A common feature of Mechanical Engineering curriculum is an integrated Capstone project where students must combine knowledge from various courses to complete a design within a team. However, in many curricula, this culminating project is the first time students are forced to break down the silos that separate thermal fluid sciences, electronic integration and solid mechanics. Most real-world problems involve an intersection of at least two of these disciplines, which means that having additional practice in systems level, integrated thinking will better prepare our graduates to take on complex engineering problems. We modified a standard machine design project (such as a walnut cracker or sawdust press) to a multi-disciplinary wind turbine design project. This new project integrates knowledge and components from three courses that are taken during the fall of junior year (Machine Design, Fluid Dynamics, and Instrumentation and Microprocessors) along with previous course work in Thermodynamics and solid modeling. Additionally, the project also requires students to learn 3D printing to create airfoils for their turbines which is becoming more and more important in many industrial sectors. As the course is still on-going, we will collect data on how students feel the integrated project impacted their understanding of the key course content as well as their preparation for Capstone. We have already collected data regarding these topics prior to the students beginning the project and will be able to compare development of student perspectives as a result of working through the semester.
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