Active Learning

Undergraduate research with the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 21:38:17 +0000

Undergraduate research with the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/04/2022 - 15:38

Riley McGill

Riley McGill is undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering. She is working on research in the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab (AIMRL).

Riley McGill

I had the opportunity to work in the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab (AIMRL) this year through the Uplift Program. In the AIMRL, we are studying cockroaches and spiders to design a robot that mimics their movements and the robustness of their bodies. During my time there, I have been helping build a palm-sized, six-legged robot. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the people I get to work with every week.

Fall semester was a shadowing period, and I was lucky enough to help and gain hands-on experience. I learned the most during this period as I was being taught to operate prototyping machinery. While my focus has been on the building and designing process for the legs and body of the cardboard robots, I have also learned a lot about other projects in the lab related to things like electronics, kinematics and electroadhesion.

The skills that I learned during this time are extremely important and will have the most impact in the long run. Although they may seem like simple tasks, operating the laser cutter, heat press, drill press, soldering iron and other machinery was an extremely important part of my time in the lab. Not only have these skills allowed me to contribute to building the robots, they will also allow me to succeed in any engineering position I acquire.

I have learned a lot about electronics and coding as well. The robot’s legs are powered by motors, with the speed and direction controlled using an app and a bluetooth connection. Because my focus has been on the mechanics and structure of the robot, I have not often work on the electronics. However, I have still learned a lot about Arduino coding language and circuit boards compatible with Arduino. There were many trials and errors when trying to construct the code properly, so I also got to experience that aspect of engineering design.

Prototype of the six-legged robot.

I am still working on this project and continue to learn more about robotics, design, electronics and the engineering process every time I work. The overall experience of this project and working in a research lab has been very exciting and rewarding. I have learned so much about engineering that I have not learned in a classroom because I am gaining hands-on experience.

My advice for any student interested in research is to just try it. I would also encourage any student who is unsure what kind of job they want to pursue after college to get involved with research. It is difficult to know exactly what you want to do when most classes during the first 2-3 years of college are conceptual and equation driven. Research has been extremely helpful in teaching me how to apply what I am learning and what kind of fields I can pursue with a mechanical engineering degree.

Watch videos from the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab

Riley McGill is undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering. She is working on research in the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab (AIMRL).

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Mechanical engineering students competing in national wind energy competition

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 22:58:11 +0000

Mechanical engineering students competing in national wind energy competition Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/17/2022 - 15:58

Rachel Leuthauser

A group of mechanical engineering seniors will be the first University of Colorado Boulder team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) – an event in which future engineers are challenged to find a unique solution to a wind energy project.

Wind Team Members

Aaron Schwan - Systems Engineer
Alec Kostovny - Logistics Manager
Anika Levy - Manufacturing Engineer
Erik Feiereisen - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Claire Isenhart - Project Manager
Charles Candon - Test Engineer
Graham Blanco - CAD Engineer
Kiro Gerges - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Luke Walker - Electro-mechanical Engineer
Simon Grzebien - Financial Engineer

Header image: The 2021 team's prototype, which the 2022 team is drawing inspiration from.

�� Boulder’s Wind Team, founded in Senior Design, won its spot in the competition because of the students’ successful preliminary design and plans. The group first entered the event as a learn-along team, which meant they could participate but not be in the running for the actual competition.

For the 2022 competition, organizers decided to open one spot for a learn-along team. They recognized the �� Boulder Senior Design Wind Team’s hard work and promoted the group to the full competition, which will happen May 16-19 in San Antonio, Texas.

“When we were being graded as a learn-along team last semester, we really didn’t know if we were going to make it or not,” said Claire Isenhart, the team’s project manager. “Then we found out in January that we actually won the first phase against other learn-along teams. It will be a great opportunity for us.”

Each team is tasked with multiple projects as part of the CWC, since the multidisciplinary competition aims to prepare students for all parts of the wind industry. These projects include building an offshore wind turbine prototype, developing a site plan for a hypothetical wind farm and partnering with industry professionals and K-12 educational programs to raise awareness of wind energy in their community.

Teams competing in the CWC will be judged and receive points for each of these three individual projects. Teams with the top three highest combined scores will win first, second and third place, respectively.

Claire Isenhart getting a progress report from her team members.

Members of the team taking measurements for their design.

Students working on a a piece of their design.

The Senior Design Wind Team is already making progress. They have completed preliminary design reports for the wind farm and plan to visit a middle school in March to get young people excited about wind energy. The team’s financial engineer, Simon Grzebien, said they are making advances with their turbine prototype as well.

“We just started making our parts for the prototype in the machine shop,” Grzebien said. “We haven’t had any issues so far, but I’m sure there will be challenges that pop up. Our team feels prepared.”

Each of the students on the Senior Design Wind Team earned their place in the group. Students had to apply and interview with team director Roark Lanning to be accepted. A key piece of being offered a position was an interest in wind energy, since a core component of the competition is assessing real-world research questions surrounding the industry.

“I do want to pursue a career in the field,” Isenhart said. “I knew I wanted to work in clean energy, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that until my sophomore year when I was part of the Discovery Learning Apprenticeship. I researched ways to cool wind turbine generators and methods to produce wind turbine parts. I thought that was such a cool project and I discovered I was interested in the materials.”

Her team members have similar career goals to help the world run off a cleaner source of energy. Luke Walker, one of the team’s electro-mechanical engineers, said he intends to devote his career to climate-change mitigation by using carbon-free energy technologies.

“This project provides the opportunity to study how wind energy, one of the most prolific clean-energy solutions, is accomplished from an engineering and logistical standpoint,” Walker said. “Working with wind energy is without a doubt the best way to learn about the challenges that face large-scale deployment of many forms of renewable energy.”

Erik Feiereisen, another electro-mechanical engineer on the team, added that he is interested in learning about how kinetic energy from the wind is transferred into usable electrical energy.

“It can power most everything in our lives,” Feiereisen said. “I found this project to be an interesting engineering challenge and look forward to seeing what all we can accomplish by the end of the year.”

The Senior Design Wind Team has also recruited students from outside the mechanical engineering undergraduate program to bring more perspectives to these complex projects. The team has brought on civil engineering and graduate-level mechanical engineering students to assist with their designs.

Isenhart said collaborating with these students has helped the team come up with more interdisciplinary solutions to wind energy challenges, which is what each team member will also need to do in their future careers.

In 2020-21, the first �� Boulder Senior Design Wind Team participated in the CWC as a learn-along team but did not compete in the full competition. Learn more about that team’s design and plans.

Explore all 2021-22 Senior Design Projects

The group of mechanical engineering seniors is the first University of Colorado Boulder team to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC) – an event in which future engineers are challenged to find a unique solution to a wind energy project.

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The Return to Campus: A renewed energy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 20:24:26 +0000

The Return to Campus: A renewed energy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/21/2021 - 14:24

Rachel Leuthauser

If there was a mantra for fall 2021 in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, everyone would be saying ‘it’s good to be back.’

After months of connecting only through Zoom calls and getting to know people’s home offices all too well, the University of Colorado Boulder has welcomed students back to campus for fall 2021. Halfway through the traditional in-person semester, there is still a collective joy at seeing students mingling in the Engineering Quad or moving through the Engineering Center hallways.

Students walking onto campus near the Engineering Center.
Header image: Students chatting outside the Engineering Center.

“I just like the intangible little things about being on campus,” said Andrew Brodsky, a mechanical engineering senior. “The hallway conversations, the intricacies of hands-on learning that cannot happen on Zoom, being in other people’s presence and simply wearing pants instead of sweatpants!”

The infectious buzz is, however, a tentative enthusiasm. Health and safety are still two of the top priorities on campus.

“I love being in person but there has definitely been a transition period of learning how to be around people again,” said mechanical engineering senior Claire Isenhart. “The energy needed to be in the classroom and in person is different from being online last year.”

There are various COVID-19 protocols in place to keep Buffs healthy. You can read about the university’s latest public health measures here.

Not all courses are fully in person, either. While most mechanical engineering classes are in person this semester, there are a few such as Mechanical Engineering Design Projects and Manufacturing Processes and Systems that are hybrid.

“Hybrid is nice,” said Cordelia Kim, another mechanical engineering senior. “Some students even attend the remote session together. We meet in a conference room for the lectures.”

In either scenario, the ability to educate and learn from one another without the separation of a computer screen has brought a renewed energy to the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The benefit can be as simple as making eye contact during lectures or as valuable as obtaining the experiential education that ME is known for.

Click each tab below to read about how the return to campus has been a welcomed change in ME’s classrooms and labs.

The University of Colorado Boulder has welcomed students back to campus for fall 2021, allowing ME faculty to bring back traditional hands-on labs and classes for the first time in nearly two years.

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Alumni Spotlight: Morgan Kauss - Exo-Seat, a device to aid wheelchair users

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 15:09:04 +0000

Alumni Spotlight: Morgan Kauss - Exo-Seat, a device to aid wheelchair users Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/15/2021 - 09:09

The idea for the Exo-Seat came to Morgan Kauss when she was working as a caregiver for a local woman, Cindy, who has Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

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Students win first place in national Solar District Cup competition

Anonymous — Tue, 18 May 2021 18:22:03 +0000

Students win first place in national Solar District Cup competition Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/18/2021 - 12:22

The team, which included mechanical engineering student Hannah Livingston, developed a large solar PV system.

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How I built an electric bass from scratch

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 23:39:21 +0000

How I built an electric bass from scratch Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/13/2021 - 16:39

Noah Gilsdorf

Noah Gilsdorf is a double-degree student at the University of Colorado Boulder working toward a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a bachelor of music in jazz studies. His performance focus is jazz bass, which includes both upright bass and electric bass.

For years I have been hearing from fellow students, teachers, and others I have met that I have an “odd combination” of majors. I have always wanted to find a way to combine the two majors and decided that the best way would be to build a bass from scratch. After a lot of research and several failures, I succeeded in building a bass from scratch. This video shows the process that I took, and how I was able to build a bass out of a small woodshop. The video gives an analysis of how the process went, how different steps affect the sound and the final product’s sound.

[video:https://youtu.be/Tic8yAUdlfw]

Funding for this project was provided by the SEE Student Grant Program in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. Details and application instructions for students interested in pursuing experiential learning opportunities are available online.

Noah Gilsdorf is a double-degree student at the University of Colorado Boulder working toward a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a bachelor of music in jazz studies.

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Traveling to Nepal with Engineers Without Borders

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 22:54:54 +0000

Traveling to Nepal with Engineers Without Borders Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/13/2021 - 15:54

Emily Zuetell

Emily Zuetell is an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering. She was the president of ��’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders and has been a member of the organization for over three years.

Emily Zuetell (second from right) and the �� EWB Nepal Team pose with the completed tapstand at the Balodaya Secondary School.

How did you first get involved with Engineers Without Borders? What drew you to that organization?

I joined Engineers Without Borders the first week of my freshman year. I had learned about EWB from the Dream Big documentary that came out when I was in high school and couldn’t wait to join a chapter as soon as I was in college. I was drawn to the organization because it was an opportunity to work with communities around the world to build infrastructure that improves their capacity to meet their basic human needs, even as an undergraduate student. It was exciting to apply the things I was learning in class to hands-on experiences in everything from CAD and hydraulics to drone surveying and construction management.

Can you tell us about a project you’ve worked on?

The first project I worked on was a water distribution system in Kalinchowk, Nepal, building a water distribution system for a school. Kalinchowk is a rural community located in the mid-range mountains of the Dolakha region, north of Kathmandu. It was the epicenter of the 2015 earthquake which destroyed almost all homes and infrastructure. Prior to this project, there was no water access at the school, which had serious implications for hygiene, the spread of illness, and school attendance. My team and I designed a water distribution system and tapstand over the semester, and I traveled to the community for eight weeks over the summer to construct the system and conduct workshops with students and the community on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) principles and menstrual hygiene management. My favorite memory was turning on the tap for the first time and calling to my teammates, “paani ayo!” which means ”there’s water!” in Nepali.

Emily (right) discusses concrete forming for tapstand construction.

What has been the most impactful part of your experience with Engineers Without Borders?

The most impactful part of my experience with EWB has been recognizing the critical role that people play in how basic infrastructure and education can empower communities to meet their human needs. When I traveled to Nepal, I lived in the community and got to know our homestay family, community leaders, and students and teachers at the school. Although brief, the experience helped me better understand how to work with a community to define problems and construct solutions. EWB has taught me how to communicate across cultures and experiences. My experience in EWB also helped me recognize the need for coordinated engineering, political, and socioeconomic work to ensure the long-term sustainability of these projects, which has guided my plans for graduate study in interdisciplinary development engineering programs.

Having the opportunity to work with and travel to a community outside the U.S. has been a cornerstone of Engineers Without Borders. How are you keeping those connections strong during the current COVID-19 pandemic?

The mission of Engineers Without Borders is twofold, to build engineering projects that empower communities to meet their basic human needs and to equip leaders to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. In the past, this has taken the form of student teams gaining hands-on global engineering experience and cultural exchange through traveling to our partner communities to implement critical infrastructure projects and connect with our in-country partners.

A key component of EWB is longstanding relationships with our partner communities. We work in a community for a minimum of five years and partner closely with in-country NGOs that work yearround in our partner communities. These longstanding relationships have helped us continue our projects through the changing landscape of COVID-19 restrictions. This change has required that we strengthen our communication with our in-country partners as our teams rely on communicating designs and surveying needs to continue making progress on our projects.

�� EWB representatives at the 2019 National EWB-USA Conference in Pittsburgh.

Three of our teams were able to complete remote implementation this semester through extraordinary perseverance, organization and communication. Furthermore, students in our chapter are continuing to gain cultural exchange experiences through video calls and culture and language lessons from our NGO partners. While we look forward to being able to travel again, the current restrictions have required us to strengthen our communication and resourcefulness with our partner communities and provides us with yet another tool to empower our partner communities in the future.

What advice do you have for a student looking to get involved in Engineers Without Borders?

�� Boulder has EWB teams working in Nepal, Rwanda, Guatemala and Puerto Rico, so you can find a team that works for you. You don’t need any experience or a specific major to join our teams. If you want to learn more about EWB and start working on virtual courses about the project process and principles of working on engineering projects abroad, you can sign up for a Volunteer Village account through EWB-USA to access dozens of e-learning resources. We are always looking for new students who are passionate about engineering, education, and service.

Attend our meetings and reach out to our teams to learn more. Meeting times and contact information can be found on the EWB website.

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Senior Design students pave the way for involvement in the Collegiate Wind Competition

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:20:38 +0000

Senior Design students pave the way for involvement in the Collegiate Wind Competition Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/16/2020 - 13:20

Oksana Schuppan

This year, an interdisciplinary team of Senior Design students is the first at �� Boulder to enter the Collegiate Wind Competition as a learn-along team. They are working hard to secure a spot for �� Boulder in the competition next year and are making impressive strides in wind energy innovation and education. The team includes Abdoul Bah, Ioana Dumitru, David Imola, Austin Kim, Charlie McClung, James Rizkallah, Xander Sugarman and Emily Zuetell. Read about their experience below.

A wind turbine designed by �� Boulder's first Collegiate Wind Competition Senior Design team.

Share about your Senior Design project. What problem does your project solve?

Our Senior Design project aims to design, develop and inspire. The project is split into three different competitions that all involve the wind industry:

The first part is designing a wind turbine prototype that will accomplish different tasks. Each task tests a different characteristic of a wind turbine such as cut-in wind speed, power curve performance, control of rated power and rotor speed, safety and durability. The goal of this project is to understand the mechanical and electrical systems that go into designing a wind turbine.
The second part is developing a 100-megawatt wind farm in the western region of South Dakota. This competition aims to utilize modeling programs and conduct extensive research to determine a site with optimal wind resources and favorable financial analysis.
The final part is community outreach to spark community interest in wind energy. This includes partnering with KidWind, a company that develops curriculums and lessons about renewable energy to teach k-12 students about the potential wind energy can provide. The community outreach competition also involves networking with local wind energy representatives and establishing a presence on local media.

What is the Collegiate Wind Competition?

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) anticipates about 20 to 30% of U.S. energy supply will be sourced from wind energy in the next 10 to 15 years, a considerable increase from today’s 7 to 9%. The DOE and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created the competition in 2014 to help fill in those roles once the push for wind energy initiates. The competition aims to attract students of various disciplines to be invested in wind energy and be inspired to contribute innovative solutions.

Why was this project of interest to you?

Our team consists of mechanical and electrical engineers with various skillsets and emphases. The team divided into specific team roles and a subteam based on previous experience and personal goals. These personal goals range from sharpening technical skills of mechanical and electrical subsystems to improving planning and communication skills. However, we all share a passion for mitigating climate change and aim for a future that pushes for renewable energy.

What have you and your team accomplished that you are proud of?

We are proud that we are on time, if not ahead of schedule despite the circumstances. Our team is considered to be a small team since we consist of eight team members. We have a solid start in all three parts of the competition and feel very confident about our progress. We were able to quickly establish a great team dynamic and a strong work ethic which allowed us to have a detailed preliminary design for the turbine, quality candidates to site our wind farm and a plan for community outreach with KidWind. Despite this being �� Boulder's first year in the Collegiate Wind Competition, our team has been able to overcome obstacles despite not having the previous experience other teams had. Our goal is to spread the message of resilience to inspire the community that collaboration and innovation is still possible during this new online world.

We are also proud of our determination to represent �� Boulder. This year, we are a learn-along team which means our team is not officially competing in the competition, but we are still provided with the same resources and expectations as competing teams. Our team is using this freedom to really challenge ourselves and pave the way for �� Boulder to be a recognized competing team in the near future. We are challenging ourselves to create a more robust electrical system and exceeding the number of turbine testing tasks that a first-year team is expected to complete. We are proud that our team is seeing being a learn-along team as an advantage to create “outside of the box” designs instead of a missed opportunity.

What have you learned from this project so far?

Each team member started this project with different levels of experience in wind energy. However, we all gained a greater understanding of necessary technical and soft skills that can be directly transferable to industry. NREL provided each team with extensive resources regarding modeling programs, networking opportunities and communication techniques. We were expected to use Continuum and System Advisory Model (SAM) to extract wind resource data and financial models for certain site locations. NREL has also provided documentation for regulations and community outreach techniques. The Collegiate Wind Competition encourages peer-to-peer learning and teaching, not only with team members but with other competing teams. Although every team is competing against each other, there was room for inter-team collaboration. As a matter of fact, part of the competition requirements is to research what teams have done in the past and document how previous reports affected our current design. This taught our team how to balance between innovation and uniqueness with feasible and operational. We were able to sharpen our creativity and critical thinking skills which are skills that are difficult to obtain from a classroom.

What are you most excited to share with others about this project?

We are excited to share with students and faculty members that there is now a more intimate way to get involved with renewable energy. This competition welcomes those interested in wind energy despite the level of previous knowledge. Our team is very excited to share our progress in our wind energy journey. It is a big step for �� Boulder to enter this competition since it opens up an opportunity for students to gain knowledge, experience and resources within the renewable energy industry. Our team is very open to mentors invested in the project and students interested in shadowing our progress.

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How industry mentorship and learning led to a summer of design

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 21:02:45 +0000

How industry mentorship and learning led to a summer of design Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/13/2020 - 14:02

Chad Ronish

The electronics inside the robot.

My name is Chad Ronish, and as an engineering student, I love to design and create things. However, while I’m excellent at Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing, before this summer, I felt less confident in coding and electronics.

During summer 2020 and the unfolding of a global pandemic, I was given the opportunity to take part in the ME Summer Design Intensive organized by �� Boulder’s Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, a program in which practicing engineers and recent graduates guided students through the development of personal design projects. I knew this was a great opportunity to take a project from the idea stage, design it, and fabricate a prototype, as I had both peer and industry mentors to help me figure out things like the electronics and coding.

The assembled robot.

I settled on the idea of a robot that would send real-time video footage of its field of view to the controller, with the objective being to design and prototype a robot-controlled wirelessly through radio frequency. An operator would use a handheld controller that sends commands to the robot, while the robot would simultaneously send a live video feed to the operator via a wireless camera.

This project required custom CAD for the base of the robot and the shell of the controller, research into electronics and a custom circuit design, and complex coding to allow for wireless communication between the controller and the robot. Everything for this project was built from scratch or some premanufactured parts, and at no point were other similar products used for this project.

To start out, I needed to do a lot of research into the electronics I would need for this project to function. It took some time, as I have never really done something this in-depth electronically, and I needed to figure out how to take two motors and control both speed and direction of rotation. This was solved with an L298n H-Bridge, which worked not only to control the direction of rotation of DC motors but also to control the speed of the motors using pulse width modulation.

The next challenge was finding a radio frequency communication device and figuring out how to connect it to a microcontroller. I found an nRF24L01 radio frequency transceiver which worked well because it came with a breakout board and guidelines for simple connection to the Arduino, as well as lots of online resources for the coding.

From the research I did and the assistance I gained from my industry mentor from the program, it turned out that the electronics were much simpler than I anticipated. But the coding was still challenging. I investigated online forums that discussed the nRF24L01 and how to program it. Though coding in pulse width modulation to control the direction and speed of the motors through the H-Bridge was relatively simple, combining the two proved even more difficult. Coding the controller to send out the data that is needed to do pulse width modulation from the joysticks to the robot and then getting the robot to understand the data and transfer it into commands was very challenging. It took time and a lot of online resources, but I was eventually able to code things in a way that allowed them to function the way I wanted.

To any future students looking to do something like this, I would recommend doing some research online as there are many useful resources available that can help inspire you or help answer a problem or question you had. A lot of time was spent researching how to set up code that would allow radio frequency communications between two Arduinos and the electronic hardware needed. There were many online resources that allowed me to get a better idea of what to do and how to do it. Even if you don’t know how to do something, don’t give up on it. See if you can find resources that will help explain it, help work on it and allow you to approach the problem better.

Chad Ronish shares about his experience designing a robot, controlled wirelessly through radio frequency, with the support of both peer and industry mentors to help him figure out things like the electronics and coding during participation in the ME Summer Design Intensive.

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�� mechanical engineering commits to active learning

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:18:00 +0000

�� mechanical engineering commits to active learning Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/22/2020 - 12:18

�� Boulder's Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering is committed to providing students with an education complete with active learning. Though the pandemic has made the semester more challenging, faculty and staff have been daily innovating to make their courses as hands-on as possible while also ensuring the safety of their students. See how some of your favorite classes and facilities have committed to active learning below.

Manufacturing Processes and Systems

Taught by Janet Tsai and David Wolenski

Mohammed Jalali completes the Heat Treatment Lab in Manufacturing Processes and Systems.

In Manufacturing Processes and Systems, we focused on setting up three in-person, hands-on lab experiences: Casting, Inspection with Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T), and Heat Treatment. We branded each of these in-person labs as a “Navy SEAL Mission" meaning that students are prepared and trained ahead of time with a clear mission objective to accomplish in-person, so they can easily get in and get out of the lab, completing their required tasks while minimizing their exposure. Each in-person lab was scheduled down to the minute, with individual students coordinating within their three-to-four person lab groups exactly who was going to be where and when. This requires a lot of logistics and planning, especially since our class includes students from Colorado Mesa University who use their lab in Grand Junction, coordinated by Dr. Nathan McNeill.

In addition to the three in-person labs, we also have two remote labs: Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Plastics. For the Plastics Lab, students are given a set of tasks to accomplish by examining various plastics around their homes, investigating how household plastics are created and formed and even doing some at-home tests to identify mystery plastics. To support both the in-person and at-home lab experiences, Professor Tsai got to hone her video editing skills, combining raw footage shot in the Idea Forge with still images showcasing real-world examples and specifics of measurement. Usually, the Manufacturing Processes and Systems course includes at least one department-arranged visit to a real manufacturing site. During fall 2020, we have been going on virtual tours instead, viewing manufacturing documentaries posted to YouTube from both modern and vintage manufacturing sites across the world.

Design for Community

Taught by Dan Riffell

As part of Design for Community, students are competing with the rest of the class to have their design manufactured. One of these designs is shown above.

In Design for Community, we currently have a waiting list of client projects for us to address. I treat this class like an active engineering consultancy in order to keep students engaged. Some of our projects require teams of students to engage with a client long-term, and some of the projects require that I pull one student away for a few days to complete less labor-intensive tasks. The addition of client deliverables, communication, scheduling and team organization creates active and dynamic environments for learning. Additionally, I have created internal competitions for our design coursework where students compete with the rest of the class to have their designs manufactured.

Data Analysis and Experimental Methods

Taught by Keith Regner

In Data Analysis and Experimental Methods, students still get to complete all the labs in the course. During in-person instruction, students worked individually on the labs to conform to social distancing rules. When �� Boulder went remote, we organized a checkout process to get the lab equipment in the hands of every student—more than 100—to complete the lab remotely at home.

Idea Forge Operations

Observations by Shirley Chessman

Idea Forge Mechanical Lab Engineer Shirley Chessman's equipment check-out station in the Idea Forge.

At the beginning of the semester, we supported faculty, ordering and distributing document cameras and any test equipment needed for remote/recorded lab demonstrations and helping to coordinate lab space and equipment for a small number of in-person labs.

Now, as the semester has progressed, things are more student focused. Students schedule Zoom meetings and we discuss their need and purpose. I will use my webcam to show them different pieces of equipment. The items will then get checked out to the student and left in the DIDL for contactless pick-up. A similar virtual process has been developed for 3D printing, woodworking, and machine shop fabrication. Students set up virtual consultation meetings with the shop engineers to have drawings and specifications clarified. These consultation meetings provide an opportunity for students to practice technical communication skills as well as receive design guidance. After completing the consultation meeting, necessary design changes are made, then the student will submit a work order. The shop engineers fabricate the parts and also leave them for contactless pick-up.

I have made a few trips to FedEx to ship some pieces of equipment to students who are not campus adjacent. Some Senior Design teams are beginning to order parts or their clients are shipping things for their projects. I have been receiving these and either storing them or setting them out for pick-up. Lately, I’ve been helping set up an outdoor classroom for Daniel Knight’s Project Based Learning in Rural Schools and some graduate students who needed equipment to teach classes and have been working with Idea Forge staff as we slowly start allowing student teams to use Idea Forge facilities for meetings.

Senior Design - Industry-Sponsored & Engineering for Social Innovation Sections

Taught by Daria Kotys-Schwartz, Dan Riffell, Julie Steinbrenner

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, ME Senior Design is still providing students with a project-based, transitional engineering experience. With 27 industry-sponsored projects and two competition teams in the industry-sponsored section and five unique projects in the Engineering for Social Innovation (ESI) section, students are already well underway with the design and early prototyping of their projects. Students are meeting teammates, directors and clients remotely, with in-person, masked and socially-distanced meetings arising as local health orders permit.

Teaching design in a remote setting presents many challenges, including allowing students to physically prototype with their teammates despite being distant from one another. Therefore, we have modified some of our typical activities to be more representative of engineering with a remote team. For example, we added new, relevant learning objectives to the marshmallow/spaghetti tower build that has been used as a team-building exercise in the past; this year, the activity focused on designing with a remote team, including communication, strategy and execution of a design while physically separated. It also inadvertently produced many marshmallow Ralphies, the �� Boulder mascot.

Projects will continue to include design, build, assembly and testing of physical prototypes though COVID-19 constraints require new processes. There is an increased emphasis on design for manufacturability and design communication, as the fabrication facilities on campus move to order intake systems where staff produce parts for students to reduce the risk of facilities closing. Much like spring 2020, teams will assemble and test hardware on-campus and off-campus, according to resource needs. We are getting creative to address the challenges related to our projects and preparing the next generation of engineers who will launch into their careers in unprecedented times.

Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering is committed to providing students with an education complete with active learning. Though the pandemic has made the semester more challenging, faculty and staff have been daily innovating to make their courses as hands-on as possible.

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Traditional

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Active Learning

Undergraduate research with the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab

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Mechanical engineering students competing in national wind energy competition

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The Return to Campus: A renewed energy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

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Alumni Spotlight: Morgan Kauss - Exo-Seat, a device to aid wheelchair users

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Students win first place in national Solar District Cup competition

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How I built an electric bass from scratch

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Traveling to Nepal with Engineers Without Borders

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Senior Design students pave the way for involvement in the Collegiate Wind Competition

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How industry mentorship and learning led to a summer of design

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Manufacturing Processes and Systems

Design for Community

Data Analysis and Experimental Methods

Idea Forge Operations

Senior Design - Industry-Sponsored & Engineering for Social Innovation Sections

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