The College of Engineering at the University of Alabama has a student population which is more than 19% minority and just under 20% female students. The Department of Aerospace Engineering has a curriculum designed to provide students with a broad-based practical education. Accordingly, almost all of the aerospace engineering courses are complemented with experimental facilities. The one subject area which is not complemented by a laboratory is that of propulsion. This proposal hopes to obtain support for a laboratory at the University of Alabama which is unique to undergraduate propulsion education, not only due to the equipment, but also in the way in which the subject matter is taught. The laboratory will be based on a small, fully-operational turbojet engine, its accompanying test chamber, and a data acquisition and control computer. The exciting, new pedagogical approach to be taken to teach propulsion utilizing the proposed laboratory was originally developed by researchers in the field of secondary school science education. The structure of the new propulsion systems course will follow what is called a learning cycle strategy. This teaching approach represents a major departure from that used for traditional engineering courses. In particular, the laboratory component will have a different focus; by using the learning cycle, laboratory experiences precede lecture material. The propulsion laboratory based on this proposed equipment would primarily support the undergraduate course in propulsion systems. However, one other exciting use of the equipment would be in support of a new undergraduate course being taught in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. The new course will be taught to sophomore and junior level education majors, introducing them to aerospace related science and technology concepts. A propulsion laboratory, such as the one proposed, will highly complement this new science course and will expose many students outside of the College of Engineering to the operation of a gas turbine engine.
