Mechanical EngineeringSeptember 12, 2013

AGENDA• I. Approval of the Agenda – O. Barton•  • II. Approval of the Minutes (Offsite 2013) – O. Barton•  • III. Department Announcements – O. Barton•  • IV. Results from Senior Exit Survey – C. Brownell

• V. Developing Effective Rubrics – K. Cermak •  

– New/Other Business– Update on Midshipmen and Faculty Exchange with Spain – O. Barton 

•  VI.  Adjourn

Important Items• Pre-Registration begins Friday September 13, 2013 through 

September 20, 2013.

– for 1/C beginning at 0700 on Friday, 13 September 2013; 

– for 2/C beginning at 0700 on Tuesday, 17 September 2013; 

– for 3/C beginning at 0700 on Wednesday, 18 September 2013; 

– for 4/C beginning at 0700 on Thursday, 19 September 2013. 

• Superintendent to visit the department on Wednesday September 18, 2013 @ 1200 in R301.

• Brief the Nuclear Proposal to the Faculty Senate’s Curriculum Committee on September 19, 2013 at noon.

• Division All hands on September 20, 2013 at noon in R102.• Dean’s Convocation on Wednesday September 25, 2013 @ 1200 in Mahan Hall.

• Brief the Nuclear Proposal to Mr. Trautman from NAVSEA 08 on October 3, 2013

• Teaching preference requests will be solicited shortly.  Please be flexible in your requests. 

• MIDFAC is looking to grow its membership.   

 - Aerospace Engineering 

 - Computer Engineerin

g 

 - Electrical Engineerin

g 

 - Mechanical Engineerin

g 

 - Naval Architecture 

 - Ocean Engineerin

g 

 - System

s Engineerin

g 

 - Chem

istry 

 - Computer Science 

 - Cyber O

perations 

 - General Science 

 - Inform

ation Technology 

 - Mathematics 

 - Oceanography 

 - Operations Research 

 - Physics 

 - Quantitative Econom

ics 

 - Arabic 

 - Chinese 

 - Econom

ics 

 - English

 

 - History 

 - Political Science 

121

9

29

159

4035

7059

13

40

2 4

17

70

17 2130

15 14

65

16

36

122

Class of 2017 Intended Major ChoiceMajor

Senior Exit Survey - 2013

Graduate Survey 2013OVERVIEW

  ∙ Survey of graduating Mechanical and General Engineers conducted April 2013

  ∙ Online, administered through capstone design classes or email

  ∙ Survey data & memo available on Google Drive

Response Rate:   11 of 27 GEs64 of 82 MEs69% overall

 

Graduate Survey 2013CONTENTS

21 questions total, including 5 free-response questions

Programmatic questions, e.g., “why did you become a ME?” and “would you choose to major in ME again?”

Self-assessment of skills relevant to capstone, e.g., “Please rate how you would perceive your ability to contribute to your capstone design project in the area of thermal engineering.”

Self-assessment of general engineering and professional skills, e.g., “I have an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility as it relates to engineering.” 

Graduate Survey 2013RESULTS

Graduate Survey 2013RESULTS

Graduate Survey 2013ANALYSIS

HAPPY students would choose to major in ME again (3/5 or higher, N = 56) 

UNHAPPY students would not choose ME again (1/5 rating, N = 6) 

Look at responses, conditionally sampled based on students’ satisfaction with major

 

Graduate Survey 2013FREE RESPONSE

Please comment on what influenced you the most in your decision to become a mechanical engineer.

  ∙ Challenging   ∙ Breadth of curriculum

   --------------------

  ∙ Not wanting to write papers  ∙ Job opportunities outside of the navy 

   --------------------

  ∙ Work with their hands   ∙ General interest in how the world works   ∙ Impressed by the facilities

Frequency

Graduate Survey 2013FREE RESPONSE

Are there any courses that you feel should either be improved or removed from the curriculum? Please comment on how each course could be improved, or why it should be removed.

  ∙ A large number of students were critical of the capstone design sequence, with several students writing lengthy explanations of their reasons 

  ∙ Among the GEs, 5 of the 11 students – an overwhelming number considering this was free response – asked to have EE313 removed    

 

Graduate Survey 2013FREE RESPONSE

Please comment on why you would or would not choose to major in Mechanical Engineering again.

HAPPY:  ∙ Quality of the faculty  ∙ Satisfaction of completing a challenging curriculum 

NEUTRAL:   ∙ Not as hands-on as they expected   ∙ Discovered new interests outside of ME, but unable to switch 

UNHAPPY:  ∙ Workload unfair compared to Div III majors  

 

Graduate Survey 2013FREE RESPONSE

Please provide additional suggestions that you feel would improve the ME program.

  ∙ More MatLab and SolidWorks  ∙ Several suggestions for capstone 

“Hard is good, no matter how much people complain.”

 

Graduate Survey 2013TAKE-AWAYS

Recruitment efforts should focus on using upper-class midshipmen

Keep your foot on the gas! They complain, but they don’t really mean it.

Faculty need to get out of the office more …

 

Developing RubricsDr. Katherine Cermak

Study Abroad 

• To enhance the globalization of midshipman education by seeking and creating opportunities that contribute to midshipman knowledge regarding strategically important geographic regions and proficiency in foreign languages as defined by Navy leadership.

• Several opportunities for an experience– LREC– LSAP– LSAP-STEM– Semester Abroad

Spanish Naval Academy and USNA

• How are we aligned?– Defense University Centers offered civilian resources for academic programs

–Military academies had to align themselves with a specific academic discipline– Spanish Naval Academy chose Mechanical Engineering

• Need– Faculty – Midshipmen