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CpE Handbook: Engineering Design
CpE Handbook: Engineering Design
ABET defines engineering design as follows:
"Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. It is a
decision-making process (often interactive), in which the basic sciences and mathematics and engineering sciences are
applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated object."
Further, ABET requires that:
"Each educational program must include a meaningful, major design experience that builds upon the fundamental concepts
of mathematics, basic sciences, the humanities and social sciences, engineering topics and communication skills. The scope
of the design experience within a program should match the requirements of practice within that discipline."
And, although ABET emphasize the importance of this major design experience, it also cautions that:
"Design cannot be taught in one course; it is an experience that must grow with the student's development."
The importance of this in the Computer Engineering curriculum as you experience it, will be that you will be given design
assignments in various courses which gradually increase in scope and intensity. You should look upon each design exercise
as an opportunity to pull together several, or many, things that you have learned previously and apply them to the problem
at hand. Your gain in understanding and skill will be commensurate with your effort to understand and improve your
performance in the process (technique). You will find that the more you try to apply the concepts as you learn them, the
more insight you will develop and the more "fun" you will have in carrying out the design assignments in addition to
developing a skill that will insure professional success.
Note that in the ABET description of the design experience, engineering is a "social occupation" in that:
- It is most often done in a group (project team) setting.
- The engineer utilizes the resources - money and materials - provided by some segment of the society in order to attain
a goal that must be recognized as useful and valuable by the society.
- The engineer is absolutely required to duly protect the health and well-being of humans and the environment in which
the society lives.
One of the important implications of the societal nature of the engineering occupation is the necessity to clearly
communicate both with engineering colleagues and with non-technical people. One of the most urgent requests of the
advisory boards of the various departments within the College of Engineering and Science, as well as that of the
College itself, has been that we provide training in both oral and written communications. In response, the Effective
Technical Communication (ETC) program has been developed and integrated into many of the engineering courses that you
will take. Communication skills, like design skills, are learned only through patient practice and desire to improve
performance.
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