Undergraduate Teaching& Senior Design Project Impressions at Oakland University

Xia Wang

Department of Mechanical EngineeringOakland University

Presented at University of Science and Technology BeijingMay 28 , 2008

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OutlineIntroduction of Oakland UniversityUndergraduate TeachingIntroduction: teaching load, class size, lecture format, team work, etc.Curriculum SetupTeaching Assessment and innovationSenior Design Project

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Where is Oakland University?

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About Oakland UniversityLocated in Oakland County, Rochester in Michigan

Oakland County is the third most affluent (~rich) county in the United States.

OU is the Center of Automotive Valley: 1 mile away from Chrysler Tech center13 miles from General Motor R&D center20 miles from Ford R&D centerSurrounded by more than 500 automotive suppliers.

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Quick Facts of OUState supported university, found in 1957Classified as Doctoral/Research UniversityOver 18,000 students121 baccalaureate, and 98 graduate & certificate programsIncluding :College of Arts and Sciences School of Business AdministrationSchool of Education and Human Services School of Engineering and Computer ScienceSchool of Health SciencesSchool of NursingSchool of Medical School (in 2009)

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School of Engineering and Computer Science Comprises of four departments:Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE)Industrial & Systems EngineeringMechanical Engineering (ME)Faculty: 16 full-time faculty members; 5-8 part-time adjunct faculty membersStudents: 350 Bachelor; 140 Masters ; 36 PhD External Research Funding (2007): ~ $5,000,000

Undergraduate Teaching

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Heavy Teaching Load 1~2 courses per academic semester4 Credits/course : 1h45m per class, twice per week, 15 weeks per semester

Fall Semester: Sep 4~Dec 20 Winter Semester: Jan 7~April 26 (one week spring break)Summer (4 months): May-August. (No Teaching, Research Time! )

5 courses: both undergraduate and graduate EGR 250: Intro. to Thermal EngineeringME 331: Intro. to Thermal and Fluid TransportME 456: Energy System AnalysisME 595: Fundamentals of Fuel CellsME 638: Convective Transport Phenomena.

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Small Class SizeClass size: ~ 30 students per undergraduate class Teaching assistant: 1 grader, and 1 lab assistant.

Engineering CORE courses are offered 4~6 times per year: Winter (1~2 sessions); Fall (2~3 sessions); Summer (1 session). The class is offered between 7:30am-9:30pm.

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a comprehensive SyllabusSyllabus should be ready when students start to register the class.

A comprehensive syllabus

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Team WorkTeam is usually formed by students 2~4 students per group.

Students rotate as a team leader, and share the task for each project.

Students need to evaluate each others.

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Flexible Curriculum Setup See the curriculum: 128 Credits to graduate General Education: 28 creditsMath and Science: 32 creditsEngineering Core Course: 21 credits Professional Requirement: 35 credits Professional Selective: 12 creditsFree selective: Students can apply for the major after they finish the engineering core course.

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Teaching Assessment Evaluation of a Professor: How many new courses youve offered?Lab improvement & Teaching innovation & Education Papers. Course EvaluationStudents advised.Colleagues: Nobody will stop your lecture without your permission.

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Teaching AssessmentABET will provide world leadership in assuring quality and in stimulating innovation in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology education. Curriculum setupCore courses and Key courses Collect all the course materials.Course EvaluationTeaching innovation

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Teaching Innovation Traditional:Lab Improvement-design.Develop new teaching software.Field Trip.

Modern:Design project: encouraged at the sophomore level.Multi-disciplinary teaching team: engineering, science, business, computer, law school.Increase the presentation+ writing

NSF CCLI Grant: course, curriculum & laboratory improvement

Senior Design Project

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Introduction Senior design project is required for each student.

Students can take the senior design project after they finish the professional requirements.(1~2 semesters)

Two options: ME 490 or ME 492

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ME 490: Senior Design ProjectME 490: 2~4 ME students form a group. Supervised by an individual ME faculty.Submit a proposal to ME undergraduate committee for the approval.Final project presentation and written report.Usually last more than a semester$300 per project funded by ME department, and the rest is funded by students or faculty.

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ME 492: Senior Design ProjectME 492: Multidisiplinary Approach

Each design group includes 6~8 students, and is assigned based on field, skills and experience.Roughly 40% electrical, 40% mechanical, 15% computer/computer science, 5% systems.70-100 students/semester

Team-taught by three faculty members: ME, EE, ISE or computer science.

Students meet with the professors weekly to provide updates They also gave written and oral presentations throughout the semester on project progress to encourage good written and verbal communication skills.

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Choice of ProjectsProjects assigned have not been solved, or even examined in depth, by the instructors.

Product must be commercially competitive

Final project presentation audience:All Engineering faculty and students;Parents and friends;Manager from the local company;President and provost;News reporter

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Sample Project (04)F04: Rope-climbing robots, to top of 100 tower, in any weather

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Sample Projects (W05)Ball-throwing robots, autonomously targeted and fired

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W05-F07To develop a multidisciplinary product that could be competitive on the global market.infant simulator with respiration and pulse diagnostic muscular rigidity testautomatic vein locatorautomatic rotating plant pots

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Choice of Projects (W 08)W 08 Harness Wasted EnergyProduce and store electricity without the use of fossil fuels

Product must be commercially competitive

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Sample project 13 student groups explored the idea of "crowd farming", where the energy of people motion is captured and stored. They built generator floor tiles that connected together to form a network of generators, making large-scale power generation possible.

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Sample 2Another group developed a ball with Faraday devices inside that would generate power as it was rolled and bounced.

They thought that placing it into a clothes dryer, or into the trunk of a car, would be able to generate enough power to recharge small batteries.

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Sample 3Another group built a small generator that mounted to the bottom if a door, and captured and stored some of the energy used to open the door.

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Funding of the ProjectPre-W06Project costs funded by students, usually limited by project description

Since W06Projects funded by Provosts Undergraduate Research initiative, $1000 per design group

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Acknowledgement

Dr. Michael Latch at Oakland University

The End!Thank You!

wang@oakland.edu