Entry-level engineers are encouraged to participate in the Fundamentals of Environmental Testing tutorial certificate program. Three tutorials will be included, and can be taken as part of the certificate program or as stand-alone classes. Fundamentals of Climatic Testing will cover basic elements of climatic testing, including discussion of climates and their effects, why this type of testing should be done, and the typical equipment used to do the testing. The instructor, David Gibbons, is an equipment support technician working in Agilent Technologies’ Hardware Test Lab. Fundamentals of Shock Testing will provide an overview of the sources, effects, measurement, and simulation of shock events. The most common methods and machines for simulating shock will be presented. Robert (Andy) Anderson, test lab manager of BAE Systems, Inc., will teach the course. Fundamentals of Vibration Testing will discuss elementary vibration analysis, single and multiple degree-of-freedom models in time domain and frequency domain, and estimation of modal parameters (natural frequencies, mode shapes, and damping). The instructor, Abhijit Gupta is a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Northern Illinois University.

A tutorial on Environmental Chamber Maintenance and Repair is designed for test chamber operators and maintenance personnel and other chamber users who are interested in maintenance protocols. Eric Berchtold, engineering manager at Cincinnati Sub-Zero Products will teach the course.

Engineers practicing in laboratory settings are likely to face a range of ethical dilemmas at some point in their careers. Responses to these dilemmas can be influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that may challenge one’s professional judgment. This new, informative tutorial, Laboratory and Engineering Ethics, will identify these agents of influence and offer practical strategies to address them. Dr. Dan Cabrera is multimedia coordinator for the Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University (NIU).

The Basics of Developing Environmental Life Cycle Profiles for MIL-STD-810G explains the nature of Environmental Life Cycle Profiles in tailoring environmental design and test criteria and provides guidance for developing these profiles for commercial and military products. The instructor, Hank Caruso, has more than 30 years of experience in the professional discipline of environmental, reliability, and life testing.

Information on experiment design for solar radiation testing alone and in combination with weather/climate, including the interpretation of solar testing results and the effective use of available experimental tools and resources, will be discussed in the tutorial, Will it Last? – Effective Solar and Environmental Strategies and Tools. George Coonley of KHS Lighting and Allen Zielnik of Atlas Materials Testing, LLC, will instruct the course.

Another new tutorial this year is related to shakers. Electro-Dynamic Shaker Maintenance and Repair will discuss the preventive actions that can be taken ahead of failure as well as the types of equipment most likely to be in current use. Lab managers and vibration test engineers are encouraged to participate in this practical session instructed by Ken Keys of KRK Service, LLC.