National Acadamies of Sciences and Engineering select Dean Aslam to present his FBEI modules at their Frontier of Engineering Education (FOEE) Symposium to be held in October 2012 in Irvine (CA).

INNOVATIVE FBEI LEARNING MODULES

Hands-on and open-design Functionalized Bricks with Embedded Intelligence (FBEI) were created, using custom-made LEGO-compatible bricks containing electronic circuits, to spark the interest of learners with different backgrounds and preparation levels (kindergarten to Ph.D.). Fig 1 shows an example of a typical FBEI. During 2001-2012 over 2,000 learners benefited from FBEI modules nationally and globally. By allowing user-designs, FBEIs (http://www.egr.msu.edu/nsferc/FBEI-Modules) made research-oriented and entrepreneurial learning unique and fun. FBEI kits for hands-on national and international courses (K-12, UG and graduate) can promote FOEE mission in particular and NAE in general.

FBEIs stimulate extremely simple to extremely complex multidisciplinary engineering learning as evident from design, creation, and testing of Maple-seed Robotic Fliers (MRF). One wing MRFs, made using paper and LEGO pieces, can evolve into multi-wing MRFs with on-board microcontrollers, nanosensors and wireless interfaces mimicking future drones. New FBEIs being developed include mind-controlled games/robots and DNA Inspired Active Network Arrays (DIANA) for sparking interest in neural and computer engineering areas, respectively.