Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This course is required for all students in the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Technology program. Students must take this course while also taking CMET 110 Statics. Full-time students will generally take this course in their first term of the program.

The student will be able to:

1. Describe several roles of engineers and engineering technicians, including types of work, employers, and educational and licensing requirements.
2. Describe and discuss ethical conduct of an engineer or engineering technician.
3. Analyze forces on rigid bodies in equilibrium.
4. Communicate analysis and results clearly: orally, in writing, and through diagrams and calculations.
5. Work in small groups with individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Individual, small group, and full class discussion; homework problems; examinations; and small group problem-solving sessions may be used to assess outcomes.

Lecture, homework, and in-class group activities will be coordinated.  

Specific evaluation procedures will be defined during the first week of class. In general, grading will depend on weekly tests, homework, class participation, and a comprehensive final exam. 

1. Engineering is a very broad field, with many types of tasks, employers and job descriptions.
2. Engineers and engineering technicians must work in a professional, ethical manner.
3. Analysis of an engineering problem begins with a simplified model of the actual situation.
4. A large complex problem consists of many inter-related smaller problems which must be solved in a logical order.
5. Solution of an engineering problem in not useful unless communicated clearly and completely.
6. A complete and correct free-body diagram is necessary for analysis of any equilibrium problem.
7. There is often more than one correct approach to the solution of an engineering problem. Sharing ideas with others will often lead to the most efficient or clearest solution.

CONTENT:

1. Introduction to the engineering profession: types of work, employers, and educational and licensing requirements.
2. Roles of engineers and engineering technicians.
3. Engineering ethics.
4. Resources available to PCC engineering students: department academic advising, counseling, financial aid, scholarships, tutors, mentors, other college-wide resources.
5. Study skills and strategies.
6. Presentation of engineering analysis and calculations.
7. Measurements: systems of units, dimensional analysis, accuracy and precision.
8. Critical thinking and problem-solving: use of models, inductive and deductive reasoning, conceptual roadblocks in problem-solving.
9. Trigonometry: definitions of trigonometric functions, solving right triangles and oblique triangles.
10. Calculator operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers and roots, trigonometric functions, scientific notation, solution of simultaneous equations, vector algebra operations. Other features of the specific required calculator.
11. Solving statics problems:
    1. Vector operations
    2. Equilibrium of a particle
    3. Equilibrium of a rigid body
    4. Analysis of structures
    5. Centroids and centers of gravity
    6. Dry friction
    7. Shear and bending moment diagrams

COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS:
The student will be able to:

1.      Describe the roles of engineers and engineering technicians in the workplace.

2.      Draw a free-body diagram of an object, group of connected objects, or part of an object.

3.      Calculate the support reactions on a two or three-dimensional rigid body.

4.      Calculate the forces exerted on one member of a structrure by another.

5.      Use a scientific calculator to solve algebraic and trigonometric equations.

6.      Communicate analysis and results clearly: orally, in writing, and through diagrams and calculations.