Impedance measurements provide a useful probe of the physics of bolometers and calorimeters. We describe a method for measuring the complex impedance of these devices. In previous work, stray ...impedances and readout electronics of the measurement apparatus have resulted in artifacts in the impedance data. The new technique allows experimenters to find an independent Thevenin or Norton equivalent circuit for each frequency. This method allows experimenters to easily isolate the device impedance from the effects of parasitic impedances and frequency dependent gains in amplifiers.
Why Do We Lecture? Gilbert, Richard; Maughmer, Mark; Barger, Marilyn ...
Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers,
06/2002
Conference Proceeding
Session 2457 The Role of the Lecturer in the New Learning Strategies Marilyn Barger, Renata Engel, Richard Gilbert, Mark Maughmer and Bonnie Osif University of South Florida/ Penn State/ University ...of South Florida/ Penn State/ Penn State Recent trends in education have included learning strategies that employ complex, often multi- disciplinary, problems as centerpieces. They are then employed as beacons toward which course topics, concepts, or solution methods are directed. Generally, the learning strategies can be categorized as case-based, problem-based, or inquiry-based. These three new approaches tend to rely on the use of technical papers or briefs, whether electronic or printed, to support and drive the discussion of the topic. As a result, the traditional role of the lecturer, moving sequentially through chapters in a textbook, has been challenged. However, the qualities that make for an effective traditional lecture are also present in these new approaches. I. Learning strategies and their use in engineering courses Case-based learning uses previously solved problems to understand and investigate the decisions and methodologies that were employed to arrive at the solution. For engineering courses, cases may come from industrial projects or previous design projects. They include enough details about the problem statement and the variety of solutions under consideration so that advantages and disadvantages can be discussed. Depending on the course and topic, the case may draw attention to the technical issues, economical aspects, and societal impact. Consider an introductory engineering design course, where students get their first exposure to the design process by solving an industrial problem. Prior to tackling the problem, the instructor may choose to introduce students to the design approach by reviewing how students from previous semesters addressed a different industry-sponsored project. In this instance, the ’case’ would focus on how the students organized their work, gathered information, dealt with highly technical information, made decisions, and presented their solution. The instructor’s role is to present the students with the proper
Dealing With Difficult Lectures Gilbert, Richard A; Maughmer, Mark; Barger, Marilyn ...
Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers,
06/2000
Conference Proceeding
Odprti dostop
Lectures are a time tested structured educational materials delivery tool.(1) They also provide an educator a means to manage the transmission of course curriculum and concepts.(2) Lectures are ...adaptable but different when used in courses throughout an entire engineering program.(3) However, a critical component in the task of educating via an effective lecture is the lecturer’s recognition of the facts that difficult lectures exist and that they must be carefully dealt with. Difficult lectures are ubiquitous in all traditional 4 and 5 year undergraduate engineering curricula. They can be found in courses from the beginnings in calculus and college physics to the final courses on the most advanced topics. Difficult lectures do not always deal with difficult topics. However, difficult topics are always difficult lectures. The proper development and subsequent successful delivery of a difficult lecture or series of lectures imposes an initially simply-phrased demand upon the lecturer, i.e., the lecture must be acknowledged as difficult by the lecturer. This is especially important for educators who present engineering and engineering science topic lectures. This paper will explore and define some of the common attributes of difficult lectures. It will also contrast these attributes to those common defining “easy” lectures found in engineering courses. Finally, it will offer suggestions for identifying possible difficult lectures in engineering course material, so that a faculty member may adequately prepare for its presentation to a class. Easy Topics that Lead to Difficult Lectures Difficult lectures sometimes occur with relatively simple topics. The seasoned lecturer will recall times when students obviously had difficulty with a topic the lecturer perceived as straightforward or perhaps repetitious of earlier material. The challenge for the lecturer is to anticipate places in the course where these situations are likely to be an issue and prepare to address them as they occur throughout the course. The difficult situation is compounded when the lecturer does not understand the root cause of students struggling with easy material. Both students and instructor become frustrated. One of the most frequent situations that students think of as difficult is when they view the topic as separate from the rest of the course. In these instances, students do not see the relevance to the material because they are not familiar with the big picture, nor do they understand why the topic is needed or how it will be integrated with the main subject of the course. Fortunately, these topics are easy to identify for the instructor and the fix is not time-consuming. For example, a topic that appears in an Appendix of the textbook almost always falls into this category. The
All Lectures Are Not Created Equal Gilbert, Richard; Maughmer, Mark; Barger, Marilyn ...
Association for Engineering Education - Engineering Library Division Papers,
06/1998
Conference Proceeding
Odprti dostop
In an educational environment that pressures new faculty to become effective and dynamic teachers there is a tendency to overuse and perhaps misuse the new cadre of information transfer tools as well ...as the lecture. In undergraduate engineering education lectures are commonly used to promulgate two levels of proficiency: Those that deal with basic skills and those that deal with synthesis of knowledge. These two learning levels are similar in that they must maintain the integrity of the lecture structure, but different in their content, complexity, and commission. Student success in skill-developing courses is absolutely critical if the metamorphosis from engineering student to the engineering intern is to occur. It is impossible to overestimate the value of these courses. It is also impossible to assure student success in these same courses if they are only lecture-based. Student success in the design, capstone, and/or integration courses is absolutely critical if the metamorphosis from engineering intern to engineering professional is to occur. It is impossible to overestimate the value of these courses. It is also impossible to assure student success in these same courses unless they include a significant lecture-based component. This paper will focus on the lecture’s role for delivering material from either of these two extreme learning levels or an intermediate plateau. It will consider how lectures are properly and improperly employed in the various courses within an engineering curriculum. It will also illustrate the companion role that problems and projects play in the student learning experience. Overview There are several real constraints assigned to the task of transforming a college freshman into a proficient engineer. Time, talent, and tender certainly top the list. Even if talent and tender were eliminated, for example, by momentarily considering the best student body at a well- endowed engineering college taught by the best faculty possible, time would still be a formidable issue in itself. An engineering curriculum must use its courses to move its students from potentially algebra illiterate high school graduates through a reasonable introduction of the various engineering disciplines and finally into and ultimately completing the requirements of a selected engineering field. This is to be accomplished in a nominal four year time period in which usually 50% or more of the student’s courses are not within the engineering domain.
We report results of a recently-completed pre-Formulation Phase study of SPIRIT, a candidate NASA Origins Probe mission. SPIRIT is a spatial and spectral interferometer with an operating wavelength ...range 25 - 400 microns. SPIRIT will provide sub-arcsecond resolution images and spectra with resolution R = 3000 in a 1 arcmin field of view to accomplish three primary scientific objectives: (1) Learn how planetary systems form from protostellar disks, and how they acquire their inhomogeneous composition; (2) characterize the family of extrasolar planetary systems by imaging the structure in debris disks to understand how and where planets of different types form; and (3) learn how high-redshift galaxies formed and merged to form the present-day population of galaxies. Observations with SPIRIT will be complementary to those of the James Webb Space Telescope and the ground-based Atacama Large Millimeter Array. All three observatories could be operational contemporaneously.
Manufacturing Career Pathways Barger, Marilyn; Gilbert, Richard; Snyder, Mark
Manufacturing Engineering,
04/2010, Letnik:
144, Številka:
4
Trade Publication Article
Fundamentally the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grant program endeavors to produce more technicians and technologists with skills that are vitally important to the US' prosperity and ...security. The National Science Foundation-ATE program has established 36 ATE centers that undertake broad national or geographic-specific initiatives in high-technology fields that drive the economy in technology sectors of strategic importance to the nation. Helping a specific major manufacturing sector is the mission of many centers. Some examples include the Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center, which works with manufacturers of semiconductors. ATE center wants, needs, and welcomes input from industry experts. The manufacturing-focused ATE centers would embrace any SME participation. In summary, there are many ways SME and its members can work with ATE to help manufacturing prepare the future workforce.
This is an archival study, utilizing both primary & secondary sources, which examines the process of court-ordered school integration in Omaha. An eclectic conceptual framework provides the structure ...through which various stages of definition are discerned. Based on this case study, certain generalizations about community responses to forced integration are suggested.
