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Externship Summary - 2009

RCNGM Leader:  Ismail Orabi, University of New Haven

Externship: Hamilton Sundstrand, United Technologic Corporation

Curriculum Project

Lessons Learned

The most useful learning component of my externship was to develop collaboration with the engineering staff at HS, the world's largest, manufacturer and distributor of aerospace products. I had an opportunity to learn about the efforts of a large, complex manufacturing company to define the skills its employees need, track their proficiency in these skills and setup training programs to improve proficiency in these skills.

 I was given the opportunity to visit different departments and observe associated tasks which involved various products technology.  One area of special importance was spending time in the test engineering facilities where a complete check of system and operational performance is occurred.  I was working on assessment of available test technology and test procedures.  I performed several tasks to optimize the testing measurement, including use of new technology like fiber optic. I also worked on modifying the existing measurement technique.

The most challenging component of my externship was developing procedures to balance Air Cycle Machines and providing the engineers with the necessary knowledge and principles to apply balancing techniques, and making solutions available for solving balancing problems.

The full implementation is still under way. The project activity will be given to students as part of their course work. It will help students to know the types of malfunction mechanism and their corresponding symptoms that machine is likely to incur. The students will understand the historical and related events that may have caused changes in machine condition. The project will enable students to present on machine conditions in as solid engineering form as possible. They will be able to take prompt action based on the machine diagnosis. Students will learn how to use a variety of techniques that greatly facilitate the solution of dynamics problems, including modal analysis, and frequency spectrum. Students will learn how to use experimental techniques tools to solve dynamics problems.

Hamilton Sundstrand will provide students real- world design projects. We are planning to invite engineers from Hamilton Sundstrand to come into the classroom to present the recent trend in technology. I am planning to adopt my lessons so that I could use more real world problems instead of the standard text book problems. Students benefit by the demands and rewards of working on challenging real-world projects. Industry -sponsored projects significantly strengthen engineering education.

 

Impact on Student Learning

The result of the externship and curriculum will impact my students in a very positive way.  The students will learn the fundamental aspects of testing technology used in manufacturing worldwide. The students also will learn that Connecticut manufacturing companies can compete successfully in a global economy. Both these learning experiences will give the students the motivation to understand a high technology process.

Externship Sustainability

The result of the externship and curriculum will impact my students in a very positive way.  The students will learn the fundamental aspects of testing technology used in manufacturing worldwide. The students also will learn that Connecticut manufacturing companies can compete successfully in a global economy. Both these learning experiences will give the students the motivation to understand a high technology process.

The externship is very important to connect the engineering curriculum to real world work environment. It's good for educators to keep their skills updated and develop industry contacts. It's good for the hosting companies because they usually form relationships with the schools and students which help them fill job openings. And most importantly, students can learn and experience first-hand what engineering and manufacturing are all about in CT. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education program. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.