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abstract: Rowan University is committed to providing undergraduate engineering students with experience in real world problems as part of its engineering curricula. Through the participation of Industrial Affiliates, we have been able to involve undergraduate students in a number of renewable energy research and design projects. This paper describes the structure and methodology of Rowan University's Junior and Senior year clinic model as well as a specific clinic project that provides students with the experiential learning opportunity in which they can apply their engineering knowledge and resourcefulness to a real world project. During the 2010 2011 academic year, Kaneka Corporation of Osaka, Japan sponsored the design, engineering, permitting and installation of a photovoltaic (PV) system test bed located at Rowan University's Rowan Hall, utilizing Kaneka's new multi junction "Hybrid" amorphous modules. The installation required that all work be completed in accordance with local laws and codes as well as be designed for optimal array output. Working in an engineering clinic environment, modeled after the medical school approach, undergraduate engineering students were charged with design and installation of this system to meet any necessary political and design specifications. This involved every aspect of design, including obstruction shading analysis, PV array layout, single line design, specification, procurement and purchasing of all required balance of system (BOS) equipment, as well as plan submittals for Rowan University and New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) approval. Through this engineering clinic model, students learned all the inner workings of how a grid connected PV array goes from concept to reality, ending with a finished product for the client. Most importantly, the Rowan University clinic experience allowed students to effectively communicate with representatives of the sponsoring agency and report the findings of a semester long research, design and development project. Background The four Rowan University Engineering programs offer an inter disciplinary Engineering Clinic program, which consists of an eight semester sequence of courses that must be taken by all Engineering students [1] Freshman students in Chemical Engineering (ChE) Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME) take a 2 credit hour clinic during the fall and spring semesters. At this level, the emphasis is on learning the process of engineering through measurements on exemplar engineering systems, and reverse engineering of typical appliances or processes to illustrate key engineering concepts [2] Students are managed as a class with the composition of each class a mixture of all four disciplines. During the sophomore year, students take 4 credit hour clinics. In the fall, the general education Composition course is integrated with a design project. This emphasizes the importance of technical writing as an integral part of the engineering process. In the spring, the general education Public Speaking course is again integrated with a design project underscoring the importance of oral communication as a vital component of engineering. The final four semesters of Engineering Clinic are designed to provide junior and senior students with the opportunity to collaborate on real world projects for external clients or sponsors and to present solutions by applying multi disciplinary engineering concepts. Each department sponsors approximately 8 15 projects and solicits students from each discipline as appropriate to the project. Students work in small teams usually consisting of 2 5 students. Their projects are typically sponsored by industry partners, government agencies, or can also be student led, entrepreneurial efforts. Recent examples of sponsored projects within the Electrical Computer Engineering department include: development of a statewide energy assurance plan, immersive virtual reality system for storm run off modeling, algorithm development for early detection of Alzheimer's, and a large number of projects focused on the evaluation, design, and implementation of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Example Clinic projects sponsored by other disciplines, such as the Civil Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments include aquifer recharge analysis, fatigue and fracture mechanics studies on recycled concrete aggregates, and development of an automatic energy harvesting kite. A typical Clinic project sequence includes: development of a clear and concise problem statement, background information search and review; design approach development, analysis and simulation, prototyping, testing, and presentation of results via written report and presentation [3] There are Professional Engineers (PEs) on the faculty to provide the required supervision for those projects that require sealed drawings, etc. From the engineering curriculum standpoint Clinic projects provide an opportunity to develop many important skills that expand, reinforce, and complement the student's educational experience. The junior and senior Clinic projects help students progress from basic problem solving techniques to the more advanced techniques needed to deliver a professional final product. At the same time, the Clinic experience helps students improve their technical writing and presentation skills as they work with a customer. Clinic also provides opportunities for evaluating economic, environmental, and societal impacts of their work. More details about the Clinic program experience can be found elsewhere [3 6] Photovoltaic Clinic Project In September of 2010, Kaneka Corporation, one of the world's largest thin film amorphous silicon solar module manufacturers, sponsored the development of a research test bed through the Engineering Clinic to evaluate its multi junction technology solar PV modules. This sponsored project was an ideal fit to Rowan University's Clinic program. A one year project was defined as a multidisciplinary project available to junior and senior students from the four Engineering disciplines (ChE, CEE, ECE, and ME) The objective of the project was to design, permit, specify, install, and monitor a 1.65kW multi junction PV system. This Clinic project provided students with the opportunity to research a cutting edge technology solar module design, implementation, and performance assessment. One of the motivations for sitting the system on Rowan Hall, was to produce energy to offset the electricity cost for illuminate a memorial flagpole for Robert Dusseau, a former Rowan University Engineering student. Once Clinic students complete the design and installation of the array, the system will also generate funds via the Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) program to help supplement a scholarship fund in Robert's name. Solar PV Engineering Clinic Project Overview The design of a solar PV system started with a fundamental review. Clinic students researched and reviewed the basic concepts behind solar PV and the theory of the operation of solar modules in order to gain knowledge and prepare for the assigned project. During their research phase, students learned that a PV system refers to the array of solar modules, their orientation and mounting, wiring and connectors, and the other key components (inverter, switches, fuses) that are used to convert sunlight into electric power and provide it to the grid. The multidisciplinary nature of the students group (the team included ECE, ChE, and CEE students) provided students with the opportunity to develop cross over skills. For example, CEE students learned the dialog of power, and ECE students learned the dialog of structures. The design of the PV system consisted of a series of steps that are critical for determining the efficiency of the system in term of its output and in consideration of the system's installation and maintenance costs. The key steps followed for the design of the PV system at Rowan Hall were: 1) Maximize Solar Resource Irradiance can be defined as the measure of the power density of sunlight and is measured in watts per square meter. Irradiation can be defined as the integration of the irradiance over all daylight hours. On a given time or day, irradiance will vary depending on the time of the day, time of the year, weather and shading. Typically, regardless of weather conditions, irradiance in the middle of the summer is much greater than in the middle of the winter. This is due the orbit and inclination of the earth. The inclination of the earth causes the sun to be higher in the sky in the summer than in the winter and therefore longer days during this period and shorter days during winter. Some of the key concepts students learned as part of the project include: solar modules consist of an array of PV cells, which are constructed of a semiconductor material (usually silicon) Sunlight is made up of energy packets known as photons; each individual solar cell is designed with a positive and negative layer in order to create an electrical field. As photons from sunlight are absorbed into the cell, they provide enough energy to allow for a flow, or current, of electrons towards the bottom of the cell and ultimately through the cell's junction in the form of electricity. The generated current of electricity comes in the form of direct current (DC) However, electrical grid power is alternating current (AC) and therefore an inverter must be used to convert the current from DC to AC and step the voltage up to the required system voltage level. Efficiency of a PV system depends on the irradiance that it is exposed to. Maximizing the efficiency of a PV system requires that solar modules are installed in an area with no obstructions that may shade the PV array, since shading can significantly decrease the power output of a solar module. The orientation of the PV system is se
author_names: Chris C Delia

Peter Mark Jansson

L P E John Schmalzel

Carlos Daniel Barreiro

Kevin Whitten
title: EE Students Complete Photovoltaic R&D for Industry in Electrical Engineering Curriculum
year: 2011

abstract: Hypermedia Systems are being increasingly used as tools for obtaining information and are proving to be very effective instruments in the world of education, making up for the shortcomings of traditional methods. The advantages offered by Hypermedia Systems are numerous, since the student can choose from a set of links how he wishes to proceed on his way through the system, thanks to interactivity, which is one of the most characteristic properties of hypermedia. Moreover, in order to overcome the limitations of traditional Hypermedia Systems which present information in one direction only (from system to user) it has been endowed with the property of being adaptable, both to the student profile and to decision taking. This is based on the information obtained about the student, which will be modified throughout the time the student interacts with the system. Our System is based on triggering a learningfollow up evaluation of the student through the carrying out of objective tests accompanied by personal reports. Hence the student, after acquiring some basic knowledge on a specific topic of Electrical Engineering, will be able to ascertain his stage of learning by means of the undertaking of different objective tests. His answers will not only provide information as to whether he has passed the test, but also will indicate the concepts he needs to study further. He will also be able to gain access, at any given moment, to an explanation of the test in question, and through the help of hypertexts, will be able to navigate towards the information that he would have needed to know in order to answer the item correctly. The System pursues a form of teaching which is closer to the student and adapted to his specific needs, as it is capable of adapting the test contents according to the changing knowledge of the student. This increases accessibility and provides him with the opportunity to do more advanced tests which are aimed at evaluating more complex concepts, using previous achievements as their base. The teacher will, at all times, be aware of the current situation of each of the students, since the programme, with the aid of an e mail server, will keep its data base updated, thus achieving an individualised assessment of the student, something which is impossible in Higher Education in Spain, due to overcrowding in Engineering classrooms. Previous papers have shown the efficiency of the use of objective tests in university studies. Hypermedia Systems are currently being used as a complement to university studies, with a notable improvement in results.
author_names: Lourdes Moran

Piers Barrios

Maria de los Angeles Cavia Soto

J C Lavandero Gonzalez

Jose L Martinez Lastra
title: Application of New Teaching Technologies in Electrical Engineering in the University.
year: 1998

abstract: Gilbert Strang's most recent textbook is remarkable on several fronts. Published in 2019, it contains the key linear algebra and optimization techniques at the forefront of active data science and machine learning practice today. This is an appropriate choice of content because while state of the art machine learning applications can change each month (as in reinforcement learning, language translation, game playing, or image classification) the underlying mathematical concepts and algorithms do not. Some topics (such as numerical algorithms for various tensor problems) are so recent that they are only now being presented as textbook material. This book is an offspring of a current Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mathematics course, Matrix Methods in Data Analysis and Signal Processing, which, in turn, was greatly influenced by a current University of Michigan electrical engineering and computer science course, Matrix Methods for Signal Processing, Data Analysis, and Machine Learning. Both courses are aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students in science and engineering. Undergraduate linear algebra is an explicit prerequisite for the MIT course because the basic concepts of linear algebra (such as vector spaces, subspaces, independence, bases, and linear operators) are assumed to be known. As a result, this is not a text to be used for learning linear algebra. Although the first 100 pages provide a review of many basic matrix concepts, this material does not provide a stand alone introduction to this material. In addition, it is not clear how much classical linear algebra is really needed for gaining exposure to and intuition about modern machine learning techniques. Perhaps the book would be more accurately described as using matrix methods as opposed to linear algebra, as the title states. This book contains a number of remarkable aspects. First, the breadth of material covered is impressive. Discussions of tensor constructs and algorithms, compressed sensing and sketching, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) graph Laplacians, stochastic gradient descent, and convolutional neural networks (among other topics) are included. Second, the Hemmingway esque writing style, consisting of short sentences, unadorned prose, and conversational vocabulary, is a welcome relief from dry, formal, theorem proof mathematics writing. Third, the pedagogical exposition is excellent. The author's previous experience writing outstanding textbooks and monographs (and then actually teaching his courses using them) is apparent. Strang notes what is important and why, where to be careful, and how the key ideas came about. He also uses simple examples (not generalities) to introduce and illustrate concepts. Finally, the book is teeming with insights into the author's singular curiosity and drive to understand. It is clear that Strang embraces new ideas and trends, seeking to understand and explain them in terms of foundational computations and mathematics.
author_names: George V Cybenko
title: Linear Algebra and Learning From Data [Bookshelf]
venue: IEEE Control Systems
year: 2020

abstract: and Background This paper describes the first steps in building, observing, and evaluating a new first year engineering (FYE) program at a flagship R1 university. We start from the beginning, with a brief history of the program, and move into the construction of it as it exists today. We feel there are two items in particular that are of significant interest to the greater community. First there are unique problems that arise when the program is constructed (and expanded into satellite campuses) How to address these issues is of fundamental importance to any emergent FYE program. Also, the nature of flexibility among instructors is a topic frequently ignored by FYE programs and not significantly addressed in the literature a topic among our program colloquially referred to as "going rogue." Within our program, we allow significant deviation to incorporate individual teaching styles while still requiring a core set of exercises to be accomplished by every course section. Starting in 2013, the Dean and Associate Dean for Academics in the College of Engineering visited established FYE programs and began planning implementation of a program suited to our own college. Improving student retention was the primary goal and the secondary goal was to reduce changes of major within the college to help students choose an appropriate major and pursue it to graduation. This phenomenon is not endemic to our program and has been documented by others (Froyd Ohland, 2005) Initial discussions with a working group explored what course changes would be necessary to develop an introductory curriculum acceptable to all nine degree programs. In 2015, a director was appointed from within the college with 50% effort assigned to administering the program. With the help of department representatives, a three course sequence was envisioned to replace the discipline specific "101" courses, either of two computer programming courses and the general education requirement for Inquiry into Arts Creativity. All students must be in pre calculus or beyond to be admitted to the college. The balance of credit hours and course enrollments over the first two semesters requires that some students take chemistry first and others take physics first with or without the labs. The course outlines were approved and all of the degree program curricula were changed in one combined proposal. Facets and Decisions Made Information sessions Each student is required to attend four FYE Information Session (FYE IS) throughout the course. Every FYE IS session is offered in the evening, nearly every weekday, for a period of four weeks in the first semester for two rounds. All nine majors at the College sent full professors (and in some cases multiple full professors, graduate students, and undergraduates) to speak to the students about the unique facets of each department, along with undergraduate opportunities, student groups based within the department, and more. Parity of team members While the teaching team consists of multiple teaching faculty, special title series faculty (STS) on the tenure track, and tenured full professors (including one associate dean) each member of the team is considered equal to others, and contributes to the curriculum of the courses taught. All are referred to as professors in and out of class by students. Construction of the Learning Objectives While the team could not find modern research on the subject, anecdotal evidence from interviews with other FYE teams indicates that many schools have outcomes without objectives the two being radically different constructs. In the appendices, we have included some of our learning objectives. Perhaps most ubiquitous from our conversations with other programs is the nature of how to provide students with opportunities to explore other majors (guided or directed choice) while still helping them feel grounded in their own tentative choice. From informal conversations, it is clear that our students have a perception of engineering that may not necessarily be real and certainly that difficulty is key (Stevens, 2007) Part of the goal of learning objectives within our program is to make them available to students and reiterate them throughout the course sequences in order to demonstrate that difficulty is not the endgame, nor is it productive to think in that fashion. Use of Reflective and Liberative Pedagogies Both the first and third introductory course make significant use of reflective responses and self actualizing modalities (Hirsch McKenna, 2008; Riley, 2003) Students throughout the first and third courses are asked to reflect upon various exercises and asked to contribute to the exercises through feedback. In one example, students were asked to give general rules of thumb for a machine floor optimization problem. Due to some unique and unexpected directions the students took, a reflection assignment was designed, and the proposed exam questions for the module changed based on student engagement and proclivity with various facets of the assignment. Another example of liberative philosophies comes to us from a few of our faculty who invite students to critique and analyze the course syllabi the first day while sitting in a circle. The conversations reported by the faculty indicate that students begin sharing information they did not know would help them in their engineering careers. The third course in the sequence being more of a team design course, employs methods from other design courses from FYE institutions in contact with our team (Adams, 2002; Atman et al. 2007; Crismond Adams, 2012; Turns et al. 2006) One engagement protocol that mixes best practices from Adams' work and is similar to the liberative ones employed by Riley is used by one faculty member who requires all students to stand while discussing an element of design from the project, and the next speaker must amplify the previous student's statement in terms of his own. Students in this scenario must engage in synthetic and reflective thinking each time they want to contribute to a design conversation. Use of Materials from Major Courses One of the most important aspects of this course sequence in FYE is to help students get a glimpse of "real" engineering. In this case, this means providing them opportunities to reflect upon their major using tools developed by individual majors. The third course in the sequence employs elements from directly from chemical, biomedical, mechanical, mining, civil, electrical, and computer science. Another reason this is employed is because all students matriculate under a major designation, thus relieving them of the anxiety of being undecided or having to make a first choice during the school year (Brown Strange, 1981; Titley Titley, 1980) Another more subversive element lies in the fact that although capstone courses are ubiquitous and many agree helpful for engineering students, the link between first and senior year experiences is not as well understood by the engineering education community (Howe, 2010) Some of the materials we use in the FYE program are ones that have been discussed with and developed with faculty from the second year courses at our institution. The goal being to give them a glimpse of items they will reiterate within a year that individual majors believe will be important for junior and senior year studies. Lastly, providing these useful skills in a comfortable learning environment attenuates the feeling that the first year course sequence is a gatekeeper or barrier. Students are highly aware of such courses and when they perceive they're being "weeded out," their behavior changes (Suresh, 2007) Administrative Concerns Administrative issues are handled by one centralized director, with autonomy to direct team members to tasks as needed. The lack of an assistant director is intentional and protects tenure track faculty members from over commitment to administrative responsibilities beyond routine committee work. The director positive answers to the assistant dean in the college of engineering, as the courses themselves are housed under the dean's office, and not any one college. Housing within departments Every team member has a home within the relevant department. All team members have voting privileges at their department meetings. All tenure track members have offices within their departments (and research space where necessary) This sets up a structure where each team member is engaged in conversations and privy to departmental opinions about the FYE program. In departmental meetings and retreats where questions are asked about perceptions about the FYE program, FYE team members must recuse themselves, but are not limited or censured from speaking to fellow faculty members otherwise. Methodology and Incoming Data The majority of work thus far has encompassed student course responses, primary survey analysis, and preliminary results from focus groups. The focus group interviews followed a semistructured protocol revolving around questions of: general understanding of the program and the reason for its establishment; potential benefits of the program for the university and the college; concerns about the shift in curriculum model; and views of what constitutes success or failure of such a program. The general methodology for our qualitative interview process follows that outlined in by Strauss (Strauss, 1987) An external evaluation center performed the interviews and small focus groups to avoid ethical conflicts. Ethnographic data has consisted of informal notes and journals kept by members of the FYE team. The goal of such an informal structure is to preserve natural observations (Anderson, 2003) Since the first year of the course has not been completed, and we have not had an external evaluator to give an independent view of the notes (along with a coding schema) they will not be ready for presentation until the summer. Finally, multiple h
author_names: George Ricco

Janet K Lumpp
title: Work in Progress: The Construction of a New First Year Engineering Program
year: 2017

abstract: One measure of continuous improvement in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is survey feedback from alumni on their workplace readiness. In a recent survey, alumni highlighted oral communication as an area of weakness in the curriculum. When a group of faculty teaching design courses learned about the University's Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC) program, they formed a pilot team to focus on improving student oral presentation skills in the design courses. The CAC program focuses on the oral and written communication as playing an integral role in teaching students reasoning, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. And as faculty development program, it seeks to develop a communication enhanced curriculum (CEC) at the departmental level. The CAC program hosts an annual institute during which departmental teams gain professional development in the areas of oral and written communication. At the 2010 CAC Institute, a team of ECE faculty set the strategic goal to improve ECE students' ability to clearly convey technical information orally during design presentations. The ECE team then met with the CAC coordinator to develop an oral communication rubric for uniform implementation, thus establishing a cohesive assessment across the department's design sequence. Our goal with this approach was to improve oral communication skills among our graduates to increase their opportunities for success in their professional careers. We focused on three important skills in oral presentation: audience analysis, message coherence focus, and message delivery. A team of five faculty four from ECE and the CAC director worked together to develop a rubric to evaluate students oral presentation skills in the sophomore design (ECGR 2252) junior design (ECGR 3157) and senior design (ECGR3253 and ECGR3254) courses. The implementation of the process began by using the rubric in Appendix (a) to evaluate student and team presentations in each of the four courses above. We videotaped the presentations for students to review later so they could learn from their mistakes. We followed teams of students from the sophomore design in the spring 2012 to the Senior Design in the fall 2013, and we tracked and observed their progress from sophomore design to senior design. Our hope was that the results would justify full implementation into other ECE courses by the fall of 2014. This paper describes the process we followed to implement this emphasis on oral communication. This paper also presents a comparison of oral communication performance before and after the emphasis on oral communications was implemented. Data collected is from measurement tools put in place six years ago for ABET Student Outcome reporting. Introduction The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department and the Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC) program worked together on a three year research project to study the impact of instructors' written feedback and students' written reflections on electrical engineering students' speaking skills. Four design courses sophomore, junior, and two senior design P ge 24729.2 classes provided the project's framework. The research involved assessing the presentations of a select group of project students and an equal number of control group students, beginning with the sophomore design class and continuing through the two senior design courses. The project students received feedback via an analytic rubric. The benefits of using rubrics are shown in Conrad et al The Project students viewed their videotaped presentations and wrote a reflective paper on their performances. The control group did not receive feedback, although their presentations were scored using the rubric. At the conclusion of the senior design class, a statistical analysis of the data was expected to support the project's overall objective: that student' speaking skills would improve with multiple opportunities for practice and feedback. The ECE department was invested in this project because communication skills are criteria by which the department is judged for accreditation. The university community stands to benefit from the knowledge created because our findings address oral communication goals stated in the 2008 UNC tomorrow report, a system wide visioning document. This project has the potential to increase student engagement in the discipline, and we hope it will become a campus wide model of how pedagogical revision can speak to the objectives of the Quality Enhancement Program that is part of the SACS assessment. The strategic goal of this project was to improve the oral communication skills of all undergraduate electrical engineering students. The research question was whether this strategic goal could be achieved via instructors' post performance feedback and students' reflective writing. We investigated this question through a statistical comparison of the effectiveness of the oral presentations made by the project students with those made by a control group of students. The assessment data needed for this comparison was based mostly on the blind judgment of third party evaluators in the second senior design class. Project research overview The objective of this joint research project was to test the hypothesis that students' speaking skills would improve with multiple opportunities for practice, self reflection, and instructor feedback. The methodology was to statistically compare the speaking effectiveness of a select group of project students with an equal number of control group students after all students were given multiple opportunities for practice. However, the presentations of only the project students were videotaped for their self assessments, and only the project students received feedback from the instructors. Four curriculum required designs courses namely, sophomore, junior, and two senior design classes, provide the project's framework. The project concluded in fall 2013, when third party evaluators judged all student presentations in the Senior Design class oral presentation without knowing who the project students were. Project Narrative A. Specific Aims The overall purpose of this research was to improve the oral communication skills of approximately 350 undergraduate electrical engineering students by providing multiple opportunities for practice and feedback. The project's objective was to determine whether or not the quality of students' oral presentations improved after post performance feedback and reflective writing. We determined this through a statistical comparison of the control group and the select group of project students. P ge 24729.3 The proposed project addressed the following research questions: a. Is the level of audience awareness and interaction (aai) higher for the project students than for the control group? b. Is the level of message coherence and focus (mcf) higher for the project students than for the control group? c. Is the level of message delivery effectiveness (mde) higher for the project student than for the control group? These questions generated the criteria by which we would evaluate the students' oral presentations. Both the questions and the criteria were generated in a July 2011 meeting, during which, after much discussion, the faculty team determined that audience awareness and interaction, message coherence and focus, and message delivery effectiveness became priority criteria because students demonstrated weaknesses in these areas. The rationale for the project was partially driven by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's recent addition of communication standards for accrediting engineering programs (ABET 3) The current research on oral communication in electrical engineering has grown as a result of this development, along with the realization that oral presentations are frequently utilized in professional engineering practice. Hence, the ECE faculty has created programmatic student learning outcomes that address the need for students to practice communicating their ideas orally to both professional and lay audiences. To link the project to professional workplace readiness, the design faculty will continue the current practice of asking a panel of local engineers to evaluate the students' final presentations in the second senior design class. To plan this project, the ECE design team and the CAC coordinator met twice during the summer of 2011 to develop a standardized analytic rubric for use during the study. We then tested the rubric during a senior design presentation in October 2011 and revised it to improve its usability. The impact goal of the proposed project was the creation of new pedagogy that is more effective in imparting oral communication skills to electrical engineering students in order to prepare graduates for oral presentations required for employability and professional advancement. The CAC program seeks to use the knowledge gained to assist other departments across campus who seek to improve their students' oral communication skills. B. Literature Review Past and current research speaks to the need for a pedagogical shift in the general engineering curricula from a purely technical focus to one that integrates written and oral communication. Darling and Dannels, in "Practicing Engineers Talk about the Importance of Talk," note that there has been a "disparity between the perceived importance of communication and the respective preparation students receive on communication related tasks" in engineering and the need to provide students with practice and preparation in speaking. Currently, scholars and teachers are working with engineering departments to respond to this disparity in a variety of theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical ways. Incorporating public speaking requirements into the curriculum and aligning oral communication assignments with workplace e
author_names: Nabila A Bousaba

James M Conrad

Jean L Coco

Mehdi Miri

Robert W Cox
title: Incorporating Oral Presentations into Electrical and Computer Engineering Design Courses: A Four Course Study
year: 2014

abstract: Open Educational Resources (OER) represent a small but growing portion of the educational resources market, but the use of OER in engineering is limited. This study seeks to identify the current adoption patterns of OER in engineering mechanics courses and barriers to adoption. Research questions are examined through the lens of Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation model. A survey of mechanics instructors across the United States, combined with publicly available data from college and university websites, were used to identify instructor practices and opinions regarding OER. During the 2017 2018 academic year, widespread OER usage was found at only a handful of institutions. However, knowledge of OER among mechanics instructors was high, and many instructors reported an interest in OER for their courses. A lack of quality OER content for engineering mechanics courses seems to be the primary barrier to more widespread adoption. Background and Introduction This study aims to explore the current state of Open Educational Resources (OER) use in introductory engineering mechanics courses. According to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation: Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others. OER include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge (2019) While an increasing amount of data exists on the use of OER in higher education, there is very little research on the use of OER in engineering specifically. This study examines the current use of OER in engineering education and identifies barriers to adoption in the engineering curriculum through a survey of mechanics instructors and analysis of publicly available data from college and university websites. Using OER in the Classroom When used in place of traditionally published commercial content, OER can have several advantages. First, OER are free to use. In a study of five large institutions pushing to utilize more OER in their classes, researchers found that OER saved students an average of $128 per class (Senack 2015) With the College Board (2017) advising students to budget between $1,220 and $1,420 a year for textbooks and other supplies, it becomes clear that OER has a huge potential for lowering the cost of college. In fact, the increase in the cost of textbooks far exceeds the rate of inflation (Popken 2015) and everyone from educators (Tovar Piedra 2014) to non profits (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 2019) to legislators (Polis et al. 2017) are seeking to rein in costs. Rapidly increasing textbook costs go beyond an inconvenience to an issue of access. Up to 65% of students declined to buy or rent a textbook due to cost, even though 94% of those same students thought it hurt their grades in that course (Senack 2015) Beyond being free to students, the licensing agreements on open resources also make them fundamentally more adaptable for instructors. This allows instructors to mix and match resources, add self authored content as they see fit, and contribute to the evolution of the resources that they employ for teaching. While this authoring and adaptation may take extra time on the part of the instructor, past research has shown that instructors overwhelmingly tend to adapt educational innovations to their setting, rather than adopting them verbatim (Henderson Dancy 2007) The ethos of creative commons and public domain licenses play into the tendency, giving instructors more control. When examining the effect of OER on student learning, the results are generally positive. Most direct comparisons of traditionally published materials and OER show no advantage one way or the other in terms of student learning outcomes (Allen et al. 2015; Winitzky Stephens Pickavance 2017) Some smaller studies found learning gains associated with OER (Ackovska Ristov 2014; Llamas Nistal Mikic Fonte 2014; QingHua et al. 2014) but in many of these cases there was a significant shift in content delivery methods beyond simply opening up the content. There are other studies, however, where significant impacts on student learning were observed due to increases in access and affordability. Researchers at the University of Georgia in a multi year university wide study found significant drops in DFW grades (i.e. students receiving D grades, F grades, or withdrawing from the course) along with corresponding increases in the B+ and higher grades when courses implemented OER into their classrooms (Colvard et al. 2018) This positive impact was concentrated in low income students, as indicated by Pell Grant eligibility. There is nothing about the structure of OER that makes it a better learning resource than traditionally published content for students when everyone has equal access, but access is not equal. OER improves the learning environment by making access to learning resources more equitable. Despite the above considerations, OER represented a relatively small share (9% of the overall textbook market in higher education for the 2016 2017 academic year (Seaman Seaman 2017) This was a significant rise over the 5% recorded in 2015 2016, but still far from a majority. Seaman Seaman (2017) found large, introductory, multi section courses such as calculus, chemistry, and physics had the highest rates of adoption (16.5% and that the OpenStax textbooks series (https:/openstax.org/ represented the dominant provider of open content in the population studied. OER in Engineering Education When examining the effects of OER in engineering education specifically, we find more limited research and resources. As librarians seeking to increase the use of OERs at two western US institutions, Anderson et al. (2017) found that "few resources existed for specialized upperdivision engineering courses." In a survey of engineering faculty reported in the same study, the authors observed that 59% of the faculty interviewed had little or no familiarity with OER. Others acknowledged possible benefits (reduced costs and customization) but also reported concerns about quality and difficulty finding engineering OER. Further responses from faculty indicated that some used OER to supplement commercial texts rather than replace them, which would increase awareness and discussion even if high textbook costs remain an issue. As the authors note, "one size does not fit all when it comes to open education," and strategies to increase the use of open resources may vary from one class to the next. Some engineering OER textbooks and resources do exist and can be found in repositories such as MERLOT (http:/merlot.org/merlot/index.htm) or the Open Textbook Library (https:/open.umn.edu/opentextbooks) but options are more limited than with "general education" subjects such as chemistry, economics, math, physics, etc. Additionally, it can be noted that OpenStax, the predominant OER publisher in higher education (Seaman Seaman 2017) does not currently offer any OER for engineering subjects, further speaking to the limited availability of these resources in engineering. Tovar and Piedra (2014) provide a review of OER related to computer and electrical engineering specifically, but no such reviews seem to be available for other engineering subjects. Overall, OERs seems to be limited in engineering, along with limited reviews of OER materials, and limited research within the context of engineering education. The Adoption of Other Innovations in Engineering Education Because of limited OER adoption in engineering subjects and limited research on OER adoption in engineering education, the authors also sought to examine the adoption patterns of other educational innovations in engineering education to help shed light on how OER might be adopted in the community. The spread of innovations such as problem based learning, instant feedback system (clickers) just in time teaching, think pair share, as well as several other innovations have been more thoroughly examined than the spread of OER. In particular, Borrego and colleagues (Borrego et al. 2010; Borrego et al. 2013; Borrego Henderson 2014) have done a lot of work in the area of the spread of innovations in engineering education. Borrego noted extensive research surrounding the effectiveness of the learning innovations in her study, though adoption rates of these innovations remain low. Simply proving the worth of an educational innovation through research does not lead to widespread adoption within the engineering education community, highlighting the importance of understanding the spread of the innovation. This conclusion mirrors work done in physics education, where research found that adoption of pedagogical innovations remains limited even if awareness of these innovations and motivations to implement them are high (Henderson Dancy 2007; Dancy Henderson 2010) Rogers Diffusion of Innovation Model Following the lead of Borrego and colleagues (Borrego et al. 2010; Borrego et al. 2013) the authors chose to use Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation model (2003) as a guide to understand the spread of an innovation. This model is a framework for understanding how ideas or tools spread through a social system. Since its introduction in the early 1960s, the model has become a staple of social science and was used in this study as a framework through which we can examine the adoption of OER as an innovation. Rogers' model proposes that the four main elements that impact the spread of a new idea: the nature of the innovation itself, the communication channels, time, and the social system in which the innovation is being adopted. Each of these elements, along with the characteristics of OER adopters, will be addressed in the Results and Discussion sec
author_names: Jacob P Moore

Thomas L Reinsfelder
title: Current Usage Patterns of Open Educational Resources in the Engineering Mechanics Classroom and Barriers to Adoption
year: 2020

abstract: As a response to both the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and a recent approval of a change by the New York State Board of Regents to allow multiple pathways for graduation, this curriculum project, which will be referred to as a unit plan throughout the paper, was designed to meet the need for more units of study that apply mathematical modeling in algebra to real world situations that allow students to explore applications of mathematics in careers. The unit plan on rearranging algebraic equations using electrical circuit applications is aligned to the New York State Common Core Learning Standards for mathematics (NYSCCLSM) and addresses mathematical modeling, mathematical practice standard 4. This unit plan, which may provide a method by which algebra and career technical education (CTE) teachers can continue to work toward the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) goal of preparing students for both college and career success "About The Standards Common Core State Standards Initiative," N.D. was validated by presenting a single lesson to a small group of students as a pilot study. Responses from the post lesson student survey indicate that there was a positive change in their average attitude toward rearranging equations with more than one variable. More investigation is required to refine the lessons and prove that this entire unit plan is useful in a larger setting and to a wider student audience. REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Over the past century, the standard focus of high school education preparation has changed from preparing most students to be immediately employable in an entry level job toward preparing most students to continue their education in college or a trade school before entering a career. This phenomenon is understandable because the quick pace of technological advance has created many new careers with a higher level of complexity. However, there are still many traditional skilled trades, such as an electrician, that can be entered into upon the completion of a high school degree because an apprenticeship period is required. The following advertisement for electrical apprentices aired in Lansing, MI in 2000: "The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' [IBEW] apprenticeship program is an opportunity for young men and women to prepare for successful, challenging, and well paying careers. Apprenticeship with the IBEW provides skills training and the tools you need to build a bright future. If you are at least 17, with a high school diploma or GED, have strong algebra skills, and a desire to join the electrical industry, apply for apprenticeship." (Hill, 2002, p.450) While there has been an emphasis on academic instruction during electrical apprenticeships, since the inception of the IBEW, this advertisement was one of the first to highlight the connection that people considering this field need a strong background in algebra before becoming apprentices. The year 2000 was also the same year that the book entitled Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (Standards) (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000) was published. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) clearly defined the expectations for student learning in algebra and other high school mathematics. The Standards gave rise to the expectation that students of algebra should be able to "write equivalent forms of REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 2 equations, inequalities, and systems of equations and solve them with fluency" (p. 296) and "use mathematical models to represent and understand quantitative relationships" (p. 303) was strongly suggested. With the legal adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in 2010, which reiterated much of the NCTM's Standards, the emphasis on real world application and mathematical modeling practices has become a necessary component of the algebra curriculum. As Common Core standards are being implemented more rigorously in order to make students ready for demanding careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) more teachers of mathematics are looking for ways to engage their classes in mathematical discussions that relate to real world applications that students may encounter in their chosen career path. One need only look at the last two years of the Mathematics Teacher, a magazine published by the NCTM, to find articles relating to mathematics modeling lesson plans that include finding a cell phone by triangulation (Anhalt Cortez, 2015) and an analysis of historical engineering events such as the completion of the first transcontinental railroad (Perham Perham, 2015) These scenarios, when properly presented, may increase a student's engagement with mathematics because they become fascinated with the thought that mathematics relates to their ability to solve future real world problems. Unit Plan The purpose of this thesis is to develop a mathematical modeling exemplar unit plan that is both STEM oriented for professional development of algebra and CTE (Career and Technical Education) teachers to engage students in learning algebra by using basic electric circuit formulae. Students today are very engaged with their electronic gadgets as play and understanding circuits could lead to many different career paths in electrical engineering and electronics technology when they understand that a strong foundation in algebra is needed for that career path. This unit REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 3 connects an algebra student's prior knowledge of electric circuits from the fourth grade and middle school Physical Sciences units on Energy "Draft New York State P 12 Science Learning Standards Next Generation Science Standards P 12 NYSED," 2015) in order to deepen their understanding of rearranging equations. This unit plan may then form a platform for students to do well in other high school science classes such as chemistry, physics and digital electronics, because they will have a firm foundation of the models of algebraic operations necessary to transform equations so they can solve problems using complex formulae with multiple variables. It also directly supports the Next Generation Science Standard (NGSS) HS PS3 6 which has students analyze data to "support the claim that Ohm's Law describes the mathematical relationship among the potential difference, current, and resistance of an electric circuit" "Draft New York State P 12 Science Learning Standards Next Generation Science Standards P 12 NYSED," 2015) as well as the Common Core mathematical standards of A.CED.3 which states, "Represent constraints by equations or inequalities, and by systems of equations and/or inequalities, and interpret solutions as viable or non viable options in a modeling context" and A.CED.4 which states, "Rearrange formulas to highlight a quantity of interest, using the same reasoning as in solving equations. For example, rearrange Ohm's law V IR to highlight resistance R." "New York State P 12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics EngageNY," n.d. Students will have the opportunity to manipulate resistive circuits in a variety of mediums: from a very concrete representation using batteries, resistors, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and conductive dough through pictorial representations of circuits in emulators to written descriptions which are then translated into classical electrical formulae that will be manipulated to highlight variables of interest. Through the use of concrete models of circuits, students will be guided to REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 4 understand the usefulness of rearranging complex equations before substituting numbers to find an optimum solution to an engineering problem. The individual lessons in this unit plan do not have to be taught all together, but they should be taught in a sequence that is supplementary to the textbook lessons about rearranging equations. They can either be used to introduce the conceptual understanding of how rearranging equations is useful in a real world context or they can be used to improve procedural skills that a student already knows but needs a real world context to solidify the concept. Ideally, these lessons should be part of an iterative learning process because "conceptual and procedural knowledge appear to develop in a hand over hand process." (Rittle Johnson, Siegler, Alibali, 2001, p. 360) Students may benefit most from this unit plan by exploring and absorbing the mathematical concepts and procedures over time throughout the year. Terms and Definitions BOCES Board of Cooperative Educational Services CCSS Common Core State Standards CTE Career and Technical Education EIA Electronic Industries Association ELA English Language Arts IBEW International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, an electrician's union NCTM National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NSPIE National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education NYCCLS New York Common Core Learning Standards NGSS Next Generation Science Standard STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 5 Light emitting diode A low power substitute for a standard resistive light bulb. Ohm's law The current flowing through a metallic conductor is proportional to the electromotive force applied across its ends, provided the temperature and all other conditions remain constant."Ohm's law," 2016) REARRANGING EQUATIONS USING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review Mathematics and Career Education in New York Over the past 150 years, the New York State Education Department and the Board of Regents has increasingly shifted the mathematical requirements for high school graduation to more rigorous standards that are appropriate for students entering higher education than entering directly into careers. The current Regents exa
author_names: Susan L Sommers
title: Rearranging Algebraic Equations Using Electrical Circuit Applications: A Unit Plan Aligned to the New York State Common Core Learning Standards
year: 2016

abstract: Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Tumours Amit Gulab Deshwar Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Toronto 2019 Tumours are composed of multiple subpopulations, each of which has its own genotype and phenotype. These genotypes are related to each other in an evolutionary tree, where the root of the tree is the germline genome. Subpopulation genotypes are therefore typically characterized in terms of their somatic mutations. These mutations are responsible for the tumour's properties. Finding the genotype of these different subpopulations can help study cancer biology and provide more accurate predictions of patient outcomes. Determining the genotype of these subpopulations from a limited number of sequenced bulk tumour samples is the subclonal reconstruction problem. As the number of subpopulations present is not known, and the subpopulations are related to each other in a tree, using non parametric, tree structured clustering algorithms is a natural approach to solve this problem. I present three advances in subclonal reconstruction. In the first I present an algorithm that expands the set of mutations available for subclonal reconstruction by modeling the interaction between two types of mutations, Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs) and Copy Number Alterations (CNAs) CNAs affect the observed evidence of SNVs in a way that depends on their evolutionary relationship. Thus, to perform subclonal reconstruction on CNA affected SNVs, the reconstruction must include both types of mutations. I develop the method PhyloWGS and demonstrate accurate subclonal reconstruction in the face of SNV/CNA interactions. The choice of non parametric prior used affects subclonal inference. Different priors favour different trees and have different technical attributes. I compare the treeCRP prior against the Tree Structured Stick Breaking (TSSB) prior. This is the first use of the treeCRP prior in subclonal reconstruction. I found that the treeCRP had better mixing and lower computational cost compared to the TSSB but generated less accurate subclonal reconstructions. When performing subclonal reconstruction multiple trees can fit the observed data equally well. Incorporating pairwise haplotypes in subclonal reconstruction reduces this ambiguity. These haplotypes are inferred on the basis of reads that span the loci of two mutations. I incorporate pairwise haplotypes in subclonal reconstruction with a new algorithm called PhyloSpan. I demonstrate more accurate subclonal
author_names: Amit G Deshwar
title: Reconstructing the Evolutionary History of Tumours
year: 2019

abstract: Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a linear programming based data analytic method for measuring the relative efficiency of organisational units where the presence of multiple inputs and outputs makes comparisons difficult. Academic departments have critical importance for a university so we agree to research and compare about academic faculties in a leading university in Turkey. The aim of the study is to measure the relative efficiency of the academic faculties and determine the efficient/inefficient ones in the studied university. 12 faculties of the university are investigated within the scope of this study. The input variables are considered as total number of academic staff, total number of non academic staff, number of students and the output variables are as number of publications, number of projects and the percentage of budget used. While results of CCR model show an average of 90.5% relative efficiency value, five faculties are found 100% efficient according to the CCR model. According to BCC model, the results have an average of 93.7% and 6 faculties are 100% efficient. In terms of the potential improvements evaluated for each inefficient faculty, it is seen that faculty of mechanical engineering and faculty of civil engineering are the ones requiring the most improvement. This paper contributes to the literature a lot however it is a new and proper study on efficiency analysis of faculties of a Turkish university. On conclusion of the DEA efficiency scores, the existence of misallocation of resources or/and inefficient applications to the faculties' academic development are uncovered. Keywords: data envelopment analysis, efficiency, academic faculties 1. Introduction With increasing number of students enrolling in Turkish universities, leading universities has faced with the problem of providing higher education in a more effective manner that enables existing resources to be used to meet increasing demand M. Gul M. Yucesan O Duman 9/3 (2017) 60 71 Isletme Arastirmalari Dergisi Journal of Business Research Turk 61 for education. As the most advanced city of Turkey, Istanbul has the most leading public universities. Increasing competition and university management' desire to reach a better place in overall ranking by utilizing scarce resources indicate that efficiency evaluation may become more common among these universities. Each university has a certain number of faculties. The evaluation of the efficiency of these academic faculties is part of the process of resource allocation within a university (Lopes and Lanzer, 2002) Academic faculties compete and cooperate with others within a university to demonstrate their capabilities to the stakeholders inside and outside the university. This prompts university management to use a permanent process of cross evaluation of departments within the university. DEA as a data oriented approach is frequently applied by researchers for evaluating the efficiency of a set of decisions making units (DMUs) which convert multiple inputs into multiple outputs. Especially in the recent literature, several studies are carried out in academic environments to measure performance and efficiency using DEA method. Each study is distinguished from its scope, DMUs, and input/output variables. A brief explanation of these related studies is provided in the following. It is noted that these studies can deal with efficiencies of universities, academic sub units within universities and their environments. The focus of this study is related with the faculties as sub units of the universities. Avkiran (2001) focuses on the evaluation of the relative efficiency of Australian universities using DEA. They propose three performance models as overall performance, performance on delivery of educational services, and performance on feepaying enrolments. They conclude based on 1995 data that the universities perform well on technical and scale efficiency but there is room for improving performance on feepaying enrolments. Lopes and Lanzer (2002) deal with the issue of performance evaluation of fifty eight academic departments at a Brazilian university using DEA. The results of DEA in the dimensions of teaching, research, service and quality are modelled under fuzzy environment and then a single index of performance for each department is generated. Tauer et al. (2007) study for technical and allocative efficiencies of academic departments in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University using DEA. They use various specifications of outputs and inputs to determine sensitivity of results to specification. It is concluded that allocations of faculty time between teaching, research, and extension vary by department and are used as unique prices in calculating allocative efficiencies. Kao and Hung (2008) apply DEA to assess the relative efficiency of the academic departments at a university in Taiwan. They consider outputs as total credit hours, publications, and external grants; and the inputs as personnel, operating expenses, and floor space. Tzeremes and Halkos (2010) apply bootstrapped DEA in order to determine the performance levels of 16 departments of a public owned university in Greece. They conclude that there are strong inefficiencies among the departments, indicating misallocation of resources or/and inefficient application of departments policy developments. Agha et al. (2011) study the evaluation of the relative technical efficiencies of academic departments at the Islamic University in Gaza during the years 2004 2006 using DEA. They use operating expenses, credit hours and training resources as inputs and number of graduates, promotions and public service activities as outputs variables. Results of their study show that the average efficiency score is 68.5% and that there are 10 efficient departments out of the 30 studied. Al Shayea and Battal (2013) investigate the efficiency of eighteen faculties in a university in Saudi Arabia for M. Gul M. Yucesan O Duman 9/3 (2017) 60 71 Isletme Arastirmalari Dergisi Journal of Business Research Turk 62 the academic year 2011 2012 using DEA. They use the number of students enrolled, the number of teachers and staff as inputs, and the total number of students with a bachelor's degree and a number of research as outputs. The results show that 55.5% are efficient with average of 0.88 in terms of variable return to scale efficiency. The university obtains average scale efficiency 0.68 and only three faculties reach at the frontier. The aim of the paper is to estimate and analyse the efficiency of faculties of a leading university for the year 2014 using DEA. Although there are numerous studies focused on the efficiency of universities, university departments and so on in different countries around the world using various parametric and non parametric methods (Kokkelenberg et al. 2008; Al Shayea and Battal, 2013; Izadi et al. 2002; Glass et al. 2006; McMillan and Chan, 2006; Worthington and Lee, 2008; Abbott and Doucouliagos, 2003; Tzeremes and Halkos, 2010; Johnes and Johnes, 1993; Tauer et al. 2007; Kao and Hung, 2008; Colbert et al. 2000; Agha et al. 2011) it is limited in Turkey. Therefore, we aim at contributing the current literature by this way considering efficiency analysis of faculties of a Turkish university. 2. Material and Method In this section, we present the data used in evaluating the efficiency of faculties of the observed university and DEA methodology, respectively. 2.1. Data The observed university has 12 faculties. Considering all selection criteria, the research sample includes 12 DMUs spanning all of the faculties as shown in Table 1. Table 1 Decision making units Faculties (DMUs) 1 Faculty of Education 2 Faculty of Electrical Electronics 3 Faculty of Arts Science 4 Faculty of Naval Architecture and Maritime 5 Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences 6 Faculty of Civil Engineering 7 Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering 8 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering 9 Faculty of Architecture 10 Faculty of Art Design 11 Technical Vocational School of Higher Education 12 School of Foreign Languages To ensure meaningful efficiency scores, the number of DMUs must be large enough relative to the number of input and output variables. We have 3 inputs and 3 outputs variables as in Table 2. We obtain input data from Academic Activity Report of the observed university for the year 2014. On the other hand, output data is provided by three various source. We provide data of number of publications from encourage publication list for the semester 2013 2014. While the data of number of projects is M. Gul M. Yucesan O Duman 9/3 (2017) 60 71 Isletme Arastirmalari Dergisi Journal of Business Research Turk 63 obtained from the university project support office, the percentage of budget used data is received from Directorate of Strategy Development of the university. After input and output variables were finalized, a data sheet is designed in such a way that the values of these variables are filled in by different departments and units. University website, publications, and brochures are used in data collection. The collected data within the scope of this study are shown in Table 3. All variables are belonged to the year 2014 except from the variable number of publication. NP variable is included by 2013 2014 academic year data (1.10.2013 30.09.2014) because the data after September 2014 has not published yet. It will be published after 2014 2015 academic year. Another reason that we used 2013 2014 academic year's data is that most of data belongs to the year 2014. Table 2 Data type and source Variable Data source Total Number of Academic Staff (NA) Academic Activity Report of the year 2014 Total Number of Non academic Staff (NN) Academic Activity Report of the year 2014 Number of Students (NS) Academic Activity Report of the year 2014 Number of Publications (PB) How many SCI, SSCI o
author_names: Melih Yucesan

Onur Duman

Muhammet Gul
title: An Efficiency Evaluation Model for Academic Faculties of a Leading University by Data Envelopment Analysis
year: 2017

abstract: LANA Advanced Systems a multidisciplinary Capstone Project team, has designed and built a quarter scale model home and embedded system interface board to connect control modules to enable K 12 students to interact with a high quality educational manipulative to foster interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics. The interface board has been designed to be able to support future modules. This quarter scale model home, known henceforth as HANS (Home Automated Networking System) is four feet wide, eight feet long, three feet high, and has a roof with a one foot peak. The roof is split evenly between an asphalt shingle analog and a corrugated metal analog that one would find on a real home. HANS is equipped with six different sensors in each room; these sensors are ambient light, ambient temperature, relative humidity, pressure, moisture level, and motion detection. All sensor data is processed through an intelligence board, The Texas Instruments CC3200, to a cloud platform, Cayenne, and is displayed for user interaction. HANS is also equipped with control modules. These control modules include servo motors for automatic window shades, a front door lock, zone control air vents, and motion flags. HANS is also equipped with five cameras located around the model home. One in each room that displays a live view of the control modules, and one outside that shows the heat lamp simulators and the exterior of the house. The purpose of HANS is to be an educational manipulative for STEM outreach in primarily K 12 education. Teachers from around Texas will come to Texas A&M to learn more about STEM topics, and HANS will help facilitate this learning. When these teachers return to their schools with this new knowledge, they will also be able to access HANS to run experiments remotely with students. This can be accomplished through Cayenne, a cloud based service and the WyzeCam smartphone application which displays live and recorded video feeds from the house Over the course of 10 months, LANA Advanced Systems has designed and built HANS. The design process included electrical design as well as mechanical, structural, and software design. Introduction/Background The Home Automated Networking System (HANS) is an educational manipulative for the purpose of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outreach and applied research into the field of Internet of Things (IoT) Because STEM outreach enables interested students to experience unique learning potentials, The Texas A&M University Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution (ETID) department requires a model home for their summer STEM education program. This program brings educators from around the state to Texas A&M to give them tools to excite young minds about learning about STEM. Internet of Things describes the integration of intelligent devices into our everyday life; IoT enables these devices to send and receive data to the internet, usually via a cloud based platform. IoT is used in a variety of applications in everyday life; these applications include but are not limited to: health and welfare, safety and security, energy and cost management, and home automation and convenience. An example of health and welfare is a heart monitor that is connected to an application on a smartphone. Safety and security typically consists of smart cameras located at entry points outside a house that will notify the homeowner if it sees motion activity. An example of energy and cost management is a smart Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) unit that can be updated via an application on a smartphone. The category of home automation and convenience would include smart window blinds that react to lighting from inside and outside the home. For HANS specifically, we are focusing on home automation and convenience. This will take the form of smart blinds, lights, door locks, zone controlling HVAC vents, and a motion flag to simulate human activity[1] Description of Project The Electronic Systems Engineering Technology (ESET) Department at Texas A&M University has continuously enhanced its curriculum into a learning experience that culminates with the completion of a two semester Capstone project. This ever evolving program now includes more laboratory experience than ever and over half of the courses involve major projects that utilize real industry sponsors along with real industry projects. These hands on learning environments lead to a type of experiential learning that is unrivaled by other more theory centric programs. By the time that an ESET student graduates, he or she will have pursued, managed, and delivered a real life industry project. The sponsors for these projects vary from smaller local companies to the Department of Defense and the United States Air Force to NASA[2] This rigorous culmination experience provides a crucible through which aspiring engineers grow and develop into industry ready professionals. Capstone projects expose developing engineers to experiences in other aspects of industry such as project management, project planning, budgeting, and marketing. These useful life skills give TAMU ESET students a beneficial competitive edge in industry with marketable skills and experience defining and solving unique engineering challenges. With this context in mind, LANA is creating a scaled model home for the purposes of STEM outreach and applied research in the field of smart home technology. The model home will function as a tool for educators to use in order to ignite a passion in the hearts of their students for engineering and technology. This will be focussed on the fields of additive manufacturing, smart network connectivity, and energy management technology. The Home Automated Networking System (HANS) provides a solution for this need for a model smart home with functionality using Internet of Things. Internet of Things refers to a collection of devices connected through a network. These devices can be a multitude of different things to include computing devices, sensors, and physical objects such as actuators or relays. There are four main areas that make up IoT: home automation and convenience, energy cost and management, health and wellness, and safety and security. This understanding of IoT is one topic that four researchers from Texas A&M University are trying to teach. Those four researchers from the Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution (ETID) Department at Texas A&M University were award a National Science Foundation grant to promote interest in STEM careers in classrooms across Texas. The ETID department will be utilizing HANS primarily as a teaching tool to promote interest in STEM careers with a long term objective towards remote outreach. HANS will be used in STEM education by showing teachers different lab experiments and teaching them how they work. These experiments will all be relevant to the fields of smart technology and IoT connectivity as they can be applied in a home[3] For the scope of this project, this technology is applied to a number of control and sensor parameters within the functionality of the house. HANS has fifteen functional requirements and performance specifications. These range from the physical measurements of the model to the sensor requirements to the internet connectivity protocols. HANS has the ability to control internal temperature, light levels, and a number of other physical systems such as door locks and window blinds. Along with these functionalities, the system has the ability to sense ambient temperature, internal temperature, internal lighting levels, ambient light, humidity, water levels, and motion. All of these sensors are connected to a local network through a custom designed intelligence board. This multi functional intelligence board, paired with a TI CC3200 Launchpad will provide the monitoring and control of the system. These aspects will be covered in more detail in this paper.
author_names: Luke Kindelin

Joseph A Morgan

Jacob Brookins

A A Tijerina

Abigail Morris
title: Sophisticated 1:4 Scale Internet of Things Model Home for K 12 STEM Outreach
year: 2019