Design Thinking and 3D Printing in Engineering and Healthcare

Catalog description

Design Thinking and 3D Printing in Engineering and Healthcare ( ENGR 120N ) is an introductory general education interdomain course. The course will introduce basic concepts of design processes, engineering, and medicine. The course will assist students in realizing the power of creativity and imagination as it is applied to the use of emerging technologies to solve design dilemmas at the local, regional, national, and international levels. Students will be encouraged to secure an interdisciplinary and collaborative foundation through an exploration of topics including basic engineering, human anatomy and health, design (proportion, structure, integrity, design, scale, manufacturing, iteration), Design Thinking concepts (empathize, define, create, prototype, and test), problem-solving processes (brainstorming, free thought, think aloud, reverse engineering), 3D production processes, Bioprinting (use of biofilm to create human tissue and organs), Engineering, Medicine, and Microprinting (creating works of art from photos taken from microscope slides). Students will be encouraged to view projects from the User/Patient perspective. Promotion of integrative thinking will be encouraged throughout the coursework with the goal of increasing the incorporation of design, problem-solving, engineering and medicine in the disciplines of study for individual students. Integrative thinking will be assessed through student involvement in online discussions, case studies, class conversations encompassing ethical/legal/financial considerations to design issues, studio time, image production and manipulation, internet file sharing, materials/properties selection, production processes, and interdisciplinary individual and team-based projects encompassing creative expression and science. By the end of the course, students will be furnished with basic knowledge and strategies to evaluate the role of design in the world and to independently act on the information. This course will fulfill 3 credits of the General Education requirements addressing the interdomain fields of Art (GA) and Natural Sciences (GN). No prerequisites are required for the course. This course will serve as an introduction to the basic ideas of design, creativity, imagination and problem-solving to complement development in science disciplines across the university community.