It has been suggested there is a knowledge base that surrounds the use of 3D modeling within the engineering design process and correspondingly within engineering design graphics education. While solid modeling receives a great deal of attention and discussion relative to curriculum efforts, and rightly so, surface modeling is an equally viable 3D…

Undergraduate applications to civil engineering courses have been declining at an alarming rate despite the industry's healthy economic activity. Concerns abound as to the long-term impact of this decline as the sector is already suffering skills shortages across virtually all of its occupations. This paper investigates the likely future trends in…

Eleven computer terminal operators participated in an experiment that assessed effects of several interventions aimed at increasing safe ergonomic performance. All participants received ergonomics training and performance feedback while six of them collected observations of safe behavior among the remaining five participants. Effects of…

In this article, we discuss the recent evolutions of science and engineering doctoral and postdoctoral education in Europe. Indeed, Ph.Ds are crucial to the conduct of research and innovation in the national innovation systems, as they provide a large amount of input into creating the competitive advantage, notably through basic research. First,…

In this essay, the author describes to biologists the advantages of organic-first curriculum, on the assumption that few biologists are regular readers of "Journal of Chemistry Education" and therefore are probably unaware of the method for integrating chemistry and biology curricula. The author begins with the assumption that the majority of…

This inductive, qualitative study investigates how learning took place among nine experienced engineers in an industrial setting after a major reorganization. A thematic analysis of the transcripts revealed that the learning was informal and that it fell into three distinct categories: learning new workflows, learning about the chemical process,…

The teaching of sustainability to engineers will follow similar paths to that of environmental engineering. There is a strong feeling that environmental engineering is a discipline unto itself, requiring knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, hydrology, toxicology, modelling and law. However, environmental engineering can also be encompassed…

Complexity measures are mainly used to estimate vital information about reliability and maintainability of software systems from regular analysis of the source code. Such measures also provide constant feedback during a software project to assist the control of the development procedure. There exist several models to classify a software product's…

Specifications recently proposed as standards in the domain of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL), question the designers of TEL systems on how to put them into practice. Recent studies in Model Driven Engineering have highlighted the need for a framework which could formalize the use of these specifications as well as enhance the quality of the…

This article outlines an engineering problem requiring the use of a specialized trigonometric formula, and offers an answer to that age-old classroom question, "When are we gonna have to use this"?

There has tended to be an overemphasis on the teaching and analysis of the mode of writing in "academic literacies" studies, even though changes in the communication landscape have engendered an increasing recognition of the different semiotic dimensions of representation. This paper tackles the logocentrism of academic literacies and…

First-year undergraduate engineering students' understanding of the units of factors and terms in first-order ordinary differential equations used in modelling contexts was investigated using diagnostic quiz questions. Few students appeared to realize that the units of each term in such equations must be the same, or if they did, nevertheless…

An experiment is described, which is designed for a junior-level chemical engineering "fundamentals of measurements and data analysis" course, where students are introduced to the concept of statistical process control (SPC) through a simple inline mixing experiment. The students learn how to create and analyze control charts in an effort to…

An experiment was performed on polymeric-based controlled-release agrochemicals that minimize leaching into groundwater while maintaining an adequate quantity for the desired agrochemical benefits. Gelatin gel containing inorganic Phosphorous provides controlled-release of an agrochemical where release curves show a linear relationship between…

This dissertation presents information gathered and analyzed through an electronic internet-based Delphi Survey process. The purpose of this study is to identify a consensus of factors that might forecast the future effects of Rapid Prototyping (RP) technology on engineering design education when used for the purpose of overcoming the limitations…