ENGR2141 Engineering for Humanity
This course introduces students to engineering problem solving, beginning with understanding client needs and ending with implemented, adaptable, adoptable, and sustainable solutions. This course will draw equally on empathetic and ethnographic methods and on a technical understanding of the problem and solution domains. Over the semester, we will learn about and with our clients; we will identify specific challenges that our clients face; and together with our clients we will develop concrete solutions to address these challenges. Students will leave Engineering for Humanity with a grounded understanding of the engineering problem solving process, experience in participant-observer fieldwork, and hopefully a feeling of satisfaction at having made a concrete difference in the lives of members of our community.
The projects will be specific service projects that students identify and design while working with senior citizens in surrounding communities. For example, students might design a device to help someone who has difficulty reaching up to change a light bulb, something to help hold a newspaper steady with shaky hands, or something to enable someone to get clothes out of a clothing dryer that is difficult to stoop down to reach. Some sessions of the course will be devoted to co-design with the client population or to team meetings. Other sessions involving guest speakers and fieldtrips, others with course discussion of topics relevant to aging. Students must simultaneously enroll in
AHSE2141 and
ENGR2141 for a total of 4 credit hours.
Concurrent Requisites
AHSE2141
Hours
6-0-6