Collection

2016 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Jeffrey S. Bates; Taylor D. Sparks

request, two faculty membersgained approval for a new course entitled Materials Innovation. The purpose of this course was tointroduce MSE students to problem solving, the engineering design process, and technologycommercialization. Students designed a project based on design constraints, materialrequirements, and user needs. Students made team decisions, developed prototypes, and presentedtheir solutions to Industrial Advisory Board members to receive expert feedback. This paperdiscusses what worked well in the course, and lessons learned from our first attempt.KeywordsTeaching innovation, materials science and engineering, engineering design process, creativeproblem solvingIntroductionMany undergraduate students choose to study engineering