Twists and Turns of a Senior Design Project

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Salim Azzouz ◽  
Jan Brink
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Senior Project ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design And Construction

Teaching senior design courses and labs has not been an easy task for the two authors. It has been rather a daunting working task associated with great learning experiences. It was decided early on from the initiation of the mechanical engineering program at the McCoy School of Engineering at Midwestern State University that the senior design project within the senior design class is a testing and enriching experience for senior mechanical engineering students as well as the teaching faculty. The senior design course and labs are conducted as a research experience for undergraduate students and their assigned faculty. The proposed senior project spans over two semesters, fall and spring, where the students experience a full mechanical engineering related project from the inception phase, through the design and construction phases, and finishing with the testing and analysis phases. The inception phase stands essentially for the brainstorming phase where the students are required to come-up with a set of diverse solutions to their assigned project problem. The design and construction phases stand for choosing an optimal particular solution for their problem according to a set of defined criteria. Then, the students start the preliminary design phase with related cost estimation, and then finalize the design with a set of final drawings. After the design phase, the students start building a machine, an apparatus, a prototype or putting together the elements of a process. In this period they work intensely, with their faculty, the purchasing department, and mostly the department machinist, or the surrounding town machine shops. The testing and analysis phase stands for designing an experimental set-up, writing a testing procedure, and obtaining real time recorded data and proceeding with its analysis. In this technical paper, the authors talk about the requirements for a senior project known as the deliverables, the teaching tools used throughout the class work and labs, the students’ partial and final PowerPoints presentations and weekly and final reports. The authors describe the students overall achievements, and the archiving of the projects. Additionally, the authors talk about the twists and turns encountered during a senior project, with students, other faculty, the machinist, the lab technician, the secretary, and suppliers, and other difficulties experienced in running a full project with real final products. Finally, the authors talk about the aftermath of a senior project, eventual publications related to the project, and what is the view point of the American Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) on these senior projects.

scholarly journals Managing the Senior Capstone Design Project for Undergraduate Students at King Abdulaziz University

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Hani H Sait ◽  
Nadim Turkman ◽  
Raja Ishaq
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
King Abdulaziz University ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Efficient Program ◽  
Capstone Design

It is compulsory for final-year undergraduate engineering students to take a senior design class, commonly known as the senior capstone design project. This project is set up to help students deeply understand and apply what they have learned since beginning their quest for a bachelor’s degree in science. Capstone preparation involves many elements including the contribution of faculty members and academic programs that give students the technical and management skills needed to establish a career in engineering. Moreover, the capstone usually requires funding, which often comes from the industry sector. The engineering faculty at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) encourages students to complete this course showing high-quality levels of achievement. The university’s mechanical engineering department led the effort in organizing the senior design project course, which meets the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) requirements. This paper presents an overview of a program that promises an outstanding engineering capstone experience for two KAU engineering colleges in Rabigh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This paper delineates the process, leadership skills, ABET involvement and evaluation. The capstone project presented here has provided overall satisfaction from both faculty members and students. Moreover, course management improvements led to a more cost-efficient program.

Collaboration of Technical Editing Students With Mechanical Engineering Seniors in a Capstone Design Course

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clinton Lanier ◽  
William S. Janna ◽  
John I. Hochstein
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Thermal Systems ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Engineering Consulting ◽  
Technical Editing ◽  
Capstone Design ◽  
Consulting Companies

An innovative capstone design course titled “Design of Fluid Thermal Systems,” involves groups of seniors working on various semester-long design projects. Groups are composed of 3 or 4 members that bid competitively on various projects. Once projects are awarded, freshmen enrolled in the “Introduction to Mechanical Engineering” course are assigned to work with the senior design teams. The senior teams (Engineering Consulting Companies) function like small consulting companies that employ co-operative education students; e.g., the freshmen. In Fall 2006, the Engineering Consulting Companies also worked with students enrolled in a Technical Editing (TE) course—“Writing and Editing in the Professions”—within the English Department. The TE students would be given reports or instructional manuals that the Mechanical Engineering (ME) students had to write as part of their capstone project, and the resulting editing of their documents would be done by these TE students. Subsequently, the ME students were given a survey and asked to comment on this experience. In addition, the TE students were also surveyed and asked to comment as well. It was concluded that the collaboration should continue for at least one more cycle, and that the TE students were more favorably inclined toward this collaboration than were the engineering students.

A Web-Based Online Collaboration Tool for Formulating Senior Design Projects

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sainath Varikuti ◽  
Jitesh H. Panchal ◽  
John M. Starkey
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Online Collaboration ◽  
Team Cohesiveness ◽  
Faculty Mentor ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Project Outcome ◽  
Design Projects ◽  
The Impact

A well formed senior design project is known to have significant benefits in terms of project outcome, student motivation, team cohesiveness, engagement, and student learning. Defining a good problem statement, forming a team of compatible and appropriately skilled students, and selecting an appropriate faculty mentor are critical aspects of project formation. Therefore, students in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University are encouraged to suggest project ideas, form teams, and have them approved by the course coordinator before the semester starts. While there is significant literature on senior design projects, most of the existing work is focused on activities after the problem is defined and the teams are formed. There is a lack of mechanisms and tools to guide the project formation phase in senior design projects, which makes it challenging for students and faculty to collaboratively develop and refine project ideas and to establish appropriate teams. To address this challenge, we have implemented an online collaboration tool to share, discuss and obtain feedback on project ideas, and to facilitate collaboration among students and faculty prior to the start of the semester. Through an online survey and questionnaire to students, we are exploring the impact of the collaboration tool on the senior design project formation process. In this paper we present the design of the tool and the results from our ongoing study in the senior design class at Purdue Mechanical Engineering.

First Year Engineering Projects to Senior Capstone Design: Are Students Gaining Technical and Professional Skills?

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Kotys-Schwartz ◽  
Daniel Knight ◽  
Gary Pawlas
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Professional Skill ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Engineering Projects ◽  
Capstone Design

Innovative curriculum reforms have been instituted at several universities and colleges with the intention of developing the technical competence and professional skills of engineering students. First Year Engineering Project (FYEP), or Freshman Design courses have been integrated into undergraduate engineering curricula across the country. Many of these courses provide students with hands-on engineering opportunities early in the curriculum. Senior Capstone Design (SCD) courses are ubiquitous in engineering programs, incorporating technical knowledge and real-world problem solving. Previous research has shown that project-driven classes like FYEP and SCD increase the professional and technical design skills of students. While research into first year and senior design skills development has been more robust, scant research investigating the transformation of skills between freshman design experiences and senior design experiences has been performed. This research project investigates the longitudinal technical and professional skill development of mechanical engineering students at the University of Colorado at Boulder. An overview of First-Year Engineering Projects and the mechanical engineering Senior Capstone Design project course is detailed. Technical and professional skill objectives are discussed within the paper. Pre and post skill surveys were utilized in both First-Year Engineering Projects and the Senior Capstone Design classes. Initial results indicate that student skills deteriorate between the end of the first-year and beginning of the senior year.

LEARNING DESIGN THROUGH A CNC MINI-CAR PROJECT

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Chan
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Cnc Machining ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Cad Cam ◽  
Second Year

A design project is used to reinforce concepts of CAD/CAM and CNC machining in a second year manufacturing course in mechanical engineering. Students are required to design mini-cars from a common kit of stock materials. For many of the students, this was their first attempt at a design project for which a working prototype is required. A survey at the end of the project suggested to the effectiveness of the project.

Design-Build-Test Senior Design Project

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Boronkay ◽  
Janak Dave
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Technology ◽  
Bachelor Of Science ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Technology Students ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Design Build ◽  
Course Sequence ◽  
Capstone Projects ◽  
The University

Abstract Every student in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Department must complete a Senior Capstone Design Project course sequence as a requirement for the partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology degree. Mechanical Engineering Technology students at the University of Cincinnati must design, build, and test their product for the satisfactory completion of the Senior Design Project course sequence. At many institutions the capstone projects do not include the build and test components. This paper gives a short description of the Senior Design course sequence, the list of pre-requisite design courses, the design process used by the students to complete their projects. It addresses issues, such as, team versus individual projects, industrial versus personal projects, etc. It also describes typical projects, two of which are being used in industry with minor modifications.

scholarly journals Engineering Management In An Interdisciplinary Senior Design Project

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-156
Author(s):  
Kumar Yelamarthi ◽  
Joseph Slater ◽  
John Wu ◽  
P. Ruby Mawasha
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Design Project ◽  
Senior Design ◽  
Efficient Management ◽  
Students First

AbstractInnovation in the changing undergraduate engineering curriculum mandates efficient management of interdisciplinary capstone senior design projects. This effort requires collaboration and management of students and faculty from multiple disciplines, and provides students an opportunity to learn from other engineering disciplines. In addition, this approach will i) emphasize problem solving and creative thinking skills; ii) provide students first-hand experience in generating a management plan; iii) expose students to multiple engineering disciplines, and work in diverse, multi-cultural teams; and iv) prepare students with an in-depth understanding of the interdisciplinary skills necessary for success. The senior design project (SDP) presented is based on the interdisciplinary collaboration of electrical, computer, and mechanical engineering students and faculty to design an integrated high altitude balloon system that would reach an altitude of 100,000 feet and return safely to earth. This paper presents methods by which all the above issues are addressed, results obtained over the recent years.

Sample Biomedical Projects Carried Out by Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen C. Lifer ◽  
Jason S. VanAtta ◽  
Judson M. Bauman ◽  
Jed E. Marquart ◽  
Hui Shen
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Design Theory ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Heart Valves ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Aircraft Design ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Muscle Hernia

As reported by the ASME Center for Education Task Force [1], human health will be one of the major areas in which mechanical engineers will take the leadership position to develop innovative technologies in the future. To adapt to the transforming role of the mechanical engineering profession, undergraduate education of mechanical engineering needs to guide students to apply engineering principles in this area. In this paper, the development of an undergraduate biomedical course in a mechanical engineering major is introduced. Several course projects developed by mechanical engineering undergraduate students are described. These projects focused on the study of biomedical problems using engineering problem solving skills. The projects were started with the analysis of injuries or diseases of patients. Then, injuries and/or possible treatments were analyzed from the viewpoint of a mechanical engineer. All of these students’ projects are summarized in this paper and a few projects discussed in detail. Among these projects, the flow and pressure distributions of different types of heart valves were calculated using computational fluid dynamics; the consequence of injuries of joint cartilage was analyzed with bearing design theory; the treatment of a muscle hernia was calculated using the finite element method. These projects encouraged students to appreciate engineering applications in fields other than traditional fields such as automobile and aircraft design. The results of the projects are also useful in practice. The course model is applicable for engineering programs in other small teaching universities.

scholarly journals Electrophysiology for biomedical engineering students: a practical and theoretical course in animal electrocorticography

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 402-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana L. Albarracín ◽  
Fernando D. Farfán ◽  
Marcos A. Coletti ◽  
Pablo Y. Teruya ◽  
Carmelo J. Felice
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Science Program ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Laboratory Teaching ◽  
Graduation Project ◽  
Engineering Career

The major challenge in laboratory teaching is the application of abstract concepts in simple and direct practical lessons. However, students rarely have the opportunity to participate in a laboratory that combines practical learning with a realistic research experience. In the Biomedical Engineering career, we offer short and optional courses to complement studies for students as they initiate their Graduation Project. The objective of these theoretical and practical courses is to introduce students to the topics of their projects. The present work describes an experience in electrophysiology to teach undergraduate students how to extract cortical information using electrocorticographic techniques. Students actively participate in some parts of the experience and then process and analyze the data obtained with different signal processing tools. In postlaboratory evaluations, students described the course as an exceptional opportunity for students interested in following a postgraduate science program and fully appreciated their contents.

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