Each semester Dr. Bloebaum advises the senior design projects of a small group of undergraduate students. She also coordinates students working on the SAE Supermileage Vehicle.
Dr. Bloebaum has taught a two course sequence in aerospace structures. In-class lab demonstrations give students a feel for the practical applications of structural analysis.
Dr. Bloebaum teaches two courses in Optimization in Engineering Design. The first course introduces the traditional nonlinear optimization methods that can be used to solve a wide variety of engineering design problems across all engineering disciplines. By the end of the semester, the student will have gained a basic knowledge of numerical optimization algorithms and will have sufficient understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of these algorithms to apply them appropriately in engineering design.
The second optimization course (which does not require the first as a prerequisite) introduces non-traditional methods including optimality criteria methods, dual methods, heuristic methods such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, and multidisciplinary design optimization in both classes. Students are required to write code which directly applies each method to a set of example problems.
Dr. Bloebaum has recently developed a new course in concurrent design that addresses theoretical as well as practical issues for designing in large-scale, multidisciplinary environments, where integration of participating disciplines is essential but often difficult. It is interdisciplinary in nature with design students from many departments participating. Concepts reviewed include; Concurrent Engineering, Total Quality Management, Quality Function Deployment, Robust Design, Taguchi's Quality Functions, Teaming Approaches for Complex Design, and many others. Industrial case studies are investigated and design projects incorporating some or all of the above concepts provide first-hand experience.