During Fall 2012, I am teaching ME 370: The Mechanical Engineering Profession
I have a separate web page where I discuss my grading philosophy and practice. Most of the links and ideas apply to both undergraduate and graduate studies. A separate set of links is provided for advice on graduate school.
Dr. Richard Felder, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University has some excellent articles containing advice for engineering students. In particular, I suggest you read:
And for some good ideas (some would say advice) on living life:
I think engineers should be fearless in the way that a good artist is fearless. Not fearless=stupid or fearless=careless. If that idea interests you, try this:
Graduate school is not a simple continuation of learning at an advanced undergraduate level. The intellectual demands and expectations are significantly higher. The structure of graduate programs is significantly looser. The definition of "done" is much more elusive.
The goals of this article are to raise awareness of the need for a healthy and interactive graduate student-advisor relationship, to provide pointers and guidance for both advisors and graduate students in navigating the maze of a doctoral degree, and to give references and resources for those who hope to learn more.
The University of Guelph has a nice collection of advice called Investing in Excellence for college students. Check out the podcasts:
Robert Bjork, a cognitive psychologist who studies learning compiled this list of advice from students on how to study. (PDF). It's a quick read. Don't let the technical language put you off. The article is practical and has useful recommendations.
Steven Chu at Samford University has a good series of videos on how to study effectively. The videos are short (7 to 8 minutes each) and are based on our scientific understanding of how people learn. You should at least watch the first video (via YouTube) on "Beliefs that Make You Fail".
Here's a list of tips adapted from a a web page at Texas A&M University on keeping calm during an exam.
Often I give practice exams. When I do, I usually provide the solutions. Many students do not use practice exams well. For example, many students will look at the solutions and think to themselves, "I understand", or "I could do that". These students make the mistake of not using the practice exams to actually practice.
If you have access to a practice exam use these steps to make the best use of it.
The basic idea is to practice both the material and the self-management that will help you do your best on the real exam. Your study-only notepad is the exception. The study-only notepad allows you to have the experience of "If only I had studied that before the exam" before you actually take the exam.
I've collected a few miscellaneous links about electronic communication and the Internet.
Notation: "F" = Fall Quarter, "W" = Winter Quarter, "Sp" = "Spring Quarter"
As Chair of the department my teaching duties are reduced.
| Number | Title | Last Taught | Next Taught | |||
| EAS 199A | Engineering Problem Solving 1 | F 2011 | F 2012? | |||
| EAS 199B | Engineering Problem Solving 2 | W 2011 | W 2012 | EAS 361 | Engineering Fluid Mechanics | F 2006 |
| ME 322 | Applied Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics | W 2007 | ||||
| ME 352 | Engineering Numerical Methods | F 2008 | ||||
| ME 370 | The Mechanical Engineering Profession | Sp 2012 | F 2012 | |||
| ME 441/541 | Advanced Fluid Mechanics | Sp 1997 | ||||
| ME 447/547 | Transport and Rate Processes | W 2000 | ||||
| ME 448/548 | Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics | W 2012 | W 2014? | |||
| ME 449/549 | Thermal Measurements in Electronic Equipment | Sp 2006 | ||||
| ME 488 | Design of Experiments | F 2009 | ||||
| ME 492-493 | Mechanical Engineering Design Projects | W, Sp 2003 | ||||