In developing its new engineering accreditation criteria, ABET reaffirmed a set of “hard” engineering skills while introducing a second, equally important, set of six “professional” skills. These latter skills include communication, teamwork, and understanding ethics and professionalism, which we label process skills, and engineering within a global and societal context, lifelong learning, and a knowledge of contemporary issues, which we designate as awareness skills. We review these skills with an emphasis on how they can be taught, or more correctly learned, citing a number of examples of successful and/or promising implementations. We then examine the difficult issue of assessing these skills. We are very positive about a number of creative ways that these skills are being learned, particularly at institutions that are turning to global and/or service learning in combination with engineering design projects to teach and reinforce outcome combinations. We are also encouraged by work directed at assessing these skills, but recognize that there is considerable research that remains to be done.

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The ABET “Professional Skills” — Can They Be Taught? Can They Be Assessed?

In this paper the differential equations governing thin, square-diaphragm silicon pressure sensors are developed and solved using finite-difference numerical methods. Diaphragm deflection and stress patterns are presented in a normalized form applicable to diaphragms of arbitrary thickness and size. For 1-mm210-µm-thick diaphragms in

Pressure sensitivity in anisotropically etched thin-diaphragm pressure sensors

A thin-diaphragm piezoresistive pressure sensor for biomedical instrumentation has been developed using monolithic integratedcircuit (IC) techniques. The piezoresistive effect has been chosen for this device because it provides an observable resistance change that is a linear function of pressure and is observable at low stress levels. A diaphragm is used as a stress magnifying device; its magnification is proportional to the square of the ratio of the diaphragm diameter to its thickness. The pressure-induced stresses in the diaphragm are sensed by properly oriented piezoresistors interconnected to form a bridge.

An IC Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor for Biomedical Instrumentation

A high-sensitivity capacitive pressure transducer with active processing circuit on the chip has been demonstrated and evaluated. The transducer configuration has been optimized by computer-aided design to achieve highest sensitivity for a given maximum dimension. The measured sensitivity of the devices is in the range of 50-150 µV/ V . mmHg, which is approximately one order of magnitude higher than the sensitivity of the piezoresistive pressure transducer of comparable size. Theoretical analysis also shows that a sensitivity on the order of 1000 µV/V . mmHg is also possible using the capacitive approach if the dimension of the device can be enlarged and the full scale pressure range is lowered. Other characteristics of the devices have been investigated and are presented.

A high-sensitivity integrated-circuit capacitive pressure transducer

Instruction in the technical and scientific disciplines often provides students with the technical skills necessary to succeed in industry. However, these disciplines also focus on socializing students into professional identities. This study examines one exemplar discipline, mechanical engineering, to see how classroom discourse and practice construct professional identities for students (as future engineers) and their customers. Results suggest that although students' conceptions of the customer provided glimpses of professional identity, design processes in these classrooms were ultimately driven and shaped by academic communicative practices, audiences, and goals. Given this, instructional interventions are provided to integrate professionalization processes within classrooms where situated learning is apparent.

Learning to Be Professional Technical Classroom Discourse, Practice, and Professional Identity Construction

The purpose of this paper is to briefly review the concepts proposed to explain the piezojunction effect and to describe the techniques employed in its application. Several experimental transducers which have been constructed and evaluated are described.

Semiconductor mechanical sensors

The electrical behavior of zinc ions implanted into chromium-doped semiinsulating gallium arsenide was investigated by measurements of the sheet resistivity and Hall effect Room temperature implantations were performed using fluence values from 10 to the 12th to 10 to the 15th power/sq cm at 60 keV The samples were annealed for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere up to 800 C in steps of 200 C and the effect of this annealing on the Hall effect and sheet resistivity was studied at room temperature using the Van der Pauw technique The temperature dependence of sheet resistivity and mobility was measured from liquid nitrogen temperature to room temperature Finally, a measurement of the implanted profile was obtained using a layer removal technique combined with the Hall effect and sheet resistivity measurements

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The electrical properties of 60 keV zinc ions implanted into semi-insulating gallium arsenide

Since the founding of ASEE one hundred years ago, engineering education has grown dramatically in scope and in enrollment. Yet, the principles which prompted the call for curriculum reform and for the full development of human potential by the founders of ASEE are as relevant to the situation in engineering education today as it was at that first meeting in 1893. While there has been considerable progress, expectations for fundamental change to achieve the goals articulated by our founders have never been greater.

Engineering Education—A Century of Opportunity

This paper is concerned with the influence of time varying mechanical stress on the electrical properties of p-n junctions. A strain generator based upon a vibrating cantilever beam is described. Data obtained on silicon junctions are presented and compared to a theoretical model for the effects. The results indicate that the major effect of mechanical strain is to change the energy band structure of the semiconductor.

Characterization of p-n junctions under the influence of a time varying mechanical strain

The thermal generation rate of charge carriers in a depletion region in gold-doped silicon was measured as a function of strain applied in the [110] direction over a range of temperatures. Thermal generation rate was also measured as a function of [100] strain at a single temperature. Relaxation to equilibrium of a deeply depleted metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor was used to measure generation rate. The generation rate was observed to increase nearly 100 per cent from zero applied strain to an applied strain of 5 × 10−3, at −20°C. Experimental results were explained using a model based on Shockley-Read statistics and results from deformation-potential theory. Agreement between theory and experiment was obtained under the condition that the gold impurity energy level split with applied strain and the the center of gravity of the two levels shifted upward with a hydrostatic coefficient. The increase in generation rate was in excess of that caused by band extrema shifts only.

L. K. Monteith

Papers

Semiconductor mechanical sensors

The electrical properties of 60 keV zinc ions implanted into semi-insulating gallium arsenide

Engineering Education—A Century of Opportunity

Characterization of p-n junctions under the influence of a time varying mechanical strain

Effect of stress on the carrier generation rate in gold-doped silicon