A major component of the Senior Project class is "design"; however, exactly what is design and how do you design?
de sign n: the arrangement of parts, details, form, color, etc. so as to produce an artistic or skillful invention.
This chapter describes the design process, how do you evaluate a design (does it work, does it meet technical specifications, does it meet cost requirements, does it create any ethical dilemmas, etc.). Note that many of these are the same things which we are covering in this class.
In general we think of design tools as instruments, breadboards, etc. which we use to construct and test a design. However, there are many additional tools which an engineer uses. For example, the ability to work in a team, how to generate new ideas, and keeping good documentations are essential to modern engineering design.
Chapter 6 - The Use of Failure in Engineering Design
Almost nothing works perfectly right the first time. Furthermore, because of scaling there may be additional parameters which were not necessary in previous designs. The analysis of how and why something failed is critical to the success of future designs. This chapter considers some examples of engineering failure.
Engineers are known for their poor communications abilities. However, professional success requires professional and high quality communications. Communications ranges from e-mail and personal interaction to how to make a formal presentation to management or how to present a paper at a conference.