Virtuous Engineering Design

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Description: This course will focus on the beginning stages of the engineering design process that are typically completed for students in most design courses. Specifically, students will identify customers from some part of Ireland, discover opportunities that can be explored during the design process, develop the associated problem statement, and ultimately propose an initial solution. These opportunities do not need to be novel in nature. Rather, they can look to improve upon existing technologies employed in Ireland. And the solutions should utilize commodities and/or industries local to Ireland. Groups will be formed based on student responses to a self-assessment survey of various skills. Each group project will require a technical model based on fundamental physics and mathematics while also considering the non-engineering impacts of their designs such as environmental, financial, social, or cultural aspects. Various virtues will be introduced throughout the course along with examples of how they apply to engineering careers and design problems. There will be a mixture of individual and group assessments with an emphasis on technical communication.