Student Design For The Developing World

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has instituted a sophomore-level course entitled “ECE Design” to focus on teaching design as a process, with the specific intents of better preparing students for their senior capstone design projects, and at the same time assessing their ability to apply fundamental knowledge in a design context. The ECE Design course is run as a simulated business, with faculty serving as “Engineering Managers” who teach the process of design and manage the learning experience. The students work in three-person design teams to design a viable product, from market research through to demonstration of a working prototype. The student teams keep extensive engineering notebooks, report out their work to the faculty and external evaluators in technical Design Reviews, and submit formal design reports.