The mechanical systems laboratory is required for all undergraduates choosing the mechanical systems stem. The objectives of the laboratory are to reinforce the mechanical disciplines taught in courses; to expose the students to selected mechanical technologies, beyond those taught in the class room, thought to be particularly revealing of technologies that will be important in their professional careers; and to convince the students that they can learn material that is not presented in class and to prepare them to do so. Four of the six experiments are conducted at flexible laboratory stations and set up by the students using checked- out equipment. Two are dedicated experimental centers that are on-line so that students can acquire the experiment data, experimental set-up, and analysis tools thru the campus communications network. One of these allows direct student control of the experiment on-line. The major pieces of equipment include a milling machine, equipment for six flexible stations (digital scopes, micro-computers, etc.), vibratory motion, force, and acoustic transducers, and a computer workstation.
