Solar Energy Certificate for Engineering Technology Students

Solar Energy is the fastest-growing energy resource in the United States and the world. This industry just hit an important milestone in 2019 of completing two million solar systems installations in the country and is expected to duplicate this quantity by 2023. Organizations and home and business owners in our South Texas region are starting to recognize the benefits of this type of renewable energy. And with the drop in the cost of the components and installation of the solar system, the future for this industry seems promising. Our Program of Engineering Technology, which is part of the College of Engineering and Computer Science of the University of XXXX, is committed to providing our students with the set of skills that make them successful in their careers, but overall, professionals that can contribute to the sustainable development of our region. In this paper, the authors present the scheme for a new certificate in Solar Energy Systems as a part of the Engineering Technology curriculum. This proposal is supported by our departmental Vision of giving the students a robust technical knowledge through industry certificates along with the degree courses, so they can be industry-ready and able to deliver results as soon as they join the workforce, or as entrepreneurs. The backbone of this proposal lays not only in our existing courses in renewable energies and specifically solar energy systems, but also in the expertise of our faculty, and the relationship of the department with the local industry in this field. The solar systems installations by themselves, are endeavors that require an understanding of different fields, such a mechanical, electrical, power electronics, photovoltaics, and management. An important characteristic of the proposed certificate is the holistic approach in which we will be preparing the students not only with the technical skills and the specifics of this technology, but also with all the processes associated with this industry; such as local and federal regulations, codes, grants and tax incentives, and the requirements to connect to the grid of the utility companies. This project represents an important effort within our department, and we believe it has an important content of innovation in engineering education that we would like to share with the ASEE community

Embedded Curriculum with Industry-recognized Certifications to Improve the Marketability of Engineering Technology Graduates

Embedded Curriculum with Industry Recognized Certifications to Improve the Marketability of Engineering Technology Graduates The Fourth Industrial Revolution is challenging the industries to change the way they manage and operate the manufacturing environment. This leads to the transformation of the world through artificial intelligence, next-generation robotics, automation, big data analytics, 5G technology and Internet of Things. This idea of Industry 4.0 forces the change in the industries of today and tomorrow. In this, cyber physical systems communicate with one another using the Internet of Things. The manufacturing sector takes full advantage of these technologies to produce innovative products to enhance the human experience. Contrary to the prediction of huge job loss due to these new technologies, more jobs are being created at a rapid pace. This is evident in the number of job openings growing at double-digit rates since mid-2017. This trend created a new set of problems in finding a matching workforce that will support the growing areas of advanced manufacturing in digital talent, skilled production and operational managers. The digital talent includes programming and managing a pool of computer-enabled machines and equipment. This demands for qualified workers in key areas of technical trades. This includes technologies such as, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Computer Numerical Control, Coordinate Metrology, Industrial Robots, Mobile Autonomous Robots, Collaborative Robots and Automation. In the Recent Polls of American Distribution & Logistics Companies, 50% say that they see a critical need for these technologies to garner technology driven operational efficiencies. According to the study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, the skills needed in the above areas may leave an estimated 2.4 million positions unfilled between 2018 and 2028, with a potential economic impact of $ 2.5 trillion. Further, the study shows that the positions relating to digital talent, skilled production, and operational managers may be three times as difficult to fill in the next three years. The University of XXX has undertaken an initiative to address the growing needs of skilled human power in these critical areas that are very important for the local industries to sustain the competitive edge in the global manufacturing environment. Industries often look for graduates that are ready to be employed with minimum on the job training. The certifications offered by the professional institutions serve as the enabling tool for industries to assess the potential of newly minted graduate who have minimum field experience. This paper presents the details on the innovative development of the embedded engineering technology curriculum with industry recognized certifications in the much-needed areas of Industry 4.0. This will invariably help the industries to mitigate the difficult-to-fill workforce needs in the critical areas of advanced manufacturing. Also, discussed in detail in the paper are the pedagogical aspects of the Engineering Technology curriculum and the seamless integration of industry recognized certifications that have the potential to enhance the marketability of its graduates

Expanding Engineering and Technology Opportunities to Students in the Border Region Through International Collaboration

Expanding Engineering and Technology Opportunities to Students in the Border Region through International Collaboration For some years now, our Department of Engineering Technology of the XXXX, has collaborated with Universities across the southern border to carry out different activities such as undergraduate research, collaborative course-based projects, and senior design projects. We have observed how students benefit from being exposed to work in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams. We now expand this form of work to a higher-level research collaboration where students and faculty from four different institutions participate. Two institutions of higher education in Mexico and a University and a Community College in the United States. The collaboration carries out an innovative project that requires the integration of different specialties. The project consists of an intelligent clothing storage and retrieval system that involves artificial intelligence, and design of a sophisticated electromechanical system that optimizes storage and retrieval and adapts to the needs of people with visual disabilities. The collaborative effort includes the active participation of the faculty, supported by a team of undergraduate students. An important part of the project includes a master\u27s student from Mexico visiting the XXXX for three months to collaborate in the project. Fortunately, The University of XXX System and CONACYT, Mexico’s entity in charge of promoting scientific and technological development, have established an initiative to support bi-national academic research and collaboration through the ConTex program. This is an opportunity to apply for the funding needed to take the project to successful completion. This type of work represents a challenge in international collaboration and the text discusses not only the benefits but also the way to face these challenges. The pedagogical issues in managing this type of multidisciplinary and multicultural research-oriented technological project are presented in the paper. A thorough literature survey on international collaborative projects of a similar nature will be included in the paper

Exploring Student Learning Experience of Systems Engineering Course Developed for Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering Graduates

This paper describes the introduction to the concepts and methodology of Systems Engineering to the students of a graduate Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering program in the University of xxxxxx. This graduate course was initially developed to be a part of traditional face to face lecture-based curriculum, however with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, it was restructured to be discoursed in an online format. This paper discusses on course structure used to enforce online systems engineering learning over a period of 14 weeks. This included addressing the basic concepts of systems engineering to provide the students’ knowledge to facilitate transformation of operational needs to a well-defined system. Further, students reviewed the iterative design process of problem formulation, analysis, optimization, design synthesis, system integration, and testing along with developing an ability to compare systems engineering life cycle models from INCOSE, Department of Defense, and NASA. To measure the student understanding and the ability to translate the concepts learning to real world applications, student teams were tasked to use CanSat 2021-22 competition as a case study. The survey instruments used over the course timeline to understand student learning experience are explained

Board 317: Improving Undergraduate STEM Writing: A Collaboration Between Instructors and Writing Center Directors to Improve Peer-Writing Tutor Feedback

Undergraduate STEM writing skills, especially in engineering fields, need improvement. Yet students in engineering fields often do not value writing skills and underestimate the amount of writing they will do in their careers. University writing centers can be a helpful resource, but peer writing tutors need to be prepared for the differences between writing for the humanities and writing in STEM fields. The Writing Assignment Tutor Training in STEM (WATTS) model is designed to improve tutor confidence and student writing. In this innovative training, the writing center supervisor collaborates with the STEM instructor to create a one-hour tutor-training where the tutors learn about the assignment content, vocabulary, and expectations. This multidisciplinary collaborative project builds on previous investigative work to determine the impact of WATTS on students, tutors, and faculty and to identify its mitigating and moderating effects. Data has been collected and analyzed from pre- and post- training surveys, interviews, and focus groups. In addition, the project studies WATTS effects on student writing pre- and post-tutoring. The team will use these results to develop a replicable, sustainable model for future expansion to other institutions and fields. By systematically collecting data and testing WATTS, the investigators will be able to identify its mitigating and moderating effects on different stakeholders and contribute valuable knowledge to STEM fields. This approach assesses the elements of the model that have the most impact and the extent to which WATTS can be used to increase collaboration between engineering instructors and writing centers. The project enables the investigators to expand WATTS to additional engineering courses, test key factors with more instructors, refine the process, and position WATTS for dissemination to a broad audience. As the cost of higher education rises, institutions are pressured to graduate students in four years and engineering curricula are becoming more complex. WATTS presents an economical, effective method to improve student writing in the discipline. Several factors indicate that it has the potential for broad dissemination and impact and will provide a foundation for a sustainable model for future work, as instructors become trainers for their colleagues, allowing additional ongoing expansion and implementation. WATTS serves as a model for institutions (large or small) to capitalize on existing infrastructure and resources to achieve large-scale improvements to undergraduate STEM writing while increasing interdisciplinary collaboration and institutional support

Comparative Cutting Fluid Study on Optimum Grinding Parameters of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Using Flood, Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL), and Nanofluid MQL (NMQL)

Titanium alloys have been of paramount interest to the aerospace industry due to their attractive characteristics. However, these alloys are difficult to machine and require grinding post-processes for quality assurance of the products. Conventional grinding takes a long time and uses a flood coolant-lubrication technique, which is not cost effective nor environmentally friendly. Several studies have been performed to prove the viability and benefit of using Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) with vegetable or synthetic-ester fluids. This work aims to find the optimum grinding parameters of creep feed grinding Ti-6Al-4V with a green silicon carbide wheel, using a flood lubrication system with water-soluble synthetic oil, MQL with ester oil, and nano-MQL (NMQL) using alumina-nanopowder homogeneously dispersed within an ester oil. It is concluded that at 0.635 mm and 1.27 mm infeeds, the three lubrication methods performed similarly. At an infeed of 1.905 mm, MQL did not provide desirable quality, though NMQL and flood lubrication performed practically identically. At a cross feed of 0.254 mm, an infeed of 1.27 mm, and a table feed rate of 6.7 m/min, these grinding parameters provide a material removal rate of 2163 mm3/min with a surface roughness across (Ra) of 0.515 µm. These parameters provide the quickest material removal rate while still maintaining industrial quality. This conclusion is based on environmental, economic, and qualitative results