Designing the Design Engineer

The modern engineering curriculum has evolved to be heavily weighted with science and analysis. Recent concern with the need for instruction in design has led to the introduction of capstone design courses. These courses give the student an opportunity to produce a design, using the scientific principles and analytic methods learned previously. However, students are often thrown into such a course with little preliminary instruction on design methods. Though much of our early understanding of design consisted of broad generalities combined with sets of unrelated, uncodified tips and pointers, there is now a growing body of rigorous knowledge, first suggested 20 years ago, that might be called the science of design. This material is primarily related to techniques for generating, evaluating, and selecting among alternatives. Development of this science must be continued, but its incorporation into the curriculum should not wait for its perfection. Many of its components can and should be taught now, preparing students to undertake capstone design courses.