Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

puszynski jan; David Dixon; Bhavani Puli; James Munro

Copyright ©2003, American Society for Engineering EducationThe response to question no.’s 1, 4, 5, and 6 reflect a high degree of agreement that theexperiment was a positive learning experience for the students and the negative responseto question 2 indicates clearly that the experiment was not perceived as a “cookbook”experience.When asked to provide comments on the design experiment, students responded with comments such as: • “I think that being able to see the workings of the columns makes it easier to understand what is really happening in a packed column.” • “Forced us to revisit principles learned in ChE 318 [the theory course].” • “The students can see all aspects of an absorption column and vary any of several parameters

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Ravi Ramachandran; Kevin Dahm

balance at Page 8.1064.2that particular point. Other “fixed-price” investment opportunities introduced later includedProceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Educationpirate ships, fishing boats, farms, casinos, and ice cream trucks. Such examples were important tothe game because they meant every student would definitely have the opportunity to makeinvestments- relying on competitive auctions was not a necessity.The complexity of the required analyses increased throughout the semester, reflecting new

Conference Session

Trends in Construction Engineering Education

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Amro Taibah; Mohammed Haque

onfuture market price than other sidings. Compared to brick veneer, which is the most commonexterior finishing material in the College Station market, Stucco finishing was found to reflect anincrease difference of approximately $21 per square foot in market price. In addition it wasfound that plywood sidings had the least premium estimated at approximately $15 per squarefoot. Homes with mixed siding materials in the sample were mainly brick veneer mixed witheither wood or stucco sidings. This category also showed an estimated hedonic price ofapproximately $18 per square foot.ANN Model and ResultsThe parameter inputs considered in the proposed ANN model were the ones that were found tobe statistically significant using the hedonic procedure (AGE_YR

Conference Session

Teamwork & Assessment in the Classroom

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

James Newell; Kevin Dahm

daunting set of conditions would have to be met. Specifically, - proper course objectives that arise exclusively from the educational objectives and fully encompass all of these objectives must be set - tests and other graded assignments must completely capture these objectives - student performance on exams or assignments must be a direct reflection of their abilities and not be influenced by test anxiety, poor test taking skills, etc.There should be a direct correlation between student performance in courses and the overalllearning of the students only if all of these conditions are met every time. Moreover, much of thepedagogical research warns of the numerous pitfalls associated with using evaluative

Conference Session

Abroad Educational Opportunities in Engineering

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Jo-Ann Murray; Urbain DeWinter; Solomon Eisenberg

held for each returning class.The first is in early September, shortly after their return to campus. The second is at the end ofJanuary, when students have had a chance to evaluate their reintegration to Boston University.Feedback from these sessions and from the annual visits has been invaluable in helping us tolearn about the students’ reality in Germany. The opportunity to reflect on their experiencesabroad as a group after their return to campus has helped them put their experiences into a moreglobal context, and to develop a more multifaceted appreciation for the global community. Inaddition, the returning students have become enthusiastic ambassadors for the program,promoting its value and participating in information sessions for

Conference Session

Knowing Students: Diversity & Retention

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Janet Schmidt; Greg Wilkins; Clay Gloster; Robert Lent; Linda Schmidt

) role modeling experiences, it is also quite possiblethat these findings do reflect actual advantages of the historically Black universityenvironment. Likewise, the growing availability of women’s support services (e.g.,Society of Women Engineers) and increasing numbers of female role models may havebeen responsible for our female participants’ expectations regarding social supports andbarriers. These possibilities notwithstanding, women and most racial/ethnic minoritygroups continue to be substantially underrepresented in science and engineering fields, andthe educational environment is often viewed as part of the problem14. Whether thisenvironment has actually begun to change, or whether our hopeful findings may be anartifact of the

Conference Session

New Trends in ECE Education

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Matt Mangum; Gary Daniels; Mary Crawford

smallsegments of information in a step-by-step fashion. Additionally, a within-lesson menuwas added, allowing the student to move to any specific page of the lesson. In otherwords, linear navigation through the lesson sequence is not required. This adds to the“replay value” by supporting easier review and reference to individual pieces ofinformation. Figure 7 shows the open menu, which uses meaningful page names ratherthan a numbering system that does not reflect the content of each page. FIGURE 7: Navigation within a LessonIn addition to presenting information, we introduced a new element in lesson two, whichwe envision to be included in all subsequent lessons. At an appropriate point in eachlesson, the student can experiment

Conference Session

Student Chapters - Formulas for Success

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Thomas Quimby

constituent groups while assessing and improving their programs than dofaculty advisors. This difference might also reflect the difference in focus of the two groups. Thestudents referred to the chapter being a political voice to influence professional life. Thisreference can be considered to be a mild reference to influencing their academic life as well.Faculty advisors commented on leadership development as a value twice as frequently as did thedepartment heads. The students also listed this area as one of the values of the student chapter Page 8.1186.6experience. Even though there was a significant difference in the frequency of the comments, the

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Maria Suchowski; Frank Severance; Damon Miller

Foundation under Grant No.00881581. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National ScienceFoundation.IntroductionThe ProblemsAs discussed in [1,2], our experience is that many students entering electrical and computerengineering (ECE) undergraduate programs lack basic skills and knowledge that were once takenfor granted by instructors, e.g. how to use hand tools, how to solder, and the use and function ofbasic electronic components. Indeed, it seems that the number of students attracted to the ECEdiscipline by working on radios, automobiles, electronic kits, etc. before entering college issteadily decreasing. Now, many students

Conference Session

Raising the Bar and Body of Knowledge

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Ernest Smerdon

recent datafrom the Engineering Workforce Commission show little change in the trends. (Engineers. TheEngineering Workforce Commission. See EWC Homepage at www.aaes.org/ewc or email atewc@aaes.org).Accreditation Related ChallengesIn order to successfully implement ASCE Policy Statement 465, it would be advantageous tochange some of the current paradigms relating to the accreditation of engineering programs.Three of the major paradigms are: (1) dual level accreditation of engineering programs; (2) howto modify accreditation criteria to reflect the “moving target” of the BoK needed to practice at Page 8.234.4 Proceedings of the 2003

Conference Session

Innovations in Nuclear Infrastructure & Education

Collection

2003 Annual Conference

Authors

Walter Loveland; Wade Richards; Sue Clark; Steven Reese; Stephen Binney; Kathryn Higley; John Bennion; Edward Morse; James Elliston

BacteriaThe present system consists of an object turntable, a scintillator screen, a mirror, a cooled CCDcamera, and computer support. The neutron source is the 2 MW research reactor. The neutronbeam is approximately 35 cm in diameter at the screen, resulting in a radiographic L/D of 140.The object turntable is approximately 10 cm in front of the scintillator screen. The photonsgenerated in the screen are reflected from the mirror and then pass through a 50 mm lens into theCCD camera. The CCD camera consists of a rectangular array of 1024 x 1024 pixels (24 •m x24 •m). The image data are collected in a 16-bit format. Image acquisition and reconstruction iscontrolled with two workstations. One provides control to the CCD camera and sample turntableas

Conference Session

Nontechnical Skills for Engineering Technology Students

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Zbigniew Prusak

patentedinventions are not conceived by trained engineers? In Canadian French there is even a specialword for such person, “patenteux” 9. Patenteux stands for: creator, innovative problem solver,inventor and artist 9, 8. Based on 10 years of unpublished surveys of engineering technologystudents at sophomore through senior level engineering technology courses at CentralConnecticut State University (CCSU), the students express strong preference for repetitivelearning based on practical examples. That fact alone clearly indicates a preference for multiplesmall projects rather than one complex and time consuming project. The flow of teachingactivities described in this paper reflects experiences gathered in teaching Design forManufacturing senior level course

Conference Session

Course Development and Services

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

C. Richard Helps; Stephen Renshaw

students will “pick them up”. Thisincludes discussion on how the major works, how the labs work, the working relationships withprofessors, the social environment, etc.Crucial Learning ObjectivesFrom the “standards” presented above specific learning objectives should be developed for thefoundations class in IT. These objectives should be introductory in nature but reflect the entirescope of content for the IT major. Learning objectives are the outcome from the learning and notthe methods of obtaining this outcome. The emphasis should be placed on “student-oriented,learning-based, explicit, and assessable statements of intended cognitive outcomes.”6 Thefollowing list is a good example of a set of learning objectives for the foundations class in IT

Conference Session

International Engineering Education II

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Melany Ciampi; Claudio Brito

Page 9.200.3 Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering EducationThe overall global involvement into Brazilian conferences (nearly 1000 participants) isillustrated on Fig.1 that shows the total number of foreign papers presented at four conferences[7]. The Figure reflects the countries that presented not less than three papers at fourconferences. The percentage of “continental” participation is shown on a pie-diagram at the topof Fig.1. As one can see, Brazil, of course, is the chief contributor (558 papers submitted). It isimportant to underline that Brazilian contributors really present

Conference Session

Creative Ways to Present Basic Materials

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Niebuhr; Heather Smith

utilized streaming video and sound to illustrate key corrosion concepts.Anecdotally the CD was well received by the students, but there is no numerical data to confirmits effectiveness per se. We make the assumption that it added to the overall learning experienceof the students and was reflected by their overall higher scores on the assessment. Thisimprovement was encouraging given that the quantity of corrosion information presented wasnot increased, but rather it was made more palatable for the students.Design QuestionIn the design question the student was faced with suggesting a practical solution for a corrosionsystem. The question was left intentionally vague and required students to make assumptions,which was given in the instructions. The

Conference Session

Innovative Ideas for Energy Labs

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ilya Grinberg

© 2004, American Society of Engineering EducationTeaching MethodologyThe proposed development reflects authors’ vision of laboratory experiments to be conducted ininteractive manner under supervision of a person on site.Certain limitations have to be observed: 1. Due to high voltage application actual physical set up should be monitored constantly 2. A large variety of experiments with different types of motors and/or connection diagrams require frequent change of wiring configurations, which should only be done physically on the site. A student or a group of students should request configuration changes to continue with another experiment 3. As with traditional manual experiment only one person can physically

Conference Session

Issues for ET Administrators

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Jerry Samples

change in the pedagogy ofteaching management has been broadly accepted in the academy. The professor found a new lifein writing about the pedagogy and influencing peers as they struggled to teach managementcourses. As a result of this reengagement, this professor has become the guiding light for newfaculty as they begin their writing careers, by serving as a mentor to those looking for help. Thistransformation of a professor, who had given up on professional development when consultingwas ruled out, reflects the life that the Boyer model has given to the teaching faculty in manycolleges and universities.ConclusionsConsulting is an excellent way to maintain technical currency as long as the consulting istechnically challenging. Consulting that is

Conference Session

Recruiting, Retention & Advising

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Tremayne Waller; Bevlee Watford

for all incoming freshman. A score is assigned to Page 9.218.4each student based on if they took calculus in high school, what grades they earned in high “Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineeringschool math and their math SAT score. Students with low scores reflecting weak mathematicsbackgrounds are required to enroll in College Algebra (Math 1015). However a student maytake a math readiness test (MRT), which if passed will allow them to enroll in first semestercalculus. For College of Engineering

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Alok Verma; Cheng Lin

reflect the changing needs of industry. This can happen only if the faculty are aware of the currenttrends in industry and are actively involved with industry and research projects. ASEE/NASA FacultyFellowship program offers opportunities for professional development for Engineering Technologyfaculty. A parametric study of water jet cutting (WJC) process was done under the ASEE / NASAfaculty fellowship program at NASA Langley Research Center. This research experience has been usedto enhance undergraduate curriculum in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Old Dominion University(ODU).I Introduction Success of engineering technology programs depends upon the effectiveness with which thecurriculum addresses needs of industry, the primary

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Elizabeth A. Stephan; Amy G. Yuhasz; Matthew Ohland

severaladvantages: (1) It is controlled by the General Engineering Program, (2) The three-credit-hourcourse includes one hour of lecture and two two-hour labs each week, (3) The topical materialcovered in the class lends itself to a variety of exercises, (4) It is an introductory class at thefreshman level, and (5) Many sections (about 20) are offered every semester, eight of which arecentral this study, and the others of which are used in the assessment of baseline measures andother objectives of interest.Experimental DesignOriginally, a multiple-intervention assessment protocol was designed to determine thecomparative benefit to learning effectiveness of (1) presentation of concepts with time forreflection, (2) reflection guided by instructor

Conference Session

Instrumentation in the Classroom

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

William J., Jr. Park; Elizabeth A. Stephan; Benjamin L. Sill; Matthew Ohland

, incorporates structured reflection to achieve someof discovery learning’s benefits without making a major commitment of time. The introductionof discovery methods shifts some control over the learning process to the learner. This approachagrees with Goforth4 who, in a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of learner control in tutorialcomputer assisted instruction, found that "it is important that the learner have some controlrather than none.” If we wish our students to learn and to be creative, they must be given thatopportunity—at least some assignments must be open-ended. Students must learn to think aboutthe problem, to ask questions, and to design an experiment to test their hypothesis. This alsodirectly addresses a number of ABET EC 2000 Criterion

Conference Session

Design in Freshman Year

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

H. Joel Lenoir

capital investment.Consumables for the course are covered completely by the program, no course fees are chargedfor any course in the Department of Engineering. This course is normally offered in the fallsemester, with approximately fifty students completing a steam engine. Aluminum stock,fasteners, springs, taps, cutters, and replacement tools are typically $2500 per year, althoughthese costs are amortized over the entire school year since students working on other courses andprojects take supplies for their use. This recurring cost is added to the normal programmaticbudget each fall.Summary of Course AssessmentCourse outcomes were developed for this course that reflect the established course objectives.These outcomes state the skill and

Conference Session

Creative Ways to Present Basic Materials

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

M.L. Meier

informative and effective laboratory reports. Organizing and presenting data, illustrating concepts, solving engineering problems, handling data from experiments, Broader Impact likelihood of using spreadsheets in other engineering courses, and spreadsheets becoming a normal part of all materials science courses.Figure 2 shows the responses to the two questions which address broader impacts and long termgoals of this effort along with the totals from all questions, indicating that an overwhelmingmajority agreed with each of the statements in their surveys, reflecting outstanding success inthis effort

Conference Session

DEED Poster Session

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Vaz

learning outcomes plays an important role in WPI’s undergraduate programs.Although many outcomes are best demonstrated through the three required projects, course-based assessment is also an important component of evaluating the program. Each first- andsecond-year ECE course has a set of explicit learning outcomes (typically between five andseven) that has been agreed upon by the faculty members who regularly teach the course. Theprogress of each student with respect to each outcome is monitored and used to evaluate andimprove the courses and overall curriculum.The list of learning outcomes for the ECE Design course is unusual in both its breadth and depth,and reflects the high expectations that are placed on the student design teams. Students

Conference Session

Course/Program Assessment

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

David Cottrell

. The methodology builds on University, School, andProgram missions and goals which are themselves iterative in nature to reflect assessmentand input from appropriate staff, faculty, and other constituents. The Program Goals andMission have a direct link to Program assessment and evaluation activities. Bydefinition, this phase is characterized by ongoing training and support coupled with aconstant drive to sense and address the recurring needs of the faculty as they workcollectively to implement TC2K. The goal is for the programs to ultimately progress to apoint where iterative cycles of continuous improvement would commence characterizedby an appropriate level of assessment, evaluation, and response actions that are plannedand executed to

Conference Session

International Case Studies, Interactive Learning, Student Design

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Richard Vaz

enterprises are organized and managed.III. Presenting Engineering as a Helping ProfessionThe ECE Design course was developed and, for the first few years, taught by a team of facultymembers with extensive engineering design and management experience with large corporations. Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Page 9.1127.2 Copyright  2004, American Society for Engineering EducationAccordingly, the perspective from which the course was presented reflected product design as itoccurs in a corporate setting. Students learned about corporate organization and

Conference Session

Professional Ethics in the Classroom

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Ronald Meade

statement on sustainable development (ASCE, 1996). The codeand policy statement can be found at the ASCE web site.What they learnedThe class, armed with the ASCE code with its principles, canons, and guidelines, reviewed thework they had performed. A handout provided to the students is shown in the box on thefollowing page. The handout was keyed to the guidelines found in the code. The students wereto reflect on the work that they had performed during the course. Had we complied with theconcepts of the code? The class and I also reviewed the ethics situation from the exam.I selected nine topics on which to focus our classroom discussion. The topics were chosen basedon my experience in the practice and teaching of geotechnical engineering. The

Conference Session

Understanding Students: Cognition

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Lawrence Genalo

for things like breaking laws and getting into trouble. It is evident that Edison wasalways expanding his knowledge base about a given topic through reading books andnewspapers.The illustrations shown in Figure 1 represent Edison’s thought processes and learningexperiences while developing the automatic telegraphy.8 These illustrations provide someevidence that Edison’s approach to problem solving reflect thinking processes and knowledgeacquisition that occur during Piaget’s developmental stage of formal operations. As Edisonbegins to construct his ideas about how this invention will ultimately work, the illustrationsdemonstrate how he assimilated his new ideas with his existing cognitive structures and thenmade adjustments in his

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Judith Miller; Joseph Rencis, University of Arkansas

Science Foundation under Grant No.0231773. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this materialare those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National ScienceFoundation. The authors acknowledge valuable interactions with Gale Nigrosh (WPS) andMartha Cyr (WPI); the assessment work of Paula Quinn; the dedication of the WPS principals(Patricia McCullough and Ruthann Melancon), WPS teachers (Lisa Ansara, Susan Bercume,Michael Dunphy, Cecelia Gray, Michele Sullivan, Jodi Watson), WPI graduate fellows (RichardBara, Colby Hobart, Brian Lehtinen, Sarah Linderme, Bradley Martone, Amanda Tucker,Elizabeth Tyree), and WPI undergraduate students; and the resources and training assistance ofPauline

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education

Collection

2004 Annual Conference

Authors

Aisha Lawrey

socialdiversity of students that better reflects the diversity of the U.S. and takes full advantage of thenation’s talent.” This is especially important since, according to the U.S. Department ofEducation, most of the 25 fastest growing careers over the next ten years will be in high-tech andhealthcare industries. This growth means, the 21st century economy demands an educated anddiverse workforce. Engineering, science, and technology jobs will have increased by 51%between 1998 and 2008. Despite the current soft economy, many high-tech industries have jobsthat are going unfilled. The U.S. needs over 1.3 million new engineers, scientists, and computerexperts by 2006. To fill these positions the US needs to attract more young men and women tothe