The 2004 ~FAST Tex projects
College of Engineering

Title:
Development of On-Line Class in Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Nuclear Power Plants

Faculty Client:
Dr. Steven Biegalski, biegalski@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
James Bays

Project Description:
This project developed web-based materials for a course in Nuclear Power Plant Risk Assessment. 25% to 50% of the students in this class are taking the class entirely online and these students normally work at national laboratories but some also hold industry positions. Nearly all of the off-campus students hold full-time jobs and are completing graduate degrees in our program via distance learning.

Title:
Development of a Graduate Web-Based Course in Heat and Mass Transfer

Faculty Client:
Dr. Ofodike Ezekoye, dezekoye@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer(s):
Farhan Tariq, Adnan Zafar

Project Description:
This project developed interactive and animated online materials for a graduate course in heat and mass transfer for Nuclear and Radiation engineering students. In addition to lecture notes and power point slide shows, the site enables students to learn the theoretical base for a topic being studied (for example, the heat transfer properties of fins) then perform their own parameter and estimation studies and compare their results to those produced by an online heat-transfer simulator.

Title:
Development of a Web-Based Course in Nuclear Instrumentation

Faculty Client:
Dr. Sheldon Landsberger, s.landsberger@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Mohamed Fakhreddine

Project Description:
Teaching high-end instrumentation technology in the classroom is very challenging. In addition to learning about the interactions actually being measured ( e.g. infrared, ultraviolet, chemical kinetics, radiation) students must also learn the fundamentals of the high-tech measurement equipment. This project developed and integrated power point lectures, animations and Matlab electronic data outputs to best convey these concepts in the course “Radiation and Radiation Protection Laboratory.”

Title:
Development of a Web-Based Course in Nuclear Instrumentation

Faculty Client:
Dr. Jennifer Lehman, jlehman@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Chok Ooi

Project Description:
This project developed a web site designed to be a one-stop shop for aerospace students regarding all questions related to technical communication. If they're giving a presentation, they can easily find appropriate suggestions (e.g., no clip art, no fancy transitions, body and voice control). Or if they're writing a report, they might want to use a flow chart to determine what needs to be cited in their report, and then how to cite it correctly. The site enables students to choose how they use it: there is a “flow chart” mode if they need a step-by-step walkthrough of the composition process, and a “direct access” mode for students who know exactly what they need.

Title:
Integrated Simulation and Visualization of Rigid Body Motion with Applications to Spacecraft Dynamics

Faculty Client:
Dr. Cesar Ocampo, cesar.ocampo@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer(s):
Sebastian Munoz, Marcin Lenhart

Project Description:
One of the most challenging concepts to engineering students in any dynamics course is the translational and rotational behavior of rigid bodies in space. A complete description of the problem has to be given in a “six degree of freedom” model and important values like angular velocity and angular momentum behave in non-intuitive ways. This project developed an interactive simulator that illustrates the varying motions of a rigid body in space. Users can “move” a simulated object according to thrust and gravitational principles and see how it reacts, thus giving them a fundamental real-time understanding of rigid body motion.