INTEGRATING “SMART” MATERIALS INTO A FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING CURRICULUM: A CASE STUDY

1. INTEGRATING “SMART” MATERIALS INTO A FIRST-YEAR ENGINEERING CURRICULUM: A CASE STUDY Luke Penrod Diana Talley Jeff Froyd Rita Caso Dimitris Lagoudas Terry Kohutek http://crcd.tamu.edu

2. Development of a Multidisciplinary Curriculum for Intelligent Systems (MCIS) Rita M. Caso Jeffery E. Froyd Dimitris C. Lagoudas Othon K. Rediniotis Thomas W. Strganac John L. Valasek John D. Whitcomb Work was partially supported by NSF CRCD Award # 0088118. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.

3. Goals of MCIS Effort at TAMU • Develop new curriculum track on Intelligent Systems emphasizing aerospace technologies. • Increase knowledge and interest in using smart materials to design intelligent systems. • Include a 2 semester design course and a one-on-one directed studies course with a faculty member. • Offer an “Intelligent Systems Track” Certificate. • 15 hour program • Includes recognition on transcript URICA and design team Synthetic Jet Actuator

4. Courses Impacted • AERO 101 - Introduction to Aerospace Engineering (F01) • ENGR 111/112 - Foundations of Engineering I/II (F01/S02) • ENGR 211/213/214 - Basic engineering science courses (S02, F02) • AERO 302 - Aerospace Engineering Laboratory I (S02) • AERO 304/306 - Structural Mechanics I/II (F01, F02) • AERO 401/402 - Senior design sequence (F03, S04) • AERO 404 - Mechanics of Advanced Aerospace Structures (F02) • AERO 405 - Aerospace Structural Design (F01) • AERO 420 - Aeroelasticity (S02) • AERO 489* - Special Topic: MEMS for Aerospace Engineering (F01) • AERO 489* - Special Topic: Aerospace Intelligent Systems (S02) *New Course

5. Foundations of Engineering (ENGR 111/112) Activities with Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) Butterfly Demonstration:SMA Linear Actuator Heat Engine Demo:SMA Efficiency/Thermodynamics Thermobile™ Demo:SMA Properties/Thermodynamics Stiquito Project:Application of SMA

6. ENGR 111/112 Project Walking Robot • Robot (Stiquito) specifications: • Must be actuated by SMAs • Goal is maximum distance in 3 minutes • Only contact can come from ground • Must be an autonomous system • Assigned to 11 four-person student teams in ENGR 112 (24 teams participated in Engr 111 in the previous semester) • Maximum distance traveled was 48cm.

7. How did it happen? • Luke Penrod, graduate student, volunteered to develop materials and projects for first-year engineering course and coordinated material development. • Diana Talley, undergraduate student on summer research project, assembled possible materials on shape memory alloys (SMAs) for use in first-year engineering course. One of the possible projects was a Stiquito robot kit that was commercially available. • Jeff Froyd approached Terry Kohutek, first-year engineering course coordinator, about incorporating SMA material into ENGR 111 and Terry accepted

8. How did it happen? (continued) • Luke worked with Terry to develop specifications for a Stiquito robot project. • Luke developed a PowerPoint presentation on SMAs. • Showed applications for SMAs, e.g., SMA jacket that remembers its shape • Described the material structure of a SMA • Luke worked with Terry to implement and evaluate student robot project. • After two semesters, Terry now uses the Stiquito project and PowerPoint presentation in his class.

9. CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact Assessment and Evaluation of YEAR 1 OUTCOMES-Design Knowledge(Implemented1 and/or Projected ) Levels at which Implemented ( i.e., Fr=Freshman, Soph=Sophomore,Sr=Senior) FOCI STUDENT OUTCOME MEASUREMENT Retention in Major q Pre - Post Attitude Survey results (Fr, Soph) Interest q Enrollment in Project courses q Targeted class activities feedback (Fr) q Targeted parts of class - embedded tests, Content q assignments & projects Knowledge Engineering & Design Knowledge baseline pre-test (Fr, Sr) q Engineering /Design Process Performance Design Process q assessment (Fr) Skills Design Product assessment q

10. CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on Design Knowledge • To be examine changes over time in students’ design knowledge, benchmark measures were taken for: • Freshmen: Beginning and ending first year • Seniors: Beginning 1st semester of Aero Design and ending 2nd semester of Aero Design • A slightly adapted version of the TIDEE Team-Based Design Knowledge Assessment Test and Scoring Rubric was used to measure • Engineering Design Process • Teamwork • Communication.

11. CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on Design Knowledge:Team Design Process, Teamwork & Communication1 Freshman vs. Senior Baselines ( Early Fall 2001) Scores Scaled 0 – 5.5, with 0=no knowledge & 5.5=exceptional knowledge *Validity in question. Question universally misinterpreted. 1 TAMU AERO CRCD Adapted TIDEE Project Mid Program Assessment Instrument #1, Design knowledge

12. ** Freshman Team-Based Design Knowledge Pre & Post CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on Design Knowledge : Freshman Benchmarks Scores Scaled 0 – 5.5, with 0=no knowledge & 5.5=exceptional knowledge Assessment 5.5 *Validity in question. Question universally misinterpreted. 4.5 3.5 Scores 2.5 1.5 0.5 -0.5 * Design Teamwork Communication* Question Topics Pre Test Post Test .**Post Test was given to a different set of Freshman

13. CRCD Intelligent Systems Curriculum Impact on Design Knowledge : Senior Benchmarks Scores Scaled 0 – 5.5, with 0=no knowledge & 5.5=exceptional knowledge Senior Team-Based Design Knowledge : Pre & Post Assessment 5.5 *Validity in question. Question universally misinterpreted. 4.5 3.5 Score 2.5 1.5 0.5 -0.5 Design Teamwork Communication* Question Topic Pre Test Post Test