Welcome

Welcome to the website for the BSEMET (Bachelor of Science in Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology) program at Penn State Altoona.

BSEMET Degree Mission Statement

The Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology (EMET) baccalaureate degree program is designed to provide graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to apply current methods and technology to the development, design, operation, and management of electro-mechanical systems. The program is specifically intended to prepare graduates for careers in industries where automated systems are used and to prepare them both to meet current challenges and to be capable of growing with future demands of the field. It accomplishes this by accepting associate degree students from either mechanical or electrical engineering technology programs, cross-training them in the alternate discipline, and then exposing them to a spectrum of instrumentation and industrial controls concepts. The program culminates with a capstone project design course that requires students to assimilate the skills and knowledge from all their electrical, mechanical, instrumentation, and controls courses to develop and demonstrate a practical, working electro-mechanical device.

Other engineering programs at Penn State Altoona

• Associate Degree in Electrical Engineering Technology
• Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology

---

The primary objective of the BSEMET program is to provide graduates with the range of practical skills needed to be a successful technologist/engineer in any industry where modern industrial and manufacturing control systems are heavily used. This objective is accomplished by exposing students to a core of electrical and mechanical engineering topics, which are capped off with extensive studies in modern instrumentation and controls concepts. Students who enter the program with a mechanical background will study electrical topics in basic circuits, linear and digital electronics, microprocessors, and electrical power and machinery. Students who enter the program with an electrical background will study mechanical topics in advanced CAD (computer aided design) and spatial analysis, statics and dynamics, properties and strength of engineering materials, and concepts in product and production design. Both groups of students will study the major instrumentation practices used in industry, and, at the senior level, will study feedback control systems based on PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) concepts, and sequential control systems used in PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers), CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) equipment, and robotics. In all cases, a balance between theoretical concepts and practical applications is maintained through a combination of lectures and lab-based activities.

Training in the technical subjects is supported by foundation courses in differential and integral calculus, ordinary differential equations, chemistry, thermofluids, statistical process control, and engineering economics. Students' written and oral communications skills are refined through a technical composition course and through extensive writing and speaking activities in the technical courses. These same activities support the secondary objective of the EMET program, which is to prepare graduates for life-long learning once their formal education is completed.

At the level of faculty and the classroom, EMET programmatic objectives translate into specific course goals and accomplishments. Students entering with a mechanical background are expected also to come to the program with an understanding of fundamental DC and AC circuit concepts including knowledge of standard network solution methods. Thus, electrical courses in the EMET program focus on digital, linear, and microprocessor circuitry and on the characteristics of machinery used to distribute electrical power and convert electrical to mechanical power. Digital instruction requires students to understand, assemble, and use basic combinatorial and sequential logic circuits, including general logic circuits, multiplexers/de-multiplexers, counters, timers, and computer memory. Microprocessor instruction builds on digital concepts to teach students the architecture and operation of state-of-the-art microprocessors, including the programming of the devices to perform practical tasks and to interface and exchange data with other computer and data acquisition devices. Linear electronics focuses on the operation and application of op-amps and other general-purpose IC (Integrated Circuit) devices to a range of commonly-encountered small-signal, filtering, data acquisition, signal conditioning, and control circuits. In the area of machines and power technology, students are required to develop and demonstrate understanding of the operating characteristics and power capabilities of the AC and DC machines typically found in industry, and the operation and use of transformers in power distribution systems.

Students entering with an electrical background are expected also to come to the program with basic computer-aided drafting skills, an understanding of statics, and knowledge of the properties of typical engineering materials. Thus, mechanical courses in the EMET program focus on CAD, spatial analysis, dynamics, strength of engineering materials, machine design, and production design. CAD instruction requires students to be able to create and produce hard copy engineering drawings using AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer. The spatial analysis instruction requires students to use both software packages to obtain true shape, true size, distance, area, and angle data using methods of conventional descriptive geometry or the analysis tools adhering to ANSI Y14 standards. Dynamics instruction trains students to determine the velocities and accelerations of particles and rigid bodies due to applied forces and torques. In the strength of materials courses, students learn to calculate stresses and deflections of simple structural entities due to applied forces and moments. Machine design studies build on the understanding of properties and strength of materials to teach students how to determine required sizes and strengths of common machine parts. Finally, the production design courses familiarize students with typical industrial production techniques, such as jig and fixture design and computer-numerical-control methods.

In all areas, demonstrated abilities must include both theory-based analytical problem solving and practice-oriented building, testing, and troubleshooting of actual devices and circuits in lab. Students must also demonstrate the ability to convey their understanding of technical ideas and subjects in public forums both through formal writing and public speaking exercises.

---

Ms. Irene M. Ferrara
Instructor in Engineering
Division of Business & Engineering
Penn State Altoona
Office: 205 Force Technology Center
Phone: 814-949-5568
E-mail:
WWW: http://www.personal.psu.edu/ixf107