Wednesday, December 16, 2015

King Publishes Research.


King Publishes Research in International Journal



Eoin King, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and acoustics, CETA, has published an article in the international journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.

The article is titled “A combined assessment of air and noise pollution on the High Line, New York City,” and was co-authored by Ethan Bourdeau ‘15, Kevin Zheng ’15 and Francesco Pilla, a professor of civil engineering at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

The paper reports on noise and air quality levels along the High Line in New York City. The High Line is an elevated public park, transformed from an unused freight rail line. King and his team took noise and air quality samples simultaneously for two cases: 1) pedestrians walking on a sidewalk at street level and 2) pedestrians walking on the elevated High Line. Results were analyzed to investigate if pedestrians using the High Line would have a lower pollution exposure to those using the sidewalk below. The study suggests that the reduction in air and noise pollution along the High Line compared to the footpath below is approximately 37 percent.

The research was supported by funding from the University of Hartford under a 2014–2015 Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant.
Unotes
12/16/15

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

CETA Design Expo - fall 2015

CETA Design Expo - fall 2015 - Please Join us!
CETA Design Expo
Friday, December 11, 2015

A wonderful day of exhibition, poster competition& celebration in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture.  Freshmen & seniors – sharing knowledge & experience. 

ES 143 - Boe-Bot Design Challenge
ES 143: Engineering and Design - Introduction to the fundamentals of engineering, the engineering profession and engineering design with emphasis on guided design and problem-solving methodologies. Students will undertake practice-oriented group design projects.

Design Challenge
—Each team must propose, build and demonstrate a final Boe-Bot project that shows new knowledge and skills pertaining to the Boe-Bot.  New knowledge and skills may be in for form of
· Implementation of a new sensor
· Novel application of an existing sensor
· Advanced programming techniques beyond the code given in the manual

* Design Evaluation Criteria: The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the final product and to choose the winning designs/products.
1. Performance (Does the Boe-Bot work, and perform the intended tasks?)
2. Creativity (How creative is the final product?)
3. Level of Difficulty (How complex is the new sensor/coding/knowledge?)
4. Presentation: Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)
5. Presentation: Oral (Are the students well-prepared and rehearsed?)

ECT 110 - Final Projects
ECT 110: Practical Projects— Introduction to the fundamentals of electronics & computer engineering technology with emphasis on skills that are needed for the major. Students undertake practice-oriented group lessons in topics such as soldering, printed circuit board and electronic/computers troubleshooting skills. Students are guided to apply the skills they gained from the above lessons to build electronic gadgets, and to use robotic kits to perform specific tasks through team projects. Statistical analysis is covered in this course. Students work on several projects including a final project in a team setting.

Final Project
- Each team must choose an electronics kit that they must construct, troubleshoot, and demonstrate as a working final product.  Teams were asked to consider several factors in choosing the kit, including components in the kit, tasks involved in construction, ability to customize, and evaluation of its performance.


* Project Evaluation Criteria:

The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the final product and choose the winning project.
1. Performance (Does the final product work as intended?)
2. Level of Difficulty (How complex was the kit to construct and troubleshoot?)
3. Experimental Verification (Was the product performance evaluated according to a set of criteria?)
4. Presentation - Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)
5. Presentation - Oral (Are the students well-prepared and rehearsed?)
 
Senior Capstone Projects:Students work on projects in their field of study with faculty mentors or external project sponsors to design,  fabricate, and/or test a device, process, or system.  This is a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work, and incorporating industry appropriate standards and realistic constraints.  Students participating are enrolled in
· AUD 471: Senior Project
· CE 460:  Civil Engineering Design Project
· ECE 483: Capstone Design II
· ME 473: Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design II

Project Based Courses:
Students work on projects in their field of study with faculty mentors or external project sponsors to design, fabricate, and/or test a device, process, or system.  
 
 · BE 480: Biomedical Engineering Practicum
    · CE 420: Water Quality Engineering
 · ES 493: Engineering Research

* Poster Evaluation Criteria:
The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the projects and posters and to choose the winning designs/posters.
1.   Clarity of the poster and oral presentations,
2.   Student’s overall responses to the questions of the judges.
3.   The completeness of the work.
4.   Quality of the project.

Course Instructors
:
Earl Hasselmark             
Patricia Mellodge, Ph.D.
Allan Penda

David Pines, Ph.D.         
Theodore (Ted) Sussmann, Ph.D.
  
          
Michael Nowak, Ph.D.
David Pines, Ph.D.
Eoin King, Ph.D.

Please join us and see all the happenings in CETA.  For schedule of events, please click:
http://unotes.hartford.edu/announcements/2015/12/2015-12-02-ceta-design-expo-to-showcase-student-projects-and-achievements.aspx
To view the Printed Program - please see below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dh7j2hifmhm6f4n/CETA%20Design%20Expo%20PRINTED%20program%20HA-%20fall%202015%20-%202.pdf?dl=0  
 
For questions, please contact us at: cetainfo@hartford.edu

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Dr. Patricia Mellodge Publishes Book


Mellodge Publishes Book on Dynamical Systems for Engineers





Patricia Mellodge, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in CETA, has had her latest book published, A Practical Approach to Dynamical Systems for Engineers, by Woodhead Publishing, November 2015.

Mellodge's third book takes the abstract mathematical concepts behind dynamical systems and applies them to real-world systems, such as a car traveling down the road, the ripples caused by throwing a pebble into a pond, and a clock pendulum swinging back and forth. Topics covered include modeling systems using differential equations, transfer functions, state-space representation, Hamiltonian systems, stability and equilibrium, and nonlinear system characteristics with examples including chaos, bifurcation, and limit cycles. MATLAB and Simulink are used throughout to apply the analysis methods and illustrate the ideas.

Applications in engineering are used to show the adoption of dynamical system analytical methods. Examples are provided on the dynamics of automobiles, aircraft, and human balance, among others, with an emphasis on physical engineering systems.

Mellodge's previous books are: P. Mellodge and P. Kachroo, Model Abstraction in Dynamical Systems: Application to Mobile Robot Control, Springer, October 2008; and P. Kachroo and P. Mellodge, Mobile Robotic Car Design, McGraw-Hill, August 2004.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Life with a Purpose.


Alumni Profile: Greg Beebe '92 (CETA) — Life with a Purpose




Beebe is an executive at Sennheiser Electronics, proving the power of hard work and goal-setting.

The Hartford Scholars Program at the University of Hartford made it possible for Greg Beebe '92 to change the course of his life. He grew up poor in inner-city Hartford with no male role models, in a family where no one had graduated from high school. Beebe’s family changed apartments frequently because money was tight (they even lived in a motel for a while). Food stamps and government cheese were staples. But Beebe knew at a young age that he had goals: to earn twice his age times 1,000 at age 30, reach six figures by age 40, and become a company president by age 50. He has done all that — and more.

An entertaining outing for Beebe’s family was a trip to the grocery store followed by a picnic lunch while parked at Bradley Airport, watching planes take off and land. He loved camping, and the Boy Scouts provided opportunities for leadership and tutelage. Scouting helped Beebe to focus on his goals, with no distractions. He soon achieved the top prize: Eagle Scout.

A girlfriend recognized Beebe’s interest in electronics as he spent time building a stereo system pieced together from junk parts. She pressed him to pursue an engineering education at the University of Hartford, where she intended to study. On a visit to campus, Beebe sat in on a DC Electrical Fundamentals class at the Ward School of Technology (now the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture), talked with the dean and then his advisor, all of which helped him realize that electronic engineering technology was a good fit.

Beebe believes that attaining Eagle Scout gave him a huge edge over another candidate holding equivalent qualifications when he applied for his first job at Sennheiser Electronics, a German company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of audio electronics for consumer, professional, and business uses. Over more than 23 years at Sennheiser, Beebe learned three things: he enjoys internationalism, challenges, and building teams. His purpose in life is to nurture others so they can grow. He feels fortunate to have been in a multi-year training program at Sennheiser, which primed him for varied domestic and international leadership roles. He headed sales and marketing in four different countries simultaneously, which required frequent contact with partners in Turkey, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. His role as VP for business in Latin America not only fueled his interest in internationalism and team-building, but has lead to lifelong friendships.

Click the link at the end of this article (under "Documents") to see a summary of Beebe's career path at Sennheiser Electronics.

Beebe sees the many steps in his life as blessings. “This doesn’t happen to a person who ate government cheese,” he says. He believes that when he set his life goals at 13, somebody upstairs was listening.

Documents

Greg Beebe's Career Path at Sennheiser Electronics
Download document

 

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

CETA Design Expo - fall 2015


CETA Design Expo
Friday, December 11, 2015

A wonderful day of exhibition, poster competition & celebration in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture.  Freshmen & seniors – sharing knowledge & experience. 

ES 143 - Boe-Bot Design Challenge
ES 143: Engineering and Design - Introduction to the fundamentals of engineering, the engineering profession and engineering design with emphasis on guided design and problem-solving methodologies. Students will undertake practice-oriented group design projects.

Design Challenge—Each team must propose, build and demonstrate a final Boe-Bot project that shows new knowledge and skills pertaining to the Boe-Bot.  New knowledge and skills may be in for form of

· Implementation of a new sensor

· Novel application of an existing sensor

· Advanced programming techniques beyond the code given in the manual


* Design Evaluation Criteria:

The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the final product and to choose the winning designs/products.

1. Performance (Does the Boe-Bot work, and perform the intended tasks?)

2. Creativity (How creative is the final product?)

3. Level of Difficulty (How complex is the new sensor/coding/knowledge?)

4. Presentation: Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)

5. Presentation: Oral (Are the students well-prepared and rehearsed?)

ECT 110 - Final Projects
ECT 110: Practical Projects— Introduction to the fundamentals of electronics & computer engineering technology with emphasis on skills that are needed for the major. Students undertake practice-oriented group lessons in topics such as soldering, printed circuit board and electronic/computers troubleshooting skills. Students are guided to apply the skills they gained from the above lessons to build electronic gadgets, and to use robotic kits to perform specific tasks through team projects. Statistical analysis is covered in this course. Students work on several projects including a final project in a team setting.

Final Project
- Each team must choose an electronics kit that they must construct, troubleshoot, and demonstrate as a working final product.  Teams were asked to consider several factors in choosing the kit, including components in the kit, tasks involved in construction, ability to customize, and evaluation of its performance.


* Project Evaluation Criteria:
The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the final product and choose the winning project.

1. Performance (Does the final product work as intended?)

2. Level of Difficulty (How complex was the kit to construct and troubleshoot?)

3. Experimental Verification (Was the product performance evaluated according to a set of criteria?)

4. Presentation - Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)

5. Presentation - Oral (Are the students well-prepared and rehearsed?)

 
Senior Capstone Projects:
Students work on projects in their field of study with faculty mentors or external project sponsors to design,  fabricate, and/or test a device, process, or system.  This is a major design experience based on the knowledge and skills acquired in earlier course work, and incorporating industry appropriate standards and realistic constraints.  Students participating are enrolled in


· AUD 471: Senior Project

· CE 460:  Civil Engineering Design Project

· ECE 483: Capstone Design II

· ME 473: Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design II

Project Based Courses:
Students work on projects in their field of study with faculty mentors or external project sponsors to design, fabricate, and/or test a device, process, or system.  

 · BE 480: Biomedical Engineering Practicum

    · CE 420: Water Quality Engineering

 · ES 493: Engineering Research

 * Poster Evaluation Criteria:
The following criteria will be used by judges to evaluate the projects and posters and to choose the winning designs/posters.

1.   Clarity of the poster and oral presentations,

2.   Student’s overall responses to the questions of the judges.

3.   The completeness of the work.

4.   Quality of the project.

Course Instructors:
Earl Hasselmark             
Patricia Mellodge, Ph.D.
Allan Penda

David Pines, Ph.D.         
Theodore (Ted) Sussmann, Ph.D.
  
          

Michael Nowak, Ph.D.
David Pines, Ph.D.
Eoin King, Ph.D.

Please join us and see all the happenings in CETA.  For schedule of events, please click: http://unotes.hartford.edu/announcements/2015/12/2015-12-02-ceta-design-expo-to-showcase-student-projects-and-achievements.aspx

For questions, please contact us at: cetainfo@hartford.edu