Mechanical Engineering News
An internet publication of the Mechanical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education
BEST PAPER AWARDS
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Mechanical Engineering News An internet publication of the Mechanical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education BEST PAPER AWARDS |
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The Mechanical Engineering Division of ASEE sponsors a number of sessions at the ASEE Summer Meeting. Three of these sessions are referred to as TIME sessions--Trends in Mechanical Engineering. Typically, four reviewed papers are presented at each of these sessions, and the papers are printed in the conference proceedings. Each session has a moderator who will evaluate the presentations and select a "Best Paper" of those given. The titles, authors, affiliations, and abstracts of each paper will be posted as soon as possible. The ME Division is pleased that these (and the other) high quality papers were part of the Division Program. Congratulations to the authors of these papers. Following now are the Best Papers from the Summer meetings over the last few years.
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BEST PROCEEDINGS
PAPERS Dr. Campbell's
paper and two others were also nominated for the ASEE Best Paper
in the 2002 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings Award. These other
2 papers were the runners-up for the MED Best Paper, and are:
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Division Best Paper: (based
on written paper) Session Best Papers (based
on presentation) 2266 "Teaching thermodynamics without tables - isn't it time?", Gregg Dixon, US Coast Guard Academy (01008.pdf) 2366 "Introduction to programmable logic controllers in an ME instrumentation course", Joey Parker, University of Alabama (00607.pdf) 2566 "Integrating the Mechanical Engineering core", Don Richards, Rose Hulman (00548.pdf) |
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Using MathCad for Generalized One-Dimensional Compressible Flow in An Introductory Compressible Flow Course by B. K. Hodge Abstract The use of
MathCad as the arithmetic
engine in a generalized one-dimensional compressible flow segment
in an introductory compressible flow course is examined. Traditional
approaches to the topic are discussed, the course description
is presented, and details of the MathCad
formulation
are delineated. The impact on the students' mastery of generalized
one-dimensional compressible flow is assessed. Anecdotally, the
use of MathCad in this topic was considered to be a success since
student mastery was enhanced over the previously-used code development/modification
approach. Download the Hodge paper here! Session 2266 MODERNIZATION
OF A MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Abstract Computers using modern electronic instrumentation and data acquisition have revolutionized the experimental laboratory. With very limited funding available, universities face a major challenge in upgrading their older laboratories with state-of-art systems common to modern industry. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Engineering and Computer Science has just completed this process for the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. The previous lab (a thermal science lab with 1 credit hour) used no computer data acquisition while the new lab (having both mechanics and thermal science components with 1 hour lecture and 1 hour lab) has the electronic instrumentation and data acquisition integrated throughout. No new laboratory systems were purchased as on-hand systems were retrofitted with new instrumentation and data acquisition using LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) [1] . The development of the new lab provided a challenge and comprehensive learning experience for the responsible faculty member while saving the university money. The paper describes many aspects of university related activities that were considered during the development of the laboratory along with the specific content of each laboratory.
Session 2666 EVALUATION
AND REFINEMENT
Kristen L. Wood Abstract A major restructuring of the Sophomore level "Introduction to Design Theory" course at the United States Air Force Academy has recently been completed. The most significant aspect of this restructuring is the addition of a redesign component to the course. In order to gauge the effectiveness of this restructuring, a questionnaire was developed to determine student rating of the course content lecture by lecture. Student responses are compared from before and after the restructuring. In addition, Myers/Briggs Types Indicator (MBTI) data are correlated with responses from specific lectures to determine if portions of the restructured course can be further improved. Results indicate that the course restructuring has been viewed positively by the students. Also, MBTI data indicate that, with additional effort towards providing "hands-on" experiences as well as increasing the amount of abstract content, the content can be better directed to the span of MBTI types. In addition, increased ties to student's design projects and other relevant examples will further improve the present course.
Session 3666 MANAGING ENGINEERING CURRICULUM FOR ABET 2000
Brigham Young University Abstract Many engineering programs are trying to determine how to meet the new ABET 2000 accreditation criteria, which include an emphasis on assessment and documentation of the processes used to achieve desired attributes. This means programs must carefully consider and identify where in the curriculum attributes are addressed and taught. This can be facilitated if educators have a means for understanding and managing the curriculum as a whole. In the mechanical engineering department of Brigham Young University, we have been experimenting with ways to capture and manage the curriculum to insure that all desired attributes are addressed. We discuss what we have learned to date and the strengths and weaknesses of the methods we have tried. We discuss a web-based software tool for curriculum management that is currently under development. The software will enable us to manage curriculum to insure that all attributes are being developed and to maximize integration across courses. It will help provide consistency in instruction, will be a complete repository of the curriculum that can be accessed at any time, be a catalyst for interaction with outside "suppliers" such as math and physics, and be a means for communicating program objectives to students. |
