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The Course: What is Engineering?

500.101 Fall 2011

JHU studentsInstructor:

Michael Karweit
Research Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Ames 509
410-516-8415
mjk@jhu.edu






Times

Sec 1: Thurs 1:30-3:20 MD109 (lecture), Tues 1:30-3:20 (lab)

Materials

The materials presented here represent and support the Johns Hopkins University course "What is Engineering?" They are far from complete. Some chapters are unfinished or appear in their original Word format. Others have already benefited from embellishments which include instructional design, animation, and visuals. Most labs, projects, questions/problems, and references which pertain to the course are also included in the available PDF download. Additional information such as sample exams, student learn sheets, Powerpoints, lectures,and miscellaneous class material are available HERE

"What is Engineering?" - Course Materials, Lab Experiments, and Projects (PDF) >>

Readable References

Required: (choose one)

  • Ferguson, Eugene, Engineering and the Mind's Eye, MIT Press, paperback, $12.95.

  • Friedman, Thomas, The World is Flat, Picador, paperback, $16.00.

  • Brown, Lester, World on the Edge, W.W. Norton, paperback, $16.00.

 


Other books of interest:

  • Ashby, Michael F. and David R H Jones, Engineering Materials 1, Butterworth-Heinemann, paperback.

  • Brand, Stewart, The Media Lab, Penguin Books, paperback, $15.95.

  • Drexler, K. Eric, Engines of Creation, Anchor Books, paperback, $12.95.

  • Gordon, J.E., The New Science of Strong Materials, Princeton, paperback, $14.95.

  • Salvadori, Mario, Why Buildings Stand Up, W.W. Norton, paperback, $10.95.

  • Petroski, Henry, Invention by Design, Harvard Press, $24.95.

  • Florman, Samuel, The Civilized Engineer, St. Martin's Press, paperback, $10.95.

  • Bucciarelli, Louis, Designing Engineers, MIT Press, paperback, $12.50.

  • Van der Ryn, Sim, The Toilet Papers, Ecological Design Press, paperback, $10.95

Special Projects

    • A spaghetti project with competitive testing (TBA)
    • Writing projects
      • evaluation of Ferguson's Engineering and the Mind's Eye or Friedman's The World is Flat or Brown's World on the Edge
      • a mini research paper on emerging technology
    • Oral project
      • design and presentation of a solution to a specific engineering problem

Veritable Laboratory

Listed below are the non-virtual laboratory projects for this course. Complete descriptions of the assignments are listed elsewhere in a non-public site. However, demonstrations of laboratory techniques and equipment use are available here.

  1. Materials--determine the tensile and bending strength of spaghetti; determine Young's modulus. Demonstration: mixing epoxy (18Mb).


  2. Mousetrap design--design a mousetrap from paper, rubber bands, and glue.


  3. Multiparameter decision-making.


  4. Remote measurement--find the distance between two buildings; estimate the measurement error.


  5. Mousetrap construction--construct a paper mousetrap from a set of instructions.


  6. Circuit building--assemble a robot-control circuit using TTL logic chips and a breadboard. Chip and circuit board description.


  7. Chemical processes--carry out distillation and paper chromatography experiments. Observe gravitational instability in layered liquids. Demonstrations: using a hydrometer, creating a stratified fluid.

Miscellaneous Articles and Facts