Category: Alignment

Thursday, May 2; Faculty Commons conference room

3-4pm: MECH (Present: Masa Nakamura)

• The more advanced courses require math; some students take longer to complete the program depending on their initial placements in math courses. The goal for a Mechanical Engineering *Technology* program is not to let math requirements hold students back.
• Students with higher initial placement are advised to take linear algebra and statistics even though they are not program requirements (this way they can compete with students from mechanical engineering departments after graduation). Finite Element Methods (MECH 4730) actually requires linear algebra; while students are not required to take MAT 2580, they become familiar with matrices earlier in a course with MATLAB.
• Students’ placements have been improving in recent years; most used to place into MAT 1275 but now about a third of entering place into MAT 1475 (and thus have room for more math courses).
• Elementary concepts are still a huge challenge for students in courses with no math prerequisites (IND 1112 for example). This might be an issue in the future that could be addressed in MAT 1275CO if students who place into MAT 0650 are admitted to MAT 1275CO (it would help if the final exam included geometry topics).  We discussed:
  • plane geometry and parallel lines/angle results,
  • a full rotation is 360 degrees,
  • objects related by a reflection are not the equal.
• Unit conversion and calculations with units are widespread problems that could be addressed in any math course with appropriate examples and homework problems. Problems in Arthur Kramer’s (smaller) book on page 125 are suggestions.
• Three-dimensional visualization and drawing is extremely important. Students struggle to visualize simple 3D rotations. One idea might be to sneak 3D geometry (at least a picture of different types of solutions) into the section on 3×3 linear systems into MAT 1275/1275CO so that students see 3D Euclidean space at some point. This is already helpful pedagogically for any student, not just engineering students.
• Electrical engineering uses complex numbers but the notation for i is j! Arthur’s book may have a suitable problem.
• Masa’s research in environmental engineering sounds fascinating and does include some elementary math. He’s mentored students at all different levels and has found that environmental science/engineering is reasonably easy for non-experts to understand. This seems like a great place to look for project ideas.
  • Links:
    • Composter Poster
    • Urban Heat Islands Poster
    • Smart City Observatory Poster
• Mechanical engineering and civil engineering have a lot in common, so there is another place to look for applications.

4-5pm: ETET (Present: Mohammed Kouar, Viviana Vladutescu)

• Mohammed shared an old project he created with Nadia Benakli and Estela Rojas that looks perfect for integrating into MAT 1275 and 1375. It is a summary of basic math skills required for EET 1122.
• Circuit Analysis II (EET 1222) requires complex numbers and has MAT 1375 as a prerequisite…so students should have seen complex numbers at least once or twice before taking the course but seem not to remember. (Kate: This would be a good place to look for applications for examples/exercises.)
• We spent most of our time discussing Advanced Circuit Analysis  (EET 2122).
  • This course requires differentiation (starts about halfway through MAT 1475), integration (MAT 1575), and solving of differential equations (including by Laplace transform; at the end of MAT 2680). However, this course has only MAT 1475 (or higher) as a co-requisite.
  • In Viviana’s class, the first five or six sessions are spent on a crash course in three semester’s worth of material.
  • From a math perspective, this is  a huge concern and not recommended at all. Students and instructors suffer from this aspect at the beginning of the course and from students weak foundation in these math topics throughout the course.
  • Further, while Bachelor’s students are eventually required to take MAT 1575, they are not required to take MAT 2680 at all, even though a quick glance at the syllabus makes it seem like a number of topics (including circuit applications) are included in both courses.
  • Viviana requested that at least the MAT 1475 co-requisite be changed to a prerequisite. Her own students who have already seen derivatives tend to do better in the course than those who have not. (Viviana will share scans of her notes.)
  • Viviana and Mohammed discussed potential impacts of changing the prerequisites for the course and having students take it later in the program. It seems that since many students place into MAT 1275, practical concerns override curricular decisions.
  • Relatedly, if a student follows the college catalog, they would take a math course every other semester, as opposed to in consecutive semesters, as is recommended. The sequencing in this part of the program appears in need of an overhaul.
  • Update 5/17: I asked Viviana and Mohammed to encourage students taking EET 2122 in the fall to register for the appropriate math preparatory workshop in August.