scholarly journals Shared Leadership in Mechanical Engineering-Centric Capstone Design Teams: A Comparison of Military and Civilian Engineering Programs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Novoselich ◽  
David Knight
Keyword(s):  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Design Teams ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Capstone Design

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.

scholarly journals CAPSTONE DESIGN IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph O. Buchal
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Career Goals ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Engineering Program ◽  
Student Teams ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The University ◽  
Centres Of Excellence ◽  
Capstone Design

All engineering programs in Canada must culminate in a significant design experience. This paper describes the capstone design course in the Mechanical Engineering Program at the University of Western Ontario. Self-selected student teams choose from several types of projects: faculty-defined projects, student-defined entrepreneurial projects, student design competitions, and industry-sponsored projects. These choices accommodate a wide range of interests and career goals. The primary sources of project funding are industry sponsorship fees and matching funding through the Ontario Centres of Excellence Connections Program. The majority of project expenses are for parts, materials, prototype construction and testing.

Toward the Development of Capstone Design Guidelines in Newly Established Engineering Programs

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdennour C. Seibi ◽  
Sean Tolman ◽  
Matt Jensen ◽  
Masood Amin ◽  
Amanda Bordelon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Capstone Design

scholarly journals Development of an Entrepreneurial Mind-set within a Three-Semester Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Sequence Based on the SAE Collegiate Design Series

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Mynderse ◽  
Liping Liu ◽  
Andrew Gerhart ◽  
Robert Fletcher ◽  
Hamid Vejdani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
Capstone Design

scholarly journals FROM MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CAPSTONE DESIGN TO DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Dumond ◽  
Eric Lanteigne
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Capstone Courses ◽  
Engineering Theory ◽  
Teaching Design ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Capstone Design

Traditionally, mechanical engineering capstone courses focused on teaching students the application of fundamental engineering theory to complex mechanical designs. Recently, there has been a transition towards experiential learning initiatives, such as prototyping, in engineering design. This paper looks at the relationship between the mechanical engineering design capstone course and a course in product design and development, which provides students with the opportunity to build prototypes of their designs, at the University of Ottawa. The importance of the traditional capstone course is considered and the implications of implementing these designs are examined. Many capstone design projects would require extensive work so that they could be implemented. A large hurdle appears to exist between analytical design and design implementation, and the term time constraints limit the complexity of designs intended for prototyping. In fact, students require many design iterations before they can build full-scale functional prototypes of their design. Therefore, we have observed that simple products work best for teaching design implementation.

Skill-Centered Syllabus for Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Education

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos F. Rodriguez ◽  
Alvaro E. Pinilla
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
General Education ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Credit Hours ◽  
High Standards

Recent changes in higher education policy in Colombia (South America) have forced educational institutions and universities to consider reducing undergraduate engineering programs from the traditional 5 or 6 years (170 credit hours) to four years (136 credit hours). This reduction is a worldwide trend, mainly due to a lack of financial resources supporting high standards of professional education. Additionally, institutions are restructuring their curricula to adjust to the broader spectrum of career development opportunities for the graduating engineer and the new challenges faced by practicing engineers. Also, engineering education in Colombia needs to adjust to Colombia's necessities as a developing country. In response to the above-mentioned circumstances, the mechanical engineering department of the Universidad de Los Andes (UdLA) has proposed a new mechanical engineering (ME) undergraduate syllabus. This paper summarizes the process undergone by the ME department of the Universidad de Los Andes to review our syllabus and propose alternative approaches. Our new ME syllabus applies a skill-centered approach structured by four priorities: 1) the primary professional role of an engineer is in project development, 2) the engineer needs an in-depth knowledge of the sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) and mathematics; 3) the engineer also needs a general education in the social sciences and arts and, 4) the engineer should master the core concepts of mechanical engineering. These four priorities agree with the US study of the Engineer of 2020. Our restructured syllabus evenly introduces these priorities early in the undergraduate ME program. Our ME Department implemented the new syllabus for first year students in January 2006. Positive results have already started to emerge. This article provides an overview of the higher education quality assurance system in Colombia and a description of the Universidad de Los Andes new ME syllabus.

Combined Mechanical Engineering Materials Lecture and Mechanics of Materials Laboratory: Cross-Disciplinary Teaching

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Nowak
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Soft Tissues ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Tensile Shear ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Mechanics Of Materials ◽  
Engineering Materials ◽  
Selection Of

We have developed a course combining a Mechanical Engineering Materials Laboratory with a Materials Science lecture for a small combined population of undergraduate Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students. By judicious selection of topic order, we have been able to utilize one lecture and one laboratory for both Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering students (with limited splitting of groups). The primary reasons for combining the Mechanical and Biomedical students are to reduce faculty load and required resources in a small university. For schools with medium or small Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering programs, class sizes could be improved if they could include other populations. The heterogeneous populations also aid in teaching students that the same engineering techniques are useful in more than a single engineering realm. The laboratory sections begin with the issues common to designing and evaluating mechanical testing, followed by tensile, shear, and torsion evaluation of metals. To introduce composite materials, wood and cement are evaluated. While the Mechanical Engineering students are evaluating impact and strain gauges, the Biomedical Engineering students are performing tensile studies of soft tissues, and compression of long bones. The basic materials lectures (beginning at the atomic level) are in common with both Mechanical and Biomedical student populations, until specific topics such as human body materials are discussed. Three quarters of the term is thus taught on a joint basis, and three or four lectures are split. Basic metal, plastic and wood behavior is common to both groups.

Current Trends of Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Curricula in California

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chean Chin Ngo ◽  
Sang June Oh
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
General Criterion ◽  
College Level ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Minimum Requirement

Abstract This paper reviews and compares 29 ABET accredited mechanical engineering undergraduate curricula in California which include 13 programs from the California State University (Cal State or CSU) System, 8 programs from the University of California (UC) System and 8 programs from private universities. The programs examined in the present paper include both Ph.D.-granting and non-Ph.D.-granting institutions in public and private universities. Some CSU mechanical engineering programs have been taking steps to implement changes recently in their curricula to reduce the total required degree requirement to 120 units and yet satisfy the minimum requirement of general education units. This paper presents a summary of the current curricula structure of these programs in Cal State universities by delving into the study of their degree requirements and compare with that of UC and private universities. For example, the number of units of college level mathematics and basic science required by the program is examined closely and determine if it is beyond the one-year requirement by ABET General Criterion 5 Curriculum. In addition, one of the ABET program criteria requires the mechanical engineering program to prepare students to work professionally in either thermal or mechanical systems. As such, this present paper also examines how each program is proportionately distributing courses in each of these two areas. Attention is also given to how each program integrates first year experience, senior capstone design experience, hands-on laboratory experience and internship experience (if any) in the curriculum. In January 2016, CSU launched the Graduation Initiative (GI) 2025 to increase graduation rates of CSU students while eliminating opportunity gap for underrepresented minorities and Pell-eligible students. One of the main goals of GI 2025 is to increase the freshman 4-year graduation rate of CSU students to 40% by 2025. Part of the strategies for GI 2025 from some CSU campuses is to review the curriculum and identify potential barriers to timely graduation and find strategies to eliminate them. The goal of this paper is to provide educators a timely summary of reference while examining their own curricula. Although different institutions carry curricular revisions that stem from different motivation, the ultimate goal will be the same — provide students optimally the best curriculum to better prepare them for the industry workforce and have positive impact for the society.

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