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ABET Definition of Engineering
Design
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Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component, or
process to meet desired needs. It is a decision making process (often
iterative), in which the basic sciences, mathematics, and engineering
sciences are applied to convert resources optimally to meet a stated
objective. Among the fundamental elements of the design process are the
establishment objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction,
testing and evaluation.
The engineering design component of a curriculum must include most of
the following features: development of student creativity, use of open
ended problems, development and use of modern design theory and
methodology, formulation of design problem statements and specifications,
consideration of alternative solutions, feasibility considerations,
production processes, concurrent engineering design, and detailed system
descriptions. Further, it is essential to include a variety of realistic
constrains such as economic factors, safety, reliability, aesthetics,
ethics, and social impact.
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What is Senior Design?
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The Senior Design Sequence is the most important challenge of the
Senior Year. The College
of Engineering and
Engineering Technology at NIU requires engineering and technology majors
to complete a capstone project before graduation. The capstone offers the
opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills gained in classes and labs
to a real-life application of product design, system solution, or process
improvement. Designated the Senior Design Project, the capstone may be
completed individually or with a small team and may involve from one to
three semesters of preparation, planning and implementation.
During this period, students form teams, select an area of interest,
and create and present design proposals to the faculty advisors. Some
projects address specific requests from local industry, while others are
innovative inventions. After spending the designated semesters working on
solutions to their design problems, students assemble a formal report
which they present at the Senior Design Presentation Day scheduled at the
end of both the Fall and Spring semesters.
At the event of Senior Design Presentation Day, up to 55 student
projects are presented to students, administrators, faculty, parents, and
industry representatives. Prototypes, visuals, data, summary posters--as
well as professional dress--are required. The students will then
submit senior project papers to be viewed, critiqued, and praised by the
department faculty and staff as well as many outside corporate officials
from companies such as Motorola, Caterpillar, BlackHawk Molding , etc.
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Course Objectives and Requirements
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The Senior Design Project is a real world problem or a new concept
where students will be challenged to find a solution. This problem will
encompass many areas of engineering and concepts throughout the industry
as possible. Students will have to learn and use new ideas to solve
the problems. This course will teach how to handle problems which may
arise in design situations in industry where a solution is unknown. In
Addition, this course will also help the student prepare for
presentations that will be given on products, problems, or new concepts
in future jobs. Written documentation is an essential part of
communication that must happen from a small paper describing what is
happening to a full report covering the entire project. Students must
become prepared for what is expected of them after graduation.
The topics and requirements for this course are varied and many as
explained above. For this reason, the senior design capstone project is
one of the last classes taken for the degree in mechanical engineering.
The courses taken prior has the potential to all be used for this
project. Some of the projects are new concepts or ideas and will have to
be researched prior to being completed. The courses for the degree only
get students ready for assimilation of new concepts and technologies and
gives them a basis for understanding these new concepts.
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Selecting a Team and Topic
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In general, students have the freedom to choose the teammates that
they will be working with and the projects to be done. Students form a
team of three to four, not necessarily from the same discipline.
The teams will then search for several realistic problems; use you
team members' experiences, contacts (e.g. from co-op, other employment,
friends, faculty, etc.), check the various senior design bulletin boards
around campus, or brainstorm new concepts to be designed or investigated.
The team will then have to decide on which of these projects are the most
interesting and which can be accomplished within the time constraint of the
course. Researching each topic will help shorten the list of potential
candidates down to a couple of possibilities. After the list of possible
choices are narrowed down to a couple, more research should be performed
to find which project is the first choice and which is the secondary
choice. The next step is to find a Faculty Advisor that will act as your
team's "Consultant" in the project. This should be a faulty
member who performs research in this area or is in the closest related
field. This Advisor will help narrow the scope of the project to find a
small problem to address. Research on this focused area to establish the
real problem to be tackled, what the constraints on its solution might
be, what tasks are required to be completed in order to solve that
problem, etc.
A formal proposal is written up and submitted and a oral presentation
will be completed.
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