Senior Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering : A Guide Book for Teaching and Learning

This book offers invaluable insights about the full spectrum of core design course contents systematically and in detail. This book is for instructors and students who are involved in teaching and learning of ‘capstone senior design projects’ in mechanical engineering.

It consists of 17 chapters, over 300 illustrations with many real-world student project examples.

The main project processes are grouped into three phases, i.e., project scoping and specification, conceptual design, and detail design, and each has dedicated two chapters of process description and report content prescription, respectively. The basic principles and engineering process flow are well applicable for professional development of mechanical design engineers.

CAD/CAM/CAE technologies are commonly used within many project examples. Thematic chapters also cover student teamwork organization and evaluation, project management, design standards and regulations, and rubrics of course activity grading. Key criteria of successful course accreditation and graduation attributes are discussed in details. In summary, it is a handy textbook for the capstone design project course in mechanical engineering and an insightful teaching guidebook for engineering design instructors.

Dr. Yongsheng Ma is a full professor at the University of Alberta where he joined since 2007. Dr. Ma is also a member of ASEE, SME, SPE, CSME and an Alberta registered professional engineer (P.Eng.). His main research areas include feature-based engineering informatics for design and manufacturing, CADCAM, and product lifecycle management. Dr. Ma received his B.Eng. from Tsinghua University, Beijing (1986), both M.Sc. (1990) and Ph.D. (1994) from UMIST, UK. In 2000–2007, he was an associate professor with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Dr. Ma started his career as a polytechnic lecturer in Singapore (1993) and then a senior research fellow and group manager (1996-2000) at Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. Dr. Ma has over 20 years teaching experience in two world-class universities and had taught many courses ranging from undergraduate years to postgraduate level. Currently, he teaches Engineering Economics, Manufacturing Processes, Engineering Informatics, and Senior Capstone Projects. Dr. Ma has published more than 200 internationally recognized top journal and conference papers and chapters. Dr. Ma had been an associate editor of IEEE Transaction of Automation Science and Engineering (2009-2013). In 2012, he won the prestigious ASTech award sponsored by The Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation together with Drader Manufacturing Ltd. Since 2012, he has been serving as an editorial board member of Advanced Engineering Informatics. During 2019–2020, Dr. Ma had been a visiting professor at Southern University of Science and Technology, China.

Yiming Rong is a chair professor, Southern University of Science and Technology, China. Prof. Rong received the B.Sc. degree from Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, China, in 1981; M.S. degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1984 and 1987, respectively; and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Kentucky,Lexington, in 1989. Currently, Professor Rong (since 2016) is a chair professor and the head of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, China. He had been a full professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the director of Manufacturing Engineering Research Institute at Tsinghua University (2010-2015), and the chair professor, the Higgins professor of Mechanical Engineering, and the director of the Computer-Aided Manufacturing Laboratory (CAM Lab.), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI, 1998-2016), Worcester, MA. He was a faculty member with Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1990-1998). His research areas are computer-aided manufacturing, including manufacturing systems, manufacturing processes, and computer-aided fixture design (CAFD). The research on CAFD has been recognized internationally. Professor Rong is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).