A New Mechanical Engineering Curriculum at the University of Tokyo

A new Mechanical Engineering curriculum has been introduced at the University of Tokyo. It was developed in response to changes in Japan's industrial infrastructure, as well as to new developments in mechanical engineering. This paper summarizes these developments and presents the concept of the new mechanical engineering curriculum which allows an increased number of electives in comparison to the traditional, structured mechanical engineering degree program.     

Engineering Curriculum Reform at Aalborg University

Aalborg University in the north Jutland region of Denmark was chartered in 1974 and represents an innovative educational experiment with project-based teaching concepts. The University opened with approximately 900 students and currently enrolls an estimated 10,000. This paper examines how project-based teaching at Aalborg University has led to major engineering curriculum reforms. The Danish education initiatives are also compared to recent National Science Foundation efforts to integrate the teaching of design and economics in the United States.     

Writing Across the Chemical Engineering Curriculum at the University of North Dakota

In order to prepare engineering graduates with the written and oral communication skills needed in their professional careers a coordinated writing across the curriculum (WAC) program has developed in the chemical engineering department at the University of North Dakota. The students practice and develop their skills with writing assignments in both lecture and laboratory courses from the first-year level through the fourth-year capstone design course. The coordinated approach, especially in the four-semester laboratory sequence, allows the students to develop their skills by building on communication experiences in previous courses. The WAC program at UND including writing and public speaking assignments is described.     

Revising a Mechanical Engineering Curriculum: The Implementation Process

In early 1990, motivated largely by concern for the highly structured nature of engineering education, the faculty of Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering initiated a two-year assessment of its curriculum. A principal conclusion of this assessment was that students should have more exposure to open-ended, cross-functional problems and that design, interpreted broadly, provided the best platform for launching appropriate curriculum changes. Specific plans for curriculum revision included a) early exposure to design and the product realization process, including issues such as marketing, manufacturing and economics, as well as concept generation, evaluation and documentation; b) integration of design and open-ended problem solving experiences across the curriculum, including the core engineering sciences courses; c) development of the softer skills associated with communication and teamwork; and d) greater emphasis on engineering practice through increased linkages with industry. To varying degrees, progress has been made on each of the foregoing objectives, and the purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of the curriculum revisions, as well as the process by which an implementation plan was developed. A retrospective assessment of the revisions and the implementation process is also provided.     

An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Design for Sophomores at Purdue University

Universities play a key role in developing future engineers who understand the full scope of the product realization process, and are well equipped to produce effective, creative solutions to open-ended problems. A key step toward instilling the problem-solving mind-set in students is to lay the proper foundation early. Thus, a new cornerstone course, Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Design, has been developed in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University to bridge the gap between the freshman science and mathematics courses, and the more traditional mechanical engineering core courses such as thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and machine design. This paper presents the goals of the new sophomore course, some details of its implementation, and results of the first three offerings. The primary goal of the course is to teach the students effective strategies for solving problems that have many acceptable solutions. This goal is met by a mixture of design theory presentations and design practice in a carefully guided semester-long project. Distinction is made throughout the course between effective problem-solving strategies for single-solution problems, common in math, physics, and chemistry courses for example, and multiple-solution problem-solving strategies. Results from the first three offerings of this course indicate that it is changing the way students approach problems in their later courses. Plans for future revisions of the course are also included.     

Systematic Design of a First-Year Mechanical Engineering Course at Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University offers a first-year course titled Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering to introduce undergraduate students to the discipline of mechanical engineering. The goals of the course are to excite students about the field of mechanical engineering early in their careers, introduce basic mechanical engineering concepts in an integrated way, provide a link to the basic physics and mathematics courses, and present design and problem-solving skills as central engineering activities. These goals are met through a combination of real-world engineering examples, classroom demonstrations, and hands-on experience in assignments and laboratories. Over the eleven semesters that this course has been taught, teams of first-year students have designed and assembled energy conversion mechanisms using miniature steam engines and Meccano sets to drive a mobile vehicle or to generate electricity for lighting a bulb. This paper describes the systematic process used to design this course and emphasizes this process of carefully integrating lectures with classroom demonstrations, laboratory experiments and hands-on projects to encourage students' active learning.     

Quality Planning in Engineering Education: Analysis of Alternative Implementations of a New First‐Year Curriculum at Texas A&M University

In general terms, traditional strategic planning may be described as a mechanism for generating a set of targets and approaches for achieving the established purpose of an organization. For it to be effective, a strategic plan must serve as the basis for creating a set of well‐defined operations that align with the organizational goals and strategies. Because the task of generating an effective plan requires knowledge, time, patience, and persistence, not all organizations are prepared to devote the time and energy that is required to produce a meaningful plan. It is the intent of this paper to describe an approach to quality planning which was used to make major curricular changes in the first‐year engineering education program at Texas A&M University. The planners' intention in this instance was to apply quality function deployment matrices, systems engineering concepts, quality management principles, and multi‐attribute utility analysis to the evaluation of curriculum alternatives in an effort to make the planning process less complex and more systematic.     

工程制图课程的工程性改革实践

在教学内容上,分析了现代工程图学的教学要求,提出了工程制图课程新的教学体系.在教材上,以贯彻国家标准为出发点,重新组织了相关教学内容.在教学过程中,强调了制图课程的工程性,调动了学生学习工程知识和进行工程实践的积极性.     

Engineering forensics at Youngstown State University

Buildings collapse, vehicles crash, cranes and bridges collapse. Why? Who is responsible? Forensic engineers must analyze failures to determine causes, origins, and legal responsibilities of accidents, fires, and explosions. This is the subject of a new course offered in spring 2005 at Youngstown State University (YSU) entitled Engineering Forensics Using the Scanning Electron Microscope. The course included a lab in which undergraduate students conducted failure analysis investigations involving the use of the scanning electron microscope and the energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer. The creation of this course was a collaborative effort between the Forensic Science and the Materials Engineering Programs at YSU. This paper describes how this course was forged from a combination of the principles of forensic science with engineering failure analysis techniques.     

New Curriculum Reforms in a Geological Engineering Program

Recent curriculum revisions to the geological engineering program at Queen's University at Kingston in Canada have led to a more streamlined program incorporating modern engineering education practices. Following a carefully designed program philosophy, the emphasis in the core curriculum changes through the entire four‐year program in three progressive stages, from the acquisition of knowledge, to integration and analysis, and finally to synthesis and design. This is reflected in an increased concentration of mathematics and basic science courses in first and second year, engineering science courses in third year, and engineering design courses (capstone courses) in fourth year. Two tools which concisely illustrate the course curriculum and curriculum content are: (1) the flow sheet, which can contain a wealth of information, such as showing linkages between courses (e.g. how upper‐level courses can build on lower‐level courses through course prerequisites), the timing of various courses, courses taught within the home department (vs. other departments), and courses taught by professional engineers; and (2) the ternary phase diagram, which is a quantitative method of displaying engineering content within individual courses or an entire program and can clearly show patterns and trends in curriculum content with time. Such tools are useful for academic engineering programs which may have to undergo an accreditation review and are readily adapted to any other engineering fields of study. Other engineering elements woven throughout the program include strong interactions with professional engineering faculty, the use of student teams, enhanced communication skills, and exposure to important aspects of professional engineering practice such as engineering ethics and law. To ensure that the curriculum is kept current and relevant, formative evaluation instruments such as questionnaires are used in all years of study, and are also sent to recent graduates of the program. External reviews of the revised program have been positive, indicating that the program goals are being achieved.     

The Engineering Science of Industrial Engineering: A Viewpoint of the Industrial Engineering Curriculum

This paper outlines the scientific underpinnings of Industrial Engineering and proposes an approach to educating the Industrial Engineer based on this engineering science. The proposed definition of the “Industrial Engineering science” rests on the premise that IE is made up of three main functional areas: (1) production engineering, (2) operational science, and (3) ergonomics/human factors engineering. This paper outlines the various IE activities that fall into these three functional categories, and attempts to show the relationships of those areas to six underlying science bases; namely, (1) Industrial Engineering sciences, (2) general engineering sciences, (3) life sciences, (4) physical sciences, (5) behavioral and social sciences, and (6) mathematics.     

Teaching Concurrent Engineering at the University of Central Florida

U.S. manufacturing has discovered that the serial, over-the-wall approach to product development has to give way to a concurrent engineering approach. This customer-centered, multi-disciplinary team approach is being more widely used and today's graduating engineer must be prepared to understand and function in this environment. This paper describes an approach used to teach concurrent engineering at the University of Central Florida.     

高校工科制图课程体系改革思路探索

随着计算机技术尤其是计算机图形图像处理技术的发展，制图课程内容和体系仍然滞后于社会的要求。这与高校自身承担的社会功能极不相称，制图课程体系需要全面改革，重新建立。本文在初步实践的基础上提出将创造学、美学与人机工程、三维造型和动画技术以及原型制造技术引入传统制图课程，强调工程实践，创立新的产品造型和设计基础课程。     

Embedded Computing in the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum: A Course Featuring Structured Laboratory Exercises

An important skill for any design engineer is the ability to embed a computational element into a mechanical product or process. A course in embedded computing suitable for senior undergraduates in a mechanical engineering curriculum is described. The course, which includes both lectures and laboratory exercises, has evolved through our experiences in teaching embedded computing during the past decade and a half. In preparing to modernize this course, we have reexamined the academic ideas on which the course is based and the conflicting issues involved in developing a course in embedded computing with a hands-on laboratory. These issues and our expectations for the future of embedded computing instruction in our department are discussed.     

Outcomes Assessment of Engineering Writing at the University of Washington

Effective writing skills are crucial for engineers, and engineering programs have always struggled with how to prepare their students for the writing they will do as professionals. Now, programs must also show the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) that they have clear educational outcomes for engineering communication and have a process for assessing student performance on those outcomes. At the University of Washington, we have spent the last five years developing an outcomes‐based assessment program for engineering writing. In spring 2001, the first round of writing assessment was completed. The assessment indicated that most of our students are competent in the outcomes we have developed. It also uncovered several weak areas, particularly in regard to working with sources and to adequately stating and supporting the purpose of the writing. We will be addressing these areas with additional instruction in the stand‐alone technical writing courses taken by engineering students. The process described in this paper could be helpful for other engineering programs preparing for ABET accreditation visits.     

Musical Instrument Engineering Program at Tufts University

At Tufts University, we have initiated an engineering minor and concentration certificate program in Musical Instrument Engineering (MIE) as an exciting way to introduce and teach principles of mechanical engineering to undergraduate students. The goal of this program is to teach the fundamentals of engineering through the manufacture of musical instruments. As musical instruments are both familiar and complex, they provide non‐threatening and enjoyable focal points for engineering education. This interdisciplinary curriculum combines a variety of learning experiences, including lecturing, experimental analysis, and project development. In this paper we outline the minor and certificate programs, and assess the initial success of the Musical Instrument Engineering program through the response of faculty, administration, and students.     

Transforming the Engineering Curriculum: Lessons Learned from a Summer at Boeing

The Boeing Corporation conducts an A.D. Welliver summer fellowship program for engineering educators. This article describes the lessons learned by the 1998 summer Fellows. These include increasing emphasis on cost, communications and continuous learning, modifying faculty promotion guidelines to honor collaboration in teaching and research, and collaborating with industry on exit criteria. Eventually, industry has to become a partner in the educational process. The Fellows unanimously agreed that the Welliver Program was a valuable experience.     

机类机械制图新课程体系的研究及实践

在清华大学985一期精品课建设项目的支持下,探讨了研究型大学人才培养体系中,“机械制图”课程中的若干问题。确定了机械大类平台课程中“机械制图”的培养目标为面向素质培养、面向基础、面向后续课程,建立了以培养形体构造能力和图形表达能力为主线、内容涵盖机械制图的基本理论、基础知识、构形及表达基本方法和基本技能的新课程体系。介绍了自2000年以来,采用新的课程体系所开展的教学实践活动,包括所采用的教学模式和取得的初步成果。     

Ji Young Park,doctoral student at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University,awarded Best Poster at IAPRI symposium

The Packaging Technology and Science journal sponsored the 2009 Best Poster award at the IAPRI (International Association of Packaging Research Institutes) symposium in Greenville, SC, USA, May 2009. The winner of this award at this symposium is Ji Young Park, doctoral student in the School of Packaging at Michigan State University. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Learning Factory—A New Approach to Integrating Design and Manufacturing into the Engineering Curriculum

The Learning Factory is a new practice-based curriculum and physical facilities for product realization. Its goal is to provide an improved educational experience that emphasizes the interdependency of manufacturing and design in a business environment. The Learning Factory is the product of the Manufacturing Engineering Education Partnership (MEEP). This partnership is a unique collaboration of three major universities with strong engineering programs (Penn State, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, University of Washington), a premier high-technology government laboratory (Sandia National Laboratories), over 100 corporate partners covering a wide spectrum of U.S. Industries, and the federal government that provided funding for this project through the ARPA Technology Reinvestment Program. As a result of this initiative, over 14,000 square feet of Learning Factory facilities have been built or renovated across the partner schools. In the first two years of operation, the Learning Factories have served over 2600 students. Four new courses, and a revamped senior projects course which integrate manufacturing, design and business concerns and make use of these facilities have been instituted. These courses are an integral part of a new curriculum option in Product Realization. The courses were developed by a unique team approach and their materials are available electronically over the World Wide Web. Industry partners provide real-world problems and are the customers for students in our senior capstone design courses. As of December 1996, over 200 interdisciplinary projects have been completed across the three schools. These projects involve teams of students from Industrial, Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical Engineering and Business. Forty-three faculty members, across five time zones, are engaged in this effort.