Timothy Hsu, School of Engineering and Technology
Principal Investigator: Timothy Hsu, assistant professor, Department of Music Arts and Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Project Title: An Interdisciplinary Acoustics Course—The Bridge to Bring Cross Curricular Ideas and People to Creative and Technical Activities
Funding Level: $4,740
Abstract:
Acoustics impacts many different academic and research fields as shown Lindsay [1], who places acoustics as a focal point of earth and life sciences, physics, art and music, medicine, as well as engineering. Of the various subject areas specified, IUPUI has a unique combination of programs that positions itself for an acoustic course within the university’s academic and research interests. However, currently, there is no acoustics course offering on this campus. Within Music and Arts Technology, acoustics most heavily directly affects musicians through instruments, rooms, and synthesis; however, just outside the primary scope of musicians, issues such as material selection, modal/frequency analysis, computer modeling and simulation, and audio signal processing are vital secondary areas. This Curriculum Enhancement Grant application proposes a new interdisciplinary acoustics course that reaches across campus to attract students from departments like Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Technology, and Physics. This course will be cross listed as both a 400 and 500 level course and will have both an on-campus and an online section. The proposed structure of this class will utilize cross curricular student groups and the teaching methods will vary, i.e. the flipped classroom method, off-site testing days, and lab experiments. Additionally, this will be a project-centric course focused on developing technical writing and communication. Reports will be written as well as regular oral presentations, posters, and talks. With some of the projects developed in this course, potential STEAM outreach opportunities may arise to provide demonstrations to secondary school students and the community at large.
