Virtual Reality Techniques to Improve Product Design and Integrating Active Learning Techniques into the Engineering Classroom

Judy M. Vance
Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology
Iowa State University

1998 NSF Design and Manufacturing Grantees Conference, Monterrey, Mexico, January 5-8, 1998, pp. 25-26

Abstract
This NSF CAREER Award is focused in two areas:research and education. The research focus is on investigating virtual reality (VR) techniques to improve product design. Initial efforts have centered on investigating the usefulness of virtual reality for engineering design applications, first by applying VR techniques to the design of spherical mechanisms. The education focus of this project is on developing faculty and staff development techniques to integrate active learning techniques into the engineering classroom. The PI is a leader in the effort at Iowa State University to educate faculty and teaching assistants on the use of active learning techniques.