Drones for Project-Based Learning (PBL) Capstone Design

Abstract

received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1990 in Mechanical Engineering. His Thesis and initial work was on underwater explosion bubble dynamics and ship and submarine whipping. After graduation he took a position with the US Army where he has been ever since. For the first decade with the Army he worked on notable programs to include the M829A1 and A2 that were first of a kind composite saboted munition. His travels have taken him to Los Alamos where he worked on modeling the transient dynamic attributes of Kinetic Energy munitions during initial launch. Afterwards he was selected for the exchange scientist program and spent a summer working for DASA Aerospace in Wedel, Germany 1993. His initial research also made a major contribution to the M1A1 barrel reshape initiative that began in 1995. Shortly afterwards he was selected for a 1 year appointment to the United States Military Academy West Point where he taught Mathematics. Following these accomplishments he worked on the SADARM fire and forget projectile that was finally used in the second gulf war. Since that time, circa 2002, his studies have focused on unmanned systems both air and ground. His team deployed a bomb finding robot named the LynchBot to Iraq late in 2004 and then again in 2006 deployed about a dozen more improved LynchBots to Iraq. His team also assisted in the deployment of 84 TACMAV systems in 2005. Around that time he volunteered as a science advisor and worked at the Rapid Equipping Force during the summer of 2005 where he was exposed to a number of unmanned systems technologies. His initial group composed of about 6 S&T grew to nearly 30 between 2003 and 2010 as he transitioned from a Branch head to an acting Division Chief.

Developing Experiments to Teach Control Theory

“…Some of the evolution for the see-saw project as well as an assessment of the educational impact is detailed in another publication [10]. All of the parts can be made by a typical engineering school's shop for less than $100.00.…”

Deadlift Energy Absorption and Dissipation Device for Athletic Weight Room

“…The spirit of this project is aligned with previous and on-going efforts to expose and engage students in "authentic" engineering experiences and environments through, for example, Hands-on projects Project Based Learning [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

In Their Own Words: How Engineering Students Adapted to Disruptive Transitions Between Online and In-Person Learning

“…The authors of [15] interviewed engineering students and instructors from a calculus course on the impact of the transition, and their results highlight the diverse needs of students and students' decreased access to resources. A particular challenge for online engineering courses is facilitating virtual laboratory experiments and hands-on projects, and the impact of COVID-19 on senior capstone design courses has been studied (see, e.g., [16,17]).…”