Work in Progress: International BME Capstone and Summer Design Experience

Mark A. Ruegsegger

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Conference: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Publication Date: June 15, 2014
Start Date: June 15, 2014
End Date: June 18, 2014
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Biomedical Division Poster Session
Tagged Division: Biomedical
Page Count: 5
Page Numbers: 24.1390.1 - 24.1390.5
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--23323
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/23323
Download Count: 360

Paper Authors

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Mark A. Ruegsegger Ohio State University

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Mark Ruegsegger is currently an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Ohio State University. He has a curricular focus on the Senior Design capstone course, which includes multi-disciplinary teams of BME, Mechanical Engineering, Occupational & Physical Therapy, and other Medical and Engineering disciplines. Each project team builds a device that provides assistance to those with disabilities, or projects with other clinical or industrial aspects. Mark received his Professional Engineering (PE) license in 2009 in the Metals and Materials specialty.

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Abstract

Work in Progress: International BME Capstone and Summer Design CampsEducation that includes international experiences has long been seen as an important way to givestudents a unique perspective and skill set for their future career endeavors. Seldom, however,do these experiences include rigorous engineering education. This can be due to constraints of atypical engineering curriculum, the lack of equivalent courses offered internationally, or thelanguage barrier. In this study we report the ongoing efforts to implement an internationalcapstone course, and complimentary summer design camps in both partnering institutions.Initial discussions started when a BME faculty member at Nanjing University, China (NJU) anda BME faculty member (author) from the home university (HU) shared ideas on capstoneprojects. Discussions turned into potential shared activities between the Departments, includinga dual capstone. Initially, we considered having both NJU and HU student teams make the samedevice, and share ideas, reports, and strategies throughout the year. Although simple in someways, it also included a lot of challenges. Further discussion improved and expanded thecapstone experience to its current plan of an internationally co-mentored design project, andcomplimentary summer design camps at both institutions.The first co-mentored capstone project would take place at NJU as a one-semester design course.The team of NJU students would initially be mentored by the local NJU faculty member,learning the design process, and defining the problem to be solved. For the second half of thesemester, the HU faculty would visit the campus and serve as a co-mentor for the remainder ofthe semester, focusing on the building and testing of the device.The summer camps are designed to be 2-3 week design experiences for a small group of studentstraveling to the other institution. Being fully in English at both institutions, language will not bea barrier. The design camps may include hands-on exposure to design and machiningtechniques; seminars on BME topics; cultural activities; lab, hospital and industry tours; andother learning experiences. We intend to have the camps alternate locations annually.The goal of this collaboration is to build a strong partnership where students can obtain uniqueskills, appreciate language and culture, and be prepared for a career in a more globalized marketand economy. We will examine these aspects with summative and formative assessment,including surveying students that participate in the design course, and the summer design campswith and without an international cohort. We will look for differences in their experiences, teamdynamics and learning outcomes in the engineering design activities to quantify the effects of theinternational design experience.

Citation
Format

Ruegsegger, M. A. (2014, June), Work in Progress: International BME Capstone and Summer Design Experience Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--23323

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                 Work in Progress: International BME Capstone and                             Summer Design CampsEducation that includes international experiences has long been seen as an important way to givestudents a unique perspective and skill set for their future career endeavors. Seldom, however,do these experiences include rigorous engineering education. This can be due to constraints of atypical engineering curriculum, the lack of equivalent courses offered internationally, or thelanguage barrier. In this study we report the ongoing efforts to implement an internationalcapstone course, and complimentary summer design camps in both partnering institutions.Initial discussions started when a BME faculty member at Nanjing University, China (NJU) anda BME faculty member (author) from the home university (HU) shared ideas on capstoneprojects. Discussions turned into potential shared activities between the Departments, includinga dual capstone. Initially, we considered having both NJU and HU student teams make the samedevice, and share ideas, reports, and strategies throughout the year. Although simple in someways, it also included a lot of challenges. Further discussion improved and expanded thecapstone experience to its current plan of an internationally co-mentored design project, andcomplimentary summer design camps at both institutions.The first co-mentored capstone project would take place at NJU as a one-semester design course.The team of NJU students would initially be mentored by the local NJU faculty member,learning the design process, and defining the problem to be solved. For the second half of thesemester, the HU faculty would visit the campus and serve as a co-mentor for the remainder ofthe semester, focusing on the building and testing of the device.The summer camps are designed to be 2-3 week design experiences for a small group of studentstraveling to the other institution. Being fully in English at both institutions, language will not bea barrier. The design camps may include hands-on exposure to design and machiningtechniques; seminars on BME topics; cultural activities; lab, hospital and industry tours; andother learning experiences. We intend to have the camps alternate locations annually.The goal of this collaboration is to build a strong partnership where students can obtain uniqueskills, appreciate language and culture, and be prepared for a career in a more globalized marketand economy. We will examine these aspects with summative and formative assessment,including surveying students that participate in the design course, and the summer design campswith and without an international cohort. We will look for differences in their experiences, teamdynamics and learning outcomes in the engineering design activities to quantify the effects of theinternational design experience.
AU  - Mark A. Ruegsegger
CY  - Indianapolis, Indiana
DA  - 2014/06/15
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: International BME Capstone and Summer Design Experience
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/23323
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--23323
ER  -