Engineering Communication CE 333T Spring 2010

1. Engineering Communication CE 333T Spring 2010

2. Dr. Hillary Hartwww.ce.utexas.edu/prof/hart/333t/ECJ 8.214 Office Hours: M 11:00-12:00 W 2:00-4:00 471-4635 hart@mail.utexas.edu

3. Teaching Assistants:contact information on People page Ryan Grosskopf Jenny Lin Kirsten Ronald

4. Why is Engineering Communication a required course?

5. To be a successful and ethical engineer,you have to communicate clearly. • Engineers develop technologies -- they also help people make use of the technology safely. • Helping people solve infrastructure and environmental problems means communicating your designs, methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations to lots of different people.

6. For instance . . . You are an environmental engineer. You have installed a monitoring well on a resident’s property to track the movement of benzene spreading through the groundwater from a nearby leaking gasoline tank. Residence Service Station Monitoring Well Ground Water

7. Once you have measured and recorded the levels of various contaminants, you have several communication jobs. • Issue a report for your technical supervisor – are the levels increasing or not? • Help write a report for a regulatory agency. • Report to the homeowner about what’s happening. • Help the local newspaper reporter understand what will be done to clean up, if necessary.

8. For which audience is this table appropriate? What changes might make this table more meaningful to more people?

9. What helpful context does this version add?

10. Data alone are not useful for most people. Summary of Maximum Contaminant Concentrations (all Units in ug/L) • Data are what we record, observe, copy: • Numbers, statistics, percentages, transcriptions, discrete facts

11. is data made useful for other people. Information • Information is data that have been synthesized, put in context, and made meaningful. Information helps people make decisions.

12. Bar charts are easier to read quickly.

13. A picture provides a lot ofcontextfor a homeowner. Residence Service Station Monitoring Well Ground Water

14. For this class, you will make your insights and data useful for others. • For your class project, you will propose solution (s) to a local problem with sustainability. • Within a couple of weeks, we will help you define a project that investigates how environmental technologies may be used to solve a particular sustainability problem at UT or in the Austin area. • For the rest of the semester, you will develop a proposal for a grant that can be used to fund your solution. This proposal will be delivered in writing and in several presentations.

15. You will work with subject-matter experts to develop the proposal. • These experts may work for the City of Austin, for UT Austin, for a regional agency, or for a private firm. • Try to find experts who want to investigate solutions to specific problems with sustainability. • You will do research this semester by reading expert literature and by interviewing experts.

16. Here are some regional problems that need solutions. • Air pollution in Austin caused by traffic, industry, power generation, or other sources • Pollution of local surface waters caused by waste dumping and combined sewer overflows • Particular sites of soil and/or groundwater contamination • Agricultural waste and fertilizer runoff in rural areas • Solid (including electronic) waste – need for recycling, especially by large companies and housing complexes.

17. Sustainability problems on campus • Inefficiencies in lighting, climate control, or other energy-intensive needs. • Disposal of waste produced on campus • Energy consumed and emissions generated in grounds maintenance • Refrigerants used on campus

18. Your client (especially at UT) might want to investigate one of these technologies: • Garden with greenhouse for research projects and supplementing meals • Constructive use of storm water run-off, such as rain gardens, watering campus vegetation or building a small wetlands • Biomass generator for heating campus buildings • Sustainable building standards (for new construction) • Motion-sensors • Solar heaters • Wind turbines (built off-campus)

19. Engineering work is collaborative work. • So, this class offers several opportunities for collaboration: Lab teams Lecture teams Partnered writing and presentation projects

20. Lab teams and lecture teams • Your lab team is the engineering consulting company for which you work. Your TA is your supervisor. • You will review each other’s work and make helpful suggestions about writing, content, research, etc. • The lab teams will give you feedback on your presentation skills.

21. Another way to collaborate . . . • You have the option of partnering with one other student in CE 333T for most assignments. • TAs will explain more in lab. • After you post your project topic, all assignments (other than homework) are done in partnership.

22. CE 333T Web site • Under “Course Guidelines” • Specifications for Written Work • Check before handing in any assignment.

23. Every week, check out: Schedule and Class Assignments Most slides used in class will be linked to items in “Topics” column.

24. By Monday, Aug. 31: • Find a description of an engineering job you are interested in. Save the description and bring to class next week.

25. Please go to lab this week on Thursday in ECJ 3.204. • Your TAs will discuss sustainability projects and how to succeed in this class. • Next week’s lab will be a peer review of your first written assignment, a job-application letter. • Next week, we will discuss business letters and resumes.