鈥淪tudents will be able to take their ideas out for a drive.鈥�
That, says Clifton Johnston, is the purpose of the new Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) chair in AV俱乐部鈥檚 Faculty of Engineering. The Chair in Design Engineering (CDE) will help train students to apply the engineering principles they learn to solve real-world problems that lack clear and defined solutions.
Dr. Johnston, an industrial engineering professor, and Peter Gregson, professor in electrical and computer engineering and founder and previous director of the Faculty of Engineering鈥檚 iDLab are co-recipients of the $1 million NSERC-CDE. It鈥檚 meant to support innovative design education, the teaching of design throughout the faculty and establish collaboration within the university and other institutions across Canada. This is especially important, as the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board has implemented new requirements on design that must be met in accredited programs.
Level of innovation dropped
鈥淣SERC was a key player in increasing the emphasis on design in engineering,鈥� says Dr. Gregson, who was also one of the first recipients of this NSERC-CDE program in 2001.
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鈥淭om Brzustowski (NSERC President from 1995-2005) recognized that the level of innovation had dropped. The program was launched to increase the teaching of design and innovation to better meet the needs of industry and society in Canada.鈥�
While this may seem obvious, since the 1950s, engineering education became increasingly analytical 鈥� more focused on one right answer. As a result, there was less emphasis on exploration and experimentation.
鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to assess good design,鈥� says Dr. Johnston. 鈥淒esign research is a lot of testing and prototyping and there isn鈥檛 always one clear answer.鈥�
One challenge is that students haven鈥檛 been allowed to fail during their education and as a result, they鈥檝e been programmed to find the right answer, right away. Both professors hope this chair will help address this in a positive way.
鈥淲e want to help [the faculty] teach students that you have to succeed at the end, not necessarily at the first step,鈥� says Dr. Gregson. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a reality in engineering, and we want that, it helps us learn and adapt. The information from failures helps you succeed.鈥�
As Thomas Edison once said - 鈥淚 haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.鈥�
The goal of the chair is to promote innovation through design in the classroom and to help commercialize innovation. As such, the chair serves as a link with industry to bring projects to the classroom.
鈥淭he chair is focused on developing a design continuum at the core of engineering education,鈥� says Dr. Johnston. 鈥淲e鈥檒l get them to use their skills by giving them real-world problems from day one. This merging of analytical and practical design skills will create better engineers.鈥�
With more hands-on, real-world projects students will have more freedom to experiment with their own ideas鈥攁nd there won鈥檛 be any answers in the back of the book. On the other hand, industry will have access to ideas and also be able to scout for talent鈥攁 鈥渨in-win鈥� says Dr. Gregson.
鈥淭he students will put their own ideas on the table, build their own prototypes, test their own systems,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f they follow good engineering design process and use good engineering justifications, they can do whatever they want,鈥� adds Dr. Johnston.
So what is good design? According to both men, it鈥檚 in the eye of the end user.
鈥淚nnovation happens when there is a need,鈥� says Dr. Gregson. 鈥淕ood design requires you to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Students will have to empathize with that person.鈥�
Often times that design is the simplest solution, however, that is rarely the easiest to get to. 鈥淭o understand a problem, you have to get to where you remove a piece and performance improves.听 To make a great product you need to get to where if you take one more piece out, the design won鈥檛 work,鈥� explains Dr. Gregson. 鈥淭hat is why prototyping and learning from initial failures is so critical.鈥�
Partnerships the chair hopes to foster extend beyond industry, to NGOs, not-for-profit organizations and charitable groups.
Address real-world problems
鈥淭oday鈥檚 students are more socially responsible and we should encourage this by helping [these organizations] with their problems,鈥� says Dr. Gregson. His classes have also used information brought back to us by groups like Engineers Without Borders, to address real-world problems with limited resources, like designing a battery charger for a tiny village in Ghana.
Both Dr. Gregson and Dr. Johnston hope to help the faculty educate engineers who will have a broad set of design and analytical skills. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them to think in terms of one problem, one solution,鈥� explains Dr. Johnston. 鈥淪tudents need to know how to design successfully even with the uncertainty of the real-world,鈥� says Dr. Gregson.
鈥淎t NSERC, we want to make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators,鈥� says NSERC President Suzanne Fortier. 鈥淒rs.听Gregson and Johnston bring a wealth of expertise in design engineering. The overall strategy and vision of this research program stand to have a significant impact on engineering education and industry, thanks in large part to the support that the co-chairs have assembled and AV俱乐部鈥檚 commitment to design and innovation.鈥�