AccessEngineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology: A Case StudyGraduate education is a challenging venture. The process is even more

challenging when your field of study requires information and knowledge from

multiple engineering disciplines to be successful. As an Associate Professor

of Engineering Management my charge is to provide undergraduate and

graduate students with an educational experience that mimics the technical

and leadership challenges they will face after graduation. While my educational

training and industrial experience lends itself more to the operational aspects

of an organization, many of my students’ backgrounds will differ greatly,

and as such it is useful to have access to information that spans virtually all

engineering disciplines—something that AccessEngineering provides.

Given this, it is impossible to overestimate the value our students gain from having an electronic engineering reference tool like AccessEngineering. The database provides them information on the top ten classical engineering disciplines, as well as many of the related foundational and advanced mathematical courses. In addition, my students enjoy using the various learning aids delivered in formats, such as videos, interactive graphs, self-directed instructional modules, and calculators, that reinforce course lectures and assist with daily homework assignments. However, given my primary focus which is graduate-level instruction, my students in particular have found AccessEngineering’s content and functionality particularly advantageous when working on class projects. An example project from Manufacturing Systems exemplifies the usefulness of the reference tool…

Class Projects: How AccessEngineering Guides Students Toward the SolutionStudents enrolled in Manufacturing Systems are given a term project that requires them to design a manufacturing facility to produce a product of their choosing. Many of the students will choose a product that harnesses the skills of their specific engineering discipline, but that is the easy part. Once they receive the facility design requirements and production capability, things get interesting.

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AccessEngineering: GivinG StudentS the toolS for real-World SucceSS

By craig G. downing, Ph.d., cMfgeAssociate Professor of Engineering Management, Rose-Hulman

Faculty Advisory Board Member, AccessEngineering

“…My charge is to provide

undergraduate and

graduate students with

an educational experience

that mimics the technical

and leadership challenges

they will face after

graduation.”

www.AccessEngineeringLibrary.com

Cont. Class Projects It is at this point students begin to recalibrate their expectations from the

component level issues and begin to grapple with the interconnectedness

of the enterprise. Successful completion of the project challenges students

to assemble information from various aspects of facility design to present a

comprehensive and viable venture proposal. This requires students to define

specifications for site location, labor requirements, process design, product

design, material handling, marketing strategy and future plans.

In one case a team needed to perform a cost-benefit analysis between

two joining approaches: welding versus fasteners.  To fully understand the

analysis the students were required to verify the load conditions, assembly

implications, and material selection.  While trying to accomplish this goal

they gathered information from three handbooks (in Mechanical Engineering,

Industrial Engineering, and Design for Manufacturing) and two videos (Tool

Materials Introduction and Ferrous Tool Materials).  Once they amassed the

individual data points a new design emerged to consider the sum total of

new information.  While this project is academic in nature, students find that

the resources of AccessEngineering exactly match those needed to be an

effective engineer in practice.

As the field of engineering continues to address the complex issues of the

world it is essential that educators, students, and practitioners have the

appropriate tools to prepare themselves in the best way possible to be value-

added contributors. AccessEngineering is a superb tool that offers volumes

of resources that a student at any level—from entering freshman design to

completing a doctoral dissertation—can use to improve their understanding

of engineering in both theoretical and practical applications. The content is

provided in various mediums to assist students in learning the information

in a manner that best suits them. Filled with credible teaching and learning

resources, AccessEngineering equips engineering educators and students

with resources capable of positively transforming the learning experience.

Let’s harness that power to the betterment of our discipline!

craig G. downing, Ph.d., cMfgeDepartment Head and Associate Professor of Engineering Management, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN, USA

“Students find that

the resources of

AccessEngineering

exactly match those

needed to be an

effective engineer

in practice.”

www.AccessEngineeringLibrary.com