Roger Mayne Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University at Buffalo State University of New York A Strategy for Continuous Improvement in Education Applied to Mechanical Engineering

Summary About UB and ME at UB Original BSME program Accreditation in the U.S. Continuous improvement approach Surveying students and alumni Program revisions Additional results

Background Information UB is part of the State University of New York (4 university campuses, 20 colleges) An suburban campus of about 24,000 students Wide range of undergraduate programs, full graduate spectrum - medicine, law, etc. Engineering school offers BS, MS and PhD programs in Aerospace, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering

The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department faculty members Research in materials, mechanics, fluid-thermal sciences, design, system dynamics Graduating BS students per year MS students and PhDs percent of our students are pursuing Aerospace degrees or dual degrees

Basic BSME Program Relatively typical BSME Math (4 courses) Physics, chemistry (4 courses) Engineering fundamentals (7 courses) –drawing, programming, thermo, statics, dynamics, strength, EE concepts Mechanical engineering (9 courses) –instrumentation, dynamic systems, fluids, heat transfer, machines, mechanisms, materials, materials II, thermo II

Basic Program (cont.) Design (2 courses) –design process, senior design Laboratories (5 courses) –instrumentation, 2 materials, fluids/heat, systems Electives (6 courses) –three technical, two applied math, one free General education (8 courses) –2 english, 6 social science

Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Known as “ABET” Federation of thirty one engineering and technical societies - including ASME, IEEE, ASCE, SME, AIChE, ASEE, etc. Accredits over 2400 programs in engineering and technology at more than 500 colleges and universities across the U.S.

Importance of Accreditation For students –an accredited degree is the first step toward becoming a registered professional engineer For engineering programs –validates the quality of the program for university administration and government –an important factor in recruiting new students

ABET 2000 Major change in philosophy in the 1990’s Accreditation had led to over specification US engineering programs were becoming very similar ABET 2000 based on objectives, outcomes and assessment ABET 2000 motivated this effort

Basic Strategy (Initiated in 1998) Faculty defined goals Knowledge and skill statements Obtained feedback on appropriateness of knowledge and skill statements Survey for importance of particular knowledge and skill items Focus groups for clarification Continually improve program

Highlights of the Knowledge Statement Mathematics/sciences Mechanics Materials science Thermodynamics Heat transfer Fluid mechanics System dynamics Machines/mechanisms Design Manufacturing Numerical computations Exposure to practice Professionalism, ethics, society, environment

Highlights of the Skills Statement Product design and realization Math modeling CAD modeling and tools Sound engineering judgement Choose and evaluate materials Choose and evaluate manufacturing processes Communication skills Ability to work in teams

The Initial Survey Graduating seniors –classes of 1999 and 2000 (~60% response) Alumni –classes of (~20 % overall response) Comments requested on goals Knowledge and skills rated by –importance to career (Scale of 1- 5) –importance given at UB (Scale of 1- 5)

Manufacturing Exp to Practice Design Mechanics Mach & Mechs Math Pro/Eth/So/En Manufacturing Sciences Matls Science Heat Transfer System Dyn Fluid Mech Num Comps Thermo Exp to Practice Design Mechanics Mach & Mechs Math Pro/Eth/So/En Sciences Matls Science Heat Transfer System Dyn Fluid Mech Num Comps Thermo ME Career ImportanceUB Importance Knowledge Survey Results Graduating Seniors (1999 and 2000)

To Simplify The term “Shortfall” is used to combine the two importance measures where (for example): Knowledge shortfall (percent) = UB Importance ME Importance - UB Importance 100 X

(Imp - UB Imp)/UB Imp Knowledge Shortfall - Percent Knowledge Survey Results Graduating Seniors (1999 and 2000)

Knowledge Survey Results Alumni (1994 – 1998) Knowledge Shortfall - Percent (Imp - UB Imp)/UB Imp

Skill Survey Results Graduating Seniors (1999 and 2000) (Imp - UB Imp)/UB Imp Skill Shortfall - Percent

Survey Conclusions Graduating seniors and alumni generally agreed Traditional knowledge areas reasonably covered Weaknesses in –exposure to practice, manufacturing –design, prof/ethics/env/society More focus on skills, especially –communications skills –CAD, manufacturing processes

Changes to the Program (2001) Introductory Drawing & CAD (Year 1) –Now offered directly by MAE and no longer shared Introduction to ME Practice (Year 2) –New course: design projects, reverse engineering, communication Manufacturing Processes (Year 3) –Traditional course in manufacturing Design using CAD (Year 3) –Mechanical design projects using AutoCad and ProE Design Processes (Year 4) –Original course is expanded Senior Design (Year 4) –Course revised and reorganized

Changes to the Program (cont.) Plus further changes within additional courses Formerly required, now electives –Thermodynamics II –Machines and Mechanisms II –Materials II –Materials II Lab

Survey History To Date Graduating seniors (Classes of 1999 and 2000) Alumni of (conducted in 2000) Surveys before program revision Graduating seniors (Classes of 2001 thru 2009) Alumni of 2000 – 2004 (completed in 2007) Continuing surveys since revision

Career Importance Plots Knowledge Career Importance Skill Career Importance

Program Shortfall

Current Lessons from the Surveys Opinions of graduating seniors on “Career Importance” are quite consistent Gradual reductions in Program Shortfalls are in the direction desired And correspond to our improvement efforts

Most Direct Before and After Classes of 1999 vs 2009 Alumni of 1994 – 1998 vs 2000 – 2004 Note alumni of 2000 – 2004 had seen only partial effect of the changes

Knowledge Shortfall Seniors 1999 vs Seniors 2009 Skill Shortfall Seniors 1999 vs Seniors 2009

Skill Shortfall Alumni vs Alumni Knowledge Shortfall Alumni vs Alumni 00-04

Most Recent Program Change Communication Practice Professionalism Judgement Have continued to show high shortfall results despite improvement efforts

Combined Knowledge and Skill Shortfalls (Seniors 2009)

Combined Knowledge and Skill Shortfalls (Seniors 2009) Professional/Practice Topics

Recent Program Change Professional / Practice “Track” established Allows students to replace one Science elective and one Technical elective With two Professional / Practice electives

Professional / Practice Electives May choose two from thirteen courses, in the areas of: Communication Environmental Engineering Economics Business Internships

Common Concern about Surveying Seniors How well do Seniors and Alumni agree?

Direct Comparison Opportunity Survey data taken for Seniors in 2000 – 2004 Also data obtained in Alumni Surveys in 2007 of graduates from 2000 – 2004 These are the same people, years later! How do their opinions compare? Alumni vs Seniors

Knowledge UB Importance Alumni Opinion Vs Student Opinion (Same people years later)

Alumni Opinion Vs Student Opinion (Same people years later) Skills UB Importance

Alumni Opinion Vs Student Opinion (Same people years later) Knowledge Shortfall

Alumni Opinion Vs Student Opinion (Same people years later) Skills Shortfall

Alumni vs Seniors Alumni have a consistent memory of university experience Shortfall changes with a new perception of career importance Alumni shortfall agrees on softer skills Modest shortfall reduction in several traditional technical areas Seniors are an important indicator of opinion

Summary of Survey Experience Career Importance surveys quite consistent from year to year UB Importance surveys reflected targeted program changes Short Fall results show considerable improvement after revision Recent changes focused on Professionalism / Practice will be evaluated in future surveys

Concluding Comments ABET 2000 provided the motivation to reconsider our program Opportunity used to develop a customer oriented approach Quantitative surveys effective in understanding student needs and overcoming faculty inertia Model approach to continuous improvement ?

Comments on Statistical Distributions Well behaved No signs of bimodal distributions Sample histograms from the early Alumni survey Sample histograms from the class of 2009 survey

Alumni of 1994 – 1998 Typical Shortfall Histograms (Importance - UB Importance)

Response Distribution for a Well-Covered Area Response Distribution for an Area Needing More Emphasis (Seniors Class of 2009)