Student Project

In this paper we discuss how OPNET can be applied in advanced networking education, enhancing the practical skills of future network engineers. At the KU Leuven Master students in Electrical Engineering focusing on Telecommunications have to ...

A little over three years ago, two brand new assistant professors successfully earned funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at Mississippi State University. In the time that the "Chemistry / Chemical Engineering: The Bonds Between Us" program ran, much was learned about how to organize for a ten week intensive research program, how to ensure each student had a meaningful, positive experience, how to promote camaraderie among participants, and how to streamline participant logistics. In this manuscript and corresponding presentation, a description of the program and its goals will be discussed. This contribution will benefit anyone considering developing an REU program. It will provide guidance on how to structure student projects so that student learning and productivity is maximized. Further, organized professional development activities will be outlined in addition to a summary of structured social act...

ABSTRACT: A pedagogically effective teaching strategy that integrates computer-aided design and programming into a course on mechanism analysis and design is presented. Mechanism analysis is enhanced when coupled with computer programming that allows students to ...

Despite strong political support for the development of sustainability literacy amongst the UK graduates, embedding sustainability in the higher education curriculum has met with widespread indifference, and in some cases, active resistance. However, opportunities exist beyond the formal curriculum for engaging students in learning about sustainability. Previous research has highlighted the potential of the university campus for experiential, place-based learning about and for sustainability. This has been conceptualised as the ‘informal’ curriculum, consisting of extra-curricular activities and student projects linking estates and operations to formal study. However, the impact of the so-called ‘hidden curriculum’ (the implicit messages a university sends about sustainability through the institutional environment and values) has been overlooked as a potential influence on student learning and behaviour. This article reports on a small-scale research project which utilised a phenomenographic approach to explore students’ perceptions of the ‘hidden sustainability curriculum’ at a leading sustainability university. The findings suggest that helping students deconstruct the hidden campus curriculum may enhance aspects of sustainability literacy; developing students’ understanding about sustainability and creating solutions to sustainability issues, enabling evaluative dialogue around campus sustainability and also self-reflection, which could be transformative and translate into pro-environmental behaviour change. This research is transferable to other contexts.

One of the prominent uses of WWW has been WEB-based querying of databases. Search sites such as Yahoo and Infoseek present the WWW user with a form to be filled in with a query and return the results of the search. WEB forms are also being increasingly used for interaction with database management systems. One key element of the Intranet environment is the use of WEB-based facilities for query processing.In our undergraduate database course project, we decided to not only have the students design and implement relations in a relational database management system, but also provide a WEB-based facility that allows for fairly complex query processing. The actual data was the entire catalog (12,000 holdings) of the Department of Business Management's Library. The students had to first design the appropriate normalized relations and then load the data into a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). We used PostgreSQL as the RDBMS [1]. The students then designed WEB forms that a...

A hybrid electric Kart is built as a didactical project for the students of the Master of Engineering: Energy of the K.U.Leuven. In order to cope with the growing number of students, a modular hybrid electric kart is conceived. The hybrid configuration allows to diversify between several tasks that have to be addressed by the students. The tasks include a control scheme for an induction motor, a control scheme and design of a power-factor-correction converter which enables power flow between the DC-link and a gasoline generator and finally the control scheme and design of a DC/DC converter allowing bidirectional power flow between a low voltage battery and the DC-link. All control schemes are supervised by a top level control scheme which maximises efficiency. The control schemes are programmed in Matlab/Simulink. A rapid-prototyping control board runs the model made in Matlab/Simulink. The control board interfaces between the different sensors and power electronics present on the kart.

During this past year, several departments at the University of North Dakota have been focusing on the design of inexpensive spacecraft for atmospheric studies and remote sensing. This multidisciplinary design project emphasizes the systems engineering approach, in which extensive documentation is created prior to any construction or testing. Fourteen undergraduate and three graduate students designed and tested the second build

Introductory statistics courses should incorporate unstructured projects where students themselves generate the problems they choose to study, gather their own data, analyze the information using suitable computer software, and communicate their findings in a report. This article describes my experience with projects in the context of a large lecture course where projects are carried out in groups. Special problems that