Cramming Twenty Pounds Into A Five Pound Bag: Increasing Curricular Loads On Design Students And Enjoying It

Design has grown both as a discipline and as a domain. As a result, the number of topics to be covered in an undergraduate design course has also grown dramatically. Mechanical engineering students need a working familiarity with the various new design methodologies, proficiency with powerful Computer Aided Design (CAD) and solid modeling tools, and exposure to modern manufacturing methods. Industry (and ABET) demands that they be able to work in teams, and be effective communicators. Of course, they need to “do” design, that is, to demonstrate “the ability to work professionally in both thermal and mechanical systems areas including the design and realization of such systems.”