2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper documents our educational experience related to on-going research in carbon fiber reinforced plastic extrusion and fused filament fabrication under the supervision of faculty from the mechanical engineering program at XXX. This study, which was initiated at the beginning of the Fall 2023 term, is funded by an internal institution grant. The project runs for two years and covers expenditure for student wages, equipment, and materials to perform the work. The research team comprises two undergraduate students and three mechanical engineering faculty acting as research mentors. As students involved in this project, we present here the practical research framework, mentor-mentee activities performed, challenges in undertaking undergraduate research work, lessons learned, and the research activities conducted within the first semester and a half of the study's 2-year term. Our personal perspective as students, gaining knowledge and experience in conducting engineering research, developing research methodologies in executing the assigned tasks, time management, and how it relates to enhancing our educational learning experience are presented in this paper. Our preliminary work has already proven to be beneficial in providing an impactful experience that strengthens our understanding and deepens our knowledge of how to conduct scientific research. We also report on research activities that provided an experiential learning experience. This paper reports some of the activities and findings that supplement theories we learned about in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum such as Materials Science and Engineering. An example is provided where we have attempted to reflect on the experimental data that is collected based on fundamentals of mechanical property behavior that we learned about in that course. This research work presents unique challenges we have faced in getting involved and performing the assigned work. This paper can be used as a platform for other institutions with similar populations on practices and instruction that can get non-traditional students involved in impactful research and in the process gain invaluable knowledge and a meaningful undergraduate experience.