scholarly journals How Can Maker Skills Fit in with Accreditation Demands for Undergraduate Engineering Programs?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aubrey Wigner ◽  
Micah Lande ◽  
Shawn Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering

Widening the Participation of Disadvantaged Students in Engineering

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Sciffer ◽  
Mahsood Shah
Keyword(s):  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Preparedness ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Preparatory Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University ◽  
Diverse Groups

The University of Newcastle, Australia has a long history of providing enabling education which provides access and opportunity for students to participate in undergraduate education. The enabling programs at the University allow higher school leavers, and mature aged adults to prepare for undergraduate degrees. Students who complete enabling education at the University undertake undergraduate studies in various disciplines including engineering. This paper outlines the extent to which enabling programs have played an important role in widening the participation of disadvantaged students in engineering disciplines. The different levels of academic preparedness of students in enabling programs and barriers faced in learning require effective strategies for teaching and engaging students in learning. The paper outlines the strategy used in teaching an advanced level of mathematics to the diverse groups of students to prepare them for success in first year undergraduate engineering programs. While research on undergraduate engineering education is significant, limited studies have been undertaken on enabling or university preparatory programs and their impact in various professions.

Undergraduate Project in Compressor Rig Design, Fabrication, and Testing for Complete Engineering Training

2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huu Duc Vo ◽  
Jean-Yves Trépanier
Keyword(s):  
Data Acquisition ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Plastic Material ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Compressor Aerodynamics ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Two Phases

An ambitious project in propulsion was introduced as part of the final-year integrator project offerings of the mechanical and aerospace engineering programs at École Polytechnique de Montréal in 2011–2012. It has been running successfully for the past three academic years. The project consists in the design, fabrication, and placement into service of a functional instrumented multistage compressor test rig, including the compressor, for research in compressor aerodynamics. A team of 15–17 senior-year undergraduate engineering students is given a set of design and performance specifications and measurement requirements, an electric motor and drive, a data acquisition system, and some measurement probes. They must complete the project in two semesters with a budget on the order of Can$15,000. The compressor is made from rapid prototyping to keep production cost and time reasonable. However, the required rotation speed of 7200 rpm stretches the limits of the plastic material and presents the same structural challenges as industrial compressors running at higher speeds. The students are split into subteams according to the required disciplines, namely, compressor aerodynamics, general aerodynamics, structures, dynamics, mechanical design and integration, instrumentation, and project management. For the initial phase, which covers the first two months, the students receive short seminars from experts in academia and industry in each discipline and use the knowledge from fundamental engineering courses to analytically model the different components to come up with a preliminary design. In the second phase, covering three to six, the students are trained at commercial simulation tools and use them for detailed analysis to refine and finalize the design. In each of the first two phases, the students present their work in design reviews with a jury made up of engineers from industry and supervising professors. During the final phase, the compressor is built and tested with data acquisition and motor control programs written by the students. Finally, the students present their results with comparison of measured performance with numerical and analytical predictions from the first two phases and hand over their compressor rig with design and test reports as well as a user manual and an assembly/maintenance manual. This complete project allows the students to put into practice virtually all the courses of their undergraduate engineering curriculum while giving them an extensive taste of the rich and intellectually challenging environment of gas turbine and turbomachinery engineering.

scholarly journals Rethinking the Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (03) ◽  
pp. 42-45
Author(s):  
John Kosowatz
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Entrepreneurial Skills ◽  
Technical Students ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Critical Components

This article discusses that to better engage students, professors are integrating active learning methods into their biomedical classes. The goal is for students to develop entrepreneurial skills to aid students in thinking outside the box, using their developing technical skills to develop innovative solutions. Engineering programs are bringing the entrepreneurial mindset to younger students, often based on the definition used by the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network. Sponsored by the Kern Family Foundation, KEEN is a collaboration of 31 U.S. universities with the goal of supporting entrepreneurial skills in undergraduate engineering and technical students. KEEN says the entrepreneurial mindset has three critical components: curiosity, connections, and creating value. At Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, mechanical engineering assistant professor Laurel Kuxhaus is working with a KEEN grant to integrate active learning into sophomore-level studies.

Birds of a Feather Do Not Always Flock Together: A Critical Analysis of Latina Engineers and Their Involvement in Student Organizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa M. Banda ◽  
Alonzo M. Flowers
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Student Organizations ◽  
Social Needs ◽  
Engineering Majors ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Minority Females ◽  
Insight Into

While an abundance of literature addresses undergraduate students’ lack of success in engineering programs, fewer studies examine the persistence of minority females, especially of Latinas. This study employed a qualitative method of inquiry to gain insight into the reasons why Latina undergraduate engineering majors sought membership in student organizations. Data analysis emerged the following findings: (a) fulfilling academic and social needs, (b) seeking a sense of belonging, and (c) choosing not to coalesce on the basis of race. The categorization of the aforementioned broad themes provides greater insight into the reasons why Latinas sought membership in certain student organizations.

Benchmarking the Integration of Complex Systems Study in Mechanical Engineering Programs in the Southeastern United States

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Kellam ◽  
Michelle Maher ◽  
James Russell ◽  
Veronica Addison ◽  
Wally Peters
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
University Websites ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering Education ◽  
The University

Complex systems study, defined as an understanding of interrelationships between engineered, technical, and non-technical (e.g., social or environmental) systems, has been identified as a critical component of undergraduate engineering education. This paper assesses the extent to which complex systems study has been integrated into undergraduate mechanical engineering programs in the southeastern United States. Engineering administrators and faculty were surveyed and university websites associated with engineering education were examined. The results suggest engineering administrators and faculty believe that undergraduate engineering education remains focused on traditional engineering topics. However, the review of university websites indicates a significant level of activity in complex systems study integration at the university level, although less so at college and department levels.

An Inductive, Design-Centric Approach to Control Engineering Education With a Competitive Atmosphere

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaohui Foong ◽  
Karupppasamy Subburaj ◽  
Kristin L. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Pid Controller ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Control Engineering ◽  
Traditional Lecture ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
Automatic Controllers ◽  
Design Freedom

Control engineering is a cornerstone of most undergraduate engineering programs in colleges and universities around the world. The analysis and synthesis of automatic controllers, in particular, the PID controller, is a central focus of these courses and modules. However, due to its highly abstract nature, students usually find the content challenging and difficult to comprehend. This is aggravated by the employment of traditional lecture/recitation deductive teaching formats as means of delivery of the content. Here, an inductive-based week long design activity strategically held in the middle of the semester was conceived to introduce and motivate the notion of feedback control. During the course of the week, students in teams design, analyze and synthesize automatic controllers to enable a standardized differential wheeled robotic platform to traverse a line circuit autonomously. The strategy to achieve this capability is intentionally left to be open-ended, and students have the design freedom to select and position sensors needed to sense the track, as well as implement and troubleshoot the programming required to enable autonomous control. The activity culminates with a pulsating head-to-head single elimination tournament to decide the overall champion.

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