The Teaching Value of Defining Iterative Design Projects in Serving Capstone Engineering Undergraduate Education

Author(s):  
Alexander V. Mirzamoghadam ◽  
Jacob C. Harding

In the past several years, the traditional fourth year “hands-on” requirement for engineering programs in the U.S. is being satisfied by what is now called the capstone senior design project (herein referred to as CSDP). The engineering CSDP program director sends a call to the local industries within the state for solicitation of project proposals that will be worked on by the interdisciplinary engineering student team. Each industrial participant will have to contribute a preset budget defined by the program to the engineering school for each submitted proposal that has been selected by the student team. Honeywell has been an avid participant in the University of Arizona CSDP program for the past several years. Rather than define a simple CSDP that can be fully completed in the first attempt, the author has sought the value of teaching iterative design to the student team by defining a multiyear CSDP scope, in that after the first year, each successive team learns from the past design and implements its own improvement to the design it inherits. This paper gives an overview of Honeywell's CSDP titled “Measuring Heat Transfer in Annular Flow Between Co-Rotating or Counter-Rotating Cylinders.” Now in its fourth iteration, each wave of student team has been able to understand the complexity of the design, the challenge of testing for structural integrity, the controllability of implementing a balanced system of heat gain and loss to reach steady state operation, the evolution of starting with slip ring temperature measurements and ending at wireless telemetry, DOE testing to rank influencing variables, and heat transfer correlation of the data relating Nusselt versus Reynolds number. Beginning with the first year CSDP team, this paper covers the design approach selected by that team, its results, and the lessons learned as a result of failure in meeting the full requirements, which is then taken on by the next group of students the following year.

Author(s):  
Alexander V. Mirzamoghadam ◽  
Jacob C. Harding

In the past several years, the traditional fourth year “hands-on” requirement for engineering programs in the US is being satisfied by what is now called Capstone Senior Design Project (herein referred to as CSDP). The engineering CSDP program director sends a call to the local industries within the State for solicitation of project proposals that will be worked on by the interdisciplinary engineering student team. Each industrial participant will have to contribute a preset budget defined by the program to the engineering school for each submitted proposal that has been selected by the student team. Honeywell has been an avid participant in the University of Arizona CSDP program for the past several years. Rather than define a simple CSDP that can be fully completed in the first attempt, the author has sought the value of teaching iterative design to the student team by defining a multi-year CSDP scope, in that after the first year, each successive team learns from the past design and implements its own improvement to the design it inherits. This paper gives an overview of Honeywell’s CSDP titled “Measuring Heat Transfer in Annular Flow Between Co-Rotating or Counter-Rotating Cylinders”. Now in its fourth iteration, each wave of student team has been able to understand the complexity of the design, the challenge of testing for structural integrity, the controllability of implementing a balanced system of heat gain and loss to reach steady state operation, the evolution of starting with slip ring temperature measurements and ending at wireless telemetry, DOE testing to rank influencing variables, and heat transfer correlation of the data relating Nusselt versus Reynolds number. Beginning with the first year CSDP team, this paper covers the design approach selected by that team, its results, and the lessons learned as a result of failure in meeting the full requirements, which is then taken on by the next group of students the following year.


Author(s):  
Richard Bannerot ◽  
Chad Wilson ◽  
Ross Kastor

ABET 2000 imposes the requirement that engineering programs demonstrate that graduates “have the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context”. (Criterion 3h) The implication is that providing the “exposure” to the impact of engineering should be sufficient. However, demonstrating learning takes the process another step. Over the past few years, we have added material to several existing, traditional mechanical engineering courses and added one entirely new course in response to the requirements of ABET 2000 in general and Criterion 3h in particular. We have also introduced additional surveys, assignments and testing into these courses to assess specific aspects of student learning. This paper describes the changes in the sophomore design class, the second course in thermodynamics, the heat transfer course, and the capstone course as well as the new College course in technical communications related to the impact of engineering solutions. The assessment processes are also described.


Author(s):  
Carolyn MacGregor ◽  
Taneem Talukdar ◽  
Jasvir Bains ◽  
Jason Jo

A challenge in teaching engineering design lies in guiding the collaboration of students in a design team environment. We have identified a need for a virtual design space application that enhances the user experience so as to encourage teamwork and project management skills. The Student Team Electronic Resource (STeamER) project arose out of lessons learned over the past nine years teaching project-based design courses to engineering students. The overall objective of STeamER is to support students and instructors involved in team-based projects. We describe the rationale as well as identified requirements for the STteamER application.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Author(s):  
James L. DeBoy ◽  
Sally B. Monsilovich

In response to the obesity problem that has dramatically increased over the past 30 years, Lincoln University’s HPER faculty petitioned the University faculty to accept a somewhat radical approach: test all entering first year students using Body Mass Indices (BMI) data for placing students in a Fitness for Life class. This class would constitute the intervention for students with BMI scores of 30 or higher (obese rating). This paper describes the chronology of events that unfolded once the placement policy became known beyond the campus green. Arguments both for and against the controversial course are presented. While the placement policy has been modified, the aim of the intervention has not wavered: identify those students who are most at risk for hypokinetic disease and provide them with the appropriate resources to effectively address those amenable lifestyle factors that will rob them of quality and quantity of life. 


Author(s):  
Robert L Nagel ◽  
Kyle G Gipson ◽  
Jacquelyn K Nagel ◽  
Thomas Moran

Cornerstone design at James Madison University is a two-semester, client-based service learning project. Each year, sophomore engineering students work to design human-powered vehicles for a community member with needs very different from their own as a result of cerebral palsy. This paper provides a reflection of the fifth iteration (2013-2014) of this year-long sophomore design experience with the overarching goal to provide a transferable model such that other engineering programs may learn from our lessons and develop their own service learning experience. The reflection contained in this paper was catalyzed through participation in the National Science Foundation-funded Integrating Design and Community Engagement within the Curriculum Workshop hosted at Purdue University from June 19-20, 2014. In addition to reflection on the course, the paper provides insight into course coordination and assessment, and lessons learned over the past five years.


1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-62
Author(s):  
A. L. A. Costa ◽  
M. Natalini ◽  
M. F. Inglese ◽  
O. A. M. Xavier

Abstract Because the structural integrity of brake systems and tires can be related to the temperature, this work proposes a transient heat transfer finite element analysis (FEA) model to study the overheating in drum brake systems used in trucks and urban buses. To understand the mechanics of overheating, some constructive variants have been modeled regarding the assemblage: brake, rims, and tires. The model simultaneously studies the thermal energy generated by brakes and tires and how the heat is transferred and dissipated by conduction, convection, and radiation. The simulated FEA data and the experimental temperature profiles measured with thermocouples have been compared giving good correlation.


Author(s):  
Sean Maw ◽  
Janice Miller Young ◽  
Alexis Morris

Most Canadian engineering students take a computing course in their first year that introduces them to digital computation. The Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board does not specify the language(s) that can or should be used for instruction. As a result, a variety of languages are used across Canada. This study examines which languages are used in degree-granting institutions, currently and in the recent past. It also examines why institutions have chosen the languages that they currently use. In addition to the language used in instruction, the types and hours of instruction are also analyzed. Methods of instruction and evaluation are compared, as well as the pedagogical philosophies of the different programs with respect to introductory computing. Finally, a comparison of the expected value of this course to graduates is also presented. We found a more diverse landscape for introductory computing courses than anticipated, in most respects. The guiding ethos at most institutions is skill and knowledge development, especially around problem solving in an engineering context. The methods to achieve this are quite varied, and so are the languages employed in such courses. Most programs currently use C/C++, Matlab, VB and/or Python.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. McConnell ◽  
◽  
Karl W. Wegmann ◽  
Chester Brewer ◽  
Jennifer Wiggen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
pp. 234763112110072
Author(s):  
Srinivasan Lakshminarayanan ◽  
N. J. Rao ◽  
G. K. Meghana

The introductory programming course, commonly known as CS1 and offered as a core course in the first year in all engineering programs in India, is unique because it can address higher cognitive levels, metacognition and some aspects of the affective domain. It can provide much needed transformative experiences to students coming from a system of school education that is dominantly performance-driven. Unfortunately, the CS1 course, as practiced in almost all engineering programs, is also performance-driven because of a variety of compulsions. This paper suggests that the inclusion of a course CS0 can bring about transformative learning that can potentially make a significant difference in the quality of learning in all subsequent engineering courses. The suggested instruction design of this course takes the advantage of the unique features of a course in programming. The proposed CS0 course uses “extreme apprenticeship” and “guided discovery” methods of instruction. The effectiveness of these instruction methods was established through the use of the thematic analysis, a well-known qualitative research method, and the associated coding of transformative learning experiences and instruction components.


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