Inventions and Impact 2: Building Excellence in Undergraduate ...

Poster Abstracts
plished by assessing the number of MEAs developed for each area that
adhere to the Six Principles of MEA development. Once the MEAs are developed,
several classroom environments will be selected for monitoring
and formative assessment of MEA implementation into upper-level engineering.
As part of this, participating faculty will be interviewed by Dr. Borrego
to assess and discuss the value of using MEAs in engineering.
Dissemination: By August, we will have disseminated at IERC (May) and
ASEE. We also plan to attend FIE. At IERC, we are presenting on development
and recent use of MEAs in industrial engineering, and Minnesota
(partner) will conduct an interactive session on applying MEAs in industrial
settings. We will package the MEA library and practices for STEM
communities.
imPaCt: Our project will provide an understanding of how students become
better problem-solvers, including ethical resolutions. Faculty will be
able to better identify informed curriculum enhancements and understand
how misconceptions arise. Students will learn to become better problemsolvers.
Such results can be extended to other STEM areas. In introducing
MEAs into Purdue’s freshman engineering, researchers documented that
MEAs were helpful in attracting and retaining female students. As we develop
a broad library and introduce issues related to societal and ethical
impacts, we would expect this positive effect to continue and extend to
other underrepresented populations.
Challenges: We recently completed a successful pilot study on measuring
the problem-solving process during MEA activity, using PDAs and work
measurement software. This pilot highlighted various lessons for making
this measurement as successful as possible, which we will apply as we begin
implementing MEAs in classrooms. The development of MEAs that will
elicit generalizable models for resolving ethical dilemmas is a challenging
problem that we as an MEA development team continue to address.
For example, we are currently addressing this issue as we create an MEA
centered on evaluating whether to develop food-based ethanol facilities
in various areas.
Poster 221
Pi: Scott Smith
institution: University of Arkansas
title: Collaborative Research: Integrating Asynchronous
Digital Design into the Undergraduate Computer
Engineering Curriculum throughout the Nation
ProjeCt #: 0717572/0717767
tyPe: Phase II—Expansion
target DisCiPline: Engineering
FoCus: Creating Learning Materials and Teaching Strategies
goals: The goals are to develop and broadly disseminate materials for
easy integration of asynchronous circuit concepts into existing course
structures and to yield a low-cost, innovative addition to the Computer Engineering
curriculum, including lecture notes, example problems, group
projects, digital component libraries, CAD tools, an asynchronous field
programmable gate array (FPGA), and a textbook.
methoDs: Preliminary educational materials have been developed by the
PIs and integrated into VHDL, VLSI, and Advanced Digital Logic courses
at University of Arkansas and UMR. These materials and digital component
libraries have been posted on our CCLI website: http://www.uark.
edu/~smithsco/CCLI_async.html; and we will present a free three-day
short course for faculty each summer.
a130
evaluation: The developed materials were used in VHDL and VLSI courses.
For the VHDL class, the average on the asynchronous homework was
the second highest of the six homework assignments, and the asynchronous
project’s average was approximately the same as the synchronous
project. For the VLSI course, all students successfully completed the
asynchronous assignment; and all three asynchronous semester projects
worked correctly, all resulting in a conference publication. We are developing
a concept inventory test of standardized questions covering fundamental
asynchronous principles to accompany each module to provide an
easy mechanism to gather student feedback that can be fairly compared
across multiple institutions.
Dissemination: We have presented our work at ASEE regional, national,
and global conferences and as a workshop at an IEEE conference; have
developed a website for our educational modules and component libraries;
and are currently writing an IEEE journal article and a book proposal.
Additionally, we will offer a free three-day short course for 10 faculty each
summer.
imPaCt: This project will incorporate asynchronous digital design into the
Computer Engineering curriculum by integrating this increasingly important
topic into many courses at numerous institutions throughout the nation,
positively affecting thousands of Computer Engineering students.
It will also develop a comprehensive design methodology for automated
synthesis, optimization, and testing of delay-insensitive digital circuits,
starting from the RTL level of abstraction and ending with an FPGA or ASIC
implementation, which will expedite the integration of widespread asynchronous
circuit usage in the semiconductor industry, thus alleviating
many of today’s clock- and power-related problems.
Challenges: The PI switched universities at the beginning of the project,
which delayed the project by approximately one semester, since he was
focused on equipping his new laboratory, recruiting new students to work
on this project and others, and adjusting to a new university environment.
Everything is now on track and proceeding smoothly.
Poster 222
Pi: Gangbing Song
institution: University of Houston
title: Development of a Smart Vibration Platform
Experiment
ProjeCt #: 0341143
tyPe: Phase I—Exploratory
target DisCiPline: Engineering
FoCus: Creating Learning Materials and Teaching Strategies
goals: The goal of this project is to develop a multi-purpose Smart Vibration
Platform (SVP) with controllable stiffness and damping ratio by using
shape memory alloys and magneto-rheological fluids. The SVP is expected
to significantly enhance student learning involving dynamic systems,
vibrations, and vibration controls in multiple departments.
methoDs: With its unique property of adjustable damping and stiffness,
the SVP is capable of many demonstrations. The SVP was integrated with
undergraduate teaching in 22 classes to demonstrate various concepts
and phenomena, directly benefiting 430 students, among whom 310 students
in 16 classes participated in the anonymous and voluntary surveys.
evaluation: Three approaches were used to evaluate the Smart Vibration
Platform (SVP) and its effectiveness in improving student learning.
Program Book 2008 Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI)