9451675 Ellis Calls for improvements in engineering education stem from troubles that surface in the capstone design project and in students' early experiences in the work world. Though students have extensive experience in solving textbook problems that have been set out for them, they often report difficulty in solving engineering problems in real-world situation they confront. This project provides students multiple opportunities to integrate different areas of electrical engineering while working in teams to solve technical problems in their community. This project affects students at each level of the curriculum: students in the first semester of the capstone design project will take on the role of project managers; students in at least three other classes--electronics or electromechanics, circuits and digital logic take on the role of designers. The project managers craft separate assignments for each of the three other classes. This corresponds to a project manager dividing a large project among several different departments, each with its own area of expertise. These assignments are used as laboratory projects for the classes involved, and the students who successfully complete their projects can work on integrating the entire system into a single solution to the real-world problem. The project has support from 100% of the electrical engineering faculty. The requested equipment will be dedicated to projects that span the curriculum both in subject area and in level of sophistication. Four work-stations equipped with computers and instrumentation will be provided to students working collaboratively on real-world projects from various sectors of the community: local education, industry, individuals requiring assistive technology, and the university itself. Special-purpose equipment to be shared by the teams is also included.
