Multidisciplinary Design Project

Catalog description

This course will provide students with the opportunity to learn the design process in the context of an industry- or government-sponsored or service-based design project that demands delivering a working solution. The design projects in this course will be structured for students from two or more different engineering majors, as defined by the project sponsors in collaboration with the instructor and departmental project coordinators. While the projects may be supplied/supported/initiated by industry, topics may be related to the cutting-edge multidisciplinary research areas represented by the strengths and diversity of the Engineering Science faculty, such as nanotechnology, biomaterials, and other areas requiring cross-discipline collaboration. The project sponsor will provide the technical expertise for the project, a clear definition of all project deliverables, and the financial support to cover needed materials and supplies and travel costs. Project sponsors will be invited to attend two key events each semester: Project Kickoff in week 1 of the semester to define the project and answer questions from the students as well as the Design Showcase in week 15 of the semester, when teams present their project results to sponsors, faculty, other students, and the public. The College of Engineering will provide the facilities where the design teams will work together to develop the design concept and prototype solutions. Faculty members in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics will administer the course, including reading, evaluating, and grading the final project report, provide lectures on topics including on project management, design, product manufacturing, intellectual property, engineering ethics, societal/global/contemporary/professional issues, and related technical topics, and organize invited technical lectures related to industry projects. In accordance with standard procedures, specific multidisciplinary projects will be selected for this course to provide challenging design experiences for all students. The selection of these projects will be done by the course instructor prior to the start of each semester of the course offering. Multidisciplinary teams are be formed based on specific technical elements of the project and project scope.