Engineering: Design and Prototyping

This course uses immersive hands-on approaches to connect engineering design and materials science with the scientific process of discovery and development, and to the practical real-world constraints that determine whether ideas succeed, such as feasibility, durability, efficiency, sustainability, safety, and cost. Students will learn to translate observations about problems and ideas into well-framed engineering problems and then build toward a functional solution through structured prototyping cycles.

A defining feature of the course is that students don’t just build. In this course they learn to think like scientists and engineers and to translate their creations into products as entrepreneurs. Teams form hypotheses about what will improve their designs, run controlled tests, collect measurements, and use evidence to choose between design options. A hands-on materials component builds intuition about processes and materials through simple but rigorous comparative tests, such as stiffness/deflection, impact resistance, friction/wear, and basic process testing, helping students justify design and material choices and understand tradeoffs. The overall experience is designed to include a minimum of 40% hands-on requirement, with daily build-and-test sessions.

Entrepreneurship is integrated in a practical way. Students learn how to craft a clear value proposition, compare alternatives, estimate rough costs, and use user feedback as actionable data to update requirements. This keeps their engineering grounded in reality and strengthens the incentive for quality work where the prototypes are designed not only to work, but to matter to a user and be possible to make. Communication is treated as an engineering skill where students document decisions and defend claims with evidence, not assumptions or hype.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Apply the full engineering innovation cycle—discovery, design, prototyping, testing, iteration, and communication—to create a functional prototype.
2. Demonstrate safe workshop practices by following PPE requirements, shop protocols, and appropriate tool use.
3. Develop and refine designs based on user needs and testing results, documenting design decisions and iterations.
4. Assess prototype performance through testing and use evidence to justify design improvements.
5. Communicate design intent and outcomes effectively through a prototype demonstration and founder-style pitch.

Note: Information is subject to change as course content is finalized.