Conference Session

New Approaches in Engineering Curriculum

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Reza Sanati-Mehrizy; Afsaneh Minaie

learn how to use the debugger. In the lab, the students will type in an assemblyprogram and assemble and link it and use the debugger to step through the program. There is atutor for the course that sits in the lab to help students with their programming assignments. Thetutor-student relationship benefits the tutor as well. Tutor solidifies his/her knowledge whilehelping their peers. Laboratory programming assignments are given electronically. Assignmentsare submitted and graded electronically. Following a sample project is given:Sample Laboratory Project Page 8.86.3 Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

William Haering

author taught the quadriplegic student was a freshman- levelintroduction to engineering design and graphics (ED&G 100). This course is comprised of fourdistinct components: traditional paper and pencil technical drawing, laboratory work, designprojects, and an introduction to computer tools. The design projects and the physical laboratoryexperiments were conducted in groups, and as a result the physical limitation of the student didnot require any special accommodation. The compilation of the laboratory reports, done by eachstudent, was accomplished by the quadriplegic student with a word processing program run on acomputer which the student operated by using a special mouth-operated pointing and clickingdevice and voice recognition software

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Mechanics

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Muthukrishnan Sathyamoorthy

MATLABcapabilities support are discussed in class that includes solving a variety of problems usingsimultaneous equations, graphing, computer programming and others.The author of this paper has been teaching mechanics and structural analysis courses formany years for students in large classes. In recent years, he has incorporated the use ofmodern software tools such as MATLAB and MAPLE in teaching these courses and inencouraging students to use these very versatile tools in the learning process. Typicallyhomework assignments and group projects require the use of these tools that are easilyaccessible in the computer laboratories located across the campus. If group projects aredone using these tools, students are required to make presentations and share

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Gerald Burnham; Don Millard

activities were developed that incorporated the “Circuits Solver” module as a means tointroduce students to the application of mesh analysis and Kirchoff’s voltage law to solve circuits.In the fall of 2001, electrical network analysis classes at UTD had both EE andTelecommunications Engineering (TE) students who were each surveyed as to the benefit of themodules and technologies. Each semester a teaching assistant was assigned to support the facultyand assist the students in using the ILMs or explaining other concepts. Two graduate students rewrote the accompanying laboratory manual during the summer of2001 to insure that the principles exemplified by the modules could be easily integrated into thelaboratory sessions. Although Spring 2000

Conference Session

Construction Engineering Advances I

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Vaughn Whisker; Sai Yerrapathruni; John Messner; Anthony Baratta

. A user’s head and hand can be tracked withelectromagnetic sensors to provide interaction with the display system.3. Virtual Reality Display Facility at Penn StateThe Applied Research Laboratory atPenn State University has an immersiveprojection display system similar to theCAVETM in the Synthetic EnvironmentApplications Laboratory (SEA Lab)[15].The SEA Lab’s equipment includes adisplay system that permits thegeneration of a 360 degree, 10' x 10' x 9'immersive environment where users cancollaboratively interact with simulationsand data in real-time (see Figure 2). Thesystem uses four back-projectiondisplay screens; stereoscopic and Figure 2: SEA Lab Immersive Projection Display atsynchronized image rendering

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Nagraj Balakrishnan; Michael Leonard; Judith McKnew

presentation of this CMmodule.The authors of this paper proposed to the Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory ImprovementProgram of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education, aproof of concept project to develop CM educational materials. Specifically, we sought fundingto develop and introduce a CM Overview Module and accompanying Teacher’s Guide for use aspart of regularly-scheduled courses in engineering and business curricula. NSF funded ourproject in May, 2000, and our work on the project began in June 2000.II. The CM Overview ModuleThe CM Overview Module provides 1-2 weeks of college-level coursework. The module ismodeled on material presented in the few reference texts that provide significant discussions onCM topics

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert Floersheim; Stephen Ressler; Margaret Bailey

and follow on sequence courses, lab technicians, etc. Forexample in a thermodynamics course, the interested parties or stakeholders could includeprofessors associated with prerequisite and subsequent courses like engineeringmathematics, physics, heat transfer and power trains as well as the technician responsiblefor the steam and gas turbine laboratories. Page 6.308.2 Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering EducationAssessment methods must be applied consistently semester to semester and should bepart of an

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ernest Tollner

problems and agricultural engineers working with thefarm-field scale. Natural resource engineers may work at the farm and field scale, integrating tothe regional scale via appropriate watershed modeling software that requires farm and field scaleinputs. The course includes two field trips to the USDA-ARS station at Watkinsville, GA. Thisfacility has state-of-the-art instrumented watersheds. Students analyze runoff expected from aninstrumented watershed. Students analyze the passage of the flow through a culvert and channel,which they characterize. Students also measure the Manning n for two different channel liningsin a laboratory flume. Tours of water quality laboratories are also included. The course alsoincludes a tour to a

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Clark; Lisa Comparini; Anthony Dixon; David DiBiasio

. The major new features were a restructuring and spiraling ofspecific chemical engineering topics around a framework of open-ended, team-based projects. Inthe following we will refer to the group that took the new curriculum as the spiral-taught and thetraditionally taught students as the comparison. Note that "spiral-taught" is a convenient term weuse that includes all the teaching and curricular changes implemented during the project, not justthe spiral topic structure.The spiral curriculum was delivered through a variety of channels including cooperative-groupprojects, traditional lectures, homework problems, in-class active learning sessions, interactivemultimedia learning tools, and laboratory experiments. To assure individual

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

William Hutzel

energy audit, it is not fair to compare the “high grade” electrical energy,which has a multitude of uses, to the “low grade” thermal energy that the collectors provide. Asolar collector’s thermal energy can only be used for local space heating and is only availablewhen the sun is shining. Until a fair accounting of the difference between electrical and thermalenergy can be made it is better to leave the fans out of the analysis. The slight oversimplification (leaving out the fan energy) is “ok” in this case. This solarenergy experiment is one of twelve laboratory projects in the introductory Heat Power course.Some concessions must be made to complete the experiment within the two hours that areallocated for the project. Upper level MET

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Doria Hickman; Bala Ram; Sanjiv Sarin; Paul Stanfield

Services Recruitment Processes Resources Development1. Graduate 3. Course 6. Instructional 10. Accreditation 13. Departmental student development/ computing/ preparation databases recruitment revision lab equipment 11. Continuing 14. Faculty2. Undergraduate 4. Course 7. Instructional education recruitment recruitment evaluation software 12. New programs 15. Faculty 5. Curriculum 8. Instructional evaluation development/ laboratory use

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Aaron C. Clark; Eric Wiebe

report on a survey of students enrolled in engineering design graphics courses at NC State University the Fall 1999 semester. The results of this survey provides a snapshot of how prepared students currently are to make use of computer-based instruction within and outside of traditional labs.I. IntroductionThe instruction of engineering design graphics has always been closely linked to technology.Whereas the technology used to be based on manual instruments such as compasses, T-squares,and triangles, in more recent years the tool of choice has been computer-based CAD systems.What has not changed at many institutions has been the centering of the engineering designgraphics curriculum around the on-campus laboratory. While the focus of the

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Laura Lucas; Erdogan Sener

for filling technical andmanagement positions in the construction industry. One problem with these articulation arrangementshas been that of ensuring relevant laboratory knowledge on the part of the vocational educationstudents in certain specific areas. Even though vocational programs are inherently hands-on, the labsin such institutions have limited capabilities in terms of soils testing, materials testing, asphalt testing,to name a few areas.This paper focuses on an approach for addressing this shortcoming of vocational education studentsnot having access to some of the labs that academic institutions do by means of employing aconstruction lab-cam and broadcasting a lab session in asynchronous or synchronous modes to otherinstitutions so

Collection

2001 Annual Conference

Authors

Ralph Staus; Henry Ansell

students out-of-class; listening to lectures concerning concepts and relationships; listeningto lectures on how to solve problems; working on homework problems; working out newproblems during the class session; going over problems in class that the student has previouslyattempted and worked on, such as homework problems; asking questions of the instructor duringclass; consultation sessions with the instructor to clarify what seems unclear; using the libraryresources; doing laboratory exercises; studying for an exam; reviewing returned and correctedexams; and reviewing returned and corrected lab reports. The above list was intended to cover some of the more common items in technicalcourses at our campus, but does not pretend to be an

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Hans H. Kuehl

valuable feature in that it allows the evaluation and grading ofalgebraic expressions in symbolic form. In addition, Mallard allows random values to beprogrammed into problems so that individual students typically get different numerical values intheir problem statements. Furthermore, students do not need any special software on theirmachines; only a standard Internet browser (e.g. Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer) isrequired of students. Mallard graded problem scores are automatically recorded; other studentgrades (e.g., examination scores, paper-and-pencil homework scores, laboratory scores) can beuploaded. Each student can thus know all his/her own scores and how his/her scores comparewith the entire class.All of the homework in the

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas H. Ortmeyer; M. Sathyamoorthy; Karl Cunningham

would be involved in installingthe new system.From the faculty mentor’s perspective, the project went very well. Regular meetingswith the student were held to monitor progress. In this particular case, it was apparentin these meetings that the project included significant design and engineeringexperience. The reviews of the laboratory notebook and the meetings between theindustrial mentor and the faculty mentor confirmed this.Computer Engineering Project: Lab equipment software upgrade This projectinvolved the upgrade of software for a tensile testing machine. The machine has aproprietary communications interface and operated under locally developed VisualBasic 2.0 program in Windows 3.11. The existing computer system logged and printedtest

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Deborah Hwang; D. Blandford

. Genalo, L., et al. Toying with Technology : Mobile Robots and High School Interns. Proceedings of the 1997ASEE Annual Conference, June 1997.3. Berg, R. & Turbak, F. Wellesley College CS115/PHY115 Robotic Design Studio. URL:www.wellesley.edu/Physics/robots/studio.html4. Kumar, D. & Meeden, L. A Robot Laboratory for Teaching Artificial Intelligence. Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE-98), February, 1998. Also availableat URL: mainline.brynmawr.edu/Robots/ResourceKit/Paper.html5. Kumar, D. & Meeden, L. A Robot Laboratory for Teaching Artificial Intelligence Resource Kit. URL:mainline.brynmawr.edu/Robots/ResourceKit6. Beer, R. Chiel, H. & Drushel, R.. Using Autonomous

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Herbert Hess

of circuit topologies, prototypeboards, and software are presented. When completed, the converters go to work asdemonstrations in a senior-level course in power electronics. Converters show fundamentalcircuit behavior on ordinary portable laboratory instruments. Common nonideal behavior ofconverters appears and can be used to gain better insight into circuit operation than that oftengained by traditional simulation methods. These converters also were used as a recruiting tool.Methods of teaching with these converters are presented, including some that worked and somethat failed.Introduction Power electronics draws from a host of topics, making it an appropriate vehicle for teachingdesign to senior undergraduate students. One of the

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Anant Kukreti

device was performed by solvingin real time a nonlinear finite element problem. From a pedagogical point of view, the packagewas found to be efficient when used in parallel with a classical lecture. The UMass Amhersttutor team developed a multimedia “injection molding tutor” capable of training a user how toproduce cost effective injection molded part designs8. The tutor provides visually stimulatinganimations that clearly illustrate the relationship between part geometry and the tooling requiredto produce the part. Hansen et al.5 developed a PC-based diesel engine simulator to supplementexisting undergraduate laboratory instruction, so that students could establish a thoroughunderstanding of the response of the engine. Feedback from

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Bruce Segee; Michael D. Amos

applications thatsimultaneously run on the production PC and control the gathering and relocation of the barcodescans accumulated by the barcode network. The first application, DataGet, controls the datagathering.DataGetAfter the barcode network controller collects the barcode scans accumulated by each barcodedecoder, it is necessary for the PC to collect that data. DataGet performs this operation.DataGet is a custom piece of software developed by the Instrumentation Research Laboratory atthe University of Maine department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. It was developedusing Microsoft ™ Visual Basic 6.0, since Visual Basic promotes rapid application developmentwith features that simplify database accessibility [Harris, 1999].The primary

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Asif M. Shakur; Ali Eydgahi; Abhijit Nagchaudhuri

activities of the SLOPE program provide the following services to the local community:(i) Improved awareness of Physics/Engineering education and its objectives and impact on Page 5.549.2 the Eastern Shore Community and high school students.(ii) Student projects in partnerships with local community service organizations.(iii) Development of teaching aids for classes and laboratories in local schools.“Service-Learning” has been introduced in selected Engineering and Physics courses. Thestandard format involving preparation, action and reflection have been incorporated 11. Studentprojects that address community needs that dovetail with the

Collection

2000 Annual Conference

Authors

Musharraf Zaman; Anant Kukreti

device was performed by solvingin real time a nonlinear finite element problem. From a pedagogical point of view, the packagewas found to be efficient when used in parallel with a classical lecture. The UMass Amhersttutor team developed a multimedia “injection molding tutor” capable of training a user how toproduce cost effective injection molded part designs8. The tutor provides visually stimulatinganimations that clearly illustrate the relationship between part geometry and the tooling requiredto produce the part. Hansen et al.5 developed a PC-based diesel engine simulator to supplementexisting undergraduate laboratory instruction, so that students could establish a thoroughunderstanding of the response of the engine. Feedback from

Conference Session

Lab Experiments in Materials Science

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Isha H. Jain

on a stick,which act as seeds for the growth of larger crystals. The important points to note from thisexperiment are: (i) the sugar solution is about as fluid as water, and (ii) the growth of crystals,even a few mm in size, takes several days. For the remaining three experiments, we need the following readily available Equipmentand Supplies: 1 one-quart stainless steel pan 1 hotplate 12 metal tablespoon 1 laboratory balance (or fluid measuring cup at home) 1 metal tray to hold hot candies (up to ~175 °C/ 350 °F) 1 laboratory or good quality candy thermometer that reads up to ~ 205 °C or 400 °F

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Zhengtao T. Deng; Xiaoqing (Cathy) Qian; Abdul Jalloh; Amir Mobasher; Ruben Rojas-Oviedo

2793assigned for the Fall 2001 consisted of design of a bicycle frame for a givenspecifications such as weight of the frame, maximum concentrated loads on the handlebar and the seat. The students were required to deliver the following items:1. A Gantt chart detailing the time table of activities: This should be turned in within 5 days after it is assigned to the students. Subsequently the students are expected to submit a progress report based on the proposed time line.2. A report in compliance with the standard laboratory report writing practices: the students are expected to use the finite element program, FRAME, in the design work. The design should include but not limited to (a) dimensions of the bicycle frame, material used for the

Conference Session

Innovation in Design Education

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Eric Ford; Vincent Wilczynski; Gregg Dixon

. Some of the parts require tight tolerance limits in order for theengine to operate properly, giving the students an appreciation for quality control inmanufacturing processes. The completed engine is visually attractive and has interestingoperating characteristics that demonstrate the operation of properly timed valves and crank-drivenflywheels. The freewheeling speed of the engine provides a measure of construction quality.This paper provides an explanation of the construction and testing of the air engine, a descriptionof how the project is integrated with laboratory and lecture activities in a sophomore level designcourse, and an explanation of how this activity fits into the achievement of desired educationalobjectives of the course and of

Conference Session

Control in the Classroom

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Kevin Dahm

experienced engineers“commonly use McCabe-Thiele diagrams to understand or help debug simulation results.”However, the merit of extending the hand calculations significantly beyond the simple graphicalmethod, such as using the Ponchon-Savarit method to include the energy balance, is less clear inthe era of process simulation.5 It is these considerations that lead Wankat to recommend “aneclectic approach that includes classical graphical and analytical methods, computer simulationsand laboratory experience.”4This paper examines how the balance between these various components can be attained andhow they can be made to complement each other. It describes in detail how equilibrium stagedoperations was taught at Rowan University in the fall 2000 and fall

Conference Session

Computer Based Measurements

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Murphree; Brent Brzezinski; Joey Parker

2002 semester. Students willdevelop a lumped parameter model of the system and predict the response with differentproportional (P) control gains. The linear actuator control system will also be used in an electivecontrol class (ME 475) in the Fall 2002 semester. In this class, students will take a much morecomprehensive look at the controller. Both frequency domain and time domain (root locus)approaches will be used to design PID controllers. Comparing theoretical results to actualexperimental results should improve student understanding of controls.AcknowledgementsMuch of the equipment and facilities used to develop this linear actuator control system weremade available by the Electro-mechanical Systems Laboratory (EMSyL) at The University

Conference Session

ASEE Multimedia Session

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Benjamin Flores; Jose Fierro; Daniel Grajeda; Steve Stafford; Rosa Gomez

specialization, teamwork as well as individualachievement, and educational innovation as well as research, ACES builds to foster therefinement of intellectual skills needed by practicing engineers and scientists for decades tocome [2].Science, engineering and mathematics (SEM) fields of college study are difficult and timedemanding. Entering students may not be prepared for these difficult academic programsdepending on their pre-college preparation and their general orientation towards universitystudies. The problem with college preparedness may be more acute on a commuter campus,where students may only remain on campus as long as class hours and laboratories demand [3].UTEP’s student population is typical of major urban universities, serving the

Conference Session

Accreditation and Related Issues in ECE

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Jeff Jalkio

on a weighted percentage of points scored in exams, homework,and other graded assignments2. However, if a course has ten learning objectives that receiveequal point weighting, a student can theoretically score 90% of points without demonstrating anycompetence in one of the learning objectives. Competency testing3 provides direct evidence ofthe accomplishment of learning objectives, but typically only on a pass/fail basis for eachlearning objective. Our goal was to develop a grading system that would allow us to assigngrades based on demonstrated mastery of learning objectives. Since the successful completionof many laboratory experiments and exam questions require the attainment of several learningobjectives, it is difficult to determine the

Conference Session

Innovative Lab and Hands-on Projects

Collection

2002 Annual Conference

Authors

Matthew Obenchain; Keith Bearden; Dan Diaz; Brian Self

Program (CSRP)Cadets with strong research interests and ability should be identified before their senior year. Ifpossible, they can then be placed in a Cadet Summer Research Program that utilizes the projectto be used during their senior year. A collaboration can be established between a government orother laboratory during the summer, then that research continued throughout the following year.2. Begin or continue experimental work during EM460Most engineering projects should contain some type of experimental data collection and analysis.Cadets can work in teams to further analyze their research project; however, if research was notbegun during CSRP the work can begin during the Fall semester of their senior year.3. Perform Finite Element