2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Leveraging Ontologies in Engineering Education: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approaches

Presented at Aerospace Division (AERO) Technical Session 2

Engineering education is an ever-evolving field that covers a wide range of interconnected disciplines; therefore, educators and students must navigate the body of knowledge efficiently. Given this complexity, this research investigates potential applications of ontologies to enhance aerospace engineering education. The paper will first explore the advantages of incorporating ontologies in engineering education. From this perspective, ontologies serve as a framework that systematically organizes information to create an enhanced educational environment. Then, the paper proposes top-down and bottom-up approaches to ontology integrations in engineering education, where the former enables instructors to provide students with a framework that lays the groundwork for a better understanding of fundamental concepts. In contrast, the latter empowers students to offer context to instructors while contributing detailed insights into subject matters. Lastly, this paper illustrates use cases utilizing the top-down and bottom-up approaches, showcasing the potential use of ontology framework in aerospace engineering education.

Authors

Waterloo Tsutsui http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5645-4683 Purdue University [biography]

Dr. Waterloo Tsutsui is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, IN. Tsutsui received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University in 2017. Before Purdue, Tsutsui practiced engineering in the automotive industry for more than ten years, with the last position involving the research and development of lithium-ion battery cells for electric vehicles. Tsutsui’s research interests are systems engineering, structures and materials, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Tsutsui is the recipient of the 2023 Engineering Education Excellence Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).
Mr. Vladimir Zeltsman Purdue University [biography]

Vladimir Zeltsman is a graduate student and research assistant at Purdue University. He is currently pursuing his Master's of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. He received his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 2022. His work specializes in Systems Engineering.
Tyler Scott Adams Purdue University [biography]

Tyler Adams is a Graduate Research Assistant in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, IN. Adams is currently pursuing his Master's of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and expects to receive this degree in 2024. Before Purdue, Adams received his Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2022. His research interests include aerospace systems engineering, aerospace design, and computational aerodynamics.
Dr. Jitesh H. Panchal Purdue University [biography]

Dr. Jitesh H. Panchal is a Professor and Associate Head of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University. He received his BTech (2000) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, and MS (2003) and PhD (2005) in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Panchal's research interests are in (1) design at the interface of social and physical phenomena, (2) computational methods and tools for digital engineering, and (3) secure design and manufacturing. He is a recipient of CAREER award from the National Science Foundation (NSF); Young Engineer Award, Guest Associate Editor Award, and three best paper awards from ASME. He has served on the editorial board of international journals including ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, ASME Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering.
Daniel Delaurentis Purdue University [biography]

Dr. Daniel DeLaurentis is Vice President for Discovery Park District (DPD) Institutes and the Bruce Reese professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics at Purdue University. He directs the Center for Integrated Systems in Aerospace (CISA) researching modeling, design optimization and system engineering methods for aerospace systems and systems-of-systems, including urban and regional Advanced Aerial Mobility and hypersonic systems. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. DeLaurentis served as Chief Scientist of the U.S. DoD’s Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) UARC from 2019-2023. He is an elected FELLOW of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).

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