Principles Of Living Systems And Engineering Design For Freshmen Level Students In Biological Engineering: Design Of A Tiger Habitat

The design of a tiger habitat for LSU mascot Mike the Tiger was assigned as a class project for BE 1252: Biology in Engineering, a required freshmen level course in the Biological Engineering Curriculum. This project was chosen because of its relevance in illustrating the boundary between living systems (animal, human and plant) and the environment, because of its proximity to and interest for students, and because of the ease with which students could grasp the intricate nature of a biological engineering design problem without high level math skills. Emphasis was placed on “big picture” concepts involved in design, including the engineering design method, methods of evaluating decisions, and consideration of differing perspectives and how they affect the final design. Students worked in teams to create initial designs, then consolidated and prepared a final design, which was presented to a panel of tiger habitat design experts, and a university administrator. Student motivation for this project was very high, and all students reported that the tiger project was illustrative and helpful for them in understanding concepts involved in biological engineering design in an end of the semester evaluation. Students continued work on this project after the semester ended, and are attempting to propose their design to the university community for implementation. In this paper, the rationale and methods for using this project in a freshmen level design course are presented, and the results and implications are discussed.