Involving Undergraduate Students in Research through the Development of Low-Cost Optical Instrumentation

Engineering schools that primarily serve undergraduates are an important part of our system of engineering education. Their students are usually taught by faculty rather than teaching assistants, and higher faculty teaching loads enable more continuity in course sequences. Since students benefit when faculty tie class work to new applications, it is important that faculty perform research even in primarily undergraduate institutions. Research can be challenging with high teaching loads and a lack of graduate assistants. This paper describes the author’s approach in conducting research with undergraduates at NYIT. Together, the author and his students utilized solid modeling, 3D printing, machining, and commodity electronics to construct a digital holography system. Such instrumentation projects are ideal for introducing students to real engineering challenges while also enhancing faculty research capabilities. The holography system is used for the author’s research and has also proven useful for visualizing flows encountered in undergraduate fluid dynamics courses.