A robot from the Robotics Lab, guided by a student in the lab via an Internet link, tries to enter the Freel Library to check out a book. (It was turned away by the circulation desk for lack of a library card.)

Course Syllabus

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Instructor: William Seeley

Office: Bowman Hall, Room 105

Phone: 662-5457; e-mail: w.seeley@mcla.edu

Office Hours: T,W 1:00-2:00, by appointment or by chance - just call or drop by.

Textbook: Horenstein, "Design Concepts for Engineers", Prentice-Hall (ISBN 0-13-146499-X).
There will also be assorted handouts and on-line documents to supplement the text.

Attendance: Students are expected to meet every class, as classroom discussion is a valuable course component. Not attending means not contributing, and class participation will be a consideration in grading.

Homework: Homework assignments will be made throughout the course, and will be part of the grading process.

Exams and Quizzes: There will be two or three exams during the semester. These will be announced well in advance. There may also be occasional, unannounced short quizzes as well. There will be a final exam at the end of the semester.

Team Projects: This course stresses the direct application of engineering principles to real problems, and so is in large part project oriented. The lab portion of the course will reflect this by assigning specific projects to student teams. The successful analysis, planning and execution of assigned projects, both by the teams and by individual team members, will constitute an important course component. Most projects will be done in the lab, but some may require outside work and/or time spent in the labs outside the regularly scheduled lab times. We will make the labs as accessable as practical during normal hours (8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday), but keep in mind that labs are busy during most afternoon hours (except Fridays).

Laboratory Notebook: A primary concern to an engineer (and to his/her employer) is the lab notebook. All your work should be documented in your notebook. It should be your constant companion as you do your work, whether in the lab, classroom, home or dorm. The lab notebook is the last line of defense in the matter of intellectual proprty disputes, and employers take the matter of proper lab notebook maintenance very seriously. In this course the lab notebook will be the one most important part of course grading. (look in Section 3.3 in the text for some comments on lab notebooks).

Grading Policy: Grades will be assigned using the following schedule:

Attendance (including class participation) 10%
Homework 10%
Exams and Quizzes: Exams will count for 20% of the course grade - Quiz scores will add to Exam scores.
Team Projects 20%
Lab Notebooks 20%
Final Exam 20%