Professors Eric Lui and Young Moon both have visions for enhancing the learning
experience for students in Syracuse University's L.C. Smith College of Engineering
and Computer Science (LCS).
Lui, a Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence and chair
of the
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, believes that the
effectiveness of existing Academic Excellence Workshops (AEW) for a sequence of
math calculus courses can be enhanced through a new learning paradigm.
Moon, associate professor in the
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering and director of the
Institute for Manufacturing Enterprises, believes in
the need for and benefit of a course in sustainable manufacturing.
Both Lui and Moon's visions will come to fruition through their receipt of the 2009
L.C. Smith Award for Faculty Excellence. The award was established last year
through a $25,000 gift to the college from chemical engineering alumnus Brian Beals
'64 , a member of the Chemical Engineering Department Advisory Board, and his
wife, Emily, of Jasper, Ga. It is modeled after a summer stipend program at DePauw
University, Emily's alma mater, designed to help faculty create and engage in their
own professional development.
The Beals' gift was matched by LCS: Lui will receive $25,000 to fund his proposal on
"Enhancing the Math AEW Sections Using Memetic and Cognitive Approaches,"
and Moon will receive $25,000 to fund his proposal, "Development of a New Course
on Sustainable Manufacturing."
Lui and Moon's proposals were recommended for the award by a committee of peers
represented by the four departments within LCS and chaired by John Heydweiller,
associate professor, director of the college's chemical engineering program and
interim chair of the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering.
"Both of Dr. Lui's and Dr. Moon's proposals will have wonderful impacts on our
students and will help advance the strategic vision and mission of LCS," says Dean
Laura J. Steinberg. "My thanks go to Brian and Emily Beals for their generous award
that made this gift possible and for giving our faculty the opportunity to think
creatively about how we can enhance the experience our students receive at LCS."
Lui has proposed applying a memetic/cognitive learning approach to the calculus
sequence of math courses (MAT 295, MAT 296 and MAT 397) required for all LCS
undergraduates. To do this, he proposes the development of a series of visually and
cognitive-based computer learning modules that use specific math software to help
students learn calculus. The project involves working with graduate assistants to
develop the modules, training the AEW facilitators to use the software, incorporating
the modules into the AEW sections, and assessing their effectiveness. In addition, Lui
and the graduate assistants will act as liaisons to the instructors of introductory LCS
courses so discipline-specific example problems can be solicited and incorporated into
the learning modules.
"The proposed computer learning software differs from the math software the
students are already using in the introductory courses in that the former stresses the
learning aspect while the latter stresses the solution aspect of a math problem," Lui
says. "If different steps to arrive at the solution are carefully outlined and explained,
the ability of the student to grasp the essence of the procedure and understand what
needs to be done to arrive at the solution can be greatly improved."
Lui says successful implementation of the new approach in a year or so will heighten
the interest of LCS students in math and calculus, enhance the effectiveness of the
AEW sections, illustrate the relevancy of math in solving engineering and computer
science problems, and help improve the LCS student retention rate.
Moon plans to develop a course in sustainable manufacturing in which students will
learn the vision of sustainable manufacturing and its relation to larger societal issues;
methods, techniques and tools available for developing sustainable products and
sustainable manufacturing processes and systems; and how to measure sustainable
manufacturing processes and effective strategies for deploying sustainable
manufacturing.
"While numerous progresses have been made toward the goal of sustainability,
sustainable manufacturing is still a poorly understood concept and often considered a
contradiction to best manufacturing practices and eventual business successes," says
Moon. "Sustainable manufacturing requires a holistic view, to complete a product
lifecycle from the moment of conceiving new product ideas until the end of the
product life, while simultaneously considering the impact of decisions made in each
phase of the manufacturing activity on sustainability.
"In this proposed course, manufacturing will mean not only material transformation
processes but also manufacturing systems, including supply-chain considerations for
sustainability," he says.
Moon will inject that type of systems thinking into the course in two ways-through
the adoption of a broadened definition of manufacturing and a semester-long project
of developing sustainable products.
The course will be developed over the next year, and Moon plans to make it available
to LCS juniors and seniors in the Spring 2010 semester. An additional course for non-
engineers may also be developed in the future.
