AC2007-2502:AHOLISTICREVIEWOFMECHANICALDESIGNCURRICULUMINANENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGYPROGRAMJyhwenWang,TexasA&MUniversityJyhwenWangjoinedtheDepartmentofEngineeringTechnologyandIndustrialDistributionatTexasA&MUniversityin2001afterworking10yearsasaresearcherandR&Dmanagerinsteelindustry.Heteachesmechanicaldesignapplicationsandhisresearchinterestisintheareasofmechanicaldesignandmaterialprocessingtechnology.HereceivedhisPh.D.degreeinmechanicalengineeringfromNorthwesternUniversity.RichardHarris,SandiaNationalLaboratoriesRickHarrisisManagerofMechanicalDesignwithintheWeaponsEngineeringdivisionofSandiaNationalLaboratoriesinAlbuquerque,NewMexico.Rickhastwentytwoyearsofexperienceinengineeringdesign,build,test,modelingandsimulation,aswellassoftwaredevelopment.Heisexperiencedinorganizationalleadership,projectandprogrammanagement,andinformationsystemsdevelopment.Rickhasaspecialinterestindevelopingorganizationstoalignwiththeneedsofthebusinessinvigoratedwithprofessionaldevelopmentofthestaff.RickhasaMatersdegreeinmechanicalengineeringfromtheUniversityofMichigan.AmericanSocietyforEngineeringEducation,2007AHolisticReviewofMechanicalDesignCurriculuminAnEngineeringTechnologyProgramAbstractInmostofthemechanicalandmanufacturingengineeringtechnologyprograms,mechanicaldesignisacriticalcourseforstudentstoacquiretheknowledgeandskillindesignofmechanicalcomponentsandsystems.Whilethecoursecontentsgenerallyincludeimportanttopics,suchasfailuretheoriesandmachineelements,aholisticmechanicaldesigneducationshouldalsoaddresstheinterdependencybetweenvarioussubjectsrelatedtomechanicaldesign.Thesubjectofmechanicaldesignshouldbeviewedasan“integratedcurriculum,”notanisolatedcourse.AsaresultofaprofessionaldevelopmentprojectwiththeSandiaNationalLaboratories(SNL),theManufacturingandMechanicalEngineeringTechnology(MMET)programatTexasA&MUniversity(TAMU)hasembarkedonacriticalreviewofitsmechanicaldesigncurriculum.ThispaperpresentsthecollaborationbetweenTAMUandSNLontheeducationdevelopmentproject,theon-goingcurriculumreviewofmechanicaldesigncourses,andtheinitialfindingsandrecommendationsfortheMMETprogramatTAMU.Themethodologyinthisstudycanbeusedasacontinuousimprovementprocessforengineeringtechnologyeducation.1.IntroductionThetypicalmechanicalengineeringtechnologycurriculumconsistsofamechanicaldesigncourseorsequence.Takenduringthejuniorand/orsenioryears,thesecoursescarrytitlessuchasMechanicalDesign,MachineDesign,MachineElementDesign,andMechanicalSystemDesign.Inthiscontext,designmeanstocreateacomponentorasystemtomeetthedesiredfunctionalrequirements.Thus,theobjectiveofthecourseistoprovidetheconcepts,methodologies,knowledge,analyticalskills,anddecision-makingtechniquesnecessarytodesignmechanicalparts(components),devices,andsystems.Buildinguponthestudentsknowledgeofstatics,dynamics,andstrengthofmaterials,thecourseFundamentalsofMechanicalDesignoftenfocusesonthetopicsofdesignmethodology,stressanalysis,failuretheories,andmaterialselections.Thecourseinmachinedesignintroducesthetheoriesandapplicationofmachineelementssuchasgears,bearing,springs,fasteners.Real-worlddesignrequiresdesignerstohaveabroadknowledgebaseandskillset.Adesignerhastobeabletovisualizethespatialrelationshipofcomponents,tousecomputer-aideddesign(CAD)toolstocommunicatedesignconcepts,tospecifydimensionsandtolerances,andtoidentifyappropriateprocessesforpartmanufacturing.Inaddition,mechanicaldesignersareoftenexpectedtoconductstressanalysisandselectionmaterials,toestimatecosts,tomanagemultipleprojects,andtoworkeffectivelyonateam.Intheacademicworld,aclusterofknowledgeisgroupedintocoursesforefficientlearningofthesesubjects1.Itisclearthatthetaskofmechanicaldesigncanonlybeaccomplishedwiththeknowledgeandskillacquiredfromvariouscourses.Thus,acapstonedesigncourseiscommonlyinplaceforstudentstoacquireintegratingexperience.Effortshavebeenmadetodevelopdifferentapproachestothecapstonecourse,andtheformatandtheimplementationofthecoursevaryfrominstitutiontoinstitution2-8.Whilethecapstonecoursecanbetterpreparestudentstoentertheworkforce,theeffortseemstoolittletoolate.Otherthantheprerequisitesspecifiedforrelevantcourses,aholisticmechanicaldesigneducationshouldaddresstheinterdependenciesbetweenvarioussubjectsrelatedtomechanicaldesign.Inthispaper,wefirstdescribetheexistingmechanicaldesigncurriculumintheManufacturingandMechanicalEngineeringTechnology(MMET)programintheDepartmentofEngineeringTechnologyandIndustrialDistributionatTexasA&MUniversity(TAMU).Comparingtheneedsoftheindustrywiththeexistingcurriculumservesasacontinuousimprovementprocess.BasedonacollaborativeprofessionaldevelopmentprojectwiththeSandiaNationalLaboratories(SNL)andasurveyoftheMMETprogramconstituencies,weidentifythemechanicaldesignknowledgeandskillstudentsareexpectedtoacquirebeforegraduation(Section3).Toimprovemechanicaldesigneducation,therecommendedintegrativemechanismandcurriculumchangesarediscussedinSection4.AbriefconclusionisincludedinSection5.2.CoursesinMechanicalDesignCurriculumTheminimumtotalcredithoursrequiredforstudentsintheABET-accreditedMMETprogramatTAMUis132.Excludingthecoursesincommunications,mathematics,physicalandnaturalsciences,andsocialsciencesandhumanities,thetechnicalcontenthas77credits.Thediscipline-specificcomponentsoftheprogram,amongotheradded-depthtechnicalareas,includeMechanicalDesign.Thecoursesinthemechanicaldesignsequencearedescribedasfollowings:ENGR111AFoundationsofEngineeringI(MechanicsTrack).Introductiontotheengineeringprofession,ethics,anddisciplines；developmentofskillsinteamwork,problemsolvinganddesign；majoremphasisoncomputerapplicationsandprogramming；visualizationandCADtools.ENGR112AFoundationsofEngineeringII(MechanicsTrack).ContinuationofENGR111.TopicsincludemajoremphasisoncomputerapplicationsandprogrammingandsolidmodelingusingCAD.PHYS218Mechanics.Mechanicsforstudentsinscienceandengineering.Fundamentalprinciplesofclassicalmechanicsincludingkinematics,NewtonsLaws,conservationofenergyandmomentum,oscillationsandwavemotion.ENTC275MechanicsforTechnologists.Forces,momentsandcouplesin2-Dand3-Dsystems,equilibriumofrigidbodies；frictionandapplication；centroidsandmomentofinertia；reviewofparticledynamicprinciples；kinematicsandkineticsofrigidbodies；principlesofimpulse-momentumandwork-energy；computeruseinselectedareas.ENTC376StrengthofMaterials.Stressandstrain；elasticmoduli,Poissonsratio,torsion,bending,unsymmetricalbending,designofbeamsandshafts；deflectionofbeams；bucklingofcolumns；materialsandstrengthcharacterizationlaboratorytests.ENTC361SolidModelingandAnalysis.Fundamentalsofpartgeometrydevelopmentandmechanicalassembly；simplefiniteelementanalysisusedtoevaluateandoptimizedesign,rapidprototypingofsimpleproductmodels.ENTC363MechanicalDesignApplicationsI.Principlesofdesignofmechanicalcomponents；theoriesoffailure；fatigueandfracturedesigncriteria；SoderbergandGoodmandiagrams；materialsandtheirselectionstoengineeringapplication；toleranceandfit,designformanufacturingandassembly.ENTC463MechanicalDesignApplicationsII.Applicationofprinciplesofdesigntomechanicalpowertransmissionelementssuchasshafts,gears,rollingchains,belts,bearings,clutchesandbrakes；designofpowertransmissionsystems.ENTC422ManufacturingandMechanicalEngineeringTechnologyProjects.Acapstoneprojectscourseutilizingateamapproachtoananalysisandsolutionsofmanufacturingandmechanicalproblems.Figure1showsthecoursesequence.Theprerequisitesareshownaslinkswitharrows.Othercoursesthatarenotlistedinthesequencebuthavesignificantimpactinmechanicaldesigninclude:ENTC181ManufacturingandAssemblyProcessesI,ENTC206NonmetallicMaterials,ENTC207MetallicMaterials,ENTC303FluidMecha