A Promising Model For Integrating Design In Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum

A model for incorporation of a comprehensive design experience into a typical four-year undergraduate engineering curriculum is proposed. This model will provide an evolutionary process through which the students would gain the necessary know-how and a high level of confidence for challenging real world problems. The model has been utilized for the past five years at the College of New Jersey. The success rate of this approach is measured by the performance and creativity level of the two generations of students/graduates who experienced the new environment with both the students/graduates of prior years and students/graduates of other institutions. The foundation of the proposed model is laid in the first semester of the freshman year by introduction of a formal course in fundamentals of engineering design and reinforced in the second semester by a course that brings the elements of liberal arts and humanities into perspective. In the remaining three years of the curriculum, design projects and exercises are strategically incorporated all through the engineering courses targeting the full spectrum of design parameters. Included in these parameters are “Safety, Manufacturability, Cost Effectiveness, Ergonomics, Analytical and Numerical Optimization, use of Commercial Software, Social, Economic and Environmental Factors, Group Dynamics, Project Management and Global Competition.” In the senior year, the required 2-semester Senior Design Project will challenge the students to fully implement the culminating experience they have gained through the above process.