October 26, 1993

CEFO Minutes (J. Carter, Secretary)

M I N U T E S

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY ORGANIZATION Special Meeting to Hear Reports from M. Miri, R. Coleman & K. Daneshvar Tuesday, October 26, 1993 @ 12:30 PM Friday Building, Room 17

Dr. Rafic Makki opened the meeting at 12:34 PM. The following signed the attendance sheet:

COLLEGE OF ENGR: R. Snyder. COMPUTER SCIENCE: G. Revesz, M. Allen, B. Chu, G. Epstein, J. Frazier, M. Hadzikadic, J. Long, T. Mostafavi, H. Razavi, R. Shaw, K. Subramanian, B. Wilkinson. ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: E. Braun, F. Auchey, N. Byars, J. Carter, M. Kocak, C. Liu, J. Patten, R. Priebe, W. Shelnutt, D. Smith, P. Wang, E. Willis. CIVIL ENGINEERING: J. Evett, J. Graham, D. Hanks, H. Hilger, R. Janardhanam, G. Murgel, I. Runge, J. Wu, D. Young. MECHANICAL ENGR & ENGR SCIENCE: I. Bodur, R. Dubler, H. Estrada, Y. Hari, J. Hill, R. Kim, W. Milheim, E. Munday. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: F. Tranjan, S. Bobbio, R. Coleman, K. Daneshvar, R. Greene. Y. Kakad, V. Lukic, R. Makki, M. Miri, W. Smith. CAMERON A.R.C.: H. Leamy, T. Rufty. ENGR RES & IND DEVMT: J. Roblin. COMPUTING SVCS & LABS: R. Wolny. GUESTS: None. Total documented attendance: 55.

I. Dean’s comments. Curriculum Steering Committee, (Auchey, Munday, young, Leik, Tranjan). Purpose is to act as a conduit for information on curriculum revisions underway in departments, coordinate efforts, share ideas and recommend actions. The following presentations are to be looked at as pilot ideas.

II. “An Interdisciplinary Program for Teaching the Fundamentals of Engineering”, M. Miri.

Objective: To create a learning environment in which students are motivated and helped to develop a deep understanding of the concepts fundamental to different engineering disciplines.

Motivations: Curriculum revisions based upon vision, emphasis of education over specialized training, ability to further their knowledge on their own using available information systems, gain and retain more from classes, strong engineering foundation.

The Environment: Classroom discussions, computer tutorials, laboratory experiments, hands-on demonstrations, mentors.

Implementation: Two new engineering courses, departmental 3090, taught by team. Use of existing laboratory facilities, PHYS2231 is being modified. First engineering course (1 Hr, Sp. 94), coordinated with a section of MATH1142. Second engineering course (2 Hrs. Fall 94), coordinated with PHYS2231L. Recruiting of forty students from ENGR1100. These students will use 3090’s in place of a three-hour science elective.

III. “Partnerships with Industry”, W. Shelnutt.

Purpose: to give students an experience in working in a 10-week team-based assignment; to give the industrial partner a chance to get something back. Focus: Student teams work problems chosen by the industrial partner.

Elements: Students take a preparatory course, paid for by the college, creating inter-disciplinary, inter-collegiate teams. Other colleges involved include NC A&T and NC State.

Experience: Millikan management reported saving over $1 million over a year. They also gained experience in team efforts as well as did the students. This program may extend to other universities and industries.

IV. SUCCEED Progress Report, “Using Realistic and Evolving Design Projects to Enhance Learning”. K. Daneshvar

“Abstract: During the past year we have focused on the development of a program which is associated with the ‘Vertical Integration’ portion of the SUCCEED project. This program promotes engineering participation in research projects that last the duration of the undergraduate years with strong relation, coincidence, and proportionality to the course of studies within those years. Students are presented with a project during their undergraduate years, and this project will evolve as they progress in their studies and eventually will be completed at the end of their senior year. The results will be presented before graduation as the undergraduate thesis. To incorporate mentoring, interdependence, teamwork, and collaboration, the projects are presented in such a way that students experience a continuous interaction with students in classes above and below them. A freshman project that is related to their course of study will continue in the sophomore year with different emphasis to be relevant to the sophomore curriculum. While the sophomores are mentoring the freshmen, they are involved with collaborative work with juniors and a similar interaction will be in effect for juniors and seniors.

The program emphasizes an educational environment which (is) conducive to learning without effecting the existing course and curriculum of the institution. The nature of the projects will allow participation at all levels. These projects could be the result of a faculty member’s research grant or they could be fabricated specifically to address problems of current interest with aspects that require engineering studies. Frequent meetings and reports of the results will assure productivity and communication skill enhancement for all participants.

Main Objective: To improve retention, to create a realistic example, to motivate learning, to five a sense of purpose to engineering studies, and to generate an environment that encourages communication and problem solving.

Procedure: The participating departments are Electrical Engineering, Computer Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering. From each of these departments, two students were selected among many volunteers. Each of these students were presented with a realistic engineering project. These projects were specifically selected to be relevant to science and engineering courses and curriculum that students were involved with at the time of the projects.”

V. “Studio for Engineering Practice, Creative Projects Lab”. R. Coleman. Mr. Coleman referred to the outline he distributed in the last meeting of the college faculty as he reviewed the progress on the studio for engineering practice and the creative projects lab. Time did not permit a detailed report or discussion.

Motion to adjourn at 1:53 PM.