A High-Flux Solar Furnace for Undergraduate Engineering Education and High-Temperature Thermochemistry Research

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Scott Duncan ◽  
Shahin Nudehi ◽  
Robert Palumbo ◽  
Luke J. Venstrom
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Optical Design ◽  
Solar Furnace ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Chemistry Research ◽  
Energy Science ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Engineering Pedagogy

The optical design and engineering features of a 10 kW solar furnace now operational at Valparaiso University are described. The solar furnace is anticipated to achieve a mean concentration ratio of 3000 suns over a 6 cm diameter focus. It will support high-temperature solar chemistry research and undergraduate engineering pedagogy. Many of the components of the solar furnace were designed and constructed by undergraduate engineering students. Some of these students cite their participation in the solar furnace project as the motivating factor for continuing to work in the area of energy science in industry or graduate school.

A New High-Flux Solar Furnace for High-Temperature Thermochemical Research

1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Haueter ◽  
T. Seitz ◽  
A. Steinfeld
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Peak Concentration ◽  
Optical Design ◽  
Operating Performance ◽  
Solar Fuels ◽  
Solar Furnace ◽  
High Flux ◽  
Thermochemical Processing ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
Concentration Ratios

A new high-flux solar furnace, capable of delivering up to 40kW at peak concentration ratios exceeding 5000, is operational at PSI. Its optical design characteristics, main engineering features, and operating performance are described. This solar concentrating facility will be used principally for investigating the thermochemical processing of solar fuels at temperatures as high as 2500 K.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Aspirations of Engineering Students: Differences between Disciplines and Institutions

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela R. Bielefeldt ◽  
Nathan E. Canney
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental Materials ◽  
Institutional Differences ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Attraction And Retention

This study explored the aspirations of undergraduate engineering students in regard to helping others, examining potential differences between disciplines and institutions. Over 1900 undergraduate students from 17 U.S. universities responded to a survey in spring 2014. In open-ended responses, 15.5% of the students included some form of helping people and/or the world as one of the factors that motivated them to select their engineering major; for 6.7% of the students this was the primary or only motivating factor listed. Helping as a motivation was not equally prevalent among different engineering disciplines, being much more common among students majoring in biomedical, environmental, materials, and civil and less common in computer and aerospace. Different disciplines also varied in the priority for helping people relative to other future job factors - highest in chemical/biological, moderate in civil and related majors, and lowest among electrical/computer and mechanical. Institutional differences were found in the extent to which students indicated an importance that their career would help people and the extent to which an ability to help others was a central message in their major. The results indicate the percentages of engineering students who are most likely to embrace humanitarian engineering; fostering these aspirations in students could help with attraction and retention.

Experiences of Belonging in Engineering Undergraduate Education at Queen’s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Buitenhuis
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Profession ◽  
Socialization Process ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education

The purpose of this study is to explore the role that the engineering undergraduate degree plays in the socialization process of professional engineers.  I will look at how exclusion is normalized through undergraduate education.  To do this, I will analyze the history and content of the Iron Ring Ceremony. This ceremony has symbolic significance to engineering students as it marks the completion of the undergraduate degree. It is also a ceremony unique to Canada, which will provide insights into the engineering profession in the Canadian context. I will also conduct interviews with 12 graduates of the Queen's undergraduate engineering program to gain insights into how engineering undergraduate education plays a role in shaping engineering identities. I will use my findings regarding the Iron Ring Ceremony to understand feelings of belonging and patterns of exclusion and inclusion throughout undergraduate engineering education.

scholarly journals Improving professional skills in a multidisciplinary team of undergraduate engineering students through project-based learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 2102 (1) ◽  
pp. 012001
Author(s):  
K R Ccama-Mamani ◽  
D Chipoco Haro ◽  
M R Gutierrez ◽  
L Palomino-Marcelo ◽  
J C F Rodriguez-Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Air Filtration ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
Interdisciplinary Projects

Abstract Even though undergraduate engineering education often considers laboratory experiments as its practical component, these activities may not contribute to the development of soft (professional) skills. At “Universidad de Ingenieria y Tecnologia”, Perú, a series of courses called interdisciplinary projects has been created to promote the development of professional skills through project-based learning; herein, we report the experience of an interdisciplinary group of students focused on designing an indoor air filtration system to improve air quality and to reduce the spread of coronavirus diseases. Eight undergraduate engineering students were organized into three groups and worked collaboratively to learn about antiviral nanocomposites, user-centered design, and electromechanical systems design; they showed their progress and received feedback from each other through weekly meetings. In addition, they leaned on applications to organize the group work and share the bibliography consulted; finally, we collected feedback from these students on the proposed learning method. The positive impact of our problem-based learning approach on undergraduate engineering students is discussed.

scholarly journals ENGINEERING INSTRUCTORS AND THEIR TEACHING GOALS, TEACHING PRACTICES AND CONCEPTIONS OF STUDENT LEARNING IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Romkey
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Teaching Goals ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education

This paper shares the results of a multiinstitutional study examining the teaching goals andpractices of engineering instructors. Through both a survey and a set of interviews, engineering instructors at four institutions in Ontario were invited to share their key teaching and learning goals, teaching philosophy, and the use of teaching and learning activities in the teaching of undergraduate engineering students. Engineering instructors shared a surprising diversity of teaching goals and practices, and through a discussion of powerful teaching activities, a set of conceptualizations around student learning emerged, ordered in decreasingprominence: Students learn through: (1) making realworld connections; (2) application of concepts; (3) interaction with the instructor; (4) interaction between students; (5) independence and ownership and (6) listening to what the professor says and does. These views are all reflected in the diversity of learning theories available in the literature, and in particular situated learning theory, but an understanding of these specific conceptualizations, articulated by engineering instructors, can be used to better support engineering instructors in their teaching, and in the development of new curricular initiatives in undergraduate engineering education. This work expands on the existing literature on teaching in higher education and teaching practices in engineering.

scholarly journals CREATIVE TRANSFER IN THE ENGINEERING CLASSROOM

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Tallman ◽  
Christina Mei
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Metacognitive Development ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
Advanced Knowledge

This research on creativity in undergraduate engineering education asks whether undergraduate engineering students in a Fall 2016 course will develop enriched creative skills in other learning and professional environments as a result of having taken the course. The motivation for this study comes from the need for a clearer understanding of how and where to teach creativity in the undergraduate curriculum and a clearer understanding of how students transfer skills and knowledge from one setting to another. As well as studying students’ creative growth, the research will analyze students’ metacognitive development. What do students learn about how they learn by taking thiscourse? Is this knowledge valuable? Are students able to better articulate their creative processes once they have finished the course? Have they found ways to make use of this advanced knowledge? The results from this research are preliminary and inconclusive, but appear promising. Research data at present consists primarily of audiorecorded interviews with consenting students, and more data is likely required to provide better certainty about whether students have been able to transfer their creative activity from this course to other situations.

scholarly journals Engineering Design Concept Generation: The Effect of Concept Combination and Classification

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Deo ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Yogesh Bhalerao ◽  
Abhijeet Malge
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Design Concept ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Concept Combination ◽  
Primary Focus

Abstract World economic forum reported that creativity is one of the most sought after skills by employers globally. Preliminary research lead to multiple initiatives on enhancing creativity and innovation. To contribute in this field, we investigated the effect of two interventions on the creativity of undergraduate engineering students, particularly on engineering design concept generation. The primary focus of this investigation was on assessing the effect of two interventions, combining and classifying concepts, on the originality and quantity of the concepts produced. In this research, we used the Decision Tree for Originality Assessment in Design (DTOAD) as a measure of concept originality. Statistical analysis showed that both the combine and the classify interventions lead to concept generation with higher originality. We also found that students produced higher number of the radically different concept, i.e. concepts with originality score 7.5 and above, however this effect was observed in all the test groups. These interventions made improvements and thus can be encouraged as a part of an ideation or an engineering problem solving task in the undergraduate engineering education to help the students develop creative skills.

scholarly journals TEACHING TEAMWORK, ETHICS AND EQUITY, AND IMPACT ON SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT TO UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellie L. Grushcow ◽  
Patricia K. Sheridan
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Leadership Education ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Graduate Attributes ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores the way in which three graduate attributes have been instructed on, together, in the undergraduate engineering curriculum. In particular, this paper explores how teamwork, ethics & equity, and the impact of engineering on society and the environment are taught together. These three attributes are used as a framing for engineering leadership education to explore how it has been embedded in the curriculum from a graduate attributes perspective. Following systematic literature review principles, this work explores the prevalence and motivations forincorporating these attributes in undergraduate engineering education in Washington Accord signatory countries. Findings indicate that these attributes are not frequently documented as being taught together, and are motivated equally as a design topic as a leadership/entrepreneurship topic.

HOW STUDENTS DEFINE THEIR SUCCESS: A RESEARCH STUDY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Ullrich ◽  
David S. Strong
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Survey Instrument ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
Full Study ◽  
Definition Of Success ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Diverse Groups

How undergraduate engineering students define their success and plan for their future differs notably amongst students. With a push for greater diversity and inclusion in engineering schools, it is valuable to also better understand the differences in these areas among different students to allow institutions to better serve the needs of these diverse groups.  The purpose of this research study is to explore students’ definition of success both in the present and projecting forward 5 to 10 years, as well as to understand to what level students reflect on, and plan for, the future. The proposed survey instrument for the pilot stage of this research includes 56 closed-ended questions and 3 open-ended questions. Evidence for the validity of the research instrument is established through a mixed-method pilot study. This paper will discuss the survey instrument, the pilot study, and outline plans for the full study.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document