Session: K9 Panel: Nanoscale Heat Transfer Education

Paper Number: 112635

112635 - Lessons Learned From Delivering Project-Based Course 

Project-based learning creates an environment that fosters creative thinking, self-motivation, and active learning. I will share the experience and lessons learned from delivering the MAE789 course at North Carolina State University for five years (2018-2022). This is a graduate-level course that is intended for engineering graduate students with interests in the simulation of materials and studying their properties at the molecular level using different atomistic simulation techniques. Typically, students from mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, biomedical engineering, and nuclear engineering select this course. During the first few weeks, students will pick the project topic and a few literature publications that are interesting to them but not directly related to their research work. After a discussion with the instructor, students will pick one paper to repeat part of the results from the paper, which will be used as the assessment of the project. The instructor introduces the solid-state physics theories first and then emphasizes the hands-on activities through software and command demonstrations and demo projects. Students will then conduct simulations on their own projects and deliver two presentations and a final report. Usually, students use the tools at their disposal to find innovative solutions to problems and learn how to learn from each other. I will show a few interesting project results from students and share some stories behind them. Possible future developments of the course will be discussed.

Presenting Author: Jun Liu North Carolina State University