EECS 398, 399: Senior Project I, II

References

We have identified three books which are relevant references for this couse. You are encouraged to read and study the relevant sections.

• Seebauer and Barry, Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists and Engineers, Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 0195134885.
• Mark N. Horenstein, Design Concepts for Engineers, Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN 0130934305.
• Mansour Eslami, Senior Design Experience: Lessons for Life, Agile Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2002, ISBN 0-9718239-0-1.

Seebauer and Barry

There are many books about ethics for scientists and engineers. These deal not with professional codes of ethics but with broader questions of what is "right" and "wrong" and how to systematically deal with ethical decisions. One good textbook which presents ethics and ethical practice is Fundamentals of Ethics for Scientists and Engineers by Seebauer and Barry. However, there are many others.

• Chapter 1 - What are the fundamental concepts of ethics?
• Chapter 6 - How to analyze complex ethical situations Value theory allows you to analyze complex ethical decisions.
• Chapter 10 - Truth: social What is truth? What are our ideas or intellectual property, how do we publish our ideas, who owns them, how do we judge the truth of what others say or publish?
• Chapter 12 - Fairness How do we deal with environmental consequences of our designs or inventions, what is the role of the legal expert, what is the relationship between our professional work and the rest of our life?
• Chapter 15 - Differing ethical systems Our concepts of ethics are dteermined by our society. How do we work with people from other societies with different ethical systems?

Horenstein

This book by Prentice-Hall is an excellent introduction to design and several of the topics which we cover in senior project.

• Chapter 1 - Design for Engineers
  This chapter describes the design process, how do you evaluate a design (does it work, does it meet technical specifications, does it meet cost requirements, does it create any ethical dilemmas, etc.).
• Chapter 2 - What is Design?
  This chapter buids upon Chapter 1 by examining the design process in detail. It describes how to use analysis,simulation, reproduction and design and discusses good and bad designs and finishes with a design competition.
• Chapter 3 - Design Tools
  In general we think of design tools as instruments, breadboards, etc. which we use to construct and test a design. However, there are many additional tools which an engineer uses. For example, the ability to work in a team, how to generate new ideas, and keeping good documentations are essential to modern engineering design.
• Chapter 6 - The Use of Failure in Engineering Design
  
  Almost nothing works perfectly right the first time. Furthermore, because of scaling there may be additional parameters which were not necessary in previous designs. The analysis of how and why something failed is critical to the success of future designs. This chapter considers some examples of engineering failure.
• Chapter 7 - Communications
  Engineers are known for their poor communications abilities. However, professional success requires professional and high quality communications. Communications ranges from e-mail and personal interaction to how to make a formal presentation to management or how to present a paper at a conference.

Elsami

This book was written around the senior project experience as taught by Masoud Elsami at UC Riverside. It is an amazing parallel to our course although their course has more focus on writing and upon engineering economics and marketing. The chapters of this book are typically short and highly recommended reading.

• Chapters 4 and 5- The Lab Notebook and How to Cite References for Memos and Proposals
  ot required you are highly encouraged to keep one — a lab notebook is the only evidence that may be used to request a grade change for a higher grade. Amajor component of research and design is research and referencing others research. The introduction to proposal preparation shows how to properly cite technical references.
• Chapter 6 - Oral presentations I
  In modern engineering you are required to make oral presentations as often (or possibly even more) than written reports. This chapter presents a simple organization for presentations: title, brief introduction, technical approach, and budget; which can be used throughout your professional career.
• Chapter 7 - Technical Writing I
  This chapter reviews how to properly construct a report, especially how to order and identify sections. A report must begin with an introduction, present material in logical and clearly identified sections, and close with a conclusion where the author assesses the success (or lack of) of the project. Many reports will have recommendations for future work based upon the project results in the conclusion.
• Chapter 10 - Design Review
  This is where we differ from UC Riverside's process. You will be required to make two oral Design Review Presentations (shorter than those at Riverside) and a single written mid-semester report (roughly comparable to that at UC Riverside) .UC Riverside limits their students to five slides for theior design review — you will be limited to four slides and 5 minutes to present (1) the project title, project team, sponsor, and other administrative information, (2) a paragraph explaining the project and its goals, (3) the technical approach to reaching the project goals, and (4) a budget and timetable.Slides 3 and 4 are especially important to achieving a successful project.Your first design review presentation will emphasize the first three slides.
• Chapter 11- Ethics
  This chapter describes professional ethics and the IEEE Code of Ethics.
• Chapter 12 - Design Review Preparation
  This chapter discusses the Design Review (essentially your-mid-term report). At UC Riverside they do not do a mid-term report but only the oral presentation. We expect you to produce a written document which explains in more detail the material presented in your oral design review.
• Chapter 13 - Design Review Results
  This chapter comments that most students leave out important information and gives a checklist of what should be in your design review (mid-term report). Your design reviews (oral and written) will provide a source of feedback by which you can improve the likelihood of success of your project including the final report and final oral presentation.
• Chapter 14 - Technical Writing II
  This chapter covers how to present technical results, and how to both reference and acknowledge the work of others.
• Chapter 15- Final Report Preparation
  This chapter presents a template which you can use for your mid-term and (especially) your final written reports..
• Chapter 16 - Oral presentations II
  This chapter reviews what should be in your oral presentations and recommends that you use video to demonstrate the working of your project.
• Chapter 21 - Intellectual Property
  This chapter is an excellent review of intellectual property and covers everything from getting your own ISBN publisher code to copyrights. It covers terms of protection, type opf protection, and "fair use" policies.
• Chapter 22 - Patents
  This is highly related to engineering design and explains what a patent is, what it covers, the protection it extends, and the patent application process.
• Chapter 23 - Risk Management
  Although rish management is a very board topic this chapter focusses on professional liability for engineers.
• Chapter 24 - Final Presentation
  This is a very short chapter which simply reminds you of the organization of the final report.

This book also contains some very useful examples of student work.

• Sample Mid-Term Report
  Example of an interim Technical Report similar to the one you will prepare. This report is a little bit on the short side and your may be somewhat longer.
• Sample Journal
  This is a typed example of what you might put into a engineering journal (notebook). This is considerably neater that we expect of you. Also, this is a shared journal written by all team members — your notebook should be individual.
• Sample Final Presentations
  Several examples of final oral project presentations.
• Sample Final Report
  Example of a final technical report. Note very carefully the logical layout of the report, the numbering of sections, the identification of the author of each section, and the use of appendices. This report was written by a six member team. As a result the length (59 pages) and the amount of work is about double what we are expecting from a three member senior project team.