Teaching

I use design-and-build projects to connect mechanics with engineering decisions. Students analyze a system, predict its behavior, and test what they have built. Comparing predictions with measurements helps them examine their assumptions and explain why a design succeeds or fails.

In Statics and Dynamics, projects have included bridges, towers, and catapults. The emphasis is on clear reasoning, careful testing, and learning from the differences between a model and a physical system.

Students preparing a catapult for a mechanics project test
Preparing and testing a student-built catapult.
Students gathered for a project testing session
Project testing and discussion with the class.

Engineering Statics MKB103

Equilibrium of particles and rigid bodies, free-body diagrams, trusses, frames, internal forces, and friction. Design-and-build projects have included student bridges and towers that are analyzed before physical testing.

Engineering Dynamics MKB203

Kinematics and kinetics of particles and rigid bodies, work and energy, and impulse and momentum. Students use these ideas in open-ended design projects, including the design, prediction, and testing of spring- or gravity-driven mechanisms and catapults.

Numerical Methods LÜ-M-19 / SYA002

Numerical solution of engineering problems, including nonlinear equations, systems of equations, interpolation, numerical differentiation and integration, and ordinary differential equations. Computational implementation is used throughout the course.

Advanced Strength of Materials LÜ-M-11

Graduate-level treatment of stress, strain, deformation, and the mechanics of structural members, with emphasis on analytical reasoning and the connection between idealized models and physical behavior.

Automobile Body Structural Design MKSB438

A course I developed on vehicle body structures, structural load paths, durability, crashworthiness, and the role of computational analysis in vehicle structural design.

Introduction to Mechanical Engineering MKB108

An introduction to mechanical engineering fields, engineering problem solving, design, and the connection between mathematics, mechanics, materials, manufacturing, and real engineering systems.

Senior Project MKB491

Supervision of open-ended undergraduate design and research projects in finite element analysis, mechanical testing, structural design, and related areas.

Introduction to Finite Element Analysis MEGR 3225

Laboratory instruction in finite element analysis using Abaqus, including model definition, meshing, boundary conditions, material behavior, solution, and interpretation of numerical results. Taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.