Hybrid senior project courses in engineering education during the pandemic challenge

Steven Kent Dobbs; Zhen Yu; Joel Lee; Justin Ilagan; Barys Khmel; Melody Loi; Nicholas Papp; Eduardo Garcia Rogel; Connor McGarry; Chandler Duncan; Phillip Frem; Kevin Maldonado; Corey McGinnis; Hang Yong; Salma Bustos; Qiang Gong; Mumen Abbas; Sophoandara Ry; Kaiqi Luo; Peter Ayad; Martin O'Connell

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption"
Location: Virtual
Publication Date: April 23, 2021
Start Date: April 23, 2021
End Date: April 25, 2021
Page Count: 16
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--38233
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/38233
Download Count: 385

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Steven Kent Dobbs California State Polytechnic University, Pomona orcid.org/0000-0002-8826-5905

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Zhen Yu California State Polytechnic University, Pomona orcid.org/0000-0002-3556-3204

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Dr. Jenny Zhen Yu is an Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She has expertise in the areas of Nanotechnology with application in nanomaterial synthesis, electronics devices fabrication and characterization, low cost and robust manufacturing processes, 3D printing of energy storage device for UAVs and water contamination treatment. Her research has resulted in several patent applications, peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters, and has been sponsored by California State University (CSU) Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) and other industry and government grants. She is also active in her professional societies. As a Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), she has served as Guest Editor and Journal/ Conference paper reviewer, Chair of the Electron Devices, Circuit and System (EDCAS) Chapter and Chair of Women in Engineering (WiE) in IEEE Foothill Section.

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2021 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest (ASEE PSW) Conference

Paper title: Hybrid senior project courses in engineering education during the pandemic challenge

Abstract

EGR 4810, 4820, and 4830, are a series of required Project Design Principles and Applications- “Cap-stone” Senior Project courses. Students taking these courses are highly depended on on-campus labs and off-campus test sites. However, the COVID-19 restrictions challenge the academic environment and restrict the students’ ability to access the manufacturing facilities and to work together. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and outcomes of the senior project courses during the pandemic. This Senior Project is comprised of interdisciplinary majors with multiple faculty advisors from Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Mechanical Engineering. The project includes investigation of novel technologies for increasing the endurance of UAVs, mainly by increasing power-to-weight ratio through parasitic weight reduction of structural and power systems and generating/harvesting energy mid-flight. These courses are a mixture of virtual ZOOM weekly entire team meetings, sub-team with industry partner meetings, students’ garage manufacturing, and a second semester in-person meetings. The courses aim to motivate students to apply engineering knowledge for new product development of engineering systems. Students can access the tutoring, supplemental instruction, and to store their assignments and other documents through the project team OneDrive and emails of co-advisors. The weekly virtual Zoom meetings give supplemental instruction and coordinate and assign which students will participate in laboratory activities, and training for COVID-19 social distancing and hygiene requirements before each weeks Lab sign-in used by the students. The courses proved to be exciting learning experiences for the college students. They are highly engaged and motivated to work on the projects. We observed that the senior project teams become more responsible and proactive regarding their work. They applied critical thinking skills and creativeness in developing a quadcopter / airplane hybrid payload delivery/surveillance UAV, making presentations, and implementation of the garage manufacturing. Overall, the experiences have motivated the students doing a great job to learn and approach engineering even with the pandemic challenge.

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Dobbs, S. K., & Yu, Z., & Lee, J., & Ilagan, J., & Khmel, B., & Loi, M., & Papp, N., & Rogel, E. G., & McGarry, C., & Duncan, C., & Frem, P., & Maldonado, K., & McGinnis, C., & Yong, H., & Bustos, S., & Gong, Q., & Abbas, M., & Ry, S., & Luo, K., & Ayad, P., & O'Connell, M. (2021, April), Hybrid senior project courses in engineering education during the pandemic challenge Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Pacific Southwest Conference - "Pushing Past Pandemic Pedagogy: Learning from Disruption", Virtual. 10.18260/1-2--38233

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 2021 American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest (ASEE PSW) Conference


Paper title: Hybrid senior project courses in engineering education during the pandemic challenge

Abstract

EGR 4810, 4820, and 4830, are a series of required Project Design Principles and Applications- “Cap-stone” Senior Project courses. Students taking these courses are highly depended on on-campus labs and off-campus test sites. However, the COVID-19 restrictions challenge the academic environment and restrict the students’ ability to access the manufacturing facilities and to work together. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and outcomes of the senior project courses during the pandemic. This Senior Project is comprised of interdisciplinary majors with multiple faculty advisors from Aerospace Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry &amp;amp; Biochemistry, and Mechanical Engineering. The project includes investigation of novel technologies for increasing the endurance of UAVs, mainly by increasing power-to-weight ratio through parasitic weight reduction of structural and power systems and generating/harvesting energy mid-flight. These courses are a mixture of virtual ZOOM weekly entire team meetings, sub-team with industry partner meetings, students’ garage manufacturing, and a second semester in-person meetings. The courses aim to motivate students to apply engineering knowledge for new product development of engineering systems. Students can access the tutoring, supplemental instruction, and to store their assignments and other documents through the project team OneDrive and emails of co-advisors. The weekly virtual Zoom meetings give supplemental instruction and coordinate and assign which students will participate in laboratory activities, and training for COVID-19 social distancing and hygiene requirements before each weeks Lab sign-in used by the students. The courses proved to be exciting learning experiences for the college students. They are highly engaged and motivated to work on the projects. We observed that the senior project teams become more responsible and proactive regarding their work. They applied critical thinking skills and creativeness in developing a quadcopter / airplane hybrid payload delivery/surveillance UAV, making presentations, and implementation of the garage manufacturing. Overall, the experiences have motivated the students doing a great job to learn and approach engineering even with the pandemic challenge. 


AU  - Steven Kent Dobbs
AU  - Zhen Yu
AU  - Joel Lee
AU  - Justin Ilagan
AU  - Barys Khmel
AU  - Melody Loi
AU  - Nicholas Papp
AU  - Eduardo Garcia Rogel
AU  - Connor McGarry
AU  - Chandler Duncan
AU  - Phillip Frem
AU  - Kevin Maldonado
AU  - Corey McGinnis
AU  - Hang Yong
AU  - Salma Bustos
AU  - Qiang Gong
AU  - Mumen Abbas
AU  - Sophoandara Ry
AU  - Kaiqi Luo
AU  - Peter Ayad
AU  - Martin O'Connell
CY  - Virtual
DA  - 2021/04/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Hybrid senior project courses in engineering education during the pandemic challenge
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/38233
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--38233
ER  -