Building on our previous research on bottom-up (student-led) and top-down (instructor-led) approaches in aerospace engineering education, this paper presents an enhanced ontology-based reasoner that evaluates two distinct methodologies: logical consequences and word embeddings. The framework examines logical consequences' structured and rule-based query capabilities alongside word embeddings' natural language processing abilities as paths toward creating comprehensive educational tools. Our implementation demonstrates how these complementary approaches enhance educational outcomes: students benefit from personalized learning pathways and clear prerequisite relationships, while instructors gain tools for curriculum optimization and adaptation to emerging technologies. Through representative use cases, we show how these distinct approaches provide robust frameworks that balance precise, logical reasoning with flexible natural language understanding, ultimately advancing aerospace engineering education by serving both student and instructor needs.
Authors
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Dr. Waterloo Tsutsui is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, Indiana. Tsutsui received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in 2017. Before joining Purdue, Tsutsui practiced engineering in the automotive industry for more than a decade, culminating as a Senior Mechanical Engineer focused on research and development of lithium-ion battery systems for electric vehicles. His research interests include systems engineering, structures and materials, product design and advanced manufacturing, and engineering education. Tsutsui is the recipient of the 2023 Engineering Education Excellence Award from the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).
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Yinchien Huang is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. His research focuses on System of Systems (SoS) engineering, AI-assisted system engineering, ontology, Urban Air Mobility (UAM), and space systems. He is developing an LLM-based tool to support SoS decision-making and data sources integration, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of complex system interactions.
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Derek Carpenter is a PhD student researcher at Purdue University. His main research interests are systems engineering, hypersonics, and applications to MBSE. Derek received his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue in 2021, followed by his Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue in 2022.
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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; and was recognized by the B.F.S. Schaefer Outstanding Young Faculty Scholar Award, the Ruth and Joel Spira Award, and as one of the Most Impactful Faculty Inventors at Purdue University. He received the Distinguished Alumni award from IIT Guwahati. He is a co-author of two books and has co-edited one book on engineering systems design. 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.
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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).
Note
The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on
June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on August 18, 2025
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5645-4683
Purdue University at West Lafayette (COE)
[biography]