CERTIFICATE in ENGINEERING DESIG

A certificate is to be awarded to students who complete the requirements. For entrance into the certificate program, students must be at least 4th semester standing. The GPA considered for admission will be consistent with, or equivalent to, the GPA required for entrance to any major in the student’s department. To continue in the program, students must earn a B grade or better in each qualifying course or independent study or pursue a replacement option.

A minimum of 13 credits is required for completion of the certificate with no fewer than 6 credits at the 400-, or 500- level. These credits may be obtained with courses and independent study for certified design work on projects that are consistent with learning outcomes of the certificate. Up to three credits may be obtained through a pre-approved coop experience that is primarily design work. One credit is allowed for the portfolio development under any engineering 496 option.

It is understood that students in different majors have required design courses already and that such requirements vary somewhat by major. This design certificate is a measure of adding at least 9 credits of interdisciplinary design courses and/ or project experiences beyond those that are required, some or all of which might be in the major of the student. Further, it is important that these additional qualifying courses and experiences are interdisciplinary in nature. Only three credits are allowed for required courses and this includes EDSGN 100 to recognize the importance both of lower level design courses, and of studying design methods systematically. In general, capstone design courses are already required and often very discipline specific, so they are assumed rather than recognized by this certificate.

Students should complete the Application Form [see Appendix A] and submit it to the Coordinator for the Certificate in Engineering Design at any time between attaining fourth semester status and graduation. Registration in the fourth semester is recommended. For more information and registration for the certificate contact

213J Hammond Bldg, University Park, PA 16802
814-865-3163, Secr. 865-2952, FAX 863-7229, rdevon@psu.edu

Students wishing to complete the Certificate in Engineering Design must prepare an application (see Appendix A) indicating how they plan to meet the Certificate’s requirements and must submit this application to the Certificate Coordinator. Students are highly encouraged to submit the application as soon as possible once they have made the decision to complete the Certificate.

The program is not limited to undergraduate students in the College of Engineering. Interested graduate students as well as students in engineering programs outside the College of Engineering will be eligible. Each applicant will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis with approval from both the student’s department and the Coordinator for the Engineering Design Certificate.

The practice of design has changed over the last three decades, and it is now widely viewed by professionals as a social process with a series of stages that vary somewhat with the nature of the design and the approaches taken by the design teams. For each stage, a variety of tools and methods is available. There are still many who believe in the lone designer who has a bright idea and does a lot of analysis and testing, or the seasoned veteran in industry who keeps doing it until he or she becomes good at it by virtue of experience. The new paradigm embraces both experience and the role of individuals in producing ideas, but design, even innovative design, is now considered teachable and best done in social processes. Further, naming design practices of the applied skills within majors such as machine design or the design of steel structures is not affected by the new paradigm, although they may benefit from adopting some new tools in say concept generation or concept selection. But, obviously, they should still be called “machine design,” etc.

The new paradigm applies to the increasingly frequent use of design in interdisciplinary settings and the use of a core set of methods and tools. There are now dozens of textbooks in engineering design that embrace this approach, and many research journals dedicated to advancing core methods and tools in design as well as interdisciplinary design such as design for the environment/sustainable design, design for human variability, and industrial design. Thus, “engineering design” can be, and increasingly is, used to refer to design that means,

1. The interdisciplinary integration of the ideas, disciplines, people, and resources within engineering and beyond in a defined social design process that develops solutions for products, systems, processes, and services.

2. A design process that follows the definition of engineering design in ABET Criterion 3c; “an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.” So, in application, the design process is interdisciplinary in context.

According to the surveys of recent engineering graduates carried out by the College of Engineering biennially for over a decade, the percentage reporting design, and design related, responsibilities is well over half and growing. Of these trends, specific responsibilities in design are showing the greatest change in responsibility since the first survey. Here are the data for cohorts 1993–2000.

Percentage of alumni reporting design & design related responsibilities 1993 - 2000
Activity	1993	2000
Work in teams	83%	98%
Solve problems	85%	98%
Computer-aided design	37%	47%
Ensure compliance with codes and standards	53%	69%
Modeling and simulation	22%	42%
Test products or product components	29%	52%
Design products or product components	22%	52%

Research studies have found that companies that do design well are much more successful than the average company. Arguably, students who develop more ability in design may find jobs more easily, in more successful companies, and possibly at a higher pay than they otherwise would. They should also have good productivity skills, and enjoy better lifetime earnings. A certificate in engineering design is a modest intervention that would allow us to test these propositions by tracking those who attain the certificate through the interview process and their first job.

The Engineering Design Program (EDP) is home to a uniquely dedicated group of about 20 engineering faculty who teach, research, and practice engineering design. This includes 6 affiliate faculty members representing four other departments and this list is growing.

· They offer design courses from the first year to graduate studies and off-site training in design methods.

· It is an interdisciplinary base that includes all engineering fields, and beyond, while being constrained by none.

· The EDP faculty recognizes the multidisciplinary nature of modern systems and products, the need for innovation in the design of them, and the need for graduating students better equipped for design responsibilities that make their employers more competitive and more productive.

· The EDP faculty further recognizes the need for research to advance the methods and tools in engineering design and the transfer of these tools into the practice of engineering design.

Strengths of the EDP are the award winning first-year course, EDSGN 100 (formerly ED&G 100): Introduction to Engineering Design, and a series of 400- and 500-level courses: systems design, innovative design with TRIZ, design cognition (decision making), design for human variability, global design with worldwide partners, innovative integrated product design, sustainable design, service design, and client-based design project experiences. The EDP has been steadily recruiting faculty from nationally ranked schools of engineering who specialize in design, while adding affiliate faculty from many engineering departments. The faculty are increasingly successful in acquiring external funding for design research from NSF, and from other public and industry sources.

This proposal for a certificate in engineering design represents the first time a system of formal recognition of design specialization (a resume entry) has been offered to students in the College of Engineering.

Certificate in Engineering Design (ENDSN)

College of Engineering, University Park