CDIO at Virginia Tech

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CDIO at Virginia Tech

• Chris Hall
• Putting the comma inAero, Space and Ocean
  Engineering
• at Virginia Tech since 1997

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Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University

• Founded as a Land Grant College in 1872
• Offers 200 degree programs to 25,000 students
• 100 buildings on a 2600 acre campus in Blacksburg
• 1500 full-time faculty
• 9 different colleges

Burruss Hall is the main administration building
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Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

• Mission reinforce the importance of teaching
  excellence as a fundamental responsibility of a
  land-grant university
• Provides rich opportunities for faculty and
  graduate students to
• learn about teaching,
• engage in reflective dialogue about teaching and
  learning, and
• access resources to enhance courses and programs
• CEUT funds Faculty Study Groups and other
  teaching-related activities

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College of Engineering

• Thirteen departments offer 16 degree programs at
  B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. level
• 30 different Research Centers, e.g.
• Commercial Space Communications
• Intelligent Materials, Systems, and Structures
• Multidisciplinary Analysis and Design Center for
  Advanced Vehicles (MAD)
• More than 300 full-time faculty
• Approximately 600 M.S. 100 Ph.D. degrees
  awarded annually

Norris Hall is the main Engineering building
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Department of Engineering Education

• This new department, formerly Engineering
  Fundamentals, will offer graduate courses in
  engineering education
• Organizes and teaches the freshmen engineering
  courses, which includes design-build experiences

MacGyver Box Duct tape, small motors, rubber
bands, paper clips, straws, popsicle sticks,
glue, a mouse trap, a tape measure, a tool kit,
rulers, propellers, wheels, toothpicks, tubing,
screws, balloons, wire . . .
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MacGyver Vehicle

• Purpose To work as a team to design a working
  vehicle using only the contents of the MacGyver
  box. The vehicle must travel a prescribed
  distance and stop inside a target. Students gain
  design experience, including the use of
  propulsion. Students come away with a sense of
  the fun, challenge, and rewarding nature of
  engineering design.

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MacGyver Launchers
Purpose To design a working ping pong ball
launcher as a team using only the contents of the
MacGyver box. The launcher must be able to shoot
ping pong balls exactly 3, 6 or 9 feet into a
bucket. The goal of the lab is for students to be
able to shoot ten balls into the bucket in less
than one minute. This lab requires a high level
of teamwork in order to be successful. Homework
related to the exercise involved statistical
analysis of test data to predict accuracy.
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Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech

• Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department
  Overview
• People and Facilities
• Senior Design Projects

Randolph Hall houses AOE, as well as
Engineering Education, Mechanical Engineering,
and Chemical Engineering
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Aerospace and Ocean Engineering

• 19 Faculty in
• aerodynamics and hydrodynamics
• structural mechanics
• dynamics and control
• design
• Yearly graduation rate of approximately
• 75 Bachelor of Science
• 25 Master of Science
• 10 Doctor of Philosophy
• Students use (operate) extensive research
  facilities
• Innovative wind and water tunnels
• Full-scale flight simulator
• Spacecraft simulators
• Satellite tracking lab

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Undergraduate AOE Enrollment Trends
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Graduate AOE Enrollment Trends
OE Distance Program begins
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Intro AOE Course

• AOE 2104 Introduction to Aerospace Engineering
• Required of all sophomores, most take in Fall
• Intended to provide overview of the AOE
  curriculum
• Aircraft and spacecraft systems
• Aerodynamics, stability and control, structures,
  space systems
• Does not include a design-build experience

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AOE Senior Design at VT

• All seniors complete one year of capstone
  design
• two semesters with 3 credit hours each semester
• Choose between Aircraft and Spacecraft(Ocean
  Engineering students choose Ship Design)
• Students work in groups of 6 to 12 students
• Typically include freshmen in second semester
• Often include sophomores and juniors in second
  semester
• Often include seniors from other engineering
  curricula
• Access to Senior Design Lab
• PCs, Workstations, Printers, Plotters, Software
• Typically compete in national and international
  design competitions
• Writing-intensive, formal and informal
  presentations
• Issues teamwork, engaging all students, student
  evaluation

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AOE Senior Design at VT (continued)

• These projects are almost always paper designs
  of full-scale vehicles, based on an RFP provided
  by sponsoring agency
• AOE Design-Build experiences are currently in
  extra-curricular faculty-advised projects
• Design-Build-Fly
• Autonomous underwater vehicle
• Sounding rocket
• Human-powered submarine
• HokieSat
• . . .
• Teams have access to the Ware Lab
• Students involved in these projects almost
  universally oppose formalizing the projects by
  inclusion in the curriculum

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VT-Zero G Reduced Gravity Experiment

• Four VT Juniors designed, built experiment to fly
  on Vomit Comet
• Effects of Microgravity on a Humans Ability to
  Control Remote Vehicle
• Eliminate visual and vestibular cues
• Goggles allow pilot to see 3D environment with
  crosshairs and illuminated targets
• Microgravity impedes inner ear equilibrium
  processes
• Pilot uses joystick to navigate between targets

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HokieSat
University Nanosatellites

• Virginia Tech Ionospheric Scintillation
  Measurement Mission (VTISMM) aka HokieSat
• Ionospheric Observation Nanosatellite Formation
  (ION-F)
• Utah State University
• University of Washington
• Virginia Tech
• University Nanosatellite Program
• 2 stacks of 3 satellites
• Sponsors AFRL, AFOSR, DARPA, NASA GSFC, SDL

AFRL Multi-Satellite Deployment System (MSDS)
NASA Shuttle Hitchhiker Experiment Launch
System (SHELS)
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CEUT-sponsored faculty initiatives

• Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
  has sponsored faculty study groups within AOE
• Common elements of aircraft, spacecraft, and ship
  design
• Improving connections between junior-level
  courses
• Active learning in AOE courses
• Design Across the Curriculum

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Summary

• AOE _at_ VT is moving in the CDIO direction
• Barriers exist
• Vertical and horizontal integration
• Workspace availability
• Integrating second design-build experience into
  senior design (or junior design)
• The new Engineering Education department may be
  able to push CDIO concepts at the college level