Engineering @ Union College

Engineering News

New Curriculum Initiatives

Several new additions to the curriculum are helping Union students integrate engineering and technology into other parts of their studies. These initiatives include courses that promote the Converging Technology program with intersections between technology and the liberal arts, and courses that contribute to the new general education curriculum.

Bioengineering Courses and Minor

The following bioengineering courses have been developed and students have the opportunity to minor in Bioengineering.

Introduction to Bioengineering. In this course, students will explore the application of engineering principles and analyses to the study of biological systems and seek to understand the potential benefits and constraints of engineered materials and devices in medical and environmental applications. The course will cover principles of solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and neural information processing and control. Topics include the mechanics of support and locomotion, circulatory transport, heat and mass transfer from organisms and ecosystems, and sensory information processing.

Biomechanics. This course is designed to acquaint the student with basic applications of mechanics to biological systems and devices.

Orthopedic Biomechanics. Structure, function, mechanical properties, constitutive models, and methods of analysis of bone and other biologic hard tissues; introduction to the analysis of skeletal joints, prosthetics, and implants.

Soft Tissue Mechanics. Introduction to the mechanical behavior of biological soft tissues including ligament, tendon, skeletal muscle, articular cartilage, intervertebral disc, and skin. Topics include the hierarchical structure, function, properties, and constitutive modeling of each tissue.

Bioengineering Minor: This minor requires a minimum of six courses taken outside the major department. Non-science, science, and engineering students with an interest in interdisciplinary fields emerging at the intersection of the biological and engineering sciences may choose to minor in bioengineering. In addition to developing content knowledge and process skills in biology, engineering, or a related science outside their major field, students will participate in a multidisciplinary core course in bioengineering. The minor will normally culminate with students conducting independent research in bioengineering during their senior year. Students with an interest in biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, biotechnology, ecological or evolutionary biomechanics, neuroscience, and environmental physiology may find this minor attractive.


Environmental Engineering Courses and Track within Environmental Science

In 2006-2007 a new Environmental Science and Policy program was defined that includes a track leading to a BS degree in Environmental Science, and a track leading to a BA degree in Environmental Policy. An Environmental Engineering focus is available within the Environmental Science degree. The new and modified courses that are being developed for this track include:

Energy Systems Designed to acquaint the student with the many societal and technological problems facing the United States and the world due to the ever increasing demand for energy.

Water Resources and Environment Fluid mechanics as applied to water resources and environmental engineering. Study of pollution in streams, lakes, and reservoirs from point and non-point sources. Introduction to hydrology, water supply development and treatment, and wastewater collection and treatment.

Environmental Geotechniques This course explores the natural characteristics, techniques of coring, methods of classification, and testing of soils as a material impacted by the surrounding environment. The utilized methods of testing are those standardized by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Basic topics covered are soil exploration, composition, flow and permeability, compaction, compressibility, strength, slope stability, and environmental geotechnology with focus on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) testing and design specifications.

Hydrology The study of the processes of surface water hydrology; including the rainfall/runoff process, river and stream routing, and reservoir analysis and design. Introduction to drainage system design, culvert design, and groundwater hydrology.

Waste Management and Recycling Introduction to various sources of hazardous, non-hazardous, biodegradable, and non-biodegradable waste materials. Focus areas are landfill systems, geosynthetics, geotextiles, geomembranes, geonets, single clay liner, single geomembrane liner, composite liner systems, leak detection and leachate collection, removal and treatment of leachate, and capping and closure systems. The recycling segment will explore natural resources of raw materials including origin and use, and potential and limitation for recycling of materials. Focus on various applications of recycling recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Discussion of methods of manufacture and compositions of such materials will concentrate on advanced industrial applications for the reuse of non-recyclable waste materials. Application areas include production of new materials, materials with superior qualities for special purposes, and materials with high level of resistance against certain environmental conditions. The course will also touch on the political aspect of recycling including consumer attitude and government incentives to encourage recycling.

Renewable Energy Technology The study of renewable energy resources and the conversion technologies available to utilize them to meet society’s energy needs. Topics include forms of energy; First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics; energy conversion and efficiency; sustainability; energy storage. Historical perspective on world and U.S. energy usage, conversion technologies, and energy resources. Fundamentals of the conversion processes and systems involved in the use of solar thermal and photovoltaic, wind, bioenergy, geothermal, thermoelectric, hydro and ocean technologies. The use of hydrogen as a fuel and technologies to produce and use it. Economic and environmental issues relevant to renewable energy resources. Class will be supplemented with laboratory demonstrations and field trips to visit existing renewable energy systems.

Environmental Engineering Analysis and design of water supply and wastewater conveyance systems. Study of the physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in water supply and wastewater treatment.

Environmentally Friendly Buildings In this course, through hands-on experience, computer simulation and research, the students will become acquainted with the inner-workings of the subsystems in buildings, such as: Structures, lighting and appliances, heating/air-conditioning, plumbing, basement/crawl space/attic, water and moisture management; enclosure, interior, exterior. The students will become aware of indoor and outdoor environmental and life cycle costs of the existing systems and will learn the latest science and technology to reduce the negative effect of these subsystems on the environment. Laboratory: hands-on experience with the above subsystems, site visits, computer simulations, research, projects, presentations.


Sophomore Seminar Courses

In addition to the focus on new engineering areas, faculty have been busy designing courses that reach out to non-engineering students and that contribute to the new general education program. Here are some brief descriptions of these new courses:

Can you hear me now?
The social and technical aspects of electrical communication

Until the mid-1800s, the speed of communication was the about same as the speed of the transport of goods; sending someone a message involved moving a letter or a messenger from one place to another. Beginning with the telegraph, and continuing with telephones, radio, email, cell phones and instant messaging, we have developed and become accustomed to the ability to contact each other almost instantaneously, anywhere, and at any time. This course will explore both how this technology works as well as how it has affected our lives and the organization of our society. The technology will be studied in order to understand issues such as why some types of communication are easy or cheap while others are hard or expensive, and why privacy is more of a concern with some types of communication than with others.

Artistic Engineering
Constructed facilities are daily encounters in people’s lives. Houses, offices, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, airports, as well as worship, sport, entertainment, and shopping complexes are some of the many examples of structures that people use and expect to perform their functions smoothly. Structures can only perform their functions when their design involves the consideration of all the factors that may closely or remotely affect their intended in-service purpose. Many of these factors are non-engineering in nature but exert a great impact on the final engineered product. Environmental, economical, political, social, budgetary, and climatic factors may significantly impact the design of a structure. History is rich with examples of structures that, in addition to their complex engineering, the wrangling about their construction involved a significant debate about non-engineering issues. Giant structures such as cable bridges, dams, towers, skyscrapers, domes, arches, tunnels, and oil rigs are laden with controversy. Engineering may be a tremendous design undertaking to put together such massive structures, but in reality this is the easy part of it. Because engineers do not operate in a vacuum, and because their conceived technical designs must gain the acceptance of a diverse public and regulatory and financing bodies, they must be receptive to conflicting points of views, and willing to alter their designs to meet many competing criteria. The art of finding a common ground and reaching a compromise regarding hotly contested issues is one of the important attributes designers need to possess.

This course will explore some of the most complicated structures ever built and the engineering and non-engineering challenges that accompanied their planning and construction. After addressing the historical aspect of a given structure, students will use a computer-based platform to virtually build a model of that structure. This process will be similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle. The major highlight of this approach is its hi-tech nature.

Impossible Missions Design Teams
This course will explore and exercise the engineering design process as a universal approach for conducting research and designing solutions to tough problems in all fields of endeavor. The philosophical and practical arguments for the universality of the engineering method will be discussed. Student research will be aimed at testing these arguments by contrasting the engineering method with design methods that have evolved in other fields. However the best way to understand any method is to practice it. In this spirit, multi-disciplinary student teams will be confronted with a series of design challenges that will lead up to a culminating project experience.

Designing As If People Mattered
Think about things you use every day: your DVD player. A microwave oven. A restaurant menu. Your ipod. A paper clip. A roadmap. A webpage. These things all have one thing in common — their designers tried to make them useful. Some succeed. Some don’t. This sophomore seminar focuses on good design: how to do it, how to recognize it, and especially how to evaluate alternatives. Using texts such as Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things, we’ll explore the process of design by drawing on your experience and interest in a wide range of fields. In cross-disciplinary terms, you’ll design new usable systems, evaluate systems through hands-on experiments, and present your results in both oral and written form.

Can America Break its Gasoline Addiction?
Energy Science and Transportation Technology Issues

The course will endeavor to provide students with the tools to intelligently grapple with the questions: “What should we be driving in 20 years? and “What will we likely be driving in 20 years?”

The material covered will include:

Digital Art

Thanks to a generous gift from John E. Kelly III ’76 and the talent of Fernando Orellana, a new digital art laboratory and a set of courses have been launched over the last two years. Below are descriptions of the courses that Fernando has developed and some samples of student work:

Digital Art This introductory course focuses on the fundamentals of using the computer as an art tool in the production of two-dimensional content. Topics covered include essentials of digital graphics/imaging and internet art. Class lectures and hands-on studio will incorporate demonstrations, discussions, technical exploration, aesthetic inquiry and historical information relevant to computer multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications. Students are encouraged to pursue areas of interest and explore new ideas throughout the course.

Real and Recorded Time An introduction to the basic concepts of time-based artwork, using a variety of processes and media. Students explore concepts of sequence, performance, interactivity, motion, process and documentation through video, audio and installation-oriented projects.

Web_Aesthetics This course will focus on multimedia arts within the realm of the world wide web. Students will explore the internet as a medium for art while utilizing the artistic possibilities of HTML, Dreamweaver, Fireworks/Photoshop, and Flash.

The_Proce55ed_Pixel Utilizing basic aspects of computer programming, this course will explore how artists can use code to explore a variety of content in computer graphics. By means of Action Scripting found in Macromedia’s Flash and the programming environment Processing, students will investigate issues in animation, computational design, interactivity, and other relevant topics.

3D_Computer_Modeling This course will introduce students into the world of three-dimensional computer graphics. Through this hands-on-course, students will learn how to use 3D software to realize ideas in sculpture, virtual environments, 3D modeling, installation, rapid prototyping, and animation.

Physical_Computing Through the application of basic electronic techniques and the use of a programmable micro-controller called the Basic Stamp 2, this course will explore and control interactive artworks, kinetic sculpture, robotic art, sound works, light art, and performance environments.

Student Work in Digital Art Classes

“2 Superheros” Video from Real and Recorded Time Course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KieBiwlG8T8

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