Getting your ears dirty: Noise control education at Michigan Technological University

In the Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics department at Michigan Technological University, students are used to getting their hands dirty. In our undergraduate and graduate courses in Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH), we have taken a similar approach, getting the students' ears dirty. Noise control engineers are not made through classroom lectures, they are molded through hands-on experiences with fundamental acoustics topics in the laboratory, in the community, and in their daily lives. In this presentation, an overview of the NVH curriculum at Michigan Tech will be presented with particular interest given to hands-on (or ears-on) activities designed to supplement lecture materials with formative experiences. Finally, future expansion of our hands-on educational efforts through a new collaboration with the Office of Naval Research's STEM education program, will be presented.