Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 3.054 Cellular Solids: Structure, Properties and Applications as it was taught by Dr. Lorna Gibson in Spring 2014.

This course spotlights the structure and mechanical behavior of honeycombs and foams; students apply models for the behavior of cellular solids to applications in engineering and medicine and to natural materials.

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

  • Learn about the structure of cellular materials and to understand how that structure can be related to mechanical or thermal properties of the materials.
  • Gain an appreciation of the broad range of cellular materials, and how similar principles can be applied to all of these materials.

Possibilities for Further Study/Careers

Academic and industry careers, including biomedical engineering, orthopedics, osteoporosis, orthopedic materials, and materials for engineering applications.

 

Instructor Insights

An image of instructor Lorna Gibson taken from an interview in which she is seated at a table in her office explaining a concept from the course.

In the following short videos, Professor Lorna Gibson describes various aspects of how she taught 3.054 Cellular Solids.

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

3.032 Mechanical Behavior of Materials

Requirements Satisfied

Offered

Offered every spring.

The Classroom

  • Classroom with three curved rows of desks facing a small table in front of a chalkboard; a lectern is placed on top of the table.

    Room 1 of 1

    Lecture

    Lectures were held in a classroom with seating for up to 35 students; the room featured moveable furniture, tablet armchairs, and an LCD projector.

 

Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by problem sets. 10% Problem sets (5)
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by a project. 30% Project
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by tests. 60% Tests (2)
 

Student Information

17 students took this course when it was offered in 2014.

Breakdown by Year

Undergraduates (mostly juniors or seniors), and graduate students.

Breakdown by Major

Mainly material science and engineering students.

Typical Student Background

Students must have taken a course in solid mechanics or mechanical behavior of material in order to be able to follow the derivations and understand what goes on in this course.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

3 hours per week
  • Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hours per session; 25 sessions total.
  • Mostly lecture.
 

Out of Class

9 hours per week
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
2 Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
3 No classes throughout MIT. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
4 Lecture session scheduled. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
5 Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
6 Lecture session scheduled. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
7 Lecture session scheduled. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; exam held. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
8 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
9 Guest speaker scheduled. No session scheduled. Guest speaker scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
10 Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
11 Lecture session scheduled. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
12 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
13 Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
14 Lecture session scheduled. Office hours held. Lecture session scheduled; exam held. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
15 Lecture session scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session scheduled; assignment due date. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
16 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when class sessions are held. Lecture session
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when assignments are due. Assignment due date
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when exams are held. Exam
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when guest speakers are scheduled. Guest speaker
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when office hours are held. Office hours