Principles of Engineering Design
What is the difference between science and engineering? What are the techniques that must be applied for successfully tackling any engineering challenge, from designing and building a bed-side table to conceptualizing and sending a shuttle to space? How can a group of engineers efficiently compartmentalize a multi-system project, allocate tasks and optimize the budget provided to solve a multifaceted constructional problem? This course explores a range of topics from physics and science and bridges the gap between pure theoretical knowledge and its practical application. Through daily doses of lectures, class discussions, problem-solving and plentiful hands-on lab activities, the students will be exposed to an array of concepts, varying from Newtonian dynamics and circuitry to fluid dynamics and thermal physics and through their application, complete engineering tasks of progressively increasing complexity.
Learning objectives:
Apply concepts from various topics of physics into practical constructional projects with strict requirements, aimed at tackling specific problems of varying complexity and constraints.
Train in the engineering design process, practical problem-solving and collaborative teamwork to complete assigned engineering design and production tasks.
Develop and train a variety of technical skills, including detailed technical drawings of projects, precision soldering of electronic components and wood work skills.