Axiomatic approach to structural design

As civil engineering enters the 21st century, the demands on the profession will move toward complex, interdisciplinary tasks such as infrastructure rehabilitation, environmental cleanup, and the delivery of high-technology facilities (e.g., hospitals, R&D laboratories, and advanced manufacturing plants). The current structural design paradigm is a top-down process that includes a nonhomogeneous approach to decision-making. There is an apparent lack of basic principles to formalize and evaluate conceptual design decisions while preliminary and detailed design decisions reflect increasing formalization and reliance on computational methods. This nonhomogeneous approach to decision-making limits how well the practicing engineer can meet the impending design challenges; particularly since conceptual design decisions determine a significant portion of a project's total cost. Axiomatic design is presented as a systematic framework for structural design because it aids the designer in satisfying multiple design objectives in a homogeneous manner throughout the design process. It is also an effective framework for formalizing and evaluating conceptual design decisions. The design of a structural frame for an innovative mechanical parking system is presented as an illustrative case study. This paper represents an initial effort to apply the principles of axiomatic design to the domain of civil engineering structures.     

Some Implications of Team Management

ABSTRACT

Recent dramatic changes in industrial organization, including fewer management levels and greater reliance on self-directing work teams, are cited with examples. A short case study of the transition from a matrix management structure to interdisciplinary project teams in an aerospace company is presented. Implications of the reduction in management levels for the engineering career are discussed. Also considered are the potential of these changes in nonindustrial arenas such as education and government, and the possible benefits lost in the process of simplifying management structure.     

Interdisciplinary Collaborative Learning in Mechatronics at Bucknell University

Examination of the “cone of learning” shows an increase in retention when students are actively engaged in the learning process. Mechatronics is loosely defined as the application of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer intelligence to the design of products or systems. By its nature, mechatronics is an activity‐oriented course. The course content also provides an opportunity to employ interdisciplinary collaborative learning with active learning techniques. The mechatronics course at Bucknell consists of mechanical and electrical engineering students at the senior and graduate levels. The students engage in a variety of activities in teams comprised of members from each of these groups. In addition to team laboratory exercises and homework assignments, the students work in interdisciplinary groups to process their efforts. That is, they engage in meaningful discussion among themselves concerning their activities and the implications of the various results. The students also act as teachers by preparing lectures and exercises on topics from their discipline to the students in the cross discipline. Specifically, the electrical engineers teach the mechanical engineers microcontrollers, and the mechanical engineers teach the electrical engineers mechanisms. This paper describes the learning techniques employed in this course, as well as the interpretation of the results from the students. It also discusses the relationship of the course outcomes to Criterion 3 of the engineering accreditation criteria promulgated by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET).     

Teaching Real-World Issues through Case Studies*

Engineering students are expected to be not only technically proficient, but, also to exhibit a sound awareness of real-world issues such as marketing, finance, communications, and interpersonal relations. We found that this is best learned by participating in a case study method of instruction. This paper describes the results of a research undertaken by the authors to develop a teaching methodology to bring real-world issues into engineering classrooms. It describes the steps taken in developing an engineering-management case study, administering this case study in a classroom, and results of evaluating the effectiveness of this method of instruction. In particular, it focuses on the students' and professional engineers' perceptions on the utility of the case study method of instruction in engineering classes. The results of the research lead to recommendations to funding agencies and educators on the need to develop interdisciplinary technical case studies so that the innovations happening in the engineering world can be communicated to the students in the classrooms.     

Using Academic Integrity to Teach Engineering Ethics

Ethics can be taught by using case studies to which students can relate. Since all students appreciate and understand problems of academic dishonesty, the nature of ethical problems in academics can be used to illustrate ethical problems encountered in professional engineering. If students can be sensitized to the value of ethical behavior while in school, they will carry this understanding over to their profession. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that academic integrity can be used to introduce the basic concepts of professional engineering ethics. A videotape and instructor's manual using this pedagogical technique is described.     

Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Controls Laboratory

An interdisciplinary controls laboratory has been developed at Lehigh University for teaching system dynamics and controls to senior undergraduate students from the various departments in the engineering college. A team effort was successful in planning, designing, funding, and constructing the experiments. After students learn control theory in courses offered in the individual departments, they jointly conduct experiments on realistic processes and devices that represent common control problems in the three engineering disciplines: chemical, electrical and mechanical. The students sare grouped into interdisciplinary teams to encourage cross-fertilization. The laboratory has been operational for three years, and the response from the students has been very positive.     

Integrating Design Education,Research and Practice at Carnegie Mellon: A Multi-disciplinary Course in Wearable Computers

The Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon University has created a two-semester design course that integrates research and education through industrially-sponsored design projects. Over the six semesters that the course has been taught, teams of undergraduate and graduate students have designed and fabricated five new generations of wearable computers. These computers have been delivered to industrial and government customers for use. The Wearable Computer Design course at the EDRC is cross-disciplinary and inter-departmental, drawing students from four colleges in nine disciplines including five engineering departments (chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering and public policy), architecture, computer science, industrial administration and industrial design. Students in this course learn about design theory and practice, participate in research, and successfully deliver products to sponsors. The students are exposed to the design cycle from concept, to multi-disciplinary design tradeoffs, to manufacturing, and finally to customer satisfaction and user feedback. This class also serves as a testbed for learning about the needs of a multi-disciplinary design team, for anticipating the needs of geographically-distributed design teams, for reflecting on the interplay between product design and design process, and for evaluating the design tools and design methodologies that have been developed at the EDRC.     

Socially‐Relevant Design: The TOYtech Project at Smith College

As issues of professional and ethical responsibility are receiving greater emphasis in engineering programs, the view of engineering as a profession in service to humanity is becoming more widespread. One approach to fostering this perspective among engineering students is the inclusion of socially relevant design projects throughout the curriculum. In this paper we present an example of one such project used in the introduction to engineering course at Smith College (the largest women's college in the U.S.) in which students are challenged to design toys that introduce children to the principles that underlie technology (TOYtech, or Teaching Our Youth Technology). Based on student surveys, we found that the majority of the course learning objectives were achieved through the implementation of the project, with students emphasizing that the project taught them about the importance of working well in teams and of considering the societal impact of engineering practice. In addition, we present our findings regarding the psychological type distribution of our inaugural class of first‐year engineering students and compare these to national values for female engineering students as a whole. These preliminary Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) data suggest that our students are particularly responsive to the ethic of social responsibility in engineering, and that they are strong communicators in addition to possessing a well‐organized, practical approach to problem solving.     

A New Model For Integrating Engineering Into the Liberal Education of Non-Engineering Undergraduate Students

In this paper, I will discuss a new model that integrates engineering into the liberal education of all undergraduate students, regardless of their majors. The model was proposed in 1992 by the Manufacturing Engineering Department at Miami University and was approved as part of a new plan for liberal education for all students. The objective of the model is to provide students with an opportunity to learn about the engineering profession and design, including its links to technology and society. To achieve this objective, the new model includes: a 3 credit hour course, with lab, to learn about engineering and technology and their impact on society; a 3 course, 9 credit hour sequence to study, in-depth, engineering methods and modeling; and a 3–4 credit hour, two-course, senior capstone. The implementation of the model started in the Fall of 1993. A mechanism has been developed for assessing this model and its impact on students' learning and understanding of engineering, the classroom-learning environment, and its ability to attract and retain women and minorities to engineering.     

Implementation of Interdisciplinary Group Learning and Peer Assessment in a Nanotechnology Engineering Course

Nanotechnology is an inherently interdisciplinary field that has generated significant scientific and engineering interest in recent years. In an effort to convey the excitement and opportunities surrounding this discipline to senior undergraduate students and junior graduate students, a nanotechnology engineering course has been developed in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University over the past two years. This paper examines the unique challenges facing educators in this dynamic, emerging field and describes an approach for the design of a nanotechnology engineering course employing the non‐traditional pedagogical practices of collaborative group learning, interdisciplinary learning, problem‐based learning, and peer assessment. Utilizing the same nanotechnology course given the year before as a historical control, analysis of the difference between measures of student performance and student experience over the two years indicates that these practices are successful and provide an educationally informed template for other newly developed engineering courses.     

Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in a Semiconductor Processing Course*

An interdisciplinary course in semiconductor processing has been developed and successfully introduced into the chemical, materials, and electrical engineering curricula at San Jose State University. Student teams drawn from a range of engineering and scientific disciplines build microelectronic devices using a five-mask PMOS metal gate process, and perform open-ended experiments to improve this process. The team approach is set in the context of a start-up company culture and professional work environment to give students the opportunity to be actively engaged in constructing their own knowledge base. The wide spectrum of fields and experiences that students bring to the course mirror the highly interdisciplinary nature of microelectronics device processing which requires knowledge of physics, chemistry, and chemical, materials, and electrical engineering. The results from student surveys for the past three years (1995–97) were used to assess the success of this approach and to deduce the most important features for effective teamwork in this context. The elements for good team function and a rich overall learning experience include 1) contributions from and respect for each team member; 2) diverse majors, GPA, and work experiences; and 3) demonstrable leadership from one or two team members.     

Enabling Engineering Performance Skills: A Program to Teach Communication,Leadership, and Teamwork*

A minor in Engineering Communication and Performance is being created at the University of Tennessee in conjunction with the engage Freshman Engineering Program. This minor provides engineering undergraduate students with formal training and a credential in complementary performance skills necessary for success in today's workplace. This interdisciplinary program is designed to improve the ability of engineering graduates to work on teams, to be effective communicators, to be socially adept, and to be prepared for leadership roles . Five courses compose the minor. Three of these courses are new and custom‐prepared for engineering students, while the other two may be selected from a limited list of courses that provide in‐depth training on supervision, cultural diversity, and interpersonal interaction. This multi‐disciplinary program takes a novel approach in the subject matter presentation and in the method of coaching students to use these skills. In the custom courses, students receive instruction and are placed in mini‐practicums. To complete the minor, students participate in a full practicum in a social service setting. This paper discusses assessment; course development; program basis and development; strategies for implementation of this new program; integration between engineering, counseling psychology, and human services; and student, faculty, and industry response to the program. The collaboration makes this program transportable to other institutions as it is dependent on having institution expertise in the disciplines of counseling and human services rather than having engineering educators with expertise in these fields. Our experience with establishing this collaboration will also be discussed.     

Project-Based Civil Engineering Courses

Problem solving is an essential element of civil engineering education. It has been observed that students are best able to understand civil engineering theory when there is a practical application of it. Teaching theory alone has led to lower levels of comprehension and motivation and a correspondingly higher rate of failure and “drop-out”. This paper analyses the effectiveness of introducing practical design projects at an early stage within a civil engineering undergraduate program at Queensland University of Technology. In two of the essential basic subjects, Engineering Mechanics and Steel Structures, model projects which simulate realistic engineering exercises were introduced. Students were required to work in small groups to analyse, design and build the lightest / most efficient model bridges made of specific materials such as spaghetti, drinking straw, paddle pop sticks and balsa wood and steel columns for a given design loading/target capacity. The paper traces the success of the teaching strategy at each stage from its introduction through to the final student and staff evaluation.     

Developing Aspiring Engineers into Budding Entrepreneurs: An Invention and Innovation Course*

Our invention and innovation course for engineering students cultivates an understanding of the entrepreneurship and invention world through a hands‐on introduction to product design and development. A pervasive emphasis on team dynamics as well as on the processes of design, invention and innovation fosters an environment that produces successful teams and inventions. This paper describes objectives and components of the elective course, development of high‐performance invention teams, course evaluation, assessment tools and results, and lessons learned. Students working in teams design and build an invention of their choice, and explore entrepreneurial topics such as profitability, marketing, sources for capital, and patenting. Creating business feasibility studies leads each team to estimate the manufacturing cost of their product and forecast potential sales revenues and profits. A two‐week, low‐risk introductory creativity and design project provides an early opportunity for creative expression, as well as insight into individuals' contribution and effectiveness in a team environment. Our course was inspired and initially supported by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). Some student teams have subsequently received NCIIA product development funding.     

An Introduction to Engineering Through an Integrated Reverse Engineering and Design Graphics Project

This paper discusses a new freshman course that merges previous topics in the “Introduction to Mechanical Engineering” and “Engineering Design Graphics” courses into a single integrated teaching effort. The main objective of the new course is to introduce students to mechanical engineering education and practice through lectures and laboratory experiences. A major effort in the course is devoted to a reverse engineering team project. The students are divided into four‐member teams and are instructed to select a simple mechanical assembly for dissection. They study and disassemble their object into basic constituent components, documenting this process with freehand sketches and notes. They use these sketches and other measured dimensions to construct 3‐D solid computer models of each major component. The teams then obtain .STL files of the solid models, which are used to make rapid physical prototypes of their parts. The teams conclude their project activities by generating engineering drawings directly from the 3‐D geometric data base. All of these efforts are integrated, documented, and submitted to the instructor as a final team project report.     

Education and training of engineers: the Sierra Leone experienceand gender considerations

The paper considers the education and training of engineers, using data from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. It discusses changes in preferences in terms of disciplines, i.e. electrical, mechanical and civil engineering as offered by the Faculty of Engineering, with respect to the number of students opting for these disciplines. The problems encountered in the process of restructuring the syllabuses taught in order to reflect new technologies are discussed with regard to the custodians of the status quo. Training programmes organised by the University in collaboration with industry and how job opportunities are created through such cooperation are considered. Questionnaire results are also discussed addressing the gender issue both at the University and in employment and a statistical appraisal of female students in engineering in comparison with their male counterparts is made for a ten-year period. Interestingly, electrical engineering appears a popular choice by female students followed by civil and mechanical Engineering     

Measuring Leadership in Self‐Managed Teams Using the Competing Values Framework

This study demonstrates how the application of the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to self‐managed teams (SMTs) assist engineering educators to understand how to measure leadership within this context and facilitate an increased awareness of the students in a team, which will consequently increase effectiveness. Specifically, we analyzed data from the Managerial Behavior Instrument, completed by 81 engineering students who participated in self‐managed teams for one semester. The instrument measured the use of the four leadership profiles of the Competing Values Framework which then allowed the researcher to determine the presence of high or low behavioral complexity. Behavioral complexity determines the team's ability to utilize multiple leadership roles and subsequent effectiveness. The findings indicate that behavioral complexity does have a significant effect on performance but does not have a significant effect on the attitudes of team members. Overall, teams with high behavioral complexity earned a higher grade on their final team project than teams with low behavioral complexity. This study is significant for engineering education because it provides a theory and framework for understanding leadership in teams. By exploring the relationship between leadership in SMTs and effectiveness, educators and industry can better understand the type of leadership roles necessary for achieving a highly effective team. As a result, instructors can design their teamwork curricula and teamwork training based on the leadership strengths and skills of students which will then prepare students for industry upon graduation.     

德国工程教学改革的设想

德国生产工程研究会(WGP)立志改革工程教学,以改变德国优秀工程人员短缺的状况。WGP的目标是使工程教学紧紧面向工业界的需求,对学生更具有吸引力。其中最关键的是信息技术在工程中的应用及影响。教学改革的重中之重是对教学结构进行持续改革,并使之更具有国际竞争力。为达到与国际相一致的要求,将建立学士、硕士学位制度,同时也将大学教育与高专教育区分开来。     

A Model Curriculum for a Capstone Course in Multidisciplinary Engineering Design

This paper describes our efforts to develop a curricular and pedagogical model for teaching multidisciplinary design to sen ior-level undergraduate engineering students. In our model, we address concerns of industry and engineering educators about the often narrow technical confines within which engineering design is currently taught. Our two-semester design sequence employs multidisciplinary teams of students working with faculty managers for industrial clients to solve complex, open-ended problems possessing numerous technical and non-technical constraints. After a two year pilot phase, the multidisciplinary senior design (MSD) course sequence is now offered to qualified Colorado School of Mines seniors each academic year and fully meets the senior capstone design requirement in each of the participating academic departments. An on-going formative and summative evaluation process allows us to monitor the perceptions and knowledge levels of our students compared with students completing traditional discipline-specific design courses. Our students, faculty, and clients overwhelmingly agree that multidisciplinary design teams tend to produce better engineering designs because of the broader range of expertise available to the team. MSD students strongly agree that higher order thinking skills such as open-ended problem-solving abilities, engineering analysis, and engineering synthesis are important aspects of the design process. Students also rate the course highly and indicate satisfaction with the course structure and curriculum. In addition, project clients are pleased with the quality of the final designs they receive from our students. Our experience has led us to conclude that undergraduate engineering students can thrive in a carefully designed multidisciplinary environment.