Engineering in London Study Abroad Program, Tickle College of Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The Diamond at the University of Sheffield has numerous lecture theatres, classrooms, study rooms, laboratories, and even a cafe. In addition to morning lectures, the second-floor panoramic classroom (shown below) served as study space after afternoon laboratory sessions.
On Wednesday, June 24, the EIL students worked on their first laboratory
assignment in the Thermodynamics,
Heat Transfer and Dynamics Laboratory in the Diamond. The learning
outcomes of the laboratory assignment entitled Name that Gas! were
to understand gas laws and to apply Archimedes' theory (using balloons
filled with different gases that need to be identified). This lab
assignment was designed by Prof. Stephen Beck, School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and
Civil Engineering, University of Sheffield. A little later that afternoon, Prof. Beck gave a short lecture on supersonic flow to interested students. Prof. Andrew Garrard organized refreshments for the talk.
On Tuesday, June 23, the EIL students worked on their second laboratory
assignment at the Diamond (University of Sheffield) from 1pm to 3pm in the Electronics
and Control Laboratory. The learning outcomes of this assignment included i) the ability to use electronic test and measurement devices to make measurements on frequency-dependent circuits, ii) the ability to identify key frequency domain features of passive circuit responses, and iii)
the ability to discover physical reasons why experimental measurements
differ from theoretical expectations. This lab was designed by Prof.
Raja Toqeer, Senior University Teacher for Computing, Control and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield.
On Monday, June 22, the EIL students worked on their first laboratory assignment at the Diamond (University of Sheffield) from 1pm to 3pm in the Electronics and Control Laboratory. The learning outcomes of this laboratory assignment included i) the ability to make basic measurements using a range of electronic test and measurement equipment, ii) the ability to appreciate the importance of tolerances and errors, and discover some reasons why some measurement instruments can report values with different levels of precision and accuracy, and iii) the ability to build and test electronics circuits on a breadboard and printed circuit board. This lab assignment was designed by Prof. Raja Toqeer, Senior University Teacher for Computing, Control and Electrical Engineering, University of Sheffield.
On Sunday, June 21, eight EIL/S students and Prof. Berry spent the day at the infamous Alton Towers Theme Park. Alton Towers is a historic estate, theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton. Some of their favorite roller coasters included the Wicker Man, Galactica, Smiler, and Oblivion.
On Saturday, June 20, the EIL students along with Profs. Berry and
Dickerson boarded a coach bus from the AES Hoxton housing in London for the 3-hour journey to Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Upon arrival in Sheffield, the students settled in to their accommodations at Steelworks. Sheffield has a strong
engineering heritage. Contemporary Sheffield is known all over the world
as a leading centre for engineering research, advanced manufacturing,
lightweight technology, specialist materials, and has the knowledge and
skills base from prominent universities such as the University of
Sheffield (U of S). The iconic £86 million Diamond at the U of S
building is home to 15 state of the art engineering teaching labs,
lecture theatres and workrooms. Teaching Labs for the complete range of
Engineering disciples lie under one roof. This includes the UK’s first
and only student led maker space, the iForge. The Diamond is staffed
by a dedicated team of multidisciplinary engineering educators, who
focus on practical skills. The EIL students will be working the
Electronics and Control Lab on Monday and Tuesday, June 22-23, and in the Thermodynamics, Heat
Transfer and Dynamics Lab on Wednesday through Friday, June 24-26.
On Thursday, June 19, the Engineering in London (EIL) students joined
Profs. Berry and Dickerson and Lewis Liming from IES Abroad London for a
farewell to London formal (3-course) dinner at Brown's of Covent
Garden. In addition to the excellent food, the program of evening
included a few rounds of "name that EIL student" and a slideshow of the program including excursions to other parts of Europe during the 3-day weekend. The slideshow was created by Kat Graham and Kaytlyn Reed.
