An Innovative Mechanical And Energy Engineering Curriculum
- Conference
- Location
-
Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
-
June 24, 2007
- Start Date
-
June 24, 2007
- End Date
-
June 27, 2007
- ISSN
-
2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Mechanical Engineering
- Page Count
-
9
- Page Numbers
-
12.214.1 - 12.214.9
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--2501
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/2501
- Download Count
-
717
Paper Authors
Efstathios Michaelides University of North Texas
Professor Stathis Michaelides is currently the coordinator of the Mechanical and Energy Engineering Program at the University of North Texas. He was previously (1998-2006) the Leo S.Weil Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tulane University; Director of the South-Central Center of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change (2002-2006); Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research in the School of Engineering at Tulane University (1992-2003); Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Tulane (1990-1992); faculty member (1980-1990) and acting chair (1985-1987) of the Mechanical Engineering of the University of Delaware.
Reza Mirshams University of North Texas
Professor Reza Mirshams is Associate Dean of Engineering for Academic Affairs at the University of North Texas. Dr. Mirshams has degrees in Industrial Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering in the area of mechanical behavior of metals and alloys from the University of Birmingham, England and the University of Tehran. He is a Full Professor in the area of Materials Science and Engineering in the Engineering Technology with joint appointment in the Materials Science and Engineering Departments. He has been a Principal Investigator and Project Director for several engineering education grants for undergraduate research experience, a bridge and mentoring program, departmental curriculum reforms, and innovative interdisciplinary project oriented engineering education programs.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
An Innovative Mechanical and Energy Engineering Curriculum Abstract:
The continuing expansion of the new College of Engineering at the University of North Texas (UNT) has created an opportunity to establish a new Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering and an excellent occasion for the establishment of innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to engineering education. The explicit addition of Energy to the Mechanical Engineering curriculum is a new model of engineering education that parallels the innovations of our current Learning to Learn (L2L) project oriented concept course with the addition of innovative approaches for mechanical engineering and emphasis on energy engineering education. The new Mechanical and Energy Engineering (MEE) baccalaureate-level program will provide the intellectual foundation for successful career preparation and lifelong learning for the students. This innovative curriculum has been designed with a system-level approach to ME- based design, on the fundamentals of undergraduate level energy engineering within the mechanical engineering discipline, and will provide experiential-oriented approaches for the better understanding of classical mechanical engineering principles. It will also provide a new interdisciplinary ME curriculum approach to the most important energy technology areas. We are going to present the curriculum and discuss components of the program from freshman to senior years. We expect that the graduates of this innovative undergraduate curriculum in Mechanical and Energy Engineering will have a unique educational experience with systems integration approach for addressing industrial challenges; working in interdisciplinary teams; and with cognitive learning experiences for responsible lifelong learning, in order to sustain creativity and productivity in their careers.
Introduction:
The origins of human civilization are indelibly connected to the harnessing of energy in the form of fire: The caveman improved his and his clan’s life by bringing fire (energy) into their caves/dwellings and using it for heating and cooking. Centuries later, the industrial revolution, which altered drastically the history and destiny of mankind, has its foundations in the harnessing of thermal energy by engines that produce mechanical work. Today, the wealth of modern nations and the welfare of their citizens depend greatly on the availability of affordable energy. Figures 1 and 2 that have been produced from data of the International energy Agency [1] show that the use of energy, either as total primary energy consumption or as electric power is directly correlated to both the affluence of a country and the longevity (which is equivalent to “better life”) of its citizens.
As we progress in the twenty-first Century as a Nation, the availability of affordable energy is becoming a major challenge that imposes constraints in our economic growth. It is apparent, that we need to harness more efficiently our existing energy sources, to develop new energy sources and to better manage our ways of production, distribution and consumption of energy. At the same time we need to be conscious of the effects of energy production and consumption on the environment. We must ensure that our activities of today do not harm the Earth the next generations will inherit. The events of the last five years and the direction the world economies are taking show that there is a national need for more, better trained and environmentally
Michaelides, E., & Mirshams, R. (2007, June), An Innovative Mechanical And Energy Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2501
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2007 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015