The demand for 160 students is there now but first more staffing is needed. With the current faculty of 23, classes already generally have 100 to 140 students without an extra teaching assistant. Roger Toogood, associate professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a professional mechanical engineer who graduated in 1972. He earned his PhD in mechanical in 1983 and has been on staff since then. He reports that their mechanical engineering graphics program is heavily 3D oriented with students getting both free hand and CAD 3D instruction.
Students learn to sketch pictorials so they can sketch in a brainstorming session.
They learn spatial visualization skills to think in 3D so they understand, for example, orthographic views in engineering drawings. The other half of the course is CAD which takes time to learn, but the pay off is precision. Students learn how to solid model, how to create drawings with dimensions, which sectional views are the most advantageous and how to draw with precision on the computer. For two years prior to 1994, students learned CAD with SilverScreen software from Schroff Development Corp. of Kansas. It lacked the bells and whistles needed for commercial use but there was enough for students to start.