Fourth year technical electives are one of the final gates undergraduate students walk through before graduating. They are one of the final opportunities to prepare students for their future careers, and as such, are incredibly important to both our students, and their instructors. The Pearl Sullivan IDEAs Clinic supports a number of ambitious technical electives, and are always looking to create new, dynamic courses.
MTE 460: Mechatronics Systems Integration
This course provides a hands-on introduction to industrial automation and Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIOT) devices. With equipment developed in collaboration with the Brock Solutions Industrial Automation Hub partners, students learn about the full technology stack from PLC programming to supervisory control and data acquisition systems.
Tech Art: Engineering and Fine Art
Mekanisk Tradgard (Mechanical Garden): Beverly Zabawskyj (MSCI), Isaac Hunter (SYDE), Christie Shen (FINE), Jodie Tu (FINE), 2017. Photo by Beverly Zabawskyj.
This course is a hands-on introduction to the field of "Tech Art" for 4th year engineering students and upper year fine art students. The main focus is on the conceptual development, design, creation, and critical analysis of "Tech Art", both independently and in multi-disciplinary collaborative teams. Critical analysis skills are developed from both technical and artistic perspectives, including applying the concepts of iterative design and interdisciplinary collaboration through the creation and documentation of two of their own "Tech Art" pieces.
Practical Finite Element Analysis
Connecting Rod Analysis: Braveein Sounthararajan, Lan Phan, Long Vu Nguyen, Kevin Chen (ME 597: Application of FEM)
Finite Element Methods and Analysis (FEM/FEA) have allowed engineers and designers to push the boundaries of what's possible. From architecture, to aircraft, these methods have irrevocably changed the world we live in. Exposing students to these methods, and to industrial grade software packages in University will allow them to make the transition to their future careers more quickly and effectively. The IDEAs Clinic has supported several courses related to FEA, and has partnered with ANSYS Inc to produce accessible learning materials to introduce people to the opportunities FEA provides.