ENGR 10 INTRO TO ENGINEERING - Santa Rosa Junior College



ENGR 10 INTRO TO ENGINEERING

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS

Late assignments earn a maximum of half credit (-20 pts). Name, date, class info and a title must be included on every assignment (or -10 pts). If you use the internet as a resource, you must carefully document how you found the information with URL or search info (-10 pts). All assignments must be machine printed unless specified in the description (-20 pts if hand written).

Engineering in the News

Go to an online news source like or and search for articles related to engineering. A thorough list of news sites is available at . All the news sites have search boxes, so type in Engineering or something more specific speed up the process. Find an article that is really interesting to you. Cut and paste just a part of the article into a Word document avoiding all the advertisements and keeping it to one page. Add SRJC, Engr 10, assignment title, your name, and the date on the top as well as the URL (web address) of the article. Print and bring to class according to the due date in the class schedule.

Engineering Field Descriptions

Go online and find a descriptions of two engineering fields that are of interest to you. Typing “engineering fields” into will pull up many sites that have descriptions of every kind of engineer. Find a traditional one that you have heard of before, and one that is totally new to you. Cut and paste the descriptions into Word and add appropriate labels for the two sections (title and URL…) as well as the header documentation (name, date, class, college, assignment title). Trim out sections so it all fits on one or two pages. Print and turn in at class.

Guest Speaker Questions

Make a list of questions to ask of a guest speaker; 10 questions minimum. Some can be specific to a certain field or function within engineering, but most should be more generic. Really give some thought to what questions you would ask of an engineer about their day to day job, their schooling, their career path… What topics would you find most interesting, what would help you make the decisions you face regarding school, work, careers, or even personal life. Print with appropriate header documentation.

How It Works Description

Search through a website like or to find a description of how something works that you are interested in. It can be the description of a thing like a radar gun, hovercraft, smoke detector, solar cell, or CT scanner, or a system like the power grid, sewage system, or internet encryption. div/pf/entry/48486 is another good site that links to many other places. Find something of interest to you. Cut and paste into Word and add the header information and URLs. Trim it down to fit on one page. Print and bring to class.

Goals Exercise

In this exercise, you are being asked to use your imagination. The questions listed below should be answered as if it is actually seven years from today. You will derive the most from this exercise if you really search your desires and plans and take them with you as you project yourself seven years into the future. You may choose to answer these questions according to how you want things to be or according to how you honestly think they will be for you in that future. A mixture of both viewpoints is inevitable and also desirable in this exercise. Your responses should be typed in an essay format, don’t repeat the questions, just answer them in a flowing manner.

Goals Exercise Questions:

1. How old are you now?

2. Where are you living?

3. What is your family or marital status?

4. What is you occupation?

5. How much are you earning?

6. Which of the goals that you have worked toward and have met in the last seven years is the accomplishment you are most proud of?

7. What it just luck or how did you go about accomplishing that goal?

8. What difficulties or setbacks did you encounter in working toward that goal?

9. What kinds of things or people were most helpful to you in reaching this goal?

10. Did you surprise yourself or were you pretty sure you could have done it all along?

11. What future goals are you working on now toward which you have made some progress and when do you think you will have achieved them?

Really try to be specific with your responses. Think through the details and reasons you feel the way you do. If you struggle to come up with responses, then slow down & really ask yourself about where you want to be in seven years. Remember, there are no wrong answers, but there are thoughtful and honest answers.

Company Profiles

Search for companies related to the fields of engineering you are interested in. The North Bay Business Journal at lists. lists companies by categories such as solar, network, civil, telecom... The career center on the 3rd floor of the Bertolini Student Center has employer lists as well, santarosa.edu/career. Sonoma County Job Link has a searchable employers list available through their job seekers services at . Go to the companies’ websites for more information. Cut and paste a paragraph of info from at least 5 different companies. Include the company names and URLs. Add header info and trim to 2 pages max.

Phone Calls

For this assignment, you will be making phone calls to local engineers to try and set up a 30 minute Informational Interview. Informational interviews are a great source of career information and opportunities. See santarosa.edu/for_students/student_resources/career-center/pdf/informational-interviewing.pdf. Almost all engineers are very willing to talk about their jobs with students, over lunch is the easiest. You are NETWORKING, and so are they. What is networking? santarosa.edu/for_students/student_resources/career-center/pdf/networking.pdf. For this assignment, you only need to find contact information and make the phone calls, you don’t have to conduct the interview yet. Parents, relatives, friends, and classmates are all good sources of engineers. Don't interview a direct relative, but interview one of their co-workers or engineering acquaintances instead. If necessary, you can use the phone book or the career center (link above), and just call companies and ask. DO NOT try to interview engineers over the phone. It's impersonal and wouldn't be nearly as valuable. These types of interviews are very common. Just call someone up, tell them who you are and ask to meet them for lunch or whatever. Students always find this the most valuable assignment. List the name, phone number, company, and date of people you call for an informational interview. Write "will do" next to the appropriate person on the list. BE CAREFUL AND COMPLETE WHEN DOCUMENTING THESE PHONE CALLS and include the header documentation. You will turn in a transcript of your interview in a couple of weeks (See the course schedule) for this assignment you are just calling people for an appointment.

Weekly Schedule

Use Excel or other spreadsheet program to make a chart showing your schedule for a whole week. Use one hour blocks of time and include sleep, eating/washing/other, classes, work, homework, and fun. An certain amount of time management is important to achieving your goals in school, at work, and for life in general. This is also an opportunity to practice your spreadsheet skills. If you are totally new to Excel, the Math Lab in room 1733, has computer and student assistants that can help. MESA in room 4832 on the third floor of the Bertolini Student Center is another resource for help, santarosa.edu/mesa. The Tutorial Centers on campus are another possibility santarosa.edu/tutorial. Include appropriate header documentation on your spreadsheet.

University Profile

Start by researching various engineering schools with an eye towards which ones you might attend. The transfer center (3rd floor of the Bertolini Student Center) has links to school catalogs, brochures, videos... santarosa.edu/transfer. Links to the University of California engineering departments are at:

universityofcalifornia.edu/academics/engcs.html. With a map of the UC campuses at:

universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/welcome.html. The California State University system lists engineering degrees at: degrees.calstate.edu/degree_list/csu-degree-programs. Click on bachelors and enter engineering as the criteria. calstate.edu/datastore/campus_map.shtml has the CSU system map. A complete list of California engineering colleges is available at californiacolleges.edu/Select/MatchAsst/default.asp. Enter search criteria of major – engineering and limit search to 4 year schools. A map showing the private university locations is at: californiacolleges.edu/Select/zipcode.asp?switchto=aiccu. Of course google can find other resources , including information about out of state universities. Make a list of your top three universities, the corresponding majors you would be applying to, and a short description of why you want to go there. Include a web address from each school of something you found interesting.

Extra credit is available for students who contact a representative from at least one school (an alumni, student, tour guide, faculty member, or official representative) and discuss your plans. The transfer center has a list of SRJC faculty that will talk to you about various schools, but try to find a current or more recent student in some field of engineering. Even better is to pay a visit to the school or schools you are interested in. Call before you go and make an appointment to meet with the dean or department chair and visit former SRJC students, friends... This can be a fun and valuable spring break road trip. Turn in a separate page of what you learned, liked, and didn't like. Include information about when you visited and/or who you spoke to. The title needs to clearly show that this is for extra credit (not the assignment).

Educational Plan

Visit a counselor on the 2nd floor of Bertolini to generate an educational plan that charts out what classes you will take over the next two or three years in order to fulfill the requirements necessary to transfer in your engineering major to the universities you are interested in. See santarosa.edu/counseling for more info. Make a plan even if you are not sure, it can always be modified. You can verify that you are on the correct track by looking up the requirements yourself using santarosa.edu/app/counseling/transfer/#E. There is also the state wide system to find what classes are required for each major at . Turn in a copy of your education plan. Optional Alternate Assignment: If you are a high school student or have already planned your schedule, you may choose to research scholarships & grants instead. The Scholarship Office in Plover Hall santarosa.edu/scholarship has lots of resources. The Financial Aid Office (also in Plover Hall) santarosa.edu/app/paying-for-college/financial_aid_office/ is another important resource for funding college costs. National societies, civic groups, foundations, schools, and even our engineering program all have scholarships; the hard part is finding out about them.

Informational Interview

Turn in a narrative of your informational interview. Lists of questions are available at the informational interview sight listed above, but asking your own questions and letting the interview wander is usually better. You don’t need to write down every word for me, just take rough notes to help you remember what you discussed, and show me that you’re getting something out the meeting. Complete header information as well as the contact information of the person you interviewed.

Cover Letter

Cover Letters are used when applying for jobs to give a more personal presentation of your abilities and what you are seeking. A complete description with examples and guidelines is available at: santarosa.edu/for_students/student_resources/career-center/pdf/cover-letter.pdf . A great video is at: videos/Tips_for_Writing_a_Resume_Cover_Letter_Video.html. The cover letter must be addressed to an individual at the company (if fictitious, use names Acme and/or Humperdink). Make sure to proofread, because typos are a big no-no, and spell check is limited (to, too, and two all mean different things).

Resume

Resume guidelines at: santarosa.edu/for_students/student_resources/career-center/pdf/resume-guidelines.pdf. A good resume video by the same people as the cover letter video is at: videos/The_Basic_Sections_of_a_Resume_Video.html. The career center on campus is a good resource for more information about resume writing. They even have workshops and individualized help. Check them out at santarosa.edu/career. There are two approaches to this assignment: a real job for which you will soon be applying (summer internship job most likely), or an imaginary engineering job you will be applying for your senior year. The second approach will require you to make up summer experience and scholastic achievement, etc. If you make any thing up, use the word "Acme" in the company name so I can tell. Be sure to tailor your objective statement to the job you are seeking (summer?, part time?, etc.). Many of you will want to include a skills section instead of an experience section as your education and experience may be limited. Don't worry about the colored paper for the copy you turn in to me.

Ethics Scenario

Write a description of an ethical dilemma faced by an engineer, cut and paste ok. Add a personal response that describes your feelings and thoughts about the situation, responses, and outcomes. You might try getting your ethics question from a local engineer, as that would be continuing the networking process. Three of many websites dealing with engineering ethics are at: , ethics.tamu.edu, and matscieng.sunysb.edu/disaster. This is a real open ended assignment. Ethics is a very broad topic. Print out your ethics scenario and comments; include the URL info and all the header documentation.

Bridge Project

The class will be split up into teams to construct a bridge out of balsa wood and glue. On the last day of class, we will crush the bridges to see which has the greatest strength to weight ratio. (Yes a light bridge that is pretty strong will beat out one that is a little stronger but a lot heavier.) More information to follow.

Possible Make-up Credit for Assignments or Attendance

1. Attend a function sponsored by the TEC club or MESA (guest speaker or field trip etc.)

2. Visit the engineering school of your choice.

3. Make a poster for display in the engineering window across from Rm. 1776.

4. Develop a list of websites or contacts that future engineering students would find valuable.

5. Suggest something to me.

To receive credit for the first two items, just turn in a report to one of the instructors including your name, the activity, the date, and the name and title of someone you talked to. Item #3 requires you to buy some kind of stiff poster board and mount some interesting & informative information on it. Descriptions of an engineering field, engineering articles, and informational interviews are all possible things to put onto a poster. The amount of make-up credit depends on the quality and appropriateness of the activity or the work, and is at the discretion of the instructor. Write on the top of the make-up assignment what class, activity, or assignment the make-up is for, as well as the standard header info.

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