Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#143 SMALL,PIDDLY PROJECTS, AND BIG TERM UNDERTAKINGS

Folks:

Student projects are now the norm the social and physical sciences,
engineering, and business schools and are finding their way into the
humaniaties as well. Here is a excerpt from a delightful book by
mechanical engineering graduate student, Krista Donaldson. Written
primarly for undergraduate engineering students, it has much good material
for all undergraduates.

Regards,
Rick Reis

UP NEXT: Minimizing the Distances Between Teacher and Students

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SMALL, PIDDLY PROJECTS, AND BIG TERM UNDERTAKINGS

Excerpted from: K. Donaldson, "Outside the Classroom - Workload and
Studying," in *The Engineering Student's Survival Guide,* Boston, MA,
McGraw-Hill,1999, pp.77-79. © 1999 McGraw Hill Companies - Inc.
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Engineering projects pop up in any course where there may be some
engineering design going on (almost everywhere). Whether you choose door 1
(a heat exchanger!) or door 2 (you, too, could design your very own
voltmeter!), recognize that projects always take more time than is
budgeted. The key to painless projects is: Start early. Not a surprise,
eh? We will subdivide projects into two categories: SPPs and BTUs. SPPs
(small, piddly projects) and BTUs (big term undertakings) can be
individual or group projects.

SMALL, PIDDLY PROJECTS (SPPs)

SPPs are those projects that professors decide are fun ways for you to
apply what youve learned in their courses. You often have only two weeks
(or Less) toward the end of the term to wrack your brain, then write your
work up nicely, and maybe even present it to class.

1. First things first. Understand the project assignment. Many times the
problem statement is much more confusing than the problem itself..

2. Research. SPPs usually do not require much outside researchunless paying
attention in class isn't your forte. Are there any back-of-the-textbook
computer programs you need to learn? Depending on the project, sometimes a
quick trip to the library or a 15-minute Web search can help substantially.
Once you figure out what you need to do, what equations youll need, what
methods work the best, and what kind of results you should expect, you
are set to...

3. Work it. Allow yourself lots of time (goes with starting
early) for computer program, dont forget to allow time for debugging
and sanity breaks.

4. Test it. Does everything work without glitches? Your work should be easy
for the professor to follow when he or she grades it. Did you state your
assumptions? Sometimes decisions that are clearly evident to us are not
obvious to others tackling the same design problem. Look critically at your
project for any potential holes that could cost you.
5. Fix things. Rework it Add. Subtract. When running short on time, fill
in as much as possible and list what you might have done had you not run
out of time.

6. Write it up. Isnt it exciting? You are almost finished..
7 Go the extra mile. It takes very little time to polish up a project.
Throw all those sources into a bibliography. Draw a diagram that clarifies
final concepts. Whip out a spreadsheet graph. Number your pages.

BIG TERM UNDERTAKINGS (BTUs)

And you thought BTUs were British thermal units! You just cant unknowingly
and accidentally find yourself in a class with a term project (a.k.a. big
undertaking). A BTU is not an SPP with more time to think. You should have
been forewarned by upperclassmen and even by professors. Big term
undertakings are often the finale-the end of a course series or maybe the
end of your undergrad career (senior projects!). They tend to reflect
real-life engineering and project management. Although BTUs are a lot of
work, it is cool to see the engineering theory youve learned come together
to produce something impressive. A good term project will make you an
expert in your chosen topic.

1. First things first. Understand the project assignment and what is
expected. Master the acronyms. Learn (or relearn) how to do journal
searches at the library, operate machine-shop tools, use computer
codes you have tried to forget, and so forth..

2. Research. It is this phase of the BTU that consumes the largest chunk of
time; as much as half of the term can be spent getting up to speed on the
assigned or chosen topic. Any good project that really puts you to work
will cause anxiety and frustration early on. The whitecapped swell of
frustration follows the
realization-of-the-magnitude-of-what-you-have-gotten-yourself-into wave
that washes over you as you weed through all the background
information. First, start with the easy stuff. If you are doing a project
on contaminant tracking in rivers, Begin with some water quality and
contaminant readings from an environmental engineering text. After you get
that nailed down, move on to the journal articles. Don't be afraid to ask
questions of professors, graduate students, friends of distant relatives,
and even people in industry.

3. Generate. Generate as many ideas, solutions, methods, possibilities and
paths as possible. This is a great time for a mind map.

4 Work it. Working it means decision making by you and perhaps a computer.
After the time and toil devoted to research, this step is almost
disappointingly easy.

5. Double-check results. Does everything make sense? Check your
assumptions. Double-check your constants and anything that involves a unit
conversion. The answers are often obviously good or bad for BTUs. If you
find everything looks good, its time to feel relief. If things look
monstrous, make an appointment with the professor there may still be time
to recover. You are approaching the home stretch.

6. Tend to the small details. With big projects there are often many minor
considerations that get tossed aside. Dot your is, cross your ts. Produce
schematics of your solution and progress. Go back and fill in the gaps.

7. Write it up. After all the time you have devoted to this project, dont
slack off now! Writing up the BTU will take more time, patience, and disk
space tan expected. If possible, get a good nights sleep before the final
edit. It is painful to see a typo in the freshly bound copy.

8. Go the extra mile. Polish it up. Scan in pertinent photographs. "Borrow"
some slick graphics from the Web (its legal for educational purposes as
long as you credit the source!). Generate some CAD drawings and
renderings. Put a cool graphic on the cover page.

9. Take it to the printer for binding and extra copy. Don't do this last
minute! ("The earliest we can have this done for you is tomorrow
afternoon.") Pick a cool color for the cover (Kinkos has Rocket Red for the
Aero/Astros). Make an extra copy. Finish out the semester with bang.