ABSTRACTS OF UMASS ACADEMY PROJECTS
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 Project 1999: Partnership in Recruitment of Anglo/Minority Girls into Engineering
The underrepresentation of women and minorities in science and engineering
remains a national concern which the Engineering Academy of Southern New
England proposes to address as one of the four goals of the NSF grant.
Specifically, the Academy will design programs and activities which will
encourage underrepresented female minorities, and Anglo female women students
to study and eventually practice in the engineering profession.
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Development of New Freshman Engineering Program at UMass, Amherst
This proposal describes a new two semester freshman course whose objectives are
to introduce engineering concepts and develop an appreciation of manufacturing.
The use of team-oriented design for manufacturing projects and the development
of high level communication skills are emphasized.
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Integrating Manufacturing into a Senior Computer Systems Design Lab
This proposal describes the development of: 1) manufacturing
modules, and 2) an inter-university Design Forum, for a required
senior-level Computer Systems Design Laboratory course in Electrical and
Computer Engineering.
The five manufacturing modules will consist of video-taped
lectures, software and other teaching materials covering:
the economics of electronic system manufacturing, microprocessor system design,
printed circuit board design and use of programmable logic.
Design projects allow students to apply knowledge from the modules
to a small microprocessor based system, typically for control or
signal processing. The final Design Forum presents an opportunity for
students to present their systems to an industrial panel which will give
awards based on manufacturability and design innovation.
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Multimedia Teaching Materials for Electronic Design Software
Novel multimedia teaching materials will be developed to allow students to
learn modern electronic design methods while addressing manufacturing issues.
The materials will be built around three commercial computer-aided design (CAD)
software packages which support logic design, microcontroller design, and
printed circuit board design, from industrial partners Altera,
Microchip and PADs, respectively.
The materials will consist of videos, written materials and software design
examples, much of which will be available on the World Wide Web for broad
dissemination. This is a continuation and expansion of an earlier effort
supported by industry and the Academy for integrating manufacturing into upper-level computer design courses.
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Intelligent Manufacturing Tutor Development
We are developing three-dimensional interactive computer environments of several
manufacturing processes to help students understand the complexity of
manufacturing design and the need for expertise to reduce tooling costs. We are
working on the module for injection molding and intend to have that ready for
testing by Summer and Fall of 1995. The module for die casting is also almost
complete. In Fall 1995 we will begin the module for stamping and possibly in
the following year the module for sand casting.
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Product Realization Curriculum Support
The curriculum support needed to sustain a new integrated mechanical engineering
design curriculum based on one coherent theme of product realization is described. The curriculum support requested includes production of a video documentation
of the product realization process, development of a mentoring program, an electronic design library, prototyping capabilities, animation and virtual prototyping material, and a two semester product realization course with a library of videotaped modules to support the course.
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Design for Quality (DFQ) Project
Three one-credit modules will be developed in conjunction with several
companies and professional societies to provide a systematic overview of
manufacturing through the concepts and tools of Design for Quality (DFQ). Emphasis is on the role of quality in the total production cycle, including customer inputs,
competitive benchmarking, performance specifications, product and process design,
manufacturing variability and product reliability. Students will learn software tools and
complete DFQ exercises and industry-based projects, with emphasis on teamwork
and problem solving. The modules can be offered at upper levels, or combined as a
stand alone course for freshmen and sophomores. All modules will be taught in the
1995/1996 academic year.
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Development of Electronics Manufacturing Engineering Instructional Materials for ECE Sophomores and Juniors
In this manufacturing-across-the-curriculum proposal, we outline our plans for
developing novel electronics manufacturing instructional materials to be used
in core ECE sophomore and junior courses at UMass Amherst as well as other
institutions. In Phase 1 of this proposal, we plan to develop novel sophomore
level course materials on semiconductor fabrication, packaging and manufacturing techniques starting at the integrated circuit level. These materials will be
developed with assistance from industry experts for use in existing courses
on digital electronics and semiconductor devices and materials. Starting
during the Spring 95 semester, these new lecture materials will be videotaped,
thus providing easy portability to other EASNE institutions.
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An Interdisciplinary Multi-Campus Senior Design Project for Manufacturable Electronics Products
The purpose of this project is to develop an educational methodology for
interdisciplinary senior design projects focused on manufacturable and
marketable electronics products, using senior design teams at UMass Amherst
and UConn. In particular, we envision a joint effort between Electrical
Engineering senior design teams at UMass Amherst, and Computer Science and
Engineering senior design teams at UConn. For a given product design, the
Amherst students would lead on the electronics hardware design and the Storrs
students would lead on the software design. The joint team would emphasize
design of a novel electronics product for manufacturablility and marketability.
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