Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Transcribing Braille Code: Learning Equations Across Platforms, Deegan Atha, Courtney Balogh

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Deegan Atha, a graduating senior in electrical engineering and a future engineer, is interested in human-centered design and developing technology that helps students engage and be successful in STEM.

Courtney Balogh, a junior in mechanical engineering, is interested in human-centered design and the importance it plays in product development. Deegan and Courtney are members of the Purdue EPICS project, Learning Equations Across Platforms (LEAP). They partnered with the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) to develop a braille transcription device and web application that converts braille to print in real time.

Carbon Nanotube Thermal Interfaces And Related Applications, Stephen L. Hodson

Open Access Dissertations

The development of thermal interface materials (TIMs) is necessitated by the temperature drop across interfacing materials arising from macro and microscopic irregularities of their surfaces that constricts heat through small contact regions as well as mismatches in their thermal properties. Similar to other types of TIMs, CNT TIMs alleviate the thermal resistance across the interface by thermally bridging two materials together with cylindrical, high-aspect ratio, and nominally vertical conducting elements. Within the community of TIM engineers, the vision driving the development of CNT TIMs was born from measurements that revealed impressively high thermal conductivities of individual CNTs. This vision was …

Visualizing Mechanics: Educational Videos Demonstrating Core Mechanics Concepts, Camilo Schrader, Jeffrey Rhoads, Charles M. Krousgrill, Stephen Alex Stamm, Elizabeth Bushman

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There has been an increased interest in using technology to relay information over the past 20 years. This interest has been reflected in the way the internet has expanded to incorporate nearly-uncountable numbers of blogs, streaming videos, and discussion forums. Recent research has shown that younger generations of students prefer internet-based platforms such as these to communicate and learn, as they are congruent with a visual style of learning. The present study seeks to fuse the predominantly reflective and intuitive methods found in a traditional lecture with the more visual and active modes of learning to provide a larger range …

Visualizing Mechanics: Improving Student Learning Through Video Demonstrations, Blake A. Wetherton, Olumide A. Awofeso, Carolyn E. Creighton, Adam F. Potrzebowski, Charles M. Krousgrill, Jeffrey F. Rhoads

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Purdue Mechanics Freeform Classroom (PMFC) is a project that seeks to reform engineering mechanics education by integrating content and technology; enhancing communication between students, their peers, and instructors; accommodating a broader range of learning styles; and facilitating greater depths of understanding. In an attempt to increase the PMFC’s efficacy, a series of demonstration videos has been produced. As demonstrated by the popularity and pervasiveness of websites such as YouTube, short videos have the potential to captivate audiences. As such, these videos have incredible promise in educational contexts. In the PMFC series of videos, entitled Visualizing Mechanics, each imitates the …