ME 2011 Introduction to Engineering
Syllabus

(Note: Info in syllabus may change from time to time)

Overview

The course emphasizes hands-on engineering. You will be taking apart common products to understand what's inside and how they work. You will be learning how to use tools. You will be designing and building your own mechanical and electromechanical machines, including a computer-controlled robot.. You will be learning rapid sketching and formal CAD methods. You will be giving formal and informal written reports and oral presentations. You will also learn a variety of other skills important to mechanical engineers including how to gather and use engineering information, how to use the Web and other Internet resources, how to estimate, how to use spreadsheets and word processors for engineering purposes, how to use Pro/ENGINEER and how to design products.

Introduction to Engineering has four objectives. The first objective is for you to learn engineering design and the design process by completing a series of successful, hands-on, creative design experiences. Part of this objective is for you to learn to communicate information effectively, including visual, oral and written communication. Communication is extremely important for practicing engineers. No matter how good your idea is, it will be worthless if you can't communicate it to a wide variety of audiences. Another part of this objective is for you to learn design by taking apart and examining existing products ("product dissection" or "reverse engineering"). This is one of the best ways to become familiar with good design practices and to develop a sense of what will work and what won't when you develop your own designs.

The second objective is for you to be exposed to key components of the mechanical engineering discipline. We will be studying fundamental concepts of energy, forces, materials, manufacturing and machine components. You will revisit each of these in much more detail in advanced mechanical engineering courses, but they are brought up in this course in the context of design so that you will understand how mechanical engineering science applies to the real world.

The third objective is for you to learn a set of basic engineering skills that you will use in your Upper Division Mechanical Engineering program as well as in your professional engineering career. These skills range from use of hand tools to finding engineering information on the web to using basic software applications. A later section of this document lists some of the skills and topics which you will learn in the course.

The fourth (and perhaps most important) objective is for you to taste some of the fun and excitement of mechanical engineering. Much of your undergraduate academic career will be spent learning the core engineering sciences and studying the theory you need to master in order to become a good engineer. Here, you will experience what it is like to do engineering design where the theory is used for practical application. The outcome will be to reinforce your commitment to pursue mechanical engineering as a career.

Course Logistics

The class meets for two hours each Monday and Wednesday afternoon from 2:30 to 4:30. Mondays we meet as a whole class for lecture, Wednesdays we meet in labs. There will be a mix of formal lecture, individual and group activities, and critiques of student work. We use an active learning approach in class so don't be surprised if you are asked to complete a number of mini-exercises during lecture time either individually or in groups.

Laptops and other electronic devices may be used in lectures for note-taking, but not for email or web-surfing. WiFi connections off please. Cell phones off please.

This is a 4-credit course and the expected time commitment is 12 hours per week or 150 hours for the semester. You are required to attend all lectures and lab meetings. How you spend the remaining hours depends on the work you must do outside of class. Some of this will be problem sets due for the next class. Some will be brief design projects done individually or in small groups. Some will be major design projects which you will have many weeks to complete. On the longer projects, it is very easy to let time slip by, leaving you in a crunch just before the deadline. Time management is a skill you will need in this course; you would do well to police your time to make sure you are dedicating yourself to the course each week at an appropriate level. You will have fun (perhaps the most fun you will ever have in a U course), you will be doing exciting activities, but you will work hard. If you want an easy time, Mechanical Engineering may not be the place for you.

Teaching Staff

Textbooks

Required

1. "Rapid Viz: A New Method for the Rapid Visualization of Ideas", Kurt Hanks and Larry Belliston. Paperback - 149 pages, Paperback: 149 pages, Publisher: Thomson Course Technology, 3rd ed. (March 2006), ISBN: 1-59863-268-X ($16.55) (Wonderful book on sketching for all occasions. Takes the view -- entirely true -- that everyone can learn to draw; all it takes is some knowledge of the fundamentals, and practice.)
   

2. "Pro/ENGINEER WILDFIRE 3.0 Tutorial and MultiMedia CD", by Roger Toogood, Paperback, 2006, Schroff Development Corp. Publications (tel: 913-262-2664), ISBN: 1-58503-307-3. ($47.50) (An excellent lesson-by-lesson book to get you up to speed on Pro/E. Wildfire 2.0 or Wildfire 3.0 editions are OK.)

3. ME2011 Toolkit. Available for purchase at the UMN Bookstore. Has a number of goodies including digital calipers, needle-nose pliers, 6-way screwdriver, soldering iron and more. Everything a professional prototyping engineer needs. This kit is required, but see the link for additional information. ($46.90)

4. Design notebook. "University of Minnesota Lab Book", Number 2077S, 96 sheets, graph ruled. No substitutes allowed. ($3.75) (If you can't find the notebook in the ME2011 book section, look for it in the Supplies section of the Bookstore. You will be using your notebook constantly during the semester. There are details about the design notebook posted on the web that you should read.)

5. Display book for your engineering portfolio. You must have this style: black, flexible cover, 12 pockets, no rings. One example, stocked at the UMN Bookstore, is ACCO Presentation Book, black, 12 pockets, #41121 ($4.95).
   

1. "Practical Electronics for Inventors, 2nd ed." by Paul Scherz, Paperback, McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics, 2005, ISBN: 0071452818. ($34.45) (An excellent book that covers electronics from the ground up. Good way to get going on the practical side of electronics. You will be constructing electronic circuits for the robot project. Highly recommended that you purchase and keep this book for your entire engineering career.)

2. "Writer's Reference 6e & MLA Quick Reference Card" by Diana Hacker Paperback 6th ed. (November 2006) Bedford/St. Martin's, ISBN: 0312465319. ($54.40) (Everyone should have a good writer's reference. We recommended that you purchase and keep this book forever. )
   

Other expenses

There will be expenses associated with constructing your robot, with other design projects and with dissection of products. None of these expenses are large. Read the assignment descriptions if you want to learn more.

Robot Kit

Because we do extensive building of designs and dissections of existing products, all students need access to tools. You have some tools because you will purchase the ME2011 Tool Kit (see Textbooks). In addtition, every student will receive on loan the ME2011 Robot Kit. This kit contains additional tools and equipment needed for the course, including an electric drill, some hand tools, a BASIC Stamp microprocessor kit, and some robot parts. A complete list of robot kit contents appears elsewhere on the course web site. You will use the kit to help dissect products and to construct designs. You are responsible for returning the robot kit at the end of the course in exactly the same condition as received.

IT Computing Labs

The ITLabs are one of the finest undergraduate computing facilities in the world. The labs have a variety of analysis, simulation, drafting, solid-modeling, presentation and word processing software applications available. Tools that you may find especially valuable for engineering include Pro/ENGINEER for design, ANSYS for finite element analysis, ADAMS for dynamic analysis, Matlab for system simulation, Mathematica for symbolic algebra, Excel for spreadsheet analysis, Word for word processing and PowerPoint for presentation view graphs. In addition, the 308 MechE lab has equipment for scanning and for printing in large format and in color. You will most likely be using room 308 MechE which has high-performance Windows workstations. A complete list of other ITLabs locations and hours can be found on the IT Labs homepage.

Writing

Many assignments involve paying attention to your writing, one of the most important communication skills which must be mastered by engineers. If you need one-on-one help with your writing, take advantage of the Student Writing Support office at the University. The Writers Handbook listed as an optional textbook is highly recommended. For any assignment where you get a check-minus because of poor writing, you can request a re-grade if you visit the Writing Center for consulation and revise the document. The re-grade request is done through the Grade Appeals process described below.

Portfolio

Electronic information delivery

The course web site is used for distributing and archiving course information that traditionally is delivered via paper handouts. It is also the place to look for assignments and a class list. If you don't know how to use a browser to access the Web, grab a friend or one of the course instructors for help.

Course news is published on the News Forum of the ME2011 Moodle site. Check for late breaking events including changes in schedule and homework assignments.

Assignments, evaluation and grading

Assignments are listed on the schedule with details on the assignments section of the course web page.

Assignments are due at the start of class on the day listed in the schedule, generally a Wednesday lab day, with the exception of assignments that are turned in electronically, which are due at 11:59 PM on the due date. Late assignments are not accepted and will receive a 0. "Late" means any time after the due date and time. Legitimate excuses (that is, you were sick or had other extenuating circumstances) will be accepted IF (and only if) you telephone or e-mail your lab instructor or one of the other teaching staff in advance of the assignment being due. Conclusion: Get your work done on time for ME 2011, but if you have a good reason for not hitting a deadline, let someone know in advance.

Projects and assignments are assessed through a variety of means including instructor evaluation, open peer evaluations, public critiques and self-assessment.

Most assignments are graded on a check scale as follows:
 

check	Good, what was expected
check-plus	Excellent, beyond what was expected
check-minus	OK, but needs work
zero	Late or did not turn in

Note that there is a big range in the check category, and most of what you turn in will get a check. Outstanding assignments get a check-plus, and you will have to work really hard to get a check-minus. Thus, success in this course means doing all the assignments.

Some assignments and activities are graded on a check/zero basis where you get a check if you did it and a zero if you did not. This includes in-class activities where you get a zero if you miss the class. A few assignments, for example the graphics quiz and the robot project, are assessed on a numeric scale. Consult the assignment description for details.

For entry onto the grade book, the checks are translated into numeric scores as follows: check = 4, check-plus = 5, check-minus = 3, zero=0. The score is multiplied by a weight before being entered into the grade book where the weights indicate the importance of the assignment For example, if you received a check on an assignment of weight 6, you will see an 18 in the grade book. The assignment weights for each assignment are listed on the assignments section of the web site. You should scan this so that you know which assignments are most important. In the grade book, the Total column is the sum of all the grade book entries.

Your final grade will depend solely on the work done for the assignments, the quiz on engineering graphics, projects and participation in the in-class activities. There are no extra-credit opportunities. For your final grade, all checks, an average grade on the quiz and an average robot will put you in the middle of the B range. If you received more than a few check-pluses along with the checks and had an above average robot, you may bump up to B+ or A-. Outstanding work, including an outstanding robot will be rewarded with an A while below-average performance will rate a B- or C+, or C or C-. Substandard work will receive a D and if you don't show up or don't do anything at all or don't return your equipment kit you will get an F. An incomplete will be given only the case of a verifiable major illness or family tragedy. The exact final score to letter formula will be available on the assignments page after the final grades are posted.

If you have further questions on grading, please consult the official University grade policy or contact Durfee.

Grading Appeals

If you think an assignment has been improperly graded, you have up to 5 days after the assignment is handed back to request a regrade. The entire assignment, however, is subject to regrade, not just the question in dispute. The regrade request must be made in the form of a written memo with the discrepancy clearly described. Submit the request along with the graded assignment to any member of the teaching staff. Warning: Grade changes are VERY infrequent so don't get your hopes up, nor should you abuse this appeal process.

On-Line Grades

Collaboration and Academic Conduct

We encourage you to help each other out on assignments by discussing problems and solution strategies; however, the work you submit for grading must be identifiable as your own. If you turn in an assignment that looks similar to that of another student, you will be subject to disciplinary action. Trivial changes between the work of two students are unacceptable. Copying work from students who took the course previously is also unacceptable. For example, you are encouraged to collaborate on Pro/E assignments, but this means two of you are sitting side-by-side at two separate workstations, each creating his or her own drawing. Two people creating one drawing, then making two printouts of the drawing is not acceptable because we want each person to experience doing work on their own. Likewise, if you collaborate on an experiment, each person must create his or her own writeup. If your name is on a work, it means you are the sole author. We almost always are able to find out when you plagiarize or cheat, so don't do it. The consequences (it appears on your permanent record) are far worse than receiving a low grade for your own work.

Suggestions

We welcome your comments and suggestions as the course proceeds. Suggestions made to the course staff in person are the best. There is also a web-based, anonymous suggestion box if you have something to say about the course and don't want your name attached. Look for it on the course home page.

Students With Disabilities

Course Content

Course Topics
VISUAL COMMUNICATION Rapid Sketching Two-point perspective Product and process representation Thumbnail sketches Shading, shadows Lettering Hand sketching Engineering Graphics Multi-view Dimensioning Tolerancing (basic) CAD (Pro/ENGINEER) Solid-modeling Assemblies Parts and detail drawings Exploded views WRITTEN COMMUNICATION Appropriate style Mechanics Lab notebook Experiment reports E-mail ORAL COMMUNICATION Formal presentation Informal presentation Critiques Mechanics Visual aids	DESIGN Design Process Concept generation and selection Brainstorming Working in teams Project planning DESIGN PROJECTS Simple Machines Robot REVERSE ENGINEERING Product dissection Bill of Materials Materials identification Component identification Assembly identification ENGINEERING SKILLS Basic Engineering Materials Metals, polymers (common ones only) Basic properties, applications Materials identification Basic Machine Components Bearings, gears, motors...... Threaded fasteners Features and applications Catalog selection Information gathering Internet/Web Catalog Library Patent search	ELECTRONICS AND MICROPROCESSORS Analog components Digital logic Basic circuit design Circuit construction BASIC Stamp architecture BASIC Stamp programming Interfacing to switches, motors... SOFTWARE PACKAGES Pro/Engineer Excel BASIC (for programming Stamp) Power Point