Senior Project Presentations

The current paper describes the Senior Project Proposal and Senior Project classes that comprise the capstone design sequence for Engineering Technology students at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. This design sequence is required for all Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering Technology students. The paper discusses the investigative work required prior to undertaking a project design, the types of projects that are undertaken, the sources of project ideas and the magnitude of the projects. Descriptions of both courses for all three majors are provided. I. Course Organization The Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology programs at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown require a capstone design sequence where students prepare a project proposal and then complete a senior project design. This two-term course sequence is taken during the last two terms before graduation. The first portion of the capstone course is Senior Project Proposal. Civil Engineering Technology (CET) students form groups, formulate the initial idea for the project and write a preliminary proposal. The entire CET faculty reads the preliminary proposals to determine if the ideas have merit and to suggest revisions. Students continue to rewrite the preliminary proposal until it is accepted and then begin work on a final proposal. The final proposal also goes through an iterative process. It is eventually used as an outline for the senior project work that follows in the next term. Student groups make five-minute presentations before the sophomore, junior and senior CET students at the end of the term to describe their proposed projects. The second portion of the capstone course is the Senior Project course. Students perform design calculations and produce written reports and drawings to document their work. Each week during the term students meet with their advisors to discuss progress and problems. At the end of the term, student groups make presentations before students, faculty, project sponsors and interested members of the local community. The Senior Project Proposal course taken by Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) students has undergone major revisions in recent years to modify the course sequence format. These modifications were instituted to increase the probability for successful senior project completion. In the proposal phase the students draft a proposal for their senior project that is circulated among the EET faculty for approval. Functional specifications, block diagram design, time schedules and task division among the project members quickly follow the proposal and the term P ge 672.1 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” commences with the final paper design of the proposed project. Each phase of the project is communicated to other EET students and faculty through oral presentations during weekly EET seminars. This provides the sophomores and juniors with an opportunity to observe the process that is used during the proposal/design phases and allows them to participate, comment, and share their ideas with the project team members about the proposed projects. The break between terms is used by the EET students to order parts for the assembly/testing phase that occurs during the second term. This buffer allows time to procure the parts so that start up delays during the initial weeks of the second term are minimized and assembly can begin immediately. During the second term the students enroll in the Senior Project course. The students transform their paper designs into intellectual software and physical hardware devices. Test data is produced and recorded as the software and hardware are debugged. Design deficiencies are corrected if possible and documentation is produced. Final schematic drawings and user manuals are created and the results of the project are orally presented to family, faculty, staff, students, project sponsors, and friends during the final EET seminar for the term. Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) Department students prepare a senior project proposal that is defended at the end of the first semester. The proposal must include a detailed statement of work, a cost estimate and a timeline. As part of the proposal effort, students are encouraged to initiate project activities to demonstrate feasibility and to aid them in developing reasonable goals and objectives. The bulk of the project activities are performed during the second semester and includes an intermediate design review, scheduled midway through the semester. This midterm deadline encourages students to keep their activities moving along in a timely fashion. As with the proposal defense, the review is performed in front of the other project teams and the department faculty. Use of a wide audience gives the students an opportunity to receive feedback from diverse viewpoints including their peers. The final defense occurs at the end of the semester. Students are required to write a detailed report and give a formal presentation to department faculty, students, sponsors and family. Juniors are encouraged to attend all presentations so that they can get a better idea of what will be expected of them. Where practical, support of senior project activities is embedded in senior level courses. For example, those that take Finite Element Analysis are required to do a final project for the course and are encouraged to do a project related to their senior project activities. II. Recent Civil Engineering Technology Projects Many of the Civil Engineering Technology department senior project ideas result from interaction with community or governmental groups. Two projects completed within the past two years entitled “Foustwell Access Project for the Stonycreek Whitewater Park” and “Design of a Maintenance Facility and Access Road for Whitaker Roads Corporation” are examples of such interaction. Students select projects that incorporate personal interests and offer design challenges. The Stonycreek Whitewater Park is in the planning stage. A local canoe club, the planning commission and the local government are all interested in developing a section of the Stonycreek River for recreational and tourism purposes. A member of the planning commission brought this project to the attention of the CET Department. One of the students involved with this project is P ge 672.2 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” a paddler that is active in the canoe club. His goal was to design an area that would be easy to use and attractive. The 7.5 acre Foustwell site sits at the beginning of a six-mile stretch of continuous whitewater through a 500 foot deep canyon. The whitewater stretch is considered to be one of the premier runs in the eastern United States. The area selected for the access project was located near a highway bridge and adjacent to a railroad. Students generally attempt to select projects that utilize a variety of topics from upper level courses. This project included surveying, site layout, geotechnical analysis, structural analysis, hydrology, hydraulics and environmental concerns. A topographic survey was completed to locate the existing roadways, railroad facilities, and utilities and to define the topography of the area. Additionally, the area was examined to delineate wetlands and the 100-year floodplain elevation. Soil analyses were performed to determine the existing soil conditions and the bearing capacity for structures. Students conducted several tests including moisture content, a sieve analysis, a hydrometer analysis, liquid and plastic limits and a pocket penetrometer test. A structure to be used as a restroom and changing facility as well as an educational center and lab was designed for the site. The students designed the trusses, the masonry walls, the footing and the floor slab. Students researched local ordinances regarding building restrictions in the floodplain area and considered the need for handicap accessibility. An access road, parking lot and two trails down to the river were also part of the project. A cost analysis was conducted. The Whitaker Roads Corporation has an office building and asphalt plant in one location and a maintenance facility in another. The office building and maintenance facility are no longer adequate. The Corporation decided that the company would be more efficient if all of the operations would be relocated to the asphalt plant site and a new combination office building and maintenance facility would be built there. One of the students involved in this team project was an employee of Whitaker Roads and was aware of the shortcomings of the existing arrangement. The main components of this project were a road design, building design, hydrologic study and construction scheduling. The roadway design included a road realignment and pavement design. Safety issues had to be addressed because an increase in the amount of traffic at the site would occur as a result of the relocation of the maintenance facility. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation design criteria were used to determine the pavement design. A parking area and truck turning area were also designed. The BOCA National Building Code was used in the design of the office building/maintenance facility. All loads were calculated using the code as the basis. The facility will be located in a case study area for snow loads, so local conditions were investigated and incorporated into the design. The truck loads expected to be experienced at the facility were determined and used to calculate the floor loads used to design the reinforced concrete floor. Special loading conditions resulting from the way the building is to be utilized were also incorporated into the load calcu