MSE 510
Electrical, Optical, & Dielectric Materials
Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering
Bill Knowlton
Projects – Overview & General Information
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Work individually or in teams of 3 or 4 as indicated in the Project
Project Length: 1 – 3 weeks (could be longer if over a break)
On the due date, just prior to class, please provide me the following:
o Email me an electronic version of your project. If you are using Mathematica, please
provide both the Mathematica file and a pdf file of the project.
o Signed hard copy Project Self Evaluation Form (on course website) if team project
o For project presentations, load your presentation on the W-drive and bring a flash drive
with all your electronic copies with you to the presentation (just in case)
Project Types:
Projects will predominantly be computational and focused on a concept or set of concepts from course
lectures, the course book, or the literature. Emphasis will be on data analysis. Data will be from plots
and/or tables or equations from the literature or your own research or experiments you may want to
perform. Data analysis will be used to reveal and trends and develop relationships (mathematical,
functional and/or graphical) using:
• Foundational subjects such as thermodynamics (classical & statistical), kinetics, or quantum
mechanics.
• Empirical/phenomenological relationships to obtain equations on which to perform mathematical
operations (see below).
Data Analysis:
Data analysis can consist of, but are not limited to, the following:
• Curve Fitting data
o Linear
o Non-linear
o Using the Manipulate[ ] command in Mathematica
o Coefficient of Determination – R2
o Residuals
• Statistical & Error Analysis
o Precision
 Mean
 Standard deviation
 Confidence limits and confidence interval
 Variance
 Coefficient of variation
o Accuracy
 Absolute error
 Relative error or % Error or % Difference
 Error bars on data
o Confidence intervals
o Rejection of Outlier Data
• Calculus of data or developed mathematical relationships
o Differentiation
 Slope
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MSE 510
Electrical, Optical, & Dielectric Materials
•
Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering
Bill Knowlton
 Max-Min
 Inflection points
 Curvature and radius of curvature
 Develop Differentials
o Integration
 Sum under curve (y*x relationships)
 Within cycle where paths differ and hysteresis effects exist
 Develop State functions
 Thermodynamics – work and energy relations
o Solving differential equations
 Boundary conditions
 Change, rate of change, kinetics
 Kinetics
 Determine and analyze general solution/equation
Other: the hope is that you will add to this list over the course of the semester!
Grading:
The projects will be graded on the following and thus should demonstrate to following:
• Depth, Difficulty and Rigor – the extent and depth of the projects should go well beyond the
examples shown in a regular textbook. The project should be thorough and complete.
• Creativity – ideas generated and approaches used should show data analyses that incorporate
models and laws that are worthy of scholarly work. Use of journal and conference publications is
required.
• Critical thinking – Data analyses should be thorough and thought provoking.
• References - Use and citation of scholarly work required.
• Applications – the question of the applicability of the project or analytical approaches used in the
project to industry should be discussed. Address the impact of your work in non-academic fields.
• Scope of work – Related, Relevant, & Pertinent to the subject matter covered in the chapter
being covered.
• See Grade Sheet
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