Humanities and Social or Behavior Science
ECON211 - Principles of Macroeconomics
AP Credit - Elizabeth Howard
I was awarded Advanced Placement credit for this course after completing the AP Macroeconomics class at Schaumburg High School and receiving a 4 (out of 5) on the Advanced Placement test.
HIST375 - History of Computing
Fall 2003 - Thomas Misa
An Wang - Oral Presentation - Ad from 1973
An Wang - Oral Presentation - Handout
An Wang - Oral Presentation - Presentation Notes
This is an oral report I gave about the founder of Wang Laboratories, An Wang.
Lyons Electronic Office - Oral Presentation - LEO I Presentation Notes
This is an oral report I gave about the LEO I, Lyons Electronic Office.
Quizzes
There were seven in-class quizzes we took during the semester. This PDF file contains all of my (graded) responses to those quizzes.
Worksheets
This class was broken up into fifteen sections. Each section had a worksheet assigned with it that followed our reading assignments. This PDF includes all of my worksheet notes.
HIST380 - Aerospace: Kitty Hawk to Tranquility Base
Spring 2004 - Robert Hunter
Book Report - The Race
This is my book report on The Race: The Uncensored Story of How America Beat Russia to the Moon by James Schefter.
Excerpt from my report:
James Schefter takes us behind the scenes at NASA for a look at the journey that would eventually land a man on the moon. The Soviets sparked our imagination with the first satellite in space, Sputnik, and Kennedy ignited our passion with by setting the ultimate goal, the Moon. The 1960's would be a stimulating decade for both countries, from the joyous times of successful flights in space to the painful moments in accidents and death. James Schefter does a wonderful job illuminating the events of the decade by grabbing the reader's attention as the mission countdowns approach zero. From the Mercury program though Gemini and ending with Apollo 11, Schefter describes every aspect of the historical race against the Soviet Union looking through the eyes of mission directors, astronauts, and their wives here in the United States and abroad.
Book Report - Unlocking the Sky
This is my book report on Unlocking the Sky: Glenn Hammond Curtiss and the Race to Invent the Airplane by Seth Shulman.
Excerpt from my report:
Seth Shulman takes a step away from the typical Wrights centered viewpoint of the race to invent and promote the airplane in the U.S. and abroad, and steps into the mind of Glenn Hammond Curtiss and his associates as the history of modern aviation unfolded in front of them. The history of aviation was written through the free exchange of information in order to resolve one of the most difficult and long lasting engineering problems of the world. And unlike the Wright Brothers, aviation heroes such as Glenn Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell, Lt. Thomas Selfridge, "Captain" Thomas Baldwin, Charles Manly, and Samuel Pierpont Langley as well as many others worldwide, openly shared their difficulties and accomplishments in their attempts to get their various flying machines off the ground. Unlocking the Sky follows Glenn Curtiss from his motorcycle engine building days to his days at the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) to his historical flight of the June Bug and the patent lawsuits filled by the Wright Brothers against any and every airplane manufacturing company in the world. Seth Shulman also plants the seeds of uncertainty on the astonishing and sudden aspects of the development of the first airplane by the Wright Brothers and raises the possibility that the first controlled heavier than air flight might could have taken place years before the Wrights attempted their gliders if only there was public support for such an event to take place. Unlocking the sky: Glenn Curtiss & the race to invent the airplane is an exciting and thought provoking story of the life and love of America's first-ever licensed pilot in the prime of aerial experimentation.
HUM102 - Industrial Culture
Fall 2002 - Robert Hunter
Best and Worst Jobs
The "Best and Worst Jobs" assignment was an individual effort to consider what you thought would be the best and worst career moves for you personally.
Book Report - Looking Backwards
This is my book report on Looking Backwards by Edward Bellamy.
Excerpt from my report:
Imagine a time when those who could find work toiled for fourteen hours a day in damp, rundown factories for little wages. A time where daughters were sold for bread and sons put to work at age eight. A time where social gaps made the Grand Canyon looks like a hairline crack. Then flash forward to a time where everyone works to the best of his ability. No man is looked down upon based on the job they perform. Women are social equals to men. Education is provided for through college. And everyone is working in the field of their choice. This is what Julian West, narrator of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backwards, experienced; the rundown city of Boston 1887 turned into the utopia of Boston 2000.
Book Review - Player Piano
This is my book report on Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut.
Excerpt from my report:
The 1950's was a time of great reflection on the world. The United States has just shown what a determined country can do with advanced technology. The destructive nature of human kind forever etched its way onto the history books. From this, Kurt Vonnegut, took the need and want of technology and blended within the destructive nature human beings have. Vonnegut did not write a book where humanity destroys the world, but where humanity destroys itself through the elimination of personal satisfaction. There were few in this book, Player Piano, who still had an important role in society, namely Dr. Paul Proteus, Dr. Lawson Shepard, Dr. Ed Finnerty, Dr. Anthony Kroner, Dr. Francis Eldgrin Gelhorne, and Bud Carlson, all who had something unique to offer to the society and all who viewed the society in a different light. In a way, Vonnegut's vision of the future has and is panning out. There are people who lose their jobs to machines everyday, people who feel politics have become nothing more than physical appearance and people who believe all technology is for the betterment of mankind. Technology is improving our everyday lives and contributing to the peacefulness of society without disrupting the natural flow of order as it did in Player Piano. Kurt Vonnegut pictured a society in which machines took over most aspects of human work, and to an extent, it has and is happening.
Hard Times
This is my report on Hard Times a televised rendition of the Charles Dickens book.
Excerpt from my report:
Dickens portrait of early industrialization parallelizes Matrix-like crop fields where human beings are turned into power. This was an age where men, women, and children were working side by side in damp, dirty factories for eight to twelve hours a day. It was once estimated that forty-nine thousand children under sixteen years of age were working in the dismal conditions of factory life. Dickens was no stranger to this type of living. His father had lost the family fortune and was sent to prison leaving Charles to enter the work force by age twelve. Dickens also had an insiders view on how the other half lived. After his mother had passed away, leaving enough money to get her husband out of prison and Charles into school, Dickens eventually acquired a job observing and documenting Parliament meetings during the reform movement. Dickens characterizes life in the industrial revolution as the mechanization of society with a need for the balance between fact and fiction, noting that each class represents different morals.
Movie Review - October Sky
This is my report on the 1999 movie, October Sky.
Excerpt from my report:
October Sky, the true-to-life experience of Homer Hickam and the Rocket Boys, shows just what one individual can do if pushed hard enough. In a time where an individual's position in life was determined by where they grew up, four young children, with the help of a few local townsmen, followed their dreams into space and beyond. Amidst the growing threats of the Cold War, the culture of American society was beginning to change. The Soviet launching of Sputnik brought around great change in the American way. The technological battle for the sky's had begun with the Soviets taking an early step ahead. The creation of NASA and need to prove our own superiority drove the United States into a two decade battle to dominate outer space which ignited the imagination of millions worldwide. October Sky attempts to show the two worlds of the 1950s; the existing: closed-minded individuals doing local work, and the upcoming: open-minded folk working together for global causes.
PHIL370 - Moral Issues in Engineering
Fall 2003 - Vivian Weil
Indian Point Energy Center (Group Slides)
This presentation is a combination of group and individual effort. The topic we had to discuss was whether or not to close New York's Indian Point Energy Center immediately to upgrade the containment screen in their reserve basement.
Indian Point Energy Center (My Slides)
Indian Point Individual Paper
Excerpt from my report:
The Indian Point nuclear reactors are a vital part of the New York power grid supplying up to 11% of the state's electrical power. With the economic consequences associated with the closing of the plant taken into consideration, I represent the sole dissenting view in my group. I feel Indian Point should remain in operation until such time that a refueling of the plant is needed in which all problems could then be addressed. Closing Indian Point immediately to take care of the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) problem would only further hurt an economy which is struggling to recover from the impact of the events which unfolded in September 2001.
New Technology Case Study
In this paper, I had to interview someone working in the engineering field about a hypothetical situation where a new graduate working in the industry has a conflict with their manager and debates whether or not to escalate the problem to a higher level.
Excerpt from my report:
Don's first impression with the engineer in this case is that he or she was cocky and arrogant. He felt that this person did not know enough about the company to know how to propose such a capital improvement. Going behind anyone's back was seen as a bad political move, but ethically feasible if the situation was presented in good spirits. Side-stepping management is view as being too aggressive, getting permission to work out the detail of a project or doing so on your own time is recommended as an alternative. Don Luce recommended that the engineer do more than just argue, but obtain quantitative research to propose within the channels of the company. It would be wise of the engineer to ask around to determine how capital improvements are made. This engineer should get better acquainted with the inner workings of the company and fully understand how the company works before taking any drastic measure. If a decision is made in opposition, the engineer should strongly consider if he or she wants to continue working in the company. If so, Don would suggest backing off a bit and seeing how future proposals work out. In any case, one should rationalize the move he or she is going to take. Understand the company culture and channels in which one can work. If a situation develops when one does go above, be respectful of others and inform the party of such ventures. Above all, document benefits and note figures while keeping the situation in good spirits.
Progress Report 2
Progress Report 3
USAWAY
In this paper, we had to discuss the ethics involved in a situation where a contractor finds out late in a project that a few parts for a "Made in the U.S." product were made in a foreign country.
Excerpt from my report:
USAWAY has chosen Clarke Engineering to design a new product for them using only parts that are made in the United States. Companies such as USAWAY have this specification in product design in order to put the "Made in the U.S." seal on their product. The "Made in the U.S." seal is an advertising technique used to connect with the people buying the product. Some consumers will feel a sense of satisfaction when purchasing a "Made in the U.S." product and even choose that product over a foreign made one. Clarke Engineering has put John Budinski, a quality control engineer, in charge of product design. While putting the product together, John notes that one of the suppliers has failed to mention that one of their components has two special bolts that are only made in another country. Unfortunately for John, there is not enough time left in their contract to design a new bolt and he fears that not meeting the deadline can result in unfortunate consequences for Clarke Engineering.
PS200 - American Government
AP Credit - Elizabeth Howard
I was awarded Advanced Placement credit for this course after completing the AP Government and Politics: United States class at Schaumburg High School and receiving a 4 (out of 5) on the Advanced Placement test.
PS303 - Politics and the Media
Spring 2004 - Paul DeForest
Electronic Voting
During the semester, we had to participate in two group debates. In one of the two debates, we had to write up a report summarizing our viewpoint. This is my report in favor of electronic voting.
Excerpt from my report:
With one of the most controversial elections just behind us, the democratic practice in which we cast our vote needs to be updated. Dangling chads and manual recounts could be a thing of the past. This country needs to wake up to the twenty-first century and embrace the technology in which we have pioneered for the past half-century; the computer. Electronic voting booths could solve the problems of the day by eliminating the human error involved in casting a vote. Touch screens with graphical displays could serve as our next butterfly-ballot. The dangers involved with security over the Internet can be circumvented with the use of electronic voting machines in place of the manual punch machines of the day. IBM abandoned their punch card machines back in the 1960s and it is about time the US Government does the same today.
Final (Take Home Test)
For the final in this class, we had a take home writing assignment where we had to answer a series of questions related to the semester coursework.
TV Regulation (Debate Notes)
During the semester, we had to participate in two group debates. On the topic of TV Regulation, these are my notes in the opposition.
PSYC301 - Industrial Psychology
Fall 2002 - Daniel Lezotte
Chapter 2 - Case Study Questions
Chapter 5 - Case Study Questions
Research Paper - Performance Appraisal
For the research paper in this class, I had to choose an area of industrial psychology to write about and interview someone in the workforce about it, I choose Performance Appraisals.
Excerpt from my report:
Performance appraisal, performance review, performance evaluation, personnel rating, merit rating, employee appraisal, or employee evaluation, call it what you will, the evaluation of a job and the result that follows can alter an employee in many different levels. An employee's wages, training, position, and status all depend on how well or poorly he or she scores on a job evaluation. Performance appraisals reflect the actual goals accomplished and the level of contribution put forth by an individual rather than the employee's effectiveness. The appraisal looks at the aspects of an employee that can be controlled by the individual. A performance appraisal, while it might be modified for each particular job, does not hold any bias to the ranking of an employee. All employees are looked upon in the same manner, those holding similar positions are judged on similar scales. There are many types of evaluations that take place in the business world ranging from self to peer reviews as well as supervisor evaluations. There are also two main different types of performance appraisals: absolute and comparative. Supervisors take into account self reviews, peer reviews, and the outcome of a scaled job evaluation before making any type of managerial decision. Absolute and comparative performance appraisals as well as self and peer ratings all influence the supervisors' performance judgments of an individual employee. Choosing what kind of performance appraisal and to what extent ratings have on an individual's final review are the kinds of questions companies need to answer.
