A growing pool of graduates from the two-year community college technology programs has become aware of the need for expanded knowledge and the B.S. degree to enhance their professional opportunities. Unfortunately, many of these graduates are working and are isolated by distance from the limited number of universities that provide the B.S. degree in Technology and by the times they can attend classes. Distance learning provides a solution to this challenge, but creates the dilemma associated with teaching lab-intensive courses off campus. It is too expensive to buy equipment that is used irregularly; yet it is too cumbersome to haul the equipment back and forth. One solution to teaching electronic lab-intensive courses is National Instruments' NI ELVIS (Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite) which integrates both hardware and software to shrink the workspace to only two elements: the experiment interface and a computer. All the traditional instruments (DMM, function generator, oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer) are now software. In addition, specialized instruments such as a transistor curve tracer, programmable power supplies, vector impedance meter, arbitrary waveform analyzer, 8-bit digital bus drivers are included in the suite of software instruments. Both hardware and software are completely open so innovation at the experiment, interfacing, or software level can flourish.

This paper describes the integration of NexGen Ergonomics ManneQuin software with the industry standard AutoCAD. Producing a system that provides designers with a powerful graphical tool to evaluate designs for human factors and safety criteria. Many researchers and designers have wanted to CAD-based ergonomic program for some time, and the absence of a truly integrated system was the motivating factor for program development. This paper explains the steps taken to integrated system was the motivating factor for program development. This paper explains the steps taken to integrate these two software packages. Designers now have an ergonomic CAD system to help design products according to the physical abilities and characteristics of end users. This integrated technology can potentially revolutionize the way products are designed and significantly reduce the alarming number of related injuries, thus saving millions of dollars.

This paper presents a joint effort between engineering students from various majors, and their advisors to design a sophisticated global monitoring system to monitor location of children, Alzheimer patients and other valuable items. This project was part of a capstone design course developed to introduce engineering students to real world problems. This funded project was developed in response to growing problems with children abduction and wondering off Alzheimer patients. This invention has received extensive media coverage since its development. Over 30 million people worldwide heard about the project and its abilities through various media channels such as TV, Internet, radio, and newspapers. This paper discusses the development process from conception to finished product.

This paper studies the latest research on the impact of advanced multimedia technology on the classroom 2000. This paper focuses on one such advanced technology entitled "IPTeam Suite," by Nexprise, Inc, which is starting to become widely used by the industry, but is relatively new to the academia. The application of the IPTeams software in data exchange, information sharing, messaging, and scheduling and documentation and its integration into classroom 2000 are discussed. A joint design course between two universities and an industrial partner, utilizing IPTeam software is also presented. Some of the other new cutting edge educational delivery mode and software such as Asynchronous Learning Networks and ZenPad used in pilot programs in leading universities are also studied.

The process of tenure and promotion can be a harrowing experience for faculty in higher education. A tenured faculty member is one whose job, with a few exceptions, is secured for life. These exceptions typically include the closure of the department, (although a good faith effort may be made to place them in a related department within the university), gross negligence, and sexual harassment. Tenure was designed to protect faculty from the volatile behavior and attitudes of administrators. The process generally occurs in the sixth year of employment and for many can be stressful. A candidate for tenure and promotion is evaluated in the areas of teaching, scholarship and service. This manuscript addresses tactics, strategies and approaches that were utilized by the author to overcome the tenure and promotion process.

This paper explores issues relating to the fields of engineering education that are constantly evolving. Business, industry, and higher education institutions must come to a consensus on what skills, talents and resources engineers need if they are to survive in a technological society. The authors investigate a growing division between higher education and industry. The results of a national survey by the US Consensus Bureau on hiring, training, and management practices in American business indicate an increasing conviction among employers that colleges and universities have not adequately prepared students for rapidly changing market environments. The authors also examine the issues that have apparently contributed to the divergence between industry and academia. To bridge the gap between industry and academia, guidelines are suggested that can result in producing a new generation of engineers. Data were gathered from a survey soliciting perceptions from business, industry and engineering students at various colleges and universities. The results of this survey are also discussed.

A PC-based CAD/CAM/DNC system is used extensively in a university's Machine Tool Technology facility. The system supports CAD development, CNC program generation, and two-way file transfer among PC-compatible computers and multiple CNC controllers. From its modest beginnings, the system has evolved into a simple but robust DNC environment supporting all phases of manual and computer-assisted CNC program development. This case study describes system evolution, hardware and software requirements, the benefits of DNC on CNC operations and overall production, and also includes lessons learned from the experience.

Traditional pedagogical techniques are teacher-centered, frequently entail lengthy lecture sessions or one-way presentations, and involve limited student engagement and participation. Research shows diminishing results of such pedagogical techniques in students' learning especially for millennials. As technological, economic, and cultural forces have fundamentally altered the very foundation of traditional educational models, educators try to figure out how to best meet the needs of students in a personalized, meaningful and timely way. As are result, several new innovative teaching methods have been developed. These methods of content delivery deviate from the traditional model of lecturing and passive learning towards a greater focus on active learning, where greater student interaction is encouraged, the boundaries of authority less defined, and a focus on learning over grades is emphasized. However, for a faculty member, identifying new and engaging ways of teaching and course reorganization can be a time consuming and research intensive process. Sometimes, it may also require a significant technology investment. Despite the faculty member's ardent effort, there is a risk of failure since not all pedagogical techniques work for all courses. However, when executed properly, these innovative techniques keep students engaged and motivated and significantly improve students' learning. In this paper, we refer such innovative teaching techniques as pedagogical risk taking techniques. The paper describes pedagogical risk taking activities of four instructors from three different institutions. It gives a critical look at the effort required to create such teaching methods and the results in terms of improvements in student learning and satisfaction. Findings show that taking pedagogical risk is an important pedagogical tool that instructors should have in order to engage and improve students' learning.

Student retention is an ongoing problem and has been for some time now specially in engineering technology education programs. It is a well-established fact that the quality of interaction between a student and a concerned individual on campus, often through academic advising, is a key contributor to college retention. Professional Academic advisors has developed very significant retention strategies that faculty can learn. It is important that faculty and academic advisors partner to explore effective strategies for student retention. This paper examines effective strategies used by four professional academic advisors in engineering technology programs. A questionnaire was developed and completed by advisors to understand best practices that results in better students’ retention and persistence to graduation.

After the earthquake on April 25, 2015, in Midwestern Nepal, thousands of residential and commercial buildings were damaged. Subsequently, building owners started repairing and reconstructing their damaged buildings. Most of the reconstructed buildings in the cities are reinforced concrete frame structure, but such traditional construction technique is time-consuming and can be costly. Thus, owners and construction companies adapted modular construction as a suitable alternative. While there are benefits of the modular construction, there are challenges that could hinder the wider adaptation of the technique. This study identified and ranked the opportunities and challenges associated with the modular construction technique in developing countries like Nepal. The opportunities and challenges were first identified based on literature review, and a questionnaire survey was developed to rank them based on the perspectives from contractors, architectures, engineers, and manufacturers/distributors that have direct or indirect experience and/or knowledge about modular construction in Nepal. Forty-two validated response were analyzed for this study. The top opportunities identified from this study include a reduction in the construction time; improved productivity; and reduced rework. The top challenges include the competition with the traditional construction techniques; the lack of information about modular construction in the society; and the lack of skilled workers. The findings are expected to aid the modular construction stakeholders in better understanding the opportunities and challenges that they can investigate. Such investigation can further lead to the identification of the solutions to the challenges and hence wider adaptation for the modular construction in developing countries like Nepal where the concept of modular construction is still new.