and professional responsibilities.The same group of students composed both classes. Six of the students were from Minnesota,one from Florida, and one each from Bangladesh, Colombia, India, Nepal and Nigeria. Page 22.1661.3In the Ethics course, we discussed topics ranging from reckless neglect of worker safety (NorthCarolina poultry plant fire and the Imperial Sugar plant explosion) to unsafe design of theworkplace (SL-1 nuclear reactor explosion in Idaho

Conference Session

Methods, Techniques, and New Programs in Graduate Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Diane L. Peters, University of Michigan; Shanna R. Daly, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

participants were identified through networking channels of theresearchers. The aim for participants in this case study was diversity in background,experiences, and years in the workforce currently at the University of Michigan. We selectedthree participants to include in this work so that we could discuss the depth of each of theirexperiences. Key demographic data for each participant is given in Table 1. Table 1. Demographic Data for Study Participants Years in Pseudonym Gender Age workforce Current Status Andrew Male 33 7 Third year Ph.D. student Brenda Female 38 5

Conference Session

Methods, Techniques, and New Programs in Graduate Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cyndi Lynch, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Jiabin Zhu, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica Farmer Cox, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

; strategies for balancing work and personal life; and what it means to besuccessful in today’s global society.Student learning outcomes include 1) assembling a professional portfolio, 2) generatingstrategies for success in career advancement, 3) networking with career professionals, 4)developing a career strategic plan, and 5) relating their career goals and skill sets to variousinstitutional missions and values, company cultures, and expected job functions.Assessment of learning outcomes occurs through both formative and summative formats.Formative assessment is based on student responses to weekly discussion questions focused onthree key areas: items of interest or significance based on the session topic, actions or strategiesthey will implement

Conference Session

Educating Students for Professional Success

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David F. Ollis, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, New Engineering Educators, Student

(Yes/No)_______________________________________________________________________Evaluation by graduate students Formal course evaluations for the first three semesters of the independent, fallproposal and the first two of the collaborative spring proposal appear in Table 3(nextpage), a tabulation of our standard university course evaluations. These two writingcourses fair well compared to our other department graduate courses (including reactors,transport, thermodynamics, and applied mathematics) and to the 1-5 absolute standard ofour evaluation scale. Given the apparent initial hostility of new graduate students towardtechnical writing, these end-of-semester evaluations represent a significant achievement.Importance of feedback

Conference Session

General Topics in Graduate Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anurag K. Srivastava, Washington State University; Soumya K. Srivastava, Washington State University; Adrienne R. Minerick, Michigan Technological University; Noel N. Schulz, Kansas State University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

of campus, funding availability, information forCurricular Practical Training, and graduate school expectations. These responses from currentstudents were contrasted to alumni responses. The survey findings presented here are based onlyon the engineering student subpopulation of the respondents.Influential factors in choosing a school: In this section of the online survey, respondents were asked to rank the set of possiblefactors that most influenced their decision to apply to a particular university with 1 as greatestinfluence and 10 as little or no influence. Below were the options given to survey respondents: 1. University recruitment effort 2. Correspondence with graduate school/professors before arrival 3. Funding

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students, Diversity, and Assessment

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Wes Stone, Western Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Minorities in Engineering

portion of the laser micromachiningresearch complemented the courses he took as an undergraduate, the exposure to lasers andpiezoelectric materials provided a broader exposure to the field. The ET students in this programare exposed to sensors that use piezoelectric materials, but they do not get the opportunity tomachine those materials in the laboratory. Page 22.1652.3Overview of Laser Machining CenterAcquired from Oxford Lasers in England, the Oxford Lasers Micro-Machining Center (seeFigure 1) was introduced for precision machining and part marking of materials ranging frompolymers to high-tech super-alloys. Figure 1: Oxford

Conference Session

Methods, Techniques, and New Programs in Graduate Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michele L. Strutz, Purdue University, West Lafayette; James Edwin Cawthorne Jr., Purdue University, West Lafayette; Daniel Michael Ferguson, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Mark T. Carnes, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Matthew W. Ohland, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies

question: how do professional non-traditional students engage with a doctoralprogram? Participants were selected using criterion sampling from a single doctoral programand they were interviewed. These professional non-traditional students described theexperiences they bring to the doctoral program and reactions to those experiences from theiracademic colleagues. Open coding is used to identify common themes. The results of this studyare that professional non-traditional students (1) come with a more developed habitus andsubstantial capital, which (2) prepare them well for the program, and (3) significantly affectstheir engagement during their PhD program. These results position the participants‘ experiencesat the partial union of their human

Conference Session

IE Technical Session I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ivan G. Guardiola, Missouri University of Science & Technology; Susan L. Murray, Missouri University of Science & Technology; Elizabeth A. Cudney, Missouri University of Science & Technology

Tagged Divisions

Industrial Engineering

in the player’s methods of play.These games often mimic the situations with which a player would already be familiar in order to Page 22.1636.2help immerse players. These known situations in the game are used by developing a simplemechanic that will respond as the player expects. These high level skills correspond to the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (CognitiveDomain) developed by Bloom and colleagues5. Bloom et al.5 defines a hierarchy of six levels: 1.Knowledge- repeating memorized information; 2. Comprehension- paraphrasing text, explainingconcepts in jargon-free terms; 3. Application- applying course material to solve

Conference Session

IE Technical Session II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Phillip R. Rosenkrantz, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Industrial Engineering

project preparation course, and a capstone course in quality. The results also havemajor implications for lifelong learning for engineers and are compatible with the teachings ofothers such as Taylor, Deming, Senge, and a study by Ernst & Young.The objectives of this paper are to:1. Share executive survey results and findings2. Demonstrate that the spectrum of leadership can be modeled by Hayes’ ―Six Stages of Quality System Implementation‖ and parallel versions of it3. Demonstrate how the Six Stages of Quality System Implementation were used to redesign courses in the industrial and manufacturing engineering curriculum to strategically integrate lean, six sigma, statistical quality control, and quality tools.4. Show that there is

Conference Session

IE Technical Session I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Gosavi, Missouri University of Science & Technology; Jane M. Fraser, Colorado State University, Pueblo

Tagged Divisions

Industrial Engineering

together, hence, can often lead to clarity and reduced confusion in students’minds. It also helps reinforce the underlying principle. Definitions of buzzwords, e.g.,definition of supply chain management from the Institute for Supply Chain Management,are sometimes challenging for the instructor and students, because they tend to be verylong. At the same time, buzzwords are usually, by design, opaque and mysterioussounding. Hence, the instructor has to adopt the middle path by making the meaningtransparent and at the same time using only a few words for defining it.Survey questions: The following survey was given to students after they are madefamiliar with the definition of a buzzword. 1. Do you use buzzwords in your resume? 2. Do you believe

Conference Session

Information and Network Security

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Iem Heng, New York City College of Technology; Farrukh Zia, New York City College of Technology, CUNY; Andy Zhang, New York City College of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

interfaces is an order of magnitude more thanthe simple architecture of parallel and serial ports. At the same time, the serial and parallel portscontinue to enjoy significant application in industrial control and embedded computer systems,in situations where low cost, low speed and single device communication is needed. Thissituation has given rise to the challenge that we not only need to continue teaching the paralleland serial port concepts, but also introduce the USB and Bluetooth interfacing andcommunication concepts in our courses.In this paper we present a survey of the teaching material (section 1), hardware considerations(section 2) and laboratory project demonstrations (section 3) that we have developed and used inour capstone course, to

Conference Session

Information Systems and Computing Potpourri

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alireza Kavianpour, DeVry University, Pomona

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

strategyto the pessimistic one-step testing strategy. The other main result is the that if the fault bound,i.e., the upper bound on the possible number of faulty processors, is kept to the same number n inboth cases of precise and pessimistic testing, then the pessimistic strategy requires (n/2)+1testing links per processor whereas the precise strategy requires n testing links per processor. Aprocedure for selecting (n/2+1)*n/2 (2-way) links in an n-cube for use as testing links ispresented.1. IntroductionRecently hypercube multi-computer systems have become a subject of considerable interest tothe instructors teaching the networking or fault-tolerant computing courses. An n-dimensionalhypercube multi-computer system, or an n-cube for short

Conference Session

Curricular Issues in Computer-Oriented Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Idziorek, Iowa State University; Mark F. Tannian, Iowa State University; Douglas W. Jacobson, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

context to thecommon computing actions that students already perform on a daily or weekly basis. In thispaper, we present our course in detail discussing topics of focus, approaches to engage studentsand our assessment of student learning.1. IntroductionEducating students to thrive in a world that depends so heavily on computers and the Internetrequires new pedagogical approaches to deal with the advances in technology and the resultingmalicious side effects that continually plague students1,2. The dangers, both seen and unseen arenot merely a concern for the security experts or technology gurus, but for all users of informationtechnology (IT). By now, most college students are aware of at least some of the dangers lurkingon the Internet. Yet

Conference Session

Curricular Issues in Computer-Oriented Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Xiannong Meng, Bucknell University; Song Xing, California State University, Los Angeles

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

search in the seminar, students will become a better, moreindependent scholar after the seminar who is also knowledgeable about search engines.The foundation seminars target first year students from any majors on campus who may have nobackground in computer science. The learning outcomes of the foundation seminar, according tothe university's catalog, are as follows. 1. Students will develop writing, reading, speaking, listening, and information literacy skills necessary for collegiate-level academic work. 2. Students will develop capacities for independent academic work and become more accountable for their own learning.We realize these outcomes by asking students to read papers, find extra references, synthesizewhat they

Conference Session

Information and Network Security

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maurice F. Aburdene, Bucknell University; Kundan Nepal, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

-on laboratoryprojects. We describe two third-year level laboratory projects used in a linear systems and signalprocessing course. These projects can be used in communication, computer networks, andinformation systems courses. One project addresses topics in satellite communications and theother covers data communications.IntroductionYears of experience by many educators coalesce around the widely-held belief that laboratoriesand hands-on learning are critical to understanding and long term retention of fundamentalconcepts in engineering. Taslidere, Cohen, and Reisman conclude that “undergraduate andgraduate students want more hands-on demos that link theory to real applications.”1 However,according to Corter, Nickerson, Esche, Chassapis, Im

Conference Session

Emerging Information Technologies

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Barbara E. Brazon, Penn State University; Mary Lynn Brannon, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

to the Fast Track/Phased Construction (Figure 1)software model. The role of each group was defined in the model method10. Each group had twoto three people to execute the task.The Fast Track model was chosen as the courses project management model because the modeldemonstrates a non-linear development process to the students. The model further identities thedeliverables required for each project phase and the structure of the model indicates that alldocuments need to be stored in a central repository to provide easy access to all team members.The requirement of this centralized document repository emphasizes how important interactivecommunication and availability of documentation shared between all stakeholders is critical forthe success of

Conference Session

Innovations in Computing Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alejandra J. Magana, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Aidsa I. Santiago-Román, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; Nayda G. Santiago, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez; Cesar A Aceros; Brandeis H Marshall, Purdue University; Eric T. Matson, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

of the IEEE and the ACM.Cesar A AcerosBrandeis H Marshall, Purdue UniversityEric T. Matson, Purdue University, West Lafayette Page 22.1347.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Students’ Understanding of Computational Problem-Solving TasksIntroductionComputational thinking embodies multiple reasoning processes or ways of thinking whichtranscend time and disciplines. As a result, computational thinking represents a skill-set that ischanging the way we think by providing an extension to our cognitive faculties 1 . These changesare impacting science, technology, and society “on

Conference Session

Curricular Issues in Computer-Oriented Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Reza Sanati-Mehrizy, Utah Valley University; Evan Jackson; Ali Sanati-Mehrizy, Pennsylvania State University; Paymon Sanati-Mehrizy, University of Pennsylvania; Afsaneh Minaie, Utah Valley University

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

approved by the project manager and ateam of specialists who would rate the photos and classify the information with the correctscientific names before being published to the site for the world to see.Anyone who has access to the Internet can see the application through the following URL:http://science.uvu.edu/timp/. Currently, only the Professors involved in this project and thestudents who built the site can add or modify samples to the collection. We began developing aphoto upload tool for anyone to be able to add to the collection later.Working on the project, we discovered that the photos are hi-resolution, and are very slow toload in a web browser. After realizing that the photos we were given were too large to display insets of more than 1

Conference Session

Information Systems and Computing Potpourri

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Guy Johnson, Rochester Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Computing & Information Technology

location-based data acquired on the university campus. Many objects located on campus (artwork,benches, emergency telephones, recycling containers, building entry doors, etc.) are not fullydocumented on existing campus maps. No printed map can include everything, but in many casesthese are needed for visitors or even students in an emergency situation. Directions for Mapping Project 1 Goal: Use the GPS to gather data points and import into a map. Summary: Using a GPS device (e.g. the Garmin eTrex Legends), capture 20 thematic waypoints on campus and create a map using ArcGIS with these points imported and displayed on a basemap of your own choosing. Use available basemaps from the ESRI resource web pages. Keep a

Conference Session

Effective Projects and Experiments in Instrumentation and Control

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mohamad A. Mustafa, Savannah State University; Asad Yousuf, Savannah State University; Jeff Kesling

Tagged Divisions

Instrumentation

. The first stationwill usually be a benchmark. A benchmark is a permanent point published by federal, state, Page 22.1302.2provincial, and municipal agencies. These points are established, known elevations and are set toresist vertical movement.To determine the elevation at a station, first, the level needs to be placed at a location such that itcan sight the rod at both a previous and the next station, and should be as close to equidistant toboth as possible. The first reading is to determine the backsight (BS), found by recording the rodmeasurement at the benchmark, also called STA 1. All readings taken on a point of knownelevation are