ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY ANNUAL REPORT
Academic Year 2014-2015
I.
Mission
The mission of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is to develop the intellect of
students; to discover and disseminate knowledge; to serve and strengthen society by
enhancing awareness in scientific, technical, and cultural arenas; and to promote
humane sensitivities and understanding of interdependence.
Engineering Technology graduates will be equipped with the necessary knowledge,
skills, and experience to achieve success in their engineering field through a
comprehensive program of educational, scholarly, and service activities.
II.
Values
The Department of Engineering Technology will be guided by commitments to:
 Our Students
 Supporting the engineering needs of the community
 Developing curriculum responsive to the demands of the engineering
environment
III.
Vision
Use quality instruction to instill in students a lifelong desire to learn. Use knowledge in
ways that will contribute to society. Apply the resources and research skills of the
University community to the service of the city, the state, the nation, and the world in
ways that will benefit humanity.
IV.
Highlights
A.
Teaching
Both the ECET and MET Associate of Science degrees underwent changes in
nomenclature to Associate of Engineering Technology. This was done to retain the
technical content of the Associate degrees and still retain the ABET approval for the
Associates degrees while being in compliance with recent Arkansas state legislation.
Several changes were made to the ECET program. These changes will go into effect
beginning in the Fall of 2015. The changes we have implemented will reduce the hours
in the program from 128 to 127.
They are summarized below:
 ECET 2300 (Numerical Methods for Technicians) will be replaced by CPSC
1375/1175 (Programming I)
 ECET 2150 (Microprocessor Fundamentals) will be removed from the curriculum
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The changes require modifications to pre-requisites for ECET 3360 (Data
Acquisition and Sensors) because of course changes
A course title (ECET 3409) is changed from Applied Transform Methods to
Signal Analysis
Pre-requisites for ECET 2169, 4351, and 4479 are also changed
ECET 4349/4149 (Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy and lab) will be added
to the curriculum
IFSC 2200 (Ethics in the Profession) will be replaced by PHIL 2320 (Ethics and
Society), satisfying both university core and program requirements for ethics
Several changes were made to the Mechanical Engineering technology program to
incorporate the new Core and to improve the course timelines. The total required hours
went from 124 hours to 121 hours for the Bachelor's degree.
Specific individual course changes were made to improve the curriculum as follows:
ETME 3317 became ETME 3417 and went from a 3 hour lecture 4 hour lecture format.
Capstone courses 4187 & 4387 changed as follows:ETME 4187 became ETME 4287
and went from a 1 hour lecture + 1 hour lab format to a 2 hour lecture + 1 hours lab
format and ETME 4387 went from a 1 hour lecture + 3 hour lab format to a 2 hour
lecture + 3 hours lab format.
The program is experimenting with the offering of courses using webcasting to increase
student flow. Currently offering one course (ETME 3324 Plastics & Composites) in an
online format. Will bring on a second course (ETME 3322) in Spring 2016 semester.
B.
Research
Dr. Mamdouh Bakr's Senior Projects serve as a vehicle for undergraduate student
research and provide service to the University and to industry. Projects solicited from
industry or proposed by students are screened to fit the curriculum requirements and to
provide tangible value to the university and industry.
Agriculture Drone for Field Treatment: Clint Maddox, David Ramirez, Miguel Alvarez
Design and Construction of a Motorized Long-board: Marshall Jackson, Rakeem Couch,
Casey Ragsdale
Design and Construction of a Grain Malting Machine: Chris Schlukebier, Daniel
Manasco, Trevor Gray. Clay White
Professor David Luneau's designed a new wireless camera system that is smaller and
lighter than the previous system that he published a paper on. He uses UALR’s rapid
prototyping 3-D solid printer to produce the cases for these cameras. Building these
camera systems involved detailed electronic modifications to a commercially-available
wireless camera system.
Dr. S. Midturi is continuing to explore the static and dynamic properties of metallic
foams. At present, he is focusing on experimental studies of phase and group velocities
on dispersive waves in metal foams. He is also working on is the Defect Identification in
green compacts by a variety of image analysis methods including X-ray, digital image
correlation, high resolution optical microscope, and Lamb-Rayleigh wave transmission.
(Powdered Metal research)
Dr. Srikanth Pidugu continues modeling mixing in microchannels (Microfluidics) and
sponsored student undergraduate summer research in "Redesigning endotracheal tube
using CFD techniques"
Dr. Hirak Patangia continued working on the NSF CCLI project under the title
“Development of Novel Learning materials for Green Energy Education Centered
around a PV Test Station”. A one year no cost extension was approved for continued
field-testing. The course and lab materials were field tested in the spring to both ECET
and SYEN students.
C.
Service
Professor Luneau served as the Technical Manager and Vice-Chair of the Steering
Committee for Solar Splash, an international, intercollegiate solar and electric boat
regatta. This involved maintaining the web site, managing the technical aspects of the
event, and traveling to Dayton, Ohio, in June for the event. He worked with the capstone
IT Minor class on a complete redesign of the Solar Splash website that will include
social media links. The new design was implemented in 2015.
David is also a member of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Species Recovery Team (under
the U.S. Endangered Species Act).
David also served on an ad hoc committee that reviewed commissioning agents for
work on a UALR energy conservation project by UALR’s Associate Vice Chancellor of
Facilities Management, David Millay.
D.
Student Success
MET Students Owen Camp, Clint Maddox, David Ramirez, and Dale Wilson came in
First Place among 18 teams that competed in 2014 Student Professional Development
Conference (SPDC) in Lubbock, Texas organized by American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) in Spring 2014 and went on to compete in the International
Competition in Montreal in Fall 2014.
Two UALR students earned a second-place award during the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 5 Annual Conference in New Orleans April 1718. Out of 22 teams, the UALR team of John Kline and John McNeill of the UALR
Department of Engineering Technology placed second in the circuit design
competition. The day-long contest required integration of knowledge from various areas
of electronics. Kline and McNeill were given a blind engineering challenge requiring
them to design on paper a project they then had to build, write a report on, and later
deliver a presentation for judges. This year’s project involved designing a
communication system with digital processing. The UALR team finished second only to
University of Missouri, Kansas City.
V.
Assessment
Engineering Technology maintains an assessment webpage at the following link:
http://ualr.edu/engineeringtechnology/assessment/
The following is extracted from the department webpage:
The Department of Engineering Technology offers both Bachelors (BS) and Associate
of Engineering Technology (AET) degrees in Electronics and Computer Engineering
Technology (ECET) and Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET). All courses taken
for the Associates degree apply toward the Bachelors degree. The four degree
programs are accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of
ABET,http://www.abet.org.
ECET
ETME
Enrollment
Graduates
Enrollment
Graduates
AET
BS
AET
BS
AET
BS
AET
BS
2012-3
10
51
2
10
14
82
4
12
2013-4
35
55
8
15
19
89
2
15
2014-5
37
47
5
13
58
104
2
15
AET and BS enrollment and graduates
VI.
Priorities for Next Year
Priorities will to finish equipping the Robotics lab located in ETAS 283 with new Allen
Bradley equipment.
The department has ordered new hydraulic equipment for use in the Thermal / Fluids
lab which the MET program shares with SYEN Mechanical. Also, new equipment and
workbenches were ordered and received which will enable an increase in the number of
students that can take the lab related courses.