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This paper describes the requirements, procedures, benefits, and results to date in the development of a dual degree program for engineering students from the Universidad of Monterrey (UDEM) and Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT), certainly the most successful program of its kind in Mexico because of its results and the peculiarities that had to be resolved. It is also an example of collaboration with regional industry, because there is a great amount of Japanese investment. In the fifteen years that the program has lasted, more than 100 students have graduated from Mechanical Engineering and Information Systems careers, and more than 20 Japanese professors have visited UDEM to evaluate and enrich the program. The program consists of an intensive Japanese-as-a-foreign-language program, in which UDEM students study Japanese ten hours each week (two hours a day), taught by two Japanese teachers based in Mexico. This program lasts five semesters. At the end of the program, students prepare for an entrance exam in the Japanese language that evaluates their engineering knowledge and their mastery of the technical Japanese language, spoken and written with Kanji. Those students who manage to pass the exam will spend the next four semesters in Nagaoka to complete their university degree. At NUT all instruction is in Japanese. At the end of nine semesters and successful completion of all requirements, NUT will grant a BS degree and UDEM will grant a licenciatura degree in engineering. This means that graduates will master three languages (Spanish, English, and Japanese), will have two degrees issued in two countries, and will have acquired significant international experience and intercultural sensitivity. This program is now in its 15th year. It has transformed lives and has helped to improve society by having global professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts with the description of the subject course from the Academic Register. itA capstone, project-oriented course in the thermal-fluids area of mechanical engineering that applies engineering techniques to the design of thermal/fluid processesand systems. Students work in teams on projects that involve design of piping systems, heat exchangers, thermodynamic cycles, and other thermal fluid system." It is a required course, taken mostly by graduating seniors, but sometimes by juniors. The prerequisites are two courses in Thermodynamics and a course in Heat Transfer Analysis and Design. Students have also completed a course in Fluid Mechanics. The subject school is on a trimester system with relatively intense 10 weeks per terms, rather than the more typical semester system of 15 weeks per term, that is less intense, and can provide more opportunity for reflection. Whereas semester courses are typically defined in terms of credit hours, the courses at this trimester college are defined by three courses per trimester for a minimum of 36 full courses for graduation. The subject counts as one course. However, the five project format that will be described, with students working in teams, can be a reasonable fit for either academic calendar. The instructor reviews the successof each project after each term. Someare repeated with some modifications, while new projects may be inspired by current events, such as controversies over construction of new oil and gas pipelines. This paper describes the projects that were performed in the fall of 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gas turbine is an internal combustion engine that converts natural gas or other liquid fuels to mechanical energy, to drive generators or to provide the energy in water desalination or in petrochemical plants. Jet engines are gas turbines optimized to produce thrust from the exhaust gases. The design of jet engines involves all of the fields of mechanical engineering, but thermodynamics, heat transfer and vibrations are of particular importance to the engine design. In this paper, we present the work done by a group of senior mechanical engineering students as part of their MEEN 404 experiment design course project. Students were asked to slightly modify an open-source simplified jet engine CAD model for 3D printability, build and test the 3D printed functional model in different compressor and turbine configurations. For that, the students had to go through the entire design process, from functions through requirements, through alternative designs to be able to integrate the newly modified parts into their testbed. They had to equip the system with all the necessary sensors and instrumentation to control and monitor the engine while conducting many tests to study the cost, efficiency, and performance over a range of parameter values and environmental conditions such as the number of blades, blade angle of attack, and outlet nozzle size. This project was a good tool to promote student's engagement and development, advance their critical thinking, and improve their problem solving and leadership skills. The project was also of a great help to students in understanding many mechanical engineering topics covered in other classes, especially after being complemented by a workshop hosted by General Electric (GE) at Qatar Science and Technology Park, where students received a hands-on training session on regular maintenance work carried out on aircraft engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching an introductory graduate level course in thermodynamics can be a challenge due to unequal students' undergraduate educational background in thermodynamics. Many of students accepted into a mechanical engineering graduate programs have received their undergraduate degrees from various institutions in the United States or from universities in other countries. The semester credit hours required in thermodynamics for an undergraduate mechanical engineering degree varies among institutions. Some degree programs require only three semester credit hour of thermodynamics; few require a four hour course, while others require a two semester course sequence in thermodynamics, totaling six credit hours. In addition, some mechanical engineering graduate students have received their undergraduate degrees in disciplines other than mechanical engineering, such as civil, aerospace, physics, or chemical engineering. Teaching a course in advanced thermodynamics to students with very diverse background is a challenge. A survey is conducted at the start of semester to gauge students' perception of their knowledge in thermodynamics. The survey is followed by a quiz to assess students' actual knowledge of the fundamental concepts in thermodynamics. Based on the survey and the quiz results, the lectures are carefully adjusted to help students with weaker background to catch up without making students with stronger background getting board. Selection of a suitable textbook for the course is also another challenge. This paper describes the challenges faced in teaching an introductory graduate course in thermodynamics, and how these challenges are addressed. Examples of homework problems, exam problems, and a project assignment are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding personal stories is critical for teams to discover yet-to-be satisfied user needs in order to achieve their mission within any start-up or research group. This is particularly powerful in situations where a start-up team, or even a research group, has to respond to quickly changing circumstances. Our teaching and research in the Engineering Design Education community has not only affirmed that idea but also surfaced a few surprises about how teams can unknowingly misunderstand the meaning and intent of a story. This paper considers the relationship between active storytelling concepts and individual response. The method is taught at a private west coast university in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and applied to company settings. Audience engagement, based on previous work, is defined and evaluated by variations in response to an ineffective or effective story delivery. A mixed-method approach uses multiple strategy factors of social influence, along with self-reflective participant observation of student work. Preliminary results show that four core "rules" (also known as emotional and communication messages for success) may in fact lead to misinterpretations and can sidetrack productive engagement for creation and collaboration: a) Repeating for perfection: in fact, people report that they do not find flawless storytelling believable; b) Interacting one-on-one within a large audience: the opposite may be true when you apply a "planned spontaneous" and personally unique leadership approach in storytelling; c) Applying a template to tell and memorize one story: in contrast, there are reasons to start in the middle of the story to find a new and powerful beginning; d) Describing a generic user story so as to only present a stereotype of a persona: both young and well established entrepreneurs prefer hearing a personal and emotional story that invites them to step right into the storyteller's shoes. Accurate storytelling techniques allow start-up teams to communicate the meaning and intent of their mission while being comfortable feeling uncomfortable. We find that genuinely expressed vulnerability in start-up storytelling amplifies engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To empower students in engineering and improve their understanding of integrated computational design and experimental testing, the authors developed a new course for undergraduate engineering students. The course objective is for mechanical engineering students to gain an understanding of how airplanes fly and nozzles work by designing, modeling, manufacturing, and testing prototype airfoils and nozzles. These example problems are meaningful and attractive. The active, project-based learning approach promises better learning outcomes and outcome retention than passive approaches. The paper discusses the course structure including computer simulations and on paper calculations for the students, prototyping and manufacturing models from computer-aided design (CAD) representations, and experimental validation with a water table experiment. The planned course evaluation and assessment of student learning are presented. The course is taught at the University of California Davis in Spring Quarter 2017 for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two years, a team of female faculty and industry innovators have collaborated to develop a new Junior (4th and 5th graders) Girl Scout badge in Mechanical Engineering. The activities required to earn the badge cover engineering careers, kinematics, thermal energy, the design process, and learning about new technologies. The Girl Scout Council of Greater Atlanta is sponsoring our engineering badge as a "Council's Own" badge. The badge is also sponsored by the ASME Design Engineering Division and Lockheed Martin. This paper serves as a structured guide to the process of creating a Girl Scout badge from scratch, to encourage and support the development of additional new badges. The process includes the following components: team assembly, curriculum research and development, piloting the badge, refinement, secondary badge piloting, and embodiment/deployment. Two workshops were delivered to Girl Scouts in parallel with the ASME IDETC 2015 and 2016 conferences, allowing the team to test and refine the badge activities. The first set of thirty-six Girl Scouts earned the badge during the workshop in August of 2016. In addition to a physical badge, the team has developed a badge guide and badge support website. The badge harmonizes with many activities in the Girl Scouts' "Get Moving" Journey, helping to support troops pursuing those experiences in addition to earning the badge. By disseminating this experience and process through ASEE, the team hopes to encourage others to develop new badges and patches to enrich the Junior Girl Scout experience, especially in (but not limited to) STEM areas. Next steps include launching the badge to a national audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cornell University's Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the College of Engineering's Engineering Communications Program (ECP) have developed a sophomore to senior, communication-across-the-curriculum plan, called the "MAE/ECP Initiative," to meet the needs of students, faculty, the college, and industry alike in their quest to heighten the preprofessional skills of graduating students. At its core, the partnership encourages the students' development of communicative self-efficacy in meeting the complex communicative demands related to performing technical work in mechanical and aerospace engineering. This paper discusses the pedagogical framework, the research paradigm, the foundational concepts (engineering communication: communicative practice, context, communicative design, and engineering identity), communication modalities (written, oral, visual, electronic) and outcomes (including ABET alignments) as collected by our two years of student survey data. The incredible success of Year1's quantitative findings are outlined in full. For example, in response to our communicative self-efficacy survey, the scores across all communicative modalities increased substantially (changing from low-medium to mid-high range) for all the students taking the pilot. In addition, on 17 of the 23 items on the survey, 80% of the pilot students scored in the high range. We believe that it safe to claim that the pilot has had a profound and very positive impact on students' reported communicative self-efficacy in MAE engineering contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design, construction, and evaluation of an instructional module for 9th- 12th grade science and engineering students on the use of a Programmable Logic Controller and Ladder Logic Programming to save energy in a "Smart Room." This module was created as a result of the author's attending a Summer Research Experiences for Teachers program. The instructional module includes lecture and activity components. The lecture component covers the history of PLCs, how they work, and how to use Ladder Logic Programming to control input and output components in a "Smart Room". The lecture also provides a brief introduction to Boolean Logic as it is used for Ladder Logic programming. The activity component includes hands-on examples of how to design and build energy saving devices into a room lighting system, including use of a PLC to manage the room's lighting. Three evaluations are built into the lesson: pre-assessment, post-assessment and student evaluation of the lesson as a whole. The module was piloted in four high school engineering classes. Students worked in teams to build and successfully test AOI Logic and then build and test input/output controls for a "Smart Room" lighting system controlled by a PLC. Test results from the pre- and post-tests indicated that a high level of learning was achieved. In addition, the students all enjoyed the hands on experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, Lamar University (LU) at Beaumont, Texas was awarded an NSF S-STEM grant titled "Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Scholars with Scholarships, Career Mentoring, Outreach and Advisement, Professional Societies and Engineering Learning Community (SCOPE) SSTEM Program." The goal of the project is to recruit and retain more Industrial Engineering (IE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) students by providing scholarship funding. This project provides scholarships to academically talented and financially needy IE or ME students to help them complete their Bachelor's degree. The amount of eligible support was determined based on FAFSA applications through the assistance of the LU Financial Aid Office. The scholarships are complemented by extensive academic support. The project integrates IE and ME scholars with services including Scholarships, Career Mentoring, Outreach and Advisement, Professional Societies and Engineering Learning Community (SCOPE). As such, the students are called SCOPE Scholars in this project. This program will target students from sophomore to senior years and guide them through their degree completion. In fall 2015, the first cohort of 10 SCOPE Scholars were recruited with about $60K of scholarships distributed. At the beginning of fall 2015, a SCOPE orientation was held to explain the expectation of the SCOPE Scholars. LU President, Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies, Dean of Engineering, Chair of IE (Co-PI), Chair of ME (Co-PI), Director of Undergraduate Research, Coordinator of Learning Communities, Senior Director of Co-op and Outreach, and Director of Engineering Marketing attended the orientation. They either addressed the scholars or discussed the relevant academic support available from the university. The scholars are mentored at least twice a semester. During the semesters, they actively participate in extracurricular activities which are assessed using a pointbased method. Two undergraduate students were recruited to document their activities and serve as the coordinators. The scholars complete two surveys each semester, one at the beginning and one near the end of semester. Some scholars are randomly selected for one-on-one interviews with the assessment specialist. After one year, all the scholars were able to maintain 3.0+ GPA and meet the requirement for extracurricular and mentoring activities. One scholar graduated in summer 2016 and one scholar received a Co-op position. The second cohort of 9 SCOPE Scholars have been recruited in fall 2016 and they joined the current scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper-division technical electives in undergraduate engineering curricula provide students with an opportunity to learn about various industries within the discipline, which are often aligned well with ongoing research areas conducted by professors in the department. As an undergraduate student, establishing a research area of interest is a first step towards becoming a researcher and is an important part of the pipeline to careers in academia. A semester-long seminar course was offered to undergraduate students in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley to expose students to ongoing research, while providing an opportunity to network with researchers in the department. The course consisted of weekly research talks and discussions. Invited speakers presented a diverse array of research areas and their pathway to research. To assess the course's impact, we surveyed students at the beginning and end of the semester. Approximately half of the students in the course were 1st year students. Survey results showed improved confidence when engaging in research discussions, and better understanding of graduate student research. Additionally, students enjoyed listening to presentations and connecting with graduate students. During the seminar, students learned how researchers and engineers design their experiments and learned about the wide array of applications in mechanical engineering. These preliminary findings can aid faculty and staff developing initiatives to enhance the undergraduate experience in engineering. Future work is needed to understand the long-term impact of participating in such a seminar course (e.g., impact on retention and participation in research). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrasound is a relatively low-cost and safe imaging modality, and is widely used in various applications in healthcare. The principles associated with ultrasound imaging represent an interplay between math, physics, engineering, and medicine. As such, it has the potential to act as an educational platform that integrates many different fundamental disciplines, particularly those that may be initially daunting for students, into a real-world application. Our team is currently developing a low-cost, high-precision, table-top ultrasound system optimized for education and student-led research. In parallel to hardware design, we are also creating an integrated curriculum for fundamental engineering concepts relevant to undergraduates in biomedical, mechanical, and general engineering programs. To evaluate the ultrasound system and educational materials, we will run courses and evaluate learning outcomes in at least two Boston area educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unfortunate premise is that neither the undergraduate Electrical Engineering (EE) nor the Mechanical Engineering (ME) degree programs can accommodate within their curriculum substantive EE or ME courses. Yet there is a natural intersection between EE and ME for professional opportunities in the 21st century. To break this seeming impasse a program of study between EE and ME has been initiated as one aspect of an Interdisciplinary Engineering (BSE) degree with plans of study for Electromechanical Engineering and Energy and Power Engineering at Temple University. Only existing courses in EE and ME were integrated into these plans of study for the BSE degree. The BSE program utilizes no new courses, requires no new faculty and only administrative resources. Interdisciplinary design objectives were promoted and utilized in discipline undergraduate course laboratories and the capstone design project for these students. The BSE program is uniquely administered by the College and not by a Department and has a Director and not a Chair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was inspired by the restructuring of a mid-sized private research university's mechanical engineering undergraduate major. This restructuring consists of offering major "concentrations" in several different areas which were developed based on student and alumni feedback, and redesigning academic advising for mechanical engineering majors. This time of change is being utilized as a chance to assess the undergraduate student climate in the department more generally. Climate is operationalized around the following factors: sense of community, perceptions of diversity of both faculty and students, and perceptions of inclusivity. This study is guided by the following evaluation questions: 1. What can be learned about our students' self-beliefs and perceptions of supports? How do they differ by gender and major? 2. How might self-beliefs and perceptions of supports be related? To answer these questions, data were collected via surveys administered to current students who have declared a major in mechanical, biomechanical, or design engineering. The data gathered included students' study skills and habits, their thoughts on program diversity and inclusivity, experiences with faculty, the sense of community of the program, and demographic information including parents' education levels and careers, high school classes and exposure to engineering, and engineering activities outside of school. We found that there were significant differences between men and women, and mechanical engineering and design students. For men and women, these differences were present in the areas of certain engineering skills, engineering identity, innovation task self-efficacy, engineering task self-efficacy, engineering identity, major fit, and major perception. For mechanical engineering and design students, these differences were present in innovation and engineering task selfefficacy, sense of engineering community, engineering identity, and major perception. Lastly, we found strong positive correlations between the three supports considered in this work (support of diversity, engineering community support, and faculty support) and a student's sense of fitting into their major. In addition, a strong sense of engineering community support is correlated with greater engineering task self-efficacy, whereas a stronger sense of faculty support is correlated with greater skill beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key event in many engineering and design learning environments is the design review, in which students present project work to solicit feedback from reviewers like instructors, peers, and outside visitors. Previous research on design reviews demonstrates how feedback affects student growth and task achievement. However, there is limited research within engineering education that examines the relationship between feedback and other features of a design review. One such feature is the power dynamics between the student and the instructor, which may be germane to the review outcome. The purpose of this exploratory study is to investigate the extent to which power dynamics are related to the design review feedback. Using previously-collected video recordings of design reviews in an undergraduate mechanical engineering design course and an undergraduate industrial design course, an in-depth exploration of two formative design reviews (one from each course) was conducted. Open coding methodologies were applied to examine power structures and to capture the critical incidents related to power dynamics, while existing classification schemes were used to identify the types of feedback that occur within and around these incidents. Some feedback types were found to be commonly used by instructors to disrupt design reviews. Furthermore, the findings suggest that students adopt a relatively restricted set of approaches to interact with the reviewers in design reviews, and even in moreequitable reviews, students can have limited effect in achieving their discursive goals. Overall, the results of this exploratory research study can be used to provide educators with an increased awareness of the relationships among feedback, power dynamics, and project contexts and to support future research about power dynamics within design learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an example of mechatronics applied to athletic training and shares a unique undergraduate multidisciplinary engineering research experience in a small liberal arts college setting. It discusses the project set-up, educational goals, challenges and opportunities and provides a closer look at the technical design of the project. IT also discusses educational goals to propose insights and recommendations for instructors working with similar experiences or sets of challenges.