NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Main Menu Session 1380 Metamorphysics: Changing to EP at UW-Platteville Harold T. Evensen University of Wisconsin-Platteville Abstract In 1996 the Physics program at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville became an Engineering Physics program, which achieved ABET accreditation in Fall 2001. While many features of a good physics program are also those of a good engineering program, ABET accreditation requires explicit coverage of outcomes such as engineering design, communication skills, and interdisciplinary work, which are not always part of a “traditional” physics program. Therefore, the upper-level physics curriculum was modified and course content was altered in order to add and codify the needed engineering content. This was developed collaboratively by all three EP faculty, and includes: developing an “Engineering Physics Lab” to introduce concepts in experimentation, modeling, design and communication; and incorporating engineering into courses on classical mechanics, optics, and quantum mechanics. Additionally, a course on sensors has been created; engineering ethics appears throughout the curriculum; and the Modern Physics laboratory has been altered to serve as a better “bridge” to the Engineering Physics portion of the curriculum. This continuing development has been aided by feedback from our students, graduates and industrial advisory board. Introduction In response to the small and shrinking number of physics majors at the University of Wisconsin- Platteville (UW-P; on the order of one graduate per year), the Physics department changed its major to Engineering Physics (EP) in 1996. This was done in order to draw from the large number of students (over 1400) that attend the university to major in engineering, especially electrical and mechanical. Additionally, it was felt that EP would better serve our student population, most of whom take jobs in regional industry upon graduation. This desire to match our university’s regional mission led to the UW-P “interpretation” of Engineering Physics: physics with a blend of other engineering disciplines so that graduates can “identify, formulate, and solve engineering physics problems that cross the traditional boundaries between physics, electrical, and mechanical engineering.1” Thus far the change to EP has been well-received by both students and employers; we have already met our initial goal of ten to fifteen graduates per year, and our students are increasingly desired for internships, co-ops, and employment. This desirability is expected to increase further now that ABET accreditation provides a reference point for those not familiar with EP. Before changing to EP, the Physics program at UW-P had several tracks: a major in physics, with or without an emphasis in engineering or education, and a minor in physics with an emphasis in arts and sciences or education. The change to EP eliminated the majors in physics and in physics education, and greatly “upgraded” the engineering aspect of the former engineering emphasis. Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education Main Menu

We have switched to a new software platform to for instrument interface and data collection in our upper-division Sensor Laboratory course. This was done after investigating several options and after several meetings with our industrial advisory board. This change was motivated by a campus-mandated change in operating system, plus expiring software licenses. We decided on the Visual Basic for Applications platform (VBA), which resides in the Microsoft Office suite (in particular, MS Excel). This meets the recommendations of our advisory board, which strongly urged that we use a "traditional" programming language, as opposed to a graphical one, in order to provide our students the broadest possible applied programming "base." Further, it has the advantage that the platform is widely available and the required add-ins are free, so that graduates (and other programs) are able to use this as well. Finally, this approach has the added benefit of extending the students' prerequisite computer programming into VBA, which is useful beyond the realm of instrument control and data acquisition. This paper will describe the resources that were collected - and modified - by the author, for the apparently novel combination of VBA, 64-bit programming, and access to both serial/USB and GPIB instrumentation, and provides examples of implementation. The basic principles of VBA for non-experts will also be given, as well as strengths and drawbacks of this approach. We will also report on the first offering of the redesigned course and remark on future improvements.

We are restructuring an existing required, two-credit advanced laboratory course around the subject matter of metrology and design of experiments. This is being done for several reasons: to provide a unifying theme for the course, which previously was a collection of unrelated experiments; to more clearly identify the purpose of the course to students, faculty, and outside observers; and to provide a clearer link between the skills a student gains in the course and the methods and skills desired by industry. The course - "Engineering Physics (EP) Lab" - is typically taken in a student's third year. It has advanced prerequisite courses, enabling more in-depth studies of physical phenomena and more sophisticated numerical analysis. Indeed, many Physics programs have a similar type of course. While an important part of the curriculum, it has lacked a "unifying idea" that helps explain the course to employers and students: it largely consisted of student groups rotating among challenging, but unrelated, experiments. Metrology, the science of measurement, is a core competency of STEM fields and plays a key role in modern engineering practice. It deals with several aspects that are common to (or readily adapted to) our laboratory course: (1) uncertainty in measurements (and its propagation); (2) traceability of measurements to the SI units via the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); (3) calibration of a measurement instrument or process; (4) using design of experiments (DOE) for statistical analysis of variation in a process. In this paper we will describe how incorporating these ideas has complemented and enhanced the course so that it has an enhanced focus on quality of measurement. In addition to describing the course and its experiments, we will also report on the results of the first offering of this redesigned course and remark on future improvements.

We have recently developed a one-credit course designed for first-year students considering the new major in Microsystems and Nanomaterials Engineering. It is based on a successful "Engineering Projects" course offered through our General Engineering department, which has subsequently been made into a popular summer program for prospective students. The goal of this new course, which meets two laboratory hours per week, is to expose students to several of the important ideas and concepts in microsystems and nanotechnology, and to give them hands-on projects that will help them learn these multidisciplinary ideas. Further, the "ulterior motive" of this course is to inspire students to stay in engineering, and to give them a flavor of the interdisciplinary nature of this field. The course progresses through several modules, which were created by faculty experts in each field. These modules are designed so that a single faculty member can conduct the course, and covers topics in: laboratory safety and cleanroom protocols; MEMS devices and scaling, including using a tabletop scanning electron microscope and a MEMS probe; fabrication including lithography, vacuum systems and thin film deposition; nanoscience; nanoscale measurements including principles of atomic force microscopy; nanobiotechnology; and societal issues. In addition to describing the course and its modules, we will also report on the results of the course and its two iterations.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville was approved for a new major in Microsystems and Nanotechnology Engineering in April 2011. The first students began in Fall 2011, with the first new course offered in Spring 2012. The Major builds upon a successful multidisciplinary minor of the same name, and follows the recommendations of our industrial advisors. Its goal is to prepare engineers capable of working in a variety of fields, who will contribute to newly identified needs in public and private companies - including research and development within new and existing industries - government initiatives, and public service. The Major was developed with the efforts of faculty from several departments, plus feedback from external industrial advisors, over the course of several years. The Major has two tracks: a Bachelor of Science that aims for ABET accreditation; and a Bachelor of Arts that offers more flexibility in technical electives, including courses in Chemistry and Biology, that readily accommodates double-majors. This paper details the process by which the major was developed, and describes challenges such as faculty development and competition for scarce resources. In addition, we describe the program's curriculum, budget, educational outcomes and objectives, and plans for the future. It is hoped that this report will aid others aiming to develop similar, multidisciplinary programs.

We demonstrate control of the topography of strain-induced wrinkle patterns through the interplay between the bulk and the nanoscale cross-linked top layer of plasma treated, spin-coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin films. The different morphological phases observed, varying from herringbones to caps, are in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The cap phase exhibits short-range 3-fold-symmetric close-packed self-organization, demonstrating a bottom-up pathway toward the wafer-scale production of ordered, nanoscale patterns on surfaces.

An automated biomechatronic submicroliter fluid handling system for processing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been developed in the Genomation Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle. This first generation system, ACAPELLA-1K, can process 1000 samples in 8 h in preparation for DNA sequencing using sample volumes ten times smaller than current state-of-the art manual and automated instrumentation. The system is based upon a proof-of-concept system that was developed by the Genomation Laboratory. The ACAPELLA-1K is the first integration of modules for fluid aspiration, dispensing, mixing, transport, and thermal processing that have been designed and developed with corporate partners Orca Photonic Systems, Inc., Redmond, WA, and Engineering Arts, Mercer Island, WA. These modules, comprising piezoceramic actuators, pneumatic pumps, linear mechanisms, thermal controllers, optical sensors, electronics, computer control, and software, are described in detail. Processing statistics are presented and successful experimental results are presented.

The Genomation Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Washington has been developing an automated, high-throughput, submicroliter-scale fluid-handling system for use in molecular biology, especially as part of the Human Genome Project and other high-throughput DNA sequencing endeavors. Small glass capillaries enable the preparation, handling, and monitoring of 1-microliter reaction volumes. The Genomation Laboratory, with corporate partners Orca Photonic Systems, Inc. and Engineering Arts, has developed modules for aspiration, dispensing, mixing, transport, and rapid thermal processing of biological samples contained in glass capillaries. The ACAPELLA-1K is the first integration of these modules, designed to process 1000 samples in an eight-hour day. It has served as a test bed for the technologies as well as for performing biological experiments in conjunction with the University of Washington Genome Center. This system and related results are presented in this paper. A video of the system in operation is provided at. The Genomation Laboratory is presently developing the next-stage ACAPELLA-5K system based on the results of the ACAPELLA-1K system.

The perturbations in ion temperature, density and parallel velocity resulting from sawtooth disruptions in TFTR are measured with a novel diagnostic. The local ion thermal diffusivity, particle diffusivity and parallel momentum diffusivity are determined in a high power discharge at r/a = 0.64 by fitting the observed pulses to a simple model of the radial diffusive propagation of heat, particles and momentum caused by the crash. The incremental ion thermal diffusivity, chi(i)(inc), is found to be similar in amplitude to the ion and electron thermal diffusivities obtained from a steady state 1-D power balance analysis, and the particle and parallel momentum diffusivities are found to be an order of magnitude smaller than chi(i)(inc).

A technique has been developed for high lane density loading of small-volume DNA samples in a horizontal agarose gel. This technique has been investigated with a simple hand-held tool that is made to couple to sample output from a new capillary-based sample automation system. The approach consists of piercing the gel with pressurized sample capillaries and relieving the pressure shortly before withdrawal. The pressurization prevents the capillary from aspirating the gel buffer and keeps the sample at the tip of the capillary, so that it may be sucked into the gel during withdrawal. This method is shown to be adequate for a wide range of DNA ladders and PCR-based screening. In addition to allowing smaller lanes and a higher lane density than is achievable with traditional well-forming techniques, it relaxes the need for well formation and the alignment of the sample loader with those wells, providing an easy, efficient means of loading agarose gels.

The Genomation Laboratory in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Washington has been developing an automated, high-throughput submicroliter-scale reaction preparation system for use in molecular biology, especially as part of the Human Genome Project and other high-throughput DNA sequencing endeavors. Small glass capillaries enable the preparation, handling and monitoring of one-microliter reaction volumes. The Genomation Laboratory, with corporate partners Orca Photonic Systems, Inc. and Engineering Arts, has developed modules for aspiration, dispensing, mixing, transport and rapid thermal treatment of biological samples contained in glass capillaries. The “ACAPELLA 1K” is the first integration of these modules, designed to process 1000 samples in an 8-hour day. It has served as a test bed for the technologies as well as for performing biological experiments in conjunction with the University of Washington Genome Center. The Genomation Laboratory is presently developing the next-stage “ACAPELLA 5K” system based on the results of the ACAPELLA 1K system

A fast method and compact device for mixing sub-microliter fluid samples contained in glass capillaries is presented. The fluid is rapidly moved back and forth by air volume displacement driven by a piezo-ceramic actuator. Rapid mixing of different fluids is achieved via diffusion between the main fluid volume in the capillary and the thin fluid film it deposits on the capillary wall through its motion. Bubbles in the fluid are processed out of the capillary by use of an asymmetric velocity profile. A simple analysis model is used to optimize the design of the device and to elucidate the mechanisms involved in mixing. The mixing time is found to be inversely proportional to the fraction of the fluid volume that is left in the film layer for each cycle, which is determined by the wetting properties and the viscosity. The mixing time is therefore controlled by the dead-air volume of the system, the fluid volume, the capillary size, and the displacement limits of the piezo-ceramic actuator, in addition to the intrinsic properties of the fluid being mixed. The device described can mix two 1 μl water solutions in under 3 s. The possible shear breakage of DNA in solution is investigated, and λ-DNA is found to remain intact at aggressive mixing parameters. No evidence of aerosol contamination in polymerase chain reaction reactions was found to date.

First of a kind measurements of high-frequency ion temperature microturbulence in fusion-grade plasmas have been made in TFTR. The ion temperature fluctuations and carbon density fluctuations were found to have spectra, similar to those of the ion density fluctuations across the plasma radius. The ratio of the relative fluctuation levels, ((T) over tilde/T)/((n) over tilde/n), is 2 +/- 0.5 from r/a = 0.59 to r/a = 0.99. The fact that this ratio is greater than unity is consistent with the general expectations of ion temperature gradient driven turbulence theory and suggests that ion drift modes dominate trapped electron modes in the turbulent spectrum. The temperature fluctuation spectra were found to exhibit a narrow transition region between distinctive edge and core turbulent modes, as has been seen with ion density fluctuations. The ratio of the relative fluctuation levels is greater than unity across this transition, which suggests that, despite the different modes present, the underlying instability is driven by the ion temperature gradient.

A high-throughput, high-frequency charge exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic (HF-CHERS) has been developed to give localized measurements of ion temperature and parallel velocity microturbulence (T̃i,ṽ∥) in the plasma core of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). HF-CHERS uses an interference filter spectrometer to measure intensity fluctuations simultaneously over several wavelength intervals of the line shape of the n=8–7 transition of C+5 (529 nm). T̃i and ṽ∥ are deduced from the moments of the emitted line shape. Using the beam emission spectroscopy optics on TFTR, measurements are made with 1–2 μs time resolution and ≊2 cm spatial resolution. The initial implementation of the diagnostic is expected to be sensitive to temperature fluctuations of T̃/T≥1%.

Previous studies of plasma microturbulence have indicated that the fluctuation power scales with radial wave number, k⊥ , like k⊥−2→k⊥−3.5 for k⊥ ≥2 cm−1. This implies that low k fluctuations may dominate the spectrum. Beam emission spectroscopy (BES) has been developed to provide spatially localized measurements of density fluctuations in this low k region of the spectrum (k⊥ ≤2 cm−1). A 20-channel system has been installed on TFTR which images one of the heating neutral beams (via fiber optics) onto a set of photoconductive photodiode detectors. Fluctuations in the fluorescent Dα emission from the beam can be related to the local plasma density fluctuations via a model of the atomic excitation processes. The analysis of BES data utilizes many of the standard statistical analysis techniques such as power spectra, coherency and cross phase, and correlation analysis which are also used in the analysis of, for example, Langmuir probe data. In the case of BES however, these techniques require some special modifications to account for systematic effects such as photon statistics and fluctuations in the neutral beam density induced by the strong fluctuations near the plasma edge.

Plasma density turbulence has been measured with the beam emission spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic system, using a low-power neutral beam with He0 and H0 as beam species. In general, He0 (588 nm) provided the best signal-to-noise ratio due to its lower edge plasma background interference. Simultaneous measurements of edge density fluctuations have been made with BES and Langmuir probes; the spectra are seen to be essentially identical, and the fluctuation amplitudes from both diagnostics are in close agreement. A poloidal coherence length of about 2–4 cm was observed. Radial propagation of modes was not seen, but a lab-frame poloidal phase velocity at r/a=0.77 of about 7×105 cm/s in the electron diamagnetic direction was observed, corresponding to m=8–75 kHz.