Ten Secrets of Successful Students

Validity and Reliability of Engineering Analytical Methods & Processes

Engineering Project Management

The Seven Deadly Sins of Modernity

The Paradox's of Our Time

If I had my life to live again

The world NEEDS engineers

Graduate Student Research Organization Questions

What does "completed student work" mean?

Engineering Research Project Management
Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling

Planning

• review work to be accomplished - know how, why, deliverables, constraints
• forecast to estimate the future and be able to anticipate future conditions that may influence work
• determine the resources required to perform the work - time, money, personnel, references, equipment, etc.
• establish the objectives of the work; set goal, objectives, and pinpoint the desired results (goal - the ultimate product; objectives - the milestones to develop the goal)
• define how best to use time to be effective (accomplish) and efficient (easiest way) - work smarter, not harder than necessary
• program the work to establish the sequence of activities necessary to reach the defined objectives and goal
• schedule the work to establish the time sequences or when things must be done
• originate new approaches to problems - make sure you are attacking the real problems, and not just the symptoms - be innovative - be creative - but be realistic and practical
• define jobs for yourself to avoid unnecessary overlap or omission
• budget - allocate those resources AVAILABLE to do the work
• define policies and constraints that will form the framework and conditions under which the work will be conducted
• determine the procedures that will be used to perform the work - define a recipe for how it will or can be done
• incorporate slack for the inevitable things that can and will not go according to your plans and wishes; be prepared to re-define success and how it can be reached

Organizing

• understand your responsibilities and authorities
• develop a working structure - group work into efficient and balanced units
• achieve mutual understandings of responsibilities and authorities
• achieve mutual understanding of the part you and others should play in accomplishing the defined goals and objectives
• entrust responsibility and authority and then establish the accountability for results
• develop integrity - do what should be done and do not do what should not be done
• do all possible to establish conditions necessary for mutually cooperative efforts of others
• assure that each part of a job is done in proper sequence, however, be alert for possible shortcuts to achieve the same result
• concern yourself only with the amount of detail that is in your judgment required to reach the desired results
• be prepared to help others - team work is not desirable, it is mandatory
• avoid trespassing on delegated responsibilities and authorities of others
• do that work necessary to arrange and relate the work to be performed so that it can be carried out most efficiently and effectively.
• coordinate - remember two-way coordination - with yourself, and with those who work with you - communicate, communicate, communicate.

Leading

• make decisions or cause they to be made considering all of the important facts, policies, procedures, experience, time, responsibilities, and required follow-through
• do the work required to achieve understanding - do not mistake the process of communication for the desired result: understanding
• do the work necessary to leave an adequate trail of foot prints - document - learn how to document efficiently and effectively
• keep informed and keep others informed
• encourage others to express their ideas, thoughts, and constructive criticisms - you are ok - what you do may not be ok - ask and you may find out
• listen with understanding and purpose
• report on progress or on the lack of it - focus on results - do not focus on activity
• make sure you understand and believe what you are communicating - integrity
• vigorously strive to improve all of your communicating skills - remember clarity completeness correctness, and conciseness
• motivate - take action to inspire, encourage, and if necessary impel first yourself and secondly others to take appropriate action
• give and use new ideas - think innovation - think deductively and inductively - learn and try new methods and strategies
• look for situations which need improvement; define ways to improve them
• improve knowledge (why), training (how), and attitudes
• reward for productivity - promote for ability

Controlling

• take action necessary to assess and regulate work in progress
• follow-up on work completed
• establish and monitor standards of quality and performance
• use systematic methods to measure performance, productivity, and progress
• re-evaluate changing conditions to readjust planning, organizing, and leading strategies
• evaluate results - determine the significance of variances and exceptions in the comparison of actual versus planned performance
• emphasize individual accountability and control - migrating decision making - decisions made by stake holders and those with most knowledge
• take corrective action to do what is necessary to bring exceptions into line - do not wait until tomorrow or hope it will get better

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The Seven Deadly Sins of Modernity

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Business without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle

M. K. Gandhi 1950

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The Paradox's of Our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; We've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; We've done larger things, but not better things;

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; We've split the atom, but not our prejudice; We write more, but learn less; We plan more, but accomplish less.

We've learned to rush, but not to wait; We have higher incomes, but lower morals; We have more food, but less appeasement; We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; We've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference, or to just hit delete...

Rodney Brainard, student, Marble Falls, Texas

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If I had my life to live again

by Erma Bombeck (Written after she found out she was dying from cancer.)

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television-and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love you's.". More "I'm sorry's" ...But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what.

Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who Do love us.

Let's think about what God HAS blessed us with. And what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually.

Life is too short to let it pass you by. We only have one shot at this and then it's gone. I hope you all have a blessed day.

In memory of Erma Bombeck who lost her fight with cancer.

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The World NEEDS Engineers

The world needs engineers.....

• whose truth cannot be bought,
• whose word is their bond,
• who put character and honesty above wealth,
• who do not hesitate to take chances,
• who will not lose their identity in a crowd,
• who will be as honest in small things as in great things,
• who will make no compromise with wrong,
• whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires,
• who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it,"
• who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity,
• who do not believe that shrewdness and cunning are the best qualities for winning success,
• who are not ashamed to stand for the truth when it is unpopular, and · who have integrity and wisdom in addition to knowledge.

Please help me to be this kind of engineer.

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Graduate Student Research Organization Questions

1. Do you have a clear understanding of the objectives of your research?
2. Do you have a clear understanding of what your research report will contain?
3. Do you have a clear plan including a schedule , milestones (to verify compliance with plan), and budget for completing your work?
4. Have you identified the major difficulties in completing your research? Have you developed solutions to these difficulties?
5. Are your files and records organized and in good order? Can you answer a question on something you did one to six months ago?
6. Have you drafted the first versions of any portions of the work you have completed? Why not?
7. Do you understand how to properly document your research? Do you know how to start?
8. Have you assembled tables, figures, and other materials that can be pre-pared and included in your research report?
9. Have you kept your research advisor informed of your plans, progress (milestones met), and problems (technical, schedule, budget)?
10. Have you organized regular occasions when your background knowledge of the research are assessed and progress evaluated?
11. Have you made plans for public presentations (oral, written) of the results of your research?

Bob Bea

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What does "completed student work" mean?

Completed "student" (course students and Graduate Student Researchers) work is the study of a problem and presentation of a solution by the student in such a form that all that remains to be done by the supervising faculty member is to indicate approval or disapproval of the completed action and to suggest how the problem might better be solved.

The words completed action are emphasized because the more difficult the problem is, the more the tendency is to present the problem to the faculty member in a piecemeal or "half-baked" fashion. It is your responsibility to work out the details to the full extent of your abilities.

You may and should consult other students, faculty, library and archive sources, and those outside the university that can and are willing and qualified to help you.

The impulse which often comes to the inexperienced student to ask the faculty what to do recurs more often when the problem is difficult. It is important to ask the faculty what the goals and objectives are (define the problem), what the constraints (time, money, other) are, and in general how one might generally approach the development of a solution to the problem. It is very easy to ask the faculty what to do. Resist that impulse. You will succumb to it only if you do not know your job. As an engineer and student it is your job to learn how to solve problems effectively and efficiently.

Once the goals, objectives, and constraints are understood, it is your job to advise the faculty what you plan to do, not to ask the faculty what to do. The faculty needs answers, not questions. Your job is to study, consult, analyze, check, write, and rewrite until you have evolved a single proposed action and / or solution, the best one of all you have considered.

The concept of completed student work does not preclude a "rough draft" but the rough draft must not be"half-baked". It must be complete in every respect except that it lacks the requisite number of copies and need not be in final form ready for publication. It must be neat, clear, and well-thought out. A rough draft must not be used as an excuse for shifting to the faculty the primary burden of formulating an approach or solving the problem.

When you have completed your completed student work, the final test is this:

If you were the faculty supervisor, would you be willing to approve what you have prepared ,and stake your professional reputation on its being right?

If the answer is in the negative, take it back and work it over, because it is not completed student work.

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