Focus on Scholarship: David Sianez

Creative solutions, believes Dr. David Sianez, assistant professor of technology education, are realized through experimentation, failure, and research. That is why he engages students in applied learning. “Whatever the topic—whether building a human-powered vehicle (HPV) or designing a remotely operated submersible—concrete experiences make abstract concepts more readily grasped,” he states.

Sianez holds the doctorate in curriculum and instruction/technology education from Virginia Tech and is interested in the subject of open-ended technological problem-solving. Much of his innovative scholarly research has involved student participation.

His latest project is an ambitious venture to design and manufacture a human-powered vehicle. The torpedo-shaped, two-wheeled, foot-powered craft—equipped with a video camera and flat-screen monitor—speeds along at a respectable 40 mph. “Our team of students—Ed Szydlowski, Craig Rogers, and Bob Yanes—along with myself and some 18 students worked on the vehicle. We entered it in the annual International Human Powered Vehicle Association contest, and we were thrilled to win the Determination and Spirit Award.” The event took place along an isolated stretch of interstate highway in Battle Mountain, Nevada.

Sianez, in the three years since joining the School of Technology, has also used the project as a “vehicle” for presentations at several regional seminars and conferences. Drawing on the research he and his students conducted, he now has a manuscript in progress describing human-powered terrestrial transportation technology.

“The human-powered vehicle speed competitions have been around for a couple of decades,” explains Sianez. “World records for the IHPVA event stand at about 81mph for men and around 66 mph for women. The collegiate record is around 60 mph and is held by Cal Poly San Louis Obispo. The point of designing such a vehicle is instructional.” Members of CCSU’s Human Powered Speed Vehicle Club spent countless hours after school and on weekends perfecting the vehicle, which is made from bicycle parts, carbon fiber for the fully enclosed composite shell, and Kevlar.

Technology Principles in Action

Senior Ed Szydlowski, beginning to pedal the human-powered speed
vehicle down a taxiway at the Meriden-Markham Airport during a
practice run, gets a helpful push-off from his professor, David Sianez.
Sianez guided the students as they created conceptual and CAD drawings, constructed prototypes, and discussed how to improve designs. “We had to do research on safety integration, aerodynamics, drive-train efficiency, ergonomics, and, of course, vehicle construction,” comments Sianez, adding quickly, “and psychology.” That enclosed space of the shell can feel claustrophobic, since the vehicle has no windows and is guided by two on-board cameras connected to a LCD monitor. “But there’s no need for a panic attack,” he laughs. “The inside is like a hollow container, so if you hit a rock the sound reverberates like a drum. It’s noisy. You can hear the wind rushing by. It’s important to concentrate on going as fast as you can, but it’s also important to feel confident that the types of construction materials used, such as Kevlar, can protect you and the vehicle.”

A major adjustment, he notes, is to “learn how to ride a recumbent bicycle, becoming accustomed to a new position that is constrained and constricted. The cyclist is tested physically as well as mentally. So I motivate my students to work out, because a winning aerodynamic design needs a driver who is in top-notch, athletic shape.”

Test runs are part of the final stages of the process. As often as possible, the team practices at the Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport’s 3,100-foot taxi way, which is a controlled, safe environment.

Sianez’ interest in transportation experimentation began when he was a science teacher at Coventry High School, where he coached three students in the design and construction of an alternative energy vehicle for a state competition. His students won top awards. Subsequently, when he earned a master’s in technology education at CCSU his interest in the subject deepened.

Robots—Underwater and on Mountainsides

Sianez’s innovative endeavors extend to the technical design of robots. He has devised a number of intriguing student projects grounded in, what he terms, authentic tasks. A remotely operated submersible project, for example, challenged students to develop a vehicle to recover objects from a documented wreck at sea. In the process they learned concepts of buoyancy, visual acuity, lighting, hydraulic and electric control mechanism, electric motors, and product design and construction. “The vehicle design parameters were determined by what needed to be recovered and where these items were located,” explains Sianez.

Recently, Sianez mentored seniors Ed Sydlowski and Michael Retano in a project to design an off-road wheelchair for mountain climbing recreation. “They have prototypes right now and hope to have a full, working model by the end of the semester,” he says. “They made a poster presentation at CCSU’s University Research and Creative Achievement Day.”

Riding Over the Next Horizon

Sianez is exploring other areas of research, too. He is now preparing a manuscript on aquaculture technology for middle and secondary education. He is also developing a multimedia instructional CD focusing on aquaculture re-circulating systems. But he hasn’t lost sight of the HPV. Sianez and his students have prepared the human-powered vehicle for an American Society of Manufactur-ing Engineers competition at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in May. “It’s a warm-up,” he says, “because, come October, once again we’re off to the World Human Powered Speed Challenge in Nevada. And, we’re determined to be good to go for top honors.”

 — Geri Radacsi

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