| STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES - MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT |
| COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY |
| CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY |
| OCTOBER 2000 |
|
OVERVIEW |
| Since 1985, Central State University has boasted of being one of a small number of bachelor of science (B.S.) level engineering programs in the nation fully dedicated to manufacturing engineering. The four-year BS degree program in Manufacturing Engineering (MFE) is one of only seventeen such programs in the nation which are dedicated to undergraduate manufacturing engineering education, and which are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET). The department also offers a four- year BS degree in Industrial Technology (INT). |
CENTRAL STATE UNIVERSITY
Central State University (CSU) is a historically African American university located in Wilberforce, Ohio. The university is steeped in a rich tradition of academic excellence and pride dating back to 1887. Its graduates continue to maintain high professional standards. CSU, as Ohio's only public Historically Black University, academically prepares students with diverse backgrounds and educational needs for leadership and service in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. As one of the state- assisted institutions in the state of Ohio, it serves the academic, cultural and vocational needs of students from a wide range of academic preparations and background through instructional programs leading to degrees in arts and sciences, business, education, manufacturing engineering, industrial technology, and water resources management. Enrollment at CSU is approximately 1100 students.
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
Central State University (CSU) maintains one of only 17 Bachelor of Science (BS) degree-engineering programs in the nation, which are fully dedicated to manufacturing engineering, and which have been accredited since 1991by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET). Moreover, CSU is the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the Nation offering a baccalaureate degree in manufacturing engineering. Since offering its first engineering degrees in 1986, the Manufacturing Engineering Department, which is housed in the College of Business and Industry at Central State University (CSU), offers two programs a manufacturing engineering program and an industrial technology program. NAIT accreditation of the industrial technology program is part of the long-term plans for the university. The Department has seven full-time faculty members, six of whom possess an earned doctorate degree in engineering and five are licensed professional engineers. The Department has a distinguished record of involvement with funded research projects. Undergraduate research is emphasized. The curriculum, which can be described as a blend of electrical, mechanical, and industrial engineering, offers a broad introduction to modern manufacturing concepts, philosophies, and techniques. The technical areas of student instruction include materials and manufacturing processes, process assembly and product engineering, manufacturing productivity and quality, computer aided-design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), computer-numerical control (CNC) machining, electrical circuits, digital electronics, and statistical analysis. Central State University has assumed a leadership role in undergraduate manufacturing engineering education, research and service to the manufacturing community. Small class size and a small student/faculty ratio has been a key to success. The department has a 100 % placement of graduates and has been a source of minority engineers and technicians who have gained notable success in both graduate studies and industry following their graduation from CSU.
FACULTY
The Department maintains a qualified faculty team. The MFE teaching staff presently consists of seven full-time faculty members. Six of these faculties hold the Ph.D. in engineering. The remaining faculty member holds the Master of Arts in industrial education. The average numbers of years engineering teaching experience is 16.7 ranging from a high of 32 years to a low of five year. Five of the individuals are licensed professional engineers. All of the staff has had extensive research experience. Within the last three years these faculty members have participated in a total of four summer faculty internships with General Motors Delphi Chassis Systems in Dayton, Ohio and with McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, within the same time span, two of the faculty has held summer internship positions at federal research laboratories. The department is currently seeking to recruit an additional faculty member with expertise and industry experience in the areas of machining and CAD/CAM. In addition, the department is enlisting the assistance of experienced industry personnel to present special lectures to as part of the normal engineering classes. This type of assistance has been arranged in the areas of tool and die design, manufacturing processes and industrial hydraulics.
Research Interests and Experience
Each of the faculty members in the Department has extensive research experience. In building the staff, faculty of varied backgrounds were recruited to provide complementary areas of expertise and experience as well as to provide coverage for the broad range of topics associated with modern manufacturing technology.
William A Grissom, Ph.D., P.E. - Dr. Grissom, a full professor, served as chairman of the Manufacturing Engineering Department and was instrumental in its conception and implementation. He holds the M.E., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Cincinnati, West Virginia University, and the Rose--Hulman Institute of Technology. Additional experience in manufacturing and in research and development was gained through diverse assignments at IBM, General Electric, NASA Lewis Research Center, Baldwin Piano Company, and Chrysler Corporation. Dr. Grissom has served as principal investigator for departmental research projects involving robotics, expert systems, and automated materials testing. He is currently a member of the advisory committees of the Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) and the Center for Artificial Intelligence Applications (CAIA). Dr. Grisson is the project engineer on the recently awarded contract with the Air Force to do research on braided composites.
Mahmoud A. Abdallah, Ph.D., P.E. - Dr. Abdallah, a full professor, holds the Ph.D. in systems engineering from the University of Toledo, together with two M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering and the B.S. degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Abdallah has broad expertise in the application of both hardware and software. His research experience is in the areas of image processing, machine vision, robotic controllers, neural networks, artificial intelligence applications to electronic fault isolation and diagnosis, and intelligent interfaces. For his doctoral dissertation, he developed the "Eigenimage" image processing technique. Dr. Abdallah carries the major responsibility for the electronics and the controller design for the dexterous robotic hand under development for NASA. He also guided the electronic and networking aspects of recently completed research to develop an integrated manufacturing cell under U.S. Air Force contract.
Abayomi J. Ajayi-Majebi, Ph.D., P.E. - Dr. Ajayi-Majebi, a full professor, holds the Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (transportation) from the Ohio State University, where his doctoral research centered on the simulation, analysis, and control of traffic flow. In addition, he holds the M.S. and B.S. in civil engineering and the M.A. degree in business administration. Dr. Ajayi-Majebi has been recognized by the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) as a certified reliability engineer and certified quality engineer. In his more recent research, he has directed an FAA study to develop a theoretical model for soil stabilization and has conducted surveys related to expert systems, robotics, and dexterous robotic hands.
Morris M. Girgis, Ph.D., - Dr. Girgis, an associate professor, holds the Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Hannover University in Germany. In addition he received the M.S. in quality control, a diploma in statistics, and the B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cairo University in Egypt. Dr. Girgis has more than 15 years of professional experience as a research engineer, project engineer, instructor, and assistant professor of mechanical engineering. This experience covers the fields of heat transfer, experimental thermodynamics, and advanced numerical techniques as applied to nuclear reactors. Dr. Girgis has experience in solids modeling, finite element analysis, and in the application of computers to such areas as instrumentation, artificial intelligence, and data base expert Systems. He played a major role in the execution of four departmental programs funded by the Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) in Dayton, Ohio. Included among these was an extensive market survey and evaluation of engineering analysis software for application to thermal processes for net shape manufacturing, and the initiation of a material selection expert system prototype. Other recent research activities have concentrated on computer applications in manufacturing including CAD, CAM and CIM.
Augustus Morris Jr.. Ph.D., P.E. - Dr. Morris is an associate professor and holds a Ph.D. degree in biomedical sciences from Wright State University. He was a key participant in the dexterous robotic hand research sponsored by NASA. His research interests include the design and control of tele-operated robotic manipulators, robot vision, route planning and collision avoidance for robots, and the application of neural networks. He was a National Science Foundation Fellow and has been awarded 2 patents for work related to his dissertation on active aircraft control sticks. During the summers of 1988 and 1989 Dr. Morris conducted research for the Flight Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a Summer Faculty Fellow. This work involved the control of a scale model aircraft servicing robot utilizing machine vision and the investigation of neural network techniques to achieve enhanced performance.
Alessandro Rengan, Ph.D. Dr. Rengan, an Associate professor, brings to the MFE department both of the academic and industrial experience. He holds a Ph.D. in the area of material science and engineering from North Carolina State University and has worked in several industrial Corporations. He has considerable experience in "Diamond like carbon coatings', Solidification modeling and simulation, stress corrosion and fatigue resistance. He conducted several research projects for NASA, GM, and US ARMY. He was previously employed by Zenith Electronics Corporation and Northrop Corporation.
Mr. John H. Sassen, MA Ed. - Mr. Sassen, an Assistant Professor, serves as
assistant chairman overseeing the Industrial Technology program.
He holds the MA Ed., from Ball State University, B.S. Industrial
Education, from Central State University. He has 23 years of
experience at Central State University, with additional experience
in manufacturing, construction, and research gained through diverse
assignments, contracts, and grants with NASA, U.S. Air Force,
TRW Space & Electronics Group (project manager), Boeing,
Sharp Architecture, and Ryland Homes.
LABORATORY FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
The Manufacturing Engineering Department is housed in Jenkins Hall, a, one-story structure designed to accommodate engineering and technology programs. Recent renovations to the building include a renovated HVAC system, replacement of the gas line which supplies the laboratory foundry furnace, new ceiling tile, new smoke and fire alarms, new drinking fountains, upgraded shop air supply and painting of some areas. The building provides adequate office and laboratory space for the manufacturing engineering department including approximately 10,000 feet of space in ten laboratory areas as follows:
1. MFE Microcomputer (PC) laboratory Fourteen (14) state of the art Tangent PCs running Microsoft Windows NT provide adequate microcomputer resources at the present time. Two Hp 2100 laser printers, Four (4) Panasonic 1124I, one Panasonic KXP-1624 dot matrix and one HP 820CXI Inkjet printers are currently shared on the network and are adequate for the current printing needs.
2. MFE CIMPAL AND CAD/CAM - Excellent
equipment is available for CNC machining, and CAD/CAM with the
integration of manufacturing processing machines under computer
networking and control.
3. MFE Materials/Processes & Quality Control Laboratory - The tensile, impact and flat specimen fatigue test equipment in this laboratory are approximately eighteen years old, but remain in good working condition. A project is currently underway to repair and rebuild the rotating beam fatigue tester. Excellent resources are also available for photoelastic stress analysis and strain gauge experimentation. Recent upgrades to this laboratory include a Rockwell hardness testing equipment, Enco plate shears, Enco precision foot shear.
4. MFE
Circuits & Measurement and Control Laboratory - Excellent
instrumentation is available for this laboratory in sufficient
numbers for current and anticipated student enrollment. Available
equipment ranges from sophisticated to normal measurement and
test equipment.
5. MFE Microprocessor Laboratory - Excellent analysis,
development, and instrumentation equipment are available. Four
Intel 8086 design kits are currently available for hands-on student
workstations. Recent additions to the laboratory include four
(4) Allen-Bradley MicroLogic 1000 logic controllers with associated
development software. The programmable logic controllers were
already utilized for student project this 1997 fall quarters.
6. MFE Robotics Laboratory - The robotics laboratory is used for the support of MFE course work, student projects, and departmental research. It also provides an excellent motivational and learning resource for high school, junior high school, and elementary school students during the young scholars summer program at Central State University.
7. CAD Laboratory The CAD laboratory is a shared laboratory between the MFE and IET departments where students learn about drafting and the use of AutoCAD for computer aided design. The laboratory is quipped with 20 IBM compatible 66 MHz computers with all the necessary software and input/output devices.
8. MFE Microgravity Laboratory This laboratory was developed under a NASA grant sponsored by the Space Experiments Division of NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. The project focused on ground-based 1-g and low-g experiments for investigation of evaporating binary fluids.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Though the University currently offers
no graduate programs, the administration has always recognized
the need for significant research involvement in the scientific
and technical disciplines. Such involvement is seen as a mechanism
to retain capable faculty, maintain curriculum relevance, and
aid in acquiring costly, up-to-date laboratory resources. Accordingly,
an emphasis has been placed on collaborative research, development,
and educational activities with industry, government agencies,
and research consortia.
Recently, the Departments of Mathematics Computer Science and
Manufacturing Engineering have cooperated closely to capitalize
on research opportunities of mutual interest. Some of the past,
present and anticipated research activities are summarized briefly
below:
1. CIMPAL - Under a 4.5 year $1.35 million contract with the United States Air Force,The Department has been conducting research in intelligent manufacturing operations. The project, designated "Cell for Integrated Manufacturing Protocols, Architectures, and Logistics (CIMPAL)" has provided an on-campus test bed for research, technology demonstration, and education in state-of-the-art computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Phases I and II of this program have been completed, and Phase III is currently underway. The Department works closely with engineers from the Manufacturing Technology Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in incorporating the latest intelligent machining techniques into the cell. Cincinnati Milacron, a leading machine tool manufacturer and systems integrator, and Automation Research Systems Limited, a high technology firm located in Alexandria, VA, are participating as subcontractors.
2. DoD
DURIP - The University has recently won an award from the
Department of
Defense, Defense University Research Instrumentation Program
(DURIP) with one of 206 proposals selected for funding out of
a total of more than 1,400 submitted for competitive technical
review. The Department's $214,435 request was for a Pipelined
Image Processing Engine (PIPE) with eight modular processing
stages. The system, developed by the National Bureau of Standards
(NBS), was sought to enhance and extend the research proposed
for the NASA SLAVE-2 project and to support anticipated image
processing research for the U.S. Air Force through the Center
for Artificial Intelligence Applications (CAIA).
3. NASA-SLAVE2 Research - A first two years/phases of a program (NASA Grant No. NAGW-1336 & Jet Propulsion Lab Contract No.958292) to conduct research entitled, "Servomotor Linked Articulated Versatile End Effector (SLAVE2)" has been completed, and the third year is currently underway. The three-year effort will result in the development of a large, five-finger, master/slave-controlled robotic hand with tactile sensing. An innovative visual servo master/slave controller strategy is being investigated utilizing the PIPE system in comparison with commercially available instrumented hand masters.
4. NASA - RAM/VATS -Research for the NASA RAM/VATS (Remote Arm Manipulator with Vision and Tactile Sensing) was completed using the SDRC solids modeling software to develop innovative concepts for a robotic system to service the U.S. Space Station. The project was supported by a $50,000 NASA grant (No. NAG-3-717) and $50,000 from the Ohio Board of Regents Research Challenge program. To carry out the study, the University established an industry-university research consortium with participants from SDRC, Robotics Research, Inc., APS Systems, the Edison Welding Institute, and the University of Cincinnati Center for Robotics Research.
5. Ohio Edison /NSF/TRACTELL - The first phase of a joint project with TRACTELL, Inc. entitled, "Hardware Self-Diagnoses Using On-Component Links to Expert Systems," was completed, and applications for second phase funding are anticipated. First phase funding of $38,436 was provided by the Ohio Edison Seed Funding Program to develop the TRACTELL concept. TRACTELL received equal funding under the National Science Foundation SBIR program.
6. Vision-Guided Robotics - Dr. Augustus Morris, Jr., assistant professor of manufacturing engineering, has completed a 1988 summer faculty research assignment at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Flight Dynamics Laboratory and has been invited to return for the 1989 summer. Dr. Morris' work involves the application of vision-guided robotics to assist in the unmanned refueling of aircraft. The WPAFB Summer program is designed to promote follow-on research at the faculty participants' institution, and a related project is currently under discussion.
7. CERL- - The University conducted a comprehensive, "Literature Review of Expert Systems Applied to Robotics," for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Champaign, Illinois under a $5,000 award (Contract No.DACA88- 85M-1220).
8. EMTEC Expert System - Research sponsored by the Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) which is supported by Ohio Department of Development and industrial funding, has included a $20,000 contract to develop a concept for an expert system to assist in the materials selection process. A small, PC-based working prototype was developed to demonstrate the concept.
9. DOT JIT Trucking - As a participant in the DOT Regional Transportation Center directed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, CSU has received an initial contract of $25,000. CSU's role will be to study just-in-time (JIT) trucking and associated technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics systems for intermodal transportation scheduling, loading and unloading.
10. JITIANN - The Department has initiated research entitled "Artificial Neural Network Applications to Vehicle Space Utilization for Just-In-Time trucking Operations". The project is sponsored by the Great Lakes Center for Truck Transportation Research.
11. Automated Weather Map Analysis - The Departments have completed Phase I of a $25,000 effort for the U.S. Forestry Department to transmit satellite weather map data to a PC monitor for display and analysis. Future work will explore the feasibility of applying machine image processing and artificial intelligence to automate the weather map analysis and trend forecasting currently done visually from hard copy plots.
12. FAA Soil Stabilization - Work on a four-year, $190,000 effort (Contract No. DTAFO1-84-00023) entitled, "Theoretical Models for Stabilization of Clay-Silt Airport Pavement Subgrade System," has recently been completed. The research included the development of a computer model for stabilized soil statistically derived from laboratory tests, verification of the model using automated rutting tests, and automated data collection. Portions of the testing utilized the landing gear test facility at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Flight Dynamics Laboratory. Tractell, Inc., a high technology, minority firm from Dayton was a participant in the research.
13. INFAC - The University is a member of a consortium headed by Battelle Laboratories that has submitted a major proposal to the DoD Defense Logistics Agency to develop an Instrumented Factory for Gears (INFAC). If the contract is awarded to the Battelle Consortium, Central State's research role will involve the use of machine vision and image processing techniques for automated inspection and control applications in gear manufacturing processes.
14. Factory Simulation - Research including simulation of the production process for an automotive component has recently been completed as a senior year design project by a student in the Manufacturing Engineering Department. The work, carried out in cooperation with the Delco Moraine Division of General Motors, utilized the SIMSCRIPT modeling package.
15. VIPIGIP - The Department has just completed Phase I ($50,000.00) of a program to investigate "Vision Image Processes for Gear Inspection and Production (VIP/GIP). Phase II ($250,000.00) has been initiated.
16. GRASP - A $50,000.00 project for the NASA Kennedy Space Center entitled "Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program" was completed in 1993. The project focused on the use of a dexterous robotic hand in earth-base space program activities.
17. Fiber Optic Sensors - The Department has conducted a study to asses the potential for the use of fiber optic sensors in manufacturing systems and operations. The study was conducted under funding ($28,7741 .00) provide by the General Electric Aircraft Engine Company.
18. Microgravity Research - The first year ($148,581.00) of a 3-year ($450,000.00) study of evaporation from a binary meniscus in microgravity has been initiated under the sponsorship of the NASA Lewis Research Center.
TECHNICAL SOCIETY AND R&D CONSORTIA MEMBERSHIP
In order to build status as members of the mainstream academic and technical community, the Departments have gained active membership in a number of major technical societies and R&D consortia composed of industry, university and government laboratory membership. These associations are described briefly in the following paragraphs.
1. CAIA- The Departments have played an active role in the establishment of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Applications, which has secured $10,000,000 of funding over a five-year period to conduct research for the U.S. Air Force Wright Research and Development Center (WRDC) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Active participants in the center, include five regional universities and Federal Systems, in addition to the U.S. Air Force. Dr. Brewster is a member of the CAIA Education Subcommittee, Dr. Grissom is a member of the Technical Steering Committee, and the president of CSU is a member of the Board of directors of the non-profit host organization, the Miami Valley Research Institute.
2. Ohio Supercomputer Network - As a member of the Ohio Supercomputer Network, Central State University has a node providing access to the Cray supercomputer located in Columbus, Ohio.
3. SDRC University Consortium - The University has continued the previously established membership in the SDRC University Consortium. For an annual fee of $9,000. The University gains campus-wide access to the SDRC-IDEAS package that carries an annual rental value in excess of $100,000 including training sessions and software support.
4. EMTEC - The University continues its role in the Edison Materials Technology Center which is a research consortium of major and minor industrial firms, universities from across the State of Ohio, and the government research agencies at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Mound Laboratories. Central State involvement has included participation in five engineering materials and processing research activities funded at a total of approximately $58,000. Dr. Grissom serves as a member of the Technical Steering Committee and the president of Central State University is a member of the EMTEC Board of Governors.
5. SOCHE - Central State University is a member of the Southwestern Ohio Consortium for Higher Education that is comprised of twenty-four area universities and key corporate members. This consortium gives the University convenient access to the major research libraries of the area.
6. UMTRI - The University has recently contributed to a consortium proposal seeking U.S.DOT funding at a level of $1 million per year over a four-year period to establish a regional center of excellence in truck transportation research. Led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the consortium of six universities from Michigan, Ohio and Illinois, has secured first-year funding of $500,000. Review information indicated that the proposal was one of only two that received an "excellent" rating in the national competition, with the HBCU role of CSU being cited as one of the strengths.
7. INFAC - - Central State University has recently participated as a member of a research consortium headed by Battelle Laboratories in a $28 million dollar proposal to the Defense Logistics Agency to develop an Instrumented Factory for Gears (INFAC) at The Ohio State University campus. CSU's role, in addition to undergraduate engineering education, is targeted for research in the application of machine vision for inspection and process control in the gear manufacturing process. Other members of the consortium are Allison Gas Turbine, ASME, ASME-GRI, Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Center (CAMP), North Carolina A&T University and The Ohio State University.
8. SME - The Manufacturing Engineering Department has developed an active student chapter of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. This group has completed most of the requirements to be fully recognized as a formal student chapter by SME. To date the department has been the recipient of four matching grants from the SME Engineering Education Foundation to enhance faculty, laboratory and library development.
9. DATN - Dr. Grissom represents CSU as a member of the Research Base Development Subcommittee of the Dayton Area Technical Network (DATN). This subcommittee, chaired by Mr. Charles W. Joiner, Jr., President of Mead Imaging, also includes the deans of the engineering/technology programs at Wright State, University of Dayton, Air Force Institute of Technology and Sinclair Community College, as well as the associate director of the University of Dayton Research Institute. The subcommittee meets monthly.
10. C-STAR - In the past the University has had representation on the Consortium for Space and Terrestrial Automation and Robotics, an organization based at CAL-Space in California. C-STAR membership consists of most of the major aerospace firms and a number of major universities from across the nation. The consortium has served in an advisory capacity to NASA with regard to planning for advanced automation and robotics for space applications.
11. NSBE - A formal student branch of the National Society of Black Engineers has been formed on campus. Students have participated in regional and national meeting of the organization, and the University is tied into the NSBE computerized network.
The Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science and Manufacturing Engineering are building toward leading edge research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its applications: machine intelligence, machine vision, and CIM. Maintaining active and current research in these areas will allow Central State University to provide valuable service to business and industry, especially to small and minority high tech firms.