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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Utilizing Quantum Dots To Enhance Solar Spectrum Conversion Efficiencies For Photovoltaics, Richard N. Savage, Hans Mayer, Matthew Lewis, Dan M. Marrujo
Utilizing Quantum Dots To Enhance Solar Spectrum Conversion Efficiencies For Photovoltaics, Richard N. Savage, Hans Mayer, Matthew Lewis, Dan M. Marrujo
Materials Engineering
Silicon-based photovoltaics typically convert less than 30% of the solar spectrum into usable electric power. This study explores the utilization of CdSe based quantum dots as spectral converters that absorb the under utilized UV portion of the solar spectrum and fluoresce at wavelengths near the band-gap of silicon-based solar cells. A flexible 1 mm thick thin-film structure that contains an array of microfluidic channels is designed and fabricated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using soft-lithographic techniques. The channels are approximately 85 microns wide by 37 microns tall and are filled with a solution containing the quantum dots. The thin-film structure can easily …
Design, Fabrication, Modeling And Characterization Of Electrostatically-Actuated Silicon Membranes, Brian C. Stahl
Design, Fabrication, Modeling And Characterization Of Electrostatically-Actuated Silicon Membranes, Brian C. Stahl
Master's Theses
This thesis covers the design, fabrication, modeling and characterization of electrostatically actuated silicon membranes, with applications to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). A microfabrication process was designed to realize thin membranes etched into a silicon wafer using a wet anisotropic etching process. These flexible membranes were bonded to a rigid counterelectrode using a photo-patterned gap layer. The membranes were actuated electrostatically by applying a voltage bias across the electrode gap formed by the membrane and the counterelectrode, causing the membrane to deflect towards the counterelectrode. This deflection was characterized for a range of actuating voltages and these results were compared to the …
Work In Progress - A Design Guide To Retain Female (And Male) Students In Engineering, Linda Vanasupa, Katherine C. Chen, Stacey Breitenbach, Karen R. Bangs
Work In Progress - A Design Guide To Retain Female (And Male) Students In Engineering, Linda Vanasupa, Katherine C. Chen, Stacey Breitenbach, Karen R. Bangs
Materials Engineering
Despite a rich body of research on factors contributing to attrition of women during the college, women continue to be underrepresented in the graduating classes of most traditional engineering disciplines. We present our Four-Domain Development Diagram (4DDD) in an attempt to enable a systems approach to managing all the factors that contribute to retention. This diagram makes explicit the connections between the learners' response factors in the learning environment, including motivation, interest, and ultimately retention. Although we are only three years into our use of the diagrams' relationships, we have seen a lower overall net attrition rate (male and female) …
Work In Progress – Building The Survey Of Engineering Ethical Development (Seed) Instrument, Janel A. Sutkus, Donald D. Carpenter, Cynthia J. Finelli, Trevor S. Harding
Work In Progress – Building The Survey Of Engineering Ethical Development (Seed) Instrument, Janel A. Sutkus, Donald D. Carpenter, Cynthia J. Finelli, Trevor S. Harding
Materials Engineering
When developing surveys, researchers can readily identify the concepts they intend to study, but how do they create individual survey items that will most accurately measure those concepts? Here we describe the first year of a four-year NSF project in which the E3 Team (Exploring Ethical Decision Making in Engineering) prepared to develop a national survey of the curricular and cocurricular activities, events, and experiences affecting the ethical development of engineering undergraduates. As this survey is likely to be the most comprehensive assessment of ethical development - both in content and scope - ever administered to engineering undergraduates, it …
The Psychology Of 'Ought', Trevor S. Harding
The Psychology Of 'Ought', Trevor S. Harding
Materials Engineering
As educators, we would like to believe that we can influence the ethical growth of our students. If we are to do this, it seems worthwhile to first understand what ethical decision-making is and how it happens. For millennia, ethical decision-making has fallen within the domain of philosophy. However, recent evidence suggests that the average person does not consider ethical dilemmas in the abstract. Instead, ethical decision-making appears to be a complex dance between an individual’s rational calculus of the ethical dilemma and their emotional response to the context of the dilemma. I will present an argument that in the …
Work In Progress - Attaining And Measuring Global Competency For Engineering Graduates, James Widmann, Linda Vanasupa
Work In Progress - Attaining And Measuring Global Competency For Engineering Graduates, James Widmann, Linda Vanasupa
Materials Engineering
Downey et al. laid out a clear path of learning criteria and outcomes for global competence in their 2006 Journal of Engineering Education publication. We build on their work by integrating other disciplinary perspectives to expand upon the questions: "How can global competency be learned?", and "How can we assess it?" In this work-in-progress paper, we propose an expanded framework for global competence and identify the use of Fink's taxonomy of significant learning as a tool to consider how it can be achieved through careful design of classroom learning experiences. Drawing heavily from other models, our framework attempts to articulate …
A Longitudinal Study Of The Ethical Development Of Engineering And Non-Engineering Students At A National Research University, Cynthia J. Finelli, Janel A. Sutkus, Donald D. Carpenter, Trevor S. Harding
A Longitudinal Study Of The Ethical Development Of Engineering And Non-Engineering Students At A National Research University, Cynthia J. Finelli, Janel A. Sutkus, Donald D. Carpenter, Trevor S. Harding
Materials Engineering
No abstract provided.
The Four-Domain Development Diagram: A Tool For Designing Development-Centered Teaching, Linda Vanasupa, Trevor S. Harding, William L. Hughes
The Four-Domain Development Diagram: A Tool For Designing Development-Centered Teaching, Linda Vanasupa, Trevor S. Harding, William L. Hughes
Materials Engineering
Research in education has brought to light the complexity of the learning process, demonstrating that students' development is influenced by a myriad of cultural and social factors, as well as the environment in which learning takes place. Engineering curricula, however, are primarily focused on teaching content knowledge, often resulting in a gap between what is taught and what is learned. We propose that shifting some of the focus onto the process of learning that occurs within the student and leveraging multiple known connections from educational psychology can result in more effective engineering education. Here we define “effective” engineering education as …