Undergraduate Curriculum Learning Objectives
MCEN 4037 - Measurements Lab
The purpose of this course is to prepare students to properly plan and carry out experiments, and to analyze the resulting data.
1. Measurement Fundamentals
- Demonstrate Understanding of the purposes of measurements: comparison with models, performance measurements, process/quality control and physical constant determination.
- Utilize experiment systems: transduction, signal conditioning, data acquisition and display.
- Apply statistical concepts to understand variability, error and resolution.
- Carry out calibration and uncertainty and statistical data analysis.
- Explore different classes of measurement including stationary and transient systems.
2. Uncertainty in Experimental Measurements and its Propagation
- Apply uncertainty analysis for real experiments.
- Compute uncertainty for the following circumstances: design stage, repeated measurements, single measurements, propagation of uncertainty.
- Apply objective outlier rejection techniques.
3. Confidence Intervals
- Calculate confidence intervals and use them to make probabilistic statements about data sets.
4. Correlation and Regression
- Apply correlation analysis to see if data is correlated.
- Carry out linear and non-linear regression of actual data sets.
5. Analysis of time series
- Carry out measurements of time series including stationary and non-stationary signals.
- Apply time series analysis including calculating series statistics and Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT).
6. Professional Behavior
- Learn to prepare for laboratory work in advance and arrive on time.
- Learn how to work in a careful and orderly fashion.
- Learn how to systematically record and document experimental activities and results.
- Learn how to present experimental findings clearly and effectively using oral, written and poster presentation formats.
- Learn how to work in groups and how to maximize the groups effectiveness.
- Learn how to carry out honest self and peer assessment.
- Learn how to behave so that your peers (and supervisors) would rate you highly.