Engineering Education Innovation

• Co-Investigator: Michael Roggemann
• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $232,695
• Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Project Summary:

Cloud properties are important for the energy budget of the Earth, as both incoming sunlight and outgoing thermal radiation are very sensitive .to cloud variables. Global models need to represent the role of clouds in Earth's coupled climate systems in order to produce reliable projection of climate change. Cloud fraction (CF), cloud top height (CTH), and cloud top wind (CTW) are important cloud properties that can be measured from orbital platforms. We propose here a cloud research mission named Stratus. The goal of the Stratus mission is to build, deploy, and demonstrate a low-cost CubeSat platform capable of measuring CF, CTH, and CTW with performance comparable to the best data obtained from NASA's flagship earth observing spacecraft. Our vision is that Stratus would serve as a pathfinder and, if successful, a number of inexpensive Stratus spacecraft could be deployed to gather extensive data relevant to cloud-driven climate forecast models.

The raw data returned by Stratus will be thermal infrared (TIR) images of cloudy scenes in Earth's atmosphere. During Phase I of the mission Stratus will operate in a three-axis-stabilized configuration with TIR imager boresight in the nadir direction. In this configuration Stratus will operate as a cloud surveyor, providing images that directly yield CF. During Phase II Stratus will collect data that will reveal CTH and CTW. This will be accomplished using asynchronous stereo imaging. In this technique two or more images of the same scene are recorded from different viewpoints. Features in the scene will be shifted laterally from image to image based on the parallax of the viewpoint. This displacement, combined with knowledge of the viewing direction, can be used to extract CTH and CTW. The Stratus vehicle will be integrated from commercially available components with very little custom hardware development. This approach minimizes the schedule risk associated with the 18-month timeline.

The Stratus investigating team is led by Prof. Lyon B. King, the Ron and Elaine Starr Professor of Space Systems Engineering at Michigan Tech. Co-I Mike Roggeman is an expert in image processing and Co-I Ossama Abdelkhalik is an expert in spacecraft dynamics and control. Dr. Dong Wu, a cloud and climate expert from the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, is the science customer and NASA collaborator. The faculty and science advisors will be assisted by a PhD graduate student teaching assistant who is provided as cost share by the university. The Stratus design and development will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team of undergraduates organized under the Engineering Enterprise program at Michigan Tech. This team, which is already in place, consists of over 60 students from multiple academic disciplines. Students join the team in their freshman or sophomore years and remain with the team through graduation. The undergraduate team bas significant prior nanosatellite development experience, having recently delivered the 70-kg Oculus-ASR spacecraft to the Air Force Research Laboratory for launch in 2016. A rigorous curriculum exists that will train/mentor the students throughout the program.

• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $129,215
• Sponsor: Nostrum Energy LLC

Project Description:

This work is to test, analyze, and evaluate the Nostrum converted Cummins 260 hp 6.7l ISB diesel engine in the MTU 465 hp AC dyno test cell at the APSRC in several stages and configurations. In addition this contract provides APSRC building utilization to office, conference room, and research areas in the APSRC building as outline below for the Nostrum onsite engineering team.

• Co-Investigator: Guy Meadows
• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $643,954
• Sponsor: U.S. Department of Defense Office of Naval Research

Approach:

A multi-tiered approach for attracting young engineers and scientists to naval STEM fields. Our approach develops project-based instruction through Michigan Tech’s Enterprise program, develops a minor in Naval Engineering, interfaces students with Navy personnel, facilities, and programs, significantly contributes to online resources for Navy STEM students, and engages high school students to pursue Navy related STEM fields. This program will be nationally scalable for universities who do not offer naval architecture or ocean engineering majors. The program will be designed with flexibility and agility in mind to quickly adapt to new and emerging Navy S&T needs.

Technical Objective:

The goal is to create an undergraduate science and engineering program that focuses students in STEM topics of Navy interest, provides real-world problem-solving based learning, and compels students to seek employment within the Navy upon graduation or pursue graduate research in Navy STEM fields. The primary deliverable of this program is to create a pipeline of diverse STEM graduates, hired into STEM fields within the Navy, capable of supporting the warfighter mission on day-one.

Relevance:

Development of new engineers and scientists in STEM fields is of critical long-term importance to the Navy and Navy supported industries in maintaining technological superiority in theater. This technological superiority directly influences the capability and safety of the warfighter. Unfortunately, many STEM graduates are either unaware of Navy careers, or are unprepared for problems facing the Navy STEM workforce. The aim is to provide a steady flow of highly motivated and trained civilian and uniformed Navy engineers and scientists to the Navy’s workforce of the future, capable of supporting the warfighter on day-one. Focus areas will initially be underwater acoustics, noise control for noise induced hearing loss, autonomy and control, and unmanned vehicle design. Each of these fields are critical to the S&T strategic plan of the Navy and the Navy's Force of the Future. S&T focus areas initially include Assure access to the Maritime Battlespace, Autonomy and Unmanned Systems, and Warfighter Performance, and can expand in the future. Future expansion of the successful program will include other Navy S&T focus areas such as computer science (Big Data), materials science, electrical engineering, and others.

Implementation:

Develops project based instruction through Michigan Tech’s Enterprise program, develops a minor in Naval Engineering, interfaces students with Navy personnel, facilities, and programs, significantly contributes to online resources for Navy STEM students, and engages high school students to pursue Navy related STEM fields. This program is nationally scalable for universities who do not offer a naval architecture or ocean engineering major.

• Co-Investigator: Craig Friedrich
• Co-Investigator: Christopher Wojick
• Co-Investigator: Chandrashekhar Joshi
• College/School: Graduate School
• Department(s): Biological Sciences
• Awarded Amount: $245,160
• Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Goal:

The Michigan AGEP Alliance has developed models for 1) fostering multidisciplinary learning communities with URM students in STEM fields who are US citizens and 2) improved faculty mentoring for URM graduate students and URM postdoctoral fellows in STEM fields who are US citizens; our goal is to adapt these models to the needs of our campuses, implement them to the extent that resources permit, and identify those models that lead to improved academic outcomes for participants. By improved academic outcomes, we mean increasing the success of URM graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in STEM fields through completion of graduate study, postdoctoral training, and movement into the professoriate.

Objectives:

1. To design, adapt and implement evidence-based mentoring initiatives on all five campuses that are focused on improved mentoring for U.S. citizen URM graduate students and URM postdoctoral fellows in STEM.
2. To design, adapt and implement evidence-based initiatives to promote multidisciplinary learning communities on all five campuses that are focused on benefits for U.S. citizen URM graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM.
3. To the extent that resources permit, conduct research about ways that participation in activities designed to improve mentoring and sense of community is linked to important academic and career outcomes.

• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $126,000
• Sponsor: National Science Foundation

• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $403,308
• Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Overview:

Correctly, the 2009 Roadmap for US Robotics report predicted that robotics technology would transform the future of the US workforce and households. From Roomba vacuum cleaners to Wii video games, we increasingly see robotic technology in work spaces and homes. Yet, the US continues to lag behind China, South Korea, Japan, and European Union in its investment in robotics research and education. The Next Generation Science Standards for Today's Students and Tomorrow's Workforce responds to this critical need by providing a curricular framework for using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary ideas that: have broad importance across science and engineering disciplines; are taught around a key organizing concept (like health or water) and use key tool (pedagogical platform); have a significant context for students and are explicitly connected to societal needs; and are teachable and learnable over multiple grades. Informed by this framework, our proposed NRI aims to develop, test, and assess two co-robotic platforms with high impact potential and longevity as a pedagogical platform (use is applicable from 4th grade through graduate school learning). Two unique robotics educational platforms will be used to teach 6th-8th grade: an educational underwater glider called GUPPIE and a surface electromyography (sEMG)- controlled manipulator called Neu-pulator. Both of these platforms can be categorized as co-robot and cost less than $1000. GUPPIE is an unmanned vehicle that has application in monitoring and inspection of the environment and can be used to introduce students to the application of robots as co-explorers in everyday life. Neu-pulator is a human-interactive robot that uses electrical activity of human muscles to move a manipulator. It introduces students to assistive robots, which are a class of co-robots that aim to amplify or compensate for human capabilities. We hypothesize that meaningful contexts and hands-on learning with co-robotic platforms will broaden impact to diverse audiences and increase interest in critical STEM areas. The overall goal of the proposed NRI is to develop and evaluate the use of co-robotic platforms in learning contexts that are socially meaningful, especially for underrepresented students (female students from rural, low socioeconomic areas in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). Our specific objectives are to: 1) Optimize Michigan Tech's co-robotic platform designs for teaching STEM concepts. 2) Develop educational activities/curriculum utilizing Michigan Tech's co-robotic platforms. 3) Investigate the co-robotic platforms effectiveness in engaging students in STEM learning.

Intellectual Merit:

The proposed work will develop a pedagogical platform and evaluation method that can be easily translated for classroom practice from grades 4th-12th and in undergraduate to graduate degree programs. Training teachers in platform use during teacher workshops will help schools respond to and integrate new science standards - efficiently and effectively using meaningful contexts. Continued online training and modules will be available to broadly disseminate platform applications for informal and formal learning contexts. The hardware development and programming of co-robots will teach critical analytical thinking. The nature of co-robotic platforms, on the other hand, will inspire students to become integrative designers. By exercising both analytical thinking and design skills, these co-robotic platforms will improve students' ability for creative problem solving, and ultimately increase individual motivation for pursuing STEM academic and career pathways. The project will produce research that compares the effectiveness of mission-based and application-based robotics activities for engaging students in STEM.

• Co-Investigator: Jacqueline Huntoon
• Co-Investigator: Christopher Wojick
• College/School: Graduate School
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $615,190
• Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Summary:

Michigan Tech's efforts to improve first and second year retention have been successful and sustainable. For students who enter Michigan Tech in the College of Engineering, the first- to second-year standard retention rate has averaged 84.3 percent over the last seven years. The first- to third-year rate has averaged 76.4 percent over the last 7 years. While minority retention rates lag overall on average by 3.9 percent (for first- to second-year) and 6.4 percent (for second- to third year), they are still much higher than national averages for engineering disciplines. However, graduation rate data indicate that students are not persisting through the junior and senior years at these same high levels. Whereas the overall graduation rate over the last seven years has averaged 67 .2 percent, the minority rate has averaged just 53.0 percent. The project team believes that both of these rates should be improved. The first objective of

Michigan Tech's SSEED (Sustained Support to Ensure Engineering Degrees) project is to improve the upper-division retention rates of academically talented engineering students who show the highest risk of not completing their degrees. Engineering programs nationwide are searching for ways to increase the numbers of women and minorities in engineering. One promising strategy is to increase the number of faculty and technical leaders from these groups to provide more role models. The second objective of the SSEED project is to improve the recruitment of women and minorities to graduate school at Michigan Tech.

Each year SSEED supports thirty-five junior and senior engineering students who are at-risk for attrition and five first-year graduate engineering students who are female or minority. SSEED scholars are recruited in a variety of ways: from the first and second year support program called ExSEL; from student groups such as SHPE, AISES, and NSBE; from referrals of academic advisors in each department; using university communications such as newsletters and web sites. Undergraduate student scholars are selected based on a combination of academic merit and attrition risk factors (financial need, minority status, first generation college student, pre-college preparation, off-campus work, and campus connectivity). Graduate student scholars are selected based on academic merit, financial need, and under-representation in engineering. Student support services include a number of specially designed activities, several of which expand on existing programs. Activities include ExSEL sponsored programs and resources, a one-credit Career Foundations course, mentorship opportunities and training, professional development seminars, undergraduate research opportunities, and service projects. Attention is given to building strong SSEED cohorts and assisting in making connections to ensure graduation and successful employment in engineering.

The project's intellectual merit is in its emphasis on supporting upper-division engineering undergrads. Retention issues for upper-division students are likely much different than for lower-division ones. The outcomes of this project will provide new understanding of upper-division attrition and appropriate interventions. The project's scholarship selection mechanism will pilot and evaluate a multi-factor selection mechanism that will benefit organizations that can no longer use affirmative action strategies to identify those at highest risk. The project's broader impacts include near-term benefits such as higher graduation rates for the SSEED scholars and a more diverse graduate student population. The SSEED program is a model for cross-campus collaborations that, in the longer term, will improve support structures for all students, leading to additional improvements in graduation rates and higher numbers of female and minority role models in engineering. Ultimately, increased engineering graduation rates will lead to a better-trained US workforce in areas of national need. Presentations and publications will also be used to inform STEM retention efforts nationwide.

• Co-Investigator: William Endres
• Co-Investigator: Sheryl Sorby
• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $390,050
• Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Summary:

The rate of change in today's society is increasingly fast. In one hundred years, we went from horse and buggies to space travel; from cross-country mail that required weeks to instantaneous communication by electronic means; from outhouses and hand-pumped wells to sophisticated sanitation and water systems, nationwide. Engineering has made leaps and bounds also, transforming from a profession where drafting boards were the foundation of engineering work to one where the computer is now the foundation of our work. Predictions for the coming decades do not see this trend slowing down, and in fact the pace of change may be accelerating. One thing is certain-engineering graduates of today must be prepared for a lifetime of learning and adaptation. Some argue that the skills they learn at the university are already outdated by the time they graduate. For this reason, the ABET outcome "a recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning" is arguably one of the most important in that long list.

This research aims to advance personalized learning by helping students to understand and regulate their own learning. The project is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of self-directed lifelong learning as evidenced by the following learning outcomes:

• Students will be able to define the components of self-regulated learning and a variety of strategies for learning and motivation;
• Students will identify their own preferred learning style and be able to adopt learning strategies best suited to their preferred style;
• Students will be able to identify what motivates them to do a particular task and to apply appropriate motivation strategies;
• Students will demonstrate their commitment to lifelong learning.

Earlier research on learning styles, motivation, self-regulated learning, and lifelong learning serves as the foundation for this project. Strategies for achieving the learning outcomes include:

• Develop online learning modules that i) give students firsthand experience of the influence of learning style and motivation on learning; ii) present tutorials on metacognition and motivation;
• Implement a course constriction activity in which students create learning materials appropriate for their preferred learning style on a relevant course topic of their choosing;
• Implement a research design that deploys the modules and course construction activity in selected sections of two courses such that the effect of multiple versus single exposures is assessed.

The intellectual merit is that this research will advance the knowledge base of personalized learning. It will show how instruction on metacognition and motivation awareness and strategies impact lifelong learning. It will give weight to the argument that teaching students how they learn best is more important for realizing personalized learning than development of adaptive software. If significant gains in learning and in a commitment to lifelong learning can be achieved through implementation of just two web-based modules, this project has the potential to transform undergraduate engineering education. The broader impacts of this project are the career accomplishments that will be made possible by students' enhanced ability for lifelong learning.

• College/School: College of Engineering
• Department(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Awarded Amount: $284,000
• Sponsor: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship: PhD Graduate Research - Mass Measurements of an Electrospray Beam from a Single Emitter Ionic Liquid Ferrofluid Electrospray Source.