In many mechanical engineering undergraduate curriculums, there are topics that are vital to the students' future careers in the manufacturing and design workforce that are not taught in-depth. As one of those topics, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing, or GD&T, is vital to companies who develop and manufacture products because it allows…

The 1950s saw the emergence of the science-driven model of engineering education. In the following decades, the model has been continuously challenged to incorporate aspects such as liberal arts, information & communication technology, design, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, industry 4.0, and more recently, online-learning. This…

The University of Toronto's Troost ILead helps all engineering students blend research and experiential education to find the leader within.

A practical for students to experience a process plant is presented, based on operating a solvent absorption plant for carbon dioxide capture. The student must operate the plant in assigned roles that closely identify with a chemical plant environment, to achieve specific performance targets. Students must overcome technical challenges that…

Biomedical engineering (BME) is a multidisciplinary, constantly advancing field; as such, undergraduate programs in BME must continually adapt. Elective courses provide opportunities for students to select topic areas relevant to their interests or future careers. Specifically, laboratory courses allow experiential learning in specialized topics…

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are textbook model systems to introduce "Nanomaterials" and "Nanotechnology" to students and laypersons. AuNPs are also suitable materials to raise awareness about the "Green Chemistry" principles. The unique optical and catalytic properties of nanosized gold make it ideal to timely develop…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the relationship between academia and society focusing on how technical universities perform Third Mission (TM) to promote knowledge outside the academic environment producing multiple benefits. Design/methodology/approach: This investigation is performed through the conceptual approach. The theoretical…

Biomedical engineering capstone design courses provide a salient opportunity to discuss ethical considerations in engineering. As technology and society develop and change, new challenges constantly arise related to how society and technology inform each other. In this space, ethical training for engineering students is critically important for…

Below the surface of the ocean, currents, eddies, and other physical processes redistribute energy and biologically important elements. Measuring this transport can be challenging, and scientists must address a wide spectrum of oceanographic and engineering concepts when designing instruments to observe these processes. In this activity,…

The unique characteristics of the training needed for today's biomedical engineers can represent a challenge in curriculum design. Practical experiential learning for biomedical engineering undergraduates is important to prevent under-developed professional skills. In this teaching tips article, we provide an example of how to incorporate…

During the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to rapidly translate a new human-centered design studio course for first-year biomedical engineering students from a face-to-face delivery mode to a remote delivery mode. In addition to disrupting plans for hands-on design prototyping experiences, stay-at-home orders…

Design is often accepted as a fundamental aspect of engineering (Dym, et al., 2005). The design process is frequently portrayed as a set of steps. However, the design process is more complex than just a set of steps in a relatively fixed process. The complex nature of design, design thinking, questioning, and decision making is exactly what…

In engineering, teachers can push even the youngest learners to think critically and create something that reflects the function of the real thing. When children create, they often make a representation of something--a crayon-drawn stick-figure family or a butterfly life cycle represented with pasta--that is based on appearance. Their questions…

This paper deals with an integration of STEM education and project-based learning (PBL) by introducing a hybrid hardware/software-based learning platform covering eight learning units. PBL not only bridges the gap between theory and practice, but also focuses on improving students' soft skills, which is important as they prepare for further…

In this quickly evolving digital world, the technology and education (T&E) education classroom can provide valuable instruction that creates a well-informed online citizenry through digital understanding and citizenship curriculum. For twenty years, "Standards for Technological Literacy" (STL) (ITEA/ ITEEA, 2000/2002/2007) provided…