Oct 2000 – Announcements

Engineering Deans Council Statement

Jennifer Johnson, ASEE Today Section Editor/Writer

The ASEE Engineering Deans Council issued the following statement at the annual business meeting on June 20, 2000, concerning support for engineering faculty participation in ASEE activities:

The ASEE Engineering Deans Council supports and encourages the participation of engineering college faculty members in the fullest possible range of activities of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

Engagement with activities of ASEE Professional Interest Councils and Geographic Councils and attendance at ASEE local and national meetings can contribute to engineering educators’ knowledge of their own fields of specialization, their acquaintance with research and activities in other fields, and their exchanges across institutional and geographical boundaries.

Faculty collaboration with student chapters of ASEE can yield benefits such as professional guidance for future engineering educators, encouragement to the broadest possible variety of students to enroll in and complete engineering degree programs, and added value to student interactions with pre-college student populations and other non-university groups. ASEE Campus Representatives perform valuable recruitment and liaison functions and promote faculty members’ access to and knowledge of ASEE opportunities for professional development.

ASEE and Service Learning

By Edmund Tsang, Rand Decker, and Caroline Carvill

ASEE, aware of the value of service learning in engineering education, focused on enhancing service learning’s role in instruction as part of the 1999-2000 Visiting Scholars Program. Edmund Tsang, University of South Alabama, Rand Decker, University of Utah, and Caroline Carvill, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology coordinated the effort.

Service learning is a form of experiential education in which students meet the learning objectives of a course by working with a community partner. It differs from structured internships and clinical instruction by virtue of exercising classroom learning objectives while meeting a recognized community need; it seeks to enhance awareness of citizenship and its responsibility among the students. The defining component of service learning emphasizes the underlying value of focusing a portion of one’s professional skills on community need. In engineering, service learning has a direct correlation to some of the performance outcomesdescribed in ABET’s Engineering Criteria 2000 (teamwork, communications, awareness of the societal aspects of engineering, and ethics and professionalism) and can help meet those criteria without adding to the overall load.

In December 1999, Tsang and Decker conducted a workshop with faculty and administrative leaders with the purpose of enhancing service learning instruction at Rose-Hulman, which was attended by 10 percent of the faculty. Long before it was called service learning, service projects were an integral part of the civil engineering program at Rose-Hulman. “Civil Engineering is called the ‘people serving profession;’ you can’t do that without getting out and serving the people,” says James McKinney, head of the department. Rose-Hulman stresses “real world” projects for its students, and McKinney sees both goals met with service learning. “We look for community groups that need help and try to meet those needs,” he says. The needs determine which course will be assigned to the project. Between the course projects and the work of the student ASCE chapter, the department has established strong links to the area’s service community.

Bringing service learning to your institution doesn’t have to be costly or painful. Since it is a growing pedagogy in engineering, there are many resources to assist faculty members and institutions. Campus Compact has sponsored pre-conference workshops and presentations at ASEE’s annual conference, and has constituted a Community Service Assessment Referee System to assist practitioners of service learning in the traditional faculty reward environment. These results, and others, can be found in “Projects That Matter: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Engineering,” a monograph published by the American Association for Higher Education as part of a series of monographs on Service-Learning in the Disciplines.

Edmund Tsang is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of South Alabama. Rand Decker is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah. Caroline Carvill is the director of service learning at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology.

Meetings

ASEE’s Mid Atlantic Section is sponsoring a regional conference November 3-4, 2000 at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. The conference theme will be “Enabling Engineering & Technology Education Through Information Technology.” Topics discussed will include: all uses of information technology in the real or virtual classroom, in the assessment of educational outcomes, for the promotion of industrial partnerships with academia through cooperative programs and continuing education, and in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in students.

For more information, please contact: Siva Thangam, Mechanical Engineering Department, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ 07030; (201) 216-5558; fax (201) 216-8909; or e-mail: sthangam@stevens-tech.edu

2000 ASEE Annual Conference

Best Paper Awards

The Best Paper Awards for the 2000 ASEE Annual Conference have been announced. One paper was judged the best overall, and the others were selected from the ASEE Professional Interest Councils (PICs). The awards consist of a plaque and $1,000 for each PIC paper, and $3,000 and a plaque for the best overall paper. Authors will receive their awards at the banquet during the 2001 ASEE Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Best Conference Paper

Session: 2220
Title: Designing Toy Robots to Help Autistic Children – An Open Design Project for Electrical and Computer Engineering Education

Authors: Francois Michaud, André Clavet, Gérard Lachiver, Mario Lucas
Université de Sherbrooke (Québec Canada)

Best PIC-I Paper

Session: 2315
Title: Educating Students to Manage Civil Infrastructure Systems

Authors: Adjo Amekudzi, Pannapa Herabat, Kristen L. Sandord Bernhardt, Sue McNeil
Georgia Institute of Technology/Asian Institute of Technology/ University of Missouri-Columbia/University of Minnesota

Best PIC-II Paper

Session: 2525
Title: ProCEED: A Program for Civic Engagement in Engineering Design

Authors: Nathaniel W. Stott, William W. Schultz, Diann Brei, Deanna M. Winton Hoffman, and Greg Markus
Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Michigan/Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan

Best PIC-III Paper

Session: 3668
Title: Feeling is Believing: Using a Force-Feedback Joystick to Teach Dynamic Systems

Authors: Christopher Richard, Allison M. Okamura, Mark. R. Cutkosky
Center for Design Research, Stanford University

Best PIC-IV Paper

Session: 2380
Title: Evaluating Introductory Physics Classes in Light of the ABET criteria: An example from the SCALE-UP Project

Authors Jeffery M. Saul, Duane L. Deardorff, David S. Abbot, Rhett J. Allain, and Robert J. Beichner
North Carolina State University

Best PIC-V Paper

Session: 1322
Title: Support for Distance Learning Programs: Is Technology Really Enough?

Authors: Karen Al-Ashkar, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Best Poster Award

Session: 3226
Title: “Internet based Interactive Construction Management Learning System ”

Author: Anil Sawhney

James H. McGraw Award
John J. McDonough, University of Maine

The James H. McGraw Award, sponsored by the ASEE Engineering Technology Council, is presented to an outstanding contributor to engineering technology education. Established in 1950, the award is funded by the Glencoe Division of MacMillan/McGraw-Hill and consists of $1,000 and a certificate.

Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award

Since 1969, Dow Chemical U.S.A. has supported engineering faculty development through its sponsorship of the Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award. This award covers travel expenses and registration fees to the ASEE Annual Conference for one outstanding new faculty member chosen from each of the Society’s 12 geographic sections. The award includes a framed certificate, which is presented at each section’s annual meeting.

Gulf Southwest Section – Jos Weissmann, University of Texas-San Antonio
Illinois/Indiana Section – John E. Wagner, Tri-State University
Middle Atlantic Section – Stephanie Farrell, Rowan University
Midwest Section – Randall Kolar, University of Oklahoma
North Central Section – Robert G. Parker, Ohio State University
Pacific Southwest Section – Lanny Griffin, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
Rocky Mountain Section – David W. Marr, Colorado School of Mines
Southeast Section – S. Michael Kilbey II, Clemson University

Section Outstanding Teaching Award

This award, given by each ASEE section, recognizes the outstanding teaching performance of an engineering or engineering technology educator. The award consists of a certificate and honorarium presented by the local section.

Gulf Southwest Section – Alberto Arroyo, University of Texas-San Antonio
Illinois/Indiana Section – R. Neal Houze, Purdue University
Middle Atlantic Section – Stephen J. Ressler, U.S. Military Academy
Midwest Section – Shivakumar Raman, University of Oklahoma
North Central Section – Karen Schmahl, Miami University
Pacific Northwest Section – Steven W. Beyerlein, University of Idaho
Pacific Southwest Section – Gregg L. Fiegel, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
Rocky Mountain Section – Raymond Jacquot, University of Wyoming
Southeast Section – Douglas E. Hirt, Clemson University

Fellowships

Consider a Fulbright

The Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty members and professionals is offering more than 54 awards in engineering for lecturing and/or conducting research abroad during the 2001-2002 academic year. For more complete information, visit our Web site at www.cies.org. The award listings and application materials are downloadable, or you can request printed versions from apprequest@cies.iie.org . U.S. citizenship is required. Non-U.S. citizens should contact the Fulbright agency or U.S. embassy in their home countries.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). For more information, please contact CIES at:

Council for International Exchange of Scholars
3007 Tilden Street, NW, Suite 5L,
Washington, DC 20008-3009
(202) 686-7877
fax (202) 362-3442
or see www.cies.org .

Sloan Industry Center Fellowships

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is seeking interested academic candidates for Sloan Industry Center Fellowships. The fellowships provide funding for both recent Ph.D.’s and faculty members to undertake research at one of 15 Sloan Industry Centers located at leading universities in the United States. Each fellowship will have a stipend of $50,000, with a $7,500 grant to the center where the fellowship is awarded for benefits for the fellow. The deadline for nominations is October 1; however, prospective fellows should contact center directors by September 1 if they wish to be considered for nomination. Details are available at www.sloan.org .

Back to the Future

What if technology research could return in spirit to the days of Thomas Edison, when a small team of researchers or inventors could still have a tremendous impact? Dr. James Truchard, president and CEO of National Instruments, thinks that things may already be heading in that direction.

Kicking off “Educators’ Day” at National Instruments’ annual NI Week gathering in Austin, Texas, Truchard addressed hundreds of professional engineers, engineering professors, and media, declaring that “sophisticated software now automates much of the tedious work that was part of the reason for larger research teams.” He went on to predict that smaller groups of researchers–as in Edison’s day–will again be able to work on the cutting edge, freed by the astounding advances in computer technology.

Ben Streetman, dean of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, agrees, and notes that engineering education also benefits from such technology via simulated laboratory work. Though he cautions against the financial temptations of relying too heavily on “virtual labs,” he adds that “there will be examples throughout the curriculum where they will work fine.”

This year’s NI Week coincided with the release of LabView 6i, the latest version of National Instruments’ powerful “virtual instrumentation” software package, which greatly simplifies the data acquisition and publishing process for engineering researchers. For more information on NI Week 2001, see www.ni.com/niweek/about.htm .

Calls for Papers

ASEE divisions, sections, and publications are welcome to publish calls for academic papers in ASEE Prism. Please submit your calls at least 12 weeks prior to desired publication and try to keep them under 200 words. Calls will also be published on ASEE’s home page. Send submissions to: ASEE Today, fax (202) 265-8504; e-mail: prism@asee.org .

ASEE Prism seeks opinion pieces on topics related to engineering or engineering technology for its Last Word column. Please send your submissions to: ASEE Prism, 1818 N St., NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036; e-mail: prism@asee.org .

Authors are invited to submit papers to the Journal of Engineering Technology for review. Refer to the latest issue for complete manuscript requirements, a style guide for authors, and a list of topics ofinterest. Submit 11 copies of the printed manuscript with abstract and disk to: Timothy Zeigler, Southern Polytechnic State University, 1100 S. Marietta Pkwy., Marietta, GA 30060; (770) 528-5495; fax (770) 528-5455; e-mail: tzeigler@spsu.edu ; or see www.asee.org/publications .

The Journal of Engineering Education accepts unsolicited manuscripts for review. The material should make a contribution to engineering and technology education, development of new ideas, and appeal to a broad readership of engineering educators and others. For review, send six copies to: John Prados, Chemical Engineering Dept., 419 Dougherty Engineering Bldg., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996; (615) 974-2421; fax (615) 974-7076; e-mail: jprados@utk.edu .

The Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) is looking for engineering problems to use in its Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science (TEAMS), an academic competition for high school students. TEAMS problems reflect the level of rigor found in first semester engineering courses. See www.jets.org/ for the required problem format and examples. For more information, contact Joe Essman, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Ohio University, 334 Stocker Center, Athens, OH 45701; (614) 593-1574; fax (614) 593-0007; e-mail: essman@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu ; or see www.jets.org

Share Your News

Let us know about your division, section, and committee meetings and activities. See www.asee.org/publications for a meeting report form and send information to: ASEE Today, ASEE PRISM, 1818 N St., NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036; e-mail: prism@asee.org .

Professional Opportunities