Session 3264 Failure Analysis – A Technology Enhanced Capstone Experience for Materials Engineers David Gibbs, Alan Demmons, Robert Heidersbach Ph.D., Daniel Walsh, Ph.D., College of Engineering Cal Poly, San Luis ObispoAbstract:The evolution of a highly successful curricular experiment is documented. This unique course is an ancestor to manyof the “mechanical dissection” approaches to engineering education which are so very popular today. The paperhighlights the value of the course as a culminating experience for the materials
. Page 22.173.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 An Examination of Mentoring Functions in the Capstone CourseAbstractThroughout the literature detailing projects in engineering capstone courses, researchersfrequently refer to the faculty role as that of a mentor. As such studies make clear, the role ofmentoring in capstone projects is critical to support students in the progression of the course. Yetthe concept itself remains relatively ill-defined in the engineering education literature, making itmore challenging for researchers and educators alike to identify patterns and best practicesacross contexts. Using a framework developed by Kram to characterize a variety of mentoringfunctions
version ofthe activities with capstone alumnae to identify what alumni actually transfer in to theiremployment after graduation, and investigating whether and how to use these activities as anassessment tool for capstone courses and overall programs.1. IntroductionUndergraduate engineering programs commonly culminate in a capstone design course. Theseone- or two-semester courses meet the ABET requirement of a major design experience1 and areintended as an opportunity for students to synthesize their previous learning and apply theirknowledge/skills to a complex design problem. Typically these capstone projects involve teamsof three to six students who work collaboratively, thus emulating the current engineeringworkplace environment.2 A majority
particular design solutions. Specifically, they struggle with creating,manipulating, and critiquing mathematical models to assist in the design of a product or process.The ultimate aim of our work is to improve students’ ability to use models in capstone designafter being exposed to instruction on mathematical modeling.This study was a continuation of an earlier project in which we explored how studentsdeveloped, used, and interpreted mathematical models. In the previous study, students weregiven instruction in the steps of mathematical modeling and a scenario in which they were askedto assist a hypothetical design team by creating a mathematical model that could be used inmaking decisions about the design. The instruction and the scenario broke
AC 2012-4314: APPLYING THRESHOLD LEARNING THEORY TO TEACHSUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICE IN POST-GRADUATE ENGINEER-ING EDUCATIONDr. Cheryl J.K. Desha, Queensland University of Technology Cheryl Desha is a lecturer in sustainable development in the faculty of engineering and science (School of Earth, Environment and Biological Systems), Queensland University of Technology. She is also a Principal Researcher in the Natural Edge Project (TNEP) research group, a non-profit academic network for research, education, and innovation for sustainable prosperity. Desha graduated in 1999 from envi- ronmental engineering and worked for consulting engineering firm Arup for four years, also undertaking work placement within the
a three-person crew in protective suits.The students were extremely motivated from the visit and had additional questions about castingtechniques.Initial Laboratory EffortsSince the capstone project is student based, the team determined an initial schedule for theproject and created a Gantt chart (named for Henry Gantt) which included project milestones andalso a critical design review, a final presentation and a final report. The students quicklydesigned a “work-horse” blade using readily available 6061-T6 aluminum that was a flat plate ofthe same length as their first stage compressor blade. It had the same average chord length andthe average thickness of their first-stage compressor blade. This simplified geometry could bequickly
hope thatthese revisions will help students use the rubric more productively for their own writing and forthe peer review.ConclusionThis paper describes enhancements to a capstone design class to improve the quality of technicalwriting. These enhancements were successful in meeting our goals. Students worked on theirwriting throughout the semester and completed a major portion of their final report more than amonth before the deadline. Every student was engaged in the writing process. The writingassignments were timed to coincide with project milestones so that the writing enhanced theirprogress in the project work. Finally, a small-scale assessment demonstrated that theseenhancements resulting in significant improvements to the quality of
Incorporating Designer Empathy in Senior Capstone Design CoursesAbstractThis paper will detail the challenges two groups of students, at two varying universities workingon two separate senior capstone design projects, experienced when designing for target usersthey lack empathy for. The projects presented in this paper support handicapped and/or disabledindividuals. As many engineers will gain employment in a healthcare related field, it isimportant that they are able to empathize with the target user – often handicapped and/or elderlyindividuals. This is further exacerbated by the increase in the number of handicapped andelderly individuals in the United States as medical care improves and life expectancy continuesto
of computational tools across the chemical engineering curriculum, and game-based learning.Prof. Mariajose Castellanos, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Page 23.32.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2013 A Comparison of Peer Evaluation Methods in Capstone DesignAbstractThe final chemical engineering capstone design course at our university consists of a semester-long project where students work in predetermined groups. The emphasis of the experience is toallow students to develop and explore their engineering creativity while at the same timecultivate the importance
Mentoring Team Conflicts in Capstone Design: Problems and SolutionsIntroductionTeaming is ubiquitous in design education, yet many project mentors have little or no formaltraining in teamwork or in mentoring teams, and have learned primarily through experience. As aresult, issues associated with teaching teamwork or addressing team dynamics are oftenchallenging for design faculty. Most capstone projects involve multi-person teams, andteamwork is often considered a critical outcome in design courses, but in a recent nationalsurvey, fewer than 50% of capstone faculty responding included instruction in teamwork as akey course component 1. Moreover, as the results from a recent Capstone Design Conferenceindicate, faculty
engineering background. Studio 6: Explores technical innovation and how design mediates the impact of new technologies on society and culture. This studio places emphasis on entrepreneurship and the business aspects of bringing a new idea to market. This studio is taught in collaboration with faculty from Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management. Studio 7: This is an engineering capstone design course that immerses students in a real world multidisciplinary design experience in the O.T. Swanson Multidisciplinary Design Laboratory. The design projects are sponsored by either industry, non-profit, or entrepreneurial interests. The projects are very challenging. Three example
immersion and educationalexperiences that simulate a real-world industrial design process and encourage creativity,innovation and teamwork [2-5].In line with modern practices, our program’s design sequence focuses on system engineering,and includes key design phases of project definition, system-level design, prototypedevelopment, and verification and validation. In the most recent revision, we restructured ourdesign curriculum to ensure better continuity of design topics, to facilitate collaborative projectswith industry partners, and to alleviate various academic challenges noted by faculty andindicated by students in the course evaluation questionnaires. To this end, we reduced theduration of the capstone design sequence by three academic
common teaching materials, with manypractically useful but more specialized special-topic materials, have developed. Base setteaching material will be always used in teaching capstone design, and the extended special-topicmaterials will be selectively used by different countries, or by special design projects.Figure 1 showed the front page of the design tools developed and under-development. In thispaper, first the developed searchable design case library is presented. The case library is Page 11.1438.2developed using MYSQL and Linux platform. A design case library with a large collection ofdesign projects, including project report, presentation
Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1998. ©American Society for Engineering Education, 2024 The Conversion of Capstone Senior Design to a Two-Semester FormatAbstractThis paper illustrates the conversion of capstone senior design from a one-semester format to atwo-semester format and reveals the benefits of such conversion. In the past, a senior designproject was completed in either a fall semester or a spring semester course. Since fall 2019, asenior design project was completed in a sequence of two courses, Mechanical EngineeringDesign I in the fall and Mechanical Engineering Design II in the spring. The one-semesterformat enables the students to adjust their
during a yearlong capstone experience by adoptingtechnology as the binding medium. Here, this paper will discuss what software can support thenon-technical calculation aspects of a team, how software can be leveraged to promoteintegration and how to tie software into assignments. When collaboration, communication andmanagement technology is adopted, this study found that student teams are capable ofestablishing a cohesive and integrated design solutions. This capstone experience was scoped inthe context of buildings being used for projects; yet, results presented should be easily translatedto other infrastructure-based projects in Civil Engineering (CE).Keywords: Software, Capstone, Design Process, Communication, Collaboration
or wave propagation through thatmedium. For automobiles this Mach number factor is negligible because of low speeds relativeto that of sound and can be ignored.The Design ProcessThe capstone design project is taught in combination with the Machine Design3 class.While the credit hour and time allocated for the project is not at par with the standardcapstone class, the faculty and the design groups take the extra time and puts in extra effortin the project. This is the final opportunity for the students to apply their science,technology, engineering as well as mathematics (STEM) background in a project for whichthey will get credit while they enjoy the satisfaction of solving an engineering problem anddemonstrate it.The project is approached
, 2008 Web-enabled System for Managing Student Applications for a Selective Industry-sponsored Multidisciplinary Capstone Design ProgramAbstractIntegrated Product and Process Design (IPPD) is an institutionalized two-semester industry-sponsored multidisciplinary capstone design option for seniors in engineering, business, andpackaging science at the University of Florida. Preparing for the launch of the IPPD program inthe fall semester requires coordinating with dozens of project sponsors, faculty and staff fromnine academic departments and students from more than 12 disciplines. Obtaining 25 suitablemultidisciplinary industry projects each year is a time consuming activity. So too is the
expected outcomes, as well as to theAccreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) criteria and some additionalME Program criteria based on the requirements by the American Society of MechanicalEngineers. The program outcomes should be measurable, and so an assessment tool or Surveyhas been developed. The survey form is completed by the students at the end of the secondsemester of the Capstone Design course, along with their final project report. Evaluations bythe instructors are also completed. The student survey results and faculty evaluations arecompiled and compared with the above mentioned course mapping. The results show thatthere is considerable matching between the course mapping for the expected educationaloutcomes done by the
senior year, students in the chemical engineering department take a two-semester, six-credit capstone design course. This course has projects that include students indepartments across campus, providing them an opportunity to work on multidisciplinary projectsand teams. Students who register find their own (or are assigned to) industrial problems andclients, conduct research, and design a complete engineering solution which may include aprocess simulation model, equipment sizing and costing, environmental and safety analysis, etc.Throughout the semester, teams communicate their findings to both the client and facultyadvisors through written status reports and oral presentations. Six of the twenty-one groups whose performances were analyzed
course is the OLS Senior Capstone Project, which represents the culmination of work forthe baccalaureate degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision (OLS). The SeniorCapstone Project represents one of the final deliverables that a student will develop as an OLSmajor. As such, students are strongly encouraged to allocate sufficient time for editing,rewriting, and/or proofreading the final documents. Students are expected to both submit andpresent at a poster session, a professionally-developed, final research report that demonstratestheir seriousness of purpose as a senior-level, college-educated student of leadership.This capstone course is designed to be integrative in nature and will use overlap from previouscoursework and signature
, Arizona. In 2007, we began accepting freshmen into ourMechanical Engineering (ME) program. In the 2010-2011 academic year, we offered for thefirst time the new ME capstone design courses with concentrations in either air-breathingpropulsion or robotics. This paper describes the propulsion preliminary design course; a secondpaper will focus on the follow-on propulsion detail design course.The first graduating class of ME majors included three students in the propulsion track. Themutual dependence of the new propulsion track and well-established aircraft preliminary designcourse under our Aerospace Engineering (AE) program made the integration of the MEpropulsion and AE aircraft projects an attractive proposition. This paper discusses this
AC 2009-1624: INCORPORATING SOFT-CORE AND HARD-CORE PROCESSORSIN CAPSTONE DESIGN COURSESWagdy Mahmoud, University of the District of Columbia Page 14.724.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2009 Incorporating Soft Core and Hard Core Processors in Capstone Design Courses Wagdy H Mahmoud University of the District of Columbia wmahmoud@udc.eduAbstractThis paper provides details of our electrical engineering program efforts to introduce sot andhard core processors and the concept of SoC in senior-level and senior-design courses. The
cohortsAbstractThe capstone course sequence in an engineering or engineering technology program bringstogether all elements of the curriculum into a comprehensive learning experience. A team ofstudents works together, combining the topics learned during their undergraduate coursework tocomplete a substantial design project. Design courses can be uncomfortable for many studentsbecause of the open-ended nature of the requirement, leading to many questions such as “Are weon the right track? Do I have the right answer? Are we approaching this the right way?” Due totheir unique experiences, student veterans in engineering are well positioned to enable theircohorts to overcome these challenges. The military experience teaches veterans to becomeproblem-solvers
and developmentand b) the disconnect between perceived and expected proficiency for capstone graduates. Thiseffort adds to a growing body of work to understand and ultimately improve capstone education.1. Introduction and MotivationCapstone engineering design course program instantiations are based upon academic institution,department, and instructor. Each brings a unique perspective to the course and the learningenvironment. Capstone engineering design projects are each unique in their own right sinceindividuals or teams may select a project that has never been done before. In this context ofvariations of uniqueness, if that can be used as a means to define an educational environment, isit possible to evaluate a capstone engineering design
findings to their peers and faculty 6. Prepare meaningful progress reports 7. Prepare a set of engineering plans Page 7.1125.4 8. Present and defend a proposal for a project 9. Integrate knowledge from other classes 10. Work independently 11. Prepare a feasibility studyGrading: Progress Reports 10 Preliminary Engineering 40 Preliminary Design 50The reader will note that this syllabus is similar to the typical syllabus for capstone design coursesoffered by engineering and engineering technology schools throughout the nation. The coursewas developed to be a
thermodynamic models, and (3) understand system-wide effects ofchanging process variables (as part of the process improvement aspect). The project, based on the synthesis of maleic anhydride from n-butane, involves severalimportant unit operations that will often be encountered in the capstone project. The students aregiven a set of equipment specifications and process data from which they are supposed todevelop a simulation of the process as it currently exists. Strategies for simulating the process arediscussed in detail and the course instructor is available in the student computing laboratory tohelp with issues as they arise. The project includes a reactor (PFR) with kinetic models, absorption column, vacuumdistillation column with
diversity, quality, and rigorthe characteristics necessary to serve a 21st-century nation and world. Capstone projects arewidely acknowledged as important components in engineering, engineering technology, design,and business undergraduate education.2,6,15Much has been written on the topic, particularly on capstone courses in engineering.6, 17 Someresearchers have focused on capstone programming and structure.13, 17, 18 Others haveemphasized multidisciplinary collaborations.10, 19, 20 A smaller amount of research has addressedthe assessment of student knowledge patterns in multidisciplinary environments.4, 21, 22 However,little research has examined the role of faculty and their beliefs on the success factors, as well as,time commitments for
AC 2008-706: CREATING A SOLAR OVEN INDUSTRY IN TANZANIA: ACAPSTONE DESIGN EXPERIENCECraig Somerton, Michigan State University CRAIG W. SOMERTON Craig W. Somerton is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Undergraduate Program for Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He teaches in the area of thermal engineering including thermodynamics, heat transfer, and thermal design. He also teaches the capstone design course for the department. Dr. Somerton has research interests in computer design of thermal systems, transport phenomena in porous media, and application of continuous quality improvement principles to engineering education. He received his B.S. in 1976
Prerequisites for Capstone Design Abstract A NASA project to improve university design education curricula has resulted in the addition of an undergraduate introduction to systems engineering and a spacecraft subsystems modeling laboratory as prerequisites to the capstone spacecraft/mission design course in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. The systems engineering course materials, created by the second author, are based on NASA systems engineering practices and available in the public domain on the internet (http://spacese.spacegrant.org). The current paper summarizes the content of the systems engineering course, as well as a companion lab on modeling spacecraft subsystems, and focuses on the positive
innovators are attempting to transformengineering education is through implementation of interdisciplinary capstone design courses.Interdisciplinary capstone design courses provide students from different fields with theopportunity to work directly with other design students and professionals to develop a real world,authentic project. Studies have shown that engineering departments across the nation areattempting to implement interdisciplinary capstone design courses into their curriculum1.The Interdisciplinary Design Experience (IDeX) is an interdisciplinary academic programdeveloped to provide real world experience with innovative sustainable design projects toengineering, architecture and construction management undergraduate and Masters