SYLLABUS
CE
Fall Semester, 2003
General Information
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Time and location: |
8:00 am MWF in Tapy 217 |
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Instructor: |
Dr. Kerry J. Howe, P.E. |
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Office: 113 Wagner |
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Office phone: 277-2702 |
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Home phone: 821-9787 |
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Email address: howe@unm.edu |
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Office hours: I am in my office or the lab across the hall most of the time. Stop by anytime my door is open, or call or email to make an appointment. |
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Textbook: |
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics, 7th edition; by Beer, Johnston, and Eisenberg; McGraw-Hill; 2004. |
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Prerequisites: |
Physics 160 (General Physics) |
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Math 163 ( |
Tutoring
Tutoring from the
Scott Horton – available specifically for Engineering Statics.
Hours:
Location: Room 222 Tapy Hall
Marco Romero – available for several math, science, or engineering classes (including Statics)
Hours:
Location: Room 222 Tapy Hall; if he is not there, ask in the Diversity Program office on the second floor of Wagner Hall.
Course Objectives
The primary objective of this course is to develop a thorough understanding of the action of forces on objects at rest. The knowledge that you gain in this course will be important in many areas of civil engineering, particularly in structural engineering. By the end of the semester, you should be able to draw free body diagrams; determine the point of action, direction, and magnitude of all external forces on a wide variety of physical objects and structures; determine the resultant force necessary to maintain the object in equilibrium; and calculate the internal forces on a wide variety of structural objects, including trusses, frames, machines, and beams.
A second and equally important objective of this course is to develop broad engineering skills. For many students, this course is one of the first courses in civil engineering. Engineering requires the mastery of complex concepts and development of critical thinking and problem solving skills. While these skills come naturally to some people, most of you will need to learn, develop, and practice techniques to enhance your ability to learn and apply engineering concepts. The skills that you develop and sharpen in this course may improve your performance in future engineering courses and determine your eventual success as a practicing engineer.
Course Website
Course materials, including the syllabus, reading and homework assignments, and any handouts will be posted on a course website. Students can access the website at http://webct.unm.edu by clicking the Login icon, and entering your UNM Net ID and password. You need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader to read PDF files posted on the course website.
Every class period will have reading and homework assignments associated with it. The daily assignments will be listed in the online version of the syllabus. To find the assignments, enter the course website, click on the Syllabus icon, and scroll to the bottom. NOTE: The schedule may change as we progress through the course. Make sure that you periodically check the website syllabus to make sure you are reading the correct sections and doing the correct homework problems.
The textbook reading is intended to help you learn the material. To gain the maximum benefit, the textbook reading assignment must be read prior to coming to class on the date listed.
The homework assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day listed. The homework is intended to help you learn the material. All students should make an effort to solve every problem on their own and should not work together in groups, splitting the homework problems between the students. If you have put forth a sincere effort but cannot solve a problem on your own, it is acceptable for another student to teach you how to solve the problem, but it is not acceptable for you to just use another student’s paper as a guide.
All homework must be done in pencil using the standard format for the Civil Engineering department. A spreadsheet should be used where appropriate. When a spreadsheet is used, the homework assignment must include the spreadsheet input and output, and must include a separate sheet showing the equation and an example calculation for each column or row in the spreadsheet. All graphs drawn by hand must be done with a straight edge on graph paper and be properly scaled and labeled. A word processor should be used for all writing assignments. All homework must be neat and legible or it will be returned un-graded and no credit will be given for that assignment.
Homework must be turned in on time, and may be turned in ahead of time if you know you will not be in class on a particular day. Late homework assignments will be graded in exceptional circumstances (a car accident is an exceptional circumstance, oversleeping is not), but points will be deducted if your homework is late too frequently. Homework submitted on time will be promptly graded and returned to the students. No credit will be given for any homework turned in after the assignment has been returned to the rest of the class. If the class is collectively having difficulty with particular problems, the solutions may be posted on the course website.
Exam policy
The exams will be closed book and closed notes. Five minutes before the end of an exam, the time remaining will be announced. You should be prepared to submit your exam paper at the end of that time. At the end of the exam period, the instructor or proctor will leave the room with all submitted exam material. No exam material of any kind will be accepted by the instructor or proctor after leaving the exam room. Medical illness or other exceptional circumstances (see above) will be the only excuse for missing an exam, and you will be expected to provide definitive evidence of the circumstances or illness. You must inform the instructor in advance if you must miss an exam, unless there are compelling reasons why you cannot do so. If you miss an exam for a medical reason or other exceptional circumstance, either a make-up exam will be given or the other exams will be weighted heavier, at the instructor’s discretion. If you miss an exam for other reasons, you will be assigned a grade of zero.
Grading
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Points |
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Homework |
120 |
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Midterm #1 |
100 |
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Midterm #2 |
100 |
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Midterm #3 |
100 |
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Final exam |
200 |
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Quizzes and classroom participation |
50 |
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Total points |
670 |
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The final letter grade will be determined by calculating the percent of the total points you have obtained, and applying it to the following scale:
A = 90 - 100 %, B = 80 - 89 %, C = 70 - 79 %, D = 60 - 69 %, F ≤ 60 %.
Academic Integrity
The University expects all students to maintain the highest level of integrity. Cheating or plagiarism will not be tolerated. University policies regarding academic integrity are available in the UNM Student Handbook (Pathfinder) and online at http://www.unm.edu/~sac/policies.html.