Message from the Editor - Aloha
Abstract
Our first article “Enhancing Visualization Skills-Improving Options aNd Success” (the EnVISIONS pilot project) was part of a National Science Foundation grant from 2006 to 2009 and represents a collaboration of a number of institutions. This paper focuses on the post- secondary spatial visualization studies. This pilot study was designed to remove barriers to success for technologists and engineers.
In our second article “Cam Design Projects in an Advanced CAD Course for Mechanical Engineers” Professor Hollie K. Ault presents projects of solid modeling aimed at modeling complex geometries in CAD-based Mechanical Engineering courses. Solving design problems for applications in machine design, specifically the design of cam mechanisms, has always been an interest of this Division.
K. M. Waldenmeyer, a graduate student in the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University, and Dr. Nate Hartman discuss their research in our third article “Standard Features and Their Impact on 3D Engineering Graphics.” Waldenmeyer and Hartman detail how a leading PDM package manages 3D geometry, how a standard feature interacts within a 3D part file, and how those conditions affect the way standard feature libraries are stored in a PDM system. They also discuss obstacles and recommendations, and how students facing these challenges upon entering the workforce can be prepared.
Dr. Richard A. Meznarich, Dr. Ronald C. Shava, and Dr. Stanley L. Lightner from the University of Nebraska at Kearney discuss how engineering design graphics courses taught in colleges or universities should provide and equip students preparing for employment in the last article “A Curriculum Model: Engineering Design Graphics Course Updates Based on Industrial and Academic Institution Requirements.” The systematic approach used at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) to update and improve its existing multidiscipline engineering design graphics course is presented in this article. We hope you enjoy these articles.
Since this is my last “Letter from the Editor” I would like to use this opportunity to thank Nancy Study, who has been my loyal Associate Editor and Skyping partner for the past three years, and who has agreed to continue her role under Bob Chin. Nancy, you are a sweetheart and I so appreciate your help. Thank you, Nancy.
One special thank you goes to the “EDGD Guru,” Kathy Holliday-Darr. I have learned that if you need anything done, you ask Kathy. If you don’t know anything, you ask Kathy. If you want a good laugh, you call Kathy. Thank you, Kathy.
As I end my term, it is time to say, “Good bye.” In Yucatec Maya (Mexico) one bids farewell until another day by saying, “Tu heel k’iin.” In my husband’s Irish Gaelic (Ireland) good bye is “Slán agat.” My Japanese relatives gently bow and say “Sayonara,” while my German relatives belt out, “Auf Wiedersehen!” Jon Duff can be heard yelling, “Mar sin leat” (Scottish Gaelic), while Mary Sadowski and Judy Birchman sing in harmony “Do widzenia!” (Polish). The ancient Egyptian good bye “Senebti” might be heard coming from Mostafa Mostafa. In Arizona all I hear is “Adiós.” Whether the words say “Au revoir” (French), “Salaam” (Arabic), or “Do svidanja” (Russian), they all mean good bye.
That is why I like the Hawaiian way. When you say “Aloha,” it means good bye, but it also means “Hello.” “Aloha” means love, to remember with affection, mercy, kindness, grace, peace, and compassion – not just good bye. So as I end my three years as editor of the Engineering Design Graphics Journal, I wish you “Aloha!”
