Incorporation of freshman engineering projects

Hands-on projects have been incorporated into the freshmen engineering courses. The topics of the projects were selected to correspond to the material being presented in the math, science, and engineering courses. The major goals were to provide the freshmen students with hands-on experiences early in the freshmen year as well as applying math and science fundamentals to engineering problems. Even though not all of the projects were entirely successful in accomplishing the desired outcome, some of the projects required too much time or did not effectively illustrate the concept intended; the response of the students was encouraging. Changes being considered for the upcoming year include incorporating a material balance project, and including additional writing opportunities for the students.