NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session XXXX Engineering Education in Asia—the Thailand Example J. Clair Batty, Utah State University Mayuree Thespol, Kasetsart University Abstract Since 1985 the number of Bachelor level engineering degrees produced annually in selected Asian countries has increased by more than 60 percent and the yearly production of engineering doctorates has increased by more than 300 percent. The Thailand model is presented as an example of the quality and direction of engineering education in Asia. Thailand is a leader in the observable Asian shift in emphasis to doctoral level engineering education. It is suggested that Asia in general and Thailand in particular are becoming ever more important members of the global engineering education community and that opportunities for collaboration should not be overlooked. Introduction A penchant for science and engineering by Americans of Asian extraction has drawn attention for some time. It has been pointed out, for example, that minorities tend to be a much smaller proportion of scientists and engineers in the United States than they are in the total U.S. population. Asians, however, in 1997 comprised 10 percent of scientists and engineers in the United States although they were only 4 percent of the U.S. population.1 Students from Asian countries tend to dominate the rest of the world on standardized achievement tests in mathematics and science. 2 The number of bachelor level engineering degrees in the U.S. peaked in about 1985 at around 77,000, declined by nearly 20 percent to about 62,000 in 1991 and has remained at about that level until the present. During that same period the number of bachelor level engineering degrees produced in selected Asian countries increased by more than 60 percent from about 200,000 to over 325,000. Engineering BS degrees in the U.S. comprise only about 5 percent of the total number of BS degrees granted in the country. 1 That percentage is generally much higher in Asian countries. For example, in Thailand about 13 percent 3 and in Japan about 19 percent 1 of the BS level degrees granted are in engineering. Recently Asian countries are placing greatly increased emphasis on doctoral level engineering programs and degrees. Between 1985 and 1997 the number of doctoral degrees granted in engineering in selected Asian countries increased by about 300 percent from 2,000 to 8,000 per year.1 Nearly 50 percent of the doctorates in engineering awarded by U.S. institutions now go to residents of foreign countries4, many of whom are Asians. Clearly something in the culture and/or the development stage of the countries involved is driving these very interesting trends. Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education Main Menu

Realization of Responsive Space (RS) program goals requires further progress in reducing the time required for spacecraft system design, analysis, fabrication, assembly, integration, testing, and deployment. Of particular need is an enabling technology that will reduce the design and integration-test time of the thermal subsystem. One such technology is the Thermal Control Panel (TCP) being developed by Thermal Management Technologies under SBIR contract to AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV). This technology provides isothermal structural panels and low thermal impedance joints for use in an isothermal spacecraft structure. Each light weight panel provides the spacecraft structure while simultaneously exhibiting an effective thermal conductivity/mass ratio much greater than traditional spacecraft materials. In various forms the TCP can be used to spread heat, create nearly isothermal spacecraft structures, and to provide highly efficient space radiators. The technology is applicable to spacecraft structures at all levels of size and complexity. The panels have an operating temperature range of -30 to +65 C. The technology development is on track to complete space qualification testing in early 2012.

A novel process for curriculum review developed in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Utah State University is described The process, based on value engineering techniques, is quantitative, allows faculty freedom to innovate and is sufficiently flexible that it can be applied to manY engineering programs. Results are tabulated in three systems of matrices. Importance matrices are used to show the relative importance of goals at each programmatic level, Measurement matrices document the level of performance at each programmatic level relative to a set of benchmarks. Correlation matrices are used to correlate the goals from one programmatic level to the next. Milk other assessment methods may use something similar to our measurement matrices, the use of correlation matrices is unique to this curricular review process. The correlation matrices are used to see if the goals of each level are correct. A curricular review process is then described which employs these matrices to adjust the relative importance of goals and to insert or delete possible new, goals. The review process provides a formal way of closing the feedback loops at all programmatic levels from the course level to the objective level An example of implementation of the curricular review process is presented.

The Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University, teamed with NASA Langley, are currently designing the SABER(Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument. The Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) must be cooled to 75 K for 2 years at a 100 percent duty cycle. Due to mass, size, and power constraints, expendable cryogen systems could not be used. The SABER team has selected the TRW miniature pulse tube refrigerator which provides roughly 250 mW of cooling at 72 K. Conventional methods for supporting the FPA were unacceptable due to the excessive conductive heat loads. Realizing the need for better thermal isolation while maintaining structural rigidity, work on tension support systems utilizing high performance fibers commenced. Utilizing Kevlar 49 fibers in an approach we refer to as Fiber Support Technology (FiST), we were able to reduce the conducted parasitic heat loads from 85 mW to less than 2 mW.Various radiation suppression schemes coupled with wiring schemes were necessary to reduce the total parasitic heat loads on this system to less than 250 mW. This paper outlines the details of this development effort making the use of a low input power, small, mechanical cooler possible. This approach seems consistent with the ''smaller, better, cheaper, faster'' attitude of the nineties.

Conventional methods for supporting cold components in optical systems and instruments often lead to excessive conductive heat loads. The need for better thermal isolation while maintaining structural rigidity motivated work on a tension system utilizing high performance fibers to support a focal plane assembly in an instrument to be flown in space. Utilizing Kevlar 49 fibers in an approach referred to as fiber support technology, we were able to reduce the conducted parasitic heat loads from 85 mW to less than 2 mW while increasing the 1st resonant frequency form about 50 Hz to 700 Hz. Various radiation suppression and wiring schemes were necessary to further reduce the total parasitic heat loads on this system. This paper outlines the details of this development effort making the use of a low input power miniature mechanical cooler possible. This approach seems consistent with the 'smaller', better, cheaper, faster' attitude of the nineties.

This paper describes the design of a 10-channel infrared (1.27 to 16.9 micrometers ) radiometer instrument known as SABER (sounding of the atmosphere using broadband emission radiometry) that will measure earth-limb emissions from the TIMED (thermosphere- ionosphere-mesosphere energetics and dynamics) satellite. The instrument telescope, designed to reject stray light from the earth and the atmosphere, is an on-axis Cassegrain design with a clam shell reimager and a one-axis scan mirror. The telescope is cooled below 210 K by a dedicated radiator. The focal plane assembly (consisting of a filter array, a detector array, a Lyot stop, and a window) is cooled to 75 K by a miniature cryogenic refrigerator. The conductive heat load on the refrigerator is minimized by a Kevlar support system that thermally isolates the focal plane assembly from the telescope. Kevlar is also used to thermally isolate the telescope from the spacecraft. Instrument responsivity drifts due to changes in telescope and focal plane temperatures as well as other causes are neutralized by an in-flight calibration system. The detector array consists of discrete HgCdTe, InSb, and InGaAs detectors. Two InGaAs detectors are a new long wavelength type, made by EG&G, that have a long wavelength cutoff of 2.33 micrometers at 77 K.