Christopher Hartman

Design and construction of a stereoscopic aerial imaging platform: A project-based platform for teaching freshman engineering students

Structured project-based approach to teach engineering design is not new. However, the use of practical projects to institutionalize the teaching of freshman engineering design has been made a key component of interdisciplinary program approach whereby faculty from both programs in the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences compliment student learning through shared projects. While the Aviation Science faculty serves as clients, they generate plausible problems that can benefit the Aviation Science students in the program and these problems are then used as the basis for a structured engineering design approach for introducing engineering design fundamentals to the freshman engineering class.The design and construction of a stereoscopic aerial imaging project was given to students in the freshman engineering class to articulate a proof-of- concept for a low-cost, light-weight, easily controllable stereoscopic aerial imaging platform. The stereoscopic 3 dimensional data could be applied to terrain and plant life mapping for use in agriculture, forestry, wetlands and coastal studies. Three project groups were formed with a choice of remote controlled aircraft provided by the client for the implementation of their design. This paper discusses the process, approach to introducing course content and objectives as a means of promoting communication skills, team work, critical thinking as well as research skills and the experience acquired by the students in the freshman engineering class.

Integrating complex aviation science projects into undergraduate engineering education with dialectic design approach and comparative performance analysis for innovative practices

Engineering students are challenged with implementing and developing systems within STEM disciplines. The dialectic design approach and comparative performance analysis were created for undergraduate engineering students as a teaching method to facilitate and improve student-learning experiences in STEM disciplines. We had found in our study that both the dialectic design approach and comparative performance analysis are critical to the theoretical development and the fundamental practices for engineering education in course learning objectives. These teaching methods were created for undergraduate engineering students to support specific interdisciplinary practices such as aviation sciences and course objectives focused on emerging issues concerning the design process and performance analysis. An undergraduate engineering course must promoted student-learning experiences for innovative practices through engineering models and performance analysis. The integration design in this course supported areas that include complex aviation science projects and the requirement constraints for system development.

Adapting Engineering Education Curriculum for Global Competiveness in Developing Countries

Engineering education in developing countries is faced with many challenges. One of the key engineering education issues is curriculum adaptability to the growing regional needs as the countries evolve through their developmental process. This is usually dictated by the national infrastructure program development plans. In most cases, the electrical engineering curriculum for example is usually centered on power construction given the national need and evolves to include controls and communications. The civil engineering curriculum equally revolves around structures and surveying. This paper examines how the transition from one area of concentration is made given the prevailing technological divide between the developing countries and the developed countries and proposes some solutions that can help alleviate the obstacles confronting the engineering education in these countries.

A Novel Approach to Engaging Minority K-12 Students in NASA STEM Programs for Careers in Engineering

African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans constituted 19 percent of the total workforce in 1990. Of this number only 8 percent of them are in the science, mathematics, engineering and technology workforce (National Science Foundation 1994). The percentages of blacks and Hispanics ages 25 to 29 in 2003 that completed bachelors or higher degrees were 18% and 10%, respectively, compared with 34% for whites. Among high school graduates, the percentages of blacks and Hispanics ages 25 to 29 in 2000 that had completed bachelors or higher degrees stood at 21% and 15%, respectively, compared with 36% for whites. About one-third of all bachelors degrees earned by every racial/ethnic group, except Asians/Pacific Islanders, are in Science and Engineering (S&E). Asians/Pacific Islanders, as a group, earn almost half of their bachelors degrees in S&E (NSF S&E Indicators 2006). The department of engineering and aviation science is to set up a Delmarva Aerospace Education Center, (DAEC) engage and retain students in STEM education programs and encourage their pursuit of educational disciplines and careers critical to NASAs engineering, scientific, and technical missions. DAEC is being made possible with support from NASA through the Chesapeake Information Based Aeronautics Consortium (CIBAC) in the Department of Engineering and Aviations Science

A kite-based aerial imaging as a freshman engineering design project

Freshman engineering design students were given the problem of seeking a kite-based lifting platform that incorporated a camera system for aerial imaging purposes. The unique nature of the assignment lies in its support of precision agriculture efforts on campus by reducing cost and difficulty of operation for an aerial imaging platform.