Two-Semester Agile Systems Engineering Design Course: Investigation and Exploration of Immersive Training Technologies

The teaching of systems engineering is a daunting task that involves the development of curriculum capable of teaching students the systems engineering process, the design aspects of engineering, and the interdisciplinary knowledge of a variety of fields. Design is widely considered to be the central or the major distinguishing activity of engineering1. Design can be considered as the center of system engineering, in which engineers employ an interdisciplinary approach to design effective solutions to meet social needs. However, systems engineering requires that traditional academic boundaries be crossed and intertwined with other fields of engineering as well as business, socio-political, and other disciplines that clearly interacts with or are directly affected by the system under consideration. Systems engineering requires different design thinking, as it requires in depth knowledge often beyond the traditional engineering classification boundaries. For example, an electrical engineer must also in many cases have knowledge of software engineering, or safety engineering when designing a cell phone circuit

The development of engineering education research: a UK based case study

This work adopts a case study approach to examine the emergence of engineering education research (EER) within the UK. First, a summary of the contextual factors influencing UK EER activity are presented. This section includes information pertaining to higher education (HE) policy, networks, and funding. Semi structured interviews are used to investigate who identifies as an engineering education researcher; how they define engineering education as a field of research; who they consider their audience to be; and the factors that inform their research questions, methodologies, collaborators and where they disseminate their work. The findings are discussed in relation to the social, political, and economic systems in which engineering education exists. The study reveals a landscape in which EER research is largely unfunded, and is primarily conducted by intrinsically motivated academics who concentrate on topics of personal interest or local context, and who do not usually collaborate or publish within journals

Individual homogenization in large-scale systems: on the politics of computer and social architectures

One determining characteristic of contemporary sociopolitical systems is their power over increasingly large and diverse populations. This raises questions about power relations between heterogeneous individuals and increasingly dominant and homogenizing system objectives. This article crosses epistemic boundaries by integrating computer engineering and a historicalphilosophical approach making the general organization of individuals within large-scale systems and corresponding individual homogenization intelligible. From a versatile archeological-genealogical perspective, an analysis of computer and social architectures is conducted that reinterprets Foucault’s disciplines and political anatomy to establish the notion of politics for a purely technical system. This permits an understanding of system organization as modern technology with application to technical and social systems alike. Connecting to Heidegger’s notions of the enframing (Gestell) and a more primal truth (anfänglicheren Wahrheit), the recognition of politics in differently developing systems then challenges the immutability of contemporary organization. Following this critique of modernity and within the conceptualization of system organization, Derrida’s democracy to come (à venir) is then reformulated more abstractly as organizations to come. Through the integration of the discussed concepts, the framework of Large-Scale Systems Composed of Homogeneous Individuals (LSSCHI) is proposed, problematizing the relationships between individuals, structure, activity, and power within large-scale systems. The LSSCHI framework highlights the conflict of homogenizing system-level objectives and individual heterogeneity, and outlines power relations and mechanisms of control shared across different social and technical systems

Feasibility study on manganese nodules recovery in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

The sea occupies three quarters of the area on the earth and provides various kinds of resources to mankind in the form of minerals, food, medicines and even energy. “Seabed exploitation” specifically deals with recovery of the resources that are found on the seabed, in the form of solids, liquids and gasses (methane hydrates, oil and natural gas). The resources are abundant; nevertheless the recovery process from the seabed, poses various challenges to mankind. This study starts with a review on three types of resources: polymetallic manganese nodules, polymetallic manganese crusts and massive sulphides deposits. Each of them are rich in minerals, such as manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper and some rare earth elements. They are found at many locations in the deep seas and are potentially a big source of minerals. No commercial seabed mining activity has been accomplished to date due to the great complexities in recovery. This book describes the various challenges associated with a potential underwater mineral recovery operation, reviews and analyses the existing recovery techniques, and provides an innovative engineering system. It further identifies the associated risks and a suitable business model.Chapter 1 presents a brief background about the past and present industrial trends of seabed mining. A description of the sea, seabed and the three types of seabed mineral resources are also included. A section on motivations for deep sea mining follows which also compares the latter with terrestrial mining.Chapter 2 deals with the decision making process, including a market analysis, for selecting manganese nodules as the resource of interest. This is followed by a case study specific to the location of interest: West COMRA in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Specific site location is determined in order to estimate commercial risk, environmental impact assessment and logistic challenge.Chapter 3 lists the existing techniques for nodule recovery operation. The study identifies the main components of a nodules recovery system, and organizes them into: collector, propulsion and vertical transport systems.Chapter 4 discusses various challenges posed by manganese nodules recovery, in terms of the engineering and environment. The geo-political and legal-social issues have also been considered. This chapter plays an important role in defining the proposed engineering system, as addressing the identified challenges will better shape the proposed solution.Chapter 5 proposes an engineering system, by considering the key components in greater details. An innovative component, the black box is introduced, which is intended to be an environmentally-friendly solution for manganese nodules recovery. Other auxiliary components, such as the mother ship and metallurgical processing, are briefly included. A brief power supply analysis is also provided.Chapter 6 assesses the associated risks, which are divided into sections namely commercial viability, logistic challenges, environmental impact assessment and safety assessment. The feasibility of the proposed solution is also dealt with.Chapter 7 provides a business model for the proposed engineering system. Potential customers are identified, value proposition is determined, costumer relation is also suggested. Public awareness is then discussed and finally a SWOT analysis is presented. This business model serves as an important bridge to reach both industry and research institutes.Finally, Chapter 8 provides some conclusions and recommendation for future work

Ecological imperative in social responsibility structure of engineers

Changes in the world social and political situation, functional changes in an engineering activity and its globalization lead to the rise of new questions. There is a necessity to form new approaches and mechanisms for the formation of engineers’ responsibilities. Common sense and social responsibility should be the basis for engineering. The solution of moral problems associated with technology and technological solutions on Nature transformation leads to the formulating “Code of Ethics for engineers”. Professional responsibilities and obligations of future engineers should be given in the system of higher professional education. Various approaches to this issue show that this challenge is complex and unsolved. Social responsibility of engineers should be a continuous learning based on the accumulated experience of previous generations. Actuality of this issue can be explained by the solutions made by technocratic approaches. Thus, the problem of humanization and humanization of engineering is very important. The aim of the study is to determine the importance of ecological imperative in the formation of social responsibility of an engineer. We define the essence of the social responsibility of engineers, to analyze the quality of humanitarian training engineers, to present the dynamics of an ecological component in engineering worldview. Moreover, the results of engineers’ activity should be aimed at the interest of humanity and environment preservation. Ecological knowledge is interpreted as the highest achievements of human culture, a desire to create conditions for co-evolution and harmonization of relation of the “Nature-Society” system and to form an engineer with new ecological thinking

Teaching Engineering Ethics in the Classroom through a Town Hall Meeting Activity

Engineers often contribute to projects that impact many people and have ethical implications. Some may even move to a career of political advocacy and policy-making. However, most engineering curricula have a strongly technical focus and do not require students to think critically about ethical issues related to engineering. To bridge this gap, we developed a classroom-based town hall meeting activity that demonstrates the ethical issues that may arise when engineers are advocating for or helping craft public policies. Our town hall meeting scenario, which was set in a fictional tourist town called Rainbow Town, divided a class of twenty engineering students into groups of engineers, politicians, and voters. There were two opposing political groups and two engineering groups with competing interests. The voters had individual characters with varying careers and objectives. The town hall meeting was a debate on whether Rainbow Town should undertake a construction project that would bring jobs to the city, but could potentially adversely impact fish population at the town’s natural heritage site, the main source of income for the town. The objective of the activity varied based on what role each student was playing. The politicians’ job was to further the objectives of their own party while simultaneously keeping their voter base happy. The engineers’ job was to help voters make an informed decision about which policy (or party) to vote for, while helping politicians craft the right policy. The voters’ job was to protect their own livelihoods. Despite the simplicity of the town hall meeting scenario, the students wholeheartedly donned the mantle of their assigned role, taking the objectives of their role seriously. At the post-activity debrief, students commented that the activity was harder on the engineers since they had to prove everything with facts, but the politician groups did not.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Punctuated Equilibria: Three ‘Leaps’ in the Evolution of the German Vocational Training System

Germany’s vocational training system evolved into its modern form in the four decades between 1897 and 1937. This evolution did not occur smoothly, but in three bursts of activity, each under a different political regime. After the 1897 Handwerk Law established a partial model for overcoming incentives problems associated with training skilled workers, between 1907 and 1912 the German state organized a ‘coalition of the willing’ among German engineering and machine-tool firms in order to extend the same model to parts of industry. In the mid-1920s, the major Ger- man industrial groups took the initiative to standardize vocational profiles and training schemes. Finally, in the mid-1930s German industry and key national ministries cooperated to give standardized certifications for industrial vocations legal standing on par with those in handicrafts. As a result, hundreds of thousands of young Germans began entering apprenticeships for skilled work.Germany’s vocational training system evolved into its modern form in the four decades between 1897 and 1937. This evolution did not occur smoothly, but in three bursts of activity, each under a different political regime. After the 1897 Handwerk Law established a partial model for overcoming incentives problems associated with training skilled workers, between 1907 and 1912 the German state organized a ‘coalition of the willing’ among German engineering and machine-tool firms in order to extend the same model to parts of industry. In the mid-1920s, the major Ger- man industrial groups took the initiative to standardize vocational profiles and training schemes. Finally, in the mid-1930s German industry and key national ministries cooperated to give standardized certifications for industrial vocations legal standing on par with those in handicrafts. As a result, hundreds of thousands of young Germans began entering apprenticeships for skilled work

Introducing Preservice STEM Teachers to Computer Science: A Narrative of Theoretically Oriented Design

This paper narrates the process of designing a curricular unit that serves to introduce preservice science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers to computer science (CS) education. Unlike most literature that focuses on results and findings, this paper explains how a justice-centered approach to CS education informed decisions about the theoretical underpinnings of curricular design choices. Situated in issues related to the gentrification of Austin, Texas, the described curricular unit explores how the increased use of CS and growth of the technology sector are having a direct impact on the historically marginalized residents of East Austin. Connected by a theme that maps are both a form of data visualization and political artifact, the described curricular unit uses CS as a tool to: critique the macro-ethics of politics and society; provide a CS learning environment that can be responsive to the multiple social identities of students; and connect CS to larger struggles for justice and liberation.Educatio

Studying and Supporting Writing in Student Organizations as a High-Impact Practice

Institutions of postsecondary education, and the field of writing across the curriculum and in the disciplines (WAC/WID) in particular, need to do more to trouble learning paradigms that employ writing only in service to particular disciplines, only in traditional learning environments, and only in particular languages, or in service to an overly narrow or generalized idea of who students are, where they\u27re going, and what they need to get there. In relating a cross-section of a larger effort to study and support writing as a high-impact practice in a student chapter of an international nonprofit humanitarian engineering student organization, I will demonstrate that WAC/WID can and should empower students to use writing in student organizations, especially those that align with the four learning outcomes deemed essential by the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America\u27s Promise, as a means of integrating into and interrogating their social and political realities, and reshaping postsecondary education to better meet their needs and goals as individual learners and as citizens in a deliberative democracy