Engineering Commons^™

Approaches To Integrating Engineering In Stem Units And Student Achievement Gains, Elizabeth A. Crotty, Selcen S. Guzey, Gillian H. Roehrig, Aran W. Glancy, Elizabeth A. Ring-Whalen, Tamara J. Moore

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This study examined different approaches to integrating engineering practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum units. These various approaches were correlated with student outcomes on engineering assessment items. There are numerous reform documents in the USA and around the world that emphasize the need to incorporate engineering into science education. The authors of this study contend that different approaches to integrating engineering in STEM units correlate to larger student achievement gains in engineering, based on assessment items developed from the Framework for Quality K–12 Engineering Education (Moore, Glancy, Tank, Kersten, & Smith, 2014). The goal of this work …

2017 Fall Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2017 ENGR333 project focused on campus energy cost savings.

I asked the students two questions:

• Section A: What would it take for Calvin to save $75k/year on natural gas costs?
• Section B: What would it take for Calvin to save $150k/year on energy costs (mostly electricity) using a new on-site co-gen plant?

Customer

The customer for this project was Phil Beezhold, Director of Calvin’s Physical Plant.

Bs News September/October

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Pltw Female High-School Students' Supports And Barriers In Choosing A College Degree, Lisa Lubin Rubin

Dissertations

Purpose:The purpose of this mixed-methods research study is to identify and describe the barriers and supports that PLTW female students encounter when pursuing a non-traditional female STEM degree upon graduation from high school.

Methodology:A mixed-method (qualitative-quantitative) research design was chosen for this study to explore barriers and supports of female high-school seniors in PLTW. The qualitative portion of the study was phenomenology. This study explored the supports and barriers of female high-school seniors in PLTW courses when choosing a college degree. The quantitative portion of the study was conducted via a hard-copy survey containing closed-ended five-point Likert scale …

Establishing A Lung Model For Evaluation Of Engineered Lung Microbiome Therapies, Kathryn F. Atherton, Stephen Miloro, Jenna Rickus

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Benzene, a toxin and carcinogen found in air polluted by cigarette smoke, car exhaust, and industrial processes, is associated with the development of leukemia and lymphoma. Other than avoiding exposure, there is no current method to deter the effects of benzene. One potential strategy to prevent these effects is to engineer the bacteria of the human lung microbiome to degrade benzene. To evaluate this novel approach, we must verify that the bacteria remain viable within the lung microenvironment. To do so, lungs were harvested from rats and swabbed to determine the contents of the original lung microbiome. Then green fluorescent …

Testing Our Assumptions: The Role Of First Course Grade And Course Level In Mathematics And English, Janet Callahan, Marcia Belcheir

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Methods that provide an early indicator of factors that affect student persistence are important to colleges and universities. This quantitative research focused on the role of level of entry mathematics and English and also on grades earned in those classes as they relate to persistence after one year. The research showed that by far, the variable most predictive of first-time, full-time students enrolling one year later was earning a grade of “A” in English. Compared to those who did not pass their first English course, students who earned an “A” were three times more likely to persist. The variables which …

Scitech News Volume 71, No. 3 (2017)

Sci-Tech News

Columns and Reports

From the Editor.........................3

Division News

Science-Technology Division....5

Chemistry Division....................8

Conference Report, Marion E, Sparks Professional Development Award Recipient..9

Engineering Division................10

Engineering Division Award, Winners Reflect on their Conference Experience..15

Aerospace Section

of the Engineering Division .....18

Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction, and Design Section of the Engineering Division................20

Reviews

Sci-Tech Book News Reviews...22

Advertisements

IEEE..........................................4

Bs News July/August

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Influencing Student Motivation Through Scaffolded Assignments In A Quality Analysis Course And Its Impact On Learning, Nadiye O. Erdil

Engineering and Applied Science Education Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the impact of various class assignments and activities that build upon each other with the aim of increasing student motivation and student learning in a Quality Analysis course. Scaffolding is an instructional strategy that aims to reduce the amount of cognitive effort that students have to make to learn the materials by breaking down the material into more manageable components. In this study, critical thinking scaffolding is applied in the quality analysis course by structuring several elements to lead students to an assignment that is more complex. At the end of the semester, the impact assessment of …

Establishment Of Innovative Shared Departments To Advance Interdisciplinary Education, Ronald S. Harichandran, Brian Kench, Summer Mcgee, Michael A. Collura, Jean Nocito-Gobel, Charles David Skipton

Engineering and Applied Science Education Faculty Publications

More and more universities are pursuing interdisciplinary academic activities that span across department and college boundaries. Administrative structures to facilitate such programs are difficult to establish within traditional university frameworks consisting of disciplinary departments and colleges. Often interdisciplinary programs are housed in a traditional disciplinary department or college, or in a standalone center reporting to a college dean or the provost. The difficulty of these structures is obtaining broad buy-in from faculty across departments and having disciplinary degree programs include interdisciplinary coursework.

To overcome the difficulties described above, an innovative shared department structure that fosters collaborations to advance interdisciplinary education …

Wax Bee Gone: A Safe, Effective Solution To Ear Wax Removal, Robert G. Shenon, Shanvir S. Dhinsa

Electrical Engineering

This project sought to combine conventional methods such as scraping and water pressure to removal ear wax, but with electronic automation to removal the potential for human error as much as possible. Through the use of a 9V battery, and Arduino microcontroller, DC motors, and other circuitry, this project has developed a prototype for a device that can properly remove ear wax without any discomfort or risk to the user. Much of this project involved learning how to properly manipulate and provide the necessary power requirements DC motors from an Arduino and a 9V battery. Additionally, creating a 3D printed …

Operating Temperature Of A Solar Thermal Stirling Engine, Spencer Beck

Senior Theses

This paper explores the relationship between the operating temperature and electricity production of a simple heat engine. A Stirling engine was designed and constructed which runs on solar thermal energy collected by a Fresnel lens. The surface area of the solar collector was varied. This manipulated the operating temperature of the Stirling engine in order to measure power output. The mechanical energy from the engine was converted to electricity using a DC motor running in reverse, acting like a generator, in conjunction with an Arduino for data collection. Although adjustments must be made in order to improve the efficiency of …

A Plan For Using Phenomenography To Explore Academic Conceptions Of Their Role In Developing Professional Skills In Engineering Students, Una Beagon, Brian Bowe

Other resources

This presentation presents a PhD study looking at academic conceptions of the approaches to teaching professional skills in engineering programmes in Ireland.

2017 Spring Engr333 Project Final Report (Section A), Devin Auld, Scott Bokach, Joshua Bronner, Alex Meador, Ryan Hoek, Robert Lanser, Matthew Lenko, Elliot Slenk, Brendan Biesboer, Kyle Mailhot, Nate Zylstra, Jonah Engel, Rich Floro, Björn Krebs, Ethan Postmus, Cameron Bell, Caleb Bieske, Chris Griffin, Bernice Portugal, Ryan Beezhold, Dillon Carhuff, Ian Mcclaskie, Jared Vanderklay, Rounak Chatterjee, Toby Dalla Santa, Jenny Haney, Joel Hoskins, Caleb Senyshyn

ENGR 333

The objective of ENGR-333-A was to develop a well-defined, bottom-up energy demand model for the energy consumption of the dormitories on Calvin College’s campus for each year of the past decade within an accuracy of ± 2%.

2017 Spring Engr333 Project Final Report (Section B), Daniel Dick, Nathan Swaim, Jonathan Sager, Ellen Reidy, Jordan Swets, Joel Van Dyke, Connor Macdonald, Josiah Markvluwer, Justin Rohlicek, John Lee, Zach Mouw, Daniel Wharton, Sam Hanover, Jay Noyola, Adam Christenson, Scott Stamper, Aaron Tucker, Bethany Waanders, Joel Schaefer, Maddie Collins, Matthew Cok, Philip Kim, Steve Vanden Berg

ENGR 333

The Physical Education Complex is located in the North-end of Calvin College’s campus, and supports many athletic, academic, event and recreational functions. Due to its heavy use, the complex contributes 20% of the College’s electricity consumption. Monetarily, this equated to electricity costs of about $385,000 last year. With these financial implications, the College is searching for ways to reduce the cost. While there is little to no room for electricity cost rate reductions, there is opportunity for improvement through the implementation of more efficient components. However, the sources of electricity demand are largely unknown. Our objective is to develop a …

2017 Spring Engr333 Seminar Presentation, Jonah Engel, Rich Floro, Björn Krebs, Ethan Postmus, Brendan Biesboer, Kyle Mailhot, Nate Zylstra, Ryan Beezhold, Dillon Carhuff, Ian Mcclaskie, Jared Vanderklay, Rounak Chatterjee, Toby Dalla Santa, Jennifer Haney, Joel Hoskins, Caleb Senyshyn, Alex Meador, Scott Bokach, Devin Auld, Joshua Bronner, Elliot Slenk, Matthew Lenko, Robert Lanser, Ryan Hoek, Cameron Bell, Caleb Bieske, Chris Griffin, Bernice Portugal, Sam Hanover, Dan Wharton, Jay Noyola, Zachary Mouw, John Lee, Daniel Dick, Jonathan Sager, Nathan Swaim, Ellen Reidy, Jordan Swets, Joel Van Dyke, Connor Macdonald, Josiah Markvluwer, Justin Rohlicek, Adam Christensen, Scott Stamper, Aaron Tucker, Bethany Waanders, Joel Schaefer, Maddie Collins, Matthew Cok, Philip Kim, Steve Vanden Berg

ENGR 333

File for student presentation, given by students in the Spring 2017 class of ENGR333.

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Engaging Children In Engineering Design Through The World Of Quadcopters, Greg J. Strimel, Scott R. Bartholomew, Eunhye Kim

Faculty Publications

The interest in engineering education for K-12 students has been rising (Carr, Bennett IV, & Strobel, 2012; Strimel, Grubbs, & Wells, 2016), and the importance of engineering education is discussed as early as the elementary school level (Hegedus, 2014). Petroski (2003) claims that children are ready to learn engineering because their play activities are similar to engineering and design activities, such as making, moving, and rearranging things. Studies have examined how elementary school students perceive engineering or engineers (Cunningham, Lachapelle, & Lindgren-Streicher 2005) and found that elementary-aged students associated engineering with repairing, installing, driving, constructing, and improving machines and devices. …

Bs News March/April

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

2017 Spring Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Spring 2017 ENGR333 project focused on campus energy consumption.

I asked the students “Can you construct a fine-grained, bottom-up electricity demand model that predicts the annual electricity consumption for the dormitories (section A) and the PE complex (section B) for each year of the last decade with an accuracy of ±2%?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Jack Phillips, Assistant Director (Mechanical) at Calvin’s Physical Plant.

High Accessibility Cabinet Insert, Matthew Leal

All Undergraduate Projects

Watching grandparents and parents get older, the struggle of day-to-day activities generally increases. One of the most recurring issues the older generation experiences nearly daily is their inability to reach dishes, glassware, and other things on the topmost shelves of a kitchen. Not only is it difficult for them to use things such as stepstools, it also becomes increasingly dangerous. With age, a fall from any height could be catastrophic. With this scenario in mind, a user-friendly cabinet insert would be a very effective way to combat this issue. However, many existing models of cabinet designed to fit these requirements …

Decision Support For Literal And Non-Literal Imaging Sensors, Holly K. Zelnio

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The key contribution of this research was to characterize decision support system (DSS) performance as a function of sensor types ranging from a very literal electrooptical (EO) sensor to a very non-literal synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensor. The specific DSS used in this research was developed based on the Applied Cognitive Task Analysis (ACTA), human performance modeling process, and a comprehensive literature search. The subject and DSS combined performance was characterized by objective interpretation accuracy and decision time and, in addition, the subject's trust, confidence, heuristics, and possible cognitive biases were elicited and analyzed. The measures of accuracy, time, and …

Investigation Of Extremum Seeking Control For Adaptive Exercise Machines, Brahm T. Powell

ETD Archive

Many muscle rehabilitation regimens are non-adaptive and recommended subjectively by physicians. While there are advantages to having the feedback of a qualified physician, utilizing real-time muscle performance feedback could be beneficial. An extremum seeking control design is proposed to fulfill the need for an automated, load-varying exercise machine that can optimize muscle performance.

Several steps are outlined to contribute to the realization of this goal. First, the extremum seeking control scheme is discussed. Second, the Hill muscle model will be described. Theoretical muscle effort extrema will be derived for selected optimization cases, namely maximizing average squared power by varying load …

Design And Control Of A Powered Rowing Machine With Programmable Impedance, Jose Humberto De La Casas Zolezzi

ETD Archive

Due to the rise of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, research in human performance and physical activity has received increased attention. Rowing machines are used for performance improvements through concentric exercises, however a combination of concentric and eccentric actions is known to improve the effectiveness of training. In this work, a conventional rowing machine was modified to include an electric motor and a robust impedance control system, enabling programmable impedance with concentric and eccentric capabilities. Eccentric exercises are known to contribute significantly to the efficacy of training and to diminish the detrimental effects of humans operating in microgravity for long …

Effect Of Convection Associated With Cross-Section Change During Directional Solidification Of Binary Alloys On Dendritic Array Morphology And Macrosegregation, Masoud Ghods

ETD Archive

This dissertation explores the role of different types of convection on macrosegregation and on dendritic array morphology of two aluminum alloys directionally solidified through cylindrical graphite molds having both cross-section decrease and increase. Al- 19 wt. % Cu and Al-7 wt. % Si alloys were directionally solidified at two growth speed of 10 and 29.1 µm s-1 and examined for longitudinal and radial macrosegregation, and for primary dendrite spacing and dendrite trunk diameter.

Directional solidification of these alloys through constant cross-section showed clustering of primary dendrites and parabolic-shaped radial macrosegregation profile, indicative of “steepling convection” in the mushy-zone. The degree …

Electrochemical And Electroflotation Processes For Milk Waste Water Treatment, Alahmand Suleiman Mohammed

ETD Archive

The dairy industry generates abundant milk waste waters characterized by high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations that can be very harmful to the environment, if left untreated. Electrocoagulation (EC) has been in use for waste water treatment. The treatment application uses aluminum electrodes and iron or the combined hybrid Al/Fe electrodes. Milk waste water contains high concentration organic pollutants and the main constituents of those organics are carbohydrates, proteins and fats, originating from the milk. The process of separating the flocculated sludge from waste water that has been treated using the electrocoagulation process can be …

Computer Science Technology Education: An Incredible Explosion, Iwasan D. Kejawa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper explore what computers are, their usages and their functionalities. Computers can be used to learn or comprehend the understanding of all subjects, be it physics aerobics, swimming, biology, mathematics, agriculture, chemistry, business administration or commerce, just to name a few. In education, computers are used to project information to individuals in the classrooms or anywhere education is taking place, in churches, homes, schools, conference halls and so on. It is also used to convey the logic of a subject or behind a topic. Computers play an important role in educating our mind. With the usage of computers, we …

Impact Of A Localized Lean Six Sigma Implementation On Overall Patient Safety And Process Efficiency, Luvianca Gil, Pilar Pazos, Mamadou Seck, Rolando Delaguila

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Continuous quality improvement tools have caught the attention of the Health Care Industry as a solution to process efficiency, patient safety and cost reduction. This research explores the impact of a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) process improvement initiative in overall process efficiency and patient safety in two Labor and Delivery (L+D) units of two large hospital providers. This study focuses on the application of modeling and simulation methodology to investigate the influence of a localized process improvement intervention on the overall L+D unit output, by considering patient flow, system capacity and unit performance. The simulation models capacity profiles and patient …

Women In Engineering, Arianna Frisina

Women in STEM

The timeline consists of significant events of women in engineering. The years range from 1939 to 1974 and contains information from Hidden Figures and a peer-reviewed article that was found on JSTOR. The timeline shows the years that the women (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden, and Mary Jackson) began working for NACA. It also includes the time Christine Darden discovered her passion for math, when Kitty O’Brien Joyner sued the University of Virginia, the year of the Civil Rights Act, when Katherine Johnson was able to attend the editorial meetings, and Mary Jackson enrolling in engineering classes. The year …

Percy H. Perkins, Jr. Architectural Drawings, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of materials relating to author and gemologist Percy H. Perkins. Materials span 1923 to 1985, and consist of architecture drawings for various significant buildings in southeast Georgia, including a six room schoolhouse in Claxton, GA, Pembroke State Bank, the Stadium & Athletic Field for Morris Brown College, the Women's Dormitory School for Officers’ Training at The Salvation Army Headquarters, Bacon County Elementary School, Claxton High School, and Evans County Training School.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.