Three Possible Questions for Research Paper 

1.     How can engineers reduce carbon buildup on the intake valves in an engine that uses direct fuel injection?

2.     How does a twin-scroll turbocharger increase an engine’s power without causing a significant sacrifice in fuel economy?

3.     How can a double wishbone suspension design provide better handling in a road car versus a MacPherson suspension design?

A new College Major puts the Spotlight on The University of Nevada at Las Vegas

Textual Rhetorical Analysis

     Many of the world’s most lavish displays of technology and art culminate in the city of Las Vegas, a town known for its extravagant theatrics, circus performances, and now for its ingenuity. At the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, professors from the mechanical engineering and theater departments are teaming up to produce a new major for college students seeking to fill a much needed role in theatrical performances. For years, theater companies would have producers and managers get trained in engineering curriculum before allowing them to design structures and acrobatic routines used in front of thousands of show-goers. However, onstage entertainment continues to become more and more complicated as audiences demand more vibrant displays of risky stunts and show-stopping acrobatics. With the design of more sophisticated forms of onstage entertainment, the demand for engineers has grown considerably, and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas has answered that call. In his article about the new entertainment engineering major at UNLV, Michael Arnone gives valid arguments in favor of the university, saying how it’s making the right choice by introducing this major tailored to the growing demand for engineers in the entertainment and theater industries. Arnone also appeals to college students and faculty at other universities by using specific rhetorical strategies that present arguments from critics of the new program, the current design challenges for onstage shows and the challenges facing entertainment engineers, as well as how the new college major is showing promise in a recent survey course at UNLV. Together, Arnone contends that entertainment and engineering pose a strong force to tackle the design challenges facing onstage theatrics not only in Las Vegas, but also in many countries across the globe.

     When the idea for an entertainment engineering major spread across the United States, educators from many universities claimed it wasn’t a good idea, but the author of the article establishes his side of the case by presenting arguments from critics, and then refuting them by giving sound evidence that UNLV is making the right choice by offering this new major. For example, Arnone describes how Bronislaw J. Sammler, chairmen of the program in technical design and production at the School of Drama at Yale University, believes that such a small program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas “could provide only the most basic training”. This critical statement is then refuted by Robert F. Boehm, a mechanical engineering professor at UNLV, who says, “The size of a program does not predict the success of its graduates as much as other factors, such as practical experience and the mix of courses.” By showing how UNLV can respond to critics of the program, Arnone is implicitly arguing that UNLV is also able to answer and respond to the demand for more engineers in the entertainment industry. In addition, Arnone does not present a counter statement from the chairmen at Yale University, suggesting that UNLV has won the argument and that no further contentions can be made against the new program. This is not the only proof that Arnone is arguing in favor of the entertainment engineering program, as he also continues to make positive remarks about the job opportunities for entertainment engineering graduates for three paragraphs before describing other aspects of the major. Lastly, by using ethos in the form of statements from credible professors and chairmen, Arnone is able to support his argument that the new entertainment engineering major at UNLV is the best method of answering the current demand for engineers in the entertainment industry.

     The current demand for engineers in the entertainment industry has been the result of producing more sophisticated performances for show-goers, and through the utilization of illustration, ethos, personification, and comparison, Arnone explains how entertainment engineers are needed to fill roles previously occupied by trained managers, producers, and designers. In this section of the article, Arnone uses artistry and illustration to put the reader in a theatrical setting, describing the color, material, and shape of the seats and stage lights within a large music/theater hall. Also, Arnone explains how Anthony Ricotta, operations and production manager for “O” (a play about water), sides with UNLV’s decision to offer the entertainment engineering major. Arnone expounds on Ricotta’s expertise in the entertainment business, thus presenting ethical appeal (ethos) as a way of supporting the new program at UNLV. Lastly, the repetition of the vowel “O” not only emphasizes the importance of Ricotta’s role in the play on water, but it also represents the reactions of an audience that is awestruck by the performance of the acrobats in a well-designed play. Arnone implies that this reaction is translated to an audience gasping, “Oh”, and as a result, the title of the play represents the use of personification to describe the audience’s verbal reaction during an impressive show. He also implies that this reaction is becoming more difficult to extract using old design methods and that entertainment engineers are needed to put this reaction back into theatrics. Lastly, Arnone uses the rhetorical method of comparison by describing how entertainment engineers would have to build and design objects never created before. For example, Rick Gray, a former theater professor at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, had to help design a reliable, moving underwater platform in less than a year, because the Otis elevator company said it could not be done. The author of the article uses this example to illustrate how UNLV is advancing an engineering program that has never been launched before by another university. The author also uses the success of building the underwater platform to instill confidence in the reader that an entertainment engineering program will also be a success. By utilizing this comparison method and adequately describing the current challenges and needs in the entertainment industry, Arnone is able to show his support for the development of the new college major at The University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

     The development of the entertainment engineering program is already underway, and through his use of an indirect analogy, ethical appeal, and a rhetorical question, Arnone describes how a recent survey course at UNLV has given positive impressions of the new college major. First, Arnone explains how engineering and theater students collaborated in order to create a show based on nursery rhymes for the course’s final project. He mentions how the theater students initially sat on one side of the room and the engineering students on the other. However, the two groups began to communicate and associate more with each other as the class progressed over a few months time. This lack of socialization during the first few months of class can be compared to how critics disapprove of the introduction of the entertainment engineering major at UNLV, but how the program will become widely-accepted among educators in the United States with time. This indirect analogy also vindicates Arnone’s position that the new major at UNLV will be a success and that it will solve current issues in the entertainment industry related to show design. It is also noticeable how Arnone uses ethical appeal to his advantage to prove how the establishment of entertainment engineering will be a victory for students, entertainment companies, and UNLV. Throughout the last portion of the article, the author quotes two graduate students in mechanical engineering as well as Ellen A. Wartella, the Dean of the College of Communication at the University of Texas Austin, to express his support for the program and it’s respective courses at UNLV. For example, Arnone quotes Jade D. Braithewaite and Cameron M. Nelson, whom are graduate students in mechanical engineering and whom only gave positive remarks about the survey course during their interviews with Arnone. These graduate students give a huge boost in credibility for the author by making positive statements about the course, because Arnone believes that an entertainment engineering major at UNLV is a good idea. Lastly, the author ends the article by posing a rhetorical question, “In the real world it’s happening. Why not at colleges and universities?” This question gives the reader serious thought as to why other colleges have not implemented this idea for an entertainment engineering major before, especially since it’s a major that’s high in demand at entertainment companies. This rhetorical question also leaves the reader thinking about how he/she may want to pursue this college major and how he/she may want to research it further, instead of disregarding it as a meaningless program. In the end, Arnone creates a sense of thought and wonder in the reader by concluding his article with a rhetorical question. This also results in the reader being more likely to take sides with the author, who contends that a degree in entertainment engineering is an excellent method of resolving the growing number of design challenges in the entertainment industry.

     Through the use of analogy, comparison, ethical appeal, illustration, and a rhetorical question, the author of the article provides evidence and support for his argument that an entertainment engineering program is a good idea, and that it answers the call for engineers in the entertainment business. In addition, the author, Michael Arnone, uses these rhetorical strategies to describe the arguments from critics of the new program, the current design challenges for onstage shows and the challenges facing entertainment engineers, as well as how the new college major is showing promise in a recent survey course at UNLV. Together, these rhetorical strategies leave the reader in thought and wonder about how the future of the entertainment industry will depend on the new college major being introduced at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Article for Textual Rhetorical Analysis

A New Engineering Curriculum Tries to Make Magic

     Dateline: LAS VEGAS

At the Bellagio hotel and casino, the curtain rises on Cirque du Soleil's "O" to reveal that the stage is a swimming pool. Looking down from tiered seats, the audience watches swimmers dive into the pool to perform a synchronized water dance.

Then another performer runs over the top of the water -- or magically appears to. In fact, the floor of the pool has risen 25 feet in seconds, with hardly a ripple, to provide a platform.

A few blocks away, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas wants to give students the special engineering and theater skills required by the many lavish shows -- like "O" -- that crowd the Las Vegas Strip. With encouragement from Carol C. Harter, the university's president, professors from the engineering and theater departments are creating a new major called entertainment engineering.

While theater-production courses have existed for years, they have rarely provided the technical skills and industry savvy that many high-tech shows now require. And demand for that expertise is climbing.

Since 2001, the university has made its planned entertainment-engineering major one of its priorities, at the same time as it is trying to become a nationally recognized research university.

Nevada at Las Vegas has played its strong suits before, creating well-known programs in hotel management and in gaming studies, which focuses on the business and cultural aspects of gambling.

But the professors involved in developing the new engineering and theater curriculum acknowledge that they face some challenges. For example, how do you merge two disciplines -- one creative, one technical -- that attract opposite personalities into a cohesive program?

Only a few other universities have tried similar programs, and opinion is divided on whether this one will work. UNLV's efforts to establish a new major show that even when there is a need for specialized training, it takes time to recognize and respond with a new curriculum. And some faculty members at other institutions are skeptical that the program will prepare students for the real world.

"I'll believe it when I see it," says Bronislaw J. Sammler, chairman of the program in technical design and production at the School of Drama at Yale University. That program is considered by many in the entertainment industry to be one of the best in the country.

Theaters need versatile engineers, says Mr. Sammler, but the undergraduate program planned by UNLV is not the best way to produce them. He says a small program like Nevada's -- which is scheduled to offer nine courses in the fall -- could provide only the most basic training.

An entertainment-engineering major for undergraduates would not sufficiently teach how the hardware works, Mr. Sammler warns, nor would it provide the theater context for the technology. Yale has a hard time squeezing all the essentials into a three-year master's-degree program, he says, so "undergrads can't even begin to touch these topics."

Robert F. Boehm, a professor of mechanical engineering at Las Vegas who is leading the project, disagrees. He says the program's combination of academic courses, hands-on work, and location will make it succeed. "Obviously, we won't be able to do everything," Mr. Boehm says. But the size of a program does not predict the success of its graduates as much as other factors, such as practical experience and the mix of courses, he says.

JOBS GALORE?

Some professors and entertainment-industry executives say that UNLV's attempt might succeed because of the widespread need for such expertise, which extends beyond Las Vegas to Broadway and includes high-tech sports and concert arenas, regional theaters, and convention centers.

And for those who get such training but wind up outside the entertainment world, the knowledge and insight they bring to more-mainstream jobs in engineering and architecture will be valuable, say entertainment-industry experts.

Other professors are rooting for UNLV's new program even as they see possible problems. Mary McDonald Badger, a producing director in the theater department at Columbia College Chicago, a private fine-arts college, thinks that the university's idea is "marvelous." It would be great, she says, not to have to struggle to explain artistic priorities to the architects and engineers who work on theater projects. "Any producer would tell you that's a good idea," she says.

THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY

The traditional way to produce the new high-tech shows is for theatrically trained managers, producers, and designers to learn enough engineering to do the job, says Anthony Ricotta, operations and production manager for "O" (a play on eau, the French word for water). But as shows become bigger and more complicated, the technical skills needed are more advanced, and the expertise won't be picked up just by watching, he says.

Engineers and architects have those skills, Mr. Ricotta says, but often don't understand that what may be most efficient from a mathematical or structural standpoint may not be the best solution artistically: "It's little things that pure architects or pure engineers don't think about."

Sitting in a red-velvet seat in the theater, Mr. Ricotta points to boxy stage lights mounted on catwalks high above. The lights were originally placed too close to the catwalk's safety railing, blocking their range of motion, and had to be raised to work properly.

A bigger challenge is that entertainment engineers often have to design and build something that has never been made before, says Rick Gray, a former theater professor at Pennsylvania State University at University Park who now works in Las Vegas creating high-tech shows. While designing the theater for "O," for instance, Mr. Gray contacted the Otis Elevator Company and other elevator manufacturers to see if they could build the moving underwater platform. It would have to be designed and built in months, not years, and operate every day for 10 years without breaking down.

The elevator companies all said it couldn't be done, so Mr. Gray and Cirque du Soleil built their own. Five years later, the platform still works.

Mr. Gray understands the pitfalls of small programs. In the 1980s he ran a popular three-year undergraduate program in theater technology at the State University of New York at Purchase. A decade later, Penn State lured him away and he planned to create a graduate program. Soon after arriving, Mr. Gray took a year off to work with Cirque du Soleil to design the theater for "O."

But less than a year after returning to Penn State, Mr. Gray left academe to work for Disney. He is now director of entertainment projects and development for Wynn Development and Design, the entertainment-engineering company owned by Steve Wynn, a casino mogul who kicked off the race to create high-tech, crowd-pleasing shows and spectacles in Las Vegas.

Dan Carter, director of the School of Theatre at Penn State, says an entertainment-engineering program isn't one that just anyone can create. "It was the first idea I heard that was a real 21st-century idea," he says of Mr. Gray's plan for the major, which he learned of nine years ago. But he says that after Mr. Gray left, the program never got off the ground.

The idea for a similar program has been bubbling at UNLV for at least 10 years, says Mr. Boehm, the mechanical-engineering professor. Brackley Frayer and Joe D. Aldridge, two associate professors of theater, collaborated with him.

Students will be able to sign up for nine classes that will begin in the fall, Mr. Boehm says. The classes will survey the field, introduce principles of technology and design, and culminate in a final project. The full major is expected to be offered in the fall of 2005. Faculty members from the engineering and theater departments have signed on to teach the courses, he says.

Despite a tight budget, the university has provided funds for equipment and for hiring two new professors, says Jeffrey Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts. Several potential donors have shown interest in the program, he says, but the university has so far received just one donation. In October 2002, Martin Professional Inc., which sells computer-controlled lighting to casinos, gave the university $50,000 worth of equipment and training to help prepare for the new courses.

But Mr. Gray warns that entertainment companies may not provide the gravy train that the program at Las Vegas is looking for. Penn State initially believed that Disney would give it money for its program, he says, but that support never materialized. One reason may be that entertainment companies like Disney themselves train graduates to their own specifications, so the programs may be of no benefit to them.

DRESS REHEARSAL

The UNLV professors have thus far taught a survey course in the spring of 2001 and in the spring of 2003. Theater and engineering students, both undergraduate and graduate, met twice a week with guest lecturers from casinos and entertainment companies. The students took field trips to the Strip, where they got to check out a magnetically propelled roller coaster and go backstage at "O."

As a final project, the class designed shows based on nursery rhymes, says Jade D. Braithewaite, a graduate student in mechanical engineering who took the survey class last spring. Each show had to incorporate mechanical systems, lighting, set design, and sound. Teams of students were graded on their stories, their sales pitches to visiting professionals, and their engineering excellence.

Ms. Braithewaite's team designed a show for the "Jack and Jill" nursery rhyme that included a 10-foot-tall robotic baby and actors as Jack and Jill marionettes flying around the stage. They received an A.

The course also brought students from different backgrounds together, Ms. Braithewaite says. The engineers and architects initially sat on one side and the theater students on the other. But after several months, she says, the engineers saw how hard the theater students worked, and the theater students learned how creative the engineers could be. By semester's end, the two groups had started to mingle.

That mingling also let students with feet in both worlds feel at home. "I get a lot of people who look at me funny because I'm a really good mechanical engineer who does ballet," says Cameron M. Nelson, a graduate student who loved the course.

Ellen A. Wartella, dean of the college of communication at the University of Texas at Austin, applauds the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for responding to the market. Ms. Wartella says universities must get more faculty members from different disciplines to talk to one another, and smooth the way for students from different departments to take all the courses they need.

"It strikes at the heart of bridging the differences of the arts and humanities on one side and science and engineering on the other," Ms. Wartella says. "In the real world it's happening. Why not at colleges and universities?"

PHOTO (COLOR): In the Shakespeare Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, creatures and couches in the fairy kingdom can fly. The Washington, D.C., theater company, like others around the country, takes entertainment engineering to new heights.

PHOTO (COLOR): Robert F. Boehm, a mechanical-engineering professor (center, shown at a Las Vegas production company), is leading a new University of Nevada at Las Vegas program in entertainment engineering with Brackley Frayer and Joe D. Aldridge, two theater professors.

~~~~~~~~

By Michael Arnone

Link to the article on EBSCO Host:

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail?sid=714745d4-bc06-4423-84cc-48068b9564d7%40sessionmgr198&vid=1&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=afh&AN=11967768

Additional information about the article:

Authors:

Arnone, Michael

Source:

Chronicle of Higher Education. 1/9/2004, Vol. 50 Issue 18, pA8-A9. 2p. 2 Color Photographs.

Document Type:

Article

Subject Terms:

*ENGINEERING
*THEATER
*CURRICULA (Courses of study)
*HIGHER education

Geographic Terms:

LAS Vegas (Nev.)
NEVADA
UNITED States

Company/Entity:

UNIVERSITY of Nevada, Las Vegas

Abstract:

Provides information on the engineering and theater curriculum at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Challenges faced by the professors involved in developing the curriculum; Reason for the possible success of the university's attempt according to some professors and entertainment-industry executives; Significance of the course to students.

Full Text Word Count:

1907

ISSN:

0009-5982

Accession Number:

11967768

MLA 7 Citation for Visual Rhetorical Analysis photograph:

"Principles of Engineering." POE Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. 
          <http://chou.math.home.comcast.net/~chou.math/poe_main.htm>.

Engineering the Impossible

Visual Rhetorical Analysis

     In mechanical engineering, there are few things that are impossible to build or design, given the right tools and resources. It’s the attainment of these impossible feats that drive mechanical engineers to be good problem solvers around machinery and other mechanisms that perform work. In addition, it takes the simplification of a complex design to solve problems and create easy-to-use technology for everyone, and this same analytical philosophy can be explored further by looking at the image above. This image is a popular visual representation of mechanical engineering and it is directed toward current and aspiring engineers, as well as toward mechanics and others who work with machinery and gears. The purpose of this image is to portray the fundamental skills that engineers need to utilize in order to solve problems and make better-performing products. By taking a closer look and analyzing the gears depicted in the image above, it is possible to see the photographer’s argument that mechanical engineers are challenged to make impossible mechanisms a reality and to make complex designs more simple to understand. The image’s nondescript border and background, the location of the gears within the photograph, and the level of detail portrayed within the image support this assertion. It’s this argument that is central to the purpose of having mechanical engineers in the world, and how many of the products we use every day were idealized and designed through rigorous processes by mechanical engineers.

     If a rigorous process was utilized to create the border and background of the photograph above, it is definitely not apparent. This lack of pizazz in the background and border of the image can be linked to how mechanical engineers are able to simplify an underlying complexity in an object and portray it in an easy-to-understand format. A hazy tan border and a plain white background hint that one’s focus should be directed toward the image itself. Indeed, the white background is barely visible, which also tells that it is either unimportant or it is purposely hidden. In the case that the background is purposely hidden, the photographer may be explaining how one must solve the puzzle of the set of three gears before the background becomes visible. Further support for this conclusion is seen within the inner rings of the gears, where crystallized formations and a texture to the white background are distinguishable. This crumbly looking interior of each of the top two gears describes how mechanical engineers are constantly making new products that were once thought to be impossible to produce, and so the gears in the photograph are beginning to turn and grind away the old beliefs of what can and cannot be done in the world. These old beliefs are represented by the white backdrop, a color that makes reference to how the views of a large population blend together with time, forming a vanilla, universally accepted conclusion. It’s these antiquated conclusions that the author seeks to challenge by creating a simple, yet meaningful background and border for the photograph, showing how mechanical engineers can simplify the most complex innovations and make them understandable and easy-to-use for everyone.

     The background and border of the photograph may not be the most original or creative, but its plain looks allow the viewer to focus his/her attention on the gears and their clever placement within the image. The focus on this photograph helps explain why the audience of this picture is primarily practicing and aspiring engineers, along with older adults who have numerous years of experience working around gears and machinery. The first noticeable aspect of the image is that all three of the gears are visible within the picture. This describes the importance of equality when including all three gears in the above system and how the gears have an equivalent sum of forces. This is important, because engineers do their best to maintain controlled environments when testing and manufacturing products. In addition, the balance of forces and shapes within the image causes the gears to remain stagnant, which is an excellent example of Newton's First Law of Motion. This law states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless another, unbalanced force affects the object. This law is central to the physics mechanical engineers must understand when designing new products and machinery so that gears can rotate easily. In addition, it’s curious how the three gears were arranged: two placed above a single, third one below them. With the gears oriented in their photographed positions, a space resembling a triangle forms in the center of the image between the contact points of all three gears. In mathematics, the Greek letter Δ (Delta) represents change and the difference between one function and another. The formation of the Greek letter “Delta” within the image acts as strong evidence for how mechanical engineers are changing old beliefs and notions by creating parts and designing objects that were once thought to be things of the imagination.

     This formation of the Greek letter “Delta” within the photograph not only exemplifies the photographer’s attention to the placement of the gears, but also his/her attention to detail on and around the gears themselves. This attention to detail is a commonality for engineers, who must meet given tolerances and guidelines to protect customer's safety and certify the performance given by the product.  Upon first look, the gears appear to have many teeth, a cylindrical body, and a circular center. However, the more time spent gazing at the set of gears reveals many more parts and many carefully placed objects that contributed to the overall complexity within this seemingly simple photograph. For instance, each gear contains at least five parts, including ball bearings, an outer shell containing the gear’s “teeth”, a housing for the ball bearings, an inner raised lip between the circular center and the ball bearing housing, as well as a lip midway down the center hole of each gear. These five parts are often overlooked when briefly looking at the picture, but they represent the methods mechanical engineers use to make a complex system easy-to-use and understand. In addition, the lip that’s halfway down the center hole indicates that each gear may be two separate entities. This method of hiding smaller, less noticeable details also explains how mechanical engineers manage to eradicate a system’s complexity and cover an object’s inner workings with a simple-to-understand outer shell. Lastly, this lip in each gear’s center hole shows how a complex design is often employed to make impossibilities become a reality, and how the three gears in the image may be able to rotate if they are made of multiple moving parts. This is further proof of how mechanical engineers are constantly changing and improving designs and processes that we use every day, making them more efficient and more practical for customers and users around the globe.

     Through the process of analyzing the image’s nondescript border and background, the location of the gears within the photograph, and the level of detail portrayed within the image, it is possible to understand the photographer’s argument that mechanical engineers put old beliefs to rest by creating unfeasible mechanisms a reality and by making new innovations easy-to-use and understand.

MLA 7 Source Citation for Visual Rhetorical Analysis photograph:

"Principles of Engineering." POE Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. 
          <http://chou.math.home.comcast.net/~chou.math/poe_main.htm>.