A "Nifty" Laboratory For First Year Engineering Students

This paper describes an innovative first-year engineering laboratory in which students design and build electromechanical models of systems by applying methods used by practicing engineers. At the University of San Diego (USD), the project is known as the eNgineering Improvement in a FirsT Year (NIFTY) Design Project. The main objective of this laboratory is to help students start developing several key engineering skills early in the curriculum. This entertaining yet challenging learning environment also helps retain engineering students. In Spring 1999, 35 students, divided into eleven teams, created working computer-controlled systems and provided full technical documentation. Projects that students chose to build included an elevator, a Ferris wheel, a car wash, and a drawbridge. At the end of the semester, students presented their projects to local high school science classes. The first offering of this lab at USD was very successful. All of the students said that the project improved their open-ended problem solving skills and their understanding of engineering practice. Despite the amount of work required, students unanimously recommended that the project be continued. Seventy-four percent of the students considered successfully completing their project to be the single highlight of the semester.