Salt Lake City, Utah
June 23, 2018
June 23, 2018
July 27, 2018
Engineering Technology
12
10.18260/1-2--31169
https://peer.asee.org/31169
431
Dr. Mihaela Radu received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in 2000 and the M. Eng. degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, Farmingdale State College, teaching in the areas of Digital and Electrical Circuits, Design of Fault Tolerant Systems and Testing of Digital Systems. Her current research interest includes Reliability and Fault Tolerance of Electronic Systems, Programmable Logic Devices and new educational methods emphasizing active learning and project-based-learning. She is member of IEEE and Chair of Women in Engineering Affinity Group for IEEE Long Island, New York.
Undergraduate Research Based Learning for Engineering Technology Students
Abstract The importance of involving undergraduate students in research-based learning is presented in a large number of publications and supported by organizations such as the Council on Undergraduate Research. Faculty members enhance their teaching and contribution to society by remaining active in research and by involving undergraduates in research, and students succeed in their studies and professional advancement through participation in undergraduate research. The Boyer Commission suggested that research-based learning should become the standard for undergraduate education.
This paper presents undergraduate research experiences for Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology students at Farmingdale State College, mentored by the author of this paper. Research projects in the areas of smart house systems and dependable digital systems developed over the past three years are presented. Engaging strategies, challenges, lessons learned, assessment and results of undergraduate research based learning are presented in the paper.
Students engaged in the area of smart house design worked on research projects focusing on: (i) efficient use of resources; (ii) authentication and security; (iii) safety; (iv) human interaction, developing intelligent and user friendly interfaces between the user and the house system; (v) increased comfort and support for vulnerable people.
Students engaged in in the area of dependable digital systems designed, simulated and implemented fault tolerant controllers. The proposed research focused on the design and implementation of dependable digital systems, using Field Programmable Gate Arrays technology and Hardware Description Languages. In their research students applied knowledge from the digital design sequence of courses and they developed an understanding of dependable systems based on fault tolerance, such as hardware redundancy, fault tolerant state encoding, fault injector.
Radu, M. (2018, June), Undergraduate Research-based Learning for Engineering Technology Students Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--31169
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